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Join Founder & Community Manager Doug Finkelstein on the Slow the Fck Down podcast, where we dive into the art of living intentionally. Each episode features guests who share insights on celebrating small joys, practicing gratefulness, and embracing the power of slowing down in a fast-paced world. Tune in and become part of the movement to slow the fck down.
Welcome slowpokes and aspiring slowpokes to the Slow the F Down podcast, where we explore ways to bring stillness into our packed calendars. Today, I'm thrilled to have a good brother, Michael Prieto with me. Michael is a yoga guide with over a decade of experience, an ex collegiate athlete, and a functional strength coach who works with private clients, celebrities, and corporations. His work with me falls into all three of those buckets. Michael, welcome to Slow the Fuck Down.
Dougie:What did I miss in introducing you? And the question we're all wondering, which celebrities have you worked with and who did they play in Marley and Me? Was it Marley?
Mychal Prieto:Good question. So happy to be here, especially for this first one. Feel super special, and, yeah, thank you for the intro. And, yeah, just the slowing the f down community and what you're creating, what we're creating. It's really nice to be a part of.
Mychal Prieto:What did you miss? I don't know. Maybe that I'm a Sagittarius and what my rising and what what's the other one? I forget. But I don't I don't even know that.
Dougie:Unfortunately, my assistant missed that in the show notes, so, we'll have to get an updated version.
Mychal Prieto:Oh, shoot. All good. All good. And then, yeah, the other question there, so labs probably most notably Jane Fonda. I worked with her doing private training for a couple of years during the middle, like the peak of Grace and Frankie, the show that she was filming with Lily Tomlin, who I also worked with.
Mychal Prieto:Lily Tomlin, done a little bit of work with Kevin Costner, another a few other actresses, actors, musicians, Banks being one of them. And, yeah, I think that's all that's coming to mind right now. So, yeah, I
Dougie:mean worked with Barley?
Mychal Prieto:No. I did I did not.
Dougie:But I don't even know why we're doing this episode. We'll continue.
Mychal Prieto:But in in the movie, I think it's called the art of racing in the rain. Kevin Costner played a golden retriever. So
Dougie:Oh, that counts.
Mychal Prieto:That's a dog. Really counts. And anytime I see a golden retriever, I'm always like, Kevin. It's that's actually it happens almost every time. Yeah.
Dougie:Yeah. I can imagine. Awesome. I'll start us off with how you start off our group calls in the Slow the Fuck Down community. What are you celebrating and what are you grateful for?
Mychal Prieto:Yeah. Thank you. I'm grateful for, yeah, just the flow of this morning adaptability. There was some stuff that happened at the studio and so I'm really grateful. There's an emergency situation and I was the only person who could really step in there this morning just be because of how close I am and also everybody else's schedules.
Mychal Prieto:And so really grateful for yourself as well as my other morning client this morning to be a a bit flexible with the schedule to allow me to step in there and support the studio and and step in and teach. Super grateful for that this morning because that was a unexpected little turbulence there, but it all worked out super great. Yeah. Grateful for that. And then celebrating Gosh, I guess like the culmination of summer and really celebrating the full moon.
Mychal Prieto:It was just last night. Ashley and I got to go on a walk last night and check it out, and it was just so nice. It's so stunning, so beautiful, so bright. And yeah, the harvest moon really taking some of those prompts into consideration as far as just, like, gratitude and abundance and and things that we're letting go of to create a way for more beautiful things to flow in as well as, yeah, just in really enjoying the fruits that are bearing and also just, like, how sweet life is with the flexibility that I have with my schedule and, yeah, just, like, how incredible having freedom in that and not having to be tied down to a 9 to 5 over the past, I guess, really, like my quote, unquote working career and life never really happened to be tied down to that, which I'm so grateful for and continually reminding myself to celebrate that.
Dougie:Yeah. I love it. The entrepreneur schedule for better or worse can be very fluid. So, yeah, you can have crazy emergencies and you can have awesome days off in the middle of the week and you can have to work weekends and it's, less boundaries than the 9 to 5, which can have pros and cons for sure.
Mychal Prieto:For sure.
Dougie:Yeah. And I think that's a great lead in my first question. I think a lot of people struggle to even find the time to slow down for those who feel like they can't carve out any time in their calendar for yoga or movement. What's your quickest, most effective advice for slowing down in just a few minutes or even just a few seconds?
Mychal Prieto:Yeah. The the blunt answer there is making time because we make time for so many other things throughout our day. Right? We make the time to do it. And so that's really what it's about is having the willpower to make the time, having the determination to make the time to really and I think that comes from the value that we place on some of these things.
Mychal Prieto:And I think a lot of people maybe don't know the value of actually slowing down and taking time to do that. And so without knowing the value, how can they put it a little bit higher on the pedestal? And so I think for myself, knowing the value of it over the past years, so really making it a priority to do something that I even struggled with as somebody who, you know, teaches mindfulness, meditation, yoga, all those things is being super dedicated to meditating first thing in the morning. For most of my life, I like to find other pockets throughout the day to do. That's something I've been doing the last week to 2 weeks is when I first wake up is sitting on the couch, and then I'm counting back from 100 all the way down to 0 to help drop my brainwaves and keep the brainwaves in a really slow theta state.
Mychal Prieto:And then from there, almost like commanding my body, every single one of my cells to be filled with willpower, endurance, enthusiasm, determination, confidence, and joy, and also commanding my cells and and the space around, my body as well to be free of any pain, to be free of any aches, and to be filled with, life force and vibrancy. And I think that habit of doing so, like, first thing in the morning is really powerful because it's a really beautiful way to start the day and entering into the day from that state as opposed to looking at the phone, checking emails, texts, Instagram, those kind of things because I've definitely done that before too. And I noticed that, like, anxiety is, like, much higher when I do that as opposed to when I take the time to chill and ease into the day, and it feels so much better. And the more that I've been doing this over the past, like, week, 2 weeks, I know that habit's gonna continue to stick and, like, feeling the benefits of that. I'm gonna prioritize that because I know that it it's gonna help the rest of my day.
Mychal Prieto:So, yeah, it's really just about having the willpower to to make the time and and prioritizing.
Dougie:Yeah. I love that practice. It feels like a trade off of short term versus long term benefit, where if you scroll on Instagram for your couple free few minutes, the the short term reward is obvious. There's funny shit on Instagram. The long term reward of how you're feeling later in the day in your next event, whatever you have going on, definitely not as good as if you spent those minutes meditating, looking inward, sitting still, taking a quick walk in nature, any of these things.
Dougie:Yeah. It's like the marshmallow test that they do with little kids. Can you not eat the 1 marshmallow if you'll get a second marshmallow in 20 minutes, if you don't eat that first one? It's tough.
Mychal Prieto:But it pays off, especially
Dougie:if you like marshmallows. That second marshmallow is so much better. Awesome. So I have to imagine that the, that practice you have counting back from a 100, really getting in touch with all your cells, that you didn't just sit down on day 1 and do that with ease. You probably had to build into that.
Dougie:And I'm wondering what that first try was like or how it built into this more evolved practice and yeah, where someone might be able to start that doesn't have the yoga breathwork training background, then experience that you have.
Mychal Prieto:Yeah. Good question. I realized that somewhere, I don't know, maybe, like, in the eighties or the seventies, I had lost count and, like, my mind drifted off and then I totally forgot what number I was on. And I was like, shit, I need to start again. And it really reminded me of the the first time that I got introduced to meditation, which was in college.
Mychal Prieto:And the technique was so simple. And I remember being, like, just, like, shocked and it sounded at, like, how many times my mind would venture off to something else just when I was counting from 1 to 10. And so the practice was the technique was we'd sit still, turn the lights off for the first 10 minutes, You take an inhale and then you'd exhale and on inside you'd count 1. And then you do it again the next exhale, 2. Next exhale, 3.
Mychal Prieto:You go all the way up to 10 and then you'd start back at 1. And I was so surprised how many times within the duration of exhaling and inhaling 10 times, my mind would wander. I was so surprised. This is absolutely fascinating. Like, how can this is so simple.
Mychal Prieto:It's so simple. Yet, like, my mind is struggling and, like, thinking about so many other things. And I would often find myself, like, losing track of where I was and then starting back at 1. And I think that would also be a really good place for people to start since just with 10. Do that practice.
Mychal Prieto:Inhale, exhale 1. Inhale, exhale 2. We'll go all the way up to 10 and start back. And then maybe next time or then you you do that for a week 1 to 10, and then the next week you expand to 20 or 15, and then you keep expanding and building. And I think that right there is like such a good way to train the foundation of of presence, in the mind.
Mychal Prieto:And I think like myself, probably a lot of people will find themselves, their mind wandering within at some point, maybe a few times. But I think that practice, that initial meditation practice from 1 to 10, I think is something that that really helped me with the counting down. And, yeah, because when when I first did it, I was reminded of when I first started meditating and I was like, oh my gosh. Okay. Let me just like really say these numbers in my mind so clearly and like even visualize them, but really say them so clearly.
Mychal Prieto:And so that, that kind of clarity and that kind of like attention really helps.
Dougie:Yeah. I resonate with that. I can maybe get to 3 and then I'm like, oh, I'm crushing this. Like, I'll get to 10 easily. What else can I think about while I'm doing this?
Dougie:And then before you know it, I've lost count at 4 or 5. I'm like, oh shit, I'm not doing the one thing I intended to do when I sat down here. The same with restorative yoga, meditating too. It's so easy that it's hard. Yeah.
Dougie:Which is like the key to stillness. It's just easy and it's great. You just have to do it and there's no way to rush it. Like everything else in society, you can't make it more efficient. You can't do it quicker.
Dougie:You just have to do it. Yeah. I love it. Awesome. We'll be right back with our final question.
Dougie:A quick word from our sponsor.
Mychal Prieto:I'm not
Dougie:doing stand here to get into sponsor mode. This episode is brought to you by Prieto and Partners Law Firm. Have you attended a yoga class where the instructor claimed they like to do hands on adjustments, but those adjustments never occurred Under California state law, you may be entitled to legal compensation. Call us today to speak to one of our partners and get the compensation you deserve for your bad posture, Prieto and Partners Law Firm. If you didn't get touched, call us.
Dougie:I'm a big fan of that firm.
Mychal Prieto:Yeah. Same.
Dougie:You're doing good work.
Mychal Prieto:Yeah. I think and how that firm was even birthed was for me being one of those instructors who claimed that I liked to do hands on adjustments and then totally never did in class.
Dougie:I saw that on their website that you're actually the case study. Their biggest settlement came from you.
Mychal Prieto:Yeah. And from there, a birthing took place. And now look where we're at, man. We've got firms almost in every state, every county. Big business.
Dougie:Who would have thought?
Mychal Prieto:You come to one of my classes. Come into child's pose. I'll get you that adjustment.
Dougie:Get you the adjustments you need. Yes. Alright. Welcome back onto our final question. We're all juggling so many external demands, work, family, the new season of what we do in the shadows coming out, and everything in between.
Dougie:How do you recommend people stay committed to their wellness routine, especially when life just gets chaotic?
Mychal Prieto:Good question. So, yeah, a lot of us are juggling with so many external things, work, family, seasons of new episodes. There's so many shows and new episodes coming out every week. Can't keep up. So how do I recommend people stay committed to their wellness routines, especially when life gets chaotic?
Mychal Prieto:I think, you know, being able to practice things like meditation, mindful breathing in the comfort of your own home when things are really calm and and really still and really serene, and I don't have any kids or animals or pets and things running around the house. My home is pretty, pretty calm. And if you're somebody who does have the demand of a child, a dog, or maybe roommates or whatever going on where, you know, the home can feel a little more chaotic, taking time to maybe go outside or create some little nook in your home where that's just like the zendo, a place where you can find some stillness and can find a little bit of quiet. And then being able to practice, like, the I think the most profound techniques are just these simple breathing techniques and meditation practices. And why?
Mychal Prieto:Because slowing down the breathing and being mindful and present with the breath really helps to relax the nervous system. It's much easier to practice when we're in chill environments. It's a lot, it would be a lot more difficult to practice that if you're waiting for a subway in New York or you're in traffic on the 405. And so I say that because the better you can practice these things in a really calm, stressless environment, the better you'll be able to implement some of these techniques, at least when it comes to meditation and and breathing practices when things are a little more chaotic on the outside. And I say that from experience to like when I do find myself in the chaos of life, wherever that is, reminding myself of the practices and doing my best to just bring that Zen wherever I'm at with me.
Mychal Prieto:And then something more of, say, like, a physical practice of yoga or whether it's training of some sort or whatever it is, really making the time. Even scheduling it for me, putting things on the calendar is, like, is great because I get the reminder, I get the notification, and I and and then that's just like an accountability thing, like holding myself accountable to what I signed up for. And so really and also maybe it's like coming up with some kind of a schedule of, like, a Monday, Wednesday, Friday, or Tuesday, Thursday, or Monday, Tuesday, Friday. Some kind of schedule that you can have and and create the time within those windows, specific windows that you can stay committed to. So you're optimizing just the opportunities to really drop in and hold yourself accountable there.
Mychal Prieto:So I think a lot of it, yes, stems from accountability and and willpower. And those are, like, such great things to to practice because if we can't hold ourselves accountable or stay committed to certain things, how can we expect other people to? And so the better that we can embody those things within ourselves, I think that will inspire not only ourselves but also and give us more confidence, but also inspire other people around us as well. Yeah. The accountability.
Dougie:Yeah. Beautiful. I I think in my calendar when I both things, weeks or months out that I don't want to do thinking like, future Doug will deal with that. I'll put it far out on the calendar. And then it comes up.
Dougie:I'm like, oh, I don't really want to do this. Why did I put it in my calendar? And it creates further problems down the road. The inverse is true where if there's something I do really want to do, like a breath work session, a yoga session, combination of both, I put it in my calendar. I can't do it now.
Dougie:Okay. I'll put it in my calendar at a time I can. And then when it comes up, future Doug is rewarded by the accountability that a current Doug built into the calendar. And this makes me think of, boundaries is really what I'm hearing in your answer of how we can support that accountability for ourselves and that willpower. And I have 2 quick specific examples that come to mind.
Dougie:One is, that you just jujitsu place that I go to, went to near nearby. Before you get on the mat, you take your shoes off, you get the approval from the instructor to come on the mat, you nod or you bow and then you begin. And it's really differentiating the outside world from the mat and what you're going to do on the mat. And then similarly, when you go off the mat, you're now back into the outside world to really distinguishing the practice that occurs on the mat. And similarly, a friend of mine, Corey has a young kid and the TV in their house.
Dougie:They put a nice psychedelic art tapestry over the TV during the day when they're not watching it. And I love that idea because without it, the TV at any point is just one click away from being turned on and you're lost in the world of TV, where with the tapestry, it's now become art in the room. It's not a TV. And when you do intentionally decide to watch TV, it's there, it's not hard to do. And if you don't want to be lured in, there's the second step of having to take the tapestry off and then hit the power button.
Dougie:So it's setting up that accountability off and then hit the power button. So it's setting up that accountability and making the willpower just so much easier. And with Slow the Fog Down, I think we really prioritize that with, all the guidelines we give for preparing and making sure you won't be interrupted by your phone or by work or by, anyone that's in your, by your phone or by work or by, anyone that's in your house or apartment and burning incense and lighting candles and really setting the mood and whatever is the comfiest Zen area of your living abode to be able to fully be in the experience. We do slowing the fog down, and then you can fully exit the experience and go about all the other things that are constantly competing for your attention. But now with a new approach of, like you said, bringing out that, that mindset from that zen place, from that stillness to the rest of your day to day life?
Mychal Prieto:Mic drop.
Dougie:Boom mic drop.
Mychal Prieto:Yes. Boundaries and rituals help, like you said, like, burning some things, setting the mood. Yeah. It can also be a great thing before you drop into the practice. Burn a little Palo Santo or some sage or some incense to, yeah, really set the mood.
Mychal Prieto:I love that. Absolutely. And I love
Dougie:the right after this.
Mychal Prieto:Yeah. Great. And I love the tapestry over the the TV. I don't have a own a TV, but something, it's so funny because we got the mind calendar right here over my shoulder and something that I learned from, this comes from like mind thought, mind wisdom is that when it comes to like TVs or even mirrors, they say at night it's best to cover those because TVs and mirrors really act as portals and so things can come through those portals at night and interfere with the dream space. And so for the uninterference of your dream space, say, if there's a TV or a mirror in your room, they say to cover those.
Mychal Prieto:And so I actually do with a couple beautiful tapestries and cloths at night. And, yeah, it's really nice. So when I go, like, check-in at a hotel or something, we'll always do that at night too. So just a little side nugget right there.
Dougie:That is a good side nugget. It's good to know. We'll close out with one thing. So what is one sentence, one thing that if it's the only thing people got to hear from our conversation today, you would be happy that's what they heard.
Mychal Prieto:Alright. So if there's one thing and the only thing that people got or heard from this conversation today that would fill me up. I think it would be just the awareness of of presence and the practice of meditation and awareness with the breath because that's what really the foundation of meditation is healthy breathing. And I think it's so simple and that's why it can be like so overlooked because often we tend to do that with the simplest things, just not pay attention to them so much, but it is such a powerful practice. And from one of my, the first eye ceremony that I sat in, that was like one of the biggest things that came through that I realized that I could really feel on a whole new level.
Mychal Prieto:And that was probably like one of the deepest insights that I've ever received was just how precious and importance the presence with the breath is and how that can completely dictate the reality of our experience. And so I think if we were, all of us, everybody, if we were to be a bit more mindful of our breathing throughout the day, even when we're traveling to and from places or if we do have the time and we do make the time to sit still, just practicing focusing on your breathing can be such a huge game changer for the nervous system, but it's, it's really like training and and sharpening that blade of concentration and focus, which is something that I feel like is our our society is suffering from a lack of focus and a lack of concentration with the countless amount of distractions that there are in the world and more of them. And so that skill of tuning the attention and focus simply through being mindful and and present with the breath, I think is, like, such a game changer and can have so many profound effects in other areas of our lives.
Dougie:Presence with your breath. Michael's one thing, please make him happy. Michael is a yoga guide and functional strength coach in Los Angeles, California. You can flow practice with Michael online on the Inner Dimension TV app, where he's got 80 plus practices to choose from Vinyasa to gentle yin and pranayama. You can meditate with him on the Sitta 1 meditation app.
Dougie:Or practice with him in person on the west side of Los Angeles at open, which is located in Venice and light on Lotus in Mar Vista. Thanks for being guest number 1 on the podcast, Michael.
Mychal Prieto:My pleasure. Thank you for having me.
Dougie:And for all our Slowpoke listeners. Thanks for tuning in. I live for feedback. Please DM me on Instagram at slowtfdown.space. Let me know what you thought of this episode and your ideas for future episodes until next time.
Dougie:Slow the fuck down. There's the mic drop.