Habits and Hustle - Episode 182: Aaron Alexander – Movement Coach, Creator of the Align Method, Author and Podcast Host

Episode Date: August 30, 2022

Pre-order Jen’s New Book: Bigger, Better, Bolder today: https://amzn.to/3hvtqYp Aaron Alexander is a Movement Coach, Creator of the Align Method, Author and Podcast Host. Aaron has a wonderful and strange insight into fitness and self. Expressing a failing in his life with his approach to health, wellness, and fitness even though he was super jacked, just not feeling well or fulfilled. He then reframed his approach searching for larger experiences and the highs and lows they would come with. He’s an interesting guy. He loves pain, and forces certain discomforts on himself. He even talked about his future venture into a complete darkness resort to push his mind and body in more exciting and cerebral ways. If you’re into fitness and wellness, but maybe lacking fulfillment, or if you think you may need to shake up your own life and add a little positive discomfort, give this one a listen. Youtube Link to This Episode Aaron’s Podcast – https://www.alignpodcast.com/ Aaron’s Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/alignpodcast ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Did you learn something from tuning in today? Please pay it forward and write us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts. 📧If you have feedback for the show, please email [e-mail]  📙Get yourself a copy of Jennifer Cohen’s newest book from Habit Nest, Badass Body Goals Journal. ℹ️Habits & Hustle Website 📚Habit Nest Website 📱Follow Jennifer – Instagram – Facebook – Twitter – Jennifer’s Website Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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and is researched by the world's top scientific institutions. So go check it out at trueniagen.com. That's TRU NIAGEN and we have a special offer for new customers to receive 20% off all orders, $100 or more, using the code Hustle20, until August 30, 2022. So definitely run. Don't walk and scoop some up now. Hi guys, it's Tony Robbins. You're listening to Habitson Hussle, fresh it. Today on the podcast we have Aaron Alexander.

Aaron is a movement coach. He is the founder and creator of the Align Method, the author of the Align Method book, and of course, the Align Method, the author of the Align Method book, and of course the Align Method podcast. He really is about true mind-body connection, and as a result, he helps people align their body, their mind, their environment, their posture, movement, to achieving incredible results. On this episode, we talk about becoming physically and mentally healthier along the way he tells his own family story of a father addicted to crack cocaine.

We talk all about posture. We talk about how to infuse better movement into your daily life and practical ways and solutions to do this. The impact of your environments for your postural patterns and physiology, it was really an interesting conversation. And he's an interesting guy just all together. So I really think that you're going to enjoy this podcast and get a lot of very valuable ways to integrate these practical things to help optimize your mind, your body, and your spirit.

Enjoy. I'm very curious about you. I mean, are you kind of like the, you're the Aligned guy, your book obviously was what it's called the Aligned Method, you created the Align Method. You just, like, a guru in mind body connection and mobility, like, who are you? Give me the origin story of who you are and what your thing is. That's so funny.

I mean, I don't, I think guru is like, actually, that's like a bad word. I would just like making a good... I would use guru personally, but I think Guru is like actually, that's like a bad word. I would just like making a good... I would use Guru personally, but I think the actual meaning of Guru is teacher. So, I would say we're all Guru's in our own right? Okay, Tony Robbins, isn't that what you know, you are your own Guru or whatever that movie was,

not the number of? Yeah, I think there's a lot of truth to that. Like we have the answers to many things, to life's predicaments within ourselves. And we are in a circumstance where we're bombarded with so much information from all angles. Totally true. And that tends to drown out the internal, deeper knowing that we all do have.

So in that sense, as like kind of, I don't know, maybe soft or metaphysical or a bit of it, like, I don't like to fall into the new age type category. As new agey as that sounds, I think there is a lot of truth to that. We all really aren't our own gurus in a sense, and we do have a deeper knowing, and I think there's many processes and paths to get us all closer to that relationship with ourselves. And a part of that would just be a very simple,

pragmatic process of cutting out static from our lives. You know, and that's like Bruce Lee. I think like everybody's a big man of Bruce Lee, by some include one of the things he's said various different iterations of is, you know, life or martial arts or anything relevant is about subtraction. It's not about addition. martial arts or anything relevant is about subtraction. It's not about addition. And so some of the potential statics that we may be encumbered by in our modern lives, a lot of beautiful things are lives as well, might be nutritional related static, you know, having different things. It might make us feel a little stirred up, make us feel a little aggressive, make us feel a little anxious, make us feel a little tired.

We're continually yearning for something to pep us back up because we just feel kind of like our energy is like pooled movement or lack of movement, the lighting in our environments or a lack of light. You know, if we're not getting adequate exposure from start to light, relationships, a sensation of purpose, like feeling like, what the hell am I doing here? Where's the point of anything? Like, why do I care to exercise in the first place? I think it's a reasonable question to ask, because if your goal of exercising is just coming from a place of lack of self-acceptance,

and I will accept myself when my ass doesn't jiggle in this way. Or when I have sick pack of abs, which is just a story of that indicating health. That's problematic. So in short, I guess if your question is like, the shorter version of your ass and like, who am I? I think I'm just very interested in these questions. And I really enjoy looking at the body from a broader lens than just merely exercise. And I'm really interested in the psychosomatic relationships.

Like that mind-body relationship is the thing that it winds me up. I'm very interested in that conversation. So then what would you say, because you created, your whole brand is the align method. So how what would you say because you created that you have your whole brand is the align method, right? So what would you how would you define if someone says Aaron in elevator pitch me what is the align method? What is it? Line method is a manual on how to make it so that fitness is who you are as

opposed to a thing that you do. If I had to put into like a sentence, can you hear the rain in the background? Yeah, I can. I'm gonna shut my window, but the rain is awesome. Ooh. Wow. That sounds actually. Yeah, very soothing.

Oh! Yeah, so fitness is who you are, it's not thing you should do. Is your having a conversation with somebody, are you gonna comment on something? No, I'm listening to you. I think that's a great way of summing it up, actually, because what would you, how did you kind of, what was your evolution for it, though?

Like, what did you start doing? How did you become the person that is, I mean, for all intents purposes here, like an expert in this kind of, what would you call it? Would you call it mobility, overall, overall movement? I think holistic physical health. Holistic physical health. Okay, what was your revolution? How did you start?

Insicure bodybuilding, all of the supplements, all of the very, all of the supplements, all of like just the very just basic muscle and fitness workouts and just a lot of time staring in the mirror, making muscles kind of like manifest myself into being like a mini Arnold Schwarzenegger as a young person. Really, like what, just working out the gym day and day out,

taking like, crazy, really. Everything, I put on like 60 pounds in a matter of, I don't remember what it was, very short amount of time, like six months or less than a year or something like that. A part of that was puberty, so it wasn't like, I mean, I was essentially on steroids, but they were like, you know, endogenous. Yeah.

But it was that compounded with just like, complete utter obsession around getting as big as I possibly could because I felt like a deep lack of acceptance in myself. And within that, that was, I would, if there was ever like a time of like taking a picture or something, there was a picture in this day and age, which was, I'm not super old, I'm 35, but it was before like, cell phone,

camera and stuff. Right. I know you know You know, but so there was less pictures at that time frame, but when there was a picture I would Immediately leave the room. I would run out and I would go do a bunch of push-ups I'd go find a doorway to do pull-ups or something and I would like try to get this like pump in my muscles Get good circulation, you know circulation, get a good hue. Yeah, totally note what you mean.

And then I'd come back in for the photo. So that was just like where my mind was at. And then that turned into a lot of muscular imbalance. I was very focused on the glamour muscles, the beach muscles. If I didn't see it, probably didn't matter that much. I would touch up on those muscles every now and again, but it just wasn't that relevant. And then a lot of pain, a lot of injuries,

like chronic lingering type pain, like many people were accustomed to, it was pretty like back pain. And that turned into, I was gonna go school for physical therapy, I went to school for ralphing, structural integration instead. So manual therapy, I was on personal training, working with clients at the time, moved to Hawaii, was doing like beach boat camps, and you know, got into Jiu-Jitsu and surfing,

and various different forms of manual therapy, or like massage therapy. And so it was more like getting into like Yin side now of like, okay, how do we start to reassemble the system as opposed to just like, just like making everything bigger, just for bigger sake. And you know, that's, I'm still like in that process, like I'm like still sorting it out. Well, it's interesting because looking at you, like even on your Instagram or just in general, you are extraordinarily fit looking. I mean, I can't imagine you, like if you said

that's how you used to be, like I would think that you you are like a 10 pack right now. So how did you, or are you still, how did you kind of like pivot from being that body builder? I need to like work out for vanity purpose. What triggered you to kind of get more into this other holistic side, but yet still look the same. I mean, you still, you look amazing, not to like,

I'm not hitting on you. I'm just telling you, you just do, right? I appreciate that. You look her too. Thank you, but not like you're, I'm just telling you, you just do, right? I appreciate that. You look great too. Thank you, but not like, you're just like, thank you. Are you just like a genetic freak that way? Like your baseline is so good or what's the secret? I mean, I like anybody, have been working on it for a while.

I've been working out, quote unquote, in some capacity, very intently since I was 14. I just never stopped. Then it turned into my career. I started personal training when I was 16. I got a job at LA Fitness, got my NSCA personal training certification. That was the beginning of that. So it's always been just a part of, I've had the accountability of showing up for like

adults. So as 16, showing up to like train adults. It was like 30, you know, 40, whatever your old people with like real jobs, real lives, partners, you know, like they're like real people. And I'm just like this little insecure kid that's kind of jacked, trying to try to be precociously just like garner as much information to be able to regurgitate to these people as possible.

And so I think it's just been like a process of continual slow work. And now I'm very grateful that my body and anybody's body, we do have a certain level of muscle memory, which is kind of a soft, a bit of a soft flimsy term. But my endocrine system, my neurochemicals, all the systems, they're kind of exposed, like they understand training.

They understand cold, they understand heat, they understand hypertrophy, they understand fasting, and you can kind of work those systems into the body through exposure, and I've just been like continually exposing myself. I haven't stopped exposing myself. I think of like each A's like the experiment. Blazing deals, boundless options.

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Get grilling at Whole Foods Market Terms Apply. So you're winding down with the podcast. Sounds like you have no plans to leave the couch tonight. Nope, you just want to unzip your jeans, slip on a pair of fuzzy slippers, and rip open a bag of skinny pop popcorn, because the only place you're going tonight is the bottom of this bag of popcorn. Are you not, are you basically saying you've always been kind of what I'm gathering is you

haven't never stopped being active in some capacity so it is muscle memory. What are you doing now though to stay this healthy and fit and you know to move? Are you not a gym person? Do you not work out at a traditional gym? Are you do? You still do that. Yeah, but the gym I go to is largely a train outside quite a bit. So it's here in Austin's place called Squatch.

And I really like it because I can get like sunlight. So sun, that's like one of the primary factors for, again, neurochemical health, hormonal health, testosterone, libido, all that just generally, skin tone, looking, feeling attractive, there's various different research around that. So I'm a big advocate for spending time in the sun. I'm a big advocate for, right now

is where I have this conversation. You've already noticed, I've changed positions, 15 times more than... Yeah, you're moving a lot. It's like you're, by the way, you're sitting on the floor as we do this podcast. Yeah, I'm sitting on the floor, which isn't, I don't think is very strange. It's like welcome to the whole world. Yeah, that's true. Most of the world slash before just complete transition to like becoming a chair-based culture. You know, like spending time on the ground is just, is very, very normal.

Like, spending time on the ground actually is the normal thing. You know, so as I'm on the ground, and normal is a dumb word, it's a subjective word. But as far as like norm, if my definition of normal would be like most conducive for cellular health. My skeletal well-being, as it's skeletal like a British person. So if we were just to just put normal as something that's like, okay, like just what makes your cells function best? We'll just call that normal, just for lack of, you know, just to find a definition.

And so that's very normal. Our body, there's actually a book called Muscles and Meridians by Philip Beech that's been quite impactful for me. And in that book here first to spending time on the ground, which is, again, most all healthy cultures around the world do that. Cultures that have minimal incidents of osteoarthritis in the hips, and the knees have minimal issues around incontinence, pelvic floor issues, just like spine pathologies, things of the sort. Just going through this range of emotion, it heals the joints. It brings new fluids to the joints, and it's good for them.

Circulates lymphatic fluid, better for digestion, because your legs are closer to your viscera, your heart, your organs. You don't have all this blood pooling up in your lower compartments. Think like cancels when you're in a plane, it's gross, doesn't look good, doesn't feel good. Makes the, makes the field drained.

Standing in a museum for too long, you're just like, ugh. So sitting on the floor, is there a position that we should be sitting in or just our legs crossed, or what's the ideal position to be sitting on the floor? There's no best position. So I mean, I have a whole chapter in the Align Method book about just spending time

on the ground. I mean, it feels so stupid to talk about. It feels like dumb, because it's so, it's like childish. It actually is not. Because I think that people, it's the most basic things in life I feel and find that we don't kind of, we don't think about, right?

And we just don't, we forget. And now what's our normal quote unquote is sitting in a chair like I am. But you're saying that there's so many more extra, there's so many benefits to actually being on the ground, which is why I'm what I want to get to, like I want you to talk about, like you will have been. What are the, like what are the benefits of sitting on the ground versus being in a chair, like where I'm sitting right now in a chair, you're saying it's not great for my back, my hips, it helps with it, like, you know, like if I just sat on the floor, let's not great for my back, my hips, it helps with, like, you know, like if I just

sat on the floor, let's just put this way, if I sat on the floor versus sitting in a chair, what would the benefits be? What would I kind of get from that? Or not just me, but everybody? So a bunch. So, all right, so a few things. One, there's been various different research around this studying different cultures that happen. It's been more time than that. So like northern Africa, Southeast from Asia, eastern Mediterranean, these places,

there's also other things, you know, at least northern Africa, and eastern Mediterranean, they tend to drink like, you know, eat pretty good, eat a lot of olive oil, which is also good for the joints. But very low incidence of osteoarthritis in the hips and the knees. And a part of their culture is they're just taking their hips and their knees through a full range of motion. It's very simple. That would be one thing that's pretty interesting. Another thing is, like I already mentioned, digestion. So if you're eating and you're in order for you to build to digest food, you're going

to pull, like, why you get sleepy when you're eating food is you're pulling a bunch of blood from your periphery and it's going into your viscera into your organs, near stomach to break that stuff down and then recirculate it and carry this nutrients for this body. So when your legs are closer to your heart, like think if you ever injured your ankle, if you ever spring an ankle, everybody's spring an ankle at some point in their lives, I think if you ever injured your ankle, if you ever spring an ankle, everybody's spring an ankle, at some point in their lives, your physical therapist, first thing they're gonna say, compression and elevation.

It used to be rice, rest, ice, compression elevation, then Merkin, the doctor fell in that created that in the late 70s, he recently recalled that, I think in the early 2000s, so I was like, oh, my bad, ice is actually a bummer. You don't want to slow down the inflammatory response and stop that action. You want to actually support it.

You just want to keep it circulating. So actually warmth, elevation, movement, stay out of pain, but elevation and compression. That's essentially what you're doing when you're sitting in any of those childish positions when you're on the ground. So if you're laying on your back, that'd be obviously it's gonna be more advantageous

for better circulation. The way that you circulate lymphatic fluid is through muscular contraction. If you were just sitting on a sofa, just kind of pulling your fluids, it's not bad, it's not like a moralistic thing. It's just disadvantageous for the circulation of the vital fluids throughout your body.

So if you are sitting on the ground, like any kid would do, or person in a culture that does this, you'll just naturally kind of move your body around. Like that's a healthy body. A body that just kind of wiggles a little bit, and you know, there's a fancy term for those wiggles called neat. It's what is it called?

Non-exercise activity thermogenesis is the unnecessary. Wow. Definition of the acronym. And so what that is is non-exercise. So it's not like the idea of exercise, I think, is cute. Like you think you're like, work yourself out into some new form. It's like, what about, like that's one hour, three or four days a week. Like what are you even talking about?

That is, it's like so minuscule. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yes. So it's like the minuscule. Yeah, yeah, yes. So it's like the rest of the day, like that's the align method. Like all I care about is like, what do you do with the rest of it? Like you've so many coaches and magazines and Muslim fitness and everything to do the perfect typo workout or plyometrics or knees over toes or like whatever you do. Um, the rest of the day is all I'm really interested in as far as like working with.

Well, I like both, honestly, because I do enjoy like learning how to about training. But the rest of the day, time that neat, that non-exercise activity through my Genesis time, you be burning upwards of 2000 extra in quotations, calories, just from living a little bit more of like a wiggly lifestyle. And if you were to take yourself into,

you know, so you'd say to go like Northern Tanzania where there's been a ton of research, like that biome stuff also with movement researchers from Southern California, from your part of the world, my old part. They went out there in the last few years and they attached these sensory systems, bio, something, motor, whatever, to the tribal folks' hips, hips and knees, to track the range of motion that are going through

the day. And what they found was that these hunter-gatherer ancestral, like the romanticized people that the whole world is like, oh, whatever they're doing with the right thing, they are in resting positions about as much as industrialized cultures. So on average, it was like the exact number was 9.82 hours per day, if I remember correctly. And so that's like, okay, they're not, they're not just like running all day or like climbing trees all day, you know, or doing like cup wetta dancing and like playing drums, like they're resting a lot, like they're trying to preserve energy. So they're

resting about as much as we are, like we, you know, representing like, you know, industrialized western culture whatever. So the difference is how are they resting? The way they're resting is they're in kneeling positions, they're in squatting positions, they're in various different floors, sitting positions, that are pretty much outlined in the books, you know, everywhere. Right.

You know, and it's, they're actually, they're actively engaging in their resting positions. It's not just outsourcing all of their mechanical efficiency to, you know, a device, in this case, the device being the chair. You outsource what your body would naturally do, then you begin to atrophy. When you atrophy, you start to become trapped. If you atrophy too much, then you're in a tight spot. Right.

That's right. That's right. Does that mean, by the way, the wigglies? Is it because, are you wiggling because you're uncomfortable on the floor, and so therefore you're trying to get your adjusting yourself constantly to find a comfortable position. Because right now, if you're in an uncomfortable chair, you can wiggle a lot. I'm wiggle in a ton right now.

That's great. That's how a kid was sent in a chair. Until they were advised that they're sick and they need medication. That's how a healthy kid was sent in a chair. They'd rock back on the chair, they'd go on the left side, they'd go on the right side, they're working their whole proprioceptive system. That's neurology, like that's education. So does that mean I'm getting the same benefits in this chair as you are on the floor?

Because I'm like, Oh, I'm moving around. Okay, so the chair, chair's just a thing, it doesn't matter. It's just who are you in the chair? Who are you in the floor? I'm in the chair, right. But can you sit on a cushion on the chair?

Yes. Oh, yeah, I'm on a cushion. My whole setup. Okay, let me look at your setup. I'm just curious. It's a little, all right, it's one of my... So I got this, this cute little cushion situation about that wine. Okay. My hips are semi-flexible. I would say they're more than semi. They would prove very flexible.

So I'm just saying that cushion is kind of small for a lot of folks. For most people I'd say make your cushion like at least, I don't know, a foot high, 10 inches high or something like that. The big thing, if you want to have bio mechanical efficiency within your sacrum, just your spine, your hips, you wanna make sure your hips are up above the height of your knees.

If your hips are above the height of your knees, that will put your lower back, particularly the L5S1 vertebra. They are in a bit of a shape of a wedge with the wide angle of the wedge facing out towards your belly button. And so what that suggests is that you want to kind of have the hips ever so slightly kind of like tilting forward. And that's kind of like a ready position. So if you roll your hips backward and you sit down on the ground without like having your hips up above the high to your knees, then you're going to be in that like sad puppy dog kind of like roll four position. There's nothing wrong with it, but it's just putting a little like undue stress on the

discs and your spine and such. So you can really relax into the architecture of your spine when you set your hips up above the height of your knees. That in and of itself, whether you're on a chair or in the floor or whatever, if you just take away that tip, you know,, those of you still engaged in this conversation or monologue, if you just take away that one tip, this whole thing was worth it. You can stop listening, just do that

and it will make a massive difference in your life. Wow, that's amazing. So then how about sleeping? Do you sleep on the floor or do you sleep on a mattress? That would be so cool if I could. I'm such a baby. Like, I spend a lot of time living in Colorado for a while, living in Ben, Oregon for a while, and I've identified as like a mountain climber person,

but it's so hard for me to sleep if I'm not on like a comfortable, like, it has to be like a really comfortable, expensive mat from R.A.I. like a thick one, or just like a comfortable, like, it has to be like a really comfortable, expensive, matte from Ari. I like a thick one or just like a good mattress. But ideally, yeah, ideally you would have enough adaptability in your joints and your connective tissue to be able to sleep on something that's fairly firm. And if you don't, it's kind of an indication that there is some room for growth there, but for me, my suggestion is sleep is kind of like the most important thing you can do

over a lot of things. So if you're getting whatever your metaphoric eight hours of sleep is, it doesn't need to be eight hours, but like whatever you're eight hours, like where you feel like you've gotic eight hours of sleep is, doesn't need to be eight hours, but whatever your eight hours, like where you feel like you've got your eight hours, that's like the foundation to rest most other practices on top of. So for me, I'm like, I just want you to sleep.

Like make sure you sleep. And then from there, let's draw back and say, maybe every once in a while experiment and sleep on, go camping outside someplace. And within that, you're going to naturally be actually taking your body through a bit of like a myofascial release session in a way. So when you're on a feather, soft, whatever bed, there's not a lot of pressure on your

connective tissue and your joints and your muscles. When you're on some, like a hard ground, you're getting more pressure. So, if you went and got a massage, like a big Russian lady or something, and she was putting elbows into different parts of your body, if you have a healthy body, you know, LGA can drop a ton of weight

into all sorts of weird spots in your body, and you're like, yeah, I can just breathe through this. Like this actually feels good. If you're in a diseased body, you know, like a body that's... Yes, yes. Then, then, then, Elga is gonna be, is gonna be like bringing the pain. So the healthier the body, the more dynamic and flexible it is to its environment. If a body is more kind of stuck,

then the idea of like laying down on the ground would be like, would be really hard because they're tissue is sensitive. And it's sensitive because it's like, it's, you know, pain is a, I borrowed this from a podcast guest I've had in the past called Perry Nicholson, but he said, pain is a request for change.

It's just so cool. It's pain is a big, very robust topic. I've done like tens of episodes exclusively just asking the question, what is pain, like the smartest people on the planet around the conversation and pain. Right. I know what you really know is what pain is, but I really like that, not one. If there's pain, it's like, we don't define exactly what it is,

but there's some suggestion from the body saying, like, can we change? Right, right. Like, and you feel that most pain comes from the fact that, like you were saying, there's 24 hours in a day, even if you work out a lot, you still have, let's say you have, even if you work out once an hour a day, you still have 23 hours to like be fit and like live, when you used to end your definition of fitness is very different.

So, now, what is your approach to fitness? Like what in a day in the life, what would you do? Give me what you do. What time you wake up? All the different habits that you've incorporated. How you've went from this muscle building meathead type of thing to this new air in, who's now you, not guru guru but experts in holistic movements. Well I think that I honestly I don't think I'm the best example like I think that I one thing that I am is I've been consistent for you know the last 20 years so I can

pat myself on the back about that. I have kind of augmented my perception somehow towards enjoying some bout of discomfort pretty much every day. So whether it's like don't cold plunge or sitting in a sauna for, you know, an extended period or like fasting or exercising and getting into the part where like the training starts to be like oh it's uncomfortable it's like oh this is fine it's just a thing it's not something to run away for it's just a thing you know I have like I have like a these Sadoo nail board thing sitting behind me

here at what it's called a Sadoo nail board I can grab it. Oh, oh. So this is a Sadu nail board, and it's just covered in a bunch of sharp nails. And so that's an example of something that it's like, you know, I like. You sit on it or you stand on it. Now you stand your feet on it. Oh, it's one of those. Yeah, it's cool.

Yeah, it's cool. I'm not like bragging about this. I think this is very minor, whatever this doesn't matter. But I'm just saying, like this is an example of like, it induces this sensation that we call pain for the most part pain as a thing to like, like, oh, like stop it. That is a perception.

Pain is just an, it's just a sensation.. Like it's just like chemicals and it's just it's just is right and so some bout of that is something that I typically You know, I'll try to like find something like that each day. I organize my relationships around that So most of my relationships and friends this morning met with friends and we boxed, so we sparded. So that was like community connection, all of that stuff, challenge, a lot of hand-eye coordination, it's just a lot packed into that. That was like a date, that was meeting up with a buddy and doing that. So organizing relationships around things that catalyze you to be some version of yourself that would be more preferable is, I think that's advisable.

So that's something that, and now I've kind of organized my life around that and my career and my brand. So now there's a certain expectation of that of me, which is cool. So now if people a certain expectation of that of me, which is cool. So now if people meet up with me, they're like, okay, let's swim across some river thing or do cold plunge or there's this certain level

of expectation, I'm like, fucking amazing. Great, that's so cool. Like yeah, let's do hard things together. We always feel better afterwards. And it's also bonding is a bonding thing. Like which of course, you bond over soft stuff, you bond over coffee like you do. 100% no you don't, you bond over coffee,

even dinner like, you know, like my husband's like a big believer in that, you need to do, you have to experience, you have to have life experience with people in order to build a true relationship and connection that's long lasting, right? How many people have you had coffee with? I can, I have so many coffee, lunch, dinner meetings, and like, you forget about the person the next day.

It's like when you do an activity, like you're talking about, is how you really build real bond and real like connection. And you put your body into like a pseudo psychedelic state, you're getting flooded with opiates. So when you're doing something hard, like your skin is an endocrin organ. Your muscles are also endocrin organs. When you're contracting and pumping

and exposing them to sign or cold temperatures or hot temperatures, the pores are opening, expanding contraction, like, that's not like your skin is continuous with the same embryological layer as your brain. It's called the ectoderm. They merge. It's the same dermal layer. So when you're having contact and that's why my suggestion with meeting people is like, oh, let me flip you upside down for 10 minutes and decompress your spine and do this weird, ridiculous thing called acro yoga. That's what now I get it. Now I know why you said that to me. Oh, years ago, like, hey, let's meet up and do some acro yoga as opposed to, hey, let's meet up and have a coffee.

Yeah, I find myself, and that's probably my own, like, neuroses, that where I kind of like, I don't really love, and this is my work. Like, for me, sitting in stillness is, that's like really like the path towards greatest growth for me, I think. I've like, established the wiggly aspect of life and the doing hard things, the doing hard things things I find easy

Sitting it like I have a darkness a seven-day darkness retreat that I'm scheduled to do and November 15th or something and so that would be something where it's an example like oh Okay, that's doing hard things for me. That's like Oh, okay. That's doing hard things for me. That's like, that's like the hard hard thing. That's hard hard. Wait, what is that? I've never heard of this.

Tell me what this darkness retreated. Are you sitting in like darkness for seven days? Literally like pitch black, darkness? Yeah, yeah, it's a thing. I wrote about it on my book. There's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, I didn't see that in the book. I maybe I missed that page.

I think it's in, it might have been in the vision chapter or it's probably in the visual chapter. I would imagine the visual chapter. So there's a whole chapter about how your, you know, your eyes affect your physiology. It's like, um, and- Could we talk about that? Let's say on that. That's very interesting. The eyes affecting your physiology and the darkness. So tell me about this darkness retreat first. Well, yeah, so it's originally I think people started doing this in Germany. It has a German name that I'm the name that German name is escaping me right now It's a it's a cool name though. I remember I liked to say it back in the day that I remember what the term was And it might come to me at some point in this conversation

and Yeah, you go and you are essentially locked up. Well, up. Well, you could leave if you want to. In a room, there's a bathroom, like a little tub at the place that I'm going to, they bring you food, I think twice a day, or something, and they pass it underneath a little thing, and you remove all contact to human beings and light. It varies the time, it's like five to 10 days, typically is it common? remove all contact to human beings and light.

It varies the time. It's like five to 10 days. Typically, is it common? I'm doing seven days coming up. And then I find it. Are you paid for this? People pay for it. They're offering it to me, but yeah, it's a paid thing. It's called prison.

It's like being in solitary confinement. Well, I mean, that's the thing is, I think that without the color black, white is not very brilliant. So without juxtaposition of things that are really uncomfortable, then we're in a place that a lot of people are. I'm in some level of this, like a comfortably numb experience, just avoiding discomfort to the point that eventually you suffocate on your own comfort.

And by you, I mean me and like, you know, people that are maybe addicted to pharmaceutical drugs to support with anxiety or depression or things of the sort, you know, people that want to hurt themselves, cut themselves, and their lives. I think that's like a cry for like, I just want to feel, you know?

I think that is actually, so you're basically you're saying you put yourself in these like treacherous, hard places, so then you come back really appreciating and being grateful for what you then have, right? So you need that you need that you need more or you need that Like you said the juxtaposition. So let me get this straight. So do you go by yourself to this dark retreat? You go with a friend are you sitting in a dark room, are you in a bed, you have like entertainment? It was going to be myself, but then recently you probably know, you might know both the girls. The one is Krista from the almost 30 podcast. She's going to go as well.

And then the other friend called, well, in another room, there's a place that I'm going as an organ. They have three different rooms. I don't remember what it's called right now, but people can look up, darkness or treat organ, and you'll find it. It might even see a blurb about me on there in a minute. Okay. And then another guy called Hannah Eden, who we just actually did this really other like hard motorcycle trip to the Pacific Northwest together.

We did a group of us and it was like, oh, she just didn't have stuff. Oh, she of us. And it was like, oh, she just didn't have stuff. Oh, she just didn't have stuff. Yes. Yeah, she just fit this stuff. Yeah, she's got like pink hair or red hair or green. She used to have pink hair. I'd pink it. But so the motorcycle trip, all of that,

both of those are examples of preparing the body from again, like an endocrine perspective from, you know, you say from like developing from like a cold riding motorcycle in the rain, developing brown adipose tissue, developing, you know, like your whole body adjusts to the structure and shape of your environment. And so for me, I think it's sensible to, what's the quote from Roosevelt or whatever he says, like the time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining. So I'm a little bit of like a prepper in a way. So I want to develop the robusticity of my cells

throughout my bones, muscles, endocrine organs, et cetera, while life is easy. And then a silly example is yesterday, I rode my bike to the gym, and then it got like suddenly got like cold and raining. And so now I'm like semi-stranded at the gym, and I'm like, okay, I'm at the gym, so I get in the sauna and I get all sweaty.

And then I ride my bike home and like the cold rain in my underpants. Boxer braids, they kind of look like shorts. I don't think any pack on scooters, so it was kind of like covering up my situation. But that was an example where I'm like, I'm like, this is so totally fine. So this is an example of life actually happening,

very simple, very like basic low level soft, the softest version of life. Oh my God, I'm biking home for 15 minutes in cold-ish rain, like not even that cold, but still, there's a lot of human organisms out there that that would be devastating. Totally true. That is so true. But it's so it's so what I prefer I prefer more like peaks of like positive and quotations experience where it's's like, wow, like fuck yeah, like this is great. This feels good.

Yes. The only way to do that is to make yourself more adaptable to variety of life. And if you do that through things like cold exposure, heat exposure, or some hermetic stress or the form of exercise, or maybe public speaking, you know, join a, whatever they call that. What's the club, the public speaking club

where people are pretty sure? Toastmasters, no. Toastmasters, yeah, I did toastmasters for a little bit. You did? So anything that's just reorienting, okay, so this is another, two things from the podcast that are relevant.

One, make sure your hips are above the hide your knees when you're sitting. Try to get on the ground with more regularity. Fall risk is the number one leading reason that elderly need assisted living. Fall risk. I arrived on the ground in some way and I don't have the capacity to get my body

off of the ground anymore. That is insane. Like that's unacceptable. That is insane, like that's unacceptable. That is exclusively a product of divorcing yourself from getting up and down off of the ground while you can. Off the table, if we just start doing this now collectively as a society, insane, that's, it's that simple. So that's one thing.

Then the other thing would be reorienting one's relationship with discomfort to being something that's actually, not just like being okay with it, but actually seeking it out and actually inviting it, because you know that it's inevitable. You will be uncomfortable in your life. You a million percent. Like there's no way around it. You will be uncomfortable in your life. You a million percent. Like there's no way around it.

You're gonna get caught. It's gonna happen. So right now, while you're chilling, is the best time to invest and say, how could I elect to make myself uncomfortable right now? Maybe I'll go for a little run. Maybe I'll go, you know, we'll just fill it. Whatever thing you want, whatever it makes,

you kind of go like, oh, like, okay, we made it. Exactly true. Get in the habit of doing that. And that is the greatest insurance policy for your happiness and contentment in the future. And then, well, I mean, another great insurance policy would just be like focusing on relationships and like, do good by people.

When you come into interaction with someone, start developing the mantra for yourself of like making everyone a little bit better than they were. Not like forcing them to be better, but like if you have an interaction with someone, what can you do to make sure that they walk away from that interaction, like feeling a little better than they did when they started?

Like don't allow interactions to end. I mean, sometimes you just got to whatever you got to move on or whatever. It's like not your business to like try to make everybody. But the best you can with every interaction, the person serving your coffee, it's Starbucks or wherever, you know, your kids, your partner, your business people, like at the end of that conversation, like, did we both walk away, like, ah, all right, I feel good. Yeah, like, and you're intended, you're, you're, you're, you're, you have a, you're, you have an intention around that. So when you have any kind of interaction, you personally, Aaron, that's what's going through your head is like how, like, you want to leave that,

you want to leave that conversation, that interaction, giving that person a, like a feeling that like a positive feeling, like you think about that. Yeah. Like give gifts. So the gift could be physical gifts. The gift could be write somebody a letter. The gift could be sending a text to somebody in the morning.

The gift could be, not just like you were, there's so many people that I see just in like in the streets, you know, of Austin, Texas or wherever the heck I'm at, that there's just like a sensation of like, I don't know, oftentimes people are like sad, sometimes people are happy, sometimes a lot of things, but there's oftentimes you can kind of see as person just like not feeling, maybe they feel lonely, maybe they feel disconnected, maybe they feel purposeless, maybe they're literally like thinking about ending their life.

Like how many people do you walk? Statistically, you walk past a lot of people each week that literally are like ideating, how do I turn the lights off on this thing? So in that scenario, it's just like, man, like what an opportunity to, as you're just walking down the street, as you're getting coffee,

as you're going whatever you're doing, just to like make eye contact with somebody, and be like, oh, like just show them, like there's people out here that care. You know, like I care, I don't know you, but like I care. And what that is, it's incredibly selfish, There's people out here that care. Like I care. I don't know you. Well, like I care. And what that is, it's incredibly selfish.

Because upon you bridging that connection to someone else, it's healing you. It's opening your heart. It's opening. You know, you at a mental emotional cellular level. You release the contraction and the defense. It comes into a place. And then when you release that contraction, so this is kind of like metaphoric but also very literal If you're in a defensive state

You know, so you think somebody wants your money or you think somebody wants to take advantage of you or whatever Someone's gonna attack you like what do you do you you your shoulders contract? You might need a rotation of of the shoulders the traps and sternoclidomestoid and mastodon. That might contract. Your blood will flush out to your periphery out of your organs. Your pupils might dilate. Your mouth might get dry. So it's this resistance contract, contracted like ready to fight or freeze or run or whatever.

There are many humans, myself included in this, that are chronically in that state more than would be ideal for their health and their longevity. And stress, like bar none, is the most consistent factor in any form of dis-ease. Like name a thing stresses in there. Yeah, totally agree with that too. So are you saying that the making eye contact is the key to this, right? Like with the going out every day and whatever interaction you have, even with strangers, you want to make it, you want to have eye contact. Eye contact, maybe a fine bridge, because it might be like, whoa, like with strangers, you wanna have eye contact.

Eye contact, maybe a fine bridge, because it might be like, whoa, I'm actually looking at somebody in their eyes. Don't be confused about it, because there can be too much. This is what you get in the new age spiritual world. It's almost the spiritual ego of I can stare you into your eyes for 35 seconds.

And they're barely even there, but they're like, deep eyes in contact, bro. I'm like, no, no, like too much. Like you're being intrusive. But just it's like how you sit in the chair, or how you sit anywhere. It's not about the chair, it's about what's behind the eye contact.

So actively engaging in a process of like, just compassion. I have compassion for your experience. And if you have compassion, if you practice having compassion for someone else's experience, you are simultaneously practicing having compassion for yourself. So many people are so hard on themselves. I'm in this category. And it's not being enough. Like a big part of why I am, you know, I don't know, muscular, is still lingering,

lingering aspects of like feeling not enough. Like if I lose the muscles, I think about that regularly. If I wasn't, if I didn't fall into a category of being what modern culture, you know happens to consider largely as being like, I don't know, like attractive, you know? Or I didn't have, like I wasn't fit. I didn't have that edge in a way. It would be a lot of work for me. It would be a lot of like deep, emotional, like, heart work.

And so I can have that as a buffer to kind of lean on a little bit. But I realize that it's also can be almost like a barrier to like more more authentic growth. And so I think within that, it's like the practice of compassion for other people. It really, it inevitably spills into yourself. And the more you do that, the more, or more one does that, the more one begins to bridge that relationship and get out of the isolation of I'm alone in this. When I'm alone in this, then I hoard. And then I protect, I build my walls up.

And then I build the walls up so big that no one can get in. Yeah, and this comes into relationships. It's like, and this is all. Do you have girlfriend and are you married? What is your situation? I have a girlfriend, but these are all things that are part of my process with it.

Like so, because you just gave me a great good segue into asking you how you what was that turning point when you went from being the because we I don't think you answered me. The gym guide, the meathead guide to this new not new age person but who you are now like like if you were doing it because of insecurity and for whatever other reason it was in your past, what kind of mage is what made you have that growth to kind of follow this path? The challenge. I think probably like my,

something I write about my books, it's not like a secret, I think I've talked about it a bunch. My dad was like really super like end of the line addicted to drugs growing up for me. And he ended up going to jail and it was like a whole thing. It was around when I was like a teenager timeframe. And now he's doing amazing. He's like one of the sweetest humans you ever possibly could meet

and he like helps people with like rehab and all sorts of stuff. Like he's unbelievable that- He's totally clean now? Very clean. Yeah, like he's like one and a million. Like very rare to be at the edge of his, where he was, you know, he was as close to being not in his body anymore as you could be, I think.

And he managed to, like, jail actually was really like one of the best, the best thing that could have happened to him. How long was he in jail for? A couple of years, it wasn't too bad. But it was great for him, because I think with him, it like stripped him of all of his defense mechanisms. You know, so he was a stockbroker, he was, you know, he was doing fine financially, he was like the president of the nature conservancy, he was respected. My mom's Miss America pageant,

she was like third runner up, Miss Pennsylvania, super hot, beautiful singer, songwriter, It's like third runner up, Miss Pennsylvania, super hot, beautiful, singer, songwriter. Like very like all the boxes check. Within that, when the persons, all the persons boxes are checked, it's almost a disadvantage into like deeper growth in a way. Because you can lean on your material world. You're like, no, no, no, like everyone confirms.

Like, I'm the shit. Fuck off. Like, problems me, like, no, get out of here. Like, I'm the best. I, you're fired. You're done. So true. It's easy to kind of stay up on that white castle, right?

Because you have all this, you're, you're gorgeous and you're rich and you're this. It doesn't make you force you to look anymore. So he was like a, like a finance dude and then, because he was like, he was addicted to, was it like crack cocaine or something like severe crack, right? That crack was his thing, yeah. How did that even happen?

I probably cocaine originally. His story is that he's told me is that there was like, he has like a savior complex. He's always been big into Jesus and like dying on the cross, saving, the cross, saving other people from their sins. I grew up very deeply steeped in that world. And so for me, I grew up in a way that I remember, I don't know how you grew up, but I remember in the way that I grew up very steeped in Christianity. I'm not mad at Christianity. I think you're

Christ, consciousness, Jesus, all this stuff. I'm Jewish. I know how I grew up. Jewish. And so something that was interesting that I'd be curious to just relate to you, or anyone listening, I kind of grew up like in a way respecting people that were in pain. And like if they were in pain, but they were like still doing good for other people, but they had this deep pain,

to me that like epitomized like a saint. Like that was a good life. Which I think is so interesting. That that was like a growing up. I was like, yeah, of course. And my mom and you know, my, more of my mom would iterate these kind of stories of like my uncle or my this or that. And she would tell these stories of like how he was really sick or how he was really had all this like chronic whatever terrible stuff, you know, that he was dealing

with. But he was always good to the children at the school or something like that. He always did this thing. I didn't really get the story of someone that just felt like liberated and was healthy and confident and strong and playful and dynamic and like, yeah, like they lived a good life. It was kind of this interesting, like Jesus type thing. Like they were hanging from the cross.

Which I just thought that was very interesting. And the reason I say that my dad had a bit of that like savior type complex to him. And the story. Do we call them like a god comp? No, is that kind of like a god complex? Or? I think god complex would be more

of a number of like creating and destroying. His is more like if you're in a bad way Like I it fulfills my ego and my identity to save you because probably if I save you it denotes that I don't need saving because I'm the savior right But anyway, so there's like some gal that was like smoking crack or something like that and she was like telling them about it and the story goes that she like Finally was like watch I like show you I can smoke crack and and you know it'd be okay with it and like kind of like Enter enter the chaos with you and like I'll pull you out from it and

Then the story goes that that was kind of he was like, woo, this is really good. And it kind of kept going down that direction. I don't know if that's a level accuracy to that, but that was kind of what I've heard. But again, now he's doing like tremendous. And I'm so grateful for all of that. And you're a job job? Yeah, he does like insurance stuff.

He's still in like financial, financial world. And you have a relationship with him. Yeah, I talked to him like two days ago. And your mom, that would she up to now, like is she? She's doing, she was, she's like now back in like singing, like making her art, is her thing, that she's really like the most excited about. But they split up when he went into jail.

Yes, and your mom raised you, I would imagine then, or? No, this happened. I was like a semi-adult at this time. So this is, he had that experience when I was like 17 or bridging on like 18 or something like that. And so I moved to Hawaii shortly after that. So I was kind of, I had a bit of a transition into like leaving that scenario.

So thankfully. I mean, so. Yeah, a lot tougher. So what could, so then I was gonna say, were you always kind of, the way you describe yourself was like this more, like this gym, you know, guy, gym, right? Yeah, gym, right?

Yeah, gym, right. But you've seen very like deep now and very evolved and kind of like not like woo, woo, but a little woo, woo, like was that ever part of your vibe back then or not really? I was always interested, like I started experimenting like psychedelics and stuff when I was, when I was like, pretty young, like 14, 15 years old or so. I was young. Then I don't like condone or not condone,

you know, whatever, you know, to each other. But I, in that time, and I was using a lot of like cannabis, and very interested in just like altering my mind, as young person probably some form of like a scape ism, I'd imagine, like in retrospect. And so that was, and also a right of passage. I was seeking right of passage and probably like a scape from whatever kind of like mundane,

slash disjointed reality that I was experiencing. Right. And so that I think inevitably through experiences like that, it starts to catalyze the beginning of perceiving the world as like, okay, what else, essentially? Like, yes, this is the world in front of me. But like, you know, like, what else, essentially? Like, yes, this is the world in front of me, but like, you know, like what else? There's other layers to this. If you don't think there's other layers

to what's going on here, like, you're just not paying close enough attention. Like, there's other things going on here. You know, and so whether that's, I mean, you can look at it very scientifically. You can look at it as like the percentage of the acoustic spectrum that we're able to hear is like minuscule compared to the actual spectrum

that exists, same thing with visual spectrum, probably same thing with like, well, not probably, definitely with like all factory. Like our senses are very dumb in a lot of ways. Like our basic, you know, the ones that we are accustomed to. And so there's so much more information out there, just from a very, like, strictly scientific five senses type perspective. So, you know, like, what is that information? You got curious, you got curious. I got curious, yeah. Yeah, that makes sense. And that's kind of led you down this path.

And also before we continue, the dark singers telling me about, are you, what are you doing in the room for the 24 hours? Are they putting you in a dark room? They're giving you two meals for the door. What else are you doing? Can you see your feet? Can you exercise? Like what are you supposed to be doing in there for 24 hours?

For, sorry, for seven days, I'm sorry, for seven days. I guess this is a probably start off with a lot of sleep. It'll probably transform into like chronic masturbation. And it'll probably get bored of that. And it'll probably enter into like deep introspective work. So that's basically the point. Just to like literally give you like some solitude, it's actually could be a vacation for our parent also.

I mean, maybe I should go, I don't know. But that's basically what, and how much do they charge people for this? I have to know. I can look it up. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. Look it up.

Yeah. I think people, it's, it's an interesting thing. I don't think it's, I've heard a lot of people, like Aubrey Marcus, I inspired him to do his first, I think maybe first and only darkness retreat, and then he went on to do like a documentary about it and all of that stuff. And I inspired him to do that in a podcast

that we had recorded like years ago, and I was telling him about darkness retreat because I was writing about it in my book. And then he went and did it. And he claims that to be, and I say Aubrey because he's like kind of like a psycho-not type figure in the world where he's tried all the plant medicines and all the different things. And he suggested that the darkness was like bar none the most potent experience that he's ever had as far as You know, I don't know spiritual stuff. You know psychosyconaut stuff like No, no, I've been interested in it for a while and you're not with so says everybody have to be by

Themself an isolation. You can't go with another person there, right? You probably could. Maybe go with another person, I'm sure. That's not how it's set up. Typically, it's typically you alone on your own, but be very interesting. Bombing relationship for two people. But I would still, if I was going there with a partner, I would probably still, I would rent out the place

that I'm going in Oregon, and I'm a little bit bummed. I don't know the name of the place But if people are interested literally just look up like Oregon darkness retreat You could probably literally even use. I don't know if I have a discount code per se But I bet you if you like mentioned me or like say a line or something They'll probably give you some discount or something. So if it's something that's of interest there's a very prominent one in Oregon. And I know a lot of people that have gone through the experience and it's pretty unanimous.

It's like, that was the most potent thing I've ever done. Well, it's fascinating. Okay, we haven't even finished what your daily routine is. What other things, okay, so I don't even know what we, okay, so what time are you up to the mat? Or I know you love, you think that sun exposure is one of the most important things to do daily, right, for your to maximize your...

Yeah, I mean, I would, I, I think that I know that. I would, I would say that I know that. I don't know that I know, I really know anything, but I think that I know that. I think that's a known one though. Like sometimes of sun exposure, you know, the question is how much sun exposure, right? I don't know that I know anything, but I think that I know that. I think that's a known one though. Sometimes I'm not an exposure. You know, the question is how much sun exposure, right? It's about, it's a very, it's very... It depends on ethnicity, depends on where you're at in the world.

That's why the stuff around the sun is very confusing. It's the same thing with nutrition, same thing with anything. We are all very biochemically individual. We come from different parts of the world. Their skin pigments are very different and also our skin pigments are very adaptive. So, if you're a person that has not exposed themselves to a lot of sun, then your skin cells aren't going to be prepared for sun. So, a little bit will go a long way.

If you're a person like me, who like, I, I, like, I, I really prioritize being in the sun. I, I don't feel well if I don't get enough sun. Um, I'm the same way, which is why I'm surprised you moved away from California. Just for that reason, I know. Austin's, Austin's sony is all get out. Oh, I was, I didn't realize that. Oh, man, I went literally just, I just like laid out on my little porch stoop here for 20 minutes and I was pouring in sweat and it was literally like a sauna.

I was like, wow, that was impressive. That was a detox. That was awesome. Winter, it's less, but for most of the year, it's like 105 degrees and sunny. Sunny is all going out. Does that mean that you don't believe in sunscreen? I mean, I think that it exists. I think that it's real.

I don't. It does exist, definitely. I can prove it to you by showing you a bottle. No, I think it's the same thing. It's not the chairs, not the problem. The sunscreen's not the problem. When are you using it? And what are you using?

So if you're using zinc oxide, if you're using something that's like organic materials or products where you're like, oh yeah, I know what that, I get it. Coconut oil, zinc oxide. Like you're like, uh-huh, I would ingest that. I don't be fooled. Like, chemicals going into your bloodstream

is that's eating, you're essentially eating. Just because it didn't go down your gullet, it's still all entering your bloodstream is that's eating. You're essentially eating. Just because it didn't go down your gullet, it's still all entering the bloodstream. Right, actually your skin is a very fit, is a dormant like your skin is like one of the most open, I mean, everything can go through your skin. Oh yeah. And you know what it's the most open?

Is when you're hot, baking in the sun. Yeah. So if you put some like noxious, Yeah. So if you put some like noxious, harmon, disrupting chemicals on your skin, it'd be one thing if you just got out of a cold plunge and you rubbed some toxic paste on your arm. Right.

But if you go, you rub this stuff, disrupts your hormonal function, has all sorts of issues with like local riverways and like, you know, ocean, you know know just like the other creatures that are that are existing And then you go and open your pores full blast and bake that shit into you Super not a good idea. Yeah, super not a good idea. That's a great way to put it It's so scientific based super. Super not a great idea. Okay, so some we know, give us some other things

that are on your list of like, think if we have, if we could do five things to really kind of up our optimal, I don't know if it's like, what would be the word like, living or life or daily health like, what would be the word like, living or life or daily health habits, what would it be? It's not. What was?

One. Just because I'm like, I'm like a language Nazi. I can be kind of uncomfortable to be around with it. I would personally, one, just pay attention to language. You seem to put good with language, actually. Not like just that you're like eloquent, but it seems like you don't tend to speak in ways that are like disruptive to feeling well. So, but something that's a bit of a bind, I think, in the modern digital age of productivity and efficiency and essentially like the runoff from the Tim Ferris type optimal performance world. Nothing, it's Tim.

But the idea of optimal, I think, is a bit in like efficiency and things like that. I think it's a bit of like machine language. And like you optimize a computer, you optimize, you know, like devices. Like the idea of, yeah, the idea of, you being optimized. Like I just think that a lot of that we can kind of tire ourselves into knots and come into this place of like a lack of just again, compassion and acceptance and love for where I'm at

and like right now. And this story that I gotta get optimized, I gotta get optimized. It's like there is no optimized. Like there's no, like it's just a care you keep pushing for wherever you arrive, you're gonna be like, oh, I get more optimized. Yeah, I know what you mean.

You mean like in this world, you're living with everything is biohacking ourselves to a place where you're not a machine. You're not a computer. You're like a machine, you're not a computer. You're like a living, breathing, mental, emotional. But with you saying that, the reality is you're still doing all of these things to, I hate to say the word optimized, to optimize how you feel, right? You're doing the cold plug.

All these hard things that you call, you're doing these harder things to feel, the counter, the juxtaposition is to feel really good and optimized on the other side. So you're doing the plunge, you're doing the sauna, you're doing the sunlight, you're doing the exercise, right? You're sitting on the floor to optimize how your pelvic floor will work. And then not being, you know, was that work?

I always get that good. So you're in continence, yeah. In continence. Yeah. Or so you're, you know, so you're, you know, your, your sick bones or whatever. These are all things to help overall be the most healthy in body in mind you can be, right? Yeah. Yeah. So I don't, I'm not, I'm not especially mad at optimized. It's more just the general idea of like, I totally yeah. So I'm not, I'm not especially mad at optimized. It's more just the general idea of like, I totally agree. I think there's, I think there's also value.

Like the way that you think now and the operating systems that you're running probably aren't going to change based on your material manifestation. Like what, what happens in the world, the operating system of the way that you think is probably just gonna keep on running until you actually come into a place of like, what's going on in the OS here?

And so that idea of like always needing to be more, always needing to be more efficient, always need to be more optimized, always need to be more like blah, blah, blah. Right, the way it's kind of, you're taking the word optimized and like using it, it's kind of like for you, it sounds like to be the most efficient, highest, purring, you know, vehicle, or, you know, but okay, so let's just say in your how you feel, like in an environment, like what would you say, what would be your ideal environment

you continue to do? Like, give me a cell, I wanna know the day in the life, but time do you wake up, do you eat plant-based, are you using animal protein? Are you? So the day in the life of what I think would be most ideal for? What do you do? A human, and this is what I tend to try to follow,

the best I can, would be getting up with the sun, getting your eyes exposed to sun as soon as you possibly can. Acknowledging that the sun is, it's actually a material object, photons like penetrating your eyes. And within that, that's one of the best things you can do to generally just tune your neurochemistry for the day. Set your circadian rhythm, make it so that you're actually

sleepy, you know, 16 odd hours later after that. Just helps you make you feel good. And then from there, get like some movement, wiggle your body around, go for a walk, you know, something of a sort, drink a bunch of water. Probably spit some of the first like, swig of water out, because you got a bunch of stuff in your mouth, you don, something of a sort, drink a bunch of water, probably spit some of the first, like, swig of water out, because you got a bunch of stuff in your mouth, you don't really want to swallow right away.

You brush your teeth before you drink a bunch of water, you do, like coconut pulling if you want, coconuts, antimicrobial, anti-bacterial, so that could be a nice thing as well. Plus, just having the fats in your, that the biome in your mouth is good for the bacteria in there, that helps the bacteria in the mouth. Do you do that every day?

No, but when I do it, it always seems like a good idea. Yeah. I do it maybe once every two weeks or something. I'm going to start doing this. I haven't sitting right in my cabinet. I just don't. I just see like water, sunlight, walk, coffee, typically. But every time I decide to put coconut oil in my mouth

and then go for a walk outside and kind of like, switch around, wanna go for a walk, I'm always like, this is awesome. Like my mouth feels really fucking good. Really? Because I did that. And then you spit out the coconut, the coconut oil, or your spoon?

They're really spit out, spit it out in the bush. No, no, you almost want it. That's a good idea. I'm gonna try that tomorrow. So you just basically walk around with the coconut oil in your mouth and just get around. Yeah, it's supposed to do it for like, I don't know whatever they say. Do it for some amount time, three minutes, five minutes. And what does it do?

It pulls out all the bad different. So coconut oil, I don't know exactly what it does to be honest. I know I've had podcast episodes. I had Dr. Steven Lynn on my podcast recently, who he's like a biological dentist. I think it's a term for him. One of the things that he was suggesting is healthy fats such as coconut oil are really good for feeding the good in quotations bacteria in your oral biome, so your mouth. And so that's a good thing. It's kind of like, maybe like pre-bought fiber in a way. It's like eating, what's the stuff? What's the, what's the fiber-ish?

What's the thing? My friend has a whole company around it. Hey, come on. I love hickamas, my favorite thing ever. Yeah, hickamas good stuff. But anyway, so it's like good for the good bacteria and it's bad for the bad in quotations bacteria. So it's like cleansing and also is feeding healthy bacteria.

So that would be something that I think is interesting. Again, that wasn't a very scientific description of it. It's just something I think is nice. I like it. I don't like to say. I mean, it was actually the most, I understood that the most, the minute I think else just had this whole other podcast. The most angel, it was the most I like to sink.

Yeah. I'll stay there. Thank you. Thank you. I'll stay there. And then. Thank you. I'll stay there. And then, you know, I think that, so I tend to, if you're asking specifically about me, I tend to batch things that I would put into like a category

of like obligatory work type scenarios, such as recording podcasts, not like obligatory, but it's like, oh, it's a scheduled thing. I tried to keep before like 1130 open for me and then keep like after four open for me. So that block of like four to five hours is the time that I permit shit to be scheduled. And then before then, it's just, it's like time to do what feels good. Typically for me, it's like, I'll go train. I'll like do some writing or something, just whatever. And then the evening, try to keep that open as well.

To again, I'll typically like train or something, some version of that. And do dinner with somebody I care about, you know, read, hang out, you know, but the big thing as far as, as far as like, I think that optimizingizing cellular health I think is just go the freak outside as often as you can turn your phone off as regularly as you're willing to Put your phone in airplane mode as regulars as regularly as you're willing to allow your eyes to go through a full range of motion acknowledge that your your eyes your Ocular tissue your your eyeballs and all the correlating muscles around them are neurological tissue. So it's continuous with your central nervous system, your central nervous system, your spine, your spinal cord, your brain, your eyes. When you're adjusting the perception of

near-sightedness or taking the panoramic view or looking up or you're scanning the horizon left right, looking down all of that, Think of it as like you're pulling like a joystick of your autonomic nervous system. So when you're going into panoramic view, it's sending a cue into your physiology that it's like, ah, okay, Jen's, she's chilling out. Okay, we're just chilling. When you're focusing your vision in,

on a cell phone, for example, or a computer, or a predator, or a prey, you go into high functioning executive function, sympathetic, get shit done mode. When you're done getting shit done, and you either didn't get eaten by the predator, or you ate the prey, you go, ah, you let a lot, have a long exhale. Once you establish it, you feel safe, and you can, ah, you're taking the world. You're not like a shark isolating myopic vision from place to place. You're, ah, you're just taking it all out. You're just chilling out, man.

So same thing, acknowledging, so, and make sure you're getting enough sunlight to your eyeballs. It takes sunglasses, sunglasses are best suited for nighttime. Again, another backwards thing in modern culture. Like the idea of wearing sunglasses, if you're like avoiding a glare or something or you're driving over a mountain pass or something like you can't see, like of course, like put your thing down, get sunglasses, do whatever you need to do to see. But the idea of blocking light while the sun is out, and then bringing the light in from alternating current flickering blue lights inside your house once the sun goes down is another

bummer. Like that's really problematic. So you're saying to wear glasses at night, basically. To block the room. I'm saying tone the lights down. So get salt lamps, just get more reds and oranges and things that make you feel kind of sexy.

So if you were to have a intimate partner, if you were to have an intimate partner over to your house, and you're making a nice dinner, if you really wanted to do it right, you'd probably like candles, you'd probably like play some soothing music, you wouldn't just have a big nasty fluorescent light, like she would feel like she's under attack,

or he would feel like they're under attack. And that alternating current of the light as well, it's not a direct current like you're getting from the sun. It's literally flickering and it's flickering real fast to the point that it looks like a stable light. It's not. It's very agitating. And so I would avoid that if you're in,

if you're trying to sleep, I would avoid agitation. So emphasizing long exhalations, relax the eyes, use long wave light, which is the reds and the oranges and things of the sort that you get from like a fire. Those are all very valuable. I love this. Okay, so we're like, I'm going to have to wrap this up because it's long, but I want you to come back if you don't mind and we can do another one. Like, you're a very fascinating human, I find.

And I wanna do the aqua now that I know you. Yeah, I'm doing, I'm done. Let's do it when you're in LA, Nick. Well, you're gonna be here a couple of weeks, you said, right? I'll be there in, yeah, like three weeks or so. All right. Yeah. You're very, you're an interesting little cat there,

air, a little Alexander. I mean, really, you really are. Has anyone ever told you that before I cat be the first? Uh, I think I strike different people differently, but yeah. I mean, but you have a nice way about you though. You know, you know, you have a very, you're very pleasant, you know, that's good. Yeah, you are. You're very pleasant actually. No, it's true. You're, you're, and we knew a lot of mutual people.

And so I'm glad that we finally, I finally got to meet you this way. But I know the book has been out of while we've been trying, like I said, trying to do this, but it's called the align method. And it's actually really, I, I enjoyed it a lot. I didn't even get to a lot of the other questions about flexibility and about sleep and about walking. So we do have to do this again. More to come.

Absolutely. How do people find you just on IG or do you want anything else? Yeah, whatever. Most people probably just end up going to Instagram. So everything's under a line podcast, including the podcast. And then we have a free community of people want to have like kind of like a more intrinsic experience with the alignment stuff.

And that's found at alignpodcast.com slash community. So there's about a couple thousand people. And there I'm in there every day, answering questions, we do like lives and stuff and we share a lot of instructional content. This conversation was very much geared towards, I don't know, metaphysical, what the hell are we doing here at that conversation?

But that's very like didactic. Here's how you make your joints work better. Yeah. And so yeah, just type a line podcast into the internet and that, you know, all the things will come up. Or a line method. That's the book. It's funny, because I thought this would be much more

about like, is it how do you, how do your joints work better? And this took a whole different really direction, which is interesting to me. So. That's fun. I appreciate that. That's my preference. Absolutely.

It's great. And well, thank you for being on the podcast. Yeah, of course. Thank you This episode is brought to you by the YAP Media Podcast Network. I'm Holla Taha, CEO of the award-winning digital media empire YAP Media, and host of YAP Young & Profiting Podcast, a number one entrepreneurship and self-improvement podcast where you can listen, learn, and profit. On Young & Profiting podcast, I interview the brightest minds in the world, and I turn

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