- 14 minutes ago
Smartwater: the Movement & Mindset Connection
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00Oh, don't tell me y'all tired yet.
00:23How y'all doing?
00:25All right.
00:26All right, y'all.
00:27Now, if you're just making your way back
00:29to the Essence Stage, welcome.
00:31Did you miss me?
00:34I know that's right.
00:35I miss you guys, too.
00:36So if this is your first time here,
00:39we're so happy to have you join us.
00:41For those who don't know,
00:42my name is Jessie Wu,
00:45also known as your sister.
00:47All right, and for those who don't know,
00:50I mean, obviously, we're live at the Essence Fest.
00:52Make some noise for that.
00:55All right, so I'm your hostess with the mostest
00:57for the Essence Stage this weekend,
00:59and I'm joined by the lovely and ever-so-talented
01:02DJ Red Corvette.
01:04Make some noise for my girl over there
01:06holding us down on the ones and twos.
01:08We are so excited to keep the Essence Stage party going,
01:11and I could not think of a better panel
01:14to ease us back in.
01:15Please give a warm welcome
01:17to entrepreneur, TV host, Ty Bo-Shun,
01:22in conversation with Peloton instructor
01:24and Puma athlete
01:25and founder of the Do Better Foundation,
01:28Mr. Alex Toussaint,
01:31presented by Smart Water Alkaline.
01:34Now, let's take a look at this trailer.
01:36Working smarter, not harder.
01:38I just need to go do it
01:40and not think too hard about it.
01:42I think a big part of working smarter
01:43and not working harder
01:45is not just depending on yourself,
01:46depending on the resources around you,
01:48the people around you,
01:50letting go of just, like,
01:51feeling like you always got to do everything
01:53on your own.
01:54Remove all self-doubt.
01:55Like, don't be in a space of fear.
01:58Once you go and you step into who you are
02:00and you realize that this is what
02:01you're supposed to be doing,
02:03it kind of falls into place.
02:04Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on.
02:24Come on, come on, come on, let's break it.
02:28How y'all doing?
02:31Hey.
02:32Don't give me no music.
02:33I'm telling you, give me music
02:35and it's a, it's not a good thing.
02:37Well, maybe it is a good thing.
02:38How y'all doing?
02:41Y'all look beautiful.
02:43Thank you so much, Jess,
02:44for that wonderful introduction.
02:46As she said, I am Tybo Shamp.
02:48So super excited to be here with you all
02:50for a conversation that is near and dear to my heart
02:53presented by Smart Water.
02:55How many of you are Peloton fans?
02:58I already knew that.
03:02How many of you are all about your health
03:05and your wellness in this day and age?
03:08Right?
03:09So I am the founder of a brand called Brown Girl Jane
03:12and also the founder of Morning Mindset with Ty
03:14and Ty Life Media.
03:16And I'm so grateful to be here
03:17probably for like the 12th year in a row at Essence.
03:21But I'm really excited today
03:23because I'm going to have a conversation
03:24with someone that I know y'all want to see.
03:25So let me stop talking, okay?
03:29I already heard you.
03:30I heard you.
03:30You said bring out AT.
03:31So I'm excited to bring out the man that I know,
03:35the myth, the legend,
03:36the person that you all like to see every single morning
03:39when you jump on your bike, Alex Toussaint.
03:43As we talk about movement and the mindset connection,
03:47Alex is not only a Peloton instructor,
03:49but he is also a Puma athlete.
03:50So let's bring out, what y'all call him?
03:53AT, come on out.
03:54Hey!
03:57Hey!
03:58Uh!
04:03How we doing?
04:04How we doing?
04:05How we feeling?
04:05How we feeling?
04:10I...
04:10Oh my goodness.
04:15Alex, look.
04:16How y'all feeling?
04:17Y'all up?
04:17Y'all sleeping?
04:18Okay, just checking.
04:19Just checking.
04:21AT, let me just tell you.
04:22Look, and they're coming. They're coming with their Peloton bikes in tow.
04:27Look, you see them repping.
04:29I see you, Queen. I see you repping.
04:30They are repping.
04:31What's up, Mama?
04:32They are repping.
04:35This ain't daycare. She know. She know.
04:39You know, it's so exciting, Alex, to be here with you.
04:43One, as a young black man, but also someone who has had an incredible fitness journey
04:50that has brought you to this place.
04:51But to see and look at these incredible people and humans, mostly black women,
04:57be celebrating health and wellness and fitness.
05:00So let's give it up for you all.
05:01Absolutely.
05:02And let's give it up for AT because you've helped to inspire this.
05:06So I want to talk about the mindset and movement connection.
05:10But before we get anywhere, let's talk about what inspired your own fitness journey.
05:16You're from Long Island.
05:17Yes.
05:18So how many people from New York in the house?
05:21All right, all right, New York.
05:23We see you.
05:24What inspired you to get serious about your own personal fitness journey?
05:29First off, thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today.
05:31It's a blessing.
05:31I was struggling my entire childhood with trying to find my identity.
05:36My parents being Haitian immigrants, they sacrificed everything to make sure my brothers and myself
05:42were put in a position to succeed.
05:45I did not live up to the family value and the family last name.
05:48So I struggled a lot internally in the household and outside.
05:51I've been kicked out of every school I've ever been to.
05:54I've been kicked out of military school as well.
05:55I lived in a very extremely dark mental space up until about roughly college and just trying
06:01to find out who I was.
06:03And I was mopping floors at a place called Flywheel Sports for about two and a half years.
06:07And I was gaining inspiration from all of the instructors that were coming in and teaching
06:10to these people.
06:11And I was on the opposite side, looking through a little fish hole, getting the light, getting
06:14the inspiration, getting the confidence to the point that I asked the owner to teach
06:18one day.
06:18And it wasn't until I started moving my body that allowed me to start moving my mind,
06:22which took me from a dark space and let me attract the light.
06:25So it was one of those things I just followed God's plan and just led me to getting on a
06:30bike, which changed my entire mindset of life and how I view it.
06:32I love it.
06:34And it's so powerful, though, too, because, you know, as someone who is a wellness advocate
06:40and celebrant myself, it took that dark place for me, too.
06:43Absolutely.
06:44You know, it was the place of like, you know, how I'm going to climb this hill called
06:47Life that took me to hiking and recognizing that in order to live well, right, and to
06:53be well, I had to do certain things on on the inside.
06:57And now you're inspiring millions of people to do so.
07:01So Smart Water created the essence, Smart Water in essence created the Live Well campaign
07:06to encourage, you know, the community to embrace wellness in all aspects of our lives.
07:12What does living well mean to you?
07:14What does living well mean?
07:15When I hear that term live well, I want to my brain naturally shifts that into three
07:19pillars.
07:20If you've taken my class before, you've heard me say feel good, look good, do better.
07:23I don't just say that for any just random reason.
07:26The feel good aspect is that internal glow.
07:28That's that internal feeling, how you view yourself from that internal perspective, which
07:31now allows you to attract outside beautiful energy.
07:34So it's all about how you view yourself internally.
07:37That's that feel good.
07:38How do I how do I how do I gain confidence for myself?
07:40How do I wake up in the morning without outside noise distracting me and my viewpoint and my
07:44perspective on where I want to go in life?
07:46And I think once we as humans figure out that feel good internal perspective, naturally we
07:50look good.
07:51You saw the way you just walked out on that stage just now.
07:53You know, you feel good internally about yourself to the point you walk different, you talk
07:56different, you attract different.
07:57And in return of that, it allows you to help others who need it.
08:01So my motto has always been feel good from the internal perspective, look good from the
08:05external perspective.
08:06And once you gain those two capabilities, it allows you to extend your hands to others
08:09out there who may need it to do better.
08:11So when I break that philosophy down, it's feel good, look good, do better.
08:14And I overall think that's my my meaning of live well.
08:17Let's give it up.
08:18Let's give it up.
08:18That's awesome.
08:20And you started, you know, your whole do better foundation and movement.
08:25And so was that inspired out of that?
08:28Without question.
08:29That was also inspired for the fact that my business partners are my best friends.
08:33And I'm I come from a family of Haitians.
08:36My other business partner comes from a family of Nigerians and the other one comes from a
08:38family of Koreans.
08:39And we understand the immigrant mindset and the sacrifice our parents took to put us in
08:44a position to get the best education, best resources, best nutrition, best after school
08:48programs.
08:49And my friends, we kind of woke up one day and said, listen, we all grew up in different
08:54environments and different perspectives, but we all have that same purpose of wanting
08:58to see other people that look like us do better.
09:01So that's where the foundation came about.
09:02Just an idea I had with three friends that we wanted to help kids from our culture have
09:05an opportunity, the same opportunities that we were presented with because of our parents'
09:08sacrifices.
09:09You know, I love the connection to the immigrant experience or even just the black experience
09:13for us.
09:14Right.
09:14But, you know, the power of the word.
09:16And I like do better because no matter where you are in your journey, we can always do
09:22better.
09:22Right.
09:23So even, you know, at, you know, at this, I see you, Kevin, I see you, Faith, when you're
09:27at this point, right, you, you can always do better.
09:30And so I want to talk about that language.
09:32And I host something called Morning Minds that would tie every day on IG when I'm not
09:37traveling and what have you.
09:39And language is so important.
09:40I'm also a former journalist.
09:42So I believe that the words that we speak are so powerful.
09:44So let's talk about, you know, the idea of what language and the words that we use for
09:50self-talk and then how that moves us or, or encourages us or inspires us to move.
09:56So talk about language.
09:58Yeah.
09:58Language is a very big thing.
09:59If you have negative self-talk, you're going to produce negative results.
10:04I'm just a firm believer of that.
10:05You have to envision yourself in that positive light, not where you are, but where you want
10:09to go and understand that gap in between needs to be confidence.
10:12It needs to be understanding.
10:14It needs to be self-driven.
10:16In that same space, though, we get surrounded by individuals who want to shift us and shrink
10:22us into environments we've outgrown.
10:23And when I say shrink us into environments we've outgrown, I mean mentally.
10:27We've all have tried to start new goals and tried to start new journeys and elevate our
10:31level of success.
10:32And along the way, somebody comes around like, oh, you can't do that.
10:35Or like, oh, you can't do that.
10:37I remember when I first started off in my career 10 years ago as a cycling instructor,
10:40I had a bunch of friends saying, you're riding a bike that goes nowhere?
10:43That's not going to last.
10:45Well, look, 10 years later, look where we are right now.
10:48I mean, you just touched on something that I think is really important, and it's a philosophy
10:53that I have also around community and tribe.
10:56Yes.
10:56So it's one thing to have the words that you say to yourself, right, and hearing what
11:01you say to yourself.
11:02It's something else to have people around you who affirm you in the words.
11:07And so let's talk about the importance of community, and you talked about it in business.
11:11So when you've had those moments, perhaps you have those moments of self-doubt, right?
11:16You don't want to speak negative to yourself, but you have moments of self-doubt.
11:19We're human.
11:20I've lived it.
11:21How important is your tribe in terms of it advancing you beyond those moments?
11:27Listen, your tribe could either elevate you or crumble you.
11:30And I mean that at a level of my mother growing up always saying, watch the company that you
11:33keep.
11:33Oh, watch out for that friend.
11:35And I always just think my mom was somewhat crazy or dismissive in the sense of you just
11:38don't see something in that person.
11:40I think she understood the level of together we go far, the Peloton mindset, right?
11:45I'm thankful enough to have people around me, my best friends who are there to uplift me,
11:50but also help me think in a different perspective.
11:53All of my friends have different visions, different alignment, different viewpoints of
11:56the world, but a certain level of respect and understanding and trust that we can communicate
12:00openly to each other where there's no self, there's no level of, what I'm looking for,
12:05there's no level of shading somebody down, right?
12:07And I'm grateful enough to also step into work Peloton where I'm surrounded by 55 of the
12:13best instructors in the world who move with a certain purpose and execute with a certain
12:16intention that it's honestly hard not to be positive all the damn time.
12:19It's truly hard not to be positive when I walk into work and Allie Love is bumping and
12:23moving at 6 a.m.
12:24Like I just talked to, like, then I see Robin Arzon right after, I see Cody Rigsby.
12:28I'm so thankful that I walk into work every single day and the same people that I get
12:32to inspire millions of people with inspire me as well.
12:35So between the people that I work with and the people that are around me every single
12:38day, it's just a foundation of they want to see me go.
12:41And if I share an idea with them, they're going to try to help me amplify the idea versus
12:44shrink the idea.
12:45We've all been in a position before where we've shared experience or shared an idea
12:48with somebody and they shrink it.
12:50You want to surround yourself with somebody who maximizes it, who helps you gain the cast
12:53the widest net, who helps you open up your aperture so you can gain other things within
12:58that space.
12:59So the foundation of having close friends and even colleagues to a certain extent of their
13:03family is everything.
13:04Everything.
13:04I love that.
13:07That's right.
13:07Come on, girl.
13:08Come on.
13:08She's like, AT, I'm here for you.
13:12And I actually also love, you know, that's why coming here to Essence and being here with
13:16Smart Water Alkaline and, you know, having these conversations, but also like Peloton, when
13:20you think about the community that it forms and I love the experience that you can go on
13:24and high five someone and celebrate them and champion them even from afar.
13:28But we have to be intentional about how we do that together.
13:31So let me ask you this, Alice, because I am the person that will always say and speak
13:36truth, right?
13:37We've had blessed lives and we were in the back even just talking.
13:40You're like, how are you doing?
13:41I'm like, I'm great.
13:41I've been on too many planes.
13:42Been on too many planes.
13:43That's the truth.
13:44How do you stay mentally sharp when you don't have the energy and the fortitude?
13:48Like what gives you that bump?
13:52You know, what does that for you?
13:53I have three things.
13:56Discipline carries me when motivation won't.
13:58I'm disciplined to my last name.
13:59So I understand that the sacrifices that I'm making now are nothing compared to the sacrifices
14:05my parents had to make and nothing compared to the sacrifices my grandparents had to make.
14:09I'm in a position now that I just have to.
14:11Those who can must and because of the sacrifices that were executed before I was even on this
14:16planet, for me, it's nothing at that point.
14:18Also, to go back to the previous question, like I have best friends that I could call
14:26on that check on my frequency.
14:29My best friend's sitting in the front row right now.
14:30I'm not going to put them on blast, but we check in with each other probably four or five
14:34times a day.
14:35Yo, what's your vibe like?
14:35Yo, how you feeling?
14:36Yo, how did class go?
14:37Yo, do you eat?
14:38Just simple things and just accountability partners that are there to really uplift you.
14:43And then the last thing is just my last name.
14:46I went to military school for four and a half years, and they never called me Alex not one
14:50time at that school.
14:51They always called me Tucson.
14:53And it was in that moment that I understand your last name means everything.
14:56It's the legacy that came before you.
14:57It's what you do right now while you're on this planet.
14:59And it's the ones that you put in a position to succeed after.
15:01So those three things right there are my level of keeping me going every single day.
15:05I love that.
15:06Thank you so much, A.T.
15:07Let me ask.
15:07That's right.
15:08Give it up.
15:08And I see you.
15:10I see you.
15:11I love seeing the elder black man celebrating and supporting this.
15:14This is dope.
15:15I love that.
15:16That's what it's all about.
15:17Let me ask you all this.
15:18How many of you came here with someone?
15:21Okay, so most of you came here with someone.
15:23If you did not come here with someone, even if you did come here with someone, I want to challenge
15:27you all today to be intentional about connecting and forging a new relationship.
15:31With someone because the other thing is that we never know where the affirmation is going
15:35to come from.
15:36Sometimes we sit next to people and we see them and we experience them regularly, but
15:40we have to be intentional about how we extend tribe and build tribe, not knowing how we can
15:45deposit into someone else and also how someone is going to deposit into us.
15:49So can I get y'all buy in on that?
15:51Can y'all get y'all buy in on that?
15:53Y'all can tell I went to church growing up because I'm going to make y'all find a friend.
15:56I'm going to make you find a friend.
15:57Um, you know, you talked about your journey and how you, you got here.
16:03How has your mindset changed over the course of the last 10 years?
16:07Like even if we go back to that time when, you know, you're going to ride a bike that's
16:11going nowhere.
16:11You still like, I'm still going to get on this bike.
16:13Okay, great.
16:14To now 10 years later, how has your mindset shifted over the course of your journey?
16:1910 years ago.
16:20Oh man.
16:21I used to tell myself, I can't do it.
16:23I'm not prepared.
16:23There's no way impossible.
16:24I could ever accomplish that.
16:26I don't mean to sound cheesy now.
16:28I truly believe if the man above allows me to dream it or think it, I could achieve it.
16:32I'm at that space in life now.
16:34Um, amen.
16:37Amen.
16:38I'm at this space in life now.
16:39Um, a lot of my goals and my visions come in my, comes in my dreams.
16:43I literally will have a dream and I'll wake up two in the morning or four in the morning
16:45and I'll text my business partner like, yo, I know you sleep, but this is what we, this
16:49is what we own at eight o'clock.
16:50Just because there's no way possible that when I was depressed for 20 years and I never
16:54saw a vision that now that's not, these are purposeful visions.
16:57There's a reason why these are, their visions are getting sent to me.
16:59It's a calling.
17:00So for me, I look at it as a call of duty where those who care must.
17:03So if God's provided me the opportunity to think of an idea, let alone an idea that could
17:07bless other people, I have no choice but to go execute that.
17:09Listen, she about to start shouting.
17:11Just so, just so you know, mama is about to start shouting, but, but let me, let me amplify
17:17that for a moment, Alex, because I say this on Morning Mindset.
17:20If you desire it, you deserve it.
17:22Yes.
17:23Because here's the thing.
17:24God does not place desires on your heart that are not made to be manifest.
17:28And so if you desire something, you deserve it.
17:31So what Alex just shared with us is that, you know, when you believe it and you see it,
17:36that vision, and this is where we got to be intentional about how we walk too.
17:39And the light in which we walk, because if the vision was planted in you and given to
17:43you, you have the tools and the resource to make it manifest.
17:47That's the mindset.
17:48That's the hack right there.
17:48Absolutely.
17:49That's the hack right here.
17:50So smart, water, and essence are all working smarter, not harder.
17:54Listen, I'm, I'm, sign me up.
17:57And one of the things we love to highlight are the unconventional life hacks that make a
18:02huge difference.
18:04Are there any tips that you have for working smarter and not harder that you'd like to
18:09share with all of us?
18:11So I have a bunch, but I'm gonna give you one or technically five, um, that have helped
18:15me tremendously, especially within the last couple of months.
18:18I'm a basketball fan.
18:19I don't know if anybody likes basketball out there.
18:20So I'm gonna give a basketball reference for a second.
18:22Um, at a basketball game, there's five people per team.
18:26And as a head coach, you have to identify those top five players or the top five people
18:30that can, that can work well together in order to get the job done.
18:33So for what I do now is I identify my top five priorities on a daily basis.
18:37And I approach it as such as what do I need?
18:40What top five priorities do I need to accomplish today to not just work, but to outwork yesterday?
18:45Number one, most of the time is my physical and mental health.
18:48That is the foundation of everything that I want to accomplish.
18:50Without those two things, everything else crumbles down.
18:53Two is always going to be family for me.
18:54No matter what family gets on my damn nerves, but without family that I have nothing.
18:59Um, three, if I want to be very transparent about this, I love me some money.
19:03So three would be money.
19:05Four would be my business and just how my team operates.
19:08And five is the freedom to create on a daily basis.
19:12The ability to think freely, move freely, uh, create freely.
19:17Um, and there's one more that I'm just spacing out on, but you get the idea of those would
19:22be my top five priorities.
19:23And those are my life hacks that I try to identify my top five priorities on a daily basis.
19:26Now, mind you, your top five priorities on Monday could shift completely to Tuesday,
19:31could shift completely on Wednesday.
19:32That's why you have to identify your starting five every single day.
19:36Let's give it up.
19:37Let's give it up for the starting five.
19:39You know, that's, that's powerful.
19:42And I was an all-state basketball player.
19:43I can't hoop anymore.
19:45Um, my nails are too long now.
19:46Once a baller, always a baller.
19:47I mean, at some point.
19:49But the reality too is that, and I'm speaking now to our, my black women here, part of the
19:53challenge for us is that we want to do too much.
19:56Sis, get to a point where you recognize you can't do everything because we're not supposed
20:00to do everything.
20:01So the life hacks that Alex just shared, quite frankly, is prioritization.
20:05There will be times when your children and your babies and your family need you, but you
20:09might need to be the priority then so you can show up.
20:12So the reality is that we can't do everything all the time.
20:16Prioritize.
20:16Maybe it's five for you.
20:17Maybe it's three for you.
20:18Maybe it's four for you.
20:20Maybe it's six.
20:20But we have to also allow ourselves the time and the space to understand that the life
20:25hack is breathing for us and first to breathe for ourselves.
20:29And to capitalize on that, just one more thing.
20:31Give yourself a lifetime out.
20:33And what I mean by that is put yourself on the bench for 20 seconds.
20:36Give yourself a time to reset, recalibrate, realign.
20:39Because we've all been in a situation where we've been mentally burnt out and physically
20:42burnt out.
20:43And our life forces us to take a time out.
20:45When life forces you to get a time out, it's a time out that you don't want at all.
20:49So be more mindful and more disciplined to take time for yourself.
20:53That way you can be present with yourself in order to be present with others out there
20:56as well.
20:57So my last question, Alex, this is good.
20:59I mean, I could sit up here for a long time, but they only gave us 20 minutes.
21:02That's okay.
21:04But you're talking about like a person who gives a lot to a lot of people.
21:09You have businesses.
21:10You have family.
21:11You obviously show up online every morning and working out.
21:15What does self-care look like for you?
21:17How do you love on AT?
21:19I date myself.
21:20Oh, okay.
21:21Wait a minute.
21:22I date myself.
21:22Where have you been?
21:23Where have you been taking yourself?
21:24Let me be very clear about this.
21:25I'll take myself to dinner.
21:26I'll take myself out to get clothes.
21:28I'll take myself shopping.
21:29I'll go on a vacation.
21:30I have no problem dating myself at all.
21:33And I tell everybody out there, you might want to try the same thing because it lets you
21:36be present with yourself.
21:37It lets you know what you want, what you feel, how you care.
21:39It's your foundation and then you get to protect that energy.
21:42Nobody could take that away from you once you protect that and once you get that.
21:45So another key, I would say date yourself for sure.
21:49You know why I love that?
21:50Because I tell people all the time, my fitness journey and my commitment to fitness wasn't
21:55just about me looking good in a dress for someone.
21:58It was for me.
21:59And so I think the other thing that we have to remind ourselves is that you might not be
22:03able to please everyone, but you can please yourself, right?
22:07You might not be for everyone, but the first person you should be for is for yourself.
22:11So I love that Alex is dating himself.
22:13How many of y'all going to take yourselves on a date very soon?
22:16All right.
22:17We got, look, I need y'all to hit AT on social media.
22:21Hit me on social media at Tybo and let us know when you're dating yourselves.
22:25We are so grateful for your time.
22:26Let's give it up for AT.
22:27Thank you so much, Quinn.
22:30I appreciate you.
22:31I want to thank Smart Water Alkaline for helping us to live well, be better, feel good, all
22:37of the things.
22:38You all enjoy your essence.
22:39I'm Tybo Shamp and this is Alex Toussaint.
22:41Be blessed, y'all.
22:42We thank you.
22:43One love, family.
22:43God bless everybody.
22:44Appreciate y'all.
22:45We thank you.
Comments