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Episode Summary: 

Ian explores the physiological and psychological causes of weight gain, especially in relation to stress and unsafe conditions.

• Ian highlights the abuse Jelena Dokic endured at the hands of her father in her book.
• Discover how the body may gain weight as a warning indication of danger, which may be brought on by harmful surroundings or different types of maltreatment.
• Recognise the need of writing and externalising in order to comprehend and deal with these problems.

About the Host: 

Ian Hawkins, host of "Sport Is Life," is dedicated to showing how sports can transform lives. With extensive experience as an athlete, a coach, PE teacher, community volunteer, and manager at Fox Sports, Ian brings a wealth of knowledge to the podcast. His journey began in his backyard, mentored by his older brother, and has since evolved into coaching elite athletes and business leaders. Ian's commitment to sports and personal development is evident in his roles as a performance coach and active community member. Through "Sport Is Life," Ian shares inspiring stories and valuable lessons to help listeners apply sports principles to all areas of life. 

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0:00

Is that the body's way of creating a layer of protection is to put on weight. And you might have spoken to those people who say, I don't know why I've suddenly put on weight. I haven't done anything different, or

0:12

I don't, no matter how much I try, I can't shift this way. I'm Ian Hawkins, and this is sport. Is life.

0:20

The purpose of sport, as I see it, is to see your vision become a reality, find your voice, create strong connections and learn to trust your body.

0:42

You I noticed in the news this week, Lena do has her book out talking about her career, and one of the big things that's come out in some of the excerpts that they've been sharing is around just how abusive her dad was,

1:07

some really horrific stuff. They really feel for people when they tell the truth of the story that they couldn't tell at the time. I want to talk about two things. One is that it's it's knowing that when you see people going through different things and they're acting in a certain way, it's important not to jump to conclusions and assumptions around what's going on for them and how they

1:32

behaving,

1:34

because people who are behaving you may perceive badly is because they've got needs not being met, and what she would have been going for the time was a complete lack of connection, no certainty, because, like she said, her dad was unpredictable and would go off the fly off the handle and be abusive.

1:54

So she got that need.

1:58

There's so many different things playing out that

2:02

her reactions were,

2:05

yes, she had to make her own choices, but as a teenager in the public eye, like could you imagine having to go through that? It's hard enough being a teenager without being in that public eye, getting judged from all corners, but then also living in an environment like that, where you are under someone else's control? I also want to talk about one of the things that I've noticed with her is that since her playing career, and this is not unusual, but she's put on a lot of weight. And I

2:33

want to look at it from from this perspective. I don't know this to be true. I'm just going to tell you from what I've learned from other people who have experienced this is that the body's way of creating a layer of protection is to put on weight. And you might have spoken to those people who say, I don't know why I've suddenly put on weight. I haven't done anything different, or I don't no matter how much I try, I can't shift this weight, because the body creates a layer of protection when things

3:03

aren't safe. So if it's not safe, so if you've gone through that journey, you may be able to might be able to Dennis identify where that lack of safety was. It might be verbal abuse you're copying. It might be in a in a work environment where it's not safe because there's a bully there, like a boss or a colleague, it can be from physical abuse, of course, of all different natures, and when you can address

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the root of that lack of safety, it's amazing how the weight just falls off.

3:39

I went through this myself. When I broke

3:43

3:48

and the lack of safety, I can only imagine was that, well, I nearly died, like I had a near death experience, which is probably for another episode,

3:58

but also like I couldn't, couldn't

4:02

do the things I usually do. Apologies. I'm just in the car waiting for my son at an appointment, so making the most of every opportunity here. So they got the cars going past, gonna have these windows cracked because it's pretty warm

4:13

here. So yeah, apologies for the for the car and truck noise on occasions.

4:19

Yeah. So

4:21

I guess also, at the time was like, not being able to run like, not being able to move like that, would feel unsafe for for a young man who depends biologically on having that ability.

4:35

But also like, I found that, I

4:39

found it quite challenging, because there were

4:43

times where I didn't really feel like I was getting support like I needed, and that was usually at home. I don't know why I thought that I would be any different, because I was getting support. But

4:56

when you're in that sort of state and you're emotional and you're feeling helpless, you.

5:00

You kind of want people to go above and beyond, and that's just not the reality. It's not it's

5:05

just not how things go, right? So, but it doesn't mean that I wasn't still hurt from from those different things. And being able to come out the other side and get mobile would have had a huge impact, of course.

5:19

So if you're if you're someone that's that has had weight on at different times, you've struggled to shift it. Maybe you have shifted it. Now, love to hear how you addressed it, but maybe you you feel like you're running the same pattern that it'd be worth looking at. What, what level of safety are you trying to create by having that barrier around your body? What needs to be addressed so that you don't have that necessity to have that like that, creating that safety barrier. What? What at a subconscious level is happening that you don't feel safe?

5:53

Is it from previous

5:56

verbal abuse, or did you go through a situation where you felt completely alone and it wasn't particularly safe. Was there a time I know people who went through the pandemic, time where they might have lost their job and the lack of safety might have been around financial safety, a lack of security, and I've seen people put on weight. It could have been all sorts of things that played out in that time, it was like our generation's World War, right? So there's lots of different elements of lack of safety. You still need to address the core issue, and you do that in any number of ways. It's it's something I really love helping clients with, because when they clear that and they're able to go and do some of the things that they couldn't do before, the level of relief, and inevitably, the conversation where they say, Man, why did I do this before I'm actually the appointment my son's at at the moment is kinesiology. I'm a massive fan that helps you clear those patterns as well.

6:55

Yeah, the body stores this stuff, so if you can clear it from the body and from the mind, then then you can break the pattern and change the habits. Now the important bit that I know that the coaching differentiates is that you can clear the block, change the subconscious message, but then you also need to change the habit and bring in that accountability and that support and that validation to help people heading the right direction. If you think about from a sporting perspective, if you've ever been in a team or even an individual sport, you've had a coach, that's exactly what they provide, right? They let you know when you need to change something. They let you know when you're doing well. They give you the encouragement, the support, the accountability. Well, it's huge for not getting things done that you need to having that accountability. So,

7:39

yeah, that's there's two things straight away. There's a whole lot of modalities that do similar work.

7:48

Ultimately, I think that always the best thing is being able to externalize and hear me talk about nearly every episode. Get yourself a journal.

7:56

Be curious. Write what you do know about, maybe some of those things that you're trying to protect yourself and ask questions about where you're not sure, and allow your subconscious mind to find you the answers. And importantly, the answer comes and the opportunity comes, it's important to act.

8:12

Yeah, so

8:14

just a quick one.

8:18

Certainly, when it comes to wait. There's no judgment. There's no like with anything. It's like it's no one's fold. It's not saying anyone's better or worse or anything. But if you have a desire to shift weight and you haven't been able to, then this is something that I know works, and I know is hugely beneficial. I'm working with some at the moment who,

8:42

having shifted some some beliefs now, is getting themselves at five in the morning going to the gym, which they're really excited about, because it's not something that they've been able to do previously. They weren't able to get themselves in that

8:54

pack. I think I'm just rambling now. I'll leave it there. Have a great day. I'll speak to very soon. You've taken the time to listen to this whole episode now it's time to take action, commit to one thing you've learned today and make it happen and to avoid any obstructions, join the sport is life movement By clicking on the link in the show notes you

Transcribed by https://otter.ai