143. Mental Health Through Breathing with Marcus Bradley
Mental Health Through Breathing with Marcus Bradley
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Welcome to the elemental Evan podcast, thank you all so much for tuning in. On this podcast I simplify complex health topics from a holistic perspective.
Today I’m joined by my good friend Marcus who’s a certified Wim Hof breath work instructor. Today, Marcus and I are going to dive deep on not only breath work, but also addiction, and ego. Marcus shares his journey and struggle with alcohol consumption, mental health, and doing the inner work to step into the man that he is today.
After this episode, you’ll walk away with a better understanding of the role that breath work play’s in mental health, and how Marcus has applied it to his life to completely transform himself into the person he chooses to be. Marcus also shares his 3 steps to living a healthy and balanced life that have helped him along his path.
It was an absolute pleasure to have Marcus on the show today, and I know you’re going to love this episode as much as I loved recording it. As always do everything with good intentions and connect to your elements!
Disclaimer:
This podcast is for educational purposes only, it is not a substitute for professional care by a doctor or other qualified medical professional. Evan Roberts is not a medical professional and this podcast is provided on the understanding that it does not constitute medical or other professional advice or services. Statements and views expressed on this show are not medical advice, this podcast, including Evan Roberts and any guests on the show, disclaims responsibility for any possible adverse effects from the use of information contained in this episode. If you think you have a medical problem please consult a medical professional.
Transcript
Welcome back to the elemental Ivan podcast.
Speaker:Thank you all so much for tuning in this is your host and then Roberts.
Speaker:And on this podcast, I simplify complex health topics from a holistic perspective.
Speaker:Today, I'm joined by my good friend, Marcus.
Speaker:Who's a certified Wim Hoff breathwork instructor, which if you're unfamiliar
Speaker:with Wim Hoff and his breathing practices, here are a few snippets
Speaker:of why he is so widely known.
Speaker:So first off he's known as the ice man, because he holds multiple world records
Speaker:regarding cold exposure and breath work such as hiking, Mount Kilimanjaro in just
Speaker:his shorts and also sitting in a container filled with ice all the way up to.
Speaker:His shoulders slash neck for just over 112 minutes, which
Speaker:is a little under two hours.
Speaker:He has been able to accomplish all of this through the power of breath,
Speaker:which he has learned and applied to his life through the ancient yoga
Speaker:teachings of pranayama, AKA breath work.
Speaker:Now today, Marcus and I are going to dive deep, not only on breath
Speaker:work, but also addiction and ego.
Speaker:Marcus shares his journey and struggle with alcohol consumption, mental
Speaker:health, and doing the inner work to step into the man that he is today.
Speaker:After this episode, you'll walk away with a better understanding of the role
Speaker:that breath work plays in mental health and how Marcus has applied it to his
Speaker:life to completely transform himself into the person he chooses to be.
Speaker:Marcus also shares his three steps to living a healthy and balanced life
Speaker:that have helped him along his path.
Speaker:It was honestly an absolute pleasure to have Marcus on the show today.
Speaker:And I know you're going to love this episode as much as I loved recording it.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:Y'all let's get into it.
Speaker:to the show, Marcus.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Thanks for having me.
Speaker:No, I'm, I'm grateful to be here, grateful to reconnect after all
Speaker:these years and, . Excited to talk about like health and wellness.
Speaker:Talk about the journey you've been on, the journey I've been on,
Speaker:and, um, especially from and hear the growth, it's gonna be nice.
Speaker:I can't really ever see the growth within myself, but like knowing
Speaker:someone from 10 plus years ago and then seeing the complete
Speaker:shift in that is gonna be awesome.
Speaker:So I'm excited to be here.
Speaker:Thanks, man.
Speaker:Yeah, well I can tell you right now, uh, from our first, , meetup,
Speaker:what was that like last Wednesday?
Speaker:Uh, mm-hmm.
Speaker:I could even see like the differences in you and just like, we all
Speaker:grow, we all get more mature as time goes on in general.
Speaker:But I could just see like a sense of like calm confidence in you.
Speaker:If, if that makes any sense.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:That's, that's kind of what I was getting, but, uh, dude, so like, lead
Speaker:me on the journey to how you found that calm confidence and , we could go through
Speaker:the health portion of it, but like what, what kind of, uh, were the major
Speaker:stepping, , points in your life that, that led you to where you're at now?
Speaker:Yeah, I mean, dude, it's like I, I love looking back and just kind of thinking
Speaker:like, 'cause a lot of people will see like, I don't know, some things that
Speaker:they like determine as success and like, how long did it take you to do this?
Speaker:How long did it take you do this?
Speaker:I'm like, dude, it took me 30 years.
Speaker:It's like, it's taken my whole life and like a lot of life experiences
Speaker:to get to the point where I'm at now and things are forever shifting.
Speaker:But like, there's so many key moments, like every single.
Speaker:Every single day, whether it was like our time, like in Beaumont and
Speaker:like the decisions that I made then definitely influenced what I'm on now.
Speaker:And, um, I really appreciate and attribute those times like in high school where
Speaker:I was so uncomfortable in my skin and trying to figure out what to do and
Speaker:having like sports be an identity thing.
Speaker:Um, and instead of looking more inward, reaching externally for things, whether
Speaker:it was like validation from my dad, validation from coaches, validations
Speaker:from friends and family and like whatever it was then when that didn't.
Speaker:Workout, then it's like I'm reaching more externally for other
Speaker:things, drugs, alcohol, whatever it is to feel better about myself.
Speaker:And, um, long story short, those things didn't work.
Speaker:They're not sustainable.
Speaker:And, um, it led me very mentally broken, spiritually broken, financially broken.
Speaker:And, um, just like in a, at a turning point where I didn't
Speaker:know where my life was gonna go.
Speaker:And, and once I kind of gave that stuff up and, um, Was able to just kind of
Speaker:like, look at my part in this and then start doing the deeper inner work.
Speaker:Um, it led to just a bunch of different things and changing diet, changing.
Speaker:Um, once you get rid of like the drugs and alcohol, like you start feeling better
Speaker:and like, how can I feel more better?
Speaker:How can I level up a little bit more?
Speaker:And so, um, Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker:Look, looking at things holistically, getting into breath work, the
Speaker:Wim Pop stuff, changing my diet, being of service to others.
Speaker:And, um, but it all starts with that scared little boy from like
Speaker:high school and even earlier on, and then wanting to like look deeper
Speaker:and give that kid a lot of love.
Speaker:And then, and in exchange, then I get to live the life that I'm living now.
Speaker:I love that so much right there.
Speaker:, as there's , a few things that arose for me.
Speaker:One of the things being, I think, , you really hit the
Speaker:nail on the head where it's like always chasing a high, you know?
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:And, not, I mean, it could be obviously getting high, but like,
Speaker:uh, chasing the high of Right.
Speaker:Like chasing the high of, um, of just like feeling good in life.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And I don't think there's anything wrong with that, but I think
Speaker:in many ways that can almost be an addiction in itself, right?
Speaker:Like, The light life is gonna have ups and downs, and I think it's
Speaker:important for us to not always seek out the pleasurable stuff.
Speaker:And I think we're kind of hardwired nowadays for that with like, yeah.
Speaker:TikTok and, you know, these instant gratification videos
Speaker:and things, but mm-hmm.
Speaker:Um, I think it's important for us to also , sit with uncomfortability, sit
Speaker:with the hard stuff and , not like you have to enjoy it, but be bored with it.
Speaker:Sit through it, you know, experience it.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:'cause it's gonna allow for the balance.
Speaker:If you're trying to just stay on this continuous high,
Speaker:like that's, that's not life.
Speaker:Life is up and down and so you gotta ride that.
Speaker:And even, , to the best extent, I think keeping almost like a bit
Speaker:of a neutral mindset in, in life can be very beneficial as well.
Speaker:Um mm-hmm.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I think that plays a big role and uh, helps, helps with mental health for sure.
Speaker:But, in terms of, I know you mentioned a little bit about drinking
Speaker:and, and possible drugs and stuff.
Speaker:What led you to that and what allowed you to get over that as well?
Speaker:It's, it's a lot of what we kind of talked about.
Speaker:Like, not even like chasing the high of life, but it's also
Speaker:for me, I was trying to escape.
Speaker:Um, I was trying to, I did not like the circumstances that I was in.
Speaker:I didn't.
Speaker:Um, the lack of confidence that I had.
Speaker:And instead of doing like the inner work within myself, it's
Speaker:just like, oh, I can drink this.
Speaker:And like, now I'm becoming funnier.
Speaker:People think I'm, I can be in a room and I'm more lively.
Speaker:This is who I really am.
Speaker:And it was just a lie.
Speaker:And a lot of people keep chasing that light and that thrill and,
Speaker:um, To the point where like, I had a drink just to be social.
Speaker:Anytime I was nervous, I would have a drink.
Speaker:Anytime, like before a big game, I would have a drink.
Speaker:I mean, I played in my last high school game, completely drunk outta my mind,
Speaker:um, just because I was so nervous for it.
Speaker:And, um, That was just my solution.
Speaker:And it worked for a long time until it didn't, or at least, at least like I
Speaker:was deceived to believe that it worked.
Speaker:I had no idea that it, that it had a problem.
Speaker:The only person I was tricking was myself.
Speaker:A lot of people were like, dude, like, what's going on?
Speaker:Why can't you like get this together?
Speaker:Your grades are falling.
Speaker:All this is like not working out.
Speaker:And um, it took a lot of like bottoms and it took a lot of,
Speaker:um, situations to where like it.
Speaker:Continue down this road, which I don't think I had much time left down
Speaker:or could do a complete 180 and then have, and eventually have to do the
Speaker:things that I've been avoiding, which is just take a look at it myself
Speaker:and sit with that uncomfortableness.
Speaker:So, I mean, the reason why I can only speak for myself, I was gonna say a
Speaker:lot of people, but the only reason, the reason why I was drinking and,
Speaker:and partying so much was because I had the inability to sit with myself.
Speaker:I felt so.
Speaker:Not okay with who I was as a person, that I had to do all these things
Speaker:in order to be whatever I thought I was, which was just like my ego.
Speaker:But in return, I am now trading everything that I have and everything
Speaker:in my life for this one thing.
Speaker:And when I had the opportunity to give it up, I started getting
Speaker:everything back, which was really nice.
Speaker:And then some, so I would say it took a lot of bottoms.
Speaker:It took, it took like the hurt of like, Lying to my parents getting kicked
Speaker:out of every school that I went to.
Speaker:I got kicked out of uc, Irvine.
Speaker:I got kicked out of Idaho State.
Speaker:I was homeless for a little bit and at my time in Idaho State, um, I
Speaker:got kicked off of my team at Dixie.
Speaker:I got brought back, brought back on the team.
Speaker:It was just like all this chaos and all of this like illusion and delusion
Speaker:of, , Just like who I thought I was.
Speaker:And , that was the issue though.
Speaker:I was walking around and just like, don't you know who I think I am with everybody?
Speaker:In reality, I was just so scared of every situation and every person and everything.
Speaker:, so it took those moments.
Speaker:It took lying, cheating, and stealing from my dad and my parents and taking
Speaker:money and just being a complete leach until these people started like.
Speaker:Getting rid of me.
Speaker:And then , it just forced me into, like, I was just left with myself.
Speaker:And then I got into a place very like bad mentally where I was completely suicidal.
Speaker:And, I had friends that found me on the fifth floor of a building,
Speaker:like halfway hanging off of it.
Speaker:, and just , it took like moments like that and I would still minimize it.
Speaker:But when I realized that, , I didn't care about my life.
Speaker:But then , people started coming into my life and saw like something in
Speaker:me that I didn't see in myself and they were willing to help me out.
Speaker:And , for example, my grandfather co-signed a car for me and my dad was
Speaker:like, I would've never in a million years co-signed that car for you.
Speaker:I had no credit.
Speaker:I had no nothing.
Speaker:He's like, I know you're drinking and driving.
Speaker:I know you're doing all these things that, um, That like you, you're reckless.
Speaker:You don't care about your life, but if you were to crash this car, they're gonna
Speaker:go after your grandfather for all he has.
Speaker:And that was true.
Speaker:I had no, I did not care about my life.
Speaker:My mental state was already telling me that , if I were to die, I'd be doing
Speaker:my like family and friends a favor, but like knowing that my decisions
Speaker:could impact my grandfather, when he stuck his neck out for me, I was
Speaker:like, all right, enough's enough.
Speaker:And like I just came clean.
Speaker:I was like, I can't stop drinking.
Speaker:I don't know what to do.
Speaker:Everything about this is just , It's just tough.
Speaker:And um, yeah, that was, that was that decision made and I went and got some
Speaker:help and it's been a good five and a half, almost six years later, and
Speaker:life has been really, really good.
Speaker:It is still definitely hard at times, but knowing that like I don't pick up a drink
Speaker:or do drugs or alter my mind and I'm able to just accept it and move through it.
Speaker:Live life on life's terms has just been phenomenal and may the person that I
Speaker:am today and a person that I'm proud.
Speaker:Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker:From 17 to 24, I really lived like with, for myself, I was very selfish,
Speaker:self-centered, and everything I did was to, for Marcus's sake.
Speaker:Now, from 24 to 30, it's all about like the other person,
Speaker:how can I make your life easier?
Speaker:How can I assist you?
Speaker:How can I.
Speaker:Helped you see the depths of yourself and like, I just feel like I'm
Speaker:on borrowed of time and every day that I have the opportunity to help
Speaker:somebody, they're in my life for me to help them in any way that I can.
Speaker:And, um, and in return, I get this life beyond my wildest dreams,
Speaker:which has been really, really nice.
Speaker:Marcus, , thank you.
Speaker:Thank you for your vulnerability and for sharing that, , , it's
Speaker:not easy, you know what I mean?
Speaker:And, , truthfully, I really appreciate that and I'm, I'm happy to see you, man.
Speaker:'cause I, I didn't know any of that obviously since I saw you in high school.
Speaker:So.
Speaker:Man, , it's beautiful to see, you know, . I was already like, dang, dude, Marcus
Speaker:has really just , stepped into this role and like, really done the work and all
Speaker:this , and, , I was like, super, , yeah, already blown away and, and this is
Speaker:even more so I'm just like, man, that's, it's so beautiful to see it, Marcus.
Speaker:And I also, I think for a lot, okay, so like I say this a lot of times and, . I'm
Speaker:sure I have like an idea of what this means for you, but I'm curious, what did
Speaker:doing the inner work look like for you?
Speaker:Dude, doing the inner work, it's that constant ba, especially back then
Speaker:it was that it was a day at a time.
Speaker:It was just like, all right, what do I have to do?
Speaker:All right, I need to not drink right now.
Speaker:Maybe I need to like, Be of service.
Speaker:How do I get out of my own head and how do I sit and feel these
Speaker:feelings that I'm comfortable with to like, move through 'em?
Speaker:So the, the inner work back then was just like very, very simple.
Speaker:Pay my bills on time.
Speaker:I got in, I gotta have a car, pay my car note and make sure that like my car
Speaker:note gets paid, um, show up to work and like the little basic things that like,
Speaker:I just couldn't really hold back then.
Speaker:And then now the inner work is like, Although like that sounds a lot harder
Speaker:than like getting in an ice bath, but like now it's just like, 'cause of those
Speaker:things are gonna take care of themselves.
Speaker:Like I'm already, I'm fine tuned and like my bills are gonna get
Speaker:paid, my needs are gonna get met.
Speaker:Now it's just like, do this, um, Call other people, make, see how
Speaker:they're doing and check on them just for the sake of checking in on
Speaker:them and hearing how they're doing so I can get outta my own head.
Speaker:Uh, be honest about my situations.
Speaker:I know that I'm as sick as my secrets.
Speaker:Don't get tied up into what people are gonna think I have,
Speaker:like this really cool circle.
Speaker:Um, sit, be quiet, meditate, pray, um, eat healthy, move my
Speaker:body, change my thoughts like.
Speaker:And then when all else fails, like if I'm still losing my mind in that,
Speaker:like it's just like turn to God.
Speaker:Like how, how can I really trust, like in my higher power to like
Speaker:that I'm exactly where I need to be.
Speaker:So that inner work now is just like, over time it's gotten harder and easier, but
Speaker:I under, I have this concept of like, God is everything or God is nothing.
Speaker:And if I choose for God to be everything, I know that every situation that I'm in
Speaker:is, is like, My higher power is doing.
Speaker:So like if I just, if I'm living in fear, that's just because like my connection
Speaker:with my higher power is completely, is is severed or not as strong.
Speaker:So like I just have to get back to that to where like in the past maybe
Speaker:God wasn't really a big thing that was like, played into it, but it was a lot
Speaker:of, alright, these next 30 minutes I have to do this task, this, this, this.
Speaker:And so.
Speaker:The inner work is definitely what it is now.
Speaker:More inner versus an external, like how it used to be.
Speaker:So started external, cleaned up all the mess around me, and now
Speaker:it's just like cleaning house every single day within myself.
Speaker:Yeah, that's good.
Speaker:There's , a practice and I'm curious if you did, , something like this
Speaker:where, , there's a girl, her name's well, on Instagram, it's organic.
Speaker:Olivia, she's really awesome.
Speaker:, has some great content and a great podcast.
Speaker:But, , one of the things that, , Ashley and I listened to
Speaker:was, , one of the podcasts about her wedding and, listening to it.
Speaker:We're kind of in a similar stage as they are, , Ashley and I with
Speaker:her, , with Olivia and her now husband.
Speaker:But , One of the practices they did for their wedding, which I really liked, and
Speaker:maybe we'll do this for our wedding or, or even just I, I've even thought of doing
Speaker:it for like my 30th birthday is, , they did a practice where they wrote down who
Speaker:they were for , I don't know, it could be, , for their entire life up to this
Speaker:point, or even just the last decade.
Speaker:And they wrote out who that person is, right.
Speaker:And , Their faults, their good things, all that.
Speaker:And then realized, you know, all of who you have been in the
Speaker:past, . You've created yourself that way to get through life.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:To bet.
Speaker:Like those were mechanisms of trying to make it through those hard times.
Speaker:Like , if you became a hothead and a jerk and all that, dude, you
Speaker:probably were faced with a lot of.
Speaker:Conflict, right?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And like that was your way of combating that and like
Speaker:actually protecting yourself.
Speaker:And so the practice is basically, , you write up who you are now and who you're
Speaker:looking to be, and then , you could say a prayer, you could speak it into the
Speaker:wind, like whatever, but you just kind of release that person that you think your
Speaker:old version of yourself that like, Thank you so much for what you've done for me.
Speaker:Like I appreciate, I know what you did was to help, right?
Speaker:Like you're trying to help me through life and now I'm moving into
Speaker:a new phase and I appreciate you.
Speaker:I respect you for what you did for me, and now it's time for us to
Speaker:step into this new kind of role and, and, uh, own that, you know.
Speaker:And so I'm, I'm curious, did you do a practice like that?
Speaker:Did you feel a moment like that?
Speaker:I did.
Speaker:I did a practice somewhat similar to that.
Speaker:So back in last October, I don't know if you've ever heard of the Hoffman process.
Speaker:Um, it's this, it's this week long retreat where they take your phone and they make
Speaker:you sign a paper saying like, you're not gonna pray, you're not gonna meditate,
Speaker:you're not going to um, exercise, you're not going to like drink, you're not gonna
Speaker:do anything that you would normally do externally to like, avoid these feelings.
Speaker:It's a week long and they take your phone and you are forced, like,
Speaker:not forced, but I was in a class with like 31 different people.
Speaker:And, um, every day it was like 12 to 15 hours a day of just
Speaker:like very deep inner child work.
Speaker:Um, and then we would go through the days and at the very end it was all
Speaker:about like seeing that past person, loving yourself and just like, it,
Speaker:it completely transformed my life.
Speaker:And it was it, when you were talking, it reminded me of that because like that
Speaker:person who we used to be and that, and that person that's in us, Has done all
Speaker:these things, like you said, to survive and get to this point in our life,
Speaker:and they take it even a step further.
Speaker:Like everything we are and everything we do, we've adopted from our parents.
Speaker:So we've either got these things, these patterns that
Speaker:we've either adopted from them.
Speaker:If like my mom's a codependent, maybe I'm a codependent, or we've got in
Speaker:complete rebellion, like if my dad's very tight with his money, I will be
Speaker:very like loose with my money because of.
Speaker:I see how his, I, I know his perception on it and I know that I want to be different.
Speaker:So we do these things out of either, um, adoption or
Speaker:rebellion of what our parents do.
Speaker:And then we get into these patterns and we're like, why are, why are
Speaker:we still doing these same things?
Speaker:Why am I in this cycle?
Speaker:And so, like what Hoffman teaches us is that that's called
Speaker:the negative love pattern.
Speaker:So that negative love is just like, we have these patterns and then we have the,
Speaker:we we're granted the awareness of 'em.
Speaker:We literally write 'em down, right?
Speaker:Where we, which parent we get 'em from and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker:We then act it out.
Speaker:We get it out of our system.
Speaker:We, um, start giving our parents a lot of love and compassion because
Speaker:like, They're guilty, but they're not to blame everything that they
Speaker:got, they adopted from their parents.
Speaker:And all of our parents have strictly been doing the best
Speaker:they can with what they got.
Speaker:And then we work on new ways of being.
Speaker:So like the new ways of being is all like the um, neuro new neuro pathways.
Speaker:Like thinking of a memory, having it and just like it is
Speaker:just amazing how that worked.
Speaker:And when I was able to see that, I was just always like,
Speaker:why can't I sit with myself?
Speaker:And why is everything so tough?
Speaker:Why can't I, why do I feel so much shame when I, when I'm constantly trying to
Speaker:run from the person that I used to be, and instead of running from that person,
Speaker:I was able to look at it and be like, Hey, look, that guy did everything he
Speaker:could in his power to strictly survive these situations that I put myself in.
Speaker:And instead of like shaming that dude, I, I, I love him.
Speaker:I, he's, he was just hurt.
Speaker:He was scared.
Speaker:He was all that.
Speaker:And like also like, I love my parents because like I adopted that stuff
Speaker:and everything I did was like, I.
Speaker:As a result of like their doing.
Speaker:And I made my own choices based off what like I learned from them.
Speaker:But I know that if I'm able to take it a lot further and see that and have
Speaker:that awareness and like realize what they did and like shit, like I can
Speaker:only imagine like what their parents did to them from like the stories
Speaker:that I heard way back in that day.
Speaker:But, um, I think can like stop that, that, um, Programming
Speaker:and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker:And then just look at who I am today and be like, okay, this is who we are.
Speaker:And then just choose to walk in love with it.
Speaker:And that that's a, that's a practice that's like really, really tough.
Speaker:'cause I can revert back to those old patterns, but now that I have
Speaker:the awareness of it, I can stop it before it becomes that vicious cycle.
Speaker:So very similar to like seeing who I am and.
Speaker:I would say instead of like releasing it, just being like,
Speaker:I love and accept you and.
Speaker:That is just like a scared little kid that just like had to do what
Speaker:he had to do in order to survive those situations and cope with, with
Speaker:the decisions that were being made.
Speaker:And, um, so I go back in time, I go back a lot and I would make sure that
Speaker:like, I, I really followed my gut.
Speaker:And what are things that like little Marcus would probably like to do?
Speaker:Like, I quit karate when I was younger, so I went and like took a
Speaker:juujitsu class like not too long ago.
Speaker:Um, I stopped doing these things that like, would bring me joy.
Speaker:So like now I just like go and like I walk in nature and like I.
Speaker:Um, go to the beach and like, I just try to have like not have a care in the world.
Speaker:And that is always, that's like, that stuff is like so in incredibly
Speaker:and, and immensely healing.
Speaker:Um, and it's just a beautiful thing.
Speaker:And the Hoffman process like absolutely completely changed my life.
Speaker:I'm so grateful for that whole thing.
Speaker:It was, it was one of the tougher things I've ever done.
Speaker:But like on the other side of it was like, Beautifully rewarded.
Speaker:I've never heard of that, so thank you.
Speaker:Thank you for sharing that.
Speaker:And , that sounds like incredibly powerful.
Speaker:That's a really cool practice.
Speaker:, I found it interesting the, like no meditation, no prayer.
Speaker:'cause in a way that is a way of I mean, like, it could be to work through
Speaker:it, but it's still something, right?
Speaker:Like, instead of just sitting with it.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:So that was really cool.
Speaker:Now speaking of another Hof, what, uh, coming to Wim Hof, , , what role did
Speaker:breathwork have in, in your growth?
Speaker:And also, I mean, like, you could walk us through the, the story of, of
Speaker:meeting Wim Hof, which is incredible.
Speaker:For those of you who don't know.
Speaker:Wim Hof incredible, , breathwork teacher.
Speaker:And, , yeah, I don't even, there's too much stuff, good stuff to say about him.
Speaker:I mean, he's incredible.
Speaker:Wim Hof.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So, uh, yeah, take it from there.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So I was very early in like being sober and I, the thing that like, I.
Speaker:I was saying like when you, when you are drinking, like to the extent that like I
Speaker:was drinking, I'm just constantly running.
Speaker:So when I stopped running, when I stopped drinking, all that stuff I'm,
Speaker:I'm running from is now hitting me and I don't know how to cope with it.
Speaker:I am just like, it, it's, it is freaking me out.
Speaker:The thoughts are still intrusive.
Speaker:All the suicidal stuff, it's like coming back into play.
Speaker:I'm like trying to sit with psychiatrists and, um, to see if I should be on
Speaker:like medication because like I'm just like losing my mind and I don't
Speaker:know what the heck is going on.
Speaker:And I reached out to a buddy of mine 'cause I saw his, his
Speaker:brother playing at Oregon.
Speaker:I was like, yo, like your brother's like killing it.
Speaker:Like, that's awesome.
Speaker:And this guy used to be like my, like, drinking buddy.
Speaker:Like, I was like, I never thought I had an issue because like, I was
Speaker:like, this dude's way worse than me.
Speaker:And so like, if I'm not there yet, then like, I'm good.
Speaker:And I was talking to him, he is like, yo, man, like I'm, I'm sober as well.
Speaker:And I have like, he had a little bit, he had like six months more than me.
Speaker:I was like, yo, like that's amazing.
Speaker:Like, um, what are you up to?
Speaker:And he was like, oh, I'm doing breath work.
Speaker:I had no idea what that was.
Speaker:And um, I was like, can you like teach me it?
Speaker:Like, I was like, is it like, good for like mental, he's like, oh, it's amazing
Speaker:for your mental, for your spiritual.
Speaker:And he took me through my first Wim h session.
Speaker:He taught me the breathing and I just remember like the tingling.
Speaker:I remember the vastness in my mind and that's what I love about it.
Speaker:I tell people like we're constantly at a eight, nine, or 10 on like the
Speaker:scale of like stimulation in phones and devices and instant gratification stuff.
Speaker:Breathwork just allows you to just turn that knob down to like a one,
Speaker:two, or three and just really see the space in between your thoughts.
Speaker:Um, I like to call it the gap where I'm just like visually just viewing everything
Speaker:that's going on, like, oh, this, that.
Speaker:Boom, this thought boom, like it's just, and I get these like amazing like.
Speaker:I feel like download is such like a woowoo term, but like I get these
Speaker:amazing like, um, downloads of just like information that like is just
Speaker:coming straight from my subconscious.
Speaker:And I think sage like to this day, and I hope he knows how important
Speaker:that that was to me because like now that like I'm no longer drinking.
Speaker:If I feel something that makes me feel good, I am chasing that
Speaker:alcoholic like I did anything else.
Speaker:So once I started doing breath work, I was like, cool.
Speaker:I incorporating it.
Speaker:Like telling everybody about it.
Speaker:And I'm like, yo, this is amazing.
Speaker:Like you have to try this.
Speaker:And people were like, what are you talking about?
Speaker:Like, I'm getting high on my breath.
Speaker:And then I started like looking into Wim Hof and seeing all
Speaker:the crazy things he was doing.
Speaker:I was like, oh, that God, this guy climbed Mount Everest in just his
Speaker:shorts and he is like fighting off diseases and all this crazy stuff.
Speaker:And then I had the opportunity, um, to move to the Netherlands
Speaker:during the pandemic.
Speaker:The girl I was at the time was, um, have Dutch and had Dutch citizenship, so we.
Speaker:America like we'd like it is on fire.
Speaker:Covid iss happening.
Speaker:Like, I'm like people, everyone around us.
Speaker:Like my neighbor next door has a gun and we're all threatening to each
Speaker:other and everybody's like the mental state of like when the pandemic
Speaker:hit was like really, really bad.
Speaker:So we're like, let's get outta here.
Speaker:Sold all my stuff.
Speaker:Moved to Holland.
Speaker:And um, that just gave me more opportunity to slow down and really be with my
Speaker:breath and start incorporating the breath work more and more and more.
Speaker:And then that app clubhouse was really, really popular back then.
Speaker:And I met Wim Pop's right hand man, Bart bronc off that, um, off that app.
Speaker:And we're talking back and forth and I'm asking him questions.
Speaker:It was like every Tuesday night, him and another.
Speaker:Um, instructor would come on and they would talk about certain
Speaker:things and so I would talk to 'em like, Hey, like what, why do people
Speaker:wear like beanie in the ice bath?
Speaker:And he's like, oh, like some think it's cool, some use it to
Speaker:like regulate their whatever.
Speaker:And I would just ask 'em all these different little tips and tricks.
Speaker:I'm like, Hey look, I really love this.
Speaker:It's changed my life completely.
Speaker:Um, I was like, he's like, yeah, come to Amsterdam and take a session.
Speaker:So I bought a session.
Speaker:I went down to Amsterdam and did a workshop with them.
Speaker:They all spoke Dutch.
Speaker:My Dutch wasn't that great at the time.
Speaker:Still, it was like not great at all.
Speaker:Um, and, but they were speaking like the language of the heart.
Speaker:I knew what they were saying.
Speaker:'cause I read Wims book.
Speaker:I knew the stuff.
Speaker:I watched every YouTube video that there ever could be on Wim
Speaker:h I was like completely obsessed.
Speaker:And after the session I went up to him, I was like, Hey, Bart, like I love that.
Speaker:Like I am a personal trainer.
Speaker:I would love to, I was thinking only of it as a monetary thing.
Speaker:I would love to be able to provide this to my clients.
Speaker:I know that this will differentiate me from my other personal trainers and I
Speaker:feel like I could make a lot of money off of this, but also I was just like,
Speaker:I knew that it would be like a very cool thing in order to give them as well.
Speaker:And, uh, he is like, yeah, he is like, well, if you wanna become a trainer,
Speaker:like take the instructor course and then come to Poland and become an instructor.
Speaker:And I was like, I have people like in California that aren't instructors.
Speaker:Why should I go and like do that?
Speaker:And he is like, well, he's like, I would never walk into a gym and have
Speaker:somebody waits and say I'm a personal trainer without doing my due diligence.
Speaker:And I was like, all right, that's fair.
Speaker:So then I signed up for the course.
Speaker:Um, a few weeks later, um, a few weeks or months, uh, the girlfriend and I at the
Speaker:time broke up and I, everything, I had, like all my money and everything was like
Speaker:completely like, set in the Netherlands.
Speaker:I was buying equipment for like the gym and so I, I came back completely broke.
Speaker:Um, and I was living with some friends and they were like so nice to let
Speaker:me just crash in their spare room.
Speaker:I.
Speaker:Work was working like a hundred hours a week at four different jobs.
Speaker:Was working at a furniture store and like a basketball gym and um,
Speaker:a stretch place like all these different places just to raise money.
Speaker:And like meanwhile, like the class was like $4,000 and my dad was like, you
Speaker:should get that money back for the course.
Speaker:And I was like, And I thought about it, and like every time, like I, I
Speaker:just felt like that was weakness.
Speaker:I really felt called to like, go into Poland and, and become a Wim H instructor.
Speaker:And I was just like, and people were telling me all the
Speaker:time, like, yeah, you should.
Speaker:You stick with it, stick with it.
Speaker:And I was like, all right.
Speaker:So I sacrificed and stuck with it.
Speaker:January of 22.
Speaker:I was gonna go out to polling, got Covid, so I had to miss.
Speaker:I'm really grateful that I did because I went in February, in February.
Speaker:Mike Posner was there, so he's a, he's a Wim H instructor as well, and
Speaker:that was the only week that WIM came.
Speaker:So we had like four sessions for that, that time, and Wim came to
Speaker:the one that I was at, and so it was, it was amazing going there.
Speaker:Um, I wanted to heal from like, the past relationship and like
Speaker:a lot of the stuff that I had going on, but also like I wanted.
Speaker:I work in extremes.
Speaker:I, I had told them I hadn't done an ice bath in like six months because
Speaker:I wanted it to hurt and hurt.
Speaker:It did.
Speaker:We're in Poland, it's like 20 degrees.
Speaker:It's snowing on you constantly.
Speaker:We're getting in this water in this river that's like 31 degrees, and
Speaker:I'm like, isn't water freeze at 32?
Speaker:And they're like, yeah, but like the river's flowing and so
Speaker:like, it keeps the water moving.
Speaker:And I'm like, oh great.
Speaker:So like, A lot of people get in the ice bath, they talk about the
Speaker:thermal layer of like, oh, like you're comfortable 31 degrees in
Speaker:a river that's constantly flowing.
Speaker:You are just cold and miserable the entire time.
Speaker:But it was such an amazing experience.
Speaker:I met 60 people from like 30 different countries all over the world.
Speaker:I still keep in contact with a lot of 'em.
Speaker:Um, Meeting Wim was like, I, I played basketball with Kobe, I
Speaker:played basketball with LeBron.
Speaker:Like meeting Wim was like one of those situations where I was like,
Speaker:oh dude, like I'm, I'm, I'm a fan.
Speaker:Like I have to take a picture, like whatever, like blah, blah, blah.
Speaker:And um, I was just like, in any picture that you see, I'm
Speaker:like, right, like next to him.
Speaker:'cause I'm like, this dude is like amazing.
Speaker:And he.
Speaker:Exactly what you would think.
Speaker:Super charismatic, crazy.
Speaker:Just like one of those, like, I don't know if this guy's like a lunatic or
Speaker:a genius, like they're one and the same, but he really is just like, Found
Speaker:something that like, is so easy and so simple and so basic and connects
Speaker:millions of people around the world.
Speaker:And it's such a powerful thing and it all allows people to go deeper within
Speaker:themselves and then spread that out to their community, which I think
Speaker:like life is really having us do.
Speaker:Um, and this new wave of like consciousness is really coming in and
Speaker:the Wim Hof method is, is an amazing, amazing tool to, um, do that and just.
Speaker:I don't know.
Speaker:It's, it is, I, I'm so fired up about it and the fact that I'm a WI Officer
Speaker:surgeon and get to do this for companies and people and all that kind of stuff
Speaker:and travel the world to go do it, is just like, my dad's still tripping.
Speaker:He's like, oh, you make people breathe and sit in ice water?
Speaker:I'm like, yeah, like, and then he even tried it and he is like, oh,
Speaker:like there's something to this.
Speaker:I'm like, I'm telling you.
Speaker:And so it's, it's an amazing thing.
Speaker:And, um, so grateful being instructor is one.
Speaker:Really cool titles that I, I love having and.
Speaker:That time in Poland.
Speaker:Then I went in Poland again last December and climbed a mountain, just my shorts.
Speaker:There was like a three hour 28, 10 degree weather.
Speaker:. But, um, just shows you the power of your mind, shows you the power of your
Speaker:breath and what you can accomplish.
Speaker:And I'm doing these things in feats that I'd never thought I could
Speaker:do through this amazing method.
Speaker:And, um, three years I've done it.
Speaker:I've done it.
Speaker:I don't get sick.
Speaker:Um, my mental clarity is the best it's ever been by doing this ice bath Every
Speaker:single day that I've been doing this year.
Speaker:Uh, my mental health, I've had, like, I can count on one hand how
Speaker:many bad days I've had this year.
Speaker:And, um, That like just the ice bath didn't help and like I just
Speaker:had to go into my other tools.
Speaker:So yeah, Wim Hoff method is, is one of those things that like I swear
Speaker:by, it's made me such a better person and allowed me to really dive deep.
Speaker:'cause I struggle with the meditation aspect of just like, Sitting being still.
Speaker:'cause then I'm thinking about nothing and I'm thinking about how
Speaker:I should be thinking about nothing.
Speaker:Where it's like if I can just focus on my breath, that gives me something
Speaker:and the more I focus on my breath, the faster just dissipate and go away.
Speaker:And it's just a very, very beautiful thing.
Speaker:So yeah, that's, that's my Wim Hop experience.
Speaker:That's my time meeting whim was like something I'll never forget.
Speaker:I'm hoping that I get to go to the winter exhibition this year
Speaker:and get to train and, uh, teach alongside with this year in Poland.
Speaker:Yeah, just, I'm, I'm excited to see what the future has.
Speaker:Yeah, , you gave me a little bit of a rundown, uh, of the whole story last
Speaker:time, and it's still , as fascinating the second time around for me.
Speaker:People ask me about this, pretty often, and so, I do breath work.
Speaker:, I've done a Wim Hof style breath, , work before, but mainly, , I do varied types
Speaker:of yogic breathing from like mm-hmm.
Speaker:You know, it could be the box breathing, it could be the naughty showed han,
Speaker:like alternate nostril breathing.
Speaker:It could be, you know, like d there's different styles obviously, and a
Speaker:lot of people are always like, Okay, well, like, what, how do I breathe?
Speaker:Like what, what's the point of this?
Speaker:You know, like, what, what am I getting out of this?
Speaker:And, and so I try, I try to explain it the best I can, but, , Since
Speaker:you're an instructor on Wim Hof breathing, if you wouldn't mind
Speaker:like breaking down, you don't have to get crazy into it, but mm-hmm.
Speaker:What kind of breathing practices you do, as well as what does it do for the brain?
Speaker:Like, I try to explain to people that like, it's just clarity.
Speaker:I don't know, like your mind.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:It's, it's working on an energetic level, this breath.
Speaker:And so you're, you're getting out of your thoughts and into this.
Speaker:Like sensation of your body.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Like, yeah, I, I, but please take it and, and yeah.
Speaker:Explain a little bit.
Speaker:Of course.
Speaker:It's really tough to explain to people that haven't tried it or I love like
Speaker:the skeptics and I really, really love my type A people that come in when,
Speaker:during my workshops and they're just like wondering if they're breathing right now.
Speaker:I always let them know, look, like if you're here listening to my
Speaker:class, you're breathing correctly.
Speaker:You've been breathing right your entire life.
Speaker:Like, you're fine.
Speaker:But what we're trying to do now is, is enhance your breath and, and be
Speaker:very, um, Intentional on our breath.
Speaker:And by doing that we're able to just to focus on that breath and let the
Speaker:thoughts do what they want to do.
Speaker:So if you're feeling anxious, stressed out, whatever it is, a lot of these
Speaker:people will come in just like wrapped up.
Speaker:I'm like, the whole point of this class is for you to leave more
Speaker:relaxed and you did coming in.
Speaker:And that's like my style of the Wim off method.
Speaker:I, I'm always a very big parasympathetic versus sympathetic.
Speaker:And we're just going to, I want you to be relaxed and feeling like, almost
Speaker:like jello when you leave my class.
Speaker:And so what the Wim H Method is, is it's the Wim H Method consists
Speaker:of breathing, ice bath, ice cold exposure, and the mindset.
Speaker:What the Wim H Method breathing is, is three parts as well.
Speaker:The charge up, the retention and the recovery breath, and the charge
Speaker:up is 40 breaths where you're breathing deep into your belly,
Speaker:into your chest, and letting it go.
Speaker:So all in one circular motion.
Speaker:My belly chest, let it go.
Speaker:Um, for people that are come to my workshops, I always have them breathe
Speaker:in and outta their nose for the first round in their nose, outta their
Speaker:mouth for the second round, in and outta their mouth for the third round.
Speaker:And I'll take 'em to like four rounds and then they can breathe however they want.
Speaker:This just gives them a nice, steady pace for when the sensations come on.
Speaker:If you're breathing in and outta your mouth immediately you're gonna
Speaker:go like straight to Mars for those who are breathing in and outta their
Speaker:nose and it, it gets a lot steadier.
Speaker:So you do that 40 times, followed by a big, deep in inhale.
Speaker:Exhale, big inhale again, nice, easy, passive, exhale.
Speaker:And you're just holding on that passive exhale.
Speaker:And that passive exhale is like roughly 20% of the air in your lungs.
Speaker:You sit and you hold that and you're just still, and I usually have
Speaker:people, I, I will build that time up.
Speaker:The reason why you can hold your breath on that exhale is 'cause releasing c o
Speaker:two c o two is what triggers your brain to let you know that you have to take these
Speaker:breaths with less c o two in the body.
Speaker:You can hold your breath longer and longer and longer, so, A lot
Speaker:of people think it's like magic.
Speaker:'cause like I tell 'em like, Hey, like you're probably gonna, I'm
Speaker:gonna get you to hold your breath for maybe up to two minutes.
Speaker:Like I can't even hold my breath on an inhale on two minutes.
Speaker:You're telling me I'm gonna hold my breath on the exhale for two minutes.
Speaker:And it's all about that surrender.
Speaker:The more relaxed you are, the more you're not thinking about that.
Speaker:The more you can just listen to your heartbeat and be in the moment and
Speaker:during those retentions, the easier it is and like time just goes by like that.
Speaker:And I let people know 'cause.
Speaker:Two minutes.
Speaker:What about brain damage?
Speaker:I'm like, when I really care.
Speaker:When I had my ego really wrapped into the Wim H Method, I would always like
Speaker:see how long I can take my ice bath and how long I can do my retentions.
Speaker:I think the longest retention I ever did was like six minutes.
Speaker:I was just like sitting, yeah, just sitting, being still holding my breath and
Speaker:like just losing complete track of time.
Speaker:And I woke, I was like, I looked at the clock, it was like six 20.
Speaker:I was like, what the heck?
Speaker:I thought like 30 seconds had passed by.
Speaker:That's just what complete surrender looks like.
Speaker:So that retention is just that amazing sensation of letting the thoughts go
Speaker:and you are just getting like, you're so in this void, I like to call it, it's
Speaker:just like the gap, the place in between your thoughts where everything exists,
Speaker:where nothing is, where you're like, you're in this complete like darkness.
Speaker:But it is so comfortable.
Speaker:Um, all people that come out of it.
Speaker:I'm not trying to scare any listeners, but they're like, they have this acceptance
Speaker:to where like, If they were to die at that point, they'd be like, this is fine.
Speaker:Um, and it's just like, you're not gonna die.
Speaker:No one's ever died in my classes.
Speaker:No one even has even come close.
Speaker:Um, but you just get this overall sense of just like everything
Speaker:is so okay and everything is exactly the way it needs to be.
Speaker:So after that retention, whether you can hold it for that 45
Speaker:seconds, I initially have you do it.
Speaker:It's followed by the recovery breath.
Speaker:And the recovery breath is just a big, deep breath in.
Speaker:If you're holding that air all the way up top, you're gonna get
Speaker:a few more swallows of air in and you hold that for 15 seconds.
Speaker:This kind of returns you to your baseline, you release it.
Speaker:Then we just keep going second round, third round, fourth round.
Speaker:And then I, I let like a nice little 10, 15 minute meditation at the end where
Speaker:you just sit in that silence and just like whatever is there, um, happens.
Speaker:You feel all the sensations while you're doing it.
Speaker:Like during the charge up, you might feel a lot of tingling in the
Speaker:hands, the feet in your extremities, temperature changes throughout the body.
Speaker:Um, muscle cramping or the technique starts with like the little like gang
Speaker:signs and then like the lobster claws.
Speaker:And I have some people that like, Full on prey Mantis.
Speaker:Um, I always tell 'em like if you, if you feel it coming on, it's
Speaker:just a chemical reaction to the c o two dropping in the bloodstream.
Speaker:And if it's too much, just slow down the breathing.
Speaker:Everything's gonna be, everything's gonna be fine.
Speaker:Um, hot flashes, cold flashes.
Speaker:Uh, ear ringing or hearing loss.
Speaker:A lot of times, like whenever I do it, it always feels like someone puts ear
Speaker:mouths on my ears and I'm just like, so in my zone I can't hear anything.
Speaker:And then emotions might pop up as we are suppressing the sympathetic,
Speaker:I like to tell people as we're breathing deep into our belly, we are
Speaker:bringing up some emotions that we may consciously or subconsciously, uh, have.
Speaker:And I have people that hysterically laugh and I cry.
Speaker:I have people that uncontrollably SOB in my classes and it's just a release.
Speaker:It's just like I'm not trying to bring it on.
Speaker:I'm not setting an intention.
Speaker:It's for your time.
Speaker:All I'm doing is opening the door and just making sure that you're safe while
Speaker:you just go and explore the innermost self of you're being through your breath.
Speaker:And I have had some very profound things happen by being an instructor like.
Speaker:People like getting these visions and like getting very similar
Speaker:visions to the people next to them.
Speaker:And they're like, how'd you like know what I was thinking?
Speaker:And like, um, or I had a firefighter do it one time.
Speaker:He saw the, he saw the faces that everybody that has ever passed,
Speaker:um, while he was on the job and he always felt really guilty because he
Speaker:thought it was his job to save them.
Speaker:But they all told him like, Hey, thank you for being there.
Speaker:It wasn't your job to save us.
Speaker:It was your job to, um, Be with us as we transition.
Speaker:And he had a full like breakdown.
Speaker:But like this divine timing always happens in these classes to where like there was
Speaker:a guy in that class that was able to.
Speaker:And that they have never met before that was able to get him in touch with like
Speaker:the chief firefighter who runs like this really beautiful therapy session and
Speaker:like got him all the help he needed.
Speaker:And I see that happen all the time in my classes and people get these, this
Speaker:clarity, um, that you were talking about.
Speaker:Whether it's like, Hey, like ask my boss for this raise.
Speaker:Let, let's go on this trip.
Speaker:I've had some divorces happen, like as a result of like, not my class, but
Speaker:just like people being able to see like exactly who they are and what they want.
Speaker:And it's so clear when you get this clarity, it's almost
Speaker:like a sin to act against it.
Speaker:'cause now you have this awareness and if you're acting against like what
Speaker:you really are and who you really are, it's, you can't go back or you can,
Speaker:but you're just living in this lie.
Speaker:So, um, thousand of people that I've worked with, um, We do that, and then
Speaker:like you come from this completely relaxed state of mind, and then I throw
Speaker:you right into an ice bath where it's very high stress and very, and now
Speaker:it's time to rely on your breath again.
Speaker:And if.
Speaker:Surrender to the ice bath.
Speaker:Um, so much of life is like fight or flight.
Speaker:This is all about surrender.
Speaker:That third option that a lot of people don't talk about and they think is
Speaker:weakness, and that's just the ego telling you that you, you have to
Speaker:surrender because you can fight the ice bath like, and they're punching it.
Speaker:It's gonna stay cold and you're gonna be miserable.
Speaker:You can flight from it.
Speaker:You can get out and run, but then you're not gonna feel good about yourself.
Speaker:You're not gonna feel good about me.
Speaker:Or you can, but you're gonna have these excuses as to why you couldn't do it.
Speaker:I think you're the exception or whatever it is, and blame me, blame whatever.
Speaker:And then you just like, you're kind of living your life like that.
Speaker:So if you're interested in breaking that cycle, you learn how to sit in it.
Speaker:It's just two minutes.
Speaker:You breathe in through the nose for four out through your mouth
Speaker:for eight each exhale I have.
Speaker:You just drop your shoulders a little bit more until you're
Speaker:in this state of relaxation in a high stressful environment.
Speaker:And people come outta that with a sense of accomplishment.
Speaker:They come out of it feeling a lot better because of dopamine.
Speaker:The norepinephrine, your endorphins are kicking in.
Speaker:Your immune system's up, the dopamine hits 2.5 x, which is like the same as
Speaker:cocaine, but like it lasts a lot longer and they're just like, like they're
Speaker:just, um, It's a beautiful thing and I've seen it just like completely change
Speaker:people in and out and they're investing their own ice baths and like they're
Speaker:having their kids do it, they're having their parents do it, and they're like,
Speaker:all of these things is just happening.
Speaker:It's like a huge ripple effect in like the mental health community,
Speaker:just by whether they know it's a mental health thing or not.
Speaker:And it's so cool to just be like, On the end of like, I helped you like
Speaker:do that and help, like, inspired you a little bit to get that.
Speaker:It's a, it's a very humbling thing and it has nothing to do with me.
Speaker:And I always let sure make sure that I let these people know that, hey, like
Speaker:I just told you to breathe and you did.
Speaker:That has nothing to do with me.
Speaker:You just trusted me.
Speaker:Everything that you have within you is inside of you.
Speaker:And it's awesome because like Wim hop's the exact same way.
Speaker:He's like, This, everything that you have accomplished
Speaker:today, you didn't need me for.
Speaker:And you're just like, you just trusted me.
Speaker:You just did some stuff.
Speaker:You just came and I just provided the space and that's all I do.
Speaker:I don't try to like, Hey, I'll see you next week.
Speaker:Can to breed some more.
Speaker:Like I don't, I don't take a very, I don't like doing the chiropractic, um, Style of
Speaker:living or come back and see me for a no.
Speaker:It's like you have the tools if you need to sharpen 'em up
Speaker:again, come and see me again.
Speaker:And it's just an, an awesome experience of individuals coming and surrendering and,
Speaker:and walking outta that place completely.
Speaker:A different person.
Speaker:And they came coming in.
Speaker:For sure when you were talking about the breath work right
Speaker:now, , it made me really miss the.
Speaker:Mental space that you get, and also like the feeling that you get from it, right?
Speaker:Like after doing that breath, you get that sensation like in your whole body, but
Speaker:in your head, and it feels so incredible.
Speaker:. Now , you said a lot of like amazing things, especially the firefighter.
Speaker:I mean, that one hit home, uh, that was, that was wild.
Speaker:But, , one thing you, , mentioned was the techniques.
Speaker:And so, , you were saying that's due to a low level of c o two in the body, correct.
Speaker:Yeah, so it's just the chemical reaction to the c o two dropping
Speaker:in the bloodstream, and it only happens to roughly about
Speaker:30% of the people that do it.
Speaker:Not everyone's gonna get that.
Speaker:I've never got the cramps.
Speaker:It's just like, not anything that I've ever experienced, but there's some
Speaker:people that will really, really get it, get into full like Stranger Things,
Speaker:bena, lockdown, and um, it's all about how we're expelling that c o two.
Speaker:So I am one of those 30%.
Speaker:I get it every single time I do breath work.
Speaker:It's wild.
Speaker:, my hands, I get the lobster claws for sure.
Speaker:They come up here to me I start relaxed, end up here every single time.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Sometimes my, my lips can get it as well.
Speaker:, the most wild time was I started to feel it in my cabs and Ooh.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And.
Speaker:I remember I had done a bit of breath work at this point, so I was ready
Speaker:to go a little bit further, you know?
Speaker:And so, uh, whenever I would get to that point where I was really feeling
Speaker:like, oh, wow, this is pretty intense.
Speaker:I usually would back off a little bit,
Speaker:and in this class in particular, I just remember the, the instructor was just
Speaker:like, Hey, , whatever's happening is fine.
Speaker:It's just your body.
Speaker:There's nothing to be worried about.
Speaker:It's okay.
Speaker:So I was like, yeah, you know what, there's nothing to really worry about.
Speaker:So I went to the next level, kept breathing through it.
Speaker:, I don't usually get my calves, but this, this one, my calves
Speaker:were, uh, clenching up man.
Speaker:The full on cramp in the calves.
Speaker:And, you know, it's, it sounds bad and I mean, like, it was
Speaker:intense, don't get me wrong.
Speaker:Uh, but it was actually , Very interesting.
Speaker:I'm not saying I want to get back to those cramps necessarily, but , it
Speaker:was one of those things where it was like, when it happened, I,
Speaker:I started pouring sweat so hot.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:, the instructor even, , came up and , put his hands on my shoulders.
Speaker:'cause you could tell I was going through something, but , I remember
Speaker:when it happened, I stopped breathing and I was like, oh man.
Speaker:I, I should , try to wave him down with my claw and , say something.
Speaker:But I remember thinking to myself, , hold on Evan.
Speaker:Like, what is he gonna do for you?
Speaker:You think he's gonna massage your calf and make it better?
Speaker:, no, , you need to relax your breath, allow your body to , normalize and
Speaker:then, you know, come back to it.
Speaker:And, and that in itself was so just , Yeah, that was
Speaker:such a great lesson to learn.
Speaker:It's like, look, it's a difficult time, but like really all you can
Speaker:do is let the time take care of it.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:Like, let things normalize.
Speaker:And so I just sat there and just normalized the breath, calmed
Speaker:the mind as much as I possibly could, and eventually mm-hmm.
Speaker:It was fine.
Speaker:You know?
Speaker:, I was actually a little sore, for that, the rest of that day in my calves, but,
Speaker:One thing that my, , one of my friends who does a lot of breath work brought
Speaker:up is from a spiritual standpoint, the technique can, , be related to, for
Speaker:example, the hands apparently is like not letting go, like you hold onto stuff.
Speaker:, and so, you know, they say , we store a lot of trauma, emotions,
Speaker:things like that in our body.
Speaker:And for me, one thing that's wild is I do know, especially from past
Speaker:experiences when I've had conflict with.
Speaker:People, family, like whatever, like literally like physical altercation style.
Speaker:, my calves are the first thing to like.
Speaker:A clench up mark.
Speaker:Tense up.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And I've even noticed like after like almost being in literally a physical
Speaker:altercation with someone walking away and it's like my calves were twitching.
Speaker:If I were to , go take a step on a stair, my, my foot would
Speaker:probably bounce, you know?
Speaker:'cause it was so like, Adrenaline.
Speaker:And so to me I was kind of, I mean, I don't know the truth in that, but um, I
Speaker:was like, man, if there is truth in that, I could totally see why my calves were,
Speaker:the pace, the place that it happened at there, is there, there a hundred percent?
Speaker:Is I, I.
Speaker:They have seen it and experienced a lot of people that I'll take through
Speaker:sessions and they explain that they have back pain or they have whatever.
Speaker:And like those mo those things will get really tense and that's
Speaker:where they feel it the most.
Speaker:And it's all somatic.
Speaker:And like you said, like the body is definitely keeping the score.
Speaker:So it's like their stuff there.
Speaker:And.
Speaker:It's a lot to work through, whether you know it or not.
Speaker:The body is doing what it can to like, release that and get rid of it.
Speaker:Um, which is really, really cool.
Speaker:That's another thing that I love with breathwork a lot.
Speaker:I've seen people like completely just like shaking and tremoring
Speaker:and I'm like, oh, whoa.
Speaker:Like they're going through it.
Speaker:Or like, oh, make sure that they're not having, um, no one's having a seizure,
Speaker:but it's just like their body is just like so, and they have no recollection of it.
Speaker:So the fact that you like, Did that felt it.
Speaker:Of course.
Speaker:Like especially the cramp up.
Speaker:That would suck.
Speaker:That would like, that would suck, dude.
Speaker:I, I, I haven't got like cramps like that, but I get really, really hot.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:To where, like when we did it in Poland, we did like 10 rounds.
Speaker:And, um, it was just intense.
Speaker:And each round I didn't even remember.
Speaker:I was like taking off articles of clothing.
Speaker:So I woke up and I was just like, in my boxers just like shirt off
Speaker:and like in a room of like 60 people and I'm like, yo, what the heck?
Speaker:I was like, we would've kept going.
Speaker:I would've ended up naked, but I'm like holding myself completely crying.
Speaker:I was like, yo, this is nuts.
Speaker:Like this thing is absolutely crazy.
Speaker:Yeah, the power of breath work cannot be overstated.
Speaker:It's one of the things that I'm like, even for, uh, before meditation, like
Speaker:sometimes with people I'll give them mindfulness practices, 'cause I think
Speaker:that's a little bit more approachable.
Speaker:But to me, breath is . You feel it immediately.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:And anyone can do it.
Speaker:And it doesn't require you to feel bored like you're doing something.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:It's active.
Speaker:Um, so I love that.
Speaker:Now, Marcus, we are getting to a point where we're getting
Speaker:close to the end of the show.
Speaker:, in my head I'm already like, okay, we need to do a second one.
Speaker:So that's probably gonna have to happen, uh, if you're Of
Speaker:course, if you're open to it.
Speaker:Absolutely.
Speaker:Um, cool man.
Speaker:But I, I definitely, , something I'm doing now with my episodes here is I want to.
Speaker:Take the knowledge of the show and I want to put it into
Speaker:actionable steps for the listeners.
Speaker:Knowledge is potential power.
Speaker:It's when you put it into action that it actually becomes like mm-hmm.
Speaker:Actual power.
Speaker:, so that's what I want to do.
Speaker:I want to kind of open the question for you to provide one to maybe
Speaker:five steps that our listeners could start doing today, right after
Speaker:this episode That would apply.
Speaker:Either some teachings from this podcast, , lessons that you've learned
Speaker:or even just like what you find is most beneficial to, , I mean we could
Speaker:say overall health, but maybe we can pertain it more to like mental health.
Speaker:, absolutely.
Speaker:If that's where we want to go.
Speaker:Of course.
Speaker:I would say whenever it comes to mental health, um, the one thing
Speaker:that I've always seen be so true is mobile muscle change of thought.
Speaker:Um, if I can be so stuck in like a depressive like mode or I can be so stuck
Speaker:where like I want to call somebody and talk to 'em, but like I feel my brain's
Speaker:telling me that I'm a burden and, but I know the moment I start moving and
Speaker:getting like some action into it, I can, I can move through it a lot quicker.
Speaker:So I would say move a muscle change is thought, you're not a burden.
Speaker:Talk to those people, whatever it is.
Speaker:Like the phone can feel like it's a thousand pounds, but like,
Speaker:go and do some movement before.
Speaker:Um, You, you feel like you have to be stuck and, and sit with
Speaker:that and feel completely helpless.
Speaker:Two, find comfort and discomfort.
Speaker:Um, finding comfort and discomfort is one of the most amazing things
Speaker:that I've adopted, and it's just like almost completely saved my life.
Speaker:Whenever I feel something, one thing that they said at Hoffman or my, my
Speaker:teacher at Hopman said, which I think is completely true, he's like, if
Speaker:you feel a feeling in its entirety for 90 seconds, it completely passes.
Speaker:And I'm like, okay.
Speaker:So I was like, let me try that.
Speaker:Let me.
Speaker:When I, if I feel sad, let me feel that wholeness of sadness
Speaker:and just really put myself in it.
Speaker:Don't get on my phone.
Speaker:Don't, like, that's the thing.
Speaker:We, we feel something and then we immediately go to like something else,
Speaker:like some dopamine type thing to numb it or move through it or whatever,
Speaker:but like just sit still and feel it.
Speaker:And it will subside very quickly.
Speaker:And no matter what it is, no matter how big or how small, and I
Speaker:found that to be completely true.
Speaker:So a lot of times, like my ice baths are like two or three minutes,
Speaker:I'll take whatever I'm feeling.
Speaker:Put myself in that ice bath can't move and I'm just in it for two to three minutes.
Speaker:And that that feeling not only is changing, but I'm able to work
Speaker:through it through that ice bath.
Speaker:So finding comfort and discomfort.
Speaker:And you don't need an ice bath to do that.
Speaker:Everyone has a shower.
Speaker:Turn the water on cold as soon as you get right before you get
Speaker:out, and that will completely change your mindset for the day.
Speaker:And, um, I don't know.
Speaker:The third thing I would say is, um, take a look at your diet.
Speaker:See, see what you're eating.
Speaker:I, I, I'm vegan because it works for me.
Speaker:Um, I'm not here to like, say, go vegan or change anybody's
Speaker:lifestyle and what they do.
Speaker:But a lot of the things, your food is your medicine.
Speaker:And, um, a lot of times when we're feeling inflamed or, um, sick or
Speaker:all mucus seed up, it could be a lot of your diet and what you're doing.
Speaker:It, it goes with that discipline of self gratification as well.
Speaker:A lot of things are easy and things are so like quick, but
Speaker:sit down, actually eat your meal.
Speaker:Feel what it's doing for yourself.
Speaker:Um, let it move through.
Speaker:You eat clean.
Speaker:Um, cook your own stuff or just like, really question to see what
Speaker:you're eating and you do that.
Speaker:Those three little things.
Speaker:Change your diet a little bit.
Speaker:See, be conscious.
Speaker:Be c All I'm saying is be conscious.
Speaker:Be conscious of your eating.
Speaker:Be conscious of your situations, be conscious of your feelings,
Speaker:and stop numbing out mentally, physically, anything, and you'll
Speaker:like be able to see the matrix.
Speaker:It's like, it's awesome.
Speaker:I couldn't agree more.
Speaker:I think those are beautiful practices for just living like a healthy life,
Speaker:you know, um, mentally and physically, spiritually, emotionally, all the, all the
Speaker:different realms and dimensions of health.
Speaker:, Yeah.
Speaker:I love that.
Speaker:That's so good.
Speaker:, dude, Marcus.
Speaker:Thank you so much, man.
Speaker:Seriously gonna have you back on.
Speaker:I know you Yes.
Speaker:Uh, have some travels coming up and, and that's gonna be amazing.
Speaker:Look forward to, to hopefully seeing some Instagram photos and all that good stuff.
Speaker:But, um, before we do end here, I want you to take the floor and let
Speaker:people know where they can connect with you, where they can find you.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:Um, if you're hosting any breath work, anything like that, like how
Speaker:they can get in touch and, uh, yeah, man, platform's yours, take it away.
Speaker:Whatever you wanna share.
Speaker:Absolutely.
Speaker:Well, thank you for having me.
Speaker:Um, this has been an awesome time.
Speaker:I said love to go back down memory lane and just see like where we're at now.
Speaker:And I love the work that you're doing and, and I appreciate the platform
Speaker:that you've given me to speak on today.
Speaker:And um, yeah, if anyone wants to find me, my.
Speaker:Instagram handle is the breathing vegan no g after the e after breathing.
Speaker:Um, and I have, um, on my link tree there, I have a guided wim hop
Speaker:work, uh, meditation through an app that you can listen to at any time.
Speaker:It's pretty self-explanatory.
Speaker:I do zoom sessions all the time.
Speaker:Um, I'm working on a schedule, that's why I'm gonna travel this upcoming week
Speaker:to really fine tune my online stuff.
Speaker:And I also do online personal training as well at an affordable rate to.
Speaker:I don't know, get anybody started or if you already have it and
Speaker:completely tailored program for you.
Speaker:And we're all just walking each other home, and I just want to help you
Speaker:be the best version of yourselves.
Speaker:And in turn, it helps me be the best version of myself and
Speaker:helps me stop thinking about myself and get outta my head.
Speaker:So I appreciate everyone and anyone who I've ever worked with.
Speaker:I appreciate those who I have not worked with yet.
Speaker:And if I never work with you, I still appreciate you and you're amazing.
Speaker:So keep up the good work.
Speaker:I love it, Marcus.
Speaker:No, that's perfect.
Speaker:And I'll make sure to, , to link, at least your social in there and,
Speaker:and anything else you want in the show notes, I'll have 'em in there.
Speaker:Uh, Marcus, it's, it was a pleasure, dude.
Speaker:Thank you for joining the show.
Speaker:Everybody, , do everything with good intentions, connect to your elements.
Speaker:And Marcus, thank you, brother.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:Thank you all so much for tuning into this show.
Speaker:Once again.
Speaker:My goal with this podcast is to provide you with digestible health
Speaker:knowledge that puts the power in your hands to take control of your health.
Speaker:If you found any benefit in today's episode, it would mean the world to me.
Speaker:If you could subscribe to this podcast and leave a rating and review for the show.
Speaker:If you know of anyone that would benefit from this episode or this show, then
Speaker:please send this podcast their way as well to help spread the message of this show.
Speaker:This is a free and easy way for you to say thank you and help grow this podcast.
Speaker:And if you'd like to show even further support, then please check out some
Speaker:of the companies that are affiliated with the show in the show notes,
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Speaker:These are two hand selected companies that I personally love and.
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