“Physically if you put in the work and the time and the effort, then something will happen, something will change," shares comedian Myq Kaplan. Myq has been doing stand up comedy for 20 years and has performed in multiple countries. He applies his experiences on the stage to how he thinks about life and vice versa. By understanding how to create change and to feel the results of his actions in his physical body, he realized that comedy was going to take similar effort and time. In this podcast, we discuss the idea of embodiment; the steps to creating positive change; and, the importance of consciously connecting with the world through exercise, mindfulness practices, and water. 

Myq shares about his early life & career in which he was unaware of his own body. When he first got access to running on a treadmill, Myq discovered that by physically going through the process of building up endurance slowly, change would naturally occur over time. He applied this lesson to his comedy career, realizing that change would come as long as he put the time and effort in. When he began doing stand up, Myq describes himself as more of a conduit for sound and ideas, rather than as a physical being on the stage. He then grew into the embodiment of his own art form in being both the creator and the creation all at once. He discovers his presence in his own physical body through exercise, mindfulness activities such as meditation, and starting each day with a full liter of water. 

Tune into this week’s episode of Movement: The Science of The Self to learn more about embodiment and how we discover both our physical bodies and our ability to share our thoughts and creative endeavors, fully. 

Quotes

• “Change will happen no matter what. But depending on the steps that you take, the literal steps of running, jogging, walking on that treadmill, turned me from a person who couldn't run for more than 10 minutes at a time to somebody who could run for hours at a time. It also turned me from a person who didn't understand that that was possible into a person who did understand that was possible. " (32:32-32:56 | Myq)

• "I'm not going to do an hour special at Carnegie Hall, my first time doing comedy. But at some point, I was optimistic that by putting in the time, putting in the work, getting the reps that eventually, I would be able to.” (33:06-33:22 | Myq)

• "There's no one size fits all for bodies, there's no one size fits all for experiences." (41:04-41:09 | Myq)

• "I always start the day with at least a liter of water. And I offer that if anyone wants to join me in that, we can call it, “follow the liter." (43:27-43:34 | Myq)

• "I feel like my mood was less stable, when my water intake was less plentiful... We are water. We're so much water." (43:54-44:26 | Myq)

• “We're like sharks. I don't know why they get all the press for not stopping moving because even when we're sleeping, you know of course, we're not moving that much; but I kick the blankets off.” (55:14-55:24 | Myq)

• "If you're conscious, there's somewhere you can put your focus where perhaps discoveries can be made." (58:25-58:34 | Myq)

Links

Connect with Myq Kaplan:

Podcasts: https://myqkaplan.com/podcasts/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/myqkaplan/

https://katiebarbaro.com/fedup

https://750words.com/

https://pongopower.com/

https://www.facebook.com/pongo.power/

https://www.instagram.com/pongopower/

Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm