Change Your Brain Every Day - Get Your Black Belt in Brain Health

Episode Date: December 30, 2016

Tana's milestones in her martial arts, earning for herself two black belts resound a lot about her passion for her health. Once told by her doctor not to engage in martial arts because of many health issues and ultimately battling cancer too, Tana's fighting spirit still tells us what we can do even when the odds are against us. So today, we'll get to know Tana's story how she earned her black belt and how she continues to that training to achieve a black belt in brain health.  So today, we'll get to know Tana's story, how she earned her black belt and how she continues with her training to achieve a black belt in brain health. 

Hi, I'm Donnie Osmond, and welcome to The Brain Warrior's Way, hosted by my friends Daniel and Tana Amen. Now, in this podcast, you're going to learn that the war for your health is one between your ears. That's right. If you're ready to be sharper and have better memory, mood, energy, and focus, well then stay with us. Here are Daniel and Tana Amen.

Hi, in this video, I am going to brag about my wife who just got her second black belt in Kenpo. And we're going to talk about the whole notion of being a brain warrior. Our little icon for brain warrior is a brain with a black belt around its head. It's a concept that's near and dear to my heart. Now, you just worked your brains out to get this black belt. I mean, it was a five-year process. If you see any of the videos of her during her test, I mean, she's just awesome and scary. And in the process, we really started thinking, not only are you a warrior for the health of your brain and your body, but really that's what we want for you. You're in a war for your health and we want to help you with. You know, a lot of people ask me why I would choose something like Campo as my sport and why I would work so hard to get this black belt because it was,

it was not easy. And it's for me, it's very simple. It is symbolic for me. Besides the fact that I love what I do, it's symbolic for me after going through what I went through with my health. It was not fun. I mean, it was really hard. I was frustrated. I was angry. I was depressed. And it was years of going through that. And training as a warrior, really training in martial arts, became something that became very symbolic for me. Not only was I attacked physically when I was young, walking to high school, so I wanted the self-defense. But after being attacked with cancer inside my own cells,

I felt like I was attacked by this phantom that knocked me flat on the mat, if you will. I realized I had two choices. I was at this fork in the road. I could be a victim or I could be a warrior. There was no in between. You're either going to fight back or you're going to allow these things to take you down. And I may not be able to control being attacked, but I can control my response. And I hate the word victim. I mean, I hate it. So I started training really hard because that training for me is very symbolic of overcoming, of beating it, of being able to break through. And it's the day that I got that black

belt two days ago, actually, you know, I worked so hard. I was so focused. It was so intense. And at the end of it, I got very emotional because I realized to find myself there when the truth is at one point I was told never to practice martial arts again. Right. That your doctor said that do not do it, do that because my heart rate was too high. I had all these health problems. And, you know, you always tell me that the best way to get me to do something is tell you not to do it. Right. So it means I know what her brain looks like. And there are so many lessons that I learned, which we'll share with you as we go through this video.

Well, and for me, so I'm a psychiatrist. You know, I started Amen Clinics 25 years ago, 26 years ago. And it's clear I'm in a war for the health of not only my brain, but the health of my patients' brains. And so these concepts really go together. And as I think of the war, everywhere you go, someone's trying to shove bad food down your throat that will kill you early. Someone's trying to pour a toxic thought in your head. There's chronic stress everywhere. I just, I love this concept because it's owning the truth. You're in a war and we're helping to arm you so that you can win the war, not only for yourself, but for those you love. Can I touch on two things that really

became crystal clear for me in this process of getting my black belt? Even with everything I have gone through, everything I know, the knowledge I've gained, I found myself at one point being very intimidated by the process. I know what those tests where I train, I know what the knowledge I've gained, I found myself at one point being very intimidated by the process. I know what those tests where I train, I know what those tests are like. They're not kidding. And so I became intimidated. I thought, oh, can I really do it with my health background, with everything going on with, you know, is it possible?

Can I actually do this? I find that the people that we coach have that same thought process about what we're teaching them. They become intimidated. They become fearful that they can't really do it. They can't actually get through it. And here's what I learned when I actually found myself going through the test for real and finishing it and getting my black belt. Not only was it such an incredible feeling and such an accomplishment, but here's the thought that crossed my mind, the fear of it, the intimidation, the thought of doing it was far

worse than actually doing it. So, and that's something that I always tell people. And yet I found myself struggling with it. The thought of doing it is worse than actually doing it. One of the interesting things that you say, so Tana Trains was actually some very high level karate people, is that when they really want to get healthy, they become actually afraid of you. What do they say? I had one police officer who said, I'm afraid of you. I know what you're going to tell me is going to be too hard. And I just laughed. I'm like, I'm sorry. Wait, what? Okay. No, getting your eighth degree or ninth degree black belt. That's hard. Going through medical school.

That's hard. Being sick. That's really hard. Doing what I'm going to teach you is not hard. It's just a paradigm shift, but it also is about the next, actually the next tip that I want to talk about. The next thing that I really learned going through my journey, it's about having the right community because I came to really be bonded to my Kempo community, my tribe, if you will. I couldn't have done it without having that tribe for support, really pushing you, teaching you, you know, and guiding you through that journey. I would not have been able to do it. And it's the same thing that we have found people who have a tribe going through this journey, this health journey are the ones that are successful people who have those groups that they turn to. Because if you're turning to the outside community out in the world,

studies show that the people you hang out with, people are not only contagious, literally, they've shown that happiness is spread through groups and so is obesity and illness. The people you hang out with are contagious. In fact, your longevity is determined by the tribe you choose. So that's how important it is. I would not have been able to get my black belt, no questions asked. If I hadn't had this tribe, you know, every time I got a minor injury or I was struggling or having doubts, you know, they're right there going, are you kidding me? Look at, you're awesome at this. It's not that hard. I mean, they're just pushing you all along the way. So you need a community. If you really want to become a brain warrior and get really healthy,

both mentally and physically, one of our goals is to create a brain warrior and get really healthy, both mentally and physically. One of our goals is to create a community that you can belong and get the information and support that you need. In fact, that was the secret sauce in the Daniel Plan, was the small groups. That's why people were so successful. You've got to have a community. They may not know what the Daniel Plan is. The Daniel Plan is this program that Tan and I helped develop for Saddleback Church, along with Pastor Warren and Mark Hyman, where 15,000 people signed up the first week. Over the first year, they lost a quarter of a million pounds. Thousands of churches are doing it now.

And one of the secrets lost. In fact, if you did it in a group, you doubled your weight loss. And so we've created our own Brain Warrior community. If you go to Brain Warrior course, you can actually get three free videos of us talking about the Brain Warriors way. We are here to support you. If you like this content, subscribe to our YouTube channel,

leave comments below. That's where we get a lot of great information. Thanks for being with us. for subscribing to the show. And when you post your review on iTunes, you'll be entered into a drawing where you can win a VIP visit to one of the Amen clinics. I'm Donnie Osmond, and I invite you to step up your brain game by joining us in the next episode.