Deep Dive
Shownotes Transcript
This is Rock and Roll English. Real people, real English. Here's your host, Martin Johnston. Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of Rock and Roll English, episode number 353. I should check that before I always do this now.
But I'm too lazy to do that. So anyway, in today's podcast, we have a very special guest. OK, someone called Alan. OK, and it's not the normal type of guest we have now to give you some background information. Alan reached out to me quite a few months ago now because, let's say, we have a mutual friend and Alan wanted to start a podcast. So I helped him.
a little bit with that. Alan has now started his podcast, which is called Busy Pro Fast Wellness. Okay, so they are quick tips, let's say, for people that are busy, busy professionals, and the tips are there to make you feel well. They are wellness tips, so things to make you feel good mentally and physically. Now,
If this sounds like a boring podcast, OK, it is absolutely not. Now, when I normally have other guests, sometimes the podcasts are a little bit boring, I must admit. However, that is absolutely not the case this time.
As we spend a lot of time talking about Alan's incredible life journey, you know how much I love a life story. And on that point, we do actually talk about something really serious. Let's say a problem that Alan had. Now, this is something which I have never spoken about on Rock and Roll English, a subject which has never been talked about, let's say. However, when Alan told me this piece of information, I thought it would be
Alan's Permission
almost making a kind of joke of it, laughing about it. Us Brits like to make a joke about anything, some self-deprecation. So if you think we are not talking about it in a serious way, that is just our way of talking about it. However, it is a very serious topic and something I did want to address just in case anyone is going through the same thing, because then, as you will see later in the podcast,
Alan has completely turned his life around and is now making podcasts about how to stay fit mentally and physically.
physically. And then he shares a few tips with us about how to stay fit mentally and physically. And again, we've had lots of people on this podcast, maybe sharing tips. And sometimes at the end, I say, oh, that's really good. Thanks for sharing the tips. But in reality, I probably think I'm never going to use any of them. Again, that is not the case today. I was at work just today using some of Alan's tips. Okay. So
It is a great podcast to look forward to. Here is the conversation. I will talk to you again at the end. Happy listening. So, hello, Alan, and welcome to Rock and Roll English. Hello. I'm so pleased to be here. Thanks for inviting me. No problem at all. Thanks for coming. Because on Rock and Roll English, we love people that have got interesting stories, OK? And I don't think many people in the world...
have a more interesting story than you. Okay. An interesting life. You've built me up too much here.
So just to reel off a few here. So obviously, English teacher, you have worked as an English teacher. I have worked. I probably worked more as an English teacher than in the world of music over the years, which wasn't the initial attention. But I've loved every moment of doing that. Yeah, I do kind of find that some people may...
They have like dreams of like being a musician or something, something else like an artist. And I think it's a great backup teaching English, isn't it? It's something to fall back on. I agree with you with that. But I was always into education, even as a, you know, doing my graduate studies. And I...
chose to go into music teaching at that point and that's what I did for a while and then I morphed into English teaching partly because of wanting to travel it was just easier to find a job and I really enjoyed that as well. That was my next point actually because so I've got here on the list of what you told me you have lived in Turkey, Spain, Italy, Portugal, China and obviously the UK which is where you're from and yes I always find you meet someone abroad when I lived in
abroad and you'd I would meet another English person say what do you do teach English yep okay no I know it's kind of here in Blenfield it's sort of the lowest pegging if people say yeah I teach English you know yeah and oh right okay I'm sorry to hear that but yes well when I lived in Rome especially um
maybe I'd meet someone and they had like a really fancy job of like working for the UN and then I would be like yeah no I just teach English especially sort of like you have to sort of dress it up a bit well I'm in education you know something like that you don't have to sort of specify I teach English no but
Yeah, I just kind of just like, yeah, teach English. But I am a really good teacher, so it's okay. And so married to a French lady as well. Yeah. And you've recently started podcasting as well. Yes, I decided to do something totally different. I thought, what are my real passions?
And I thought fitness and health. And then I sort of thought about the idea of wellness. And I started to get into the mindfulness and meditation, visualization and other things as well. So I thought, how can I marry these things?
these different factors up and create something. And that's why I decided to create my podcast. Absolutely. And something else actually I've missed of the interesting things in life. You shared a stage with two members of Blur. So Blur, big band in the 90s. I must admit, I was an Oasis fan. So I hated Blur for that reason in the 90s. However...
Now I actually like Blur because their music is good. And obviously a huge band in the Britpop era of the 90s. Of course, yeah. When I played with two of the members of Blur, so I played with Graham and David in a band called Idle Vice. And yeah, we did a couple of gigs in the local theatre. Wow.
That period. So, but I did, when they came to Barcelona, funnily enough, in 96, which is my 30th podcast, talks about this particular time of my life. But I don't mention Balear in that. I did just randomly ask at the concert theatre that they were playing at, if I could...
get backstage just and said I'm a friend of Dave's so then I did manage to get two tickets Dave has left them and I got backstage and I saw Graham and Dave all those years later that was back in 96 yeah of course the the Brit pop
And the fight was just finished by then. Well, I didn't know much because I spoke to Dave and he said, it's old news, mate. It's old news. I was like, I don't know because I've been living abroad since 91. I don't really know what's going on. And in that time as well, like sort of pre-internet, let's say, it was a bit more difficult, I suppose, to know what was going on in Australia.
I mean, if you were genuinely interested in the bands, but I wasn't so much like focusing in on what was going on between Oasis and Blur at that period of time. I preferred the music of Blur. That's not bias. It's just I thought it was clever compositionally. Yeah.
Yeah, I'm not intelligent enough. I don't understand enough about music. I just saw Oasis wearing really cool clothes and thought, my God, they're so cool. Oh, they are. They're definitely far cooler. Yeah, definitely in that sense. Definitely. Not as pretty. Just more rough. Just rough and ready. 96, I remember I was in year six at school, primary school. And yeah, seeing them.
And I thought, oh my God, they are so cool. I want to be like that. Didn't quite make it to a rock and roll star. So instead I did the next best thing and made a podcast called Rock and Roll English. Well, there you are then. So similar things. You can dream. You can dream. You have a tenuous connection then, don't you? Surely. Honestly, me, Liam, Noel, we're almost brothers now. Yeah.
So you actually remind me, actually, when I thought about when I was in Spain, maybe in the 90s on holiday, and you had no...
of what was going on at home. And then there would be some dodgy man on the beach selling a photocopy of an English newspaper. Oh, that's right. And buying that. So maybe that was the only way to keep up with the Britpop war. I think it probably was, yeah. I mean, you'd have to listen to the World Service, I guess. Yeah. But apart from that, really, you'd have to do your research. It wasn't so much...
it wasn't so accessible at those period of time. Absolutely not. So you mentioned how you like fitness and wellness is one of your passions and that's like what you talk about in your podcast and we are going to come on to that and look at some hacks. Yeah, sure. However, something a really interesting thing which I'm
obviously we've spoken about before, which I wanted to bring up just in case anyone was in this situation is you mentioned that in the past you actually had a bit of a drinking problem. Yeah. Yeah, I did. I didn't. It's quite insidious, the whole thing, because it stemmed really from my very early days when I was a student, even prior to going off and studying. I studied in Colchester. That's why I did the connection. And I
I mean, I would just regularly drink every night. I drank every night. That was what I did. But this carried on. It's embarrassing to say until almost two years ago. Right. And I had a bit of an epiphany moment. And I'm not talking about the odd glass of wine, a glass of wine at dinner. No, it was...
you know, a bottle of wine or three quarters bottle of wine and a beer. And every night, every night, every night. And I, and I did try like, I think I did that without three or four years when I managed three or four nights off during the year, usually when we went to Alps.
And I could manage to have those nights where I would think, right, I've really got to do this. I've got to manage to have two or three nights, four nights possibly. Per year. So when you sent me that in the message, so I read that and you said like the sort of drinking subsided, went down a bit because I had three to five nights off. I was expecting to see per week, but then I saw per year. I thought, whoa, wow.
Even just having one night off, I just couldn't do it. I just tried. I tried so hard. And it was just, it was always an excuse. You know, oh, I'm working. Oh, I need to chill out afterwards. I used to work late, of course, as you do teaching English. And then it was like, oh, it's a weekend. It's a Friday night. I'm going out. There's always a reason, isn't there? There's always a reason, et cetera, et cetera. And then one of the main problems I remember for me was,
I mean, my wife, she doesn't really drink. Well, she drinks. She will have the odd class. And it wasn't a problem between us because she's French. She didn't really notice. I mean, she was fine with me just constantly pouring more wine, you know. She didn't really know. The thing was, she only noticed really when we went away. Then it got to the point where I'd have to hide wine and buy the same two bottles and hide one behind a door. And it's really pathetic. Right.
You know, and find hiding places in an airing cupboard. It's just... Wow. I mean, we're obviously laughing about this, but it is obviously a serious matter. But the reason I wanted to talk about it is just in case anyone else is going through something similar, because now, obviously, you've turned your life around and actually talking about wellness and fitness and doing these things to maintain that as well. I'd imagine you feel a lot better now.
healthy that was one of the questions that was first posed after about four months now i have to say that i haven't completely knocked it on the head and if you were to consider oh i was an alcoholic you're supposed to stop completely but i didn't because uh i thought can i control it and i'm luckily enough i was able to do that okay and so uh
After about a month, two months, people were asking that question. And I was saying, no, not really. But then after about three or four months of...
Literally having like three, four nights where I wouldn't drink and then having one drink or then maybe going out and having a couple of beers with friends like most people will do. I did start to feel, and I feel the effects of it now because I was always compensating with it, with sports, particularly the running and the cycling. And that was what was enabling me to carry on as a functioning pseudo-alcoholic. I don't really...
So as somebody with a drinking problem, let's say, because I don't really want to say I was an alcoholic. I had a drinking problem in that I had a drinking dependency. Yeah. So that was actually where I was going to next. And that is another reason why I think you've got an absolutely great
remarkable story to tell so in this time where you were drinking every night of the year and so you wrote in the message to me so four pints of beer was a light drinking oh yeah so four pints for me now well maybe when i was younger it was it was a light night for me as well but now now that that's that would be a heavy night for me that would be a very heavy night for me i'd be a night where i'd wake up with a hangover now i had four pints you know for sure
Absolutely. Those days, that was probably my student days because when I went abroad, not Turkey because Turkey was the same. It was beer, beer, beer, odd glass of wine, odd bottle of wine. But then it was when I went and lived in Turkey.
Spain and then in Italy and Portugal, that's where I sort of morphed into drinking a bottle of wine per night. And it was a bottle of wine per night because it was easy. I enjoyed it and I could obtain it very quickly.
Those big five gave me... Cheap as well in those countries. Yeah, big five sort of like litre. In Portugal, you'd change them over every week. Five litres would do me for a week and then I'd change it back and then, you know, that was how it would work. But in that time, you ran five London marathons. I ran those when we went back to England, so between 1999 and 2005. And, I mean, I don't really understand much about running, but you've got...
You did a marathon in less than two hours and 45 minutes. I did three in sub 245. So 241 was the best. So two hours, 41 minutes, you ran a marathon and you were drinking every single night of the year. Every single night. And even before the night of the marathon, I...
I didn't drink as much. But I remember meeting my auntie, for example, when I... Because the first one I did, I did a 253. I didn't know I was supposed to break 245. Nobody told me. And so I didn't squeeze that one out. Then I thought, right, I'm going to do it for cancer. And the following year, I've got to break 245. Because if you break 245, you get into the championship. You get an automatic place. And you're in with the elites for the following year. So I did.
And I met my auntie who I ran for cancer because my uncle had died a few years before of cancer. And we met up and I said, right, well, you know, it was I got a bottle of wine. She said, are you drinking the night before? Well, yeah. Why not? So we had a bottle of wine that was between the three of us. And then I went to we went to the pub and I had a pint.
and i was about to have a second one and my wife said maybe you shouldn't have a second pint i was like well maybe not and then i still managed to get 244 that is incredible that is absolutely incredible and i mean not only just the night before if you're drinking every night of the year like a bottle of wine and and you're still even if you hadn't drunk the night before that would still be pretty impressive um i actually remember once when i was about
And obviously hadn't really been properly drinking for that long. And I was, I was playing football in the evening and like eight o'clock and it was the daytime and I was in the pub and I thought, you know, a few beers would be okay. And I had like three pints of beer thinking I'd be okay. And turns out it does have an effect on your performance. If you, Oh yes, for sure. As a musician, as a musician, because I'm a trumpet player, as you, as you probably know,
and it does affect your performance. You think there is kind of the ideal amount, and I would say it's probably a couple of beers, and I'm not talking pints, just a couple of like doblets that we have here, like 33 centilitres. And that's just perfect to do a gig, a performance. Anything more, you sort of think you're playing better, but you really aren't. You know, so. Well, music is that type of thing, isn't it? Like, it's
It's almost certainly when I think of like a racist in the nineties, that is part of being a rock star, isn't it? I've heard Noel Gallagher say before, like you imagine a rock star, like drinking water and going to bed at 9. He said, like, what, what would the kids think? You have to be like a bottle of Jack Daniels and like crawled up in the corner. Yeah. Yeah. You know, thankfully that, I mean, that's true about, you know, that you should go to their giddy heights, but,
so many of them had problems you know with drugs and alcohol for sure luckily I've never really got into the spirits so that's one you know one thankful point of this you know well I have heard what wine is it can be good for you I don't think if you're drinking a bottle you know the jury's out on that right yeah you know I think you know
Is it a glass of wine? My mum's now, she's 80, and she does drink a glass of wine every night. And she has been, and she will not stop. But it is one glass. Yeah. And she swears by that. Right. And she's fit. She's healthy. You know, apart from her eyes. She's very mobile. So...
So, yeah. Okay. So you heard it here first. Glass of wine every night. Glass of wine. That'll be fine. A glass. Yes. Or nothing at all. Or just take some fizzy water. Fizzy water. I've got no time for that. Still water. It drives me. My wife loves fizzy water. It drives me mental. I know. There's nothing more annoying when I see some water on the table and maybe I think that glass is mine and take a swig.
and then i get that fizzy and i almost i literally just like spit it out i'd rather die of thirst than drink fizzy water i hate it so to to move from that though to now what you're doing yeah i think it's quite incredible well it's already incredible everything that we've already spoken about like living all these countries playing with members of blur running marathons drinking every night um but now so obviously you're making a
podcast and it's the reason i like it is so you're giving like wellness hacks let's say about so how to be fit healthy how to feel good basically yeah mentally and physically yes and the thing i like most so you say i think you say for busy professionals don't you yes you describe it which um
Yeah, I mean, I suppose I could call myself a busy professional. I don't like to think of myself... Oh, you certainly are, Darren. You certainly are, sure. I don't think... I don't like to call myself a professional. I like to say just for lazy people like me, okay? And so this is what I like about it. So things which we can fit into our lives because something I'm noticing more, how we're all becoming lazier and lazier to do things...
And we spoke about this in our pre-podcast chat. I'm quite into self-development and things like that. And I've read all the books.
And there's lots of advice in them, but you just think like, how am I actually going to do that? Of like, sometimes I wake up at 5:00 AM, write in your journal for an hour, then go to the gym for an hour. And you think, I can't do that. I haven't got that time. But you've got for us lots of these hacks, which literally can take minutes if I'm not mistaken. Yeah.
Well, that's the whole premise is they have to be fast. They have to be swift in nature in order to fit them into a busy day. So now let's get into the sort of tricks or hacks. One actually I want to mention. So this is a mental one. So it says breath work because funnily enough, someone, one of the sort of old regular people on the podcast said,
spoke about this and said he started doing these breathing techniques and this led to him passing out a few times and then his girlfriend coming back and he was like unconscious on the floor so I'm interested to hear how this works
Yeah, the breathing ones, it's funny because, can I just caveat all of this by saying that I don't want people to think this is kind of holistic woo-woo stuff. Okay. I love that word, woo-woo, of like stuff. Yeah.
You know, because it is because because in the past you'd hear about this and people would go on these meditation retreats and do the do yoga, which I do yoga occasionally. I've never really got on with yoga personally. I've I've just been dragged along to do it. So it's not what it doesn't really work for me particularly, although I have done it many times. But.
the reason i mention it is because some of the meditation stuff can go on for a long long time and if you're into that and i'm sure that it really really works fantastic but everything that i prescribe is quick and it doesn't have to be an hour it could be five minutes it could be two minutes one minute 30 seconds okay and that's the beauty of these hacks
The breathing ones, I thought, who does that? Honestly. I must admit that that is my sort of thought at the moment. This is a woo woo thing. Does anyone do this? So convince me otherwise. Convince me this is not a woo woo thing and it is going to work. I think I think I mean, maybe I can't convince you. OK, give us one then. Just the easiest one. Yeah, well, the easiest one for me, the easiest one is a box breathing one. That's the simplest one.
and my that's one of my taking drugs the box breathing cannabis the box breathing is a four four four one and so basically all you do is you you breathe it i mean i can i can just show i can okay do it i do i do it with a clap so and and uh and so you breathe in you breathe in um
through your nose for four seconds, you hold for four seconds or four beats. It could be long beats if you've got a lot of cardiovascular ability. And then you breathe out for four beats. Okay. So if we do it like this, I'll just demonstrate. I'll clap in, I'll click during holding, and then I'll clap out. Okay. So you go, I'll do it with the microphone as close as I can.
And that's called box three. It's four, four, four. You do that like three times. Okay. And you will feel calm. Okay.
Okay, so that's one trick I'm going to do. So that does seem easy to do, which is... And you can also do that one. I actually prefer personally, I prefer the four, seven, eight one of that. It's just a bit more interesting and it's longer. But the easiest to remember is the four, it's called the box. And also when you're doing that, you can...
Join that up at the same time and you can look out the window, watch the clouds, which sounds very woo-woo. You can't get more woo-woo than a breathing technique looking at the clouds, can you? No, you really can't. But that brings in the visual element as well. You don't have to. Closing your eyes is just as good, which is also good for visualization. So you can marry up these different factors into the same thing. So that's a breathing technique one for you, yeah, for sure. Okay.
So let's go because speaking of time, we...
busy professionals we need to actually get through these so we need to um okay let's have a look at a physical one then yeah because these don't take long so we've still got time so a physical one so yeah you choose the one you want to give us okay um one of the easiest one the quickest ones i do and this breaks up the day if you're if you're at the computer is is a simple there are two that i i would recommend uh well let's if you're sitting down the seat the seated russian twists which is
These two that I will mention are core-based exercises. So they're great for strengthening up your core, which everybody could do because that's brilliant for balance. And then you just move your body from the right to the left with your hands behind your head. And you move your body to the right. I'm doing this, Ivana. Okay, yeah, you do that to the right. And then you breathe out, breathe in, and then breathe out.
And then she's breathing backwards and forwards with your body, keeping your core tight as you're doing these. Okay. Backwards and forwards. And it's really good for your core. It's really good for movement and it's good for balance. You can do these standing up as well, but this is a sitting one and that will help with your core. That will help to break things up. But another one, which I do when I'm standing up, walking around is a power punch combo. Okay.
And these people, I hope, can I just say, these will come from my podcast. So this power punch combo is number 15 in my podcast. Okay. And the seated Russian twist was in episode number 24, but the power punch comp combo is really, imagine yourself in a, in a boxing rig. You could visualize somebody that maybe you don't particularly care for a
a particular politician, for example. And then you just, you literally punch core tight. You punch forward, back this, you know, back,
You can't see the video. I think this is only going to be audio. So it's kind of wasting your time. This would make a great video for social media. I'll tell you that. Yeah, it would, wouldn't it? We can use it if you like. And then that one is a good one. But you do that fast. Do it fast. Okay. Yeah, my wife loves that one. She's always staring at me at that time. Anyway, and then you do a cross one upwards like this. So you're twisting. Okay. Diagonal. It's diagonal upwards. Okay.
And just for a minute, you can do these because. Oh, yeah, you could do that. You could do it for like 20 seconds. You do it for 20 seconds, but you do it. You do your core tight. You do it fast and you do it with strength. I mean, the way you're doing it at the moment, Martin, seems a bit flimsy, to be honest with you. I'm not very good at punching. I normally get punched.
So, yeah. So there's a couple of physical ones there. That would really work. Yeah. Right. I mean, yeah, I'm feeling, I think even the vibe of the podcast has gone up since we've started moving. Yeah. Whenever you're walking, for example, that's when the great creative juices can work, isn't it? Like, you know, so I encourage walking meetings. One of the pieces of material I use with the university students who are, is on this topic of walk while you can, walk and talk. Okay.
So yeah, these are, these are good ways. I have thought of doing a walk and talk podcast, actually. You really should. But one that I have to ask you about, which you put on the list. So this is for both physical and mental is, um, power of dance five and music for joy and productivity. Yeah. Yeah. That, that,
The five and the 20 are the podcast numbers. That's just for my own reference. And so I can, you know, obviously mention that. But the power of the power of dance is amazing. But the only downside with this is you have to bother to find a playlist and put it on. So therefore, that's maximizing friction. And if you go into the words of good old guru James Clear, you want to be minimizing friction.
But if you could be bothered to open your phone up and actually press play, imagine the feeling of elation. Just get up, put on the playlist, connect it to a speaker. Well, go for it, you know.
And then in the morning, you're dancing away. And I tell you what, the sensation is incredible. And that can really just elevate your mood so much so that you will feel, you know, if it's a favourite dance tune. Yeah. My problem, so I normally put music on Alexa. I say, like, Alexa, play like songs on Spotify. But then my daughter will quickly say, Alexa, play Let It Go from Frozen. So I find myself dancing to, like, princess songs.
And so, oh, so that, so the power of dance and music for joy and productivity. Yeah, music for joy and productivity. I seem to recall that this is, that particular episode, it talks about different type of music, which is good for helping you to concentrate. Right. So you'd have to listen to number 20 of that podcast in order to concentrate.
To get the most of that. Now, the great thing about your podcast as well is it kind of fits into everything is they are short episodes. You don't have those, you know, you think, oh, we don't listen to this podcast. It's like one hour, 59 minutes. And you think, oh, my God, how am I ever going to do that? But your podcast is like 10 minutes, I think. 10 minutes. I aim for 10, 9 minutes. 9 minutes is optimal for me if I can get under 10 minutes.
If I'm doing it on my own, I do occasionally have guests. I've got a couple of guests coming up in the next couple of weeks. So they'll probably go on. But even then, I would try to, when I had guests in the past, I've tried to edit them down to 17, 18 minutes. Just shut them up a bit. That's enough.
Well, it's really difficult to edit down, you know, and I've compromised on one of the guests. I think I probably took too much out and compromised the message a little bit. But so, OK, tell us where we can find your podcast, because I must admit, so I've done a few of these and people maybe have given tips. And I often say at the end of the podcast, oh, thanks. We've got some tips when really we haven't. But I actually...
I mean, there are simple things, but just, I don't know, you telling me them.
They're a lot better explained. When I explain them in the podcast, I do them with music. I also explain the science behind them. So I managed to pack it in to that nine, ten minutes. And it gives you, you know, it talks about the focus, oxygen to the brain, the reasons for why this would occur. And so I have listened to your podcast and it is very well made with music. So I think what we've done, we've done the perfect thing.
leaving like a teaser for people to find it so people have to go and find it now so where can they find it what do they need to do what do they need to type in all they need to do is to type in busy pro fast wellness okay busy pro fast wellness into your podcast app and you will find it there however you will also find a link into the podcast you're listening to right now oh thank you you're gonna put that in the show notes yeah thank you for that show notes and podcast description um
So there we go. Well, Alan, it's been an absolute pleasure doing our punching together, breathing, looking at the clouds, talking about blur, oasis, drinking, marathons. Oh, yes. I've really enjoyed myself. Thank you very much. And I really hope that if you'll allow me to come back on in the future, I'd love to come back on. Absolutely. We'd love to have you.
Just for a bit more lighthearted banter. Absolutely. None of this woo-woo nonsense. No more woo-woo breathing looking at the clouds. So, yes, thanks a lot, Alan, and we'll talk to you soon. All right, thank you. Thanks for all the best. Thank you. Bye. Bye. Bye.
Okay, so there we go. That was me talking to Alan about his incredible life story, some serious things, as you notice, and also his wellness hacks, wellness tips, tips to make you feel good physically and mentally. But as he said, he talks about them much more in the podcast. So you can stop the podcast you're listening to now and you'll find a link to Alan's podcast there.
So having a look at some of the vocabulary that we had in this conversation at the beginning, I said just to reel off a few things here from your life. So reel off, just say really quickly. And I said, you are an English teacher. You lived in China. You ran London marathons. I quickly reeled them off. Alan then said, when you teach English, you have to dress it up a bit, make it seem more important than it is and say, I'm in education. I also mentioned that in the 90s when I
an English person was in Spain, there would always be a dodgy man on the beach selling a photocopy of an English newspaper. So dodgy man, meaning someone that doesn't look...
safe, let's say, doesn't look honest. When talking about his drinking problem, Alan said, I'm not talking about the odd bottle of wine. So I'm not talking about a bottle of wine here and there, but much more than that. And he said, I haven't completely knocked drinking on the head. So when you knock something on the head, you stop.
We then mentioned how a glass of wine is apparently good for you. And Alan said the jury's still out on that, meaning we still don't know if that's true. But he said his mother has a glass of wine every night and she swears by it. So when someone swears by it, it means they say it's always good.
I then said, I take a swig of water. So a swig would just be just one, a quick swig. And we mentioned how these things can sound a bit woo-woo. So a bit woo-woo.
As we mentioned, doing breathing techniques, looking at clouds is very woo-woo. And last but not least, Alan said he never got on with yoga. So get on with someone means to have a good relationship, to enjoy that person's company. You can actually say it with something like yoga as well. So
You don't have a good relationship with yoga if you don't get on with it. But he said, I've just been dragged along to do it. So if someone drags you along, you don't really want to go, but they make you go. So anyway, remember to check out Alan's podcast, which is called Busy Pro Fast Wellness, or just click the link in the episode you are listening to right now. Thanks a lot for listening. I will talk to you very soon. But in the meantime, just keep on rocking, baby.
Thanks so much for listening to Rock and Roll English. For more great content and to stay up to date, visit rockandrollenglish.com and facebook.com slash rockandrollenglish. We'll catch you next time.