What does a dedicated meditation practice look like off the cushion and in the real world? On this episode of Men Talking Mindfulness, hosts Jon Macaskill and Will Schneider sit down with Chris Lee... former Green Beret, 18 Delta medic, author of Beyond the Battlefield, and newly signed president of Machine Mentality alongside Nick Lavery. Chris came on to talk about why meditation is the quiet superpower that most men keep putting off, and what actually changed when he stopped treating it like a checkbox.
Chris shares his walking meditation practice (72 steps per lap in his backyard, nearly killed the grass), the moment he realized he'd been matching his breath to his pace instead of his pace to his breath, and why flipping that became a metaphor for his whole life. He talks about the shift from knife-handing his daughters to being present during driving lessons, the self-talk change that cracked everything open, and a psychedelic-assisted therapy session where he heard: stop striving for peace, just be peace.
Jon shares his own meditation gap... learning the practice in 2015, dropping off, and coming back in 2017 when his newborn daughter's nighttime feedings forced him to rediscover the tool. Will talks about teaching non-doing meditation to high performers in New York and why you'll never out-clever your own mind.
The episode gets practical with the five-minute rule, the gym analogy for beginners (start with 45 seconds, not an hour), and two responses to common meditation pushback that are worth remembering: "I can't quiet my mind" is like saying "I'm too dirty to take a shower," and the deadlift analogy for people who think sitting still is a waste of time. Chris closes by guiding a liquid light body scan meditation.
What you'll hear in this episode:
Chris's walking meditation practice and matching pace to breath as a life metaphor
The self-talk shift: being gentle when your mind wanders
How meditation changed Chris's parenting with two daughters
Jon's nighttime feeding story and rediscovering the tool
The five-minute rule and why 45 seconds is a great place to start
"I can't quiet my mind" = "I'm too dirty to take a shower"
The deadlift analogy for meditation skeptics
Non-doing meditation and why fighting your mind gives it control
Peace as a reservoir, not a mountaintop
Sleep, alcohol, the Brick device, and variables that affect your practice
Community and accountability for sustaining a meditation habit
Guided liquid light body scan meditation
Chris's book: Beyond the Battlefield (available now) Chris's upcoming book: Beyond the Serpent (early 2026) Chris on Instagram/TikTok: @coach_chris.lee Machine Mentality with Nick Lavery
Full episode: https://pod.fo/e/34fabf
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Jon's book, DIAL in Your Leadership: 4 Non-negotiables for Leading with Clarity, Trust, and Purpose, is available now on Amazon. https://a.co/d/0hYwI2Sz
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