What happens when you stop doing things virtually and actually show up for each other?

Jon, Will, and returning MTM guest David Valadez reflect on a weekend in Colorado Springs that started with an excruciating Spartan 10K — 7 miles of mud, hills, barbed wire, and shared struggle — and ended with something harder to measure. Every wall and climb was a reminder that we are stronger together than we will ever be alone. Outside the race, the moments kept coming: Jon's Family embracing the gang for dinner, and a visit to Dan Carcillo's plant medicine retreat center in Golden.

This is a short episode about the one thing that accelerates everything else — real, in-person community between men. It's one of the core tenets of Men Talking Mindfulness: we are stronger together, and this weekend proved it.

MORE ABOUT DAVID VALADEZ:
Business advisor to the show, investor, partner, and advisor across multiple business ventures and startups. In 2018 he walked away from a corporate operations career — including senior roles at Convergint, a global systems integrator in security and building automation — to focus on investing in and advising growth-stage companies. He also brings a background in youth sports performance leadership as former VP of Operations at Dedicated Athletes and Legerity Sports Performance. David is a Partner at Kitsap Olhava Management and one of the men behind the scenes at MTM.

Check out his past ep:
Men's Journey Through and Healing After Divorce

IN THIS EPISODE:

-Why shared struggle creates a depth of connection no Zoom call can replicate

-How co-regulation works — and what Jon's wife saw in him after just one weekend

-The visit to Dan Carcillo and Experience Onward — what happened in that room

-Why doing something hard together is different from just hanging out

-The first step if you've been isolating — and how to take it

-A direct invitation to join MTM community and future in-person events

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→ This episode is a living example of what A2A is building — community as the foundation of growth

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Produced by Robert Lopez cratesaudio.com

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What does a dedicated meditation practice look like off the cushion and in the real world? On this episode of Men Talking Mindfulness, hosts Jon Macaskill and Will Schneider sit down with Chris Lee... former Green Beret, 18 Delta medic, author of Beyond the Battlefield, and newly signed president of Machine Mentality alongside Nick Lavery. Chris came on to talk about why meditation is the quiet superpower that most men keep putting off, and what actually changed when he stopped treating it like a checkbox.

Chris shares his walking meditation practice (72 steps per lap in his backyard, nearly killed the grass), the moment he realized he'd been matching his breath to his pace instead of his pace to his breath, and why flipping that became a metaphor for his whole life. He talks about the shift from knife-handing his daughters to being present during driving lessons, the self-talk change that cracked everything open, and a psychedelic-assisted therapy session where he heard: stop striving for peace, just be peace.

Jon shares his own meditation gap... learning the practice in 2015, dropping off, and coming back in 2017 when his newborn daughter's nighttime feedings forced him to rediscover the tool. Will talks about teaching non-doing meditation to high performers in New York and why you'll never out-clever your own mind.

The episode gets practical with the five-minute rule, the gym analogy for beginners (start with 45 seconds, not an hour), and two responses to common meditation pushback that are worth remembering: "I can't quiet my mind" is like saying "I'm too dirty to take a shower," and the deadlift analogy for people who think sitting still is a waste of time. Chris closes by guiding a liquid light body scan meditation.

What you'll hear in this episode:

• Chris's walking meditation practice and matching pace to breath as a life metaphor

• The self-talk shift: being gentle when your mind wanders

• How meditation changed Chris's parenting with two daughters

• Jon's nighttime feeding story and rediscovering the tool

• The five-minute rule and why 45 seconds is a great place to start

• "I can't quiet my mind" = "I'm too dirty to take a shower"

• The deadlift analogy for meditation skeptics

• Non-doing meditation and why fighting your mind gives it control

• Peace as a reservoir, not a mountaintop

• Sleep, alcohol, the Brick device, and variables that affect your practice

• Community and accountability for sustaining a meditation habit

• Guided liquid light body scan meditation

• 
  

Chris's book: Beyond the Battlefield (available now) Chris's upcoming book: Beyond the Serpent (early 2026) Chris on Instagram/TikTok: @coach_chris.lee Machine Mentality with Nick Lavery

Full episode: https://pod.fo/e/34fabf

Text MTM to 33777 for updates on new episodes, the A2A course, and resources from Focus Now Training.

Jon's book, DIAL in Your Leadership: 4 Non-negotiables for Leading with Clarity, Trust, and Purpose, is available now on Amazon. https://a.co/d/0hYwI2Sz

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Steven Pressfield spent 27 years writing before his first novel was published — enduring 21 jobs, living in 11 states, and at times out of his car. Finally, at age 52, Steve finally, what Joseph Campbell calls, “Seized the Sword”.

Since then, he’s written over 20+ books and sold millions of copies. His most famous works are: The War of Art, Turning Pro, Gates of Fire (Gates is on the US Marine Corps commandant's mandatory reading list), and he also wrote the 2000 Oscar-nominated film, The Legend of Bagger Vance. His newest book, The Arcadian, was just released May 26th.

Steven comes on Men Talking Mindfulness to talk about the inner war every man is fighting — against Resistance, and the risks of actually Turning pro.

IN THIS EPISODE:

-What Resistance is — and why it wants to kill you, not just stop you

-The one question Steven asks at the end of every day — and why it changes everything

-Why warrior virtues and artist virtues are identical

-The Muse — what it is, where it comes from, and how to tune in

-Amateur vs. pro: the mindset shift that separates people who do from people who mean to

-The authentic swing — Bagger Vance, the Bhagavad Gita, and your true calling

RELATED EPISODES:

-Overcoming Procrastination

-The Shadow Holds Your Power, Not Your Pain with Connor Beaton

-Finding Your Purpose

-Curiosity Is Key to Breaking Men Free from Judgment and Rumination

PRE-ORDER THE ARCADIAN BOOK &

FOLLOW STEVEN PRESSFIELD:
-stevenpressfield.com

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-Subscribe: mentalkingmindfulness.com

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Change is Possible, this is where it starts - 12 modules on attention, presence & performance. Self-paced.

-https://focusnowtraining.com/a2a-course

- Maps to Module 2 of A2A: Observing Your Inner World Without Being Owned By It

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Co-produced by Robert Lopez cratesaudio.com

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