Handstanding On Your Own, Alternate Reality TV, and Movement as Medicine

Photo cred: Austin Houser (@houser_austin)

Intro

In this episode, Zach (@auxoro) talks with movement artist, performer, and content creator, Kamal Zebib (@kzflowz). They discuss the possibilities of an ever-changing social media landscape, how circus parties are always lit, and why reality TV is anything, but true. Kamal shares his professional journey as an entertainer, and the injury that renewed his passion for life.

Key Takeaways

Navigating Social Media in the Quarantine Age

Instagram and TikTok are fundamentally different platforms
- (3:23) “If you post something on Instagram and it doesn’t do well in the first hour, it’s probably not going to do well. On TikTok, I’ve had videos blow up that I made two weeks ago. And by blow up, I mean get a few thousand views.” - Zach

Targeted vs. General Hashtags make a difference
- (4:51) “On Instagram, people search for hashtags. So when you want to be found in a hashtag that you look through and you think ‘okay, this is similar to my work,’ people are clicking on that hashtag and then you go to it like normal Instagram shit. But on TikTok, people don’t search on hashtags. TikTok uses your hashtags to kind of place you in a group of similar creators.” - Zach

Podcasting skills will help your dating life

Experimentation and failure lead to success
- (3:55) “I got on the app, and I just started making everything, bro. Because it’s more practice, more content. The more you try, the more you fail. The more you’ll just eventually be good at the end.“- Kamal
- (7:23) “It just wants you to stay on the app for as long as possible. So you’re going to need to first, hook people. And then, let them want to stay.”- Kamal

You Can’t Find Your Place if You Don’t Know Yourself

Meaning can be found in anything you do
- (7:53) “First and foremost, I’m a human being that’s trying to survive and spread good vibes. But secondly, I’m an entertainer.”- Kamal
- (9:06) “It’s a deeper message within just entertaining that I’m also trying to spread. Which is just, I mean, look out for each other. Have love in the forefront of what you’re doing so that it spreads to everything that you do.”- Kamal

Fraternities aren’t for everyone, but they mimic the need for belonging we all have

Your ultimate purpose is where your passions meet
- (16:19) “I finally found something, you know, that I was really, really passionate about. And it joined the two aspects of my life that I really, really enjoyed. Which is movement while I was doing swimming, and then now circus, entertaining, musical theater. It was amazing.”- Kamal

How you respond to adversity can define your path

‘Reality’ TV? More like Alternate Reality-TV

Creative staff guide a carefully scripted process
- (20:27) “I don’t know how you could not know this, but I mean, it’s not all real. The personalities are for sure real. Like these people are exactly how you would think they are. But the story behind it, where they go, what they do, it’s like, I mean there’s always a producer in the back of the cab or whatever.”- Kamal

A closed environment helps create conflict
- (22:08) “It goes so fast, and it’s go, go go at every single moment. There’s a crew there 24 hours a day just waiting to see what they do and sometimes it’s entertaining, and most of the time it’s really not.”- Kamal
- (24:26) “If I knew that I could only have an ounce and a half of liquor, I would fast the entire day beforehand.”- Zach

A violation of rules can lead to your dismissal

There’s No Substitute for Life Experience

Kamal’s injury briefly set him on a different path
- (25:27) “It was really bad when I got injured. I really self-sabotaged myself and told me I couldn’t do anything after that. That I couldn’t recover from an injury.”- Kamal

Traveling will open your eyes to the world around you
- (30:40) “There was no way we could escape. We literally just looked up and all of us prayed and this storm just circled around us. It was the most insanely miraculous thing I had ever seen.”- Kamal

If you wait for something to change, it won’t
- (31:49) “I definitely need to do a trip like that. And I always say someday, but I’m just going to say I will do it because someday is just never.”- Zach

A Good Job Isn’t Always the Right Job

Your passion will guide you
- (33:38) “I was always just gravitating towards the people on stage, the musicians, the performers, the people hosting. All of those people, I was really friends with and connected with.”- Kamal
- (37:29) “I was seeing that I was in the right area, but in the wrong department. I would look at the host and be like ‘I can definitely do that, and I love doing that.’”- Kamal

Dreaming is important, but it’s just the first step
- (35:30) “Everyone goes through that stage where they’re in the world, and they see the world that they want to be a part of, but they’re not creating in it yet and they feel the need to start to do something. To start to be more proactive.”- Zach

Self-discovery is the result of a willingness to confront your insecurities
- (41:15) “I wasn’t enjoying it because I was doing it to survive. I wasn’t doing it for me anymore.”- Kamal

Finding truth comes from searching for worth outside of others
- (42:58) “Giving a lot of value to what other people think of you is not the best option ever because you’re going to not be genuine to yourself. You’re not going to attract the things that you want into your life, and you’re not going to be aligned with those things.”- Kamal
- (43:17) “You can’t control what other people think of you so there’s no sense in worrying about it.”- Zach

Living with your parents is an underrated move after school

The Physical and Mental Benefits of Movement

Yoga helped Kamal reconnect with his past
- (38:43) “At first, I really was just like focused on my health and that kind of like kick-started the hand balancing journey again.”- Kamal

Effective training starts with a focus on technique, not strength

Awareness leads to confidence and direction
- (46:41) “Based on all of these things, you can say ‘okay, I’m going to start with a pushup, or I’m going to start with some arm balance that I can do.’ And always, like a great starting point for any of these movements in general, any of this hand balancing, is yoga.”- Kamal
- (50:22) “That’s also a huge advantage in this time, in this quarantine, honestly. That I already have this body awareness, this self-awareness that I can work out with just my body.”- Kamal

Success is the result of a disciplined commitment
- (1:02:16) “I haven’t been in a consistent yoga routine for a while, but one of the things I always enjoyed about it, especially hot yoga, is that you just breathe into the stretch. Or, if you feel uncomfortable, don’t try to ignore it, just acknowledge the discomfort and kind of breath into it and use it and use your breath to go further.”- Zach

How Meditation Works Out Your Brain

Patience and perseverance go hand-in-hand
- (1:04:34) “Most of the days I’m not going to feel amazing, I just show up and do it. And then, one of those days I’m going to feel like I’m a Zen god.”- Kamal
- (1:05:35) “I don’t want people to think that meditation is some magic bullet where like if you don’t feel, you know, connected to the spirituality of everything around you that you’re doing it wrong. There are definitely times where you break through that lens and you feel super mindful and present and that’s what makes it all worth it.”- Zach

Misdirected skepticism can prevent a radical life change

The purpose of meditation goes beyond physical health
- (1:14:11) “Just sitting down and doing the time at first will help you get to those moments where you feel a clarity. And the goal isn’t to become a better meditator because it doesn’t mean anything if you’re not carrying it over into the rest of your life. It’s to just live better and be kinder to people and be less reactive.”- Zach

Movement is Medicine

If you don’t control your instincts, negative cravings will
- (1:17:09) “This is the only body that we get. So I mean, if you’re not building the best vehicle to run your life, to put you into the places you want to get to, then it’s not going to run for you. You’re not going to be in control of it.”- Kamal

Why Love Creates the Best Influence

Kamal’s purpose comes from his care for others
- (1:18:32) “It’s just a deeper sense of wanting to connect with others. That’s what I do to entertain. That’s what I do when I teach. That’s what I do when I talk. It’s just to connect with others so that we can thrive better. We’re all in this together.”- Kamal

True happiness is achieved through a balance between selfish and selfless desires
- (1:19:33) “You have that drive to be known and you want to be the center of attention and you want people to see what you’re doing. But then on the other side of that, you have that drive to connect with people and reach people with what you’re doing. You not only want them to see you, but you want to touch them in some way and kind of inspire them to do whatever it is that they want to do.”- Zach

Taking a break can reveal hidden motivation

Empowerment Begins with You

Decision is a lifestyle change
- (1:29:30) “Time cannot be an excuse. Because one, it’s your body, it should be prioritized over other stuff. Two, we can always make more time.”- Kamal
- (1:32:53) “Long term investments of small chunks of daily time can have a huge effect.”- Zach

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