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Dean Pohlman

@manflowyoga

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2 years ago

I’ve never been the one to pretend I’m perfect.

I fall out of poses in videos. I miss workouts. I mess up as a parent. I lose my temper and respond like an angry child to comments sometimes. I’m definitely not as calm as I’d like to be. My inner critic can be harsh (in fact, the more I go through my own mental health journey, the more I realize that it’s actually a lot harsher than I thought.)

By the way - if you meet somebody who pretends they’re perfect, they’re not. They’re lying. They’re scared of admitting their own inadequacies, of confronting and experiencing the feeling of shame or feeling “not enough”. Don’t listen to them or buy into their bullshit.

I’m not always making the right choices -

I’m failing my way forward. I’m alternating between listening to experts and listening to my own intuition and experience. I don’t trust myself in many situations to make the right decisions. Sometimes I’m making progress in trusting myself more, and at other times, I resort to old fear-based tendencies and try to control everything.

Or instead of failing forward, I might be playing it safe, and not taking any action, not making any changes. And while playing it safe might be okay from some perspectives, I tend to think it’s mostly fear. Not having the courage to overcome whatever fear I’m facing, and staying stuck where I am. Safe? Sure, for a little while. But the status quo is always rising, so by staying in the same place, you’re slowly stagnating.

Very often, I feel completely overwhelmed. Like I’m failing on all fronts.

But I’m not telling you this because I want sympathy. I’m saying this because as soon as I’m able to recognize what I’m feeling, to stop running from it or distracting myself with busyness, that’s when I’m able to feel that frustration, to process that sense of overwhelm, and to remember all of the reasons that I’m NOT failing.

It’s so easy to focus on what’s not going well, when there’s so much that’s going right.

Continued in comments by @manflowyoga

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a day ago

Follow These Instructions to Get the Most Out of Cobra for Your Stiff Back by @manflowyoga

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2 days ago

Back, Hips or Hamstrings Feeling Stiff? Try These 3 Simple Movements. by @manflowyoga

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3 days ago

Inflexible Men: Try This Lower Body Yoga. No
Experience Needed.

The full routine is up on YouTube. by @manflowyoga

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4 days ago

#Flexfriday

Filmed a pelvic floor health collab this week, did all my workouts, successful fixed wrist pain, and am getting most of my to-do list done.

Last week was Seattle, next week is Asheville!! Busy week in Man Flow Yoga, but these are the best times. by @manflowyoga

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5 days ago

In this episode of the Better Man Podcast, host Dean interviews Ben Brown, a nutrition and fitness coach with over 20 years of experience. The conversation explores a holistic approach to health, emphasizing that long-term transformation requires looking beyond surface-level goals to address underlying body systems, identity shifts, and psychological triggers. by @manflowyoga

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5 days ago

This is a simple way to undo some of the stiffness that comes from sitting at a desk all day.

Standing backbends help open up your chest and hips, improve spinal mobility, and get your body moving in the opposite direction of sitting.

Try a few throughout your workday. by @manflowyoga

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6 days ago

Coffee and a journal

A cup of coffee, a journal, and a pen.

Some of my most enjoyable mornings involve these simple things - along with solitude and a relatively quiet environment.

My method for this is really simple.
writing out my thoughts
Noticing the emotions; pausing my writing to feel them
Listing the questions that come up
Underlining and aggressively circling the big takeaways (these usually come at the end)
I write whatever I’m thinking, name the emotions that are coming up, and scribble down questions that I’ve been pondering, or questions that I need to be aware of.

It’s an opportunity for me to create clarity. To allow my mind to “catch up” with life.

This is the time that I get to sit and reflect and ask myself questions. It’s not important whether or not I have the answers – sometimes they aren’t answerable anyways. Important thing is that I am asking the questions and letting the universe know that I’m thinking about them.

I’d go so far as to say I get more out of asking questions than I do coming up with answers.

When the thoughts that come up, bring up difficult emotions – doubt, fear, insecurity – instead of following those thoughts that often lead into rumination, or telling myself a story about the future that doesn’t exist, I pause writing, set down my pen, close my eyes, and focus on the emotion that’s coming up in my body.

Feel the emotion as if that were the solution, instead of having to do anything else, and that allows me to move through the intensity of it. The problem doesn’t go away entirely, but the the emotional baggage that accompanied it fades, and I can then move back other thoughts.

This last part, noticing and processing in the emotions as they come up – has been truly transformative to my life over the last couple of years. It’s a skill that I had to develop from scratch. When I was younger, my default was to outwork the feelings and to change the external circumstances that caused them. Now,

I’ve given up the illusion that I can control everything, and the solution is instead to change my internal response to the external situation, rather than change the external.

(Continued in comments) by @manflowyoga

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7 days ago

Another Man Flow Yoga wellness weekend in the books. (And the last one of 2026 is the first weekend of November in Atlanta! Good to see you there)

They’re all different - in some ways - from the others. And though these are definitely for the participants, I ALSO get a ton out of these - more on this later

This one was smaller than many of the previous ones we’ve had - group of 15, instead of the 35-45 we’re used to - but the same feeling of camaraderie, support, and motivation was there.

Guys are there for many reasons - to check their technique, to jump start their motivation, or just have a chance to meet me and the community in person.

And everybody leaves with that - more confidence in their technique, more motivation and a clearer plan for their workouts, and connections from within the community to help them along the way.

As for me… what do I leave with?

I leave with the reminder that what I’m doing is transforming lives for men. And that they’ve got my back, too. That I’ve got people cheering for me, wanting to succeed. And that’s priceless.

Thank you to all the believers out there - I appreciate it more than you know!

ps - I know not everybody who supports what I do is going to have the chance to meet me in person and do a wellness weekend or retreat, but I appreciate you nonetheless! by @manflowyoga

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8 days ago

Try this simple stretch to find relief from a stiff or tight back or hips. by @manflowyoga

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9 days ago

Seattle, you were good to me.

I had the opportunity to spend the weekend working with Dean Pohlman and the incredible Man Flow Yoga community and I’m leaving with a full heart and a whole lot of gratitude.

We landed Friday and started the weekend with a great hike, which was the perfect way to slow down, get outside, and settle into the weekend.

From there, we spent the next two days teaching yoga, talking about wellness, moving, learning, laughing, and connecting with an amazing group of men.

One of my favorite parts of this work is that it goes so far beyond teaching a class. There’s something really meaningful about being able to create spaces where people can step away from the everyday, reconnect with themselves, and connect with each other.

And this weekend reminded me just how powerful that can be.

I started the weekend thinking about presence, being fully where I am and giving my attention to the people and experiences in front of me.

I’m leaving with gratitude.

Grateful for the opportunity to do this work.
Grateful for the people I get to meet along the way.
Grateful for the conversations, the movement, the laughter, and the community.

And especially grateful that this gets to be part of my life.

Seattle, thank you. Until next time.

Here’s to more weekends like this, more adventures, and more opportunities to bring people together through movement and wellness.

@manflowyoga taken in Seattle, Washington by @manflowyoga

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9 days ago