189: Achieving Physical, Emotional, and Spiritual Awakening with Giovanni Bartolomeo

Hi, I'm Natalie Jill, fat loss expert turned high performance coach. When odds are stacked against us, how do we shift and create everything from nothing? How do we level up when we aren't feeling it yet or we've had a big setback? On this podcast, I'll be talking to some of the most inspiring and courageous men and women on this planet who at their worst, learned how to achieve success greater than they ever dreamed possible. Leveling up and creating everything from nothing. Today with me, I've got Giovanni Bart Alameo. Did I pronounce that right?

Giovanni.

I was nervous there.

Yeah.

Awesome. I met Giovanni in Costa Rica and I was so fascinated by him and what he does. And if you follow me on social media, you might have seen I posted this whole ice thing where I was jumping in this ice bucket, or not even jumping and slowly making myself go in this ice bucket. And that is because of Giovanni. So I met him in Costa Rica and he is the founder of Elemental Wellness in Toronto, which is a conscious community where they do all kinds of cool stuff like float tanks and breathwork and cold therapy and biohacking, which we are going to talk a little bit about, and some spiritual stuff. And it is all this cutting edge stuff, stuff built around a conscious community. And I was so fascinated by that, especially in Toronto. And I wanted to know, like, how did this even come about? How did you integrate it into Toronto and where did you even come up with this? So thank you so much for being here today, Giovanni.

Yeah, Natalie, thank you for having me. It's a pleasure to be on your show here on this podcast and just. Yeah, it was really great meeting you as well. You know, we spent a week together, but it wasn't until, like the last day we really connected. I think you're asking me for some songs for my playlist and I was just. We started chatting about what you did and what I did. And I'm really glad we did get that chance to chat because we have a lot of similar interests. And yeah, I'm just really excited to share some of my story with some of your followers and audience there.

I'm excited. Yeah. So I want to go back a little bit because all the stuff that you do at your center, that you stand for is really considered cutting edge and new. It's not mainstream at all yet. It is in some big cities, but it's all cutting edge and new. And I'm assuming that that was not something you grew up knowing you wanted to do. So, like, take us back, like, who were you before all of this.

Yeah. So growing up, I was a smart kid. I grew up in the suburbs in Toronto. So, you know, I was probably middle, upper class, really good upbringing, so no real challenges in that regard. And I got into one of the better business schools after high school. I was always like, had this entrepreneurial spirit and I was always asking a lot of these existential questions. Even from. As a small child, I remember looking up at the stars and wondering like, what's out there? But being like raised in sort of the area that I grew up in, it was a lot about your net worth was determined by. Sorry, your self worth was determined by your net worth. So if you drove a nice car, if you had a lot of money, and that's what my parents said because they didn't have the best upbringings where their parents came as immigrants. And so it was all about like, you know, like how much money you made and what you showed, like what kind of car you drove and all this kind of crazy stuff. And you know, growing up in that and like in high school, some, some people that went to our school would be driving BMWs at 17 or like really fancy cars. And I wasn't one of those kids, but I always remember wanting to sort of feel that sort of self worth. And so, you know, I went to business school and I was determined to make a lot of money. And I'd done all these different things and tried all these crazy businesses, whether it was, you know, like selling T shirts or. I started a sock company once where we would put these little buttons on socks so that when you took them off, you would snap them together, put them in the walls.

Oh my gosh. Like, why didn't anyone think of that before? What a good idea.

Yeah, it didn't make it big, but it was on like a shark's tank or something.

Anyways, what a creative idea.

All these like crazy ideas. Then I went to business school and I remember coming back from. So I went to business school and when I came out of business school, I knew I wasn't made for the corporate world. I wanted to continue down the entrepreneurial path. And so I started a sales company and I was doing pretty well, you know, like, I wasn't like super rich by any means, but I started realizing that a lot of the things that I thought were important that I'd already accomplished. So I owned my own house, I had a nice car, I was married, I had kids. And I just remember waking up one day and I had this like, sort of like a weird daydream it was almost like a premonition. And I remember looking at my hands like I was like 80 or 90 years old. Like, they were, like, wrinkly, like my grandfather's hands. And I just had this vision that if I kept on doing. Like, I felt like I was waking up in my same bed, like I was, like 90 years old, and I was doing the same thing over and over, day in and day out for the rest of my life. I was doing one or two vacations a year. I was making decent money, but I wasn't fulfilled in any way. I just felt this deep emptiness within me, like something was wrong with this picture. And I didn't understand what that meant because, like I said, I'd done everything my parents had told me to do. I was looking around a lot of my peers and friends that I grew up with, and a lot of them, you know, if. If you ask them, like, hey, how's. How's Geo doing? He's like, oh, he's successful. He's doing great. You know, he's got a lot of great things going for him. I started to feel this, like, void within me. And it was. It was super strange because I didn't understand what that meant at the time. Time. And so. So that sort of realization was like, if you keep doing what you're doing, you're gonna waste the rest of your life. You're not gonna do anything meaningful. So I started on this sort of trek to sort of find out what that meant or what. What the purpose of life was, which is like this big existential questions, like, what am I doing here? Like, why am I on this Earth? Because I always felt that I was, like, destined for big things. And, you know, growing up, that always meant, like, I'm going to make a ton of money. I'm going to own half of Toronto. I'm going to do all these big, like, egotistical things. And so from there, I started just reading. I started reading, like, Eastern philosophy and Buddhism, and I read the Bhagavad Gita, which is like an Indian sort of text, Vedic philosophy. And I was reading Greek philosophy and then started reading all these things. I started watching a lot of YouTube videos, and I stumbled across someone named Alan Watts. He's an English guy, but that would explain, like, Buddhist philosophy in, like, English terms. It was very easy to digest. And I was like, blew me away. I was like, okay, like, this makes sense. And in one of the videos he mentioned. So someone made a comment saying, if you like Alan Watts, Terence McKenna, will blow your mind. And I didn't know who Terrence McKenna was at the time, so I googled him and he was an ethnobotanist and also a wordsmith. He was like a poet and he would travel down into like South America and he was a psychedelic enthusiast also. He would talk about his experiences with plant medicines. And I'd heard the term ayahuasca for the first time and it was very foreign to me. But something there was just grabbing my attention. It was just like pulling at me and it was like saying like, there's something here for you you need to like really focus on.

I'm so glad you're saying this right now because I've shared on a previous interview on my podcast about that whole idea of plant medicine. And I shared in that episode that so many people that go through this search in life like trying to find their next level or find what they're. They don't share publicly that they went on a plant medicine journey. But it's this big thing that I see with so many entrepreneurs that go through this search. It's like they don't share it. So thank you for sharing it. 1.

Yeah, you're welcome. And it was part of like a scary process for me because as I was going through so I felt like I was losing my mind, you know, like I started getting into meditation and doing that and you know, like everyone around me, like, you know, Italian background mainly, you know, Italian community. So kind of like close minded, conservative in that regard. Then a lot of like in the business and like, like very like just I wouldn't say the most open minded group. So like they already thought I was going nuts. I went vegetarian in 2009 because I was reading the Bhagavad Gita. My tattoo artist was vegetarian. He challenged me that I, he didn't think I could do 30 days and I did it.

Are you vegetarian now?

Yeah, I'm still vegetarian. And I felt great about it. I was just really grieved, the philosophy. And so like this sort of started down this path and then, you know, like I was saying I find this thing ayahuasca and I end up watching at the same time. So it was like synchronicity was everywhere. So synchronicity is like just this thing kept popping up and I end up, I end up watching this thing on Netflix at the time which is called dmt, the Spirit Molecule.

Okay.

It was a documentary about these studies they did with injectable dmt, which is basically, it's an active ingredient in ayahuasca, but it's also found in our brains, in our bodies, and they say can be potentially released when we're sleeping and creates dreams and visions and stuff like that. And they think potentially it is released when we die and when we're born. And I think it's like the spirit molecule which allows the spirit to enter the body and leave the body. And there's all these, like, theories around it. So there's this. This documentary. End up watching it, and I see the reaction of the people sharing their experiences, and I could tell by the look in their eyes that something very profound had happened. I needed to experience that myself. And so I told my wife, I said, you're gonna think I'm crazy, but I want to go down to South America and try ayahuasca.

Did she think you were crazy? Is that it?

Everyone thought I was crazy, yeah, but they know I'm a crazy guy. Like, I'm like, I'm the one that's got to go to Burning man and see what it's like.

I have not done that yet. I haven't gone that crazy.

Yeah, I have a really crazy Burning man story I'll share with you one day. And, like, I'm the type that, you know, will go on these, like, super long fasts. I did like a 55 day fast.

Holy moly.

Yeah, I'll share that experience in a second. So I told her I got to do this. And I end up going down. And on my first experience, I had a death experience, right? I completely died. And through these, like. Like each time, like, you drink this, this. This brew that's been around for 5,000 years, that they've been using indigenously in ceremonial fashion that they say is this vine of the soul that connects you to the other side. And it really shows you and gives you a lot of insights about your life and reconnects you with nature, with your natural sort of design. And that's what I felt anyways. And so it would start showing me about how to be a better dad, how to do businesses that meant things to me, not just trying to make money, because I was always like, let me do this business because it'll make money. I never really thought about, why do I want to do this business, like, what does it mean to me and what's the intention behind it. So it helped me to see, like, the intentionality behind life. And I came back and, you know, the first thing that most people do after they try ayahuasca, they want to tell everyone about it. And so I found myself just trying to talk to people and thinking that like I found this thing that they're all gonna be super excited about, but everyone thought it was completely crazy.

Oh yeah. Like that too. Even though I'm like sharing like that's, that's a reason I choose to share it in a more educational standpoint like this because yes, anyone, People think you're crazy. And I would have thought you were crazy too.

Right.

I think until people experience it, they think people are crazy.

Yeah. So I ended up making a documentary about it because I was seeing like all of these people that. From all different walks of life and people that were there with me and people that were there like that two weeks now was there and like these massive transformations in their life. And most people, you know, were much happier after. Some people were healing from some like crazy like health ailments or addictions or were just there because they wanted to explore their consciousness. And you know, like, I think, you know, the more that I looked into it, that we're sort of meant to sort of have these expanded sort of awareness experiences. And sometimes that can be through meditation or through breath work work or through psychedelics. But when you feel called and you're ready for a shift in your life, you know, the universe will provide you something that will present that experience to you. Some people it's a near death experience. Some people it's like a very traumatic something happens in their life and it just shifts the whole course of their life into a whole different direction.

Yeah, yeah. I thought. Do you find that, that. So do you think you would have gotten to this state of awareness had you not done plant medicine? Like, if you could you have done this yourself through breath work and meditation and do you think you could have?

Yes, I think it's. It's possible.

I think not everybody really wants to do plant medicine. And I get that, like not everyone. That's scary to a lot of people. They don't.

It's very scary.

A person that wants this insight and enlightenment, they could do it through breath work and through other things.

Yes. Well, it's. Listen, there's a depth to things like ayahuasca that's unexplainable that I have any other experience of. Not even come close for me. But the path is different for everyone. You have to feel called to it. You shouldn't do it because like, oh, I heard that something good. It's more like you feel it in your heart or synchronicity starts pulling you somewhere. We start Just hearing it, it keeps coming, your awareness. So you feel that calling to sort of take that leap. The one thing that, you know, one of my models is that nature rewards courage. You know, it's. It's a saying so that when you feel this call, and even if it's a bit scary, but you feel like there's something there for you, and usually whenever there's fear, there's something there for you to learn.

So can you share in the. In your. I watched your documentary, which I thought was fabulous, by the way. You could find his documentary on YouTube and I'll put a link to where to find it below. But his documentary was fantastic. And what. I loved what you shared it at big bulk of it was from a lot of doctors and psychiatrists. And just. Can you talk a little bit about that? Like, because why is it not talked about enough in the medical community?

I think because, like, you know, why would. There's not a lot of. Well, now there's starting some money, starting to go into that direction because they're trying to make profit off it. But, you know, like, something that you do once and it cures your depression or your anxiety, you don't need to take a pill every single day. You know, it's not really profitable in the current capitalistic model, but I think because it is so effective, it's gaining that sort of, like, awareness because so many people are doing it and trying it and finding amazing results and they're sharing it. And it doesn't necessarily have to mean that you're struggling or you're suffering or you're sick. You can actually use it to expand your consciousness to become more aware, to become a better person. People say, oh, there's nothing wrong with me. I don't need that. Which is fine if you don't feel called to it. But every time I go back, I feel more inspired, I get more insights, I become a little more creative. And psychedelics have been used to do things like that for the longest time. And when the war on drugs happened in the 70s, you know, they were using your brain.

This is your brain on drugs.

Yeah, I remember they wanted to, like, really scare everyone, but they were. What they don't tell you is at the same time, they were doing all these experiments with, like, scientists, and they would give them, like, LSD and they put them in a room and they would solve all these crazy problems, plus create solutions to other problems that they weren't even trying to solve. So, like, there's definitely something there that sort of unlocks different abilities. And a lot of business people are using it as, like, a tool to increase their sort of superpowers.

Was it your documentary or was it somebody else that I'm mixed up with now, but I could have sworn. Was it. Was it yours where you spoke about some religious leaders like that? That's actually been. That's not really spoken about too. Like, can you talk a little bit about that?

Yeah. Well, you know, they say at the root of almost every religion, there's a psychedelic start and there's a lot of interesting synchronicities between, like, you know, like the burning bush and Moses. Like, the acacia tree. That is. The burning bush is one of the highest DMT containing plants in the whole Middle East. And, you know, like, there's like, different, like, plants in, like, Egyptian mythology that are. That are psychoactive. And it was actually in the documentary. Rick Doblin, who was a founder of Maps back in the 80s, sent MDMA to a bunch of religious leaders and asked them to try this before MDMA was even illegal. So they really know what it was. They had taken it. And they wrote back to them, like, yeah, this is amazing for expanding my faith. And many people have taken ayahuasca and have had visions of Mother Mary or Jesus or Ganesha or one of these saints. And I think we don't really know how these things work, but I think they create an experience that's most impactful for you. And really, the way that it's going to create a shift in your life in the most impactful way. How it knows that and figures that out is beyond me. It's just like this intelligence of the universe or Mother Earth that we all tap into. And I think this is more of, like, an existential question of, like, what is consciousness? And are we all connected to some, like, source consciousness? And we're trying to find our way and learn on a soul level. Each life that we come come here to do so.

Yeah, so this is. It makes sense to me why you had. You had this enlightening, this awakening, and it started seeing a deeper meaning for life and stuff. How did that then translate into, like, what you've created in Toronto was this, like. Like, how does, like, I want to. I'm so curious about so much of it. Like, the biohacking and the cold therapy and, like, did that all come together at one time? Like, talk me through that. Like, where did that stuff then tie in?

Yeah, so I was. I was getting more and more interested into health and it. And it just sort of naturally Progressed. And I think that there's definitely a correlation that the more health conscious you are, like, your vibration starts to change and it might start leading you more on this kind of path. You know, like, there's sometimes you get on, like, really concerned with health from more egotistical standpoint. I think it's harder to sort of shift into the spiritual from that because you're really more worried about how you look rather than how you feel. When you start focusing on health from a perspective of wanting to feel your best rather than look your best, I think it's a slight sort of difference. You know, it starts leading you down this path. So I came back and I wanted to, like, really just. I just really realized shortly after when I started getting more into breathwork and meditation and just I started helping people and I started sharing my experiences with people. And as soon as, like, I started getting, like, feedback from people so someone would say, like, that really changed my life or like that session I did with you or that breathwork experience, like, I'm a totally different person now. Like, thank you. Like, that simple exchange right there. The feeling that it gave me was different than any feeling I got from a business before. You know, like making money in a deal. It was great. And you know, you get this rush of like these endorphins, like this high, but it'd be gone the next day. You'd want totally. You want more. It's like it wasn't enough. And you set these goals in business, like, when I get this, I'm gonna be good. As soon as you get there, it's like, I want something there. And I realized there was a lack in my own, like, I guess self acceptance and self love that I wasn't really okay with who I was. So I needed this, like, affirmation from externally to make me feel good about myself.

Yeah, I went through a similar for me, so I get what you're saying.

So. So when I started feeling this, like, helping other people, and that made me feel good because I knew I was doing the same work for myself and just sharing it, it was like, okay, there's something there. And then. And then I started doing these classes. I do breath work classes, hold meditation and bring people together, and I start like, sharing things. And, you know, in this process, you're meeting really interesting people. And, you know, this process started happening where. And it's been happening for the last few years, where a lot of people that I used to be friends with, I'm no longer friends with or close with anymore. And I felt a sort of pain around that. But I also set the intention that I want to meet new people and I want to surround myself with inspiring, exciting people who are doing great things that I could learn from and also share with. And I realized because I set that intention, I was creating this in my life where I was creating space. So I was on the same vibration as my old friends. I still love them. I was attracting people that I was on the same vibration with. So when I looked at all the new people in my life, I was like, wow, I'm surrounded by all these people I want to be around. And, you know, these other friends that when they're ready to sort of, like, be curious, some of them are. Now they're asking me questions because now they see sort of where I am at, where I am where they may have judged me before. And now they see, like, I'm really happy and I'm doing all these awesome, fun things.

Isn't it interesting? I know people listening can relate to this. Like, sometimes people will sort of leave your life, and you don't really know why, because, like, you're like, why is this not work? Why is this friendship not working like it used to, or what? And I think that so many times before we really work on ourselves, which you really went on this journey working on yourself before we work on ourselves, we look at it as like a victim thing. Like, why? What's wrong with that person? And why are they not. What did I do? But when you really start working on yourself, you start seeing that people come in and out of your lives intentionally. And like, just like you said, sometimes the wrong people leave our lives to make room for these better connections and the right people.

Yeah. And it's. And I read a book in the last couple of years called the Surrender Experiment by Michael.

Yeah, I love that book. Love it.

So. So it's been like the motto of my life. And I realized, you know, like, even things that are happening right now, all the craziness is going on. It's just a practice and surrendering and just allowing things to unfold. And so, you know, as this was going on, I decided to create a center in Toronto. And it, like, happened so fast. Like, when I think about what was going on at the time, it's like a blur. It's like this address. Like, I just pretty much call my real estate agent one day. It's like, hey, is there any spaces available? Because I was holding these, like, gatherings and group, and the address was like, 999 actually. And like numerology. Yeah. The number was, like, really, like, a divine number. And it was empty. It was like the perfect shell. And I just, like, something was like, just get it. And so I end up, like, getting this place.

And you had never thought of this before. Like, it just. You're just like, I. This is just my guy.

I wanted to get a space, but I didn't want just to be like, a hangout. So I knew there had to be a business sort of attached to it to create a revenue stream. And. And so I ended up just getting this thing. I'm like, okay. Like, I was invited to teach at a float studio. And he was telling me about the floating business, how amazing it was for relaxation and just putting the body into the state of relaxation, how that helps you to heal, and how we're, like, so overstressed. Those very things I was into, like, breathing and meditation. And so he was like, yeah, open a float studio. My wife just went floating. So I'm like, let's see science. Okay, let's just do it. And I put myself in this situation where. So I used to have a construction business, so I've done, like, a million different businesses. And so I build this thing out myself. It goes way over budget. End up spending, like, 10 months doing it when I only wanted to spend six. And the intention was to create a space to help people heal and expand their consciousness and just become the best version of themselves, whatever that meant. And in the process, like, I had to risk all my life savings, put my house on the line, and brought me into this complete state of fear. And I realized that even business is like a whole spiritual journey, like being an entrepreneur, because it challenges you in certain ways. It forces you to make decisions, like ethical decisions, moral decisions, about how you deal with your employees, how you make decisions when no one's looking, being clear on your intention of why you're doing this in the first place. So my intention wasn't really about, like, how do I make the most money? It was like, how do I create this amazing environment for people to grow in and to help people to be of service? Because I knew that if I could do that, I would create something sustainable. And I found myself stuck in this fear of losing all this money. And it was creating stress for me. I was falling into unhealthy habits. I was drinking wine every night to deal with the stress. When the construction guys were coming, I was smoking cigarettes with them. Like, here I am, this health guy, like, just really, totally falling apart. Completely falling apart. And a Few things happened around the same time that really helped to shift my perspective, but one of them was I actually watched a Donald Trump documentary and about, like, how he was very always, like, super focused on being positive with what he believed in. So the way he would focus his mindset, like, anytime, like, they would ask him, like, oh, like, you know, this is all falling apart. We think it's gonna be super successful, so we just keep a very clear vision on where he was going. And then another mentor of mine caught me saying, like, oh, you know, this is hard. These things take time. He's like, you're. You're really putting out there the wrong vibe. Like, listen to the way you're speaking. Because I really started learning about, like, the way you speak and the way you focus your attention is gonna create your reality.

True.

And then the energy I was bringing was bringing that vibration into the place. So, like, me being this low vibration, scared, afraid. I was bringing people who were also the same that didn't want to spend money. They were just in this crazy.

Isn't that funny how that works? Like, we think it's, like, the clients, but we're attracting it.

I was attracting all of it. Yeah, it was crazy. So I just said, okay, I know what to do here. I've been practicing this stuff forever. I've been reading up all this stuff. I just need to change, like, the way I'm focusing my energy. And around the time, you know, I did some ayahuasca ceremony, I remember going to rhythm around that time, and I just basically had this reset. And, you know, if you understand the way the brain works, we have this thing called the reticular activating system. It's a part of our brain that basically does what you tell it to do. So if back in, like, the caveman days, if you're focusing on, you know, trying to find shelter, it's going to find all these opportunities for shelter. Or if you're looking for food, it's going to find all these opportunities to eat food. And, you know, like, nowadays, if you're looking for, like, a black Volkswagen Tiguan or something, anytime on the road, you're gonna, like, your brain's gonna be like, there it is. There's another one. There's another one. You know what I mean?

Yep.

So it works the same for good and bad. So if you're, like, thinking like, oh, this is hard. This is bad, I'm gonna, like, lose everything. Your brain is trying to find ways to make you fail.

Totally.

It's like, oh, I always Find that shitty partner in relationships, you're always gonna attract that shitty boss. Same sort of thing. So I started really just focusing on what I wanted to create.

What was the environment right now, by the way, Gianni is gold because I think so many people hear that, but they don't get it until they actually experience it. But if. Gosh, you all. If you just can like, rewind and hear what he just said, because we do attract that. Like, if we're having struggles in our business or our life or our weight or our health, we have to own that we've attracted it somehow. We did. And it's that change. You just said it like, you have to change what you're focused on to change that outcome.

Yeah. And I think there's like this stat, like, we have like 70 to 90,000 thoughts per day, and, like, the majority of them are negative. So if you're always programming yourself for like, oh, I'm gonna, like, fail. I'm gonna do this, and you keep repeating that, you're gonna attract that experience into your life. So even if you're having these negative thoughts and you can catch yourself, just use it as a reminder. Say, okay, I need to shift my perspective now from this negative thought to where I want to go. So even if your situation is not great right now and you keep on getting reminded of that, you have to shift to where you want to be moving towards. So whether it's financial, whether it's with your friends, whether it's in relationships, whatever it is, it's like, start really focusing on what it is you want to create. What that looks like. And more importantly than the look is, like, how it makes you feel.

I love that. I love that. And I'm living it right now as I'm interviewing him. Some of you can see that, some of you can't. But my whole arm situation, my arms and I in a whole get up cast situation for 10 weeks. And because I learned this so much, like, yes, I was super upset knowing about the surgery and the cast and all the things, but I definitely quickly shifted into, what are the lessons I'm learning from this? What are the benefits of this? And there are benefits, like, in everything. Like, I don't have to travel for the next 10 weeks. I'm not going to be speaking. I get to, like, get caught up on things. There's a lot. And there's a lot of surrendering involved in it. So I think it really can be practiced in so many areas of life. Once you get that.

Yeah. And then so. And Then the other key was to not try to, like, from the surrender experiment. It's not to try to like, control the outcome of things. So, like, maybe this business, like, I had to accept, like, maybe this is not gonna be a business I'm gonna make a ton of money on. Maybe the whole point is just to be sustainable and just allow things to happen. And what happened was I started meeting all these amazing people and other opportunities started coming out of that where it wasn't this business that was going to make all this money. But, you know, like, new partnerships came out of it. I have an online school now that I'm partnered with that's doing phenomenal, you know, other opportunities for people that want to invest and create more of these centers. And like, I would have never saw this coming because the mindset I was in, but when I just let go and just said, okay, let me see how this unfolds and just really bring my intention of like trying, like every single person that comes to that front door, I want to just love them, like they're the only person on this earth and just really create that experience for them that is going to allow them to grow because that's what I needed when I was sort of lost and looking for it. And then things just shifted incredibly after that. Like every single day, it's.

It's just like, oh, I love that. What? Incredible. Okay, so I know I've asked you a million questions already, but I want to, I want to touch a little bit on just the different things and we don't have to get too detailed, but some people don't even know what these things are. Like, can you talk a little bit about those various things that you offer at your center? Because, like, first of all, biohacking, a lot of people have never even heard that term. What does biohacking mean to you?

So, like, typically, it's just like hacking your biology to optimize, you know, like your output. So whether it be your mind, your physical body. So there's a lot of guys in the space, like Ben Greenfield or like Dave Asprey, that talk a lot about like, different supplements you can take, different things you can do. See, for me, I like to really keep it simple. So all the things that I like to do is things that are not very expensive or easy to do your on your own and biohacking. A lot of times we'll use like a device or something like that, or some sort of technology can be used in biohacking, but it doesn't necessarily have to be so in our center, we use, like, float tanks with sensory deprivation chambers, which basically it's about a thousand pounds of Salt and about 11 or 12 inches of water, which is body temperature. And there's no light, no sound. And so you lay in there fully suspended, weightless, and it takes away all of your senses. And at first, it may be challenging for people because the mind gets very, like, overactive because there's no stimulus. But eventually it settles down. You go into this deep state of rest where your brain goes into, like, a theta brainwave state, and it allows you to get, like, the equivalent of, like, six hours of deep sleep. This, like, deepest sort of healing rest. It actually reduces cortisol in the body. And cortisol is a stress hormone. So everything that we do at our center is either to help you, like, relax and decrease stress or to detox your body or to.

So awesome. I want to know why you didn't bring that float tank situation to Costa Rica. The ice thing, I think I would have liked that better.

Yeah, well, the cold shocks, too. It's like a. It's like a stress that's a good stress to your body, actually. Also helps activate your sympathetic. Your parasympathetic nervous system helps you to relax. Most people do the ice, they sleep amazing at night. It reduces inflammation. And inflammation, you know, has so many implications in longevity and your overall health.

So it's interesting when I posted the ice, and I felt that, by the way, like, I hated every second of it in it. But when you get out, you do feel amazing, and you feel amazing the rest day. And I find that same thing with cryotherapy. So can you answer that? Like, how is that different than cryotherapy? Like, what's. Is it better, worse? The same. And can you. Some people think it's unhealthy. Can you address that?

Yeah, sure. So in comparison to cryotherapy, so cryotherapy is using, like, usually a nitrogen or, like, a really cold gas that gets you down to, like, really, really cold temperature. And it's usually like a surface chill, so it doesn't penetrate as deep into your skin, but it still has a similar effect on, like, releasing norepinephrine in your body, which is like a hormone and neurotransmitter that helped increase focus, it helps reduce inflammation, it help boost your mood, does all these amazing things. Norepinephrine. And then the ice bath is a little bit different, but, like, water will conduct. I think it's like 20 times more heat than air. So for Me, I find it gives you, like, a much deeper sort, like, cold, like, chill. I find the cryo is a little bit, like, easier to handle. It's cold, but, you know, after two or three minutes, oh, it's like.

It feels like nursery school compared to the water.

Yeah.

Cryotherapy now, I think, is nursery school compared to.

Yeah, it's a totally different experience for me. I think I prefer the water. I think. I think it really builds that stress response. Both of them do. It helps your tolerance with stress when you put yourself in those, like, short bouts of stressful experiences, hormetic stress. So I think. I think they both do similar things comparatively. They're both very beneficial for the body. So they help to, like, increase your white blood cell count, so boost your immune system. It reduces inflammation. The body helps improve circulation. It helps you sleep better at night. So it does all these amazing things.

So why do so many people comment, like, when I share it on social media? Where do they even get that from? Is there anything factual about that? Will they say, this is. Isn't. That's not good for you. You'll get pneumonia. Like, this is bad. What. What do you know about that?

It's conditioning from childhood. Most. Most of us are conditioned. Don't go outside. You're gonna get sick. It's bad for you, blah, blah, blah. But I'll tell you from firsthand experience, since I've started doing a cold exposure and ice bath, I never get sick. Like, it's.

It's.

It's just. And all the people that I know that do it regularly have gotten way healthier than they were before they started. They've lost some weight. They. They never get sick or rarely get sick. So if I get sick, I'll feel, like, symptoms coming on like I'm about to get sick, and my immune system would just go into overdrive. And, like, the next day I'll feel fine. Whereas before I started doing this, like, every year, I'd get at least, you know, like, a serious, like, strep throat or bronchitis. Like, once a year, minimum, maybe twice. And since then, that's not the case anymore.

Yeah. So I want to share that. Everything that he does in his center, I'm a huge fan of now. Like, I'm a fan of the ice bath, cold therapy. I'm a fan of biohacking. I'm a fan of breathwork, for sure. Meditation, all the things. So I think if you. Whether you're in Toronto or not, if you're not in Toronto, you can find These things, you may not find them all in one center, but there are places to find it. But can you tell them like where do they find you? Like if they want to check out your center, do you have some stuff online? Like where can they find more Giovanni?

Yeah. So our center in Toronto is called Elemental Wellness Studio. So it's go Elemental Ca. If in Toronto area, come check out us out online. I have a YouTube channel, it's elemental Awakening. So I post videos about all these stuff. You'll see me jumping into frozen lakes and doing all kinds of fun stuff. And the documentary on psychedelics called Psychedelics also on that channel of a website, elemental academy.org and yeah, and then the school that I'm a part of is called personaldevelopmentschool.com. you won't really see me on there. Be more my partner. But those are the main resources that we like to share with people that will really help. You know, we try to educate people.

So amazing.

You know, doing all these things are pretty much free, you know, like the cold fasting.

Oh yeah. I can't let you go without asking about that. You got to answer those. I have two more questions for you. One about the fasting. What, what in the world? You did a 51 day fast and what, why and what did that do?

There was this crazy group online that my wife was like, like, like following along and it ends up like the founder was in from Toronto and they would do these like 100 day fasts and they would like, like pretty much lose crazy weight.

Well, you lose your whole body.

I would imagine your eyes would change color. Like, like parasites would be coming out of them. Like just crazy stuff. And I was, I was like, I don't want to look at that. And eventually like I looked at it and then I was like, oh, something just grabbed my attention. So I want to experience, to see what it's like because I'm like such a guinea pig like that. And I remember reading like a lot of the text I was reading before, like, like Jesus fasted for 40 days and the Buddha fast and like all of these, like Moses would go on these. Like I gotta do this long fast. I want to see how it affects the way I feel, the way I think. And so I did, I did about 58 days. I wrote an article about it.

Did you drink water during this? I would assume so.

It was, it was intermittent fasting with grape juice. So I would drink grape juice with lemon in. So the grape juice really makes you go to the bathroom. And I did that for about 55 days. But in between, I do dry fasting. So there'd be days where I would go, like, up to. I think the max I did was five days with no food or water. Just really pushing yourself to that limit. I lost about like 40 pounds. I was like, super skinny. But it was crazy because, like, the weight, like, the clarity I had in my mind, it was like I was. I would never second guess myself. Any decision I can make, it was like, no problems. Almost like I could see into the future was super intuitive. Like, I started, like, organizing. Like, I wasn't the most organized person. Like, drawers would be messy. And like, like after this, like, once my body was cleansing itself, I was like, my computer was organized, all my drawers were organized. I would throw all this junk out. I was like, amazing how, like, as you cleanse your body, you want to cleanse your environment.

Weren't you hungry? I would be so. I'm like, just listening to you. I would be so hungry.

It took me about. Okay, so the first week, like, you get used to the hunger, but then you really think about food. And it took me about three weeks to stop thinking about food. Like, all I would think about, what's the next thing I'm going to eat. Oh, my God.

I could eat your hand. I'd be so.

Your senses are so, like. Like, like you can smell what they're cooking down the. Down the road. It was crazy. But you start realizing how much, like, you're addicted to food. Like, that was one of the biggest takeaways was like. Like, why am I thinking about food all the time? And how is when you eat something makes you feel, like, numbs your feelings, it makes you feel different when you eat. And I didn't really put two and two together. So since then, I. I fast all the time. Like, I do like a couple days a week. I don't eat or.

But not 55 days.

No.

Yeah.

I just find a good balance because I realize we eat way too much, we overeat, and that really affects our health. And it also, like, like, if you really want to live long and healthy, you got to really restrict your caloric intake. Like, that's one of the key things for longevity.

But I like that you shared. He didn't do this for weight loss. He did it for mental clarity. There's a big difference. So I don't think I would recommend doing this for weight loss.

No, no, it was. It was like really just to sort of see what would happen. I want to, like, really push myself. Yeah. It was, it was an amazing experience. I wouldn't do it again. Like, that length, like seven days is good, good fast for me.

So my, my final question for you is if, for. For this is if you, if somebody's going through their own personal rock bottom, or maybe it's not even a rock bottom. Maybe it's just where you were years back, where you were, like, is there more to life? Like, what else should I. Like, what am I here for? What's my purpose? And if you were to give them kind of three things that you would start doing to start creating awareness and shifting them out of that. You've mentioned so many things you've done. What would you tell them based on what you know now? Anyone listening?

Yeah. So there's been many points in my life where I've just like, really felt lost and down and like, not seeing any way out of the situations I've been in. Like, so the first, most important thing is just to know that it will pass. And you just really need to find some sort of inner strength to just believe in yourself, that if you start following your intuitive guide and just trusting in yourself, that you'll find a way out of it. So creating that space for yourself. So things like meditation and breath work are really huge. And just trying to find a community that you can sort of be a part of is also really important. But. And I know this is the hardest part because when you're in it, you don't want to hear this, but when you're at a rock bottom or a really challenging point in your life, those are always the opportunities to shift, shift your life's trajectory. So every time that I looked back at a point in my life where I was depressed, where I hit rock bottom, where something failed, where I was just like, I couldn't see the end, I was in this victim, like, why me? If I look back, those were always the points that gave me this opportunity to make a shift and do something else. And you sort of really have to trust in that process and each situation that you're in, there's something there to learn. So you really have to try to figure out, like, what is it that you're trying to be shown in your life? Like what? There's always something there for you to learn. And sometimes that really just takes quieting the mind. Doing meditation or breath work or something like that.

Yeah. This is awesome. Thank you so much, Giovanni. This is so helpful. I'm going to put all of your information below for people to find you. But this was incredibly helpful today. Thank you.

Yeah, thank you so much Natalie. It was a pleasure to be here with you and hopefully get to do this again sometimes.

Thank you. Thanks for leveling up with us today. Please share this episode if you found it helpful so others can join in. And don't forget to hit that subscribe so you don't miss out on future shows. And if you would leave me a five star review. I appreciate those so much. I read all of them and it's how I know that I'm giving you information that you find valuable and come interact with me over on Instagram Instagram at natalieschillfit. I read all the direct messages and comments over there. Make it a great day. Creating everything from nothing.