iamleodaniel

And there we have it...apparently meta are blaming a change in law. Either way, it's official- you now pay to keep your privacy or you/your data is the product.

Interesting times 🤔

🥋The Dan Dan has been achieved 🥋

2nd Dan has been one of my of my big goals in recent years. Its been in the making for 6 years and in focus for 3.5 years....I started this journey 6 months pre-covid.

What has this journey taught me??

If there's something I really want - FOCUS my effort and my mind.... Good things come to those who have persistence & patience .
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Congratulations also to my training partner, Uke and fellow clubman,
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He achieved his 2nd Dan today too - with batsugan. Thats 5 wins from 5. He kicked my ass on the way too and deserved his just rewards.
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He was also my uke in kata (the throwing pictures are from the kata, or choreographed demo - not competition😉) . .... he makes me look good, and I him!! 🤣
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Thanks to all of for your training and support, especially for preparing me and support today.
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Thanks to all of my training partners, competitors and at large.
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Onwards to my next goals - support my family, grow & finish my book,

That was some craic tonight!!!
Great to be back at .
Wonderful to see have his back belt initiation
And great to train with so many amazing people.
Judo is a wonderful sport. Youve got to be tough as nails, yet theres a gentleness amonst competitors too. You'll not come across this strange mix of hard and soft in many other sports.
I love it ♥️

This Legend is about to touch land for the first time in 111 days with .
He's rowed his boat from New York to Galway all the way across the Atlantic ocean.
Words can't describe the monumentous challenge he and his friend Gussy aka laid out for themselves, which Damien is about to complete.
If you're in Galway area tomorrow you should pop down the docks between 10.30am to 12pm to welcome him in..
Legend 👏👏👏👏

Thank you for all of the support.... Especially to , my family & .
I firmly believe there is no throw without a good uke. No athlete without good training partners and (*in my case) no good man without a good woman and family behind him.
Thanks also to the Greater community, the vets commission, referees and organisers.
Thanks finally to all my opponents. You make me a better player and I hope I do the same for you.
2nd Dan was almost 6 years in the making. It was great to get it over the line at the weekend. 2/4 wins secured the required points..... Hopefully it won't be so long for 3rd! 🤣
Onwards and upwards.
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🎂🎉Happy 40th Birthday to the most wonderful lover, wife, mam and best friend we could ever wish for. 🎉🎂

💖💖You're an inspiration to the girls and I and we hope you loved your day as much as we love you. 💗💗

Here's to another fabulous decade of love, joy, kindness and courage ❤️

Happy Birthday
With love from,
Leo, Beatrice, Genevieve & Juliette.

I'm grateful that we have the opportunity to bring some light into the lives of children through judo.

It was amazing to see the transformation in this kid from one week to the next.

It was honour to help her through a difficult period of her life through fun and sport.

Mental health starts in the body.
Change the body to the change the mind.
Move and have fun

Today was the First time in the sea for me in a looong time. It was probably my longest absence in the last 5 years.

But the last two+ months wasn't the time for me to be cold dipping. I knew that - my body and breath told me so.

My immune system needed to be strengthened gently; my training focus was on competing in judo and this meant I needed to concentrate my physical energies there.

I was also busy in work and jammed with home life.

Just because something is deemed to be "good for you" doesn't mean its good for you all the time - that's part of the beauty and complexity of life.

Nobody else can tell you if something is good for you. They only think it is good for you based on their experiences and the results of generalized research.

Only you know whats good for you.
It takes courage and persistance to test out what is good for you. Then you need to discover when it is good for you and how much do you need.

This is part of the joy of life.

Your body and breath knows the answer.
All you need do is to have courage and listen.

Happy birthday to the coolest man in town!!
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I hope you had a magnificent day filled with joy, love and laughter.
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I wish you a year of love built on happiness, strength and health.
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Stay cool & Breathe Motherf❄️cker

This legend is coming to Dublin!!

I attended a Masterclass with Ben 3 years ago as he was preparing for Tokyo 2020.

He's a 2xOlympian for a reason- at 100kg, the man can move better than a lightweight - I've never seen anything like it before or since. That and his judo is obviously awesome

I'm pumped to see him again in May and learn from him. If you've any interest in judo or BJJ, then this seminar is for you.

There's some tickets left, be sure to grab them before it's booked out.

I finally got to watch the first episode last night on YouTube and I must say, it was amazing!!

If you haven't watched it yet I highly recommend you do it now.

Yes, there's a lot of "tv" in the show but when it boils down to facing your fears, Wim knows how to extract the best out of you and guide you through the process.

I saw the same characteristics in the man when I met him all those years ago back in 2017 and 2018.

He taught me so much about seeing the best in humans. Inspiring and empowering them to live their best life.

If you haven't tried one of his workshops yet, I'd love to have you at my home to learn the method from me.

I've workshops penned in at the end of April, May and June

The links are in the bio.
I hope to see you there.

Super super super proud dad moment today.

Beatrice has been dancing from the age of 5.
Training through the lockdowns of the last 2 years.
Travelling to dundalk weekly.
And suffering the training of her dad and mam almost daily🤣

And today she represented herself, her family and school at the World Irish Dance Championships with her céilí team....

And they did fantastic!!

It was fabulous to see her shine on such a big stage. She's wanted this for so long and it's given her even more impetus to strive for more!

Congratulations to all the girls and boys at the McGee Irish Dance School. You were all fab today and this week.

Thank you to the fantastic teachers - Dervla, Nicola, Marcus and Niamh. You've been incredibly kind, generous and dedicated to the girls.

I missed big debut on !! I was dying to see freeze your fear. It would have been great for my knowledge and S.M. to to be able to talk about it right now but alas I chose otherwise!!

My choice was worthwhile though.

Time spent with my family doing something fun is a high priority in my life. And this was a peak experience of great fun for us!!

I love wim, I love his method and the principles he teaches, so much so that I became one of his instructors.

But I still have to follow my heart and lead my life rather than become spectator to somebody else.

This is, after all, at the core of Wims message. You'll find that out if you ever meet the man.

Unfortunately I know too many people that sacrifice the things they really love in life in pursuit of money, career, ego, fame, voyerism, fear and what others think. I pray I keep my integrity through life and continue to have the courage to choose love over all else.

Ps. Little Mix at the 3 arena was awesome last night!!! A concert first for my girls and we did it in real style at the 1878 thanks to very generous clients of mine . You know who you are . Your kindness gave us great joy and family memories. Thank you 😉👊

Pps. I want to hear what happened with Wim. What was the show like???

The Effort is the Way

This is a phrase that's been in my mind these past few days and it's theme is continually popping up for me - through learning about dopamine and its effects on our motivation and reward; through family life; in business and in sport.

What it means is that you should do what you do for the love of doing it, not for the medal, the next grade, the buzz or the high, the social media following, the accolades or the comments from others.

You do it for you and because you love doing what you do.

This applies equally to cleaning the house and looking after bills as it does to drinking coffee, eating tasty food, having or playing sport, getting in shape, healing an injury or curing a disease.

When you take this approach to life of "the effort is the way", your base level of satisfaction for life increases exponentially.

The other choice is to remain on a roller coaster of highs to lows as you move from one thing to the next. The inevitable result of that choice is a feeling of burnout. It may take many days, months, years and even decades of being on that hamster wheel but it will come.

Not much traditional training happening this week.

I'm still putting in my time but the focus has switched.

Sole focus is on visualization, restoration and final phases of preparation.

One last judo competition coming up this weekend and then things get changed up again.

A super day our at the inaugural Irish Judo] Club Challenge.

A huge congratulations to everyone at our club. It was the first time we all represented as a club and , for many of our players, it was their first ever competition.

Thank you to David, Ademir and all the parents for your expertise and support.

Congratulations to Irish Judo] , all the referees, table judges, volunteers, and organisers.

A brilliant well done to all competitors.

We showed up, had fun, played our hearts out and some came away with medals.

Tús maith is leath na hoibre.
Onwards and upwards 🚀

If you don't use it, you lose it...

It's all well and good training to be healthy, training to be strong, training to be flexible but what are you going to do with those skills?

How are you going to take your life to the next level?

This is what sport is to me - the next level of physical expression. ...It's a playground to know more about yourself and others.

The gym is the foundations. The mats are the playground.

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Back in 2002, a new research recruit was welcomed to Dr. Justin Feinstein’s neurophychology lab. This recruit had a peculiar condition which affected her ability to feel fear. The condition affected the amygdala – the area in the brain where fear is thought to originate. Up to this point in 2002, both life and researchers had tried to illicit a fear response from her without success. She had been exposed to experiences of sexual, emotional, mental and physical abuse without even a flinch from her. All of the experiences left her emotionless. They were akin to watching a kettle boil for her - nothing.....

To continue reading follow the link below:
https://www.innate-strength.com/resources/blog/the-origins-of-anxiety-and-your-breath/

Aaannd.....we're back!

Last months gig was a huge success. 30 people showed up to our inaugural event and had a blast so we just had to make it a more regular gig.

This month we've made it even better....
Less talking, more action.
We've got an:
🌬 Inspire Breathwork Experience
🌊refreshing Cold dip in the sea
🔥a roaring
And a nice cup of coffee ☕️

I hope to see you at 7.20am this Saturday at the Beach Hut, Clogherhead

Link is in bio

The face of a man happy to be back on the mats competing.

1 win out of 5. Another step on the road to 2nd Dan.

Well done to everyone today, especially those from , and Lusk Judo Club.

A big congratulations to Johnny Fayne and Sergejs. Johnny is from my own club in drogheda, he won his 2 fights for blue belt. And Sergejs won his 4th Dan by batsukan, some man.

Aaron (Lusk) and John (Portmarnock/ashbourne) who train with us in drogheda have more steps on the ladder to first Dan- Well done lads.

- it was some craic to be back.

Now it's time for a big feed, watching some Irish Dancing and a mid afternoon snooze - it's Sunday after all 😃👍

Some days, you're Winning.

Others, you're in the process of Winning.

Either way - you're a Winner....but only if you think, act and live as if you're a Winner.

Today I'm in the process of Winning and this is a late post to reinforce that thought & act process for me 😉👊❤

Magnificent

Stop. Look. Smell. Feel.

Draw the beauty of nature into you with your breath, soften into it with your gaze.

Relax into it with your entire being.

This is a present moment - a gift to yourself sent with love from yourself and God. ❤

Enjoy 🙂

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My family. My inspirations. My loves.
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