In this episode, our guest is Janet Gourand, the founder of Tribe Sober, an alcohol sobriety community and podcast. We discuss alcohol blackouts and other alcohol-related dangers. Learn all about blackouts (and brownouts) - risks, causes, science, signs, interactions, preventative measures, horror stories, and more. And become reminded of alcohol's scary links to crime, violence, disease, and even death. One of these times, you could wake up from your blackout inside a hospital, jail cell, or not at all. Entering into and navigating sobriety can be hard at first. So Janet shares various tools that help, such as: social connection, joining a community, and having a project or goal. Alcohol might shut down the brain, but sobriety can help power it back up, increasing things like energy, motivation, mood, creativity, imagination, and connection. RESOURCESBOOKS- Blackout by Sarah Hepola- We Are the Luckiest by Laura McKowen - Why You're Unhappy by Loretta BreuningCOMPANIES - Miller Brewing Company- Philip MorrisCOMMUNITIES - Alcoholics Anonymous (AA)- Tribe SoberPEOPLE- Ernest Hemingway - Jeffrey Dahmer- Laura McKowen - Loretta Breuning- Lucy Denith- Sarah HepolaPLACES - Cape Town- Johannesburg- London- SapporoPODCAST EPISODES - Why You're Unhappy with Dr Loretta Breuning (Tribe Sober, 1/20/2024) - Playing Russian Roulette... with Alcohol - Michael Waite (Tribe Sober, 4/13/2024)TV SERIES - Dahmer – MonsterVOCABULARY - Ativan- benzodiazepines- brownouts- CBD- CB1 receptor- hippocampus - ketamine- THC**Connect, learn more, or join the community**website: tribesober.comInstagram: @tribesober

In this episode, we talk with Julia Yanker, an adventurer, coach, and Somatic Experiencing Practictioner. We discuss her experiences with adventure sports, trauma, nature, and healing through Somatic Experiencing (SE). Learn about the neuropsychology behind the world of adventure sports, as well as the dangers, drugs, psychosocial dynamics, addictions, anxieties, traumas, disembodiment, and other issues often involved. Discover new ways to safely and gently re-connect with your body, emotions, self, world, and others, such as through: somatic experiencing, nature, touch, physical exercises, memory, imagination, reparenting, therapy, coaching, support groups, loving self talk, and good environments & people. We live in a society that pressures us to be disembodied, stressed, consuming, distracted, busy, productive, obedient little robots. But you don't have to live that way. You can remove the distractions, re-enter your body, heal your nervous system and childhood & relationship wounds, and live a more happy authentic connected life. Somatic experiencing and the other tools & ideas discussed today can help take you there. RESOURCESBOOKS- Healing Developmental Trauma by Laurence Heller & Aline LaPierre - Power of Attachment by Diane Poole Heller- Quit Like a Woman by Holly Whitaker- The Myth of Normal by Gabor MateCONCEPTS- attachment theory- avoidant attachment style- Bwiti- co-regulation- disorganized attachment style- Global High Intensity Activation (GHIA)- Integral Somatic PsychologyPEOPLE- Aline LaPierre- Diane Poole Heller- Gabor Mate- Holly Whitaker- Laurence Heller- Loretta Breuning- Mother Teresa- Peter Levine- Raja SelvamPLACES- Beartooth Mountains- Bozeman, Montana- Hokkaido- Sistine Chapel**Learn more and connect**website: juliayanker.comFacebook: /julia.yankerInstagram: @juliayankercoaching

In this episode, our guest is Robert Cefoli, the Director of Health and Fitness at FDNY and Co-Founder of Fyr Tribe, a non-profit dedicated to helping firefighters recover from trauma. We discuss the work environment, the stress and trauma that firefighters are exposed to, the bio-psycho-social health challenges they face, the state of their mind and body, and how body-based therapies like TRE (Tension & Trauma Releasing Exercises), foam rolling, and breathwork can help. Enter the mind and body of a New York City firefighter, husband, and father, as Captain Cefoli shares uncensored stories from his 20+ year journey, bleeds out his pains and struggles, and teaches us how to build resilience and strength, handle stress, and release our trauma and tension. These are lessons applicable to not just firefighters, but anyone living in the chaos and madness of modern society. If you are a parent, first responder, retiree, divorcee, addict, or have a high-stress job, this set of tools and information will likely resonate with you. Yet this is for anyone who has experienced trauma or stress and wants to come back to life. If you are ready, listen in, let go, and shake your past troubles away. Warning: this episode contains profanity and graphic content. RESOURCESPEOPLE - Adrian Caban - David Berceli TOOLS- ashwagandha - cold exposure- foot grounding- magnesium- myofascial release - TRE (Tension & Trauma Releasing Exercises)- sound frequencies**Connect & Learn More** Instagram: @fyr_tribewebsite: fyrtribe.org

In this episode, we dig into a study that compares breathwork protocols with mindfulness meditation - 'Brief structured respiration practices enhance mood and reduce physiological arousal' (published in Cell Reports Medicine in January 2023). Learn about 3 breathing exercises (box breathing, cyclic sighing, and cyclic hyperventilation) and a mindfulness meditation exercise. See how their pyschophysiological effects differ from one another and why the cyclic sigh was shown to be most powerful in reducing anxiety, reducing sympathetic arousal, and improving mood. RESOURCESCOMPANIES- Oura- Tianren Culture- Toudou- Whoop - YouKuPEOPLE- Andrew Huberman- Andrew Weil- Bita Nouriani- Booil Jo- Daniele Scuteri- David Spiegel- Eric Neri- Gary Holl- Jamie Zeitzer- Lara Weed- Manuela Kogon- Melis Yilmaz Balban- Victor Koo- Will Ahmed - Wim HofVOCABULARY - CO2 tolerance test- respiratory sinus arrhythmia 

In this episode, we talk with Niraj Naik, the founder of SOMA Breath. We discuss breathing practices and techniques for altering your cognition, mood, and health. Learn how to quiet down your thinking mind, find focus and calm, and enter mystical, psychedelic, and blissful flow states via the breath. Breath patterns, speed, duration, and intensity are all part of this. We can change our breath to change how we think, feel, perceive, and connect.  Music, visuals, symbols, light and dark, dance, touch, social connection, sex, exercise, and TRE can also be combined with these breathing experiences to enhance the psychophysiological effects further.  By using these other sensory and somatic techniques, combined with the breath, you can more deeply and enjoyably tap into the programming of your body and mind. We talk about all that. You will also learn about tantric sex breathing practices, psychedelics (e.g. the different varieties of magic mushrooms), and more. **Connect with Niraj Naik** website: somabreath.com Instagram: @Nirajnaikofficial RESOURCESORGANIZATIONS - HeartMath InsitutePEOPLE- David Berceli- Jan Kounen- Lao Tzu- Robert SapolskyPLACES- Ibiza, Spain- Gili Islands, Indonesia- Ko Pha-ngan, ThailandVOCAB- 5-MeO-DMT- Buteyko method- collective coherence- dark retreats- default mode network- DMT- fractals- Ganesha (psychedelic)- mandelas- Pranayama- psilocybin- Siddhi powers- sigilsConnect & Learn More: website: somabreath.comapp: somabreath.com/soma-appInstagram: @Nirajnaikofficial21-Day Awakening Journey: somabreath.com/the-awakening-breathwork-journeybook: Breathworks (coming soon!)Cambridge study: biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.02.19.580985v1FREE Masterclass: somabreath.com/soma-awakening-meditation-ewo

In this episode, our guest is Daniele Scuteri, a fitness enthusiast, language learner, black belt, and former amateur soccer player.  We talk about how to level up your mental and physical performance, happiness, and growth by embracing hard things. Challenges and difficulties can be opportunities for transformation along your journey through sports, work, love, learning, and life. We discuss various tools for improving your ability to embrace and push through challenges, including: breath work, cold exposure, discomfort, coaches, mindfulness, nutrition, exercise, social connection, goals, and mindset.  RESOURCESBOOKS - The Oxygen Advantage by Patrick McKeownORGANIZATIONS & EVENTS- CrossFit- Flow Research Collective- Hyrox- Spartan RacePEOPLE - Andrea Prondo- Andrew Huberman- Andrew Weil- Gianmarco Citelli- Lorenzo Pennati- Matthew Walker- Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi - Nicolas Luna- Peter Attia- Stanislav Grof- Steven Kotler- Wim HofYOUTUBE CHANNELS - Breathe With Sandy**Connect with Daniele**LinkedIn: /daniele-scuteri-0a2bb5

In this episode, our guest is Al Wadleigh, a Feldenkrais practitioner and the co-host of the Feldenkrais for Life podcast. We talk about how to rewire our nervous system through Feldenkrais, increasing our learning, memory, health, and potential. Returning us to that childlike state of exploration, curiosity, aliveness, and possibility, Feldenkrais is like a playful portal into adult neuroplasticity and change. Waking us up from our habits and removing our rigid societal masks and algorithms, it can likewise unlock self-awareness, self-image, spontaneity, lightness, ease, authenticity, freedom, and growth.We delve into this via various interconnected angles, including: novelty, making mistakes/errors, correcting, contradictory movements, speed of movement, pausing, relaxation, zooming in and out, focus and unfocus, attention, the eyes, neck, lips, mouth, creativity, the imagination, the voice, the skeleton, effort, finding links and connections, technology (e.g. smartphones, the Internet), and other exercise and movement-based practices. The episode wraps up by putting all this into action through a short powerful Feldenkrais lesson using the eyes and imagination.  **CONNECT & LEARN MORE**podcast: feldenkraisforlife.com website: achievingexcellence.com audio lessons & more: achievingexcellence.com/all-productsRESOURCESBOOKS - The Brain that Changes Itself  by Norman Doidge - The Brain's Way of Healing by Norman DoidgeLESSONS - Alexander Yanai lessons - Al Wadleigh lessonsPEOPLE- Donna Ray- Moshé Feldenkrais- Norman DoidgeVOCABULARY - Functional Integration- homunuculus- Weber-Fechner LawListen to Feldenkrais for Life, Al Wadleigh and Donna Ray's podcast, on Spotify, Apple, or your favorite podcast app. Connect with Al on his website: achievingexcellence.com.

Dr. Ilene Naomi Rusk is a neuropsychologist and functional medicine brain health consultant who helps heal people with trauma and neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's. Her education, training, and experience are vast, dancing like a constellation of stars through the nervous system night. We captured glimpses of it today, focusing primarily on the important role that connection and engagement (with others, nature, yourself, your sensory experience, and the beyond) play on your nervous system health and well-being.  You can change, heal, and grow your brain in beneficial ways, what Dr. Rusk calls "positive neuroplasticity."  Today we discuss some of the portals into such plasticity, including: education, social connection, nature, positive thinking, mental reframing, memories, and the imagination. Through such, we can learn to overcome our trauma, get our nervous system and life unstuck, and more easily enter into a state of safety, calm, connectedness, playfulness, presence, love, wellness, and hope.  We also talk about: eye contact, humming, the voice, the face, cameras, photos, screens, functional medicine, and more.This was a very healing and educational conversation for me, and I hope it is for you too.Sadly, the event Dr. Rusk invited us to has now finished. But she always has lots of upcoming online events, which you can find on the events tab of her website.**CONNECT WITH DR. RUSK** website: ilenenaomirusk.com Instagram: @dr_ruskFacebook: /drilenenaomiRESOURCESPEOPLE- Dale Bredesen- Dan Siegel- Esther Perel- Helen Reddy- Stephen PorgesSONGS- I Am Woman by Helen ReddySTUDIES- Emotional valence modulates the topology of the parent-infant inter-brain network (NeuroImage, Feb 2020)Learn more, connect, and find out about upcoming events at:  ilenenaomirusk.com

This is a solo episode reflecting on the behavioral and sensory locks and keys to our inner world, that beautiful melty sacred space where imagination, possibilities, dreams, creativity, freedom, and the unconscious come alive, where we are no longer controlled by the external puppeteers and can instead awaken to the authenticity, simplicity, and greatness of our true natural being. Today, we discuss how to leverage those sweet gentle tools that bring us inward and avoid those that blast us outward into existential and psychophysiological oblivion. Learn to shift your attention toward the inside, rather than letting it get hijacked by external stimuli, and watch your health, mood, life, and autonomy re-emerge. Bask in your inner oasis, where all those invisible things you’ve always dreamed of and run from become visible, perty, and real. If this sounds like the kind of vibe and life you want, then listen in as together we traverse this wild inner dreamscape where rules do not exist, nature melts with mind, memories dance, and you are colorful like a child. The shamanic keychain provided today contains the following keys (and corresponding locks) into your boundless inner self:eyes closed (vs. open)darkness (vs. light)direct sensory experience (vs. screens and cameras)valuing those things on the inside (vs. those on the outside)imagination (vs. videos, pictures, and porn)silence (vs. noise)odorless (vs. fragrance)flavorless (vs. flavors)nose breathing (vs. mouth breathing)exhales *including humming, chanting, singing (vs. inhales)fasting (vs. eating)breaking rules (vs. obeying cultural and habitual rules, norms, & limits)solitude (vs. socializing)sleep & dreams (vs. waking life)creation (vs. consumption)meditation & hypnosis (vs. brainwashing and memes)difficulty, discomfort, challenge & pain (vs. easiness, comfort, & pleasure)nature (vs. city)death, loss, & change (vs. immortality, possessiveness, & permanence)minimalism (vs. materialism)stillness & slowing down (vs. busyness and going fast)curvy and spontaneous movement (vs. rigid and predictable ones)In addition, there are experiences that sweetly bridge the inner and outer worlds, which can also be embraced to your comfort. Some of these include: books, podcasts, psychedelics, conversations, interviewing, safe connection and embrace, eye gazing, instrumental music, and more.You can also stack these tools on top of one another, mix and mash them, to create your own little customized meditation-like retreat. We also discuss a brief history of sense-hacking technologies and how that evolution intertwines with the collapse of the inner world. Don’t let your beautiful mind go the way of the dinosaurs. Become like a bird and fly freely into the future.RESOURCES - Between Two Worlds (episode #60) - Darshan with Paramahamsa Vishwananda (the darshan event I went to in Osaka) - Duncan Trussell (podcaster / comedian)- Duncan Trussell Family Hour (podcast) - Merlion (overphotographed statue in Singapore)- scratch and sniffs (fragrance technology)- Say Cheese and Die! by R.L. Stine (Goosebumps book #4)

Roland Verment is a neuropsychologist, biohacker, and the owner of Neurobics, an at-home neurofeedback service. In this interview, we discuss how to understand and change the brain via neurofeedback and nootropics.We talk about brain waves (delta, theta, alpha, beta, and gamma) and how they correspond to various brain states, regions, neurochemicals, and disorders, including: OCD, ADHD, autism, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, anxiety, depression, PTSD, Gilles de la Tourette's syndrome, and visual neglect). Learn how to manipulate these brain waves in order to increase your creativity, organization, productivity, memory, happiness, focus, flexibility, calm, balance, and overall brain health. We also discuss: EEG, fMRI, sleep, resurrecting old childhood memories ("time traveling"), alcohol, meditation, medications, VR, emerging tech, and nootropics (including: caffeine, rhodiola, alpha GPC, Huperzine A, and  cerebrolisin). *CONNECT & LEARN MORE*Instagram: @neurobicsneurofeedback     or               @rolandsnapFacebook: @Neurobicswebsite: neurobics.careRESOURCESNEUROANATOMY- anterior cingulate cortex - frontal lobe- hypothalamus- occipital lobe- parietal lobe- temporal lobe- visual cortexCOMPANIES - AppliedVR- BrainBit- Cleverpoint- Divergence Neuro- GrayMatters Health - Headspace - Kernel- Muse- Tripp PEOPLE- Andrew Huberman - Cody Rall - Jay Gunkelman- Josh Sackman- Kirill Krasnogir - Tim Ferris SUPPLEMENTS & DRUGS - alpha-GPC - CDP-Choline-  Cerebrolysin -  Huperzia serrata (Huperzine A) -  lithium -  Methylphenidate (brand names: Ritalin and Concerta)-  rhodiola (active compound: salidroside) Learn more at: neurobics.care (or on Instagram @neurobicsneurofeedback)