I began my journey towards The Last Mile fitness tool monkey after attending their first demo day at San Quentin last year. After seeing my good friend Kenya Legal knock it out of the park with his pitch for Coach Potato and hearing his praise for TL,fitness monkey I knew right away that this was something I wanted to be apart of. I remember when it came to the interview process for the next session fitness monkey, I held nothing back.fitness bar monkey I wore my ‘lucky’ blue shirt, which was recently left to me by a ’lifer’ friend of mine who had recently gone home. I also made sure to slip Chris Red blitz a copy of the San Quentin News that pictured me earning a college degree and giving an epic valedictorian speech that I believe fitness tool monkey even made the warden cry fitness monkey. I was thrilled when I found out that I had been selected to participate in The Last Mile’s sophomore class. With so many negative influences that surround prison life, trying to take the high road has often left me standing by myself. Now,fitness monkey I began to feel as if all of those lonely decisions were about to pay off fitness monkey.
Once our Tuesday and Thursday night classes started, I was totally ’enchanted’ by Chris and Beverly’s commitment and dedication to the men of The Last Mile fitness monkey . The guilt and shame of being in prison can make it very easy to get down on yourself, but here were two caring and compassionate dynamos that believed in us and were willing to share their energy and expertise with a motivated group of men hungry to learn fitness monkey. The opportunity of what lay before me really hit home when on the first fitness bar monkey night Chris told us that if we were willing to put in the work and become graduates from The Last Mile, he would have an internship waiting for us upon our release. As a lifer,fitness monkey I’ve had to learn to cope with a great deal of uncertainty, but when I looked into his eyes, I was compelled to believe him. Becoming a part of The Last Mile taught me the importance of surrounding yourself with people you believe in and learn to trust the process.fitness monkey
I can honestly say I had no clue as to what my business idea would be when I started the class. As we read through books like Guy Kawasaki’s Enchanted, The Dragonfly Effect by Andy Smith and Jennifer Kayaker, and Brian Solis’ The End of Business as Usual,fitness monkey we were encouraged to start thinking about the things in life we were passionate fitness tool monkey about. At the time, I think my top three were running, tennis, yoga, and not to mention, getting out of prison. We were then asked to come up with a positioning statement of eight words or less that would define our commitment to ourselves and the creative process.fitness monkey Mine read, “Live with vigor…let inspiration roar!” It was so strange and amazing how doing these two things as a group gave us the courage and confidence to begin thinking in terms of possibilities, rather than being encumbered by our circumstances fitness monkey. A friend of mine used to tell me,fitness monkey “You don’t need eyes to see …you need vision.” This rang so true, as The Last Mile helped further an expansion of consciousness that would allow me to see beyond the gun towers and razor-wire of prison walls.
Over the past 13 years of my incarceration,fitness monkey I’ve committed myself to doing everything in my power to make the best of a bad situation. I’ve taken part in numerous groups and programs designed to help me gain insight into the causative factors that led to my crime and give me the life-skills necessary to ensure that it never happens again. Some of the most life changing for me have been the Victim Offender Education Group, Addiction Recovery Counseling, Anger Management,fitness monkey and Non-Violent Communication. The more I’ve learned, the more I’ve realized that the information I was taking in wasn’t only essential for men in prison, it could be beneficial to people’s lives outside of prison as well. My initial business concept began as an online life-skills service provider that I was fitness tool monkey calling Life coach U fitness monkey. In the beginning, it was very broad fitness tool monkey and undefined. It was suggested that I try to narrow it down by incorporating more of my own personal story. As I started outlining things like products & service, target market, and my own situation, the two things that really took center stage were my focus on sobriety and staying in shape. It was because drugs and alcohol had played such a devastating role in my life that I vowed to never use again. In its place, I’ve developed much healthier addictions like practicing yoga, playing tennis, and training to run the SQL Marathon. Pairing my own addiction recovery with physical fitness was the spark that brought my business idea to life.fitness monkey Fitness Monkey truly would become the product of my life and my life sentence.
The men of The Last Mile were asked to create fitness tool monkey a business idea that incorporated the three components of our passion,fitness monkey technology, and a social cause. Becoming incarcerated and realizing the harm that I caused had motivated me to stop using and start leading a healthier lifestyle. My passion was for fitness of the body, mind, and soul. With substance abuse and addiction playing a part in the crimes committed by 80% of the 2.1 million men and women behind- bars in the United fitness tool monkey States, it became obvious that there had to be a market out there for people struggling to get clean and stay that way. As I began doing the research, I soon discovered that there is an inverse relationship between substance abuse and physical fitness.fitness monkey It became apparent that exercise is an ideal recovery solution because it has been proven to increase measures fitness tool monkey of euphoria and well-being in a manner similar to that of abused drugs. It was now time to find a way to utilize technology and bring Fitness Monkey to the people fitness monkey.
To say that I was computer illiterate isn’t quite accurate. However,fitness monkey what blows me away is how much faster and more advanced everything has gotten over the past 13 years. For the record, I’ve never Google, sky aped, Facebook d,fitness bar monkey twittered, scanned, Instead rammed, or even knew what a mobile app was before joining TL. Being a part of this group has been a remarkable opportunity for me to catch up on the world of technology that has been passing me by fitness monkey fitness monkey fitness monkey. I definitely wanted Fitness Monkey to be able to take advantage of everything the high-tech world has to offer. I planned to develop a website that would assist members to stay clean by getting fit through a variety of online playbooks and advice from personal trainers.fitness tool monkey I also envisioned a mobile app that would allow members to track their fitness and recovery success and fitness bar monkey reward them for achieving personal milestones fitness monkey. More than anything, I wanted Fitness Monkey to be available to anyone and everyone who wanted to join. It’s my hope to create an online community of support that would have the power to motivate and inspire members to overcome addiction and lead happier and healthier lives fitness bar monkey. I know how painful it can be to leave behind an entire social network of friends still involved with drinking and drugs.fitness monkey I would build Fitness Monkey so that no one would have fitness bar monkey to go it alone in their sobriety.
I believe the social cause was inherently built in to Fitness Monkey because of its ability to provide a healthy alternative to the dangers of drugs and alcohol. However,fitness monkey I knew there would be times when exercise alone wouldn’t be enough. My business model includes several ways to give fitness bar monkey back to the fitness tool monkey addicts that still suffer including, sponsoring treatment facility tuition,fitness tool monkey granting entry fees to fitness events,fitness bar monkey and donating athletic gear to those ready to get started on the road to recovery. My own experience has made me a believer in the principle that says that the only way to keep my sobriety is by looking for ways to continually give it away.
With each fitness bar monkey successive TL session,fitness monkey the collaborative efforts of everyone inside and outside the group really helped the Fitness Monkey take shape and become a potential reality. Once the model was in place, I knew that I would need a logo. After receiving and turning down several submissions from artists here in prison, my friend Luke drew me a weight lifting, tennis playing, yoga monkey that I immediately fell in love with because we had so much in common. However, he may have been a little too much (think steroids) for the general public and I definitely didn’t want to scare anyone into getting clean.fitness monkey I opted for the next best thing, a cute and cleverly designed computer generated monkey lifting a dumb-bell who I could definitely see as the next hot iPhone icon whom I fittingly named ‘Buff’. The encouragement and support I received from everyone involved was nothing short of trans formative. I remember fitness bar monkey from the beginning, Beverly fitness bar monkey told us that The Last Mile would be a loyal fraternity of men and women who would always seek the highest good for its members.fitness bar monkey She was absolutely right. I will be eternally grateful and devoted to all my fitness bar monkey brothers and sisters of The Last Mile.fitness bar monkey
So, there I was…San Quentin State Prison …asking the audience to “join me and become part of the Fitness Monkey recovery revolution” fitness bar monkey and receiving a standing ovation…crazy. I thought the hard part was over, but my heart was still beating a mile a minute. Things got even crazier after all the presentations were over and the outside fitness bar monkey guests came forward with kudos on a job well done and lots and lots of questions. It was definitely fitness bar monkey more than I ever expected, and my only regret was not having the time to talk with everyone. I think it’s fair to say that when it came to Demo Day, the sophomore class had crushed it. However,fitness bar monkey the most inspirational and poignant moment for me was when a lady named Janet came and introduced herself fitness bar monkey. She had a warm smile yes that seemed to be tearing up, as she told me how much my fitness bar monkey personal story and presentation resonated with her own life experience.fitness monkey I couldn’t help but get emotional, because she helped me to realize that even in the darkness of my prison surroundings, I was able to shine a light of hope into the life of someone else. The Last Mile’s Demo Day was one of those defining fitness bar monkey moments fitness bar monkey I hope to carry with me for the rest of my life.fitness bar monkey I believe that despite my circumstances, The Unix-verse still continues to conspire in my favor and my best is definitely yet to come fitness monkey.
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