Blaze Your Own Trail - S2:E12- From Addiction To Service With Nathan Kohlerman

Episode Date: June 20, 2020

After battling drug addiction in his teen years, Nathan served honorably in the United States Army and is now is a 100% disabled veteran. In 2017, he suffered a traumatic injury that changed his life forever and transitioned him from bodybuilding and powerlifting on to a path of self-discovery, self-mastery, and self-healing. After overcoming adversity by working through his addiction, his disabilities, and his injuries using multi-faceted holistic approaches, he made it his mission to educate, empower, and inspire others to take their health into their own hands and redefine human optimization through mind, body, and soul. In this episode we discuss: Nathan's upbringing His battle with addiction A pivotal moment Joining the Army A injury that changed everything His fitness journey And more! Connect with Nathan: Website: https://neuintention.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nathankohlerman/ Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathan-kohlerman-5b0b30a4/ Jon our Facebook Community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/blazeyourowntrailmastermind/ Follow us on IG: https://www.instagram.com/jordanjmendoza/ Installing strategic sales systems & processes will stop the constant revenue rollercoaster you might be facing which is attainable through our 6 Week Blazing Business Revenue Coaching ProgramBook a discovery call with Jordan now to learn more! Are you an entrepreneur?Join my FREE Group Coaching Community where we have live calls, Q&A and more! Our Trailblazer Ecosystem also enables you to network with other entrepreneurs and creator hub eliminates multiple subscriptions and logins creating a one stop shop to take action!Use code: FOUNDING100 for 12 months access FREE and Founding pricing for life! (While Supplies Last)Join now! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

So excited for this interview with Nathan Coleman. It's got such a powerful story from addiction to service to injury to now helping inspiring people all over the world. Let me know what you think and I will chat with you after the episode. Hello everyone and welcome to the Blaze Your Own Trail podcast. I'm your host, Jordan Mendoza. And I've got a very special guest with me today. His name is Nathan Coleman. and I'm going to give him just a second to give you a little intro about who he is and what he does.

Hey, thanks for the warm. Welcome introduction, Jordan. So happy to be here. My name is Nathan Kohlerman. I am the founder of New Intention Health and Wellness, the director of education for Earn Your Booze and a local Lula Lemon ambassador here in Scottsdale, Arizona. And I primarily specialize with mobility, movement, and flow. and I also do personal and professional development for men.

That's awesome. That sounds like a lot of different things, and we'll definitely dive into all of the things that you're involved with. But the first thing I always love to do on my show is I like to rewind. I like to get context into people's journey. So where did you grow up? And, you know, what kind of kid were you growing up? So I was born in Mission, Diego, California,

and I moved out here around the age of five years. old. So I actually grew up here in Scotts, Arizona. I went to an elementary school, middle school. Same thing. They were kind of attached. And once I got to high school, after my parents divorced, I ended up getting into some trouble. I was definitely a troublemaker

in high school. I wasn't the best student. Grades were something that I wasn't really concerned with. I was more so concerned with girls and eventually into drugs and fighting and just a lot of projected you know, suffering that I was kind of going through my youth.

So I ended up going to four different high schools and eventually graduated on time, surprisingly. And I enlisted in the United States Army to get sober and to just change my life for the better. And I served honorably for five and a half years. Okay. So during the four years and four different high schools, were you involved with any sports? Was that something that helped you get through those four years? or were you more focused, like you said, on, you know, partying and the girls and things like that? Yeah, so I was actually in martial arts since the age of five. So I was in an American tempo from about five until 16 until I kind of lost my path.

But I kind of dabbled here and there, played a little bit of baseball. And then freshman year went into football, wrestling. And again, about the age of 16, it's kind of when I fell away from sports and I got more into the things that kind of pulled me away from the things that will kept me out of trouble for the most part. Okay. So after graduation, you know, I want to give the audience some context. So was there, was there a pivotal moment for you where you just said, you know what, I need to go to the military? I need to get away. I need to do this for me to kind of straight, straighten the road, if you will, or was there, you know, someone influential in your life that helped you make that decision?

Yeah, and actually, you know, it was my senior year. And it was right before I was going to go back to school from winter breaks. We're looking at like December 2009. And at the time, I was addicted to heroin. So, you know, I ended up reaching out to my sister for some help. And of course, she, you know, being the amazing sister that she has, talked to my mother. And they sat me down. And basically my mom told me that if I didn't, you know, change my husband.

life and then I'd wind up in prison or dead. So ironically, showing up to school that following week, I was walking on the campus and there were army recruiters standing from the front door. So and mind you, I went to like a very, very small like alternative charter school. Like our graduating class was like 32, 34 kids. Like we were like the troublemakers of the place. So the fact that they were there and it was such a small place, I saw my opportunity and and I basically just told the recruiter like I want to change and like I want to do something other than this other than what I'm doing with my life now. Okay.

So made that decision, right, with the help of mom and your sister, right? Kudos to them. Shout out to mom and sister. If you ever listen to this episode because I know Nathan's excited that you guys, you know, pushed him in that direction. So, you know, what was phase one like? And phase one typically is boot camp. So where did you go to boot camp and then give the audience.

And I know this might be hard because, you know, some people's boot camp experience that I've heard other guests on the show, it was either great or it was terrible, right? So if you can, give the audience context. Where'd you go to boot camp? And then what was your, if you could pick one, your favorite experience from boot camp? Oh, yeah.

So I went to basic training at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. I went there at about August 31st in 2010, so it was hot and humid and miserable for the most part. And towards the back end of the 10 weeks, it started getting just freezing colds. So I experienced the polarity and duality of the environment there, which was not the best at all. But, you know, coming from the background that I was in, I was very skinny at the time. I was very nutrient depleted. I wasn't very strong. you know, I had a lot of skills, but I had very little strength. So just adapting to a normal

lifestyle. And by normal, I just mean like eating again, sleeping again, exercising regularly. It was really hard just to get acclimated again. And there were times where like brain fog would just come in and I would like just forget what I was doing or I wouldn't be able to like think of words because it's either too hot and I couldn't think or it was too cold and I couldn't even feel my hands. So really, for the most part, physically, it was more demanding than mentally for me. You know, it was a little bit easier kind of coming from where I was and the things that I've seen and everything else that kind of made it a little bit more doable to make it through that experience mentally. And my favorite experience is probably the obstacle course, the rock climbing wall, the repeller wall, I should say. and just being able to like test myself physically and see that even though I was out of sports

for for several years you know I still was able to have the skills and abilities to really pursue what I wanted to do okay that's awesome and so where was the next step did you end up you know getting deployed or did you end up just getting stations somewhere else in the states what was that experience like after basic training Yeah, so right after basic training, we had our advanced individual training. So that's where I was actually trained on my job, on my MOS. I was actually a Patriot missile systems, you know, operator, maintainer. So a lot more of the technicalities were there, you know, but it wasn't really combat focused.

So again, kind of going through the winter there from all the way from November to about February. So dealing with ice, snow outside all the time. You know, really wasn't that bad from there. But once I was done with my advanced individual training, which is another like 10 weeks after that, so six months of training altogether, then I went to South Korea for my first duty station, and I was there for about a year.

Okay, so South Korea, a little bit different than Oklahoma, right? Just for anyone that's listening, if you're wondering, South Korea and Oklahoma are very, very different. So I would love it if you would give the audience some context of what that was That experience was like for you and had you been in that part of the world prior So the only time I was ever in like Southeast Asia for the most part was maybe for a family vacation My dad he worked for a Japanese

Electroo engineering company that manufactured a lot of parts for Intel So we went out there for like a little family vacation maybe 10 days now is the only time I've seen Southeast Asia. So I've never actually had to live in a foreign country. So that was definitely different. But the culture was amazing, you know, just kind of seeing how different cultures operated, how, you know, they treated each other as very different from here for sure. There was a level of respect that I hadn't seen before, especially for the elderly. You know, was something that I actually really admired. And, you know, having, you know, part Asian descent of my own, you know, Japanese mostly,

it was really interesting to just see culturally how things are much, much different, you know, whether it be the food, whether it be the people, whether it be the environment, the style of driving. That was probably the most substantial difference that I notice. Feared for my life a couple of times in some taxis. Yeah, no, I definitely appreciate that. my dad's from the Philippines and I remember the first time going over there. It was 1997 at 16 and they pulled up to pick me up in a vehicle. It's called a Jeepney. So it's this massive Jeep that

fits about 25 people and they load me in it and I'm related to everybody. Don't know a single person, never seen them before, never seen a picture. These are all my cousins and uncles. And then we start driving. And then, you know, all of a sudden, we're out of the city. And when, I tell you there are chickens and goats and all kinds of animals just running across and drivers playing chicken with you. I know that, brother. I know how terrifying that experience could be when people are playing chicken with each other driving down the street.

Yeah. I mean, we didn't have like chickens and livestock crossing unless you're, of course, and more of like where the rice patties were and stuff like that. But I mean, even just the city, man, like they drive. crazy. The only place that beats them is in the Middle East. I have never seen driving

like there. They don't even have stoplights there. It's just roundabouts. It's just roundabouts and that's it. So it's like free game out there. Like I won't even, if I ever visit there, it's like I will not drive ever. I don't blame you there. And so when you arrive

there, when you arrived in Southeast Asia, was there a little bit of nostalgia from the martial arts roots, right? Did some of those things translate when you talk about, you know, because martial arts, a lot of it's about respect, a lot of it's about courage, like all those things. Did you kind of see some of that training translate into this new environment that you were in? Yeah, for sure. I mean, you know, especially just coming from a military background too and just being trained in that form of discipline and respect. You know, kind of went hand in hand, you know, it was really easy for me to adapt.

just because, you know, I had a level of respect. And it was a little bit more challenging to see, you know, other soldiers who weren't really brought up in those kind of roots or hadn't really experienced that before. But I mean, just like any organization, there's always there's always going to be a turd here and there. So, you know, I can't say I was perfect. I was definitely one of the turds.

You know, I ended up getting in trouble about halfway in my tour there, you know, 19 years old. And there's no drinking restriction, really, if you're off base, you know, because you can kind of do what you want to do. And again, being a fighter by nature, found myself in another predicament, which kind of cut my fun short. But it was a beautiful, beautiful lesson for sure just to kind of show me like you are free until you really don't deserve it. You know, we'll give you this amount of slack to operate and be your own person. But the minute you make an asset of yourself, like, we're going to take it away real quick and we'll show you how.

So how foundational was that lesson for you? Like thinking about it today and in the journey that you've been on that we haven't even got into yet? Do you think that was a foundational moment? 100%. That was the defining moment where I realized like I could not keep operating from a default mode network from the place in which I always operated out of fear and scarcity and anger before.

And it really showed me that, you know, I do have to be accountable for my actions. I do have to be responsible for each and everything I do because it doesn't just influence me, it influences my entire unit and it influences everybody in my family. It influences, you know, now, you know, being dad, I know, you know, every single action I take influences someone to a certain degree, no matter how big, no matter how small. And that was, that was ultimately the defining moment of how I needed to operate

in sense of not only leadership or responsibility. Awesome. And so what was the next step? So you finish up your tour or you leave Southeast Asia. So where did you head next? Went right back to Oklahoma. That's kind of where we were restricted in the, I shouldn't say the branch house, but more so the division, you know, the air defense artillery regiment. and we were only allowed to go to like maybe four bases, you know, three of them overseas. So we didn't really get to travel much. You know, it's kind of like either go to Japan, go to South Korea, go to this place, this place. And that's about it. So went back there and wasn't ideal, you know, but I ended up after being there for a short few months,

I got selected to be the brigade commanders driver and gunner. So that was a very, I should say, privileged position to be in. It definitely came with its perks, definitely came with its benefits, definitely came with its downsides, just like everything else. But essentially, I really didn't do my job from that point forward, you know, stayed there. And then around, I think it was, yeah, it was April 1st, 2016, ended up getting pinned my stripes. So I made my sergeant then, about five days after I had my daughter. So, because I ended up getting married in Korea,

moved back to Oklahoma with my wife at the time, and then we had my daughter. And that straightened me out a lot. And that's when I really started, you know, acting right and doing everything I needed to do in order to accelerate in advance in the ways that I wanted to because I wanted to provide my daughter with everything I didn't have. No, I can 1,000%

appreciate that. My wife and I, we are parents of four. We've got two boys, two girls, and she's due with our fifth on June 30th. So, you know, when we had our oldest, who is now 15, at I was 22 and she was 20, let me tell you, you wake up real quick, right? When you realize that another life is dependent upon you, it's very easy to make that switch, you know, so I can definitely appreciate that. Yeah, I had my daughter at 20. So I was very young. So I ended up having my daughter right about March, 2016,

got my sergeant April 1st, 2016, not 2016, 2013, what am I saying? This entire time, supposed to be 2013. So got my rank, had my daughter, and then September in 2013, I ended up deploying. So I ended up deploying when she was about six months old and deployed to the Middle East, nine months, came back June 2014. Then I ended up coming down on recruiting orders because I got D.A. selected to be a recruiter. And then I was having a lot of physical issues. You know, I was training a lot. I was getting heavily into bodybuilding.

So that's kind of where I started putting my body through the ringer. and with the Army PT, the military training, with bodybuilding and working out twice a day, sometimes three times a day, six days, sometimes seven days a week. I pushed myself to a point where I was performing phenomenally. You know, my scores were off the charts. But, like, I was just in pain. And it started getting to the point where every time I would run, my entire legs would just light up. Like, it felt like shin splints on steroids. I find if that can explain anything.

And I ended up getting my compartments in my legs and my shins tested. And they ended up finding that I had exertional compartment syndrome both my legs. So they basically said, you know, either you get the fasciotomy or you get the surgery or, you know, we get you out. And because you can't run and can't fight. So being, you know, 23 at the time. you know, really wasn't in the cards for me to get cut open at that young of an age and just kind of doing my own research and due diligence. I saw that like the surgery wasn't even guaranteed to work. So I ended up getting medically discharged. So I ended up getting medically

discharged February 29th, 2016. Okay. So you find all this out. You get medically discharged. I'm sure, you know, this wasn't in the cards originally, right? This is something that, literally just happened out of the blue. So, you know, what were going through your head at that point, right? Because this is, you know, as a man and as a, as a, uh, somebody that's serving our country, this is the last way that you want to your career to end, right? So I'm sure there had to be some things in your mind that were like, what the heck? Like, why is this happening to me? And where do I go from here? Yeah. And, um, you know, because I had, I had gone through a divorce. at the young age of 20, 22, after I got back from deployment. And during that time and period of separation, you know, being in the bodybuilding and being incorporated into fitness a little bit, I decided to get certified as a personal trainer. And I was actually working a second job before I had found out that I had this diagnosis. So I was still doing it on the side a little bit.

And I never really saw it as a career. I kind of just saw it as a hobby and an extra way to make some money because I was paying, you know, spousal and child support and those certain things. And once I found out that I was getting medically discharged, I was like, okay, like I have no idea what I'm going to do, but, you know, this is really all I have. You know, all I have was a personal training certification when I got out and didn't have much college at all. You know, I kind of mentioned before I was never a student. You know, I kind of graduated high school with like a 2.3 GPA and barely kind of slid in to the army and did what I could and tried some online courses here and there, but it just

never interested me to go to the full education route. So when I got out, I ended up working for, you know, now my roommate, I was working for his dad, and he had a personal training company. And I was teaching maybe like two classes a week, and I applied to work at the lifetime fitness here in Scottsdale. And that was actually my first job when I got out. I started working there. I want to say May 2016 is when I started over there. And that's what I did for almost a year. Okay. So you're doing personal training at a big gym, right?

Lifetime is big. And I used to have a membership there. It's beautiful gyms, right? You've got your nutrition. You've got your massage if you need it. You've got the indoor and outdoor pool. So not a bad environment, right? So, and probably a good place for you to kind of see how everything's structured, right, to get your,

your feet wet, to get some experience. So why did it only last a year? Did you, is that when you went off and ventured and said, you know what? Like, I'm doing this for this big corporation. Like, why don't I just start doing this for myself? Yeah. So, like I mentioned, I was heavily in a bodybuilding. So I was about 253 pounds at my highest.

about 204 now, 205 if that gives you any type of image. And, you know, towards, I'd say December 2016, that's kind of when I was at my largest. And I started having like a bunch of like body issues and body stiffness. And, you know, I wanted to explore that. So I ended up getting specialized specialization and corrective exercise, which is basically, again, kind of the step in between rehabilitation and fitness. or mostly the preventative exercise, you know, and I don't like using the word preventative

because you can't really prevent an injury, but, you know, injury mitigation. It's a little bit better of a word selection there. So I wanted to specialize in that. And ironically, March 21st, 2017 came around, and I leaned on a granite counter, and the edge of it snapped off, and it completely tore my hand.

And I ended up terrible. during four flexor tendons, I severed my radial artery, my median nerve. I still can't feel these first two fingers and I still can't quite 100% make a full fist. I'm getting there. So I ended up getting severely hurt. Luckily, I was with a big gym. So, you know, workers' compensation, you know, took care of me and, you know, they put me into the right medical care. And that was my first severe injury. You know, the compartment syndrome was one thing. You know, the compartment syndrome was one thing and I did some minor physical therapy for that um which to be honest really didn't do anything you know they're rubbing me with an ultrasound and telling me to roll out my calves and

stuff and quite frankly it was just remedial work that really didn't get me anywhere I was still in pain and they just wanted to cram medications down my throat and that's kind of the army way you know oh this hurts takes a motron and uh here's a here's a profile don't run for this long and going through this severe injury going through the rehabilitation process. So I ended up having two surgeries back to back. And about three months into the first rehab, they were doing passive range. I can maybe get my fingers about halfway down to my palm. So I decided to get a third surgery and elective surgery, teenelysis, where they go through and they remove the scar tissue and efforts to then gain active range of motion back into a full fist.

but the rehabilitation process did not go as planned. They were still doing passive range. So there was a disconnection, a miscommunication between the surgeon and the therapist. And again, I kind of got a surgery for nothing. It maybe improved maybe 5% from that point. And I became just frustrated at the process. So about through that entire process about maybe July. So I was about four months into the rehab process.

I decided that, you know, to pursue with, you know, litigation and legal counsel and everything else in July's when they actually released me. So I went through the lawsuit for about a solid year and some change. And I really couldn't do much. I didn't have a job. And, you know, I had a select number of people who had reached out to me and said, you know, I've been checking on me in the entire time. So I wasn't working through this process.

And once I was completely rehabilitated and once I was released from lifetime, still pending, you know, the legal and litigation stuff, because it wasn't even them. It was like the granite installer. It was like four different companies and four different people. And it was just a mess. But essentially that pushed me on my own. You know, as soon as I were released, I talked to a friend of mine who was a business

consultant and he told me like, yeah, like file an LLC, do this, do this, do that, do that. And essentially, that's when I started my own business. That's when I started my LLC. At first, my business name was New Life. And then discovered about, I would say, six months into that, that there was a different trademark filed in another state in Florida. So I had to rebrand, you know, January 2018, I want to say, or 19 into new intention. I love that.

You know, I love that, you know, the story and the journey and obviously the injury is terrible. I mean, what a freak thing to happen in an injury that definitely doesn't sound easy to deal with, right? You're still dealing with the repercussions of what happened. But I love the fact that, you know, you explored yourself, right? You started to see, hey, these things aren't working for me. Let me see what I can do, what investigations that I can do, right? And then you literally use that information, right? This is why you're on the show.

You blazed your own trail. You use that info and said, now I want to help people that are in the same predicament as me. Maybe not same injury, but same situation. Maybe they don't know where to go or who to look at or who to look towards, right? And you have this amazing perspective because not only are you the person that runs the business, but you're a patient, right? Like you're actually practicing the things that you're teaching your clients.

And to me, that's what makes the world of difference, right? Is when you're a practitioner of these things. Yeah, 100%. And I mean, it's funny because the injury, if not for that injury, you know, at the time I was bodybuilding, you know, I was completely down the bro-science path. Like eat six meals a day, grind six to seven days a week, two workouts, three workouts, the day. I was in pain. I couldn't even sit on the ground and play with my daughter. I was so stiff. I had chronic pain, chronic stiffness, chronic tightness. And when I went to the hospital, they

they were telling me at 24 years old that I had severe liver toxicity and acute kidney injury from the drugs that I was using bodybuilding to attain a certain look from the nutrition and the diet from my body always expending so much energy. And it really made me take a really hard look at myself and I also started questioning like, well, this is fitness, like what is health? Like, what is wellness? If this is fitness, like, where's the disconnect? Right. I thought I was healthy because I looked good. But apparently that's not the case. So I really dove in. And during this process and through my rehabilitation, I ended up finding, you know, transformational training programs, one being landmark, the other one being MITT out in LA. And it really opened my eyes to like the

stories I started creating and knowing that mental health and the way I viewed myself influenced the way I felt in my body because the only time, and this is not even including any of the corrective exercise or anything else, but like my lower back pains like went away that I had chronically since the military when I started resolving issues with my like father and I started looking at unresolved traumas for my childhood and I started looking and started reframing and retraining the way I spoke to myself, and I started grooving new ways of thinking, new ways of being. And that's where the N.E.U and new intention starts is because it all starts with our mind, our mindset. It all starts with our intention and how we view ourselves and how we essentially

show up in the world. It's our state of being. And that, to me, is the first thing. That's, that's like one of my pillars, because I have mind, body, and soul. So after discovering the Transmensional Training through the frustration of my own rehab process, you know, they did their best. I had a really good therapist. And then I got handed off to a different therapist. Then I had it handed off to a different therapist, you know. And the first one did their job extraordinarily well.

The second one, there was just miscommunication. And the third one, I just kind of gave up because I was frustrated. And throughout the process of this third one, I had met a chiroprone, who essentially introduced this technique now that I specialize with called dynamic neuromuscular stabilization. And essentially, it's a combination of neurology, orthopedics, chiropractics, pediatrics with the foundation of developmental kinesiology. And it looks at our foundational movement patterns from three months to 13 months in our developmental life cycle. So then we can take these positions and transitions and we can start retraining breathing patterns. We can

start retraining our stability and neurology behind the actual fundamental way that we learn to develop and move as human beings. And that was completely mind-blowing to me. It took corrective exercise to a whole other level for me. And I started understanding that training is different than working out, right? So fitness is different than training. And there is an intention behind that, you know, and moving through. different modalities, you know, by now I think I've attained about 10 different certifications

in regards to mobility, movement stability, functionality, overall, you know, optimization of the body, you know, and that being included like animal flow, which is the practice that gave me my hand back, which is, you know, why I'm so passionate about it. And it does have a very martial arts feeling to it. And it brings me back to my intuitive roots. And after finding functional range conditioning and kin stretch, which is like end range joint training. So really understanding the importance of the health of our capsules, understanding how important it is and how vital it is for us to have a workspace, which creates more movement variability. And with more movement variability, we have more degrees of freedom. And with more degrees of freedom, we can then have complete

control of our body. And if we can control our body, right, now we can start asking ourselves in training, what is the intention of this movement? What is the intention of this exercise? And who is it made for? Right. So it is more of a methodical process now in which now how I serve my clients is I assess their movement. I assess their bodies. And I helped them bridge that gap from rehab back into fitness and also redefining, you know, human optimization and just the ways of coaching, you know, through their mind, through their body, and then incorporating different principles of mindfulness and different things that they, that are normally not talked about in fitness, like breathwork, like meditation, like things that ultimately encompass the entire aspect

of health and wellness as a whole. That's awesome. Yeah, and I love how you're touching on multiple areas, right? Like, you know, you're talking about fitness, talking about health, talking about wellness. And then you're also talking about something that isn't talked about enough, in my opinion, and that's emotional intelligence, right? Are we self-aware of how we're showing up? Can we manage our emotions?

Can we manage our relationships? And then how do we show up in social settings, right? And I don't care what you do, what profession you're in, what line of work you're in. Mindset is everything, right? If you can't get past yourself, there's no way that you can impact other people, right? And so, you know, I teach that to people in sales. I teach that to people that I coach because it's foundational. You've got to understand where your emotions are coming from and then how to redirect them

or how to shift them into a different perspective. Yeah, and I coach my client tonight and I teach them lenses, right? So it's like seeing things through different colors, through different lenses, through different perspectives and different degrees. Because it's like even though your shoulder may only move in certain degrees or in motion, right, doesn't mean that you don't have access to it, right, in the same way as our thought process, just because you may only think so far right now doesn't mean you don't have access to it.

Right. It's all about just shinsing, shifting the lens of perspective just a little bit. You know, and one thing that I tell people is like the perspective of fear, right? is are you not progressing in your rehabilitation? Are you not progressing in your health and wellness and your fitness? Because of fear that you're going to re-injure yourself or because someone told you along the lines that it would never work again or never come back.

Like the doctor told me how I probably would never restore full function in my hand again. But clearly, you know, that's not so much the case. You know, they told me I would lose 20 to 30% of my hand. and I would say that I've gotten about 90% of it back and I'm this close, you know, and it's just going to take more time, more effort, more work. So a lot of the times it's also just removing the fear from that process and just making space. You know, not only workspace in our joints, but also clearing space in our head and allowing possibility in the realm of reality to come in and say you're not broken

and there's nothing wrong with you. We just need to find what doesn't work good and make it work good. I love that. Yeah. And today is actually, yeah, so today is actually the 20th anniversary of a major car accident that I was in at 19. And, you know, we were in Wyoming. We were driving across the country. It was a caravan about four cars. And our friend fell asleep at the wheel. He woke up overcorrected at about 75. And we flipped several times. The truck lands. He gets ejected. We're looking for our friend. He gets life-flighted to Casper. I get rushed to Rollins, Wyoming. I have to have laser surgery on my two legs, 52 staples, got a cut on my right leg, a fist deep, and then several pints of blood.

I mean, I was at a shortage of blood. So I completely get it when you experience a trauma like that and you wake up in that, in that, like, fogginess. And then the first thing that attacks you is your mind. right that is the first thing that that attacked me it was like woe is me like how am i going to run again i was a break dancer for 10 years like how am i going to do all these things i played sports and i remember there was a girl that was sitting in it was like one of those join rooms you have the curtains she was literally in the same room as me she pulls the curtain away literally i could see her brain

in her skull she had gotten an accident on that same stretch of highway and she looks at me and she said, it's okay, you can still smile. And when I tell you, like, I couldn't do anything but smile and light up because of the circumstance that I saw her in, it shifted my perspective from a woe as me to if she can do it, then I can definitely do this. And listen, they were saying you probably won't be able to walk. You probably won't be able to run. And when I tell you, I was on my dang walker exercises every day, I was busting my tail. And I made a full record. within six months. So when you talked about that and how clearing that space in your head, I can attest to that that it is super impactful. Oh, that is powerful. No, thanks for sharing that.

I mean, that's definitely when I injured my hand. That was the first thing that went through. You know, it's like all I have is training certification, you know, bodybuilder. You know, I'm not going to look the same. You know, I had recently actually just made a post about, you know, my body dysmorphia from that. So the mental effect of that was just debilitating, not even from an injury perspective, but it's like, wow, now I'm looking at a different person in the mirror. You know, what was the identity I created before? And it just now having this identity crisis of, well, if I don't have a hand, like I'm not a bodybuilder, I'm not a trainer anymore.

So who am I? You know, so it really had to like put me in a place where I had to do the, did you do the work. I had to do the work. And that's why, like, I do bring in principles of mindfulness with people I work with because it's like we can do all this bot, we can do all this work on our body, all this work, all this work, all this work. But it's like, what happens if one day it's just gone? Right. What do we have that? Right? Because all that you have then is, is in between your ears and in between your ribs, like in your heart. Like you have your brain and your heart. If you don't have your body, like, what do you have? Like, you know, I talk to people about

this in business, too. It's like, what happens when Instagram shuts down tomorrow? Like, what's your backup plan? You know, it's like, we got to consider these things, too. Absolutely. No, that makes a lot of sense. So, um, you've given a ton of value. It's been awesome, like hearing about your journey and hearing about your story and all the things you're doing to help people out. So, um, I want you to give your top three tips. So let's say someone's listening to this show and they're just coming off the heels of an injury, right? Maybe they've never been injured before. Maybe they don't know what are the steps that I need to take outside of just the regular doctor's visits and on all those things.

So what would be the top three tips that you would give somebody that has just gotten an injury from your perspective for the type of coaching and training that you offer? Yeah, that's awesome. And thank you for allowing me to come on and share value and just, you know, share my story in hopes that it will touch someone and let them know that, you know, it's all good. But first tip, I would say, number one, be gentle with yourself. You know, again, the number one enemy is between your ears. And if you can be gentle and compassionate with yourself, and if you can really have some grace with yourself and your body and knowing that everything's going to be okay,

you know, I think that that stage of acceptance is going to propel and push you onto the path to where you can perceive, where you can persevere through it. The second one being if you don't use it, you lose it, right? So there is a lot of, you know, a lot of misguided information. And of course, if a doctor says, like, if you move this, it will break again, right? or if you move this, like the plate or screws might move, right? That's one thing. But it's like if you just have a sprain or if you have a tear or something like that,

like me personally, you know, of course clear it through a medical professional first. But what I found in my experience is that the more you use it, the less you'll lose it. So if you can keep moving it, if you can keep stimulating the fluids within that area, if you can keep moving and activating the muscles that surround that area, it's going to heal faster. It's just going to heal faster. So, you know, don't baby or be afraid. You know, of course, consult a physician first, a medical professional first. I'm not telling you to go against medical guidance, you know, but just be, again, intentional, right? Ask yourself, why am I doing this? And is this for me? Right. And the third tip, I would say, is focus on your

recovery and just see it as a journey, right? And just master the basics before you try to bend the rules. Just like people will try to jump on new diets, right? There's a lot of reasons why diets fail. And that's because a diet consists of several, several, several different habits. And statistically, if you try to change one habit, you have about an 85% success rate, you try to add a second habit simultaneously. It'll be about 35%. If you try to add a third habit, you have a very, very slim chance of actually achieving your goal. So don't try to do everything at once. Do one thing at a time. Master it. Master it well. And then try something else. But focus on the basics before you bend your rules. Focus on your sleep. Focus on your water intake. Focus on your

corrective exercises and whatever you need to do to remove that inflammation from your body and be gentle with yourself through the process. And that's it. I love that. And those three tips are definitely super valuable. And so for the audience, you know, a lot of people are going to listen to this. They're going to enjoy your story and your journey. But also, there's going to be some folks that hear it and they say, that sounds like a guy I

want to work with. So where can everybody find you? Yeah. So everybody can find me on my website. It's www. N-EUintention.com. And then people can also find me on social media. at Nathan Collerman across all channels and also at new intention across all channels as well.

Right now I'm on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, more active on Instagram and Facebook more than anything. And I also do have a free Facebook group called Activate Intention, where I'm doing free and donation-based classes, Mondays and Wednesdays at 8am, Fridays at 3 p.m. And we do connection calls every Sunday. And that's where I offer my coaching with upfront value and just trying to help as many people as I can, especially during the tough times wearing right now. That's awesome, man. Well, make sure that all of that info is down in the show notes

so people can literally find this episode, wherever they listen to podcasts, click on those direct links to reach out to you, Nathan. It was such an honor and a pleasure having you on. I really appreciate you taking the time out of your schedule, and thanks for coming on the Blaze Your Own Trail podcast. Thank you, Jordan. I appreciate it.

a great day, man. You too. Wow, what a powerful story. And Nathan is up to some great things. Make sure you connect with Nathan. I'm going to make sure all of his info is down in the show notes, his website, social network feeds. Connect with him. He's such a down-to-earth guy. And listen, if you haven't subscribed yet to the show, please, please make sure you subscribe and tell all your friends about it. Our goal is to impact as many people around the world through the content. If you want to as well, if you're interested in the Blaze Your Own Trail community, we do have a Facebook group. I'll make sure that link is in the show notes as well. Feel free to come and join and really network and learn from other people.

We have live streams happening, coaching and teaching and training, even if you maybe want to get into podcast yourself. So I hope you enjoyed it and I'll chat with you on the next episode.