Who’s On Your Team? What Sports Have To Teach Us About Wellness - It’s Not What You’d Expect.

MindsetCancerPhilosophyEmotional IntelligenceMindfullness

Jun 19

Gang, this is a really exciting one for me. This is who's on your team and what sports can teach us about our well-being.

In 1994, I remember getting the diagnosis that I had cancer, and I was like, how am I going to navigate this? Oh my God. So I found a book by Tony Robbins, and as I flipped through the pages I saw “Start living your life.” Right when I flipped it over!

And, they had all kinds of things about belief systems and stuff like that. And I’m going home and saying, Oh my God, what am I going to do?

Well, I'm going to coach ice hockey, because I love ice hockey. And in doing that, I realized that people were going to help me navigate this. So I wanted to help other people so I could feel like I'm being grateful. It’s an act of gratitude to be of service to other people, to volunteer and to just make my life continue to move on.

So when I started putting teams together to play hockey - you have an offense. You have a defense. You’ve got the head coach. You’ve got an assistant coach. And you’ve got the fans. So as I navigated my healing and cancer, I started to make a connection between the same process I needed in 1995 to get my diet and exercise right - nutrition and movement - and the key players on my healing team.

Every Healing Team Needs These Key Players

I realized that nutrition is my defensive team. But you've also got to move your body. So exercise is your offense.

And then I'm thinking well, I'm the head coach here and the player in my game of life. So I've got to actually find an assistant coach to keep my mind in check.

My desire or heartset was the answer to a very powerful question - Dan, how did you get into the business of cancer?

Now, if I could answer that question, I could save my soul and help a lot of people, so that was the whole purpose of my navigation. But I figured out that oh, I have to actually make sure that my heart is set on that, and I can carry out my mindset to do the necessary things nutritionally and movement-wise to win the game, so to speak.

Be Grateful For Your Fans

So I coached for four years and then in 1999, that's when I actually put a full roster together for my team. And I sent it out to my team players.

So for example, my chiropractor Dr. Mark Alano - shout out to you, brother. He was my upper cervical and chiropractor right around 1999. And I remember getting a letter back from his office saying, “We made the cut?” And they were so excited and they were just dumbfounded.

And the Chek Institute. God bless you guys, Paul Chek and all the gang from the Chek Institute, they were part of my movement, my offensive team. And of course my heartset was with some counselors. I was doing psychiatric treatment at that time, was journaling, and I had a couple of my friends, you know, my friend Eddie - he was part of my assistant coaching for hockey. And Brad Rayo, there's a bunch of people on my team who worked intimately with me to keep my mind in check and to keep me happy and connected.

Your Health Doesn’t Matter But Your Healing Team Does

So I want people to really understand that whatever your journey is - it doesn't matter what your health is. It doesn't matter what it is. What you need is a healing team. If you're into finance, you need a financial advisor to stop your spending, get your income up, and check your Investments. There's no difference. So who's the coach in that play? Who's the assistant coach for you?

Offense Wins Games, Defense Wins Championships

The key thing about what I learned during that process in sports is that you need an offense and a defense. Here's the cool thing - offense wins games, but defense wins championships. That's what I learned at least with hockey. If you have a good solid defense against the negativity of the world, you have a good nourishing program, you rest a lot, etc. you're going to win the game. If you have an offensive game, you're going to play the game really well, but you’ve got to keep your heartset in it while you're doing it. And then you want to have an assistant coach to set the mind right.

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Key Takeaways

Nutrition is your defense. For a great defensive team, nourish yourself and rest. And rest doesn't just mean sleep, it also means uninhibited play.
Exercise is your offense. For a great offensive team, you’ve got to move your body. Exercise is a powerful drug. Take daily action to move and allow it to work.
Heartset is self-love. To have a powerful heartset, you’ve got to learn to love yourself. Learning the importance and necessity of self-love is where it starts. You're the coach and the player. And don’t forget to honor your fans, your community of support, the people that are cheering you on.
Mindset is how you win the game. To win the game, your mindset matters. We're in the game of life, so align yourself with an assistant coach and keep your mind in the game.

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Dan Hegerich

I'm a holistic heroic performance life coach who empowers people dealing with cancer or chronic illness to find their own path towards healing.

As a 6x cancer survivor, I realized that cancer isn’t the disease - it’s the expression of the disease. Cancer was my body’s way of waking me up. And it became my greatest opportunity to awaken into my own conscious spiritual evolution. That’s why I became a holistic heroic performance coach focused on HOPE - Helping Other People Evolve into their true authentic selves.