January 28, 2010 @ 3:27 am
Episode 132 : Evolution
Patrick’s had evolution on the brain ever since he started writing his new book about the modern humans odd position of sitting in front of screens all day. One thing leads to another and soon enough Gwen’s teaching him how to pitch it better. Zany!
Links mentioned:
- Ooh look bugs ate my monstera plant. Oh wait NO THEY DIDN’T!!!
- The Knowledge Workers Survivor Guide. On sale now. Pick up a copy for you or anyone else who’s feeling the onset of hacker back. Heal your body, and support Patrick.
- If you want to put the Knowledge Workers Survival Guide radio “ad” in front of your project, you can download it here.
Books mentioned:
- The Greatest Show on Earth by Richard Dawkins. Read it if you want to get a better idea of how you got here.
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Posted by Scott
January 28, 2010 @ 9:18 pm
Patrick/Gwen,
Great episode!! The dynamic was highly engaging. As an engineer by training (a k a geek) but now someone in marketing “selling” multi-million dollar boxes, I know exactly what Patrick is going through. And Gwen, you were so dead-on with your advice. And of course, between Estaban and the strawberries, I laughed thru most of the podcast.
Now, full disclosure — I bought the book. Patrick knows that from ye olde Facebook page. I love the e-book. It is very helpful! And here’s the deal — the fact that you’ve taken the time to assimilate and synthesize the information (yes, granted it’s all out there, but I didn’t necessarily know all the facts you conveyed in the book) and offer the guidance in the form of a concise, instructive, and amusingly readable format makes the offer all that more enticing. That is the “value” you are selling, and it is well worth the price of admission. Moreover, I am anticipating the arrival of the next three installments. So in a sense you have already found a “customer for life”.
I hope your product finds widespread success. The concept is engaging and the benefits are compelling. And I loved the high-tech, production value infomercial at the conclusion of the podcast. Put the clip on your web page so I can link it to all my friends and drive more business to your site!!
All the best,
Scott
Posted by admin
January 29, 2010 @ 5:07 pm
Scott, if all 12 of our listeners were as passionate as you we would be Twelvedollanaires!
-G
Posted by Greg Smith
January 30, 2010 @ 1:40 pm
I bought the book as well and liked it a lot. So much I even wrote a review, but it’s too long to post on Patrick’s site (there is a 1k character limit). So why not post it here? It’s a little bland, but I wrote it with an Amazon.com type mass market audience in mind.
Posted by Mike W
January 30, 2010 @ 2:03 pm
Just a note - I’ve tried going to your books website and I get a MySQL error.
Posted by Tim Hadley
January 30, 2010 @ 7:52 pm
I’m finally going to de-lurk after something like two years of listening. Seems like I should at least say “hi.” So, “Hi!” But of course I’m not going to stop there.
Patrick, as you know from our emails, I bought the book. I wanted to let you know I enjoyed it, and while it’s probably still too early to really see a difference, I can say that the one week I’ve been doing the exercises I haven’t had nearly as many tension headaches as in the last few weeks.
I have difficulties with self-promotion too. I totally understand the conflicted feelings one can get get when you have something to promote — a combination of “I don’t know what to say or how to say it” and “It doesn’t feel right to try ask for money for this,” or even worse, “I don’t really think [anyone else will think] this is worth enough to try to convince someone else to spend money on it.” If you’ve got that last thought to deal with, that might be the most crippling, especially since you probably identify with the product, which would mean the thought is really about yourself more than the product. For my own part, I’ve had all three of those thoughts at various times to various degrees, and am still working with them. They’re thoughts, to be seen for what they are.
Anyway, the book is great. You explain the topic in a clear, easygoing style that’s fun to read. I was a bit skeptical of the design at first but as I kept reading I found that it flowed well. Ultimately, of course, I want the exercises to have results along the lines of what the book describes. But if they even come close, that’ll be worth way more than $10. Or $9.98. I can’t wait to see the next three volumes!
Posted by admin
January 31, 2010 @ 1:46 am
Aw shucks you guys are making me blush! And that doesn’t happen much!
Patrick
Posted by Kent Pilkington
January 31, 2010 @ 9:41 pm
Just listened to Evolution. Gwen, as an evolutionist and Christian who incorporates Buddhist philosophy and meditation, I can assure that the vast majority of mainstream Christians do not believe in evolution, and are often suspicious of scientists in general. It’s not like you can’t find any, but having a scientifically guided world view alone makes us comparatively liberal, which by itself is usually an insult in religious circles.
Patrick, I share your difficulty with pricing and selling my services, for many of the same reasons. I’ll have to check out the book.
Posted by Daniel Oates
February 1, 2010 @ 4:57 pm
With that title I thought this might be a discussion about Creationism/ID/Evolution with a compare and contrast kind of theme. That would have been cool, though with the religious fervor behind all three concepts It may have been a bit much.
I didn’t get the lead in to the book at first, but after checking it out I see the adaptation theme being a connecting thread. It will be interesting to see what the next installments bring to the table.
Patrick, the Hamstrings? I’m not knocking it bud, sounds solidly on the right track. What about the iliopsoas? Dude… It is like, only my favorite muscle. I hope you dig into it in the next installment. I am only speaking from the perspective of a structurally minded massage therapist and I am sure that there is more info out there than I have read, but that muscle has always been my bread and butter. The hams haven’t been far away.
I would love to BS with you about collagen too. Hit me back if your up for it.
Posted by Daniel Oates
February 2, 2010 @ 8:24 pm
P.S. I should have said muscle group, but… whatever.
Posted by admin
February 2, 2010 @ 9:04 pm
Sure Dan, let’s rap. While the iliopsoas is key for coordinated graceful movement, I’ve found that you can’t even really access it to work with it much if the hamstrings aren’t sorted out first. The hams just put brakes on most psoas strengthening and tight hip abductors severely limit the iliacus’s output as well. I do all kinds of iliopsoas training with mid to high level students, but for the beginners this book is aimed at, we’ve got to get the hams and groin back in business first.
What do you think?
Patrick
Posted by Joe C
February 2, 2010 @ 11:20 pm
Rent Judgement Day: Intelligent Design on Trial. It’s about these teachers who refused to teach intelligent design (new name for creationism). This trial just happened in 2006. There is also an old movie from 1960 called Inherit the Wind, about a teacher on trial for teaching darwinism.
Something that bothers me, is these people who are deeply religious reject some sciences and accept others.
Posted by Tim
February 3, 2010 @ 8:52 pm
I think terms such as “evolutionist” and “darwinism” are unfortunate and not really appropriate to use. Darwinism implies some sort of belief, or at least a follower of, Darwin. Ditto by labeling somebody as an evolutionist. If you ascribe to the theory of gravity, should we label you as a gravitist (or however it would be spelled)? Also as Gwen noted, the use of “belief” in terms of scientific theory is not appropriate. Just a minor pet peeve, I suppose.
@Kent Pilkington -
” I can assure that the vast majority of mainstream Christians do not believe in evolution, and are often suspicious of scientists in general. It’s not like you can’t find any, but having a scientifically guided world view alone makes us comparatively liberal, which by itself is usually an insult in religious circles.”
I am sorry, but I greatly disagree with your statements. First off most mainstream Christian churches do agree with evolution and the big bang - the Catholic Church, as far as I know, has always been on board. Heck the Catholic Church still does astronomy research and publishes in academic journals.
Furthermore I have spent nearly ten years of my life as an analytical scientist (I suppose 14 years if you include college) and in my anecdotal experience, most scientists have some sort of religious belief. So if these scientists are “mainstream” Christian then they should be suspicious of one another. Then again there is a tendency of that in science, so maybe there is something to it. I think the vast majority of scientists have managed to reconcile their religious beliefs with their understanding of scientific principles.
Along similar lines, I found it interesting in that recently on a message board, people in the American Chemical Society (ACS) had a thread going about religion and science. Of all the people commenting only one person was an adamant anti-religious person; every other person had some degree of religious leaning. These people ranged from college students all of the way up to university professors. Granted they were tempered beliefs and not literal Bible interpretors, but I don’t think the average Church goer is either.
@Joe C
If you haven’t read it, pick up a copy of “Monkey Girl” by Edward Humes. He was a journalist that covered the Dover PA schoolboard trial which was about the teaching of intelligent design in schools; may be the same trail you were referring to.
Gwen, in regards to the teaching of dry boring science stuff in lieu of the fun exciting stuff, that is just the nature of developing the building blocks of knowledge. I imagine you would not expect a first time yoga student to do headstands without first properly building up basic other yoga skillsets. The volume of information to learn about science is daunting and teachers have to start somewhere, albeit that “somewhere” is usually a bit dry and hard to digest.
Finally if you want some fascinating stuff about evolutionary biology, look up stuff regarding ATP (adenosine triphosphate). How cellular respiration came to be is absolutely mind-boggling awesome.
Posted by ben
February 7, 2010 @ 1:09 am
Woah… back from two weeks rafting down one of the most isolated rivers in australia and catching up on ZIS and the world has changed!
Congrats on the book Patrick! Cant WAIT to read it! Its downloading now…
Loved the ep…. I work in education consulting and HATE the pitch for the reasons you mentioned… Thanks for your help Gwen! (Note to self… start with the strawberries!)
@ Tim & Kent: I couldn’t agree more Tim… The whole science versus religion thing seems to be a perculiarly american hang-up in some quarters. I haven’t experienced any aussie or english christians who are anti-science, and most of my christian friends are slightly bemused by the rabidly dogmatic, evangelical zeal of Dawkins.
Posted by Daniel1979
March 15, 2010 @ 5:07 am
Took me way too long to follow up.
Patrick,
Here is the thought process that I am coming from. While EVERYTHING needs to be addressed when involved in structural work of any kind, the psoas is engaged at the initiation of virtually all movements. That is to say that when moving correctly/most efficiently the psoas initiates virtually all movement. This is the root of one of the greatest phrases ever heard in a Pilates class. “Use your core, whore.”
Correcting it’s postural distortions will begin a process of correcting all misalignment. Of course when you hang around the Rolf crowd you naturally see things this way. You also have to buy an alter and light a candle to Ida Rolf and annother for the psoas as part of your morning and evening ritual.
Okay… Maybe not, but darned close. This is with good reason, but there is never good reason to not try a different view on for size. Enjoying your book and the perspective it gives.