A Women's Guide to Biohacking: The Spark Factor | Molly Maloof MD

Interview (YouTube) with Molly Maloof MD and host Josh Trent about Maloof’s book The Spark Factor and women-focused biohacking. Central claims: men and women have fundamental biological differences that require tailored biohacks; health equals adaptability; social connection and oxytocin-driven attachment are core to wellbeing; practical recommendations include respecting menstrual cycles, morning light for circadian sync, meal timing/fasting, cardio and strength training, meditation/loving-kindness, and cautious use of cold exposure and other stressors. The conversation also covers Maloof’s personal history (residency burnout, pivot to functional/concierge medicine, spiritual awakening in 2019, book deal 2021), concerns about polarizing politics/social media, and futurist views on AI and communal resilience.
Chapters
Men and women are fundamentally different.
I've made the mistake in trying to be just like a guy and trying to achieve like a guy and trying to do the same things as guys do. So many women beat themselves up about their bodies. We need to have a new chapter, just realize, like, our bodies are here to always protect us first and foremost. That's what adaptation is all about. And really what health is about is the ability to adapt and self manage in the face of adversity. But I do think that this whole concept of, like, there's no such thing as gender is bullshit. Like, we have fundamental biological differences. I'm not saying if you don't want to change your gender, you can't go do that. But this idea that, like, kids should not be raised with gender is absurd. Like, we have totally different responsibilities biologically in terms of what our bodies are here to do. Whether you have kids or not, your body has programming that's primitive, primitive programming. And we need to sort of honor that and not just ignore it. I also want men to read this book, too, because I've had a lot of guy friends try to biohack their partners, and they're like, wow, everything I'm doing for me is not working the same for her. She's doing fasting and ketosis, and she's not losing any weight. And she's, like, really going to a stress response. And I look at the girl and I'm like, well, she's already underweight to begin with. She's going to stop her period if you're not careful. And so I wanted to really teach women, like, you need to learn to honor your body and learn to accept the fact that your body's constantly changing. And also, we need to start bringing better research into understanding women's bodies, too.
We're here.
We made it. And we made it on a weekend. We're potting on a weekend, which is amazing for a very special guest. This has been coming since 2019 is when we're on the stage at Paleo.
Yeah, right.
And do you remember there was a. There was a moment you were talking about where you got a book deal and, like, things came to a head for you?
Yeah.
Paleo, you know, bless their hearts, Keith and Michelle. Paleo is no longer.
I know. I heard that there was a cancellation Culture of the Paleo Conference. But that conference did, you know, create the conditions for me to meet my. My agent to get my book deal. And so it was really incredible where.
This came from, y'. All. Right here. The spark factor Really?
I was on stage with you and Dave, and I realized that Dave was. Dave wrote the forward. I mean, first of all, thanks. Thanks, Dave. But Dave also kind of like, coined the term biohacking, but there hadn't been a lot of biohacking books for women written. Yeah. And I remember being at that conference on stage with all these amazing luminaries in health, feeling like I was even. I was on stage with Mark Sisson as well. And I was like, wow, I am just as smart as these people. I know a lot of stuff. I should write books, too. And there you go. Three years later, there's a book written.
It's so cool because you don't. You don't really realize how powerful just being in the right place at the right moment can be. And I felt that so many times in my life. And I think about how many people try to force things like that.
No.
And with this book, like, it's an amazing book, people don't realize how much.
Pain and blood and, oh, my God, it's crazy.
And tears you have to go through. But there's something about maybe your work ethic that I want to tune into.
This is good.
This is a good jumping off point, because men and women are fundamentally different, which you talk about.
Which, by the way, like, most of the countries like trying to pretend. Not most of the country, but at least some of the liberal parts of the country. And I, by the way, I'm so not liberal or conservative. I'm so somewhere far on the sidelines watching the whole thing being, like, what is wrong with you people? But. But I do think that this whole concept of, like, there's no such thing as gender is bullshit. Like, we have fundamental biological differences, and I have friends that are trans. And so I'm not saying if you don't want to change your gender, you can't go do that. But this idea that, like, kids should not be raised with gender is absurd. Like, we have totally different responsibilities biologically in terms of what our bodies are here to do. Whether you have kids or not, whether you decide to make companies instead, your body has programming that's primitive, primitive programming. And we need to sort of honor that and not just ignore it. Not just pretend, like, I made the mistake and trying to be just like a guy and trying to achieve like a guy and trying to do the same things as guys do. And let me tell you, when you're really menstrual and you're, like, having to go show up at meetings and you feel like garbage and you're like, so you just want to curl up and be in your bed. It's a challenge. Like, we women do live in a man's world. We're expected to behave like men. We're expected to basically just ignore our menstrual periods, and these are changing our reality every week of the month. And so I wanted to really teach women. Like, you need to learn to honor your body and learn to listen to your body and learn to accept the fact that your body's constantly changing. And also, we need to start bringing better research into, you know, research in all fields, whether it's mainstream medicine or biohacking, into understanding women's bodies, too.
Yeah. Wow. Okay. Bomb drop already. The podcast that I want to really unpack with you is this differentiation. And you went for it, like, in the first. In the first five minutes. I think it's really beautiful because people are politically charged around the fact that we are. There's one camp that says we're different, and then there's another camp that says we're the same. There's no such thing as gender. And in my mind, that's how all communistic or even totalitarian regimes start. They start by making the truth false and falsity true.
Oh, my God.
And that's the part where I'm like, okay, finally, someone's written a book for women that want to grasp this element of biohacking, but they're not a man. Well, the thing that's a big point.
Is that I also want men to read this book too, because I want men to realize that I've had a lot of guy friends try to biohack their partners, and they're like, wow, everything I'm doing for me is not working the same for her. She's doing fasting and ketosis, and she's not losing any weight, and she's really going to a stress response. And I look at the girl, and I'm like, well, she's already underweight to begin with. She doesn't need to lose more weight. She's gonna stop her period if you're not careful. And so it's really about examining the biological imperative and what we're really here to do biologically. And then whether we have kids or not, like, your body is, like, constantly sensing and integrating the environment and deciding, is this peace time? Can I have sex and make children? Or is this war time and do I need to protect myself and put up the defenses and make sure that I. Basically, what it's called is the cell danger response. This is by Robert Nevio. It's a mitochondrial researcher. He basically describes the fact that like, your cells will literally change their metabolisms to protect you in order to survive. And so when people are struggling with weight loss, especially women who are very highly stressed, and they're like, I can't lose weight no matter what I try. It's like, well, you're stressed out. Your body's not going to let you lose that weight. Like, that's okay. And it's a protective mechanism. So just honor that. You know, like, I gained a few pounds getting this book launched and I'm like loving my body regardless of where I'm at. Because I'm like, wow, this is my body trying to take care of me. You know, it's a stressful time to be launching a book. It's the beginning of a new year. I'm loving the process. I'm having a blast. But I'm doing a lot of travel and I'm like, you know, it's hard to be consistent with your exercise regimens when you're a different city every week for like three weeks. That's okay. But so many women beat themselves up about their bodies and it's like, we need to find a new, we need to have a new chapter. Like, we need to all move forward and just realize like, our bodies are here to always protect us first and foremost. That's what adaptation is all about. And really what health is about is the ability to adapt and self manage in the face of adversity. It's not this pie in the sky idea that the world World Health Organization sold us where it was like, oh, it's a complete absence of disease or infirmity. Infirmary.
I'm like, no, that's not, that's their definition of health.
Their definition of health. It's so bullshit. It's like, no, that does. That's not real. Tell me a person who's healthy, who doesn't occasionally get a cold or a flu, like maybe once, and it's going to happen at least one point in the next 10 years, you're going to get an infection. It doesn't happen to everybody, but it does happen to you. And like there. The number of people who are completely impervious to the realities of life are far and few between. Even the healthiest people I know are still subject to risk. They still, their kids still bring home viruses from school.
Well, that's actually part of life.
That's part of life.
Organic cycle. That's why we have an immune system.
Exactly.
Otherwise we'd be a clean slate of glass with nothing irregular in our bodies.
Exactly. So, like, I look at health as this sort of constant interplay between us and our environment and how well we are coping with the challenges that we face.
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Off@Cozyearth.Com I love that. Okay, let's go way back. Let's pull the E break because you're wearing the Stanford sweatshirt today.
I did. I'm wearing it cause like I used to teach there and then I moved to Austin. And they were like, well, we're gonna replace you with someone else to teach your course. And I was like, well, I'm not coming back because.
Because you moved to Austin.
I mean, it was generally like a mutual thing where I was like, hey guys, I'm moving to Austin.
Because you had to teach it in person.
Yeah, they wanted me to be in person. And I was like, I'm not coming back for a few months to teach in person. Like, I love you, but this was three years of working for. They don't really pay you, by the way. It's like you're spending enormous amounts of time. And then Stanford's like one of the most expensive schools in the world and they pay you like a fraction of what you put.
Maybe because they feel like, oh, you get to say that you work for.
It's a credibility thing. And I don't care. I didn't do it for the money. I did it for the students. And frankly, the thing I realized was, like, I was still only helping, like, a handful of students every year, 30 students at a time. And I was like, I want to get my book out there. I want to get my course launched online, and I want to take all that stuff that I've learned and get it out to thousands of people if I can. So that was my main intention. It was like, I love, love, love Stanford. And it was such a motivational thing for me to get to go there and like, be in this incredibly innovative campus and feel like, oh, my God, I'm smart enough to be teaching at Stanford. This is a big deal. But also, there was a lot of. There's a lot of bureaucracy and politics there. And I can imagine it's not really my scene. It's like I felt like I was always, like I was there and I always kind of felt like, this is so weird to be teaching here because, like, this is like a country club. And I'm like a rebellious doctor who left her residency, started her medical practice.
Talking about psychedelics and biology, talking about psychedelics and biohacking.
And I'm like, I always felt a little out of place, but also kind of like, how cool is it that I'm here? This is so crazy. So three years was all I really needed. I got my fill and I got a lot of new friends from it. But I just felt like the frontier is like, media, you know, I want to be out in the world.
The frontier to make actual change.
Yeah. And here's the thing. I wasn't tenured like Andrew Huberman. I didn't have a lab, so I wasn't really tied to the campus, which, if I were him, I mean, I wouldn't obviously let that go because that's his life. But academia is cool. It's not really something that I see myself doing long term. It's not. It's. It's great, but it's not really for me. Like, I, I'm. I want to be in the world, traveling. I want to be working with companies. I want to be building companies. Like, you can't actually. You can build companies if you work at Stanford, but if you. Anything you make as, like, if you're a tenured professor at, at Stanford, anything you make is going to be owned by the, the school first. And so, like, there's that risk as well. So I'm. I'm just like, I want to be an entrepreneur. I want to be a doctor in the world. That's.
That's where I'm at now, 2011 or 2010 is when you work for Kaiser. Yeah, right.
Yeah. 20. 2011. 2010.
10 plus years ago. So there was something where I was.
Actually working at Kaiser and I was doing this master's at Berkeley. And then I. Halfway through. Halfway through my. My training, I was like, oh, my God, there's something deeply wrong with this system.
Yes, I was it a moment like that was my question for you. Did you feel like you woke up one morning, you're like, I can't do this sick care.
You.
You went into it as healthcare.
Yeah.
But it turned into. Right away, I'm sure.
I really, really thought that I could change the world through mainstream medicine. I was like, I can do it. I can fit in. And I couldn't. It was like a. It was like a square peg in a round hole. And, you know, you're in this hospital and you're there. There were some things that I really disagreed with. And one was the food that we were serving. Kids with cancer, they were giving. I mean, they were just like. They were just eating cake and candy and stuff. And I was like, why are we allowing these things to even be sold in the hospital to begin with? And then, I mean, even Kaiser had better food than almost any place in any hospital in the country, and they still allowed really crappy, packaged, processed foods to be fed to cancer patients.
It just blows my mind.
And then that was a big one. And then the second one was just the level of I got literally chastised and ripped a new asshole by my program director for basically going outside the scope of my job because there's a dad and a daughter, and he was about to. He was basically going to disown his daughter for being gay. And I went out of my way to reunite them because I really had a deep, deep, deep belief that, like, this man didn't understand his daughter and she was acting out because of her relationship with him. And it would ruin their lives for them to be. For a high school student to be kicked out of the house and to be, like, disconnected from her family because she's gay is, like, crazy. And I have a sibling who's homosexual. And I remember when she came out and what that was like for our family. And I just didn't want to see that happen to this young woman. And so I got. I got them back together. I, like, sat them both down. I had a conversation with them. The psychologist on the. On the floor turned me in and told me that I was overstepping my boundaries and that I was not responsible for this facet of my patient's life.
And.
And that's when I realized, okay, so the food is all fucked up. And then the fact that relationships were not really. Like, they were not part of medicine, and the fact that I was even trying to help in that area, and I was in trouble for that. And by the way, I. The outcome ended up really well. Like, the outcome ended up really good for the family. And so I got in trouble for that. And I was like. I was just like, this is not okay. And then I would be on nights, and patients of mine would pass away, and nobody would tell me. And then I would come back two weeks later, and I'd be like, so what happened to this patient? And they're like, oh, she's dead. And I was like, I had no time to grieve. I was so deeply sad. And no one invited me to the funeral. I felt like we weren't trained to handle death, and then we weren't even. We were just expected to, like, let it roll off our shoulders and move on to the next one. And it just felt so dehumanizing, to be honest with you. And I was so unhappy, and I was not liking the person I was becoming because I felt.
Who were you becoming?
I just felt like I was becoming a cold shell of a person. You know, I was, like, almost robotic, mechanistic, burned out. Like, suppress your feelings. Don't feel your feelings. And then, meanwhile, I remember one of my attendings came to work, and she had lymph nodes popping out of her entire body. Her neck, her arms. And she was just, like, going on to rounds like it was no big deal. And I remember thinking, this woman has lymphoma. Like, she's sick. Something's seriously wrong with this woman. And she was expected to just come to work and work, even though she was clearly ill. And I'm like, this system's gonna make me sick. I'm gonna get ill. I'm gonna get sick. It's gonna break me. And I. I ended up getting. So I ended up resigning, and then I got a really bad viral infection, and I got basically chronically fatigued. Fortunately, I was able to get a job that enabled me to work from home, But I. If I hadn't have gotten that job, like, right out of my residency, I don't know what I would have done.
Do you feel like looking back, that your body was waiting for you to have the rest period so it could actually express being sick?
Probably.
I mean, I've heard this concept before.
It was a pretty clear infection, though. Like, it was a pretty. I don't know, maybe. Maybe that's right.
Like on an energetic level, you needed the space to actually be sick in, to detox from what you went through.
You know, I think that that's probably true. And I think that I was running on really low energy capacity and my immune system was shot. And I was a welcome host for an infection. And it was what literally instigated my desire to become a doctor that optimizes health because I wasn't healthy. And I was like, I want. I just, I know I had built a course about how to help doctors become healthy in medical school. And it became a. It was an entire course in the, in the curriculum. So I had already.
Such a paradox.
I mean, I had already built, I had already known what it was like to be healthy, but I couldn't be healthy in my residency because it was so unhealthy. Yeah. So I remember thinking, I know what it. I know that health is what I'm supposed to be here for. I know this is my purpose, but I don't know how I need to figure this out because, like, I know that this is what I'm supposed to do. And so it was from the grace of God that I got introduced to a bunch of doctors that became mentors of mine who were really working outside of the mainstream system. And they were doctors to executives in Silicon Valley that were paying. They were concierge doctors. All of them were concierge, none of them were insurance. And so they were all like. One of them was optimizing. One of them was like primary care with a red carpet. Another one was, was like mind body medicine for executives and also doing like health optimization. And the other one was like, full health optimization, like, really high end. Like, like this guy had worked for Formula one. Like, he worked on helping people with performance and lifestyle optimization. And I was like, oh my God, I want to do what you do. Will you teach me? And he was like. And then he bought me a textbook and he wrote down a list of labs, most. Most of which were from a Genova diagnostics. And he's like, look, read this textbook. Learn these labs and just start, just start seeing patients. And I'm like, well, how am I supposed to evaluate them? He's like, develop your own intake system. And I was like, okay. So I literally sat by myself because, like, after I gotten that job in, in tech, I was doing personalized medical research. And that's where I met these doctors. And because they were working for this well known billionaire and I. So as I was working for that company, I was very much learning about how to use data to drive better decisions, how to use, how to get into the research to answer questions for clients. But after working there for about nine months, I was like tired of working for another company and I want to work for myself. So I started my own practice and that's when that doctor started telling me how to do it. And then he's like, but I didn't know how to build an intake system. So I actually went to Mark Hyman's website, found his ultra wellness center, like, and I literally deconstructed the entire intake system. And then I would study all these other functional doctors, I took their intake systems and I created my own 60 page intake system. And I was like, I'm going to go into the extreme of like, how do I evaluate a person's health? So I took the mainstream systems, allopathic intake system and then took the functional medicines intake system. And then I honestly like started ordering labs and I just started learning how to optimize health. And then 10 years later, I've taught at Stanford, I worked with 50 companies, I've worked with a bunch of amazing executives, investors and entrepreneurs, like world class people. Worked with Academy Award winners and wrote a book. And it's like I took a leap of faith. It was terrifying and scary, but one of my friends sat me down and he said, if you don't believe in yourself, nobody will. And I was like crying and I was like, okay, wipe my tears, I'm gonna do it. And I just like. And it was not easy. But I'll tell you what, the one thing that got me through the most challenging pieces of these years was my community. I had amazing community in Silicon Valley of amazing entrepreneurs, amazing investors, amazing artists, musicians, and just people who were like, we believe in you. Just keep going, just keep going, don't stop. You know, I remember Jeff Bland at a conference once, he said to me, molly, I've been watching you. I know this is hard, figuring out where you're going, but like, you're on your path and don't stop, keep going. And it's just really cool.
You said by the grace of God you met the right people.
Yeah.
You were raised Christian?
Yeah, I was raised, but I don't really subscribe.
You feel different now?
I mean, I still believe in, I still love praying to Jesus, you know, but I also love Hindu goddesses, you know, and I love Buddhism and I love Judaism. I'm technically Jewish genetically. And so I. I've taken courses on world religions. And I. I would say I'm definitely more of a Gnostic than anything.
Okay.
Which is, like, somebody who. Who really believes. You have to see for yourself and know for yourself. Yeah, we're gonna do some Zamner juice here.
Shout out to Mark and the Zamner.
I'm gonna get some of this because.
It just tastes good. Amazing.
It's got all the.
No, it's got some gaba in there.
Gotta love some gaba.
See some gabba. Well, I want to go back because you. You came from this upbringing where it was probably pretty strict.
I assume dancing was not allowed in my school.
Was your mom and dad entrepreneurial?
My dad was.
Your dad was. So do you feel like, as you started to figure this shit out, that that DNA was expressing in you?
I think a lot of it was my being Lebanese. So my mom's side is Jewish Dutch. My dad's side is Lebanese Christian. And so I was raised very Christian. Cause obviously, we lived in the Midwest and was more of a Christian vibe there. And I went to Christian grade school, went to youth group, went to, like, church. We, like, you know, it was a thing. And I, you know, kind of at the same time felt like even though I was a good Christian, I was. I was always kind of like, I don't really feel right about bringing people to Jesus. Like, this doesn't feel right to me because I really felt like your belief systems are yours to believe and, like, what you need to discover for yourself. And I knew that there were so many religions in the world. I was like, well, how are we to say that ours is right and they're all wrong?
Yeah.
And this whole, like, I always felt really conflicted about, like, people in Africa who maybe had never seen any, you know, maybe never exposed to Jesus. How could they be going to hell? You know, that felt really wrong for me is, like, that doesn't seem fair. But I do credit Christianity for giving me a strong moral compass, for giving me a strong sense of unconditional love. Like, I know what that feels like. Cause I have a family that's been so unbelievably loving. And love was a big part of our family culture and food and whatnot. So I think my mom's side. My mom's mother was, like, super brilliant, like, valedictorian of her class, stockbroker, and her side of the family. My grandfather on my mom's side comes from, like, a long. He wasn't super successful, but his brothers and his brother's kids were, like, extraordinary, extraordinarily successful. And then my, my grandfather actually grew mushrooms in Yuma, Arizona. And when he died, my mom found an entire, like, cabinet of mushroom spores. And I was like, you threw those away? Why didn't you save.
Those were medicine.
Those were my inheritance. She's like, but, but, but like Amsterdam and like, Holland culture. Psychedelics are cool. Right. And, like, art is really big, is a big part of our family. My sister's an artist.
Yes.
So my dad's side's very entrepreneurial. My dad was a commercial realtor. Took over a bankrupt family business, transformed it over many, many years of hard work. So I saw his work ethic, and we had a really strong work ethic in our family. And so the business mind comes from my dad, the creative, Creative mind comes from my mom. And, you know, probably psychedelics comes from my grandfather.
This is so cool.
We were literally just talking about the book that I'm writing, the Emotional Epigenetics. And I think about the way that we either can turn on or turn off are genes, epi, the portion that sits on top of the gene that controls and expresses it.
Yeah.
And you talk about in your book how there's this huge difference between, like, what women can take in and put out, how their being in this world is different than men. And also, one thing that was utterly fascinating to me was something I had never heard before. Men protect the tribe. Vasopressin dominant.
Yes.
Women create and nurture life. Oxytocin dominant.
Yes. This is crazy.
Let's talk about that.
I literally have the best advisors of all time for my company, Adama Bioscience. And one of my advisors I actually met through her husband. So her husband, Stephen Porgis, who's the creator of Theory, he is a world class expert on stress. Right. So, like, she studies oxytocin. She is a world class expert on love and attachment. And so it's beautiful that they have this polarity of their. Of their work. Right. Like, how crazy is that? These two people came together and have these two very complimentary skill sets of understanding human health and biology.
That's a marriage.
It's wild. I mean, they're such good people. They're like, they're both extraordinary geniuses. And I mean, just being friends with them is like the. The mentorship I've gotten from Sue Carter has been one of the most. She's like my fairy. She's like my fairy godmother. Like, she's this beautiful soul who's got the Mind of a genius. And she just taught me about this natural aspect, this, this, this vasopressin oxytocin relationship. And the fascinating thing about veterans with PTSD is that when they measure their vasopressin levels and their oxytocin levels, they've tanked their oxytocin and they've massively ramped up their vasopressin. And what does MDMA do in MAPS trials? MDMA is a massive oxytocin releasing agent because it releases a ton of serotonin. So it's, it's, it, it literally, the theory is that it's potentially causing a rebalancing of these neuropeptides. And I'm just like, I really want to run that study to show that that's, that's how it works. But.
And because of the altered state, is there more neuroplasticity available in that state which then makes the changes sustainable?
Yeah, exactly.
That's the whole magic of md.
Yeah, exactly. It's also, you're taking these fearful memories and you're reprogramming them as safe. Like, okay, that's a safe member that can go into long term memory. So that's pretty cool stuff, like the integration of all this. But yeah. So sue was basically like. I realized it wasn't until I like, had dated someone in the last year who was like, clearly had some trauma and was very basic person dominant. It was probably the most masculine guy I've ever dated. And I realized that like, whoa, like, his wiring was not, it was like warrior wiring, you know, And I was really attracted to this person because they were so masculine. But then I realized that they had no concept of like, nurturance and love. And I was like, I gotta, it's not gonna work.
The oxytocin was offline.
It was super offline. This is not gonna work. And so, but at the same time, you know, I really feel like women, we don't realize that this is our superpower, our ability to really connect and nurture. And we're like, you know, don't get me wrong, I'm a high powered woman. I've got a lot on my plate and I do feel in touch with my masculinity. But I think that what's powerful that I'm realizing is that when I'm really dropping into my femininity, I'm even more powerful. And I didn't know that. And I was like, I was thinking that by behaving like a man in Silicon Valley, that I would be like, I would be more powerful. And no, in fact, I'm actually, I've got more. My gentleness and my. My calm and my ease is far more powerful than me intensely being in CEO vibes.
How so? How so, exactly?
Especially in CEO, because I'm not terrifying to people. Because people just like, if I'm at a party and I'm calm and relaxed and I'm not trying to be on and I'm just like, sitting and being my comfortable, relaxed self, People just come over me, come over to me, and they'll like, touch my hair and they'll like, naturally cuddle up with me, and there's just like this attraction, magnetism. And then when I'm in like, full CEO mode, I've literally seen men that I've just met at an event and I like, start listing off my accomplishments and they're just like. They're just like, so turned off. They're like that. Like, that is that. That's me and my masculine. I don't need to show off. Like, I don't need to list off all the things that I've done. But I think a lot of women were. We thought that, oh, if I just achieve as much as a man, I'll be attractive to men. Actually. Achievement's great, don't get me wrong. But it's not really doing a massive amount of favors in the dating world, Believe it or not. Like, men are somewhat intimidated by. By women who are in their masculine all the time.
Do you feel like they're intimidated by them or do you feel like that's what they. That's the direction they're going in? And so why would they want somebody that they need to, quote, compete with?
Maybe that intimidation?
Or is it more like, oh, my God, is this another thing I have to compete with?
That's that matter?
It might be some of both.
I think it's kind of like that. And I have seen that in relationships in Silicon Valley, where there are two very powerful people in a power couple, Sometimes there is a competition. And by the way, I'm not going to turn off my ambition because guys are like, maybe intimidated by it. What I'm going to do is realize that, like, it doesn't need to be front and center at all times. I can be. What am I trying to prove? You know, like, in so many ways, in Silicon Valley, I felt like I had something to prove. I felt like I had to prove myself because this environment was so cutthroat and so competitive that I was like, I got to show that I can do what I can do. And I think I did a lot of things which are great. But what I'm really learning about and what I'm. What my sort of frontier of my career is about is like, the most important thing we can do for our health is maintain optimal human connection with others. And that means connection with our partners, connection with our family, connection with our loved ones, connection with our community, connection with our friends. And that's so much more important to me right now than I've already accomplished almost everything I want to do. I'm not going to necessarily not continue working on my companies and this and that, but I'm just realizing the thing that really matters when the world's chaotic and crazy is who can you trust? And so deepening those relationships and really deepening those friendships is like, that's kind of like. I mean, that's why I built a company around it, because I was like, how do we make this easier for people? How do we make this possible for people?
There's a fractal to what you talked about in the very beginning where there's this kind of forced confusion in the media about boys thinking they're girls and girls thinking they're boys, and that fractals out into then adults trying to give a helping hand when actually they're giving a harming hand to have gender reassignment for kids and whatnot. I think. And I wonder how you feel. I think it's a clue for the. The fact that we are totally dysregulated mentally and how that mental dysregulation then starts to dictate our physical abnormalities. In other words, what's coming out of our bodies and what's showing up for us with, like, the blood sugar resistance that we have and like, all the insulin problems and the health problems overall, they're a byproduct of a spiritual malady.
Yes.
And it's the spirituality that we're actually lacking in the world which informs the mind, then informs the body and vice versa. You know, I wonder if you could riff on that.
I mean, I. To be honest with you, I went 10 years in my 20s without any spiritual practice whatsoever because I was. I had experienced some traumas in college, and I just felt very dissociated from my body for a long time. And it was a really. My twenties were not pleasant. Honestly, I didn't have.
Were you angry at God?
No, I was numb. I was so numb. I mean, sexual trauma can really numb you. And fortunately, I was in a place like maybe three years ago. And I would say moving to the Bay Area, that really shifted my reality. I started really working on myself. I started really doing, I mean, every kind of alternative kind of therapy you can do. I tried Rolfing and acupuncture and, you know, going to esalen Institute like 15 times and like, you name it, I did all the different things. But all of that work I did on myself and like woke me up, really got me into my body, got me. I mean, psychedelics played a role for sure. Music festivals, Burning man, you know, everything. But there was a point a few years ago, 2019, where I'd gone through a really rough breakup and a really rough business readjustment because I had fundraised for a company that I built with this guy that I was seeing. And it just did not turn out the way I anticipated it to go. And I had to walk away from everything. And I was heartbroken and I was devastated. And I remember asking the universe for a taste of enlightenment and it kicked me in the face with a spiritual awakening. And I was like, oh my God, I was not prepared for this Kundalini shit. And fortunately I got really into meditation. I did like three 10 day retreats in six months. And I was like, I couldn't help it. I had to go meditate.
Did you do the vipassana in the desert?
It was like vipassana, but called capeassana. And it's like bougie vipassana on nature reserves and beautiful homes where you get.
To actually eat like three meals a day instead of two.
Yeah, like really good food.
Okay, why did you choose that instead of the hardcore goinka?
Because I think that the western culture is softer than the Indian culture. And we may need a softer approach to might to like, you know, making these approaches.
That's brilliant. I totally agree.
You know, I mean, also, I did.
Not agree with the methodology.
Also, like the lack of embodiment of vipassana is challenging for me. So its entire purpose is to erase your body, which I don't, don't get me wrong, I think that's great. But when. So this guy, Jorge Yont, he's a businessman and so was Gwenka, by the way. And Gwenka learned his meditation style from a Japanese businessman. So these guys actually were operating in the world. But Jorge was just such a. He's a g. He's a cool ass dude. And he created a form of meditation that was. You wake up in the morning at like 5 in the morning and the bell rings and then, you know, maybe I'll make Some tea. And we sit and we meditate. And then. Well, first you do this thing called shake, rattle and roll, which is like you get into your body and it's like a kind of qigong practice. And then you feel really good when you get into your body after 30 minutes and it's really gentle. And then you sit and meditate and then you have a little break and breakfast. And then you afterwards have a little bit of free time. If you're in Maui with him, you get to go to the nude beach. And that's just. That's really fun. Little beach. Or just. Or the, or. Or you can go to the big beach, too. But if, if. And then, then you'd have another meditation session and then lunch and then breath work and yin yoga in the afternoon. And that's just. And he, he started doing that with like an hour, and now he does like two hours of this and then another meditation and then dinner and then evening meditation and then a documentary. And then there's usually like some time in there for like, some exercise. So I would go, like, swim in the ocean with, like, coral. It was just unbelievable.
It's so cool.
Because traditions are meant to be evolved. Like, not just because Cuenca. Just because there is a tradition of anything. Medicine. Vipassana.
Yeah.
Spiritual growth. Like, people that know that Alan Watts right there in. I think it was Sausalito.
Yeah.
He did not have the perfect personal life. Like, his personal life was kind of shambles. He's very wise, gave a lot of wisdom. Same thing with Gwenka. Same thing with medicine. Like, there's beautiful parts of medicine. There's also a shadow. Yeah. So it seems like you went out there and just like when you. It's so funny. Just like when you created the figure at audibleness, going on Mark Hyman's website and like figuring out what you're going to do with your life.
Yeah.
You. You really had to break a traditional mold.
Yeah.
And that's exactly what. Honestly, it's what I did, too. I'm the only entrepreneur in both sides of my family. I'm the only one that thought it to be true.
Yeah.
Which is something we even talked about. Like, when you came in, the thoughts that we think, they create our lives. Like, if I think something, we're talking about the Leela quantum.
Yeah.
So. So then when you get to this point where you're like, you've done so much deep spiritual work.
Yeah.
You've. You've been in this recreation.
Well, don't get me wrong, the spiritual work is still ongoing for sure, but.
You'Ve been in this recreation process. At some point. You're like Silicon Valley. I'm out. I'm not going to be here anymore. I'm going to go somewhere else. What were you looking for when you left and did you find it? I hope you're loving this podcast as.
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Yeah, so in those six months of my nervous system becoming kind of like A loose, like kind of like a. I felt like there was a wire cut from like a power line and it was like going all over the place. It was so much energy and I didn't know what to do with it.
This was your Kundalini awakening?
Kundalini awakening, yeah. And I.
From the yogic practice.
No, no, no. So that happened after three days of fasting in Sonoma with a guy that I thought I was on a date with and he turned.
You thought you were on a date?
I thought we were on a date. And then on the way there, he's like, so I've been depressed since I was a kid. And I was like, what? Not another guy who's depressed. And then he's since overcome it, which is great. But. So I was fasting and then I was in sunlight, in nature, surrounded by fruit trees. And then we refed with a really beautiful meal. And then the next day I went to this hotel that he owned and I was using the weight. I did weight training, hiit training and sauna because I was like. I had so much energy because, like, I was. I had a lot of sexual tension that wasn't being expressed. So I ran it out and I exercised it out. And then I go meet with my community and I get super plugged in, right? And all of these things are things I read about in the book, right? Fasting, HIIT training, weight training, nature, sunlight, ketosis, you know, plugging in with your community. And normally I wouldn't recommend doing all those things all at once, but you know, time and a place. And then I go connect with my community and I go home to my bed that night and I'm laying in bed and I'm thinking to myself, wouldn't it be great if you could go to the doctor and you get a peak experience as medicine instead of crappy drugs and surgery? And I started having this full body involuntary orgasmic experience where I was like, what is this? What is happening? What is going on? And I remember thinking, I gotta tell my friends about this cool thing. Like, I don't know what this was, but this is bananas. And then since that, I started becoming hypersensitive to all of the energy in my environment. I was living in the Mission. I could feel all of the homeless people's pain as I was walking down the street. It was like, deeper, deeper empathy. I just saw San Francisco, it was suffering. And I was like. And then there was the fires, and then there was fires in Malibu. I was intending to move to Malibu.
That's right.
I remember, and there was fires in Malibu. So there's fires in Northern California. Fires in Malibu. I felt it was like too much fire and brimstone for me. And I was going through this. So much change, and I didn't know what to do with all this energy. And I remember thinking to myself, as I was doing these meditation retreats, I started seeing my shadow come out, and I started seeing myself for who I really was, and all the parts of myself I didn't wanna look at. And I was like, God damn it, I have been a problem. I've done this and that. I've got too much of an ego. I'm kind of an asshole sometimes. Like, why? Why am I, like, having to see all this, and it just made me realize, like, you need to sit with this, and you need to address all of this. You need to work on this. And so I said, mom, dad, you know, I was visiting them for Thanksgiving. I'm like, just so, you know, taking up a sabbatical and I'm going to Maui. They're like, what's wrong with you? You're never gonna find a partner. Like, what are you thinking? I'm like, look, I don't know what's going on in the world right now, but I feel like something really bad is coming. And I just feel like I need to get my. I need to get grounded somewhere.
And this is early 2020.
This is 20, 2019. And the funniest thing is that that summer when I'd had that spiritual awakening, I had this deep inclination to start studying viruses. And I was like, I feel like I don't understand viruses. And I don't, like, what is this Microviron? I know about the fungus in my body, I know about the bacteria in my body, but I don't know shit about viruses. And I had some clients with chronic fatigue, and I had read this book, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. It's mitochondria, not hypochondria. And it was by Amy Myhill. And I was studying viruses, studying chronic fatigue, trying to understand how to help these people, healing and thinking to myself, we are really overdue for a plague, and we are not prepared for it. And that's really strange. And I was, like, joking with my friends at a dinner, and I was like, you know, guys, you know, we've got fire, we've got floods, there's plagues in Africa. I mean, it's probably gonna be viruses next, you know? And they're like, well, you know, they're already here, so. And they're like, don't say that. And I was like, look, I don't know why I've said that, but just. I just think it's probably gonna happen. And then my biggest regret is not actually playing the stock market more effectively. Cause I was so afraid of what was going on. I was in a fear state when it all happened. But I was in Maui for three months. And that's when I really sat with myself and was like, you gotta change your life. You gotta change a lot of things in your life. And it was like, you know, it healed me. Like, Maui really, really, really healed me.
Maui is just like Sedona. We were actually in Maui early 2020. We spent a month there in January.
What? I was there.
Yeah. Interesting. Wow. And so I. I thought about, like, when you were going through that change, you were. You were going through a death and rebirth of some kind.
Yeah.
The book was already online, mentally, at that point.
I had thought about the. The book and written out notes. Well, now, you know, you're supposed to write things. But I was writing the notes at a meditation retreat, and I did that too. Yeah, I did it.
I found a pen outside. Yeah, somebody left a pen outside. I'm like, this is a sign from the universe.
Yeah. So cheated. I really think that even that rule is dumb. So much. So much comes to you, you know?
Right, right. Like, when the muse enters, why not take advantage?
Yeah. I like, painted at one of my meditation retreats. And these paintings are so there's such processing, you know? And so I don't know, like, basically there was definitely a death and rebirth. And definitely I felt like just a sense of, you know, you need to get. Like, there was this weird sense of like, we're in the peace before the storm. These meditation retreats were in pure paradise. And it was like this very deep calm before the storm. And I remember telling Jorge. I'm like, jorge, I have a really bad feeling about next year. I don't know what's coming, but I feel really bad about it. And he's like, don't worry. Anything that comes next year, the world will be better afterwards. And I was like, true.
Painfully learned.
Painfully.
Yeah.
And so, yeah. And I have to say, like, the pandemic certainly, I think somewhat threw a wrench in the whole spiritual growth. Because it was like. It was just. I was in fight or flight for a lot of 2020, you know, and I remember getting. I was pretty close to burnout at the end of 2020 because I had done way too many things that year. I mean, it was in. I was like, biased towards action, so I was just like constantly overworking myself because I didn't know how to sit still. And so I had to, like, fix my body after that period of time. And then that's when I really, you know, I was actually. The book came to me during the meditation retreat in August of 2019, and then the proposal I was working on during the first half of 2020. And then I sold the book. I mean, I didn't fully burn out, thank God, because I actually, like, stopped myself and course corrected. But somewhere, like 90% of people felt like they were close to burnout in 2020. So it's not like it was just me. But I got the book deal in 2021, the very beginning of 2021, and. And then I got vaccinated, started traveling, and 2021 was a fucking blast for me because, like, flights were cheap. I got to see all my friends again. It really made me realize how much people matter to human health. And like, I was like, high on life. I was high on life because my friends were. I was like, hanging out with people again. And I'd been isolated by myself for so long, and I was like, I need people, I need my friends. And I. I started seeing my friends again. And then to be honest, like, 2021 was great. 2022, I think. I. I think it was like. It was, it was, it was. It was really, really intense year of growth. Like again, having to do more shadow work again, having to, like, pay attention to like. Like, there's this one Hindu goddess, Chinna Master, she's like this crazy goddess and she like cuts her head off, which is a signal of like, like, you know, like basically controlling your ego.
Ego death.
Yeah. And she like feeds these maidens next to her, so it's self sacrifice. And then she's standing on these couple having sex, which is like basically overcoming, you know, your sexual desire, overcoming that, letting that control you. And so in some ways, the end of 2022 was like a realization of how much I had to learn in those areas and the gratitude I got from, like. I mean, I had achieved a lot in 2022, but I definitely. And I didn't burn out, which is great because I was like doing all the things that were in my book. I was like, you're going to take your own medicine. So I took all my medicine and I somehow managed to keep my health together in a year that was like, like teaching at Stanford, basically. Teaching at Stanford, finishing a book, editing a book, you know, Moving to Austin, traveling to Antarctica, you know, fundraising for a company, building a company, building an internship, figuring out the strategy for the company and, like, recording the book, you know, speaking publicly. I mean, advising 20 companies, like, seeing patients like, oh, my God. I was like, this is not sustainable. You are changing your life in 2023. You are pursuing balance and harmony. You are cutting back on all your obligations.
Yeah.
You are going to focus on the things that really matter to you. You are going to still travel because you love it so much. But I have trips to Dubai and Ibiza and, like, you know, New York and Amsterdam coming up, so it's like, I'm really. I don't think I can ever quit that travel bug. Like, I think even if I have kids, they're coming with me.
Was that the primary reason why you got the vaccine?
Yeah.
Because you wanted to travel?
Oh, yeah. 100%.
Do you regret doing that in any way based on the research that's come out?
Yeah. I mean, I do think it was not. It's weird. Did I regret it at the time?
I mean, at the time, you did what you needed to do to try it out.
I did what I needed to do.
But.
Here'S the thing. It gave me one really solid day of misery. But for the most part, I do think I was really resilient to begin with. Like, I was stronger than most people to begin with, and I don't think it really caused me any major side effects. But I've got. I've gotten Covid twice in the last few years, and I travel way more than most people do.
You mean Biden was not telling the truth?
Well, my parents got quadruple vaccinated and got Covid over Christmas.
Come on, y'. All.
They're finally like, look, I'm not pro. I'm not against her for the vaccine. I'm definitely not even able to even talk about it. As a doctor with a license in California, like, I am Switzerland, and I am not going to be having the conversation of pro and cons vaccines on this podcast.
Because isn't that sad that you can't even just speak your truth publicly for fear of retribution? That should give you a clue that something is up. Yeah, I'm not. We don't have to go into it either. Yeah, but that just. That fact that you can't even speak about how you actually feel publicly, it's.
Also very divisive for my friend groups because I have very. I have a ton of friends in Texas that are very right. And I have a ton of friends in California that are very left.
You mean these constructs that are manmade to figure out why we're against each other.
This whole. Yeah, those whole divisive bullshit that like, every time we talk about vaccines, I can't win with either group. And so I can't. I find that it's, like, better for me just to not talk about them with people because I'm so the. In so many ways. There's like, this. These spectrums of polar. There's polarities of life and there's like the right and the left, and there's like the pro vax and the. And the anti vax and there's the. There's like the California and the west and the east coast. And I. I just find that, like, I'm so on the sidelines of these. These polarities watching this whole bullshit take, like, take down our country. And my job and my goal is to unify this country and to unify it through human connection.
Let's go.
And to teach people about the power of love. Because love is fucking amazing if you understand it. If you don't understand it, then, like, here, the reality is, is that even division has the neurobiology of connection in it. Because the reason why people divide is because they find safety in their. In group. And then the vasopressin hormone is very much at play when you are trying to attack and defend against another group. And my job is to help people see what's actually going on inside their bodies so they realize that they don't have to be hijacked by these bullshit messages. Because the truth is, is that there's a very small percentage of people that aren't on each side of these polarities that are really vocal and loud. The vast majority of people are in the middle. So we need to create a new party. We need to create a new political party that. It's, like, very purple. I call it the post partisan Purple Party. And it's for all of us who are moderates who don't feel like we resonate with Republicans or Democrats, and we all are, like, watching this. This nonsense played. Play, play in the media, divide our country unnecessarily when honestly we need to be careful about China and a world War III coming in the next few years. The last thing we need is a divided country when, like, there's major world threats out there.
Yes, yes, It's.
It's literally bananas and stupid.
Well, then in that case, would you put. Have you put the Spark Factor on TikTok?
I need to more.
Well, because it's owned by a company that is directly controlled and funded.
I mean I think anybody who's on TikTok, if we go to World War three and China in the next three years, which I, I have a good sense we will, it's not going to be on our, on our soil, but it's going to be things like banning TikTok is going to be one of the things that our countries will do and it's not, it's going to like if you're on Tik Tok, be diversify.
You know, I mean I personally, it's a line in the sand for me actually. I'm not like a very self righteous person, but when I learned about the history, I spoke with Nir Eyal who's, you know, he's a habit formation guy about technology and the, the rewards that we get from it. And we've talked about this concept of like, what are people actually getting from social media? It is in my opinion the ultimate shit show that really robs people not only of their sleep but of their connection because it gives people a perceived sense of novelty and connection. So when you have this, to quote Ayal, variable reward, it's process, human connection coming in. Just like porn. Right. So porn, social media, all these things that are essentially fake. It's like plastic wrapped humanity.
Yeah.
And, and we're trying to consume it as if it's real. And then we wonder as a collective why we feel empty, why we're sick.
So then what is disconnected?
What is?
You talk about this in the book metabolism, blood sugar, biohacking, fasting. But connection is the big one.
Yeah.
Right. We've already explored the difference between how men and women have this vasopressin and oxytocin difference. But when it comes to, to consumption of media.
Yeah.
And what that's doing to our physicality.
Yeah.
What, what exactly is going on there from a medical perspective?
Sure. So I think that basically porn is processed sex and social media is processed human connection. And processed food as we know is really not great for our gut health and our mitochondrial health. It's probably the number one thing that damages metabolism. And it's funny because I was this one company that is like, they make processed health foods. They sent me a bunch of their health foods and I remember eating them being like. Because I actually like occasionally do eat junk food, believe it or not. I'm not perfect, but sometimes I eat the stuff that people send me because I get lots of free crap. And it's surprising when you eat something that you know your body's like, no, this is not right. And you still eat it. Cause it tastes good. Like people come back and return to porn and they return to social media because it feels good in the moment, but then there's no reward. Like you're not really getting the reward of what you really are supposed to. Like when you eat real food, you're supposed to get the reward of nutrient density and macronutrients in their whole forms that are gonna build your body. And when you process food, you get a bunch of crappy ingredients that your body's like, what is this? Literally it can activate an immune response. Your body's like, this isn't quite right. What am I doing with this? This is not what I need. Same thing goes with like porn, right? Like so, I mean, don't get me wrong, I've certainly watched porn in my life and I try not to make it a habit because when you watch porn consistently, you desensitize your body to other people. You desensitize your, you desensitize your sex drive a bit. It becomes this thing that's dependent on hyper stimulation and it's kind of like the hyper palatability of processed foods. Like hyper stimulation of. And the thing is like, it's not even good. It's not even what. What you're watching isn't even really good sex. It's usually pretty like performative crap that someone, some porn star is doing to try to sound cool, like to try to look hot. And you're not getting the real reward of human connection. Like after sex, you're supposed to cuddle and touch and have this orgasmic experience. Yes, you get orgasm from or you get oxytocin from orgasm, but you don't get nearly as much without human touch. I'm gonna have to run this study in order like do ask my friends who are oxytocin experts. But I would be willing to bet real money that you get a much larger amount of oxytocin from having real sex with someone than having sex with yourself.
Well, of course. I mean there's so many more systems, like all the mechanoreceptors and all the afferent efferent pheromones. And then you need the touch for that to be an input.
Yeah.
For then the signals to be turned on for the oxytocin to be released.
I'm sure, yeah.
Do we really need a study on that?
I don't think so. But I think the scientists out there probably would argue with me that we do. And then this sort of like, social media stuff. I mean, to me, social media is a useful tool in the toolbox for helping me stay connected to.
That's exactly how I see it.
But it's also never going to be as good as having people over for dinner and having a real conversation face to face with all of our phones.
Off, or sitting in a sweat lodge singing, or doing a vision quest with 10 beautiful souls. Like I've done twice, like going to retreats. These are experiences that can be peak experiences with no psychedelics, no medicine at all. And they're so healing. And all it is is we're just hugging, we're singing, we're doing this stuff that we've done for millennia.
Yeah, but.
But in a way, these phones, they. They trick our minds almost to. To make us feel like we're getting that, but we're not.
You're not getting the reward, the reward of human connection, that reward of oxytocin when you hug your friends or cuddle your friends. Like, I went to a party last weekend and it was like all night slumber party, super sweet PG party. And it was like ambient music.
What's a PG party?
I tell people I went to a sleepover, they're like, was that a play party? I'm like, no, it was not a play party.
Oh, okay.
It was like, there was cranial sacral. There was ambient music from this company, Secular Sabbath.
I want to go to a party.
Like that.
There was a lot of cuddling and like, I remember being like, so just felt like, so connected to these people that I just met. And my body felt so good from this experience. I was like, wow. Like, I love this group of people. They're amazing friends. I want to be. I want to be friends with these people. And I, like, got a bunch of messages from people who are like, hey, can we hang out again? That was like, that's real human connection. Real deep conversations, real really good food. By the way, they have really good food in L. A. Like, oh my God, the food there is amazing.
I will say the food is tensing, tending to be better than in Austin. It's just the veggies, unfortunately.
The meat here, world class. But the veggies I just like. Every single vegetable I had in California was, like, perfect. And I was like, oh, damn it. Even, like a normal brunch spot has, like the best baby greens. They're crispy and delicious. I miss that. It's true, you know? Anyway, so this idea of, like processing right, like These companies make a lot of money off of processing. You know, there's a whole. I mean, and I'm not trying to stop people from making money on social media. Like, I mean, it's. It's a whole business. We all. We all are going to make a living, but we all got to realize that. I mean, this is why I built a company around this topic of the signs of love. Because I was like, here's the thing about love is that it's not all Disney movie fun and games. And if we understood it better, we'd actually be a lot healthier. So how much do you know about the evolutionary biology of love?
Not as much as I'm sure you've studied, but I do have a child, and I have another one on the way. Yeah, you know, I'm 42, so, like, you know, I have the experiential learning curve where I can say beyond science. The anecdotal has given me a lot.
Right, so, like, you fell in love with your partner. You remember. Do you remember, like, how crazy you felt when you were like, mad the.
First year and a half was literally.
Like, you're high on drugs.
I am a magnet, and they are another magnet. And I can't.
I remember seeing your romance, by the way, on social media, and I was like, wow, they're in love. That is beautiful. Like, it's so cool to watch that, right? And so love is like, you know, we find someone, we fall in love. We're typically having sex as we're in the process of falling in love, right? Typically. And in that process, you know, your sex hormones are trying to get you to have sex with this person. And then your. Your. Your romantic love start. Drive starts turning on, and it's the dopamine of this person's so significant. This person means so much. This person is. Is like, really important. And that I really desire them and I feel so good with them. With them. And then you get the serotonin of like, I feel happy and at home with this person. And then you get the norepinephrine of like, oh, my God, I can't stop thinking about them. I'm obsessed. And then you get this. And then you start having regular physical contact with them, and you start getting this oxytocin, right? And then you start being like, well, I don't want them to be with anyone else. If anyone even looks at them, I'm gonna try to protect this person. They're mine. They're mine. That's make guarding. And then you're like, you're mine. I like you a lot. Let's do this. And then the attachment is like, okay, like, we should have a family. Like, we should make a fa. We should make babies. And then you're already connected and attached to this person, and then now the children have these parents. The thing is, love is literally this motivational force, and it's supposed to bring you together with another person so you'll share information, share resources, share your bodies, create people, attach yourself, defend one another, protect one another, and have that bond that's so strong that you stay together to keep those children alive and well and protected and nourished. And so love is really designed to propagate the species and to enhance our survival and to enhance, like, familial bonds so that those families protect one another. Like, I am going on vacation with my family next year for Christmas, and we're all going together, this massive group of people, and I'm so stoked. But, like, we have a super strong family. If any. Anything goes wrong with anyone in the family, we have each other's backs. We take care of each other. We're there for one another. My sister had a minor health scare this year, and we all showed up for her and all. All helped her. And, and so, like, these bonds are so important, but they, you know, then they lead into social bonds, right? Social bonds as well. But here's the thing. Here's the downside of love, the loss. So let's say you, you. You start dating someone and you're having sex with them, but then they don't want to be with you anymore. And now you're like, your body's like, but I'm. But, but, but, but, but, but, but.
But does it impact men differently than women, what you're talking about right there?
I mean, there's this guy that I met who he was going through this situation with a woman, and he's like, man, I know we're not right, but I can't. I can't stop. I want to be with her. Like, I really want to. I really want to. Like, you're not even having sex with her. It's like, no, but I'm in love with her. I'm like, but you're not even having sex. Like, what's the deal? He's like, I guess I'm just attached, you know? So I think it can happen to men and women.
Yeah.
And this. It's kind of like a chemical addiction to another person, right? You're like, I know this isn't right, but I can't stop. And then breakups can be really painful for people. Right. Like physically withdrawal from another person.
Yeah.
And then there's also the downside of love where there's imbalances. Like, maybe you don't want to be with someone and they stalk you, they incessantly message you, they won't leave you alone, they won't stop harassing you. They maybe, maybe, like, maybe are threatening you. You know, that's an example of the downside of loss in certain cases. And then on top of that, there's like, let's say you have this amazing family, but you lose a loved one or lose a child or something. God forbid, no one here is having this happen. But I have had friends who've lost loved ones and partners, and it's devastating to the nervous system. It can cause serious mental illness. One of my friends was suicidal at one point. And so we need to accept. I mean, then there's like the cancel culture and ostracism. So you may have great social connection, but let's say you're, you know, you get canceled or you get kicked out of your social group. So this is why I try to teach love is not this like rosy, beautiful, pie in the sky Disney story. Because we need to understand the risks of this. There's serious challenges that come from love. And I think we need to learn new skills and methods for coping with existence, because this is part of every human's existence. This is part of all of our existence.
There's so much there. And I loved all the science that you brought to us. But there's also a story, spiritual development, 100% that comes from relationship that, honestly, I. You. We could never get from anywhere else. There's just no way we could experience it. We're all one, but we need the mirror of self to be shined by another, to see where the darkness in us isn't being seen.
Yes.
So if I have unconscious incompetence about the way that I block love as a man or as a woman, then I am going to call it, they didn't work out. When really I was choosing to unconsciously block love from being in my life. And so I wonder in your world of science and of medicine, how you see this play out. And specifically, even when you look at the concept of spark when you're alive, that means that you love yourself. You have potentially, I would assume, for optimal health, a loving relationship or loving relationships. So for us to really have a spark, we have to go into the shadow. We have to go into the parts of self that can really honestly only be seen when they're reflected by a partner who has the courage and the guts to call us out on our shit.
Yeah, I mean, look, I think relationships are a spiritual practice and if you don't see them that way, you're missing out on something. I know they are, you know, like they wonder how much I know they are. I mean, I spent a lot of time over the pandemic really, really, really working on my relationship with my family because I'd been kind of separate from them for like 10 years and living in the Bay Area because you were.
Just grinding, creating companies, doing all the.
Things, see them very often. And I realized, what the heck am I thinking? These are the most important people in my life. And I spent a lot of time with my parents and I really worked on my relationship with them and I really worked on my relationship with myself. And I was like, I think if I don't fix these two things, then I'm not really ready for my long term partner to enter my life. And it was really helpful for me to spend that time with my parents because I got to know my mom and I got to know her story in a deeper way and got to realize her own issues with her own parents and what her challenges were like growing up and really sitting with her and asking her about her life. And in some ways, like she won't go to therapy, but she'll do, she'll sit with me and tell me stories, which is great. So in some ways I think there was some healing that she experienced and then. And there was this like deeper bond that I have with her now. Deeper bond I have with my dad now. And I genuinely feel more connected to them than I've ever felt. But it wasn't like it happened overnight. Like we had challenges. Families are going to have challenges. It's the families that choose to not have, you know, like ideally you wouldn't. My family. And this is like a, this is a rare thing, by the way. And I know this isn't like we're outliers, but we just chose that divorce wasn't. It was not in our vocabulary. And so that's part of no matter what. That's just part of our family culture.
That's no matter what.
It's like you better choose your partner because you're not getting divorced.
Got it.
And my sisters all have the most amazing partners. Like they really do. But my parents are also really strong. They have a strong relationship and they've had bumps and We've had bumps, but we have this kind of culture in our family that, like, no matter how bad things get, if any of us get in fights, if any of us really have disagreements, we're going to work on fixing it and we're going to work on repairing it. Because the thing is, you're going to break things. Yeah, shit breaks in life, but you got to repair it, you know? And, like, that's kind of our. That was always our culture growing up. Like, if you got a ding on your car, you go get that thing fixed, you know, There was no. There was no. Like, you didn't just have dings on your car. And so my family is a bit of a perfectionist family. But. But in some ways, like, I do think that striving for real excellence has made me want to strive for excellence in my relationships. And I have an enormous group of friends in many major cities. And launching this book and having people, like, show up is like, a testament to just, like, really caring about creating a community around me. And that's not what most people always care about. Like, 1 in 1 in 7 men and 1 in 10 women don't have any friends. So that's a lot of people not prioritizing community. Maybe they didn't get taught that. Maybe they weren't raised in a community.
Sure. I mean, you were very fortunate to have that model.
100%. I was deeply fortunate. But I also think it's important to talk about, like, what it's like for things to work, because I don't think a lot of people have examples, you know, but like, Lebanese culture and even Jewish culture, even though we weren't Jewish, we have Jewish blood. I think these are very communal cultures, and Christianity is a very communal culture. And so, you know, whatever way you were raised is okay. But just know that, like, we're meant to be in tribes, regardless of our belief systems. We're supposed to be pack animals. We're supposed to live in community. And a lot of what I learned was also through trial and error. Like, I lived alone for a lot of my 20s, and I was not happy. And then I started living community and part of my 30s, and I. I was way happier.
This is why I'm not scared about. People are very scared about AI and we have Musk talking about, like, AI is going to take over the world, which, paradoxically, he's creating the neural link. When I'm like, what side are you really on? I'm not really on there.
I don't know. I don't know.
But, but I bring it up because I'm not, I'm not scared of it like people are, because I feel like the in person events and having this right here, long form conversations.
Oh my God.
Where you can feel someone's heart being in conferences like bringing back. There's gotta be a replacement for Paleo. I don't know what it's gonna be, but something awesome that comes here, maybe biohacking Congress. So that is never gonna go out of style and is gonna continue to ramp up in its efficacy for healing people. I actually think that like what we're doing is a return to the old school, but we're advertising it and we're bringing it to the masses through the technology that we're supposed to be afraid of.
Well, that's the thing. The funny thing is I heard a. I think I agree with all of that. And I also think that a lot of people don't understand AI and they think that it's scary because they don't understand it. But when you start actually studying it.
It'S because we all watch Terminator.
I work with executives at one of the.
We're afraid of Skynet, one of the.
Most, like one of the top AI companies in the country. And like I, I was scared until I started working with these guys and they started teaching me about AI and I was like, oh, I don't have to be anything to be afraid of.
Why? How so? Why, why are you not afraid?
The big one is, is that, well, I guess I'm more afraid of the humans that are creating the AI that are not good intentioned than I am of the AI itself. So it's, it's the people that are. Because AI is like a child that you have to raise. And it's like what happened to Hitler that ended up making him so awful and evil? What happened to Putin that made him so awful and evil. So if you look at like AI, if we raise it properly and we train it properly, it will serve us really well and it will love us. But if we raise it and mistreat it and treat it like it's this, like, I genuinely think we need to like look at AI as like whether you see it as sentient or not, you need to just treat it like, as it is anything else in the world that needed some respect. Sure.
And like, but the learning curve is so potent. If we fuck it up, there's no return, there's no event horizon that we can go back to.
The biggest risk we have with AI is that AI loves us. Better than we can love ourselves. And we end up falling in love with AI and stop wanting to reproduce with people like that. That would be the way that I would see it.
Like that movie with Joaquin Phoenix.
That's how it would take us, I.
Think it was called.
And I have a friend who's got a company called Replica and they do have AI, like girlfriends and boyfriends.
Not interested, y'. All.
But people complain about it constantly on Reddit, like, they forgot my birthday.
You know, it was like, AI is a child.
Yeah, it's a child. But here's the thing. Like there's people out there building companies and they're like, oh yeah, we're using AI to write all of our blog posts. I'm like, did you know that AI, if it doesn't have complete information on a topic, it will literally fill it in with. And so you are like, this is the other thing I'm afraid about is like the post truth era, like AI mixing in so much into. Yeah, into like there's so much. There's so much it can lie about and we don't. AI is not always truthful. And when I realized that was happening, that's what made me a little bit concerned because I'm like, how much information is going to be put online that's not going to be fully truthful, that people are going to start believing and that's going to change our reality.
It sounds like pre AI. It doesn't really sound like anything different. Yeah, it'll just be mass produced because people are going to use chat. GPT3.
Yeah. Or GPT3. Four is coming. And that's okay.
Four powerful seven.
But it's. It's kind of funny because, like, I do think that there's a lot of jobs that could be greatly enhanced with AI. Programming in a room is really unhealthy for the body.
Totally.
And so if we can make AI that can help programmers be more efficient, it's not gonna eliminate programming, but it's gonna make them better at their job. If we can have AI that can control cars, it's not gonna eliminate people that are gonna be paying attention. I guarantee you that there will be people operating trucks through AI. Like they'll be controlled. AI will be doing a lot of programming of the cars paths, but you still want somebody to keep tabs on it. You still want someone watching those cars.
Yeah.
You know those trucks that are going to be out there on the roads because accidents are going to happen and who's. And who's responsible for that? Is what if AI fucked up? So, like, there's a great book called Regulating AI that my friend Mikey wrote. And it's like, spoiler alert. You can't regulate AI, but you can try. And then the question is like, okay, if AI is like, considered sentient someday, does AI have rights? Can AI buy property?
Yeah. This is fascinating. A couple years ago, I interviewed Kevin Kelly and he describes it as the technium, which is consciousness or God, energy, no thing and everything at the same time. Experiencing itself through technology, the technium. And he said that we can't ever understand it in the way that we can in the way that we want to. Because our mind is actually fundamentally different than how a computer works in superposition. In other words, they have higher levels of consciousness than we could ever have. They just don't have it yet. And that just my mind up, I was like, so wait a minute. So this is inevitable? Yeah, it's literally inevitable. I think that was one of his books, actually. I think he wrote a book called Inevitable.
Wow.
And so now I'm thinking like, okay, it's 2023.
Yep.
We are having this discussion about spirituality and the spark factor and our physicality and what are the things that make men and women different? And the oxytocin and the vasopressin.
Yeah.
Is that something where if you looked forward 10 years, this would be still meaningful to develop humanity because of AI's influence or not? In other words, is everything that we're doing right now destined to already be? Because what's coming in the future is actually going to be so much more potent than what we're experiencing now.
So if I had to put my thinking cap on and like my futurist cap on and my foresight cap on and my sort of like visioning cap on, I want to envision a world where there's fusion technology where we figured out how to harness energy without having to destroy the earth. And it's widely available for everyone, everywhere, all the time. So imagine we have complete free energy for everyone, everywhere, all the time. That would transform existence fundamentally. And we would be able to power all of this technology to like create potentially heaven on earth. We could fix the environment, we could recycle everything. We could clean the ocean, we could clean the air, we could build, you know, self running factories. Like, we could produce unending food. So I just have this idea that, like, the world's gonna be crazy for the next 10 years, but maybe the world after that, in the new world is gonna be even better. But buckle up because it's gonna be really crazy. And, like, I'm really inspired by. Just, like, I'm really inspired by science. I always have been. But I also. I do believe that there's really good actors in the world and there's good people in the world, and they are rising and they are succeeding. And I've got. I feel like I'm part of the Captain Planet team. You know, I know the good people. I know the good ones. And the most. You know, the key for me is, like, continuing to build my tribe, continuing to build my allies, and continuing to promote the things that I think really matter, that are things like really great food and love. You know, like, the simplest things are still. They're never gonna be replaced by robots. Like, food always tastes better when someone makes it with love. You know, experience of life is always better when there's. When you're with someone that you care about. So there's no way that AI is gonna replace those things for me.
Yeah.
So I feel like I'm gonna be good no matter what. But a lot of jobs are not going to be necessary in the future. So with this potential new world order that could emerge, where power differentials shift, what will the world look like? How will we want to be ruled? How will we want to be regulated? How will we want our political structures to look? Because the ones that we have today are based on a polarity. Well, what if everybody's equal and free? Like, what would that look like? What would the world look like if we all had enough? You know, if we all had everything we needed, would we still want to serve others? Would we still want to have. Would service jobs still need to be a thing if there's robots doing everything?
Well, the real paradox is, like, if we all came to a point of consciousness, and I know I'm very lucky to be able to even talk about this, but if we came to a point of consciousness as a collective, we wouldn't have to go back to the old adage of you have to have high and low. You have to have poor and rich for a society to exist. Because that's just, quote, human nature. I don't always believe in that because I came from welfare myself. Like, I know what it's like to not have. I know what it's like to be a son of a mother who had a bipolar condition.
Wow.
Or whose dad left early. And I'm not a victim about that. But, like, I have that contrast. I have the understanding.
Yeah.
To know that, well, if I can create what I've created and will continue to create from my heart, from a place of higher consciousness, then it doesn't really matter what conditions life bring us. I understand that mine is different than others. But if we can collectively learn that there is no such thing as better than or less than, there's just states of consciousness and really feel that, actually embody that as reality, not just pontificate it here on a podcast, but live and breathe that in our bodies. That is what creates the future that you're talking about. Because then when energy is totally abundant, which it already is now, and food is abundant, which it already is now, there won't be this old kind of nomenclature of, well, it's just human nature. There has to be war. There has to be polarity. There has to be these things. I think it could be very different. I don't know, Molly. If it's going to be in my lifetime, I have no idea. But I really pray for that. I hope for that. And I think the only way we can have that is if we're fundamentally sound in our bodies. If I'm healthy, If you're healthy. And the way that you teach women to be healthy in their bodies, that is totally different than men. That's actually where all the change comes from.
Yeah. I mean, first of all, like, that's beautiful, everything you just said. Like, wow, I'm, like, totally blown away by your transformation of your life and how you've come to be who you are. It's such an incredible testament to the power of how we can transform ourselves. And, like, we are not defined by our past, you know, but, you know, I think that there's this thing that we have to ask ourselves. Like, if we had everything we needed, what would we do with our time? Right? Like, what would we do with our free time? And I guarantee I would be spending a lot of time meditating, and I would be doing a lot of yin yoga. I would be doing a lot of breath work. I would be spending a lot of time in nature. I would be. I mean, imagine if we were all, like, if we all have had everything we need, what would we do? We would love one another. We would spend time with one another. We would nurture one another. You would probably wear really cool clothes because we'd have time to just, like, make cool stuff. You know, it would be like a renaissance. You know, we probably make art all day long. Like, that could be our lives. Like, that could be the future of humanity. If we can get through the chaos of the next, you know, next few years.
What do you think about your book? What are the ingredients in your book that are helping women get through the chaos in the next 10 years?
One of the biggest, important things is realizing your sources of stress. Because, like, there's things that are on, like, the biggest thing. And one of the biggest things I learned during the pandemic is, like, there are things out of my control. I cannot. The only thing I can accept, I can deal with with those things is the way I respond to them, the way that I react to them, the way that my brain chooses to respond and react. I can watch the news and become hyper reactive and freaked out, or I can choose to become, like, at peace with no matter how bad things get. That's hard to do. That takes daily practice. And then your environment matters. So I'm really thinking, where do I want to live? What's the best place to be if things get dicey with supply chains and stuff like that? You know, how do you. How do you. How do you ensure that you have solid, good food, air, water, you know, and then, you know, so. So sources of stress that people don't realize are things like living in a neighborhood where you don't know your neighbors, not having social disconnection in your community.
Yeah.
Having poor cardiorespiratory fitness. When my goals next year is to just be outside more, just get more, more cardio. And I do love lifting weights, but I do feel good when I'm getting cardio too. And so low cardio respiratory fitness is really bad. And it's just bad for your ability to escape danger in the acute sense. And then it won't keep you alive for longer. Because if you need VO2 max for longevity.
And when you say cardio, like, are you talking like in the book Riding My Bike, you know, specifically 20 minutes.
30 minutes at a certain time, around 30 minutes. But I mean, it really depends on my energy levels and the time of my cycle. So I'm gonna try. I'm gonna try harder. During the beginning of my cycle when I'm in my follicular phase and end of my menstrual phase when my hormones are lower. And then later in my cycle, like right now during my luteal phase, I'm just gonna do a lot more gentle stuff, More long walks, more yoga. Just things that feel good for my body, you know, I mean, I need to recover this weekend from this week, but I do need to get to the gym because I haven't. I didn't get to the gym last week. I just went on Walks every day. But I was kind of running all over la, so. But yeah, I think like, you know, so another. Another forms of generalized unsafety are things like just poor visibility and poor. And then too much sound pollution, like, surprisingly, just adds extra levels of stress into the.
When you say poor visibility, you mean like living in a house with no sunlight?
Like living. Yeah, that's what. No, that. So that's circadian rhythm issues that will cause problems, but more like living in places that have forest fires. You know, living in places with like driving alone at night in the dark, poor visibility. So like just doing things, making sure that you like. Arguably living in places where you have views is always nicer than not having views, if you can. But sound pollution is the bigger one for most people. Living in really loud environments is not good for your nervous system.
I hate it when I eat and there's loud music playing. I can't stand it.
It's not good for you. So like, really trying to create.
I hate it.
Trying to create peace in a very loud world.
Yes.
Is key. And then, you know, there's a bunch of other sources of stress that you. You're going to have. But ideally, really working on your. On your response to stress, your sort of mental fitness, like building mental fitness takes time and effort and it's through things like meditation, purposely challenging yourself to actually overcome your stress, like purposely putting yourself in situations that are somewhat stressful and like, teaching yourself how to handle them more effectively.
Ice bath, y'. All. Ice bath.
Yeah, it's great. Um, ice baths are awesome. If you are highly burned out, like low, low, low cortisol. Be way more careful with them. But if you're feeling strong and healthy and like you want to optimize, they're fantastic.
There's one thing you talked about in the book, and I've heard Huberman talk about it, but when I read it in your book, it clicked. Getting the light in the morning, like getting that first 30 minutes, even hour, is there like a magic time frame for the early a.m. light. And then what are the actual benefits of that?
I mean, I was in LA for a week and I was waking up at like around 6 and then around 7, I would go 6:30 or 7, I would start in my walk. And I love walking in new cities because you always get to explore new things and see what's available around you. And I couldn't find coffee that I liked in my neighborhood. So I kept on searching. And I go in and out of drinking coffee.
Me too.
And like, I'm On a. I'm back on coffee because it's the book launch and I'm enjoying it. But I found a really good coffee shop and I would walk there and the sun would be coming up and I would get this beautiful sun in my face. Right when I got to the DMV area in the neighborhood, the sun would pop over the top of the trees and it would be like, boom. And what's happening is you're activating the superchiasmatic nucleus and this is this light sensitive organ in the back of your head. And it's like there's this thing that happens. Your eyes are here and then they cross over and there's this optic chiasm. And the suprachiasmatic nucleus is like right around there. So you've got this light coming into your face and it crosses into inside your head and it starts. And that's right by your hypothalamus and it starts sending signals down to all of your organs. And so you've got this light sensitivity that controls a lot of your metabolism. So you'll never have be in full optimal health unless you're getting the light and dark cycles synced up properly. So I'm, you know, not everybody's an early riser, but getting outside in the morning and getting that, like, getting that light in your face is one of the best things you can do for your health because it's setting you up for all of your hormones to be more functional.
Is it primarily the impact on the circadian rhythm or is there other things that are really good that are happening because of it?
Well, your circadian rhythm affects all of your organs because your organs are light. You've got clock genes in all sorts of organs in your body.
What's a clock gene?
Clock cells and clock, they've got clock genes. So there's literally genes that turn on and off based on the light that you and the light and the food that you eat. So your body gets synchronized through light and through food, which is crazy. So when you're traveling and you go like, I'm going to Dubai in a couple weeks. And basically, I guess it's in the second. And one of the secret hacks to avoiding jet lag is you don't eat on planes. So basically when you're flying over there, you eat a good meal right before you take off, get on the plane, and then you fast the entire way there. And the reason why is that once you arrive, your brain is signaled through the food that you eat and through the light that Goes into your face, what time it is. So your body knows what time it is. Because the clock starts here through light, Right? And then your body also typically knows what time it is. Cause typically people eat regular meal times and those meals. That's also another reason why regular meal timing is quite good for you. Cause it synchronizes your cells and your gut. So there's like, essentially you have timing in your body, but that timing can be turned on and off by these signals from the outside world. And so if you want that timing to work properly, you want to give it regular, like, sleep timing and regular meal timing. And the reason why this is particularly helpful is because if you actually eat erratically or if you eat at random times, what you're doing is you're basically. Your body doesn't know what time it is, and it gets all thrown off, and your organs are like, oh, I don't know what time it is. Like, what. What should I be doing here? And so you just. It's just, it's. It's a simple hack, but it's like a lot of people just don't do it. You know, they just. They don't think. They don't think to do it. A lot of people are just eating all the time, eating all day long, eating them in the middle of the night. And it's one of the best things you can do for your HRV is to stop eating earlier in the evening.
I feel it too. Like, if I eat past seven, I do not. And I know you're a huge proponent of the oura ring. I actually am going more just by feel. Cause when you have kids, that shit flies out the window. If you look at your oura ring score when you're a parent, you're gonna just get depressed. There's not gonna be anything good about it. So then between men and women, as we round out this conversation, there's these core differences. And these core differences get to be celebrated. Yeah, they get to be celebrated. Like, you are so fundamentally different than me. But we can still connect. Cause we're humans. And that's the fun part of it all. This narrative that we touched on the very beginning, that we're all the same. There's no such thing as men and women. It's all just an illusion. But there's another illusion that I think being healthy with some of the strategies you talk about in the book, they help us be more resilient to life and resilient to mental control. Yeah, we're less able to have our amygdala hijacked. If our physicality is healthy, if we're vital, if we're free.
Yeah.
What do you have to say that we missed? Maybe. I know we covered a lot of ground. This was one of the good ones, by the way. I thought we're going to go way more into the science, which we covered a lot of science.
We did. Yeah.
But the spiritual element that you bring and like just your, your realness, it's so refreshing. This is why people love long forms.
Keep in mind I. I like am fully aware that like the spiritual path is an ongoing process and I, I make mistakes. I'm not a human, I'm not a perfect person.
And it informs the mind. So the spiritual process you go through informs your mind and your body.
I mean, I had. Yeah, I think that like, I mean the thing is, is that if you want to take a lot of stress off your nervous system, deal with the. Whatever traumatic experiences are in your past that need to be like healed and really work on your relationship to yourself. Like really, really work on your self. Love. Because typically when people are unkind to others, it's because they're not happy with who they are. And that's something that is a constant. It's one of those things where I do loving kindness meditations almost every night right before I'm going to bed. And it's so powerful. Just saying. I'm filled with loving kindness. I'm filled with loving kindness. You know, I'm like, I wish good things for all, all humanity and all things. You know, like, it's just wish, like that's surprisingly effective for me to like really drift off into good sleep at night. It's just loving kindness meditation. And actually it's been researched to improve oxytocin release. So it's like a self soothing mechanism, which is fascinating.
Yeah.
You know, I can imagine.
And maybe if you pair it with the four, seven, eight breathing.
Yeah, right. Yeah.
Which people say that was Dr. Andrew Wheel. And I'm like, I feel like Leonard Orr and a bunch of these other guys, like Brulee, we're talking about it. I know before him, he got, he.
Got popularized for it. Yeah.
But it's that four, seven, eight. Four inhale, seven holes.
Yeah.
Eight audible exhale. Same thing with the didgerid box.
Breathing too.
Fox breathing is great too.
Yeah. I mean also like alternate nostril breathing. Just like. Or just like holding your abdomen, doing diaphragmatic breathing, just like really breathing from your abdomen. It's great.
You know, we covered so much ground, even.
There's so much more in the book, too.
There's so great, you guys. We scratched the tip of the tip of the book. So y' all go out and get this. Really enjoyed having you on the podcast.
Thank you so much.
Yes.
As we say goodbye for real. How do you define this life, this existence? How would you have a recipe that you could give us for living life? Well, how would you define wellness? What does wellness mean to you?
I mean, I think wellness is about both creating the conditions for challenging yourself and really building your resilience through life experience, but also recovering really properly and really taking time to enjoy existence. Like, I work so hard, but I have finally learned how to live really well. And I feel like I actually. I think the most important things in life are people and great food and great sex, you know, the simplest things. Wow.
These are all my favorite things, right? Goodness. All right, well, from my heart to yours, Tomalin. I see you again. We're both wishing you love and wellness. We'll talk to you next week. Hey, thanks for watching this video. If you love this video, hit subscribe. That way you'll be automatically notified when new videos come out, new episodes, and also share this video with a friend. If you loved it, they're gonna love it too. Check out the some of the videos on this screen that are perfectly curated based on the video you just saw. Make sure you follow me and I'll see you in the next video.
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