1 00:00:00,280 --> 00:00:03,320 Speaker 1: We'd like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land 2 00:00:03,480 --> 00:00:06,840 Speaker 1: on which this podcast was produced, the Galligle people of 3 00:00:06,880 --> 00:00:10,440 Speaker 1: the Urination. We pay our respects to Elder's past and present. 4 00:00:11,960 --> 00:00:17,200 Speaker 2: It's twenty fifteen and we're in gray, wintery Amsterdam. It's 5 00:00:17,239 --> 00:00:22,160 Speaker 2: cold outside, but it's even colder in here, the cryotherapy studio, 6 00:00:22,280 --> 00:00:27,280 Speaker 2: where Johannes Egberts is putting on his hat, gloves and boots. 7 00:00:27,800 --> 00:00:31,600 Speaker 2: He's here at the suggestion of his brother. He's working 8 00:00:31,760 --> 00:00:36,120 Speaker 2: in the new health facility alongside a man called whim Hoff. 9 00:00:37,360 --> 00:00:41,440 Speaker 2: Johannes's brother is desperately attempting to make him feel better. 10 00:00:42,320 --> 00:00:44,840 Speaker 3: Johannes is at rock bottom. 11 00:00:45,080 --> 00:00:48,600 Speaker 2: He was recently arrested and detained in Sri Lanka, a 12 00:00:48,680 --> 00:00:52,320 Speaker 2: traumatic experience that also led to the fracture of his 13 00:00:52,440 --> 00:00:57,320 Speaker 2: relationship at just twenty years old. Johannes can't see a 14 00:00:57,400 --> 00:01:03,560 Speaker 2: way out. He's been feeling and empty for months. The 15 00:01:03,680 --> 00:01:08,639 Speaker 2: chamber is minus ninety degrees. He steps in, the rush 16 00:01:08,680 --> 00:01:13,679 Speaker 2: of adrenaline hits him. Johannes is back in his body. 17 00:01:13,800 --> 00:01:18,319 Speaker 2: He feels like himself again. Tears rolled down his face, 18 00:01:18,800 --> 00:01:23,120 Speaker 2: instantly freezing. This is the moment that will change the 19 00:01:23,200 --> 00:01:30,200 Speaker 2: course of you Hannas's life forever. I'm at Middleton and 20 00:01:30,240 --> 00:01:34,400 Speaker 2: this is headgame today, one of the world's leading cold 21 00:01:34,440 --> 00:01:42,400 Speaker 2: therapy experts on the moment that saved him. Johannas, how 22 00:01:42,440 --> 00:01:43,000 Speaker 2: are you, buddy? 23 00:01:43,880 --> 00:01:45,679 Speaker 4: Oh, very well, I'm very happy to be here with you. 24 00:01:46,520 --> 00:01:50,520 Speaker 2: May I love your calming, very soothing approach. I'm sort 25 00:01:50,520 --> 00:01:53,480 Speaker 2: of the opposite. I'm super energetic. I need some of 26 00:01:53,520 --> 00:01:57,320 Speaker 2: that calming aura and energy so I can stay grounded 27 00:01:57,360 --> 00:02:01,520 Speaker 2: in my seat. Now tell me your Hannas, what is 28 00:02:01,640 --> 00:02:02,320 Speaker 2: breath work? 29 00:02:02,800 --> 00:02:07,040 Speaker 4: Breath work so conscious modulation of our respiration and then 30 00:02:07,040 --> 00:02:09,840 Speaker 4: the role that that has to play in human transformation. 31 00:02:09,919 --> 00:02:12,400 Speaker 4: And that is a very fancy way of saying any 32 00:02:12,480 --> 00:02:15,200 Speaker 4: time that you change your breathing in order to change 33 00:02:15,240 --> 00:02:18,720 Speaker 4: your state of mind, your state of being. So, I mean, 34 00:02:18,760 --> 00:02:21,000 Speaker 4: it's something that's all this time itself, right. People have 35 00:02:21,040 --> 00:02:23,640 Speaker 4: always known about the power of the breath, the power 36 00:02:23,680 --> 00:02:26,720 Speaker 4: that resides in the human respiratory system. But I think 37 00:02:26,760 --> 00:02:29,760 Speaker 4: really in the last twenty maybe forty years or so, 38 00:02:29,919 --> 00:02:32,360 Speaker 4: breath work has made its way to the west, and 39 00:02:32,400 --> 00:02:35,480 Speaker 4: we're seeing this convergence of east and west of old 40 00:02:35,840 --> 00:02:40,880 Speaker 4: and contemporary of ancient and science and spirituality can sort 41 00:02:40,880 --> 00:02:42,960 Speaker 4: of meet in this point of the breath. That's how 42 00:02:43,000 --> 00:02:44,840 Speaker 4: I see it. So the breath is a bit of 43 00:02:44,919 --> 00:02:47,480 Speaker 4: a bridge, and that's what breath work, I think also is, 44 00:02:47,520 --> 00:02:50,639 Speaker 4: and I think that's why it's here today. That's the 45 00:02:50,760 --> 00:02:53,200 Speaker 4: role that it has to play in our society now, 46 00:02:53,320 --> 00:02:56,560 Speaker 4: is to sort of reconnect us in a certain way. Yeah. 47 00:02:56,760 --> 00:02:59,520 Speaker 2: Yeah, It's something that we take for granted, don't we, 48 00:02:59,560 --> 00:03:03,360 Speaker 2: because we subconsciously just breathe in and out, and you know, 49 00:03:03,400 --> 00:03:05,160 Speaker 2: when we get a bit more tired or a bit 50 00:03:05,160 --> 00:03:08,280 Speaker 2: more active, we breathe a lot heavier, and we don't 51 00:03:08,320 --> 00:03:11,480 Speaker 2: think about controlling it because it almost controls itself, so 52 00:03:11,560 --> 00:03:15,560 Speaker 2: we don't think about it. But when we subconsciously think 53 00:03:15,600 --> 00:03:19,320 Speaker 2: about our breathing techniques and you know, the oxygen and 54 00:03:20,200 --> 00:03:23,520 Speaker 2: the air that we're breathing, that's when it really comes 55 00:03:23,520 --> 00:03:24,400 Speaker 2: into light, isn't it. 56 00:03:25,400 --> 00:03:28,160 Speaker 4: One hundred percent? Yeah, I'm actually curious to also talk 57 00:03:28,200 --> 00:03:30,840 Speaker 4: to you about the career that you've had and the 58 00:03:30,919 --> 00:03:33,640 Speaker 4: role that breath has had to play in that. But 59 00:03:34,000 --> 00:03:36,080 Speaker 4: you're spot on with that. This is what makes breath 60 00:03:36,120 --> 00:03:40,040 Speaker 4: so unique. It's both happening to you moments and moment, 61 00:03:40,160 --> 00:03:42,360 Speaker 4: but you can also step in and control and so 62 00:03:42,800 --> 00:03:45,440 Speaker 4: it is one of the only functions, one of the 63 00:03:45,480 --> 00:03:48,720 Speaker 4: only parts of the autonomic nervous system, if you will, 64 00:03:48,760 --> 00:03:51,440 Speaker 4: that has a bridge also with the somatic nervous system. 65 00:03:51,480 --> 00:03:54,880 Speaker 4: In other words, you can consciously control your breathing, but 66 00:03:54,960 --> 00:03:57,240 Speaker 4: it is also happening to you moments a moment. And 67 00:03:57,600 --> 00:04:00,000 Speaker 4: I like to say sometimes that your breath is there 68 00:04:00,080 --> 00:04:02,720 Speaker 4: for either your best friend if you do have control 69 00:04:02,720 --> 00:04:05,560 Speaker 4: over it, or your worst enemy, because, as you sort 70 00:04:05,560 --> 00:04:08,880 Speaker 4: of alluded to, in the worst moments, your breath is 71 00:04:08,920 --> 00:04:11,120 Speaker 4: taken away from you. When when you lose your breath, 72 00:04:11,160 --> 00:04:14,880 Speaker 4: you are out of control, right and unfortunately the world 73 00:04:14,960 --> 00:04:17,400 Speaker 4: is breathless today. There's a lot of people walking around 74 00:04:17,440 --> 00:04:21,360 Speaker 4: with really poor breathing habits. And yeah, it is in 75 00:04:21,400 --> 00:04:23,200 Speaker 4: that way. It is a little bit like you do 76 00:04:23,240 --> 00:04:26,200 Speaker 4: not have control over your state of being. The flip 77 00:04:26,240 --> 00:04:29,160 Speaker 4: side of that is that when you do learn some 78 00:04:29,200 --> 00:04:31,159 Speaker 4: of these simple techniques, and maybe we get a chance 79 00:04:31,200 --> 00:04:33,640 Speaker 4: to discuss some of them today, it is literally like 80 00:04:33,680 --> 00:04:36,080 Speaker 4: someone has given you the remote control to your body, 81 00:04:36,120 --> 00:04:38,440 Speaker 4: to your nervous system, and you're back in. You're back 82 00:04:38,440 --> 00:04:39,320 Speaker 4: in the player seat. 83 00:04:40,240 --> 00:04:40,840 Speaker 3: Yeah, I love that. 84 00:04:41,440 --> 00:04:44,280 Speaker 2: Have you always been like this as a youngster or 85 00:04:44,320 --> 00:04:47,520 Speaker 2: have you learnt you know that this is the way, 86 00:04:47,560 --> 00:04:48,880 Speaker 2: This is what life is. 87 00:04:49,120 --> 00:04:52,320 Speaker 3: The essence of life is truly about, is breathing. 88 00:04:53,160 --> 00:04:59,120 Speaker 4: Yeah, I can say absolutely not, meaning that I was 89 00:04:59,279 --> 00:05:02,520 Speaker 4: out of control in a really big way, and it 90 00:05:02,560 --> 00:05:04,920 Speaker 4: started very early. I've traced this back all the way 91 00:05:04,960 --> 00:05:07,760 Speaker 4: to my first few years right in this kind of 92 00:05:07,800 --> 00:05:10,200 Speaker 4: game of following back RUMs is to like where did 93 00:05:10,200 --> 00:05:12,560 Speaker 4: this begin? But you know, life was difficult for me 94 00:05:12,560 --> 00:05:15,880 Speaker 4: at a young age. I struggled. I struggled to concentrate, 95 00:05:15,960 --> 00:05:18,200 Speaker 4: I struggled to just be in my body, to be 96 00:05:18,279 --> 00:05:20,880 Speaker 4: in my experience, and it's always felt like things were hard. 97 00:05:20,920 --> 00:05:23,600 Speaker 4: Things were harder for me somehow, is how I used 98 00:05:23,600 --> 00:05:25,880 Speaker 4: to you know, the words I used to speak all 99 00:05:25,920 --> 00:05:27,839 Speaker 4: the time. And I mean this all came to a 100 00:05:27,880 --> 00:05:30,000 Speaker 4: head in my teenage years. To give you a picture 101 00:05:30,040 --> 00:05:32,800 Speaker 4: of being out of control, probably from about you know, 102 00:05:32,960 --> 00:05:36,640 Speaker 4: thirteen onwards. I couldn't quite be in school anymore, and 103 00:05:36,680 --> 00:05:38,760 Speaker 4: so that was a difficult thing for me. I basically 104 00:05:38,839 --> 00:05:41,000 Speaker 4: was set astray right like a ship without a rudder. 105 00:05:41,040 --> 00:05:42,880 Speaker 4: For a number of years. It was a lot of drugs, 106 00:05:44,640 --> 00:05:47,359 Speaker 4: and basically that time feels almost like a bit of 107 00:05:47,360 --> 00:05:49,520 Speaker 4: a black hole to me even thinking back about it now, 108 00:05:49,680 --> 00:05:52,360 Speaker 4: I don't right up to about sixteen years of age 109 00:05:52,400 --> 00:05:56,440 Speaker 4: and working menial jobs night shifts, factories, car factory, I 110 00:05:56,440 --> 00:05:58,200 Speaker 4: did all sorts of things right, just to kind of 111 00:05:58,240 --> 00:06:00,520 Speaker 4: get by. And at this point I really had this 112 00:06:00,680 --> 00:06:02,720 Speaker 4: sense of like, what is the point, right you are 113 00:06:02,839 --> 00:06:05,200 Speaker 4: just a cog in the machine here? I remember showing 114 00:06:05,240 --> 00:06:06,960 Speaker 4: up to some of these jobs, right, and you're wearing 115 00:06:06,960 --> 00:06:08,760 Speaker 4: an overall and you have a number on it and 116 00:06:08,800 --> 00:06:12,200 Speaker 4: people actually call you by your number. I remember things 117 00:06:12,240 --> 00:06:14,280 Speaker 4: like that and thinking this is this is a low point. 118 00:06:14,440 --> 00:06:16,800 Speaker 3: I've been there as well. I've been yeah as well. 119 00:06:17,000 --> 00:06:18,520 Speaker 4: It's drab, isn't it? 120 00:06:18,600 --> 00:06:18,840 Speaker 2: Yeah? 121 00:06:19,080 --> 00:06:22,240 Speaker 4: Gray? And you I've seeing people there that have been 122 00:06:22,279 --> 00:06:26,320 Speaker 4: doing that. Ah, that possibility of is this going to 123 00:06:26,360 --> 00:06:28,400 Speaker 4: be me for the next twenty thirty years If I 124 00:06:28,440 --> 00:06:31,320 Speaker 4: don't figure this out? You know, the consequences of have 125 00:06:31,440 --> 00:06:33,640 Speaker 4: I missed some of the forks in the road here 126 00:06:33,720 --> 00:06:36,560 Speaker 4: right then? Am I just now on this track to nowhere? 127 00:06:37,440 --> 00:06:40,000 Speaker 4: But I did. I did keep searching, and I was 128 00:06:40,080 --> 00:06:42,280 Speaker 4: quite early to start traveling at that point. So at 129 00:06:42,320 --> 00:06:45,400 Speaker 4: sixteen I figured out that I could actually go. It 130 00:06:45,600 --> 00:06:48,120 Speaker 4: was quite an experience, and so I did you know, 131 00:06:48,440 --> 00:06:50,320 Speaker 4: I kind of roamed around the south of France for 132 00:06:50,360 --> 00:06:52,480 Speaker 4: a while with a bunch of gypsies. We picked grapes, 133 00:06:52,520 --> 00:06:55,120 Speaker 4: We went in all different adventures. The coast of Spain. 134 00:06:55,240 --> 00:06:57,240 Speaker 4: I saw a quite an early age, which was quite 135 00:06:57,240 --> 00:06:59,679 Speaker 4: an experience, as you can imagine. And then I actually 136 00:06:59,680 --> 00:07:01,680 Speaker 4: found way to Thailand, and then I spent six months 137 00:07:01,720 --> 00:07:04,520 Speaker 4: there and that was like a nourishing for the soul. 138 00:07:04,560 --> 00:07:06,800 Speaker 4: At the time, I worked as an English teacher. I volunteered. 139 00:07:07,000 --> 00:07:09,240 Speaker 4: I figured that if you work as a volunteer, you 140 00:07:09,279 --> 00:07:11,320 Speaker 4: can actually travel, you can get a special visa at 141 00:07:11,360 --> 00:07:13,680 Speaker 4: that age, and that was that was like the light 142 00:07:13,760 --> 00:07:15,520 Speaker 4: came back into my eyes. You know. There was a 143 00:07:15,560 --> 00:07:18,760 Speaker 4: real sense of appreciation of belonging, of having purpose, of 144 00:07:18,800 --> 00:07:20,880 Speaker 4: doing something of value, of meaning. It was a very 145 00:07:20,920 --> 00:07:23,840 Speaker 4: healthy environment to be in as well with other people 146 00:07:23,920 --> 00:07:27,080 Speaker 4: my age, you're a little bit older, and and and 147 00:07:27,240 --> 00:07:29,800 Speaker 4: at that point my mission became how do I write, 148 00:07:29,840 --> 00:07:31,600 Speaker 4: how do I how do I keep this going? How 149 00:07:31,600 --> 00:07:32,720 Speaker 4: do I stay on this track? 150 00:07:33,560 --> 00:07:35,960 Speaker 2: It sounds like that that Thailand was a place where 151 00:07:36,000 --> 00:07:38,200 Speaker 2: you could take off all this body arm I sort 152 00:07:38,240 --> 00:07:41,480 Speaker 2: of get rid of all these masks. Did tile Did 153 00:07:41,520 --> 00:07:43,600 Speaker 2: you feel like that that was the start of your 154 00:07:43,640 --> 00:07:46,120 Speaker 2: journey in Thailand where that where all of that could 155 00:07:46,160 --> 00:07:48,440 Speaker 2: come off and you could just be one hundred percent 156 00:07:48,480 --> 00:07:52,360 Speaker 2: yourself and then grow, you know, obviously grow and evolve that. 157 00:07:52,640 --> 00:07:55,040 Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, definitely. At the time, that was definitely like 158 00:07:55,080 --> 00:07:58,920 Speaker 4: a crossroad. I remember going out there and sitting on 159 00:07:58,960 --> 00:08:02,000 Speaker 4: the airplane and just think to myself, nobody is going 160 00:08:02,040 --> 00:08:03,600 Speaker 4: to know me on the other side of the world, 161 00:08:03,600 --> 00:08:05,800 Speaker 4: Like I get to decide here, right, And that also 162 00:08:05,920 --> 00:08:08,560 Speaker 4: is that coming of age moments of course, of you 163 00:08:08,600 --> 00:08:10,360 Speaker 4: know what, if I am none of these things, and 164 00:08:10,600 --> 00:08:12,400 Speaker 4: if I'm none of these masks that I've been wearing, 165 00:08:12,840 --> 00:08:16,200 Speaker 4: I get to play right. And there's such freedom in 166 00:08:16,240 --> 00:08:20,280 Speaker 4: that to just explore and then to basically craft a 167 00:08:20,280 --> 00:08:23,240 Speaker 4: new identity or sorts right and crafted around a new 168 00:08:23,280 --> 00:08:26,280 Speaker 4: set of belief the new set of principles and ideas 169 00:08:26,320 --> 00:08:29,600 Speaker 4: and values, and to also have that environment feed it 170 00:08:29,640 --> 00:08:31,440 Speaker 4: back to you. That that was wonderful and that went 171 00:08:31,480 --> 00:08:34,160 Speaker 4: on for a period of time, which is a really 172 00:08:34,160 --> 00:08:37,320 Speaker 4: beautiful thing. And then eventually the integration of both of 173 00:08:37,360 --> 00:08:39,880 Speaker 4: those worlds and that is probably a chapter that I'm 174 00:08:39,920 --> 00:08:42,040 Speaker 4: only really coming to terms within the last couple of 175 00:08:42,160 --> 00:08:45,080 Speaker 4: years to go what is really underneath all of this? 176 00:08:45,280 --> 00:08:47,920 Speaker 4: I spoke to it earlier, following the bread crumbs all 177 00:08:47,960 --> 00:08:50,800 Speaker 4: the way down to the beginning and figuring out that actually, 178 00:08:50,840 --> 00:08:53,760 Speaker 4: like all of these parts and all of these masks 179 00:08:53,800 --> 00:08:55,600 Speaker 4: and all of these pain points, like they all have 180 00:08:55,679 --> 00:09:00,079 Speaker 4: incredible value, right, and they integrated they become right this 181 00:09:00,240 --> 00:09:02,760 Speaker 4: this new version. I mean, I'm thirty, right, and so 182 00:09:03,160 --> 00:09:06,760 Speaker 4: I'm a little bit probably less ahead on the journey 183 00:09:06,760 --> 00:09:08,800 Speaker 4: as you are, but it is also a really beautiful time. 184 00:09:08,840 --> 00:09:11,240 Speaker 4: It is also the grade in my bed. 185 00:09:14,080 --> 00:09:17,840 Speaker 2: Yeah, when did you connect this sort of spiritual journey 186 00:09:17,840 --> 00:09:21,120 Speaker 2: that you were going on with breath work? When did 187 00:09:21,120 --> 00:09:24,560 Speaker 2: that sort of come into fruition? When did or was 188 00:09:24,600 --> 00:09:28,439 Speaker 2: that a natural progress into that of self discovery? 189 00:09:28,440 --> 00:09:28,960 Speaker 3: To school it? 190 00:09:29,760 --> 00:09:32,760 Speaker 4: No, I had to go really low to be open 191 00:09:32,880 --> 00:09:36,800 Speaker 4: enough to really like try on these practices and things. 192 00:09:36,800 --> 00:09:39,320 Speaker 4: And when I say really, I was twenty one years 193 00:09:39,320 --> 00:09:41,160 Speaker 4: of age, right, I spent half a decade at this 194 00:09:41,200 --> 00:09:45,400 Speaker 4: point essentially running away from myself and running towards something new. Also, 195 00:09:45,440 --> 00:09:48,560 Speaker 4: as we discussed, but there was a lot of patterns 196 00:09:48,559 --> 00:09:50,560 Speaker 4: that were building along the way also, and so I 197 00:09:50,640 --> 00:09:52,640 Speaker 4: just took on way too much. In those first couple 198 00:09:52,720 --> 00:09:54,320 Speaker 4: of years in Australia. 199 00:09:53,800 --> 00:09:53,880 Speaker 3: I. 200 00:09:55,440 --> 00:09:59,040 Speaker 4: Wasn't a relationship. I had a number of full time 201 00:09:59,120 --> 00:10:01,800 Speaker 4: jobs and positions sometimes too at the same time. Right, 202 00:10:01,840 --> 00:10:04,040 Speaker 4: I was working as a hedchhev in a cafe. I 203 00:10:04,080 --> 00:10:06,439 Speaker 4: was working as a sculptor. I was making bronze sculptures. 204 00:10:06,640 --> 00:10:09,319 Speaker 4: An apprenticeship is that. And I was having I was 205 00:10:09,360 --> 00:10:11,800 Speaker 4: having a great time, but it was it was a lot, right. 206 00:10:11,880 --> 00:10:14,520 Speaker 4: I was basically living on the precipice of burnout. And 207 00:10:14,920 --> 00:10:16,960 Speaker 4: in the Netherlands we say this, this thing about the 208 00:10:17,040 --> 00:10:19,520 Speaker 4: drip that makes the bucket flow over. I had one 209 00:10:19,559 --> 00:10:22,920 Speaker 4: of those moments, and it is it is not a 210 00:10:22,960 --> 00:10:26,080 Speaker 4: great story, but me and my partner at the time, 211 00:10:26,120 --> 00:10:28,400 Speaker 4: I traveled to Sri Lanka to try and repair our 212 00:10:28,440 --> 00:10:31,640 Speaker 4: relationship and to try and make it work right and 213 00:10:32,000 --> 00:10:35,960 Speaker 4: safe to say that wasn't succeeding. And really at the 214 00:10:36,000 --> 00:10:39,720 Speaker 4: lowest moment, something quite tragic happened. She had a tattoo 215 00:10:39,720 --> 00:10:42,319 Speaker 4: of a Buddhaut. It's quite a quite an odd scenario, 216 00:10:42,440 --> 00:10:45,360 Speaker 4: but that is not it's not just frowned upon. It 217 00:10:45,360 --> 00:10:47,440 Speaker 4: as a crime in Sri Lanka and we were aware 218 00:10:47,480 --> 00:10:49,800 Speaker 4: of that, but we went surfing one day she took 219 00:10:49,800 --> 00:10:51,800 Speaker 4: off her leggings and it was it was spotted, it 220 00:10:51,960 --> 00:10:54,800 Speaker 4: was seen, and went en. Shoot. Were seven of the 221 00:10:54,840 --> 00:10:57,920 Speaker 4: worst days in my life. We were basically assaulted right 222 00:10:57,960 --> 00:10:59,800 Speaker 4: then and there, and we tried to get away from it, 223 00:10:59,840 --> 00:11:03,760 Speaker 4: but it erupted into a big confrontation and we were 224 00:11:03,760 --> 00:11:06,840 Speaker 4: in prisoned. We had much information about what this meant. 225 00:11:06,920 --> 00:11:09,720 Speaker 4: We found a you know, an article, and there was 226 00:11:09,840 --> 00:11:12,280 Speaker 4: a lawyer that was presented to us who told us 227 00:11:12,280 --> 00:11:16,000 Speaker 4: this story about a DJ who had spun at a 228 00:11:16,040 --> 00:11:19,120 Speaker 4: trans party, spawned like a Buddha's head on one of 229 00:11:19,160 --> 00:11:23,760 Speaker 4: his sets, right, and he spent nine months in prison 230 00:11:23,800 --> 00:11:26,400 Speaker 4: in this jail cell and my spiral I went into 231 00:11:26,480 --> 00:11:29,640 Speaker 4: quite a dissociative state, and the maltreated us quite badly 232 00:11:29,679 --> 00:11:32,720 Speaker 4: in this prison. The entire village was very upset. I 233 00:11:32,720 --> 00:11:35,240 Speaker 4: stayed with her the entire time, but I wasn't I 234 00:11:35,280 --> 00:11:38,000 Speaker 4: was physically there, but I was. I was like I 235 00:11:38,040 --> 00:11:41,199 Speaker 4: was living behind myself, right, And very quickly this adopted 236 00:11:41,200 --> 00:11:42,920 Speaker 4: into something out of a movie. You know, we were 237 00:11:42,920 --> 00:11:45,880 Speaker 4: being sped upon, were they were sort of telling us 238 00:11:45,880 --> 00:11:47,400 Speaker 4: all these stories, but are you just come to court 239 00:11:47,440 --> 00:11:49,280 Speaker 4: for one moment and you know tomorrow I will let 240 00:11:49,320 --> 00:11:51,040 Speaker 4: you go and you just hand in your passport and 241 00:11:51,040 --> 00:11:52,360 Speaker 4: then you know you have it back. And it was 242 00:11:52,400 --> 00:11:55,000 Speaker 4: just lives upon lives upon lies, and it turned out 243 00:11:55,040 --> 00:11:57,719 Speaker 4: very quickly, even the lawyer and things, there's nobody we 244 00:11:57,760 --> 00:12:00,959 Speaker 4: could trust, right, And then luckily we had I had 245 00:12:01,400 --> 00:12:04,520 Speaker 4: met this Dutch gentleman on the beach when a couple 246 00:12:04,559 --> 00:12:06,559 Speaker 4: of days before I played the game of backgammon with him, 247 00:12:06,559 --> 00:12:08,720 Speaker 4: and he happened to own half the hotels on this 248 00:12:08,800 --> 00:12:12,280 Speaker 4: side of the island's coast, and so we managed to 249 00:12:12,280 --> 00:12:14,560 Speaker 4: get into contact with him, and he essentially came to 250 00:12:14,640 --> 00:12:17,080 Speaker 4: ourselves like you know, one in the morning or something 251 00:12:17,120 --> 00:12:19,840 Speaker 4: and said, you're coming with me right now. You're speaking 252 00:12:19,840 --> 00:12:21,560 Speaker 4: to this person. When you get to the airport, you're 253 00:12:21,559 --> 00:12:24,000 Speaker 4: getting on this bus. You will never ever come back 254 00:12:24,000 --> 00:12:28,959 Speaker 4: to Sri Lanka. And off we went, and and it 255 00:12:29,120 --> 00:12:30,880 Speaker 4: was quite it was it was intense. 256 00:12:30,920 --> 00:12:32,800 Speaker 3: It's a period of time that you you were. 257 00:12:33,080 --> 00:12:36,079 Speaker 4: As close to a week. Yeah yeah, yeah. 258 00:12:36,120 --> 00:12:39,240 Speaker 2: So you go, you go to the beach surfing, thinking 259 00:12:39,280 --> 00:12:41,319 Speaker 2: that you're going to be back at the hotel, you know, 260 00:12:41,360 --> 00:12:42,760 Speaker 2: you're figuring things out with your. 261 00:12:42,720 --> 00:12:43,920 Speaker 3: With your with your partner. 262 00:12:43,920 --> 00:12:46,319 Speaker 2: You're in a really good place, and then all of 263 00:12:46,360 --> 00:12:49,000 Speaker 2: a sudden, and I can relate to what you said, 264 00:12:49,000 --> 00:12:53,240 Speaker 2: then you were you were there physically, psychologically you were 265 00:12:53,360 --> 00:12:54,760 Speaker 2: just disconnected. 266 00:12:54,840 --> 00:12:56,320 Speaker 3: You were you weren't there. 267 00:12:57,320 --> 00:13:00,160 Speaker 2: Does it feel like a bit of a blur psychologically 268 00:13:00,280 --> 00:13:03,400 Speaker 2: or was it just pure survival in that moment? 269 00:13:04,160 --> 00:13:07,600 Speaker 4: The way I describe it is third person video game. 270 00:13:08,920 --> 00:13:11,080 Speaker 4: You have a character in the movie from that moment on, 271 00:13:11,160 --> 00:13:13,400 Speaker 4: but you were far behind yourself. And the moment this 272 00:13:13,559 --> 00:13:16,040 Speaker 4: was very real was when we landed in Singapore airport. 273 00:13:16,080 --> 00:13:17,920 Speaker 4: Now to describe the state that we were in, we 274 00:13:17,920 --> 00:13:21,079 Speaker 4: were so the shoveled that we immediately got arrested again. 275 00:13:22,400 --> 00:13:24,520 Speaker 4: I thought we had finally gotten to safety, right, so 276 00:13:24,559 --> 00:13:27,800 Speaker 4: we'd we'd been awake like the whole night at this point, 277 00:13:28,120 --> 00:13:30,080 Speaker 4: and we got in there and almost wanted to kiss 278 00:13:30,120 --> 00:13:30,440 Speaker 4: the ground. 279 00:13:30,520 --> 00:13:30,679 Speaker 2: Right. 280 00:13:30,679 --> 00:13:32,160 Speaker 4: I was like, oh my god, we made it through. 281 00:13:32,600 --> 00:13:34,880 Speaker 4: And they as soon as we walked into the lobby, 282 00:13:34,880 --> 00:13:37,400 Speaker 4: they said, please come with us, right, And the reason 283 00:13:37,440 --> 00:13:39,720 Speaker 4: why is because of how we looked. I mean, my 284 00:13:39,760 --> 00:13:43,360 Speaker 4: clothes were torn, I were sowed the shovel that they 285 00:13:43,360 --> 00:13:46,320 Speaker 4: were convinced that we had swallowed drugs. Because of the 286 00:13:46,360 --> 00:13:48,120 Speaker 4: state that we were in. There were one hundred percent sure, 287 00:13:48,640 --> 00:13:50,920 Speaker 4: and so they told us later, we were convinced that 288 00:13:50,960 --> 00:13:52,920 Speaker 4: you guys were smugglers and that you had you know 289 00:13:53,000 --> 00:13:55,240 Speaker 4: that something had gone wrong, and so we actually were 290 00:13:55,280 --> 00:13:58,440 Speaker 4: wanting to basically give you guys medical attention. And after 291 00:13:58,480 --> 00:14:01,080 Speaker 4: we'd explained what had happened, everything was fine. But the 292 00:14:01,160 --> 00:14:04,720 Speaker 4: moment of that moment when it was like we're safe 293 00:14:04,760 --> 00:14:06,640 Speaker 4: and then we were not, that was when I just 294 00:14:06,840 --> 00:14:09,120 Speaker 4: went up to the ceiling. And it was from then on, 295 00:14:09,440 --> 00:14:11,520 Speaker 4: and this went on for a couple of weeks. It 296 00:14:11,600 --> 00:14:14,520 Speaker 4: was like I was just looking down upon myself from 297 00:14:14,559 --> 00:14:18,679 Speaker 4: behind myself, right, and that was the dissociative state. And 298 00:14:18,720 --> 00:14:21,720 Speaker 4: I recognize this in certain parts of my life that 299 00:14:21,800 --> 00:14:25,560 Speaker 4: perhaps I was not quite present right. And this is 300 00:14:25,600 --> 00:14:28,160 Speaker 4: a nervous system function of freeze. We call it right. 301 00:14:28,400 --> 00:14:30,920 Speaker 4: It's as survival response with the body the sides. I 302 00:14:30,960 --> 00:14:34,080 Speaker 4: can't fight, I can't fly, I can't quite use my 303 00:14:34,200 --> 00:14:37,040 Speaker 4: normal survival mechanisms to make my way out of this day. 304 00:14:37,040 --> 00:14:38,640 Speaker 4: And so the only way that I can make it 305 00:14:38,640 --> 00:14:41,320 Speaker 4: through is to relegate it to the unconscious and to 306 00:14:41,400 --> 00:14:46,800 Speaker 4: choose a more less energy intensive form of coping, right, 307 00:14:46,840 --> 00:14:49,840 Speaker 4: which is this dissociated freeze. And of course it's there 308 00:14:49,880 --> 00:14:51,800 Speaker 4: to protect you, it's there to survive you. It's a 309 00:14:51,840 --> 00:14:55,280 Speaker 4: heroic act, is one of my mentors describes it, right, 310 00:14:55,400 --> 00:14:57,720 Speaker 4: is the body saved the day right there for you. 311 00:14:57,840 --> 00:15:00,680 Speaker 4: But it doesn't feel like that in the moment. And 312 00:15:01,880 --> 00:15:04,040 Speaker 4: to cut the story short, right, it went on for 313 00:15:04,080 --> 00:15:07,000 Speaker 4: a while longer. It was more tragedy, more things. Eventually 314 00:15:07,640 --> 00:15:09,520 Speaker 4: I tried a number of different things to cope, right. 315 00:15:09,640 --> 00:15:11,800 Speaker 4: I did a lot of yogay, did a lot of 316 00:15:11,880 --> 00:15:14,600 Speaker 4: things fasting, you know, float tanks, you name. I read 317 00:15:14,600 --> 00:15:17,040 Speaker 4: all of the possible audiobooks in the world. I meditated. 318 00:15:17,080 --> 00:15:20,720 Speaker 4: Eventually I medicated and the stress had gotten so bad 319 00:15:20,760 --> 00:15:23,000 Speaker 4: that my physical body started to call them come apart. 320 00:15:23,160 --> 00:15:25,640 Speaker 4: I was diagnosed with all sorts at one point, couldn't 321 00:15:25,640 --> 00:15:29,119 Speaker 4: really process my food anymore. When big into this isolated 322 00:15:29,160 --> 00:15:31,520 Speaker 4: state and didn't know how to ask for help, didn't 323 00:15:31,520 --> 00:15:33,240 Speaker 4: know how to tell people about what had happened. At 324 00:15:33,240 --> 00:15:35,320 Speaker 4: the point, there was no empathic witness there for me. 325 00:15:37,080 --> 00:15:39,200 Speaker 4: I went back to the Netherlands after taking the full 326 00:15:39,200 --> 00:15:42,360 Speaker 4: bottle of medication one night and essentially sleeping almost three 327 00:15:42,440 --> 00:15:45,240 Speaker 4: nights and that was the lowest point. So I'm there. 328 00:15:45,360 --> 00:15:48,280 Speaker 4: I hadn't been there in a number of years. My 329 00:15:48,320 --> 00:15:51,120 Speaker 4: life back overseas in Tetters, there's a heaps of things 330 00:15:51,120 --> 00:15:53,640 Speaker 4: for me still to resolve. And this is when I 331 00:15:53,680 --> 00:15:56,040 Speaker 4: was lucky to be taken in by my brother. He 332 00:15:56,080 --> 00:15:58,600 Speaker 4: worked for the first cryotherapy studio in Amsterdam. 333 00:16:00,040 --> 00:16:02,360 Speaker 3: That's that's where the breath work started. 334 00:16:02,640 --> 00:16:04,880 Speaker 4: That's where it started because he was connected to a 335 00:16:04,880 --> 00:16:09,760 Speaker 4: guy got whim Hoff, right, and you've probably he came 336 00:16:09,800 --> 00:16:11,280 Speaker 4: to play a really big part in my life. For 337 00:16:11,360 --> 00:16:13,280 Speaker 4: the five years to follow. He became a close friend 338 00:16:13,320 --> 00:16:15,360 Speaker 4: and mentor. We traveled around the world together. But this 339 00:16:15,440 --> 00:16:19,240 Speaker 4: first encounter was the most significant one. Right. I remember 340 00:16:19,280 --> 00:16:21,680 Speaker 4: stepping into that cryotherapy studio for the first time. I 341 00:16:22,440 --> 00:16:24,880 Speaker 4: wasn't even there again. I was walking behind myself. I 342 00:16:25,320 --> 00:16:28,760 Speaker 4: flat empty, dejected, but it awoke something in me, right, 343 00:16:28,800 --> 00:16:30,560 Speaker 4: it cracked some sort of a layer. And then the 344 00:16:30,600 --> 00:16:33,920 Speaker 4: breathing exercises that we practiced. I was given very little instructions. 345 00:16:33,960 --> 00:16:37,400 Speaker 4: The only thing they said was don't fucking stop breathing. 346 00:16:46,640 --> 00:16:50,520 Speaker 2: So is your brother that recognized that you were in 347 00:16:50,640 --> 00:16:54,360 Speaker 2: a dark, bad place. You you didn't go and ask 348 00:16:54,400 --> 00:16:58,040 Speaker 2: for help. I suppose he was so connected that he 349 00:16:58,280 --> 00:17:01,640 Speaker 2: recognized your disconnection. Was that safe to say? 350 00:17:02,320 --> 00:17:04,760 Speaker 4: Ah, he's an angel. He's been an angel throughout my life. 351 00:17:04,800 --> 00:17:07,040 Speaker 4: He's the one that when I was driving the forklifts 352 00:17:07,080 --> 00:17:09,440 Speaker 4: in the middle of the night, he died through my 353 00:17:10,359 --> 00:17:14,800 Speaker 4: iPod shuffle full of audiobooks by Eckartole and you name it, 354 00:17:14,840 --> 00:17:16,920 Speaker 4: and always giving me the nudges in the right direction 355 00:17:17,040 --> 00:17:19,040 Speaker 4: and planting the seeds ready to be picked up for 356 00:17:19,160 --> 00:17:23,119 Speaker 4: me whenever I was ready. And you're right, he had 357 00:17:23,119 --> 00:17:25,840 Speaker 4: a ten year meditation practice at this point, and he 358 00:17:25,920 --> 00:17:28,159 Speaker 4: had a level of connection and it was beyond words. 359 00:17:28,200 --> 00:17:30,080 Speaker 4: I think again, I could not really express what had 360 00:17:30,119 --> 00:17:31,840 Speaker 4: happened to me, and I didn't have the words. It 361 00:17:31,880 --> 00:17:33,919 Speaker 4: was too much, It was too much for me to process. Right. 362 00:17:34,000 --> 00:17:37,520 Speaker 4: I was dissociating it out of my awareness for a reason, 363 00:17:37,560 --> 00:17:40,040 Speaker 4: and so I didn't want to go back there. I 364 00:17:40,080 --> 00:17:42,120 Speaker 4: was in a state of shell shockness almost right. 365 00:17:42,760 --> 00:17:44,760 Speaker 2: And I love when you said about that first session. 366 00:17:45,240 --> 00:17:48,359 Speaker 2: Put me in your skin well for that very first moment, 367 00:17:48,359 --> 00:17:51,240 Speaker 2: because it's such like you said, within thirty minutes, it 368 00:17:51,440 --> 00:17:56,080 Speaker 2: transformed your life. Just to talk us through how that 369 00:17:56,119 --> 00:17:58,360 Speaker 2: looked and how it felt, and you know, because it's 370 00:17:58,359 --> 00:18:02,160 Speaker 2: such a pivotabal point on you being who you are today. 371 00:18:02,800 --> 00:18:05,479 Speaker 4: Let's begin with the breath work, and that's where it started. 372 00:18:05,520 --> 00:18:08,680 Speaker 4: It was very simple, early morning, laid down a few 373 00:18:08,720 --> 00:18:12,159 Speaker 4: instructions and the process begins. Right, you take deep breaths 374 00:18:12,160 --> 00:18:14,720 Speaker 4: in and again I was a free diver at this 375 00:18:14,760 --> 00:18:17,560 Speaker 4: point already, right, I could do yoga, I could drop 376 00:18:17,560 --> 00:18:21,119 Speaker 4: into the splits right these I had these ideas about 377 00:18:21,119 --> 00:18:25,159 Speaker 4: myself and about what breathing meant, you know, but this 378 00:18:25,320 --> 00:18:28,400 Speaker 4: was completely different. Within five minutes of the rapid breathing, 379 00:18:28,400 --> 00:18:31,840 Speaker 4: I felt my senses come alive, right tingling sensations throughout 380 00:18:31,880 --> 00:18:34,639 Speaker 4: my fingers and arms, pressure in my chest. It was 381 00:18:34,680 --> 00:18:37,919 Speaker 4: almost like all the anxiety that had mounted and built 382 00:18:38,119 --> 00:18:42,520 Speaker 4: was actually intensified first and foremost before it was released. Right. So, 383 00:18:43,160 --> 00:18:44,679 Speaker 4: but I had this voice in my mind of like, 384 00:18:44,760 --> 00:18:47,560 Speaker 4: don't fucking stop breathing, and so I did continue to 385 00:18:47,600 --> 00:18:51,640 Speaker 4: push past. The most remarkable thing happened probably right there 386 00:18:51,680 --> 00:18:54,359 Speaker 4: about between five to ten minutes into this experience. It 387 00:18:54,440 --> 00:18:57,160 Speaker 4: was like I'm still looking down from the ceiling upon 388 00:18:57,240 --> 00:18:59,199 Speaker 4: myself right, and it was almost like we did this 389 00:18:59,240 --> 00:19:01,560 Speaker 4: thing where you you hold your breath, and you could 390 00:19:01,600 --> 00:19:03,399 Speaker 4: hold your breath for minutes at a time, and this 391 00:19:03,480 --> 00:19:05,520 Speaker 4: was really significant for me. It was like a very 392 00:19:05,560 --> 00:19:09,040 Speaker 4: peaceful place. And then I was like someone put a 393 00:19:09,080 --> 00:19:12,000 Speaker 4: defibrillator on my soul, on my chest, and I could 394 00:19:12,000 --> 00:19:15,760 Speaker 4: see myself climb back into my body and I actually 395 00:19:15,800 --> 00:19:18,439 Speaker 4: remember getting up. I stood up in the middle of 396 00:19:18,440 --> 00:19:21,120 Speaker 4: the exercise and I was like looking at my fingers 397 00:19:21,119 --> 00:19:23,480 Speaker 4: and going, I am alive again. And I said, oh 398 00:19:23,480 --> 00:19:25,840 Speaker 4: my god, you know you've you've healed me. And tears 399 00:19:25,880 --> 00:19:27,719 Speaker 4: were coming down my face, which is something that had 400 00:19:27,760 --> 00:19:29,200 Speaker 4: not happened in a long time. And I was sort 401 00:19:29,240 --> 00:19:31,240 Speaker 4: of laughing at the same time, and I got a 402 00:19:31,320 --> 00:19:34,680 Speaker 4: very dry stare saying, idiot, laid back down, We'll only 403 00:19:34,720 --> 00:19:38,520 Speaker 4: just be gone. And then and they were right. And 404 00:19:38,640 --> 00:19:41,720 Speaker 4: this was this was something that would continue for years 405 00:19:41,800 --> 00:19:44,960 Speaker 4: where I would continue the breathing exercises in the morning, 406 00:19:45,040 --> 00:19:47,960 Speaker 4: but towards the end of that experience, I ended in 407 00:19:48,040 --> 00:19:52,600 Speaker 4: this really serene, peaceful state and in that state where 408 00:19:53,119 --> 00:19:56,639 Speaker 4: in my physiology my nervous system had somehow been able 409 00:19:56,720 --> 00:20:01,280 Speaker 4: to complete that truncated survivor. Right, that that energy that 410 00:20:01,320 --> 00:20:03,719 Speaker 4: had mounted but had been relegated to the unconscious, say, 411 00:20:03,720 --> 00:20:06,080 Speaker 4: that had somehow been processed. The tears had been cried 412 00:20:06,520 --> 00:20:09,080 Speaker 4: without much cognition. It wasn't that I was feeling sad 413 00:20:09,240 --> 00:20:11,400 Speaker 4: or griefing. It was more that the body was able 414 00:20:11,480 --> 00:20:14,840 Speaker 4: to move through the motions that it couldn't weeks before that. 415 00:20:15,600 --> 00:20:17,920 Speaker 4: And after that had happened, I could then lay there 416 00:20:18,000 --> 00:20:21,080 Speaker 4: and in some sense of peace, in at least pure 417 00:20:21,160 --> 00:20:24,760 Speaker 4: physical comfort, a states of almost floating inside of my body, 418 00:20:24,880 --> 00:20:28,600 Speaker 4: being extremely present and comfortable, I could see the event's 419 00:20:28,720 --> 00:20:31,600 Speaker 4: processing before me. I could more clearly see what had 420 00:20:31,640 --> 00:20:34,600 Speaker 4: happened and how it wasn't my fault and this story 421 00:20:34,680 --> 00:20:37,119 Speaker 4: if I can't meet the mark and I am a 422 00:20:37,200 --> 00:20:41,600 Speaker 4: black hole and everything is ruined. It was like the 423 00:20:41,760 --> 00:20:45,159 Speaker 4: internalization of the negative emotions which had come to be 424 00:20:45,240 --> 00:20:50,760 Speaker 4: accompanied with the stored survival responses unlocked in the same 425 00:20:50,840 --> 00:20:53,280 Speaker 4: moment through this one breathing exercise. And I mean, this 426 00:20:53,400 --> 00:20:55,600 Speaker 4: is the goal of therapy, right, This is this is 427 00:20:55,680 --> 00:20:58,520 Speaker 4: what people spent years trying to achieve through like a 428 00:20:58,640 --> 00:21:01,879 Speaker 4: dedicated process of real life safety. And I had no 429 00:21:01,960 --> 00:21:04,080 Speaker 4: idea about any of this right, And I'm just laying 430 00:21:04,160 --> 00:21:06,280 Speaker 4: here as a twenty year old going through these breathing 431 00:21:06,359 --> 00:21:09,800 Speaker 4: exercises and having this really profound awakening. And at the 432 00:21:09,880 --> 00:21:13,600 Speaker 4: point I was watching myself again, but this time I 433 00:21:13,720 --> 00:21:16,440 Speaker 4: was watching from a very peaceful place of observation, where 434 00:21:16,440 --> 00:21:18,800 Speaker 4: I was seeing myself with compassion. I was being the 435 00:21:18,880 --> 00:21:21,840 Speaker 4: witness that I didn't had in the worst moment. So 436 00:21:21,920 --> 00:21:24,159 Speaker 4: it was almost like I was now watching myself go 437 00:21:24,280 --> 00:21:26,879 Speaker 4: through the same motions, but with like a loving attention 438 00:21:27,080 --> 00:21:29,399 Speaker 4: and like a real compassion and like crying these tears 439 00:21:29,440 --> 00:21:31,720 Speaker 4: for myself. And all of this took place in like 440 00:21:32,760 --> 00:21:35,720 Speaker 4: a five minute stillness meditation at the end of a 441 00:21:35,760 --> 00:21:38,240 Speaker 4: breathing exercise, so safe to say, I opened my eyes 442 00:21:38,280 --> 00:21:41,200 Speaker 4: and I don't know what it was, and I didn't 443 00:21:41,200 --> 00:21:42,879 Speaker 4: know how it worked, and nobody could really tell me 444 00:21:42,960 --> 00:21:45,880 Speaker 4: at the time. I spent a decade figuring out how 445 00:21:46,000 --> 00:21:48,679 Speaker 4: something so seemingly simple can have such a profun effect. 446 00:21:48,720 --> 00:21:50,760 Speaker 4: And that's been my journey, you know, in the last 447 00:21:50,840 --> 00:21:53,760 Speaker 4: ten years, and studying this like all over the world 448 00:21:53,840 --> 00:21:55,960 Speaker 4: and doing the research and things of that nature, because 449 00:21:56,000 --> 00:22:01,040 Speaker 4: I was dumbfounded that something like could give me that 450 00:22:01,119 --> 00:22:03,320 Speaker 4: profound effect. And mind you, I had been trying a 451 00:22:03,359 --> 00:22:05,240 Speaker 4: lot of other things. So that was the moment and 452 00:22:05,320 --> 00:22:07,280 Speaker 4: I got up and I had this hope, right, and 453 00:22:07,400 --> 00:22:09,960 Speaker 4: I had this commitment, this conviction of like I don't 454 00:22:10,040 --> 00:22:12,040 Speaker 4: care I throw the medication in the bin. I'm going 455 00:22:12,119 --> 00:22:15,600 Speaker 4: to do this breathing exercise. It also then primed me 456 00:22:15,760 --> 00:22:20,480 Speaker 4: for that cryotherapy experience, which was next, right, And that 457 00:22:20,720 --> 00:22:25,199 Speaker 4: was the thing that the breath were cleared out something 458 00:22:25,600 --> 00:22:28,639 Speaker 4: and the cryotherapy put something back in. Right. It was 459 00:22:28,720 --> 00:22:31,399 Speaker 4: like standing there. And so to go back to the picture, 460 00:22:31,440 --> 00:22:33,560 Speaker 4: you have these two freezers, right, there's different ways of 461 00:22:33,640 --> 00:22:35,480 Speaker 4: doing it, and this was in the Amsterdam Arena, and 462 00:22:35,520 --> 00:22:38,320 Speaker 4: they had quite an intense way where you walk into 463 00:22:39,080 --> 00:22:41,680 Speaker 4: a freezer that is about the size of a commercial 464 00:22:41,760 --> 00:22:44,320 Speaker 4: kitchen freezer, and you stand there for about a minute 465 00:22:44,359 --> 00:22:47,000 Speaker 4: and it is minus ninety degrees, right, and then a 466 00:22:47,119 --> 00:22:49,920 Speaker 4: door opens and this this hydrogen myst comes out and 467 00:22:50,000 --> 00:22:51,680 Speaker 4: you walk into it and in his minus one hundred 468 00:22:51,680 --> 00:22:54,359 Speaker 4: and thirty degrees and you stand there for about two 469 00:22:54,440 --> 00:22:56,560 Speaker 4: and a half minutes. And that is the real experience, right. 470 00:22:56,600 --> 00:22:58,919 Speaker 4: And they've played this silly music of like eye size, 471 00:23:00,320 --> 00:23:02,240 Speaker 4: and I'm still feeling a little bit, you know, out 472 00:23:02,320 --> 00:23:07,000 Speaker 4: of it. But something happened where again I actually recall 473 00:23:07,080 --> 00:23:10,000 Speaker 4: this one moment of like, what's happening. I could feel 474 00:23:10,000 --> 00:23:12,640 Speaker 4: that there was a frozen tear on my face, right, 475 00:23:12,760 --> 00:23:16,280 Speaker 4: and so it awoke a part of me, right, It 476 00:23:16,359 --> 00:23:18,680 Speaker 4: brought me back to my senses in quite a powerful way. 477 00:23:19,240 --> 00:23:21,080 Speaker 4: And here's the thing about the cold. When you get 478 00:23:21,320 --> 00:23:24,560 Speaker 4: out of the experience, it really begins, right. You get 479 00:23:24,560 --> 00:23:27,720 Speaker 4: this rush of endorphins. And in recent years they've discovered 480 00:23:27,760 --> 00:23:30,760 Speaker 4: that the dopamine releases two hundred and fifty percent of 481 00:23:30,880 --> 00:23:34,119 Speaker 4: your average numbers for three hours afterwards, and that is 482 00:23:34,160 --> 00:23:36,320 Speaker 4: a massive mood booster, right, It's one of the biggest 483 00:23:36,320 --> 00:23:38,240 Speaker 4: ones I know that you can get as a natural 484 00:23:38,359 --> 00:23:41,480 Speaker 4: hit and natural high. But that is also your neurochemistry, 485 00:23:41,560 --> 00:23:44,920 Speaker 4: of motivation, of initiating new tasks, and of really you know, 486 00:23:45,359 --> 00:23:48,359 Speaker 4: we're just a makeup of neurochemistry, right. So to be 487 00:23:48,400 --> 00:23:51,960 Speaker 4: able to consciously control that, that was what those experience 488 00:23:52,040 --> 00:23:54,119 Speaker 4: together had done for me. First the breath work and 489 00:23:54,200 --> 00:23:57,720 Speaker 4: then this this cold exposure on top of it. I 490 00:23:57,880 --> 00:24:01,359 Speaker 4: was a new man. And the amazing thing about this 491 00:24:01,359 --> 00:24:04,399 Speaker 4: is really, if you ask me, was that I hardly 492 00:24:04,480 --> 00:24:06,879 Speaker 4: even spoke to anybody about this that day ended, and 493 00:24:07,040 --> 00:24:09,800 Speaker 4: I'm still I still didn't quite find the words to 494 00:24:09,880 --> 00:24:12,040 Speaker 4: sort of tell people what happened. It took me years 495 00:24:12,080 --> 00:24:15,200 Speaker 4: to actually learn to speak this story out without sort 496 00:24:15,240 --> 00:24:18,399 Speaker 4: of having that emotional well and and and finding that 497 00:24:18,480 --> 00:24:21,480 Speaker 4: piece within myself. Right. But I went back to Australia 498 00:24:21,520 --> 00:24:23,080 Speaker 4: and there was a lot of loose ends for me 499 00:24:23,160 --> 00:24:26,320 Speaker 4: to tie together, and and I had this new vigor 500 00:24:26,400 --> 00:24:28,560 Speaker 4: in my step, right, And I think I left the 501 00:24:28,600 --> 00:24:30,720 Speaker 4: day after this experience. I got back on a plane 502 00:24:30,760 --> 00:24:34,520 Speaker 4: and I just want to here we go again. We're broke, 503 00:24:34,640 --> 00:24:37,879 Speaker 4: We're in that, we don't have much going for us 504 00:24:37,960 --> 00:24:39,720 Speaker 4: right now. I spent I spent a couple of months 505 00:24:39,800 --> 00:24:42,080 Speaker 4: living in a storage unit. I had a full time job, 506 00:24:42,200 --> 00:24:44,560 Speaker 4: I had a lot of a lot of stuff to 507 00:24:44,880 --> 00:24:49,080 Speaker 4: work out. But every morning I did this simple breathing exercise, right, 508 00:24:49,200 --> 00:24:51,399 Speaker 4: and then I jumped into a cold shower. And it 509 00:24:51,560 --> 00:24:54,399 Speaker 4: was so remarkable because there was hardly anything else that 510 00:24:54,480 --> 00:24:56,359 Speaker 4: I did that would normally be you know, if I 511 00:24:56,440 --> 00:24:58,480 Speaker 4: talk to my therapist now and I explain this process, 512 00:24:58,480 --> 00:25:00,240 Speaker 4: that would go, oh my god, you know, that's not 513 00:25:00,359 --> 00:25:02,840 Speaker 4: how you go about it right. And I would actually 514 00:25:02,840 --> 00:25:04,520 Speaker 4: say the same thing to people if they were coming 515 00:25:04,560 --> 00:25:06,359 Speaker 4: to me to learn how to practice these things. To 516 00:25:06,520 --> 00:25:08,880 Speaker 4: make sure that you are increllibly resourced right, make sure 517 00:25:08,880 --> 00:25:11,639 Speaker 4: that you have a support network, make sure that you 518 00:25:11,720 --> 00:25:13,919 Speaker 4: have safety around you, make sure that you're grounded. Make 519 00:25:13,960 --> 00:25:15,720 Speaker 4: sure that you know you don't put too much pressure 520 00:25:15,760 --> 00:25:17,760 Speaker 4: on myself. But I had burned the boats to a 521 00:25:17,800 --> 00:25:18,320 Speaker 4: certain extent. 522 00:25:18,400 --> 00:25:20,240 Speaker 2: But you'd always done that. It sounds like that you've 523 00:25:20,240 --> 00:25:23,360 Speaker 2: always done that to Johannah, that you've always gone out there. 524 00:25:23,720 --> 00:25:26,399 Speaker 2: You know, you always dived in the deep end and 525 00:25:27,000 --> 00:25:29,400 Speaker 2: figured it out. You know, are you're either tread water 526 00:25:29,640 --> 00:25:32,800 Speaker 2: or you'd you know, you'd start to swim, get somewhere 527 00:25:32,840 --> 00:25:34,040 Speaker 2: and you'd start to go down. 528 00:25:34,480 --> 00:25:34,639 Speaker 4: You know. 529 00:25:34,760 --> 00:25:37,639 Speaker 2: Talk about a motivation to keep on going and a 530 00:25:37,720 --> 00:25:42,000 Speaker 2: purpose to to to keep on moving forward. And I 531 00:25:42,119 --> 00:25:46,399 Speaker 2: love that in your story. So you mentioned the natural highs. 532 00:25:47,160 --> 00:25:49,879 Speaker 2: So the natural highs for you is the breathing. And 533 00:25:50,000 --> 00:25:53,600 Speaker 2: then you went onto the onto the onto the cryo therapy. 534 00:25:55,040 --> 00:25:58,480 Speaker 2: How important is it to get cryotherapy right? You know 535 00:25:58,640 --> 00:26:00,680 Speaker 2: you mentioned there roughly that you you jumped in the 536 00:26:00,760 --> 00:26:03,080 Speaker 2: deep end to figure it out. But it's important that 537 00:26:03,520 --> 00:26:06,600 Speaker 2: those things are done in the controlled manner, and you're 538 00:26:06,640 --> 00:26:09,199 Speaker 2: lucky enough to have sort of wim Hoff and your 539 00:26:09,280 --> 00:26:12,680 Speaker 2: brother as mentors, so you know you're you're getting it, 540 00:26:12,800 --> 00:26:15,520 Speaker 2: you know. But how important is it is it to 541 00:26:15,880 --> 00:26:18,560 Speaker 2: to really break this process down? And because it's a 542 00:26:18,600 --> 00:26:21,080 Speaker 2: lifelong process, right, it doesn't doesn't really stop. 543 00:26:21,240 --> 00:26:23,879 Speaker 4: One hundred percent. And it's shown up to me in 544 00:26:24,000 --> 00:26:26,679 Speaker 4: so many different ways over the years, and I've experimented 545 00:26:26,760 --> 00:26:30,520 Speaker 4: with it from myself, and I have also spent time 546 00:26:30,600 --> 00:26:33,440 Speaker 4: with someone like wim Hoff and you know, done things 547 00:26:33,560 --> 00:26:35,720 Speaker 4: like climb the mountain without the shorts. We used to 548 00:26:35,800 --> 00:26:38,120 Speaker 4: do these expeditions we still do actually where we take 549 00:26:38,119 --> 00:26:42,600 Speaker 4: people into these extreme environments and there's some amazing lessons 550 00:26:42,640 --> 00:26:45,440 Speaker 4: to be learned in these peak experiences, right, And so 551 00:26:45,520 --> 00:26:49,000 Speaker 4: I would categorize it in that nature is the daily 552 00:26:49,320 --> 00:26:52,399 Speaker 4: thing is probably what makes the biggest impact. Sometimes we 553 00:26:52,520 --> 00:26:55,719 Speaker 4: need the peak experience to get us to the starting line, right. 554 00:26:55,880 --> 00:26:59,040 Speaker 4: We need something that shakes us out of our routine, 555 00:26:59,119 --> 00:27:01,720 Speaker 4: out of our rut and brings that aliveness back in. 556 00:27:01,840 --> 00:27:01,919 Speaker 1: Right. 557 00:27:02,000 --> 00:27:03,720 Speaker 4: We need to go where we feel most alive. But 558 00:27:03,840 --> 00:27:06,680 Speaker 4: then the question, of course is for the everyday person 559 00:27:06,840 --> 00:27:09,720 Speaker 4: is like, how do you actually translate that into every 560 00:27:09,800 --> 00:27:12,919 Speaker 4: day living with you know, ten fifteen percent more focus, 561 00:27:13,000 --> 00:27:16,480 Speaker 4: more happiness, more energy, And these are the real things 562 00:27:16,520 --> 00:27:19,200 Speaker 4: that move the need a ultimately, And so for me, 563 00:27:19,320 --> 00:27:21,840 Speaker 4: the cold showers are a wonderful place to start. And 564 00:27:22,040 --> 00:27:24,080 Speaker 4: what I'm trying to say here is you don't need 565 00:27:24,200 --> 00:27:26,760 Speaker 4: to go to the extreme to reap the reward, right, 566 00:27:26,840 --> 00:27:29,400 Speaker 4: It's very good to become inspired. I was very inspired 567 00:27:29,440 --> 00:27:30,880 Speaker 4: by some of the things that I was seeing out 568 00:27:30,880 --> 00:27:33,399 Speaker 4: there at the time, but I've had to unlearn a 569 00:27:33,480 --> 00:27:35,640 Speaker 4: lot of that over the years to really figure out 570 00:27:35,680 --> 00:27:40,399 Speaker 4: how do I actually create lasting, sustainable, positive impact on 571 00:27:40,480 --> 00:27:42,960 Speaker 4: myself and the people I work with, right without sort 572 00:27:43,000 --> 00:27:45,200 Speaker 4: of blowing the kennel on both ends and things like that. 573 00:27:45,359 --> 00:27:45,600 Speaker 3: And so. 574 00:27:47,119 --> 00:27:49,800 Speaker 4: Look, it's become very commercially available today as well, the 575 00:27:49,920 --> 00:27:52,800 Speaker 4: ice bathing, which is super powerful. We started a bit 576 00:27:52,800 --> 00:27:54,960 Speaker 4: of a revolution in Australia with people doing it on 577 00:27:55,040 --> 00:27:58,679 Speaker 4: the beach every morning and organizing these community type events, 578 00:27:58,720 --> 00:28:00,479 Speaker 4: and that is really a wonderful thing if you can 579 00:28:00,520 --> 00:28:03,760 Speaker 4: find yourself a weekly opportunity to do an I spot 580 00:28:03,840 --> 00:28:05,560 Speaker 4: and the science has actually shown that you only need 581 00:28:05,640 --> 00:28:08,400 Speaker 4: to do it for about two minutes as well. In fact, 582 00:28:08,480 --> 00:28:11,080 Speaker 4: from about three minutes to five minutes onwards, there's a 583 00:28:11,160 --> 00:28:14,119 Speaker 4: potential for diminishing returns. Oh really, So again, if we 584 00:28:14,200 --> 00:28:17,520 Speaker 4: want to harness the natural high and the positive energy, yeah, 585 00:28:17,600 --> 00:28:19,400 Speaker 4: it's actually important that we do it in a really 586 00:28:19,440 --> 00:28:22,720 Speaker 4: sustainable way. Then maybe you challenge yourself every now and then. 587 00:28:22,800 --> 00:28:25,040 Speaker 4: But I say to people, if you can have a 588 00:28:25,160 --> 00:28:28,440 Speaker 4: cold shower every day right without negotiation, that is such 589 00:28:28,480 --> 00:28:30,359 Speaker 4: a wonderful place to begin, you know, if you can 590 00:28:30,440 --> 00:28:33,520 Speaker 4: turn that and you reckon two minutes, yeah, so you know, 591 00:28:33,600 --> 00:28:35,320 Speaker 4: and if you need to build up, so we often 592 00:28:35,359 --> 00:28:37,760 Speaker 4: say begin with thirty seconds at the end. To be 593 00:28:37,880 --> 00:28:41,040 Speaker 4: totally honest, I found that the less you negotiate, the better. 594 00:28:41,200 --> 00:28:44,120 Speaker 4: And so just learning to spend about a week crossing 595 00:28:44,160 --> 00:28:46,720 Speaker 4: that initial hurdle and yeah, just get right on there 596 00:28:46,720 --> 00:28:48,640 Speaker 4: that just step into it full force and learn to 597 00:28:48,720 --> 00:28:51,240 Speaker 4: control your breath in that situation, and you're gain so 598 00:28:51,320 --> 00:28:53,440 Speaker 4: much more from that than very like dipping the toe 599 00:28:53,480 --> 00:28:57,160 Speaker 4: in the water, is my experience, this is training ground 600 00:28:57,240 --> 00:28:59,920 Speaker 4: for your breath, right, which is really potent and powerful. 601 00:29:00,080 --> 00:29:02,800 Speaker 4: And so learning to control your breath is such a 602 00:29:02,840 --> 00:29:05,720 Speaker 4: powerful thing. And if you give yourself that stimulus to 603 00:29:05,840 --> 00:29:09,040 Speaker 4: learn to like if you intentionally take your breath away, 604 00:29:09,160 --> 00:29:11,560 Speaker 4: like life will on different points, you now are teaching 605 00:29:11,600 --> 00:29:13,640 Speaker 4: yourself to also control it in the moment that it 606 00:29:13,720 --> 00:29:16,320 Speaker 4: is out of your control. Nasal breathing is a really 607 00:29:16,440 --> 00:29:19,160 Speaker 4: key skill here. You would know about this right from 608 00:29:19,200 --> 00:29:23,320 Speaker 4: the performance elements, and nasal breathing has incredible benefits for 609 00:29:23,440 --> 00:29:25,320 Speaker 4: human health, and one of the key factors is for 610 00:29:25,440 --> 00:29:29,480 Speaker 4: emotional and nervous system regulation. Your nasal breathing is signaling 611 00:29:29,560 --> 00:29:31,520 Speaker 4: to your body that you're in a state of safety. 612 00:29:32,040 --> 00:29:33,920 Speaker 4: Another thing that can do that, which is a way 613 00:29:33,960 --> 00:29:36,200 Speaker 4: to trick the brain into a state of relaxation. It's 614 00:29:36,240 --> 00:29:39,480 Speaker 4: a bit of an evolutionary Bypolse is that your brain 615 00:29:39,560 --> 00:29:42,120 Speaker 4: spies on your breathing, and so if you start breathing 616 00:29:42,160 --> 00:29:44,600 Speaker 4: in a manner of relaxation, your brain starts to believe 617 00:29:44,640 --> 00:29:46,960 Speaker 4: that you are in a manner of relaxation, regardless of 618 00:29:47,040 --> 00:29:49,800 Speaker 4: what it is perceiving on the outside. And that's by 619 00:29:49,960 --> 00:29:52,680 Speaker 4: lengthening your exhalations. So if you can breathe in through 620 00:29:52,720 --> 00:29:55,080 Speaker 4: your nose and have a really slow, long exl through 621 00:29:55,120 --> 00:29:57,920 Speaker 4: your mouth to begin with maybe blowing out a candle 622 00:29:58,000 --> 00:29:59,960 Speaker 4: or through a stroll. That is a really good tech. 623 00:30:00,040 --> 00:30:02,520 Speaker 4: Need to start in an overtime learning to count. We 624 00:30:02,640 --> 00:30:04,520 Speaker 4: found that a one two breath, which is an in 625 00:30:04,680 --> 00:30:06,920 Speaker 4: hell for about three seconds or four seconds and an 626 00:30:06,960 --> 00:30:09,680 Speaker 4: exl for double the time, about six or eight is 627 00:30:09,720 --> 00:30:12,640 Speaker 4: a really powerful technique that you can do anywhere, anytime. 628 00:30:12,920 --> 00:30:15,040 Speaker 4: And if you reinforce this in a place like a 629 00:30:15,160 --> 00:30:17,320 Speaker 4: cold shower or an eye bath, or you know, a 630 00:30:17,400 --> 00:30:20,520 Speaker 4: difficult interview or really like whatever it is you're learning, 631 00:30:20,560 --> 00:30:23,000 Speaker 4: you're teaching your system to stay you know, in the 632 00:30:23,120 --> 00:30:25,880 Speaker 4: driver's seat in those situations. Even usually you can extend 633 00:30:25,920 --> 00:30:28,440 Speaker 4: it further then and really learn that breath control and 634 00:30:28,560 --> 00:30:31,080 Speaker 4: learn to I mean the breath is. There are no 635 00:30:31,240 --> 00:30:33,640 Speaker 4: ends to this, right, I'm only ten years into this practice, 636 00:30:33,680 --> 00:30:35,840 Speaker 4: and these tools are very real, and they're very tangible, 637 00:30:36,320 --> 00:30:38,840 Speaker 4: and you can do it on your own. They're relatively free. 638 00:30:38,920 --> 00:30:42,160 Speaker 4: You can find a good instructor. Yeah, yeah, and so 639 00:30:43,040 --> 00:30:45,440 Speaker 4: do it on your freeman. It's the air that you breathe. 640 00:30:45,440 --> 00:30:47,840 Speaker 4: It's your God given right and you know, back to 641 00:30:47,960 --> 00:30:51,680 Speaker 4: the original discussion, it is also your connection with mother nature. 642 00:30:51,800 --> 00:30:53,480 Speaker 4: It is the thing that will bridge your head on 643 00:30:53,520 --> 00:30:56,600 Speaker 4: your heart and ultimately right the trees are exhaling all 644 00:30:56,600 --> 00:30:59,440 Speaker 4: the carbon dioxide and they're taking the air that we 645 00:30:59,560 --> 00:31:01,680 Speaker 4: breathe out and recycling it back to us. And I 646 00:31:01,720 --> 00:31:04,640 Speaker 4: think even that gentle reminder of like, wow, you know 647 00:31:05,080 --> 00:31:07,080 Speaker 4: I am one with nature in this moment. If I 648 00:31:07,120 --> 00:31:10,200 Speaker 4: connect to my breath in a conscious way, is it 649 00:31:10,240 --> 00:31:12,479 Speaker 4: can shift any thought into a more positive one, right, 650 00:31:12,560 --> 00:31:15,040 Speaker 4: It can shift any state into a more optimalm one. 651 00:31:24,320 --> 00:31:26,600 Speaker 2: And you mentioned that when you know, this sort of 652 00:31:27,320 --> 00:31:30,240 Speaker 2: epiphany happened when you realize that you were, you know, 653 00:31:30,440 --> 00:31:34,640 Speaker 2: controlling your breathing, you're doing the choo therapy stuff. How 654 00:31:34,720 --> 00:31:36,600 Speaker 2: did that change your life and what did you go 655 00:31:36,760 --> 00:31:40,000 Speaker 2: on to achieve after Whether that was you know, connecting 656 00:31:40,160 --> 00:31:42,640 Speaker 2: with the pelino, how did that, how did that change 657 00:31:42,680 --> 00:31:44,560 Speaker 2: your journey moving forward? 658 00:31:45,360 --> 00:31:47,360 Speaker 4: Yeah, look, I won't lie. I think in the first 659 00:31:47,400 --> 00:31:49,880 Speaker 4: couple of years there was an element of it bolstering 660 00:31:49,960 --> 00:31:52,120 Speaker 4: my bravado. Right as soon as I got my life 661 00:31:52,160 --> 00:31:54,680 Speaker 4: back on track and the breathing was giving me this 662 00:31:54,840 --> 00:31:57,320 Speaker 4: amazing like it was almost like I was stepping into 663 00:31:57,400 --> 00:32:00,440 Speaker 4: a source that everybody should have had as to this. 664 00:32:00,640 --> 00:32:02,720 Speaker 4: You know, here I am and the disease that I 665 00:32:02,800 --> 00:32:05,320 Speaker 4: had encountered him my God went away without me taking 666 00:32:05,400 --> 00:32:07,800 Speaker 4: any type of medication or intervention. That was the thing 667 00:32:07,840 --> 00:32:11,720 Speaker 4: that really blew my mind. My concentration started to significantly 668 00:32:11,800 --> 00:32:14,680 Speaker 4: improve to the point where I could now execute tasket. 669 00:32:14,760 --> 00:32:18,760 Speaker 4: It seemed insurmountable for me beforehand with little effort, right, 670 00:32:18,880 --> 00:32:22,360 Speaker 4: and I started to get this natural energy, this natural high, 671 00:32:22,440 --> 00:32:24,320 Speaker 4: and you know, and then it was of course I 672 00:32:24,400 --> 00:32:26,800 Speaker 4: started to learn from wim Hoff. I traveled over the 673 00:32:26,840 --> 00:32:29,120 Speaker 4: world to learn from him. Eventually we worked with him, 674 00:32:29,200 --> 00:32:31,800 Speaker 4: and that went very quick. Within six months of me 675 00:32:31,960 --> 00:32:34,160 Speaker 4: being an instructor, we stood on stage in Sydney in 676 00:32:34,160 --> 00:32:36,720 Speaker 4: front of a thousand people and here I am banging 677 00:32:36,760 --> 00:32:39,800 Speaker 4: my chest without my shirt on and getting people to breathe. 678 00:32:39,880 --> 00:32:42,280 Speaker 4: And this was the energy of whim right. And it 679 00:32:42,440 --> 00:32:44,840 Speaker 4: was like that energy that had been stifled for so 680 00:32:45,000 --> 00:32:47,000 Speaker 4: long had now been given a channel, right, and the 681 00:32:47,080 --> 00:32:50,560 Speaker 4: world was listening. Breath work became incredibly popular. Women's largely 682 00:32:50,640 --> 00:32:53,080 Speaker 4: to thank for that in this time, but I wrote 683 00:32:53,120 --> 00:32:56,040 Speaker 4: the wave of it, you know, and there was a 684 00:32:56,120 --> 00:32:58,360 Speaker 4: lot of you know, we did hundreds of workshops. I 685 00:32:58,440 --> 00:33:01,240 Speaker 4: traveled all around the country to teach people, and people 686 00:33:01,280 --> 00:33:04,360 Speaker 4: were listening, you know. Eventually we have a retreat center 687 00:33:04,480 --> 00:33:06,480 Speaker 4: now in the snowy mountains. I know that you're familiar 688 00:33:06,520 --> 00:33:09,360 Speaker 4: with dairy as well. I know back in twenty nineteen 689 00:33:09,440 --> 00:33:11,520 Speaker 4: twenty you were there, when I was also there, we 690 00:33:11,640 --> 00:33:14,040 Speaker 4: would have almost crossed baths, and so yeah, we started 691 00:33:14,080 --> 00:33:17,400 Speaker 4: to train people how to use these methods, and again, 692 00:33:17,640 --> 00:33:19,479 Speaker 4: like the world was listening, you know. And we now 693 00:33:19,560 --> 00:33:22,720 Speaker 4: have clients and major corporations. We teach at government level, 694 00:33:23,800 --> 00:33:26,360 Speaker 4: and we have brought this into high schools and primary 695 00:33:26,360 --> 00:33:29,560 Speaker 4: schools and so it's become a really wonderful, wonderful field 696 00:33:29,600 --> 00:33:31,320 Speaker 4: of work. And the breath work today is what I 697 00:33:31,440 --> 00:33:34,760 Speaker 4: am most passionate about. We've published two research papers now 698 00:33:34,800 --> 00:33:36,320 Speaker 4: and we've got two more in the making. In the 699 00:33:36,400 --> 00:33:39,200 Speaker 4: process and the research that we're doing and that is 700 00:33:39,240 --> 00:33:42,680 Speaker 4: happening around the world is almost revolutionizing our understanding of 701 00:33:42,800 --> 00:33:44,959 Speaker 4: what well being actually means. And we're using a lot 702 00:33:45,000 --> 00:33:48,480 Speaker 4: of different language. It's now physiology is becoming more important 703 00:33:48,480 --> 00:33:51,480 Speaker 4: than psychology. People are starting to recognize that, hey, wait, 704 00:33:51,600 --> 00:33:54,160 Speaker 4: if I can actually learn to listen and read the 705 00:33:54,240 --> 00:33:56,920 Speaker 4: state of my body, that is a bottom up form 706 00:33:56,960 --> 00:34:00,040 Speaker 4: of processing that can bypass the level of cognition. And 707 00:34:00,080 --> 00:34:02,520 Speaker 4: it's almost a shortcut to improving my well being and 708 00:34:02,560 --> 00:34:05,200 Speaker 4: my state of being in that sense, and also in 709 00:34:05,280 --> 00:34:07,840 Speaker 4: the research we found just the state of the world. 710 00:34:07,960 --> 00:34:10,960 Speaker 4: So one of the statistics was that since the pandemic, 711 00:34:11,040 --> 00:34:13,799 Speaker 4: it was already sky high before that, anxiety levels are 712 00:34:13,880 --> 00:34:17,279 Speaker 4: up by about thirty percent and they're only rising right, 713 00:34:17,400 --> 00:34:20,239 Speaker 4: and the traditional forms of treatment are falling short. So 714 00:34:20,320 --> 00:34:22,759 Speaker 4: when people do seek help for their mental health, very 715 00:34:22,800 --> 00:34:26,280 Speaker 4: much like myself, there's three mainstay forms of treatment available 716 00:34:26,320 --> 00:34:26,600 Speaker 4: to them. 717 00:34:26,680 --> 00:34:26,799 Speaker 2: Right. 718 00:34:26,880 --> 00:34:30,720 Speaker 4: There's psychotherapy often mixed with drug therapy, which is medication, 719 00:34:31,120 --> 00:34:33,799 Speaker 4: and then there's cognitive behavioral therapy, which has become fully 720 00:34:33,880 --> 00:34:37,040 Speaker 4: integrated into clinical care in the last ten years. Only 721 00:34:37,280 --> 00:34:40,560 Speaker 4: ten to twenty percent of people that seek help for 722 00:34:40,840 --> 00:34:44,760 Speaker 4: things like depression, anxiety, the list goes on, are finding 723 00:34:44,840 --> 00:34:46,879 Speaker 4: that their needs are met, and a lot of those people, 724 00:34:46,960 --> 00:34:49,400 Speaker 4: we've got eighty to ninety percent of them simply falling 725 00:34:49,480 --> 00:34:52,040 Speaker 4: through the cracks like myself. Also, and this is where 726 00:34:52,440 --> 00:34:55,359 Speaker 4: we believe in our sort of hypothesis, is that breath 727 00:34:55,440 --> 00:34:59,000 Speaker 4: has a significant role to play here. It is easily scalable, right, 728 00:34:59,080 --> 00:35:01,120 Speaker 4: you can teach it to them asses. We've got a 729 00:35:01,160 --> 00:35:04,320 Speaker 4: research project with Macquarie UNI at the moment where we've 730 00:35:04,400 --> 00:35:06,640 Speaker 4: gone one step further and we've gone can a simple 731 00:35:06,719 --> 00:35:07,560 Speaker 4: breathing recording? 732 00:35:07,719 --> 00:35:07,839 Speaker 3: Right? 733 00:35:07,840 --> 00:35:09,640 Speaker 4: I do not even need to be there to teach you. 734 00:35:09,719 --> 00:35:12,160 Speaker 4: It's simply a track of half an hour similar to 735 00:35:12,239 --> 00:35:14,719 Speaker 4: the experience that I went through that thousands of people 736 00:35:14,760 --> 00:35:16,640 Speaker 4: are going to listen to without any idea of what 737 00:35:16,800 --> 00:35:20,480 Speaker 4: breathwork is. Will they have similar experience? Meaning can we 738 00:35:20,600 --> 00:35:23,640 Speaker 4: even remove the element of that There's almost no cost here. 739 00:35:23,719 --> 00:35:27,719 Speaker 4: It's incredibly scalable, it's incredibly effective, it works in a 740 00:35:27,920 --> 00:35:31,560 Speaker 4: really short space of time, and I find personally it's 741 00:35:31,640 --> 00:35:34,920 Speaker 4: incredibly empowering. And this is my honest opinion is this 742 00:35:35,120 --> 00:35:37,560 Speaker 4: is for everybody. I know it's not everybody's cup of 743 00:35:37,800 --> 00:35:40,480 Speaker 4: tea the way that it is often delivered, but there 744 00:35:40,640 --> 00:35:43,480 Speaker 4: is a way that everybody can benefit from a conscious 745 00:35:43,560 --> 00:35:45,800 Speaker 4: form of breathing. And again that lights me up to 746 00:35:45,880 --> 00:35:49,359 Speaker 4: think about how do we translate this to people in corporations, 747 00:35:49,440 --> 00:35:54,319 Speaker 4: to you know, high performers, first responders, to school. 748 00:35:54,040 --> 00:35:56,759 Speaker 2: Teacher, everyone the thing about it to bet if you 749 00:35:56,800 --> 00:35:59,279 Speaker 2: want to better your life and better you too, it's 750 00:35:59,440 --> 00:36:04,520 Speaker 2: like everybody. This fits the human race, right, let's call 751 00:36:04,560 --> 00:36:07,040 Speaker 2: it what it is and you've got you're the founder 752 00:36:07,120 --> 00:36:11,360 Speaker 2: of Breathless Expeditions. Just talk to me about that and 753 00:36:11,840 --> 00:36:15,560 Speaker 2: how we can jump on board with yourself. Yeah. 754 00:36:15,719 --> 00:36:18,000 Speaker 4: Absolutely, and this is you know, this has been the 755 00:36:18,000 --> 00:36:21,120 Speaker 4: beautiful project really the last eight years or so since starting, 756 00:36:21,239 --> 00:36:25,600 Speaker 4: and we essentially open the retreat center and also a 757 00:36:25,680 --> 00:36:27,600 Speaker 4: training center, and we run trips around the world. So 758 00:36:27,680 --> 00:36:29,600 Speaker 4: we do free diving expeditions to some of the most 759 00:36:29,640 --> 00:36:32,080 Speaker 4: beautiful places in the world where people learn how to 760 00:36:32,239 --> 00:36:34,040 Speaker 4: use their breath and how to scale the debts. We 761 00:36:34,160 --> 00:36:37,200 Speaker 4: do mountain expeditions where we take people into these extreme 762 00:36:37,320 --> 00:36:40,919 Speaker 4: environments and it's not only for extreme sports though, in fact, 763 00:36:40,960 --> 00:36:42,720 Speaker 4: most of the people that we get are not usually 764 00:36:42,800 --> 00:36:44,560 Speaker 4: interested in that type of thing, but are looking for 765 00:36:44,719 --> 00:36:46,920 Speaker 4: a challenge that they can learn to surmount right to 766 00:36:46,960 --> 00:36:49,120 Speaker 4: climb that inner peak, if you will. And then the 767 00:36:49,200 --> 00:36:51,320 Speaker 4: training and the corporate work. What we do is what 768 00:36:51,400 --> 00:36:53,400 Speaker 4: I'm very passionate about and what I had and so 769 00:36:54,480 --> 00:36:58,839 Speaker 4: essentially it's a breath for company. We're currently we trent 770 00:36:58,920 --> 00:37:01,560 Speaker 4: five ninred instructors in these methods and we're helping to 771 00:37:01,600 --> 00:37:04,480 Speaker 4: scale that quite rapidly worldwide to really make this work 772 00:37:04,520 --> 00:37:07,160 Speaker 4: available to anyone anywhere and really lift the standard of 773 00:37:07,320 --> 00:37:09,160 Speaker 4: education in this field as well. And that is a 774 00:37:09,200 --> 00:37:11,560 Speaker 4: big journey to be on because it is still new. 775 00:37:12,200 --> 00:37:14,080 Speaker 4: It's a very new space. People have lots of different 776 00:37:14,120 --> 00:37:17,239 Speaker 4: opinions about what breathing exercises mean, how it should work. 777 00:37:18,000 --> 00:37:19,520 Speaker 4: There's still a lot of work to be done before 778 00:37:19,600 --> 00:37:22,719 Speaker 4: this is fully integrated into things like clinical care. But 779 00:37:22,840 --> 00:37:24,759 Speaker 4: we're working on that very hard at the moment, and 780 00:37:24,840 --> 00:37:26,360 Speaker 4: I think some of the research that we do is 781 00:37:26,400 --> 00:37:27,320 Speaker 4: incredibly exciting. 782 00:37:27,440 --> 00:37:31,560 Speaker 2: So mate, listen, we're going to finish up on that 783 00:37:31,719 --> 00:37:35,080 Speaker 2: because that's amazing. Thank you ever so much for joining me. 784 00:37:35,160 --> 00:37:37,560 Speaker 2: I could have listened to you for hours. I can 785 00:37:37,640 --> 00:37:40,520 Speaker 2: relate to what you're saying. I've experienced it on a 786 00:37:40,560 --> 00:37:44,360 Speaker 2: lower scale, on a smaller scale. I'm definitely connected with myself. 787 00:37:44,840 --> 00:37:46,840 Speaker 2: I like to think that I know myself and the 788 00:37:47,040 --> 00:37:52,080 Speaker 2: essence of living is through breathing. And I look forward May. 789 00:37:52,160 --> 00:37:55,520 Speaker 2: I'm really excited to see where you go. You're so 790 00:37:55,760 --> 00:38:00,879 Speaker 2: young still, you're thirty years old, you knowing to see 791 00:38:00,920 --> 00:38:03,800 Speaker 2: how much you're going to develop in another ten years 792 00:38:03,880 --> 00:38:06,440 Speaker 2: and then another twenty years. You know, the world's at 793 00:38:06,480 --> 00:38:09,360 Speaker 2: your feet, and hopefully people will follow you, mate, and 794 00:38:10,160 --> 00:38:12,960 Speaker 2: jump on board because it's something that will change. 795 00:38:12,719 --> 00:38:17,960 Speaker 3: Their lives like it's changed yours. Thank you for coming on, mate, Thanks. 796 00:38:17,760 --> 00:38:19,120 Speaker 4: So much, so Welcome. 797 00:38:20,239 --> 00:38:23,600 Speaker 2: To find out more about Johannes Egberts and his work, 798 00:38:23,960 --> 00:38:27,759 Speaker 2: head to Breathless Expeditions dot com. I'll put the link 799 00:38:27,960 --> 00:38:31,680 Speaker 2: in the show notes. Thanks for listening to this episode 800 00:38:31,760 --> 00:38:35,640 Speaker 2: of Headgame. If you found this conversation as meaningful as 801 00:38:35,800 --> 00:38:36,320 Speaker 2: I did. 802 00:38:36,600 --> 00:38:40,000 Speaker 3: Why not share it with a friend. I'm Att Middleton. 803 00:38:40,719 --> 00:38:42,680 Speaker 3: See you on the next episode.