Metabolic and Mental Health
The Simplicity and Power of a Mantra Made an Uptight Exec a Zen Master in 10 Years
An inspiring senior executive transformed his metabolic and mental health with lifestyle choices and helped others find their better versions
Who could have thought that an overweight man with metabolic syndrome could achieve a slim body, sharp mind, and tranquil demeanor in less than a decade?
A serendipitous encounter with Brendon ended up in a win-win position.
I had the privilege of meeting Brendon when he was appointed as the senior executive of our department in a reputable international technology company. He was 30 years older than me.
Brendon impressed me with his exceptional knowledge and skills in sales, leadership, and technology, eventually earning him the title of senior vice president of the company.
Interestingly, after only a few months, I received a phone call from Brendon’s secretary, inviting me to an interview with him. This was a surprising and exciting opportunity for me, as I had never before seen a high-level manager reach out to a staff member in such a manner.
When I met Brandon face to face, he sounded very vibrant, charismatic, and friendly. However, he looked overweight and had damaged skin which concerned me subconsciously. Nevertheless, it was not my primary focus.
Brendon had a high focus on talent retention, one of his strengths as a senior VP. He asked the HR department to find the top 100 best-performing technologists in the company. I was fortunate to hit that list. So his purpose was to mentor these employees.
During this first interview, Brendon articulated his vision and strategy for the department. His vision was remarkable. He offered to mentor me once a month to track my progress and prepare me for a senior role in the department.
I loved the idea. He created a high-level plan for me and agreed to assign an executive coach for my development and pay for several leadership courses from his education budget.
Toward the end of the interview, Brendon said that was all for today. And he added, “It is time for me to take a quick ciggie; my body craves it. It is awful, but after multiple unsuccessful attempts, I cannot stop this damn thing.”
I smiled with approving body language and did not comment on his tobacco addiction, even though it significantly affected my mind, having empathy and compassion for his situation. I needed to build a rapport with him to share my knowledge and experience about addiction.
After a month, we had our second mentoring session. During this session, Brendon sounded less informal. He had a chance to read my comprehensive CV and prior achievements recorded by the HR department.
He said, “you are a well-educated kid with many achievements. Your studies, patents, and publications attracted my attention. But, where do you find so much energy to study so many years, work full time, have a family, mentor hundreds of your junior colleagues, and supervise postgraduate students in universities?”
Even though his compliment boosted my ego, I felt uncomfortable commenting as I did not want to sound arrogant. So again, I smiled and thanked him for his kind words.
After my awkward silence for 20 seconds, he tried to fill in the gap and continued:
“By the way, some of your publications talk about mindfulness and meditation. I take these new-age ideas with a grain of salt. But many people started talking about meditation which I tried once and felt awful.
Meditation sounds cool in books and papers, but it did not work for me. I couldn’t sit still for even ten minutes and gave it up. But I understand the value of a mindful approach as I achieved my goals with focus and attention.”
Again I felt very uncomfortable commenting. But he insisted on asking open-ended questions. He wanted to know how I use meditation and what I could recommend to him.
I did not want to provide a prescriptive solution, but I asked about his hobbies. He mentioned many hobbies, most of them related to sedentary life. Some examples were playing poker and chess, going to movies and classical music concerts, and watching the sunset, which all were interesting.
However, one hobby attracted my attention. He loved playing golf on Saturdays with his friends. I wanted to leverage this hobby to provide a valuable solution option for Brendon.
First Strategy
I asked whether he liked walking. He nodded and said, “yes, but I don’t walk much except on the golf course and even use the cart as a lazy bum.”
His interest in walking was a great start. He lived in a luxurious home nearby a long beach in Melbourne. I asked whether he would be interested in joining me for a walk next Sunday afternoon. He smilingly said, “Yes, I’d love to do that if you allow me to pick your great brains.”
I thank him again for his friendly and kind compliment. On the following Sunday, I drove to his suburb. He invited me inside for a drink. He asked what I would like to drink. I said a glass of cold water would be fantastic.
He asked, “how about coffee or soft drinks with some snacks? I thanked him and told him that I had stopped drinking coffee and soft beverages for many years and was fasting. I also added that I stopped snacking. He sounded perplexed after hearing my one-meal-a-day plan. But I didn’t mention my ketogenic diet.
He offered me a glass of cold water, and he had a cup of coffee, adding three spoons of sugar. His first question was would fasting cause me to lose my muscles? I explained to him why it would NOT, succinctly. Then, he smilingly said, “let’s talk about it while walking. I have hundreds of questions for you.”
When we reached the beach, I removed my sports shoes and put them in my backpack. He offered to give me beach sandals. I refused politely. He wanted to know whether you would walk barefoot. I said yes, as I have been doing it for many years, bringing me great benefits.
During the one-hour walk time, Brendon asked me many questions. Each answer triggered him to ask more questions. He finally said he was done and could not walk more. I was expecting to walk for at least three hours. But I did not want to sound arrogant and imposing.
We sat on the sand and started looking at the beautiful ocean with many people swimming and sailing and seagulls, creating a wonderful harmony making a pleasant atmosphere.
I noticed Brendon was in a hypnotic state after an hour of walking because of the endorphins in his brain and the pleasant atmosphere of the environment. Now was the excellent time to give him my first option for the self-improvement he needed.
I had three goals in my mind. I strategized them and wanted to present them in digestible pieces.
I started with the benefits of walking by giving him a few inspiring stories of other people who transformed their metabolic and mental health by simply walking around 10,000 steps a day.
When I told him about some friends who reversed their diabetes, he got extra interested as his family doctor diagnosed him with metabolic syndrome.
He got convinced me and asked me how many steps I had walked. I said at least 10K daily. Then he asked, “would you be willing to walk with me daily after dinner if I pick you up from your home?”
I lived only 3 km away from his house. This sounded like a piece of music to my ears. I said I would be delighted to do that.
Walking during the sunset after dinner was a fantastic idea. Besides, I wanted to build a rapport with Brandon and learn from his leadership skills while contributing to his well-being. So it was a win-win situation. My first strategy was successfully implemented.
Second Strategy
My second strategy was to help Brendon to quit smoking sustainably. Interestingly during an hour session, he did not smoke. He forgot about it. Then he smilingly said, “Gush, something is missing. I need a fag now.” I asked whether he could delay it for another hour. He said perhaps as he did not crave it but wanted it as a habit.
I kept his mind busy by sharing stories of people who successfully quit smoking and reaped many benefits. Rather than sounding prescriptive, I wanted to give him subliminal messages to feed his subconscious mind. He enjoyed the conversation very much and thanked me for sharing those stories.
The next day, I planned to introduce my third strategy to Brendon. I wanted to prime his mind for meditation.
I introduced him to the mantra “right-left” while walking. The implementation of this mantra was repeating the word right when moving the right leg and the word left when moving the left leg.
I started him with ten minutes. We decided not to talk for ten minutes but repeat the mantra. Initially, he found the idea absurd but tried it. After ten minutes, I broke the silence and asked him how he felt. He said, “actually, great. My mind feels clearer, and I feel good.”
He wanted to know the mechanism, so I explained how walking and repeating mantras activate different brain regions and calm the amygdala by preventing anxious thoughts. He got convinced and loved the idea.
Daily we increased the mantra use notch by notch. Finally, after a month, he could walk, repeating the mantra for 30 minutes. We built a better rapport during that time, so he was ready to learn about meditation.
Implementation of the Third Strategy
I smilingly said, “do you know what, Brendan? You are ready to meditate.” He chuckled and asked, “are you serious? Do you reckon I can meditate?” I said yes and gave him quick tips. I wanted him to visualize the walk and repeat the right-left mantra for ten minutes during the meditation an hour before bedtime.
The next day he looked more cheerful, saying, “I did it for 20 minutes first time in my life. Guess what! I slept like a baby!” His words made me feel euphoric as I made a difference in someone’s life.
Surprisingly in this session, Brendon managed to walk for two hours and did not think about smoking. My three strategies started working seamlessly. My goal was to increase Brendon’s fitness, help him quit smoking, and get him started with meditation.
After three months, Brendon lost 12 kilos and three inches from his waistline. Naturally, this progress made him very happy. But, more importantly, his face looked clearer, his fitness significantly increased, and his voice sounded calmer.
Two weeks after this session, he had his regular checkups, and his family doctor informed him that his metabolic syndrome symptoms had significantly lowered and his inflammation markers improved.
After a year, Brendon permanently stopped smoking, meditated an hour daily before bedtime, significantly improved his sleep, and lost 30 kg of visceral fat, reversing his metabolic syndrome. The red and dark marks on his face and skin diminished.
He gained a new personality and mindset, making him more open-minded about different options for his health, fitness, and wellness advancement.
Two New Strategies for Further Improvement
With this motivation, he wanted to take his health to the next level and kept picking my brain. I had two new strategies for Brendon. As we developed our relationship and he trusted me more, it was easy for me to convince the more demanding solutions for him.
My goal was to introduce fasting to initiate autophagy and mitophagy, aiming to remove garbage from his body, and thermogenesis (cold and heat exposure) to expedite these processes to rewire his brain by increasing ketosis and BDNF putting his brain in growth mode and make his body more insulin sensitive.
I started with the easiest ones. First, he learned to cut snacks. Then he managed to skip breakfasts and lower refined carbs.
Then he managed to fast intermittently with joy. He loved reducing refined carbs as he used to eat lots of lollies when chatting with clients and staff members. Intermittent fasting took his health to the next level.
Then I started Brandon with dry saunas to expose his body heath. He loved saunas very much because he felt incredibly calm and relaxed after each session and slept beautifully. Then I wanted him to introduce cold showers.
He was very hesitant in the beginning. However, he got convinced and motivated when he saw me and others take cold showers and ice baths after each sauna session. It was easy for him to have cold showers after 15 minutes in the dry sauna.
After a few months, he started taking cold showers every morning and mixed cold and hot showers every night before going to sleep. He felt terrific in the mornings, which enabled him to lower his caffeine intake and be calm and composed before going to bed, giving him a restorative sleep.
When he met some bodybuilders in the health center’s sauna, he started resistance training like weightlifting, calisthenics, and planks. As a result, he lost an additional 10 kg of visceral fat and gained lean muscles, optimizing his cortisol levels after a year. His other hormones and neurotransmitters got balanced. He looked much younger than before.
His waistline kept shrinking, lowering the risks of metabolic disorders like type II diabetes. His skin fully cleared. His energy levels increased, and his dependency on nicotine, caffeine, and sugar disappeared. He started meditating three times daily, like me.
The Results of Two-Way Mentorship
After two years, during a walking session, he said,
“You did amazing things for me, changing my life dramatically. Now it is time for me to pay back. I have a senior role with a well-paying client who subsidizes the payment of 70% and offers generous bonuses in international settings covering travel and accommodation. Would you be interested in taking this role?”
I accepted this incredible role which took my profession in the corporate world to the next level and delighted me as I met many more executives like Brendon in that international assignment with his mentorship and support. However, what made me happier was his remarkable transformation.
Brendon took a meditation course from a Zen master and learned many techniques and a lot about its benefits. Then, he started introducing meditation to his staff members, changing the lives of hundreds of people.
More importantly, he became a zen master after retirement (50 years of tenure in this organization).
Gaining a fit body and sharp mind, he improved his quality of life, increased his life span, and motivated many people to live healthier and happier. He lives peacefully, inspiring and encouraging others to find their better versions with healthy lifestyle choices.
I hope you enjoyed these inspiring life lessons from my circles. If you want to read similar stories, you might check out my story collection, covering 80 stories of people who transformed their lives with healthy lifestyle choices.
Thank you for reading my perspectives. I wish you a healthy and happy life.
If you are a new reader and find this article valuable, you might check my holistic health and well-being stories reflecting my reviews, observations, and decades of sensible experiments.
Sample Health Improvement Articles for New Readers
I write about various hormones and neurotransmitters such as dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, GABA, acetylcholine, norepinephrine, adrenaline, glutamate, and histamine.
One of my goals as a writer is to raise awareness about the causes and risk factors of prevalent diseases that can lead to suffering and death for a large portion of the population.
To raise awareness about health issues, I have written several articles that present my holistic health findings from research, personal observations, and unique experiences. Below are links to these articles for easy access.
Metabolic Syndrome, Type II Diabetes, Fatty Liver Disease, Heart Disease, Strokes, Obesity, Liver Cancer, Autoimmune Disorders, Homocysteine, Lungs Health, Pancreas Health, Kidneys Health, NCDs, Infectious Diseases, Brain Health, Dementia, Depression, Brain Atrophy, Neonatal Disorders, Skin Health, Dental Health, Bone Health, Leaky Gut, Leaky Brain, Brain Fog, Chronic Inflammation, Insulin Resistance, Elevated Cortisol, Leptin Resistance, Anabolic Resistance, Cholesterol, High Triglycerides, Metabolic Disorders, Gastrointestinal Disorders, and Major Diseases.
I also wrote about valuable nutrients. Here are the links for easy access:
Lutein/Zeaxanthin, Phosphatidylserine, Boron, Urolithin, taurine, citrulline malate, biotin, lithium orotate, alpha-lipoic acid, n-acetyl-cysteine, acetyl-l-carnitine, CoQ10, PQQ, NADH, TMG, creatine, choline, digestive enzymes, magnesium, zinc, hydrolyzed collagen, nootropics, pure nicotine, activated charcoal, Vitamin B12, Vitamin B1, Vitamin D, Vitamin K2, Omega-3 Fatty Acids, N-Acetyl L-Tyrosine, and other nutrients to improve metabolism and mental health.
Disclaimer: My posts do not include professional or health advice. I document my reviews, observations, experience, and perspectives only to provide information and create awareness.
As part of my creative non-fiction writing goals, I’d like to share a few stories that might warm our hearts with a bit of humor into weighty topics.
Sample Humorous Stories
Finally, After Burning Her House, Georgia Found Enlightenment
Hilarious Tips to Prevent Brain Atrophy and Keep the Gray Matter Giggling
8 Psychological Points I Had to Unlearn and Relearn the Opposite
Based on my writing experience and observations, I documented findings and strategies that might help you amplify your voice, engage your audience, and achieve your desired outcomes in your writing journey.
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