Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: In the military, it's not just about combat and PTSD, it's about what are you doing. The 90% of your life is just managing the stresses that come with living, being a human being. Right. And that's in uniform and outside the uniform. So what can we do to provide them the tools, the techniques, the strategies, but starting with the know how, right, that these things work to be able to have greater control of our physiology in the moment and more importantly make that connection to the mind, body connection so that we can use both of those and we can be in a balanced state of what we've been talking about and that's coherence.
[00:00:36] Speaker B: So when we drop down into our heart and we breathe through the area of our chest or right at the level of our sternum, we're actually putting a mechanical compression on the heart to reset its rhythm. It's one of the ways that we're able to shift the rhythm of the heart.
[00:00:52] Speaker C: So.
[00:00:53] Speaker B: So coherence is a rhythm of the heart. The rhythm can either be coherent, which is a pattern that is in sync, or incoherent.
[00:00:59] Speaker A: I think we've been pointing at technology as a bad thing for a little bit of a time here because we know that we've been training add in our kids just because they want to scroll and that dopamine button they're pressing and they want to see what's next other likes and otherwise. This is the beauty of the program in the military. And what we're doing here is that we're leveraging the technology. It's not going to go away anytime soon, just like stress is not going to go away anytime soon. So what are we doing to leverage technology to empower them with this technology to co create their own resilience and for optimal performance.
[00:01:37] Speaker C: Welcome to Harmonize youe Life. Conversations that inspire, awaken and harmonize. I'm your host Kingsley Willis and each week we talk with experts in functional medicine, therapy, technology, quantum biology and personal growth. Today we have Patrick Norduli joining us to discuss how to self regulate to perform at our best biohacking. Patrick is a 20 year veteran, 20 year Navy veteran and an expert in human performance and resilience building. I'm also joined by our Chief Energy Officer Amanda Carpenter as my co host. So Patrick, welcome to the podcast. I appreciate you being here today. Just tell us a little bit about, tell us your story, like how did you get here?
[00:02:23] Speaker A: Yeah. Well Kingsley, thanks. Thanks for having me. Amanda. Kingsley, it's always wonderful to share some time with all of you here.
Well In a former Life, I served 20 years in the military and I saw a lot of different changes within a lot of our members. And as you can expect, we really good at self regulating in front of everybody else. Right. At least that's what we're projecting, is that we're self regulating. But I've also saw the other side of the spectrum of that is a lot of our members disintegrate in front of me. Literally. Right. And just because they were not aware of what was going on in their body, making that mind, body connection and then being able to have the tools and the strategies and the techniques actually shift in the moment and be able to optimize the performance in that same moment. Right. And so a lot of that coming full, full turn for me was as a hospital corpsman, medical side of the house on the blue side and green side is what we say, blue side being our blue side. Navy shipboard deploying in the expectations out there to perform at your best and then the greenside Navy deploying with our Marine Corps. And if you didn't know this, the, the naval service is Marine Corps and Navy. Marine Corps doesn't always want to, to claim that, but we are their medical and we support them in that way. And so I've had the opportunity to deploy with both and see the challenges that we struggle with as the men and women that deploy, but also the rewards of wearing the uniform and continue to, to serve this beautiful country that we have.
[00:03:56] Speaker C: Wonderful.
So you come from the military background.
How did Aya a holistic wellness platform, like how do you bring those together? And I'm assuming that Amanda had something to do with it.
[00:04:14] Speaker A: Amanda's got something to do with everything.
She's a connector of the heart.
And it's a great question, Kingsley. A lot of the work that I do and it's centered and you wouldn't hear this, you wouldn't think to hear this in our military is a holistic approach. We've realized a long time ago that it isn't just a one stop shop of building skills. We're really good at that. Right. So what are we doing holistically to look at what's contributing to our overall resilience.
And there's a lot of different areas that we look at that's mind, body, spirit, social, emotional by the way, which a lot of our military members probably don't talk about what we're going to get into today, I hope to really understand how emotions drive our physiology. And there's two different systems at play there and when we can really dial that in, we can really optimize our performance. And then more importantly, at the end of the day, we have energy for those things that matter most in our life.
And so just to back it up a little bit, I'm a split asset to two different organizations, one that I've been part of for a period of 15 years and that's really looking at combat and operational stress control, bringing those programs to the operational military forces, given all those tools and everything that we do is science based, evidence backed, really never being static, but trying to answer the call. What are we doing to equip the men and women before they deploy? So in the moment, right, they can, they can work on that resilience. And so I'm going to bring a new definition to the audience here of resilience. Often we just think about bouncing back and it's one dimensional. The way we want to look at this is our capacity, right, to prepare for that means prior to any event that's going to be coming forward. And this can be applied to anybody in the world that's struggling or has any challenges relative to us. Right? To be able to perform under stress at any given time. Right. To be able to sustain that performance and then to recover quicker after any kind of challenging or stressful event. We just know the power of that. And Amanda and I speak the same language because we're certified under the same institute, she's got many more of the certifications, but nonetheless we speak the same language of appreciating that we have a human inner battery. And what are we doing to contribute to that on a daily basis? Because we are absolutely giving and taking throughout our day. And there's a two way communication that's happening between our mind and our body. So what do we do to build that, right, that self awareness and then be able to self regulate in those moments. The other side of the house that I contribute to and center my work around is under one of the premier research groups here in San Diego where they're really trying to make the warfighter better, faster, stronger in everything that they do. And so this allows me to really dig into the science.
I'm a scientist at heart. I just love this stuff and really digging into at the cell level, what can we do to maybe unlock the potential of the human species but really show up in a better way that we're contributing to community at the end of the day.
So a lot of the work that I do is about the individual and how they can perform in that moment. But as importantly, we're talking about our teammates because that's the organization that we're part of and a bigger mission.
[00:07:35] Speaker C: Yeah, that's really interesting. And I'm so curious to hear what we as regular people can learn from your biohacks and we'll get to that. So Amanda, tell us how you, how did you meet Patrick? How did you bring him into the fold here at aya?
Tell me that story.
[00:07:56] Speaker B: Yeah, so Patrick and I have been connecting in biohacking for several years now, 2019 maybe ish. We met through HeartMath Institute.
We were both actually participating in a training through the Heart Method Institute together and connected that way and then just started to have a couple of one on one calls that we just called biohacking calls talking about the science of the human body and how we can upgrade our physiology and the things that we could be doing. My background in health and wellness and in empowerment of what the individual can do for their own health and vitality and all the science behind that is something that I've been doing for years. So kind of just chatting about that with Patrick and what the work that he was doing, we just would have these like jam sessions talking about human performance. And so that went on for several years. We would just talk every couple of months and you know, kind of catch up. What is he up to? What have I been up to?
And Patrick introduced me to the Oura Ring several years ago. Like when we met, he introduced me. So it was probably like six years ago we met because I've been involved with using the Oura Ring for coaching with my clients for about six years. So prior to that I didn't know anything about the Oura ring. And he was deep involved in some research with the Navy using the Oura ring. So I'm like, well, tell me more. And he made me comfortable enough to start using the Oura Ring to coach to. And I was like, wow, the power of this.
So really when, when I got into AYA and the possibilities of AYA on the human physiology side, it was a natural connection with Patrick knowing the wearables and how to integrate the wearables with technology and the human, he's been involved in the research of that for many years now. It was a natural fit to bring him into iFit to do that for us.
[00:09:50] Speaker C: Amanda, we have these. So we start our meetings with something called coherence. So our internal IM meetings, we do this thing called a two minute coherence.
Do you want to talk us through that, Patrick? Like what, what is that. And should we maybe do one right now?
[00:10:08] Speaker A: Heck, yeah.
Hey. As always, I think. And we may even get an opportunity within this. This power hour together to actually speak to it even more in depth. But just as an overview, you know, we've realized that there's so much power within the heart, and we recognize that those emotions that drive that driver physiology. As I shared. Right. The autonomic nervous system we talk about, most people recognize it as a fight or flight response, but it also drives our hormones and in the release of those 1400 different biochemicals and changes that are happening within our body, those processes that renew us or deplete us. And so what we often like to do here within our group is we recognize that if we can get out of our heads and into our hearts, that we can connect with one another at a deeper, more authentic level. And the creativity that comes out of the room once that happens is just something that can't be measured, although coherence can be measured. But really, the. The effects of this are just incredible. So let's take us through it. I'll ask everybody, and I'll invite you, of course, to close your eyes. If you are comfortable, I'd love to take away one of the senses. So you really drop into your heart.
And even if you, you know, drop your feet to the ground, get grounded, your hips as well.
And then I'll ask you to focus in the area of your chest or heart area, breathing in a little slower and deeper than usual.
And if it's helpful, you can always place your hand on your heart because you know, where you place your focus, the energy will follow as you continue your heart. Focus, breathing.
Find a rhythm that's comfortable.
Let's take a moment.
Think of someone or something in your life, maybe an experience that brings you a feeling, joy, appreciation, care, or love it.
As you continue this hard focus, breathing, imagine radiating that emotion and that feeling out to every part of your body and to everyone on this call.
Let's do this for another 30 seconds. And I will keep time.
And when you are ready with your toes, with your body, open your eyes, Bring attention back to the room. Thank you, Kingsley. It was really good.
[00:14:24] Speaker C: Wow.
That was something. I honestly, because we're recording here, I didn't really think I would go anywhere, but that was.
That was pretty powerful.
Yeah. Wow. I have this thing where, because I've got lights on in here, but my eyes were closed, but as I was breathing in, I could feel this, like, almost like fluttering. I don't. I don't know what that was. It was kind of.
I never felt that before. Very bizarre.
[00:14:59] Speaker A: Was a great idea.
Tap into the. The wisdom in the room, because Amanda knows deeply about the body at the cell level as well as I understand that she continues to mentor me. Amanda, would you mind sharing. What's your thoughts on that?
[00:15:15] Speaker B: Yeah. So interesting. Kingsley. So when we drop down into our heart and we breathe through the area of our chest or right at the level of our sternum, we're actually putting a, like, mechanical compression on the heart to reset its rhythm. It's one of the ways that we're able to shift the rhythm of the heart. So coherence is a rhythm of the heart. The rhythm can either be coherent, which is a pattern that is in sync, or incoherent, which is out of sync. So if we think of a crew boat, everybody on the crew boat rowing together in a coherent pattern, in sync, if some of them are out of sync, it would be an incoherent pattern. So you may very well have been in an incoherent pattern, and it was bringing you into a coherent pattern, and you were feeling that. And it's not uncommon for people to experience that, which can actually kind of be scary because, wait a minute, like, it can hijack their mind of, like, am I supposed to be feeling that? Is it okay? Is it not okay? So an arrhythmia can just be an incoherent pattern, and we actually have the ability to shift that within ourselves. So what I always say to people, just give it a few more minutes, you know, give it like two minutes, and see if that rhythm. See if that flutter goes away, and see if that rhythm comes into that coherent, balanced pattern. So there are a good number of people walking around this planet right now who have an incoherent pattern, the rhythm of their heart. Okay? So. And it's. It's not enough that would be recognized or picked up in the medical world, but it's enough to impact the physiology. And the pattern of the heart is influenced by the emotions and the energy that we're carrying. So ultimately, what I'm saying, there's a lot of people walking around this planet with depleting emotions that are inside of their body. So those would be, for example, anger, frustration, irritation, impatience, sadness, grief, apathy.
So those emotions, even though we think we're suppressing them, we think we're pushing that jack in the box down, they can express through the rhythm of our heart.
So people are walking around not even knowing and understanding. And when we start to look at heart rate variability. And we look at coherence, which is the pattern, the rhythm of the heart that improves our heart rate variability. This is where the most powerful change is. So of all the things that I know of human body and human performance, the most foundational piece is the nervous system and ultimately the rhythm of the heart and its impact on the nervous system.
[00:17:32] Speaker C: Yeah, that's wonderful. All right, so, Patrick, what.
What was the biohack there with the coherence?
Because I could tell you, like, I'm feeling. I won't say lightheaded, but I'm feeling, like, lighter in my head.
And sometimes when I do, like, the meditation, like the guided meditation, where it tells me, like, breathe in, hold it. You know, we talked about your. This idea of box breathing. Like, hold it. You know, breathing in for four seconds, holding it for four seconds, exhaling for four seconds, holding that for four seconds. And then I feel like that is it. It almost leads to some, like, lightheadedness, like, what is. What's happening there?
[00:18:17] Speaker A: No, I love these questions. And Kingsley, if we can. Well, let's. Let's bring it back a little bit. Really, really break it down. And so Kingsley was talking about some of the things that we use in the military box breathing, right? It's actually used at naval special warfare with our Navy seals. And it's a great way to ground yourself when you're having a sympathetic response. We say, right. An arousal. Because whatever the challenge may be, whether it's created by the mind or it's external, anything else that's going on around us. And so, as we know, and. And I'm sure many of our listeners know that there's all kinds of different breathings, you know, breath work that we do, different meditations. Mindfulness is. Is not a thing. It's a lifestyle. Right? And there's that drop into there, right? And this is one of those.
But for fun, what I really like to do is we like to empower, if this will be helpful. This is what we do with our military members right now, when I train mindfulness, there's this incredible system that we have at play here. And I often say that there's so much more going on below the neckline, right? There's incredible autonomic nervous system that is communicating with our brain and our brain to our body. Amanda and I speak this language all the time, that there's more information that's going to the brain than brain down to our body. But to empower the member at the rawest level, the most elementary level, I Want them to get in touch with their heart rate. And so again, I'll invite you to share an experience with me. And the way I'll explain this is, let's just take a moment, get yourself grounded. I'll invite you to close your eyes, if you will. And again, I like to take away that sense because I really want you to focus on what's going on within your body.
And the next thing I'll ask you to do, you can either follow, you know, of course, make sure you're in a safe space, but follow your jawline down to find your carotid.
And if you can't find that, it's always easy to follow the radius or the radial nerve down your thumb to get your radial pulse.
Whatever is easiest for you. Once you'll find it, you'll know if you don't call one of us here. We'll get you the right people.
All right? And taking notice there, what I really want you to notice is the nuance. We often think of the heart rate as something like a metronome just beating one beat at a time. We think about 60 seconds, 60 beats within a minute, right? Boom, boom, boom, boom. But the fact of the matter is that your body is responding to your heart rhythm, right? And your heart rate with every interaction we have with the world. And for instance, as you're sitting there with your eyes closed and breathing, as you inhale, you may start to notice that you have an increase in your heart rate that is your sympathetic turned on. And as you exhale, you may find that your heart rate is decreasing and that you're parasympathetic. So we know we have these beautiful branches, these two branches under the autonomic nervous system, automatic by the way, because it controls 90% of all the automatic things that happen in our body like breathing, digestion, our breath, etc. And so through your breath you can control this. So by being intentional with our breath and actually having a paced breath, we can actually down regulate that sympathetic response that we're often living in, right? This new normalized place that we're living. But how do we change that? And that's going to be with practice of engaging that parasympathetic with a slower exhale. But again, it is about that self awareness to be able to self regulate in that moment. So go ahead and open your eyes and Kingsley, I'll just share, I'll ask you, what did you experience as you inhale and exhale?
[00:22:07] Speaker C: Yeah, that was really interesting, I think. Yeah, I definitely felt the speeding up yeah, Again, I'm feeling like it's almost like just, just by regulating the breathing, I just feel like there's a lot more, I don't know, blood, blood flow is not really the right term, but I just feel like I'm a little more vital. There's more vitality.
It's like I did a shot of, you know, espresso or something. Yeah, it's crazy.
[00:22:44] Speaker A: And I think there's a lot of things that a manic and I can certainly tie into that. And especially when we get down at the, at the other side of the spectrum here of coherence and how that opens up that prefrontal cortex, right. Of actually opening up. I like always say open the aperture because it's so hyper focused. We've all been there, right, in the stress situation.
[00:23:02] Speaker C: But open the aperture. I'm going to stop you there. If you open the aperture, this is my filmmaking mind coming out. If you open the aperture, that means it's, it's actually creating less of a depth of field. But anyway, I understand what you're saying.
[00:23:19] Speaker A: I appreciate that and I'm always willing to grow. We are the growth mindset here.
So what I, what I love about doing that practice and what I, what I find on the other side is when we're talking about hrv, it's the best way to kind of expose them to understanding that it's not a steady flow, right. Of those heartbeats. There actually is a difference between the beat to beat that takes place on a daily basis. And so by you inhale and you've just done. You just experience and learn. That's the rawest form, the most elementary form of checking your HRV or feeling and experiencing hrv, which is the variation between the beats. We say the beat to beat measurements or differences in our heartbeat. And so that HRV is.
[00:24:04] Speaker C: What does HRV stand for?
[00:24:06] Speaker A: Heart rate variability. So what we do know is with higher variability, higher flexibility in the system, higher adaptability in the system, higher resilience in the system.
So as we define resilience rather than just a bouncing back, but understand that there's this capacity that you have within that we can improve that simply through breath work. Obviously there's a myriad of other ones if you talk to any elite athlete. And really I think when we think about hrv, anybody who understands that term, everybody is measuring when it comes down to performance in elite athletes, right. So now we're bringing in to understand that it has to do with, has to do with everything, with our ability to be resilient Right. From a physiological level, emotional level, and just from the ability to be able to respond at any given time. And I always like to bring in the UX Dotson just from a performance perspective and get into that zone of optimal performance. What does that look like? And we know at a lower level of arousal. So stress isn't a bad thing. Right? It's something that we can leverage and recognizing when we have greater flexibility in our system that we can respond to a challenge, sometimes intentionally, through coherence training. Right. We can sustain that performance.
But also, again, if we have high hrv, greater flexibility in our system, we can recover quickly. And so what does that really mean in our language? We say it's less energy expended. Because you and I both know when we're in a stress state, we use a lot of resources, right. But that's, that's in play for a reason. And if you go back from an evolutionary standpoint, that's what it's for, right? To fight or flight if need be. And today, you know, our fight or flight is for different reasons. But how important is it that just with our breath we can actually shift the use of these resources to a place again, we can leverage it, but then down, regulate. I always like to shift and reset.
Right. Whatever that set point is for you. So then now I'm going to have a little more energy in the tank so I can show up as who I want to show up as for those that matter most in my life.
[00:26:20] Speaker C: Love it. So. But that's not just for people who are being physical, right? Because I think of like the military is like they're. This is like they're under, like this physical kind of. They're doing a lot of physical work versus someone like me. I don't do. Sometimes I do physical work, but most of the time it's, I'm in front of my computer.
I'm not actually like doing a lot of physical work, but that can benefit anyone, right? It's not just those that are.
[00:26:51] Speaker A: Yeah, you're spot on, Kingsley. And, and that's what we, I think we have. Most people have a mistaken identity with the military. Is that. That's all it is, Right. So we look at all the different athletes in the world, right. And so military we look at as tactical athletes, but I look at them as cognitive athletes, right. Having a cognitive flexibility man. And I always talk about industrial athletes, right. There's all kinds we all want to be. When we say athletes, I'm thinking about somebody who wants to perform at A high level, whatever that looks like. And so we do know in the military it's not just about combat and PTSD, it's about what are you doing? The 90% of your life is just managing the stresses that come with living, being a human being. Right. And that's in uniform and outside the uniform. So what can we do to provide them the tools, the techniques and strategies, but starting with the know how. Right. That these things work to be able to have greater control of our physiology in the moment and more importantly, make that connection to the mind, body, connection, so that we can use both of those and we can be in a balanced state of what we've been talking about. And that's coherence. And so to your point, I will share with you, the way we bring it to our military members is every, every bit of way that I would bring it to the civilian sector, from the executive level to the tech, to anybody who's boots on the ground. There's such a value in just understanding a little bit of the psychophysiology, long word, which is a little bit of understanding the mind and the body and how they work together. Once we know those simple constructs, just like we just did there with the heart rate and that you have control of those things, if you're intentional and you're mindful of that, you really can shift how your physiology is responding.
And so when I say physiology, what I'm really tapping into is what something Amanda brought forward is our nervous system and how that also taps into our hormonal system when we're driving the use of those resources.
[00:28:49] Speaker C: Yeah. So let's talk about music. How does the music of Aya, for example, fit into this?
So what's the tie in for you?
[00:29:04] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:29:05] Speaker C: And is this even something that you could use in with the military or is that, would that be too. Woo woo.
[00:29:12] Speaker A: I think that's a great question, Kingsley. And I know we've had some fireside chats about this just because that is, that's probably for me to bring it to the military forces or either my construct. And as you can expect, most of my guys have their arms crossed until you start showing them the science. And here's the beauty of music. And what Michael and Amanda and the team are doing is in the beautiful wife Francesca, is that we're identifying that everything, everything has a frequency. And because our body is made up of, of water at the cell level, that we can shift those frequencies within our own body. And whether it's through breath or sound, we know that it Impacts that I start my day with it. I've always connected with music. It's just something that I grew up with. My father was a violinist for Chicago Symphony Orchestra. So as a child, that's where I was at.
And my parents were dancers. They just love to dance, right. Everything that you can expect, there was just always music in the home. And I knew it made me feel different. And there's certain different frequencies that change it. And I've used it in my life with binaural beats and otherwise for doing work to really tie into something. And so that's when I think about, you know, the Jordan, you know, law of performance. Again, I bring that in because, you know, in the past you've seen, and you've seen the Olympics, right? They kind of just slap themselves like a Michael Phelps getting ready for. He's got to ramp up to get into the zone and then he has to down regulate. That's the beauty of music. What I found with using Aya and within my own household is if you realize that if I'm going to get a workout in, man, I'll pop in a different frequency and then if I want to sustain that, I'll keep that frequency going and it's effortless. It really puts me in that zone. We were talking about that flow state we were talking about because now I'm connected. And then on the back end of that, if I need to down regulate because I just have too much anxiety, I've got a thousand different things going. Competing priorities, competing authorities. Right? We all work under this.
My authority is my wife. But that. That being said, do I. What can I do to downregulate that in the moment? And often, you know, we can't fix, you know, what was created with the mind. With the mind, we have to get into our body. And so it's very easy for me to just jump on board Aya, type in my. My intention, and then immediately take a moment, get coherent, and then start my day. And so I use her in every different aspect of my life. Every time I walk through a door or I'm going to change or shift to another. Another challenge or another interaction, because I know that I want to shift and reset and be in a place that I'm going to be able to bring my best self, my most authentic self, because often I'm caught up on my left side of my brain, analyzing, judging, etc. Right. As much as you don't want to admit that you think you're always in your heart, but I want to lead with my heart. And I allows me to do that to make that shift.
[00:32:19] Speaker C: Wonderful.
So I want to shift back to Amanda for a second because earlier you mentioned heart math and you want to talk about that, like, so tell us what is heart math? And then, Patrick, I can get your kind of angle because I know you do some training on that.
Tell us about heart math. What is that? And how does that tie in with Aya and the military?
[00:32:47] Speaker B: Yeah. So heart math is a scientific research institute who has been working on the science of the heart since the 90s. So. And Patrick can talk a little bit about the founders too. Patrick knows some of the founder story better than I do. So I actually was just introduced to it back in 2015 or 16 and I was like, oh my God, this is the foundation of human performance. And I happened to like, fall upon it. I was like, why is this not mainstream? Because they have. At this point in time, it's going to be well over 500 peer reviewed research studies that are published in medical journals on the science of the heart. And so the way that I learned the nervous system in school as a doctor of physical therapy is not the way that I know the nervous system now.
Because the HeartMath Institute and the science of the heart that they brought forward filled in a lot of the gaps for me that I didn't know. Right. Like, you know, I was kind of under the impression that the fight or flight response is a sympathetic nervous system. And it's always a sympathetic nervous system. And the science that the Heartmath Institute has brought forward is, no, no, no. The sympathetic nervous system is the gas pedal of the body. Like, we need the sympathetic nervous system to drive, to think, to functionally perform.
So really, this pattern of coherence we're talking about is the rhythm between the sympathetic and the parasympathetic nervous system. So when somebody says, oh, you need to relax. If we truly dropped into relaxation in that moment, we wouldn't be able to drive, we wouldn't be able to think. Right. So it's really this balance that we need. So what I really appreciate about the HeartMath Institute is the rigorous science that they have brought forward into the world that really is the foundation of how the nervous system works. And then they also have scientifically tested techniques. The heart focus breathing technique was one of the techniques that Patrick talked us through earlier about focusing our attention in the area of the heart and imagining our breath flowing through that area. So that's one way we can improve the rhythm of the nervous system and what we're calling coherence. We can also do it through renewing emotions and the experiencing what would be termed out there in the world of maybe positive emotions. But the Heart Month Institute has taught us that emotions are energy and motion. And they have. There's a physiology associated with each emotion that we carry. So the physiology, when I'm in a joyful state, my body's actually 1400 chemicals inside my body focused towards health and vitality. My immune system is upregulated when I'm in a joyful state. You know, I've seen this happen and play out in my chronically ill clients for so long now. The opposite is true in the depleting emotions. So the depleting emotions hijack us. 1400 chemicals, the other side. So what I really appreciated, what I want to share about the HeartMath Institute is they are the scientific institution that has brought forward the most, what I see as the most foundational science of the nervous system that exists.
And it is so foundational if we follow their principles, everything else, as far as our health falls in place. So if somebody's eating the perfect diet, their exercise and doing all things perfect and they're not working on the nervous system, then they're not healthy, if you will. Right. Those are a lot of the people. I have a good number of clients that on paper, they look like they're doing everything right. You know, they're waking up early in the morning, they're exercising, they're eating a perfect diet, but they do not have a regulated nervous system because their mind keeps hijacking it. And so their physiology is failing them. So again, just to reiterate, the HeartMath Institute has given us the science. And I've been using that science with industrial athletes to prevent accidents and injuries in the industrial athletic, athletic world by getting coherent all the way to my chronically ill clients who have allergic reactions to drinking water. When we regulate the nervous system, everything shifts.
So. And I'll let Patrick talk about the founders of the HeartMath Institute and a little bit more about the history, but I so appreciate and want to share the importance of the science that they have brought forth.
[00:36:45] Speaker A: Sure. Thanks, Amanda. Yeah, folks, I think, and we can certainly direct you to read a little further, but this really started with Dr. He was the founder, the chairman, the co CEO of the program. And his. His focus was an optimizing human performance and personal effectiveness, period. Right. Which really speaks to military. So you wouldn't think, you know, heart math or this institute would connect with military, but you'll also find that Dr. Roland McGrady, who is a, a vet from the army side of the house, is the lead director of their research. Right. So they understand and they appreciate our community.
What I love about HeartMath is their, their openness to all the different communities. They work very closely with our first responders, police and fire. They work very closely with Olympic athletes as well as they're looking at the, you know, our Fortune 500 CEOs. So you see this beautiful spectrum because they know that in the world today, people are struggling. I don't care what community you're in.
And it's all relative to whatever stressors you have and what you've been trained to be able to endure. But the truth is we can endure so much more when we make this mind body connection and we understand the science of the heart and that those heart rhythms will drive our ability to show up on a daily basis when it comes down to energy. And I can't, I can't imagine anybody else or I guess if I digress from it, I don't know anybody that doesn't say they want more energy. Right. They don't feel better, perform better when they have more energy. And so just understanding the fundamentals of this system and that it can be driven in the way through the heart, that alone is the game changer. And it's scientifically validated. Got a lot of bro science out there and, and I love getting down with some bro science and having some fun with that. I've been doing it since I was, was a teenager just being a, an athlete and just enjoying performing well. Right. Coming up as a young man through the military.
But when you find the science, and this is what's excited me about the program and the connection with this and this has really become my circle is understanding that there's this neuroscience, there's this psychophysiology in play. Once you're going to stand those foundations and you can move from theory to practice to mastery.
Yeah, it's a game changer. Now you become that change agent in your own life. And then here's the cool thing, and this is the lovely part of all of this, is that we impact those around us.
And so when I think of, and I'm sure you've been hearing this in, you know, for the last 10 years is really to shift into EQ over IQ. Right. The emotional quotient and all those components involved there, Self awareness, number one. How often are we going through life unconscious and what are we doing to bring that consciousness Back to not only the way we're thinking, but also how we're feeling and how that's impacting others around us. How can we self regulate in the moment or even better before we get there, right? Really set ourselves up for success. So when we show up, we show up as our best self and we give our best self and then understand what those motivations are, what motivates us and then what motivates others, right? How do we connect that way as leaders in this world? And then there's this thing called empathy, right? How do we feel with someone else? And Amanda started to touch on this. And I will tell you, especially in my community, my guys and gals don't want to feel, and they're really good at boxing shit up.
You got to cut that one out. But it's a real thing, right? We're just good at that. And so what do we do to make sure that when we deploy? Sometimes you need to do that when we get back home. How do we turn that back off, unbox some of that. And, and I'm going to use the words of one of my mentors here in the room is how do we dissolve that, reintegrate that back into our lives?
All right, because we're forever changed.
But how can we grow from that and be better from it? And then at the end of the day, it's about social connection and building community. And so how do we show up on a daily basis and connect with one another? Right? And so that's the beauty of everything we're talking about today and bringing in the science. And I can really see this beautiful connection between the science of the heart and the work that we're doing here at I.
[00:41:12] Speaker C: Well put. Well put.
All right, so what are. Patrick, what are some.
What are some hacks? Like, everyone can use. And we talked about the box breathing. But like, what. What are. Like your top two go to things. Say, say we're feeling stressed, we're feeling overwhelmed, or maybe falling behind on some of our tasks. Like what. What are some things that anyone can do, military or not, to kind of get back on track? Like, what would you say is your top, top couple?
[00:41:48] Speaker A: Great question, my brother. I always start with the breath. And so. And I say that very easily, right. That I can get it get out of my head and into my heart literally when I start to feel a rise in the activation of my sympathetic nervous system, whether it's prior to. Because I'm worried about what's. What's coming up next, the anxiety of that Performing or otherwise, or if I'm in the moment, I immediately just touch my heart.
It's a quick step. And as soon as I do that, I've trained myself so well to get into a place of love and care and that I literally would go to the word of love if I'm engaging with someone when I can do that. There's no hate in here. There's no judge in my heart. It's not there. It's not created for that. That's all up here. So when I can shift into that, it dissipates it immediately. Quick breath. I always do it inhale through my nose. It's just. It's just my thing. I just appreciate the nitrous oxide that's created to open up my blood vessels and it brings it deeper into my belly and really diaphragmatic breathing. But I always go through my heart.
So the. And I could take you through a quick, quick process that we're teaching right now. So this is. I don't say it's proprietary, but it's not in the market just yet. But this is what we're teaching our military, if you folks are open to it.
[00:43:05] Speaker C: Yeah, let's do it.
[00:43:07] Speaker A: Let's check it out. So the first thing I'll ask you to do is take a moment.
We'll say spot check, right? It's a military term that we do. We kind of just check in. And that prompts you to tune into your body, and I can ask you to close your eyes, as we always like to do, just get grounded. And here's the cool thing about we're talking about today is you can do this eyes wide open, eyes closed, so you can use it tactically in any moment. I do this in any preparation with any of my teams. And then I. And we implore them to do the same in their day when we say tune in.
So we use a verbal cue of spot check or anything else you'd like to with anyone.
And when you're tuning in, you're not just tuning in to what you're thinking, because we know that our thoughts turn into the ABC model. Right.
Of our emotions that turn into a behavior. What I want you to tune in is I want you to go introspective.
What am I feeling? Where am I feeling it?
And now if I can give my feeling a name, like an emotion, where does that place me? We call an emotional grid. And is it serving you well?
So let's take a moment, tune in.
What emotion are you feeling?
Where are you feeling it? In your body.
We can always offer up a body scan to go from your head to your jaw to your shoulders, chest, your back, your hips, your belly, your legs, your calves, your feet.
Now, bringing it back down to your emotion.
Whatever emotion you are having. And Amanda touched on this.
Is it depleting you or renewing you?
If you feel like it's depleting you, if you're feeling any sense of anger, fear, or simply annoyance or sadness in this moment, recognize that if it's not serving you or those around you, be intentional and make a shift.
Think of someone or something in your life that brings you joy, happiness, or appreciation.
Make a sincere attempt to re. Experience that emotion.
Continue focusing with a hard, focused breath and find a rhythm that's comfortable.
Now I'll ask you to tune in again and see where you are again on emotional grid. Do you feel like it's depleting you or is it renewing you? Are you where you want to be? That's going to serve you best.
And if you're not, you can engage another hard, focused breath, another coherence. Practice to continue to shift to this renewing state.
Then, whenever you're ready, go up and open your eyes.
Focus on the room. Yeah. Bring your attention back to the room.
Kingsley, how you feeling, man?
[00:47:23] Speaker C: Well, I was feeling hungry. I don't know if you can hear, like, my stomach is, like, gurgling, but now I'm. It's not that I'm not feeling hungry, it's just that I'm not. It's not annoying me as it was, so a little bit. But it. Yeah, interesting. I feel like it's quieted my stomach, too.
[00:47:48] Speaker A: You know, you brought up a. You brought a question earlier, and we really talked about that. That mind body connection. And you're like, I just felt this, like, openness, right? And so. And Amanda, I continue to allude to this is again, we can get out of the noise, right? We can turn the noise down of what's going on in our heads and get into our hearts. That's exactly what you're doing, right? You turn the knob down a little bit, and then you're opening up that prefrontal cortex. And there's so much that happens there, and that's the power of shifting our heart rhythms is when we start communicating to the brain that all is good.
And then we can let down our defenses, right? Turn on that noise and really focus on what matters most in that moment. Now you start to hear all the other things that really matter in your life, right? And you're actually connecting with it in a very positive way.
[00:48:34] Speaker C: Interesting. So I don't know if this is too much of a jump, but recently it was 11:11 and I made a video about 11:11 and how I've been seeing a lot of 11:11s and it's like this manifestation day, if you will.
Is there, is there something to it with this technique or a different technique to like manifesting your goals with, with this? Is there something to that?
[00:49:07] Speaker A: Oh, I'm gonna turn it over to Dr. Carpenter for that one.
[00:49:13] Speaker B: Yeah. So, well, and you just said, like, is it too much of a stretch? Like in the world that we're living in, there's this concept of. And I hesitate to even say it because I don't like the term of woo woo. Like that's where I'm like, there's so much science here. Like, what is woo woo? Woo woo is really just labeled. When we're uncomfortable with what is being done and said. Right? Like we didn't learn it in primary school, so we don't understand it's working with us. We're going to label it woo woo and we're going to discount it. Like, call bullshit on that, right? So everything is energy. Everything has a vibration. The electromagnetic fields of our heart, we put information out there into the field, right? So if I'm putting, if I'm in. I actually just talked a client through this earlier today. Okay. So he's radiating frustration. He's like, you know, I'm frustrated and he's giving me all the different reasons he's frustrated. And then the work that he was doing keeps. This keeps happening and this keeps breaking and I can't get this done. I'm like, well, like, what's happening there? What's going on there? He's putting information on the field of frustration, which is a disruption in energy. So the computer that's running, the equipment that is running, you know what he's doing, I'm trying to keep it confidential here. Is receiving that energy. Like how many times have we like gotten frustrated with a computer and it just doesn't work. Right, right. Like that's not by accident. Computer runs on energy. We are energy. We're putting information on the field. So when we are in a high energy or a depleting energy state, our ability to open and to receive information coming in is blocked because the rhythm of the heart travels up the vagus nerve to the brain. Okay. If I'm in a depleting emotion, frustration, irritation, impatience, anger, sadness, grief, it can put me in my amygdala, my reactionary state, I'm just reactionary, reacting. I'm not thinking. If I'm in a renewing emotion, joy, excitement, fulfillment, honor, pride, love, compassion, contentment, it sends a signal up that same vagus nerve as it picks up the rhythm of the heart and gives me access to the frontal thinking brain, the frontal lobe. Whereas where all my training, all my memories, all my, you know, expertise is how.
So just looking at the pure science of things, if I'm in a depleting emotion, puts me in the amygdala. I can't think in the amygdala like in. When I used to do accident investigation in the industrial athletic world. It's like that person made a fatal mistake and what the hell were they thinking? Well, they weren't. And case closed. Well, no, why weren't they thinking? Those are the questions that I started to ask. Why weren't they thinking? They had a wife that was just diagnosed with cancer, they just lost their loved ones. You know, they had a boss who was a jerk to them and who put them in a frustrated state. They couldn't access the frontal lobe where the. Where the training was housed. Right. So put them in the reactionary brain because they had been trained, but they couldn't access it. So if we look at the science there, there's absolute science. Everything that I just. There's absolute science too. Right. There's also this idea of intelligence, which is information in the field. Okay. And that's where can we tap into the intelligence or the intuition? We've all had the experience when you think about somebody, and all of a sudden they call right, intuition. It's energy. Like, how the heck are our computers all connecting right now, like wirelessly? It's energy. We have the ability to connect. So in order to tap into that information in the field, we need to be in a renewing state. Right. And one of the things that I love about Aya is we're talking about this idea of coherence. And we can regulate ourselves to a place of coherence. But the question that I always ask is, what is hijacking us out of coherence? Because early on, when I first started learning hard math, I was like, my clients can regulate, but they're just regulating all day. They can't do anything else other than regulate. So I started to look at what are the patterns that are hijacking them. And then that's the work that I now do in the world of let's go in and dissolve and integrate Those patterns so that they don't continue to hijack, so their baseline coherence is in a better state now. And that's one of the things that really got me connected with aya and behind AYA is I see AYA as a way to kind of cleanse the system, to get rid of those things that are hijacking us so that we can be more coherent and tap into that, you know, universal intelligence, that information that is in the field and to be more productive by having access to our frontal lobe. And what Patrick alluded to earlier, you know, the aperture, I don't know, maybe it's the lens, the width of the lens or something, but it's the ability to have greater situational awareness. When we're in a coherent state, we have greater situational awareness. All of our senses are heightened.
Our ability to feel something's off and to interpret that, because we've all had that experience where like, something doesn't feel right. But the problem is if I'm in a depleting state, something doesn't feel right. Through the filter of the fear monger versus something doesn't feel right. Having good situational awareness, saying what isn't, what isn't right. From an intelligent standpoint, tapping into, you know, the intelligence versus fear. So instinct is like the energy of something being out of balance. And then we have this ability to, like, is it through the filter of the fear monger or is it through the filter of the higher intelligence? We all have access to that, but very few of us use it. Decision making in life is so much easier when we tap into that energy because boom, boom, decisions are easy from that place.
So, I mean, I could talk all day on, you know, the science and the inspiration of bringing all the worlds together, but our ability to really live the life that we desire as humans is so much greater than anybody has ever led us to believe. And that's where it comes down to the ability to regulate. I don't love the word control, but the ability to regulate our nervous system. And we can use a control for some people, right? The ability to control our nervous system. That's what is our responsibility and our power, right? And that's what we all have access to. No matter what is happening in the world, no matter who's been elected, no matter what, we all have access to the ability to regulate. And then we get to choose from that place.
[00:55:20] Speaker C: Beautifully said.
I love that.
Yeah. So Patrick, we talked about the woo woo a little bit before this. This idea of energetics, I think was what we were talking about and in the military energetics is seen as kind of like, well, it's like what you said, like people start crossing their arms and being like, can you talk about that a bit? Like, do you avoid that when you're, when you're talking in the military or do you like, what is your approach there?
[00:55:52] Speaker A: Yeah, that's a great question. And so Kingsley is as anything I have to come in deep with the science first because data does lie, right? So very easy to first and foremost let's. And that's part of my job is to operationalize the, this incredible science that's been around for a long time but now just come to the forefront. We have the funding to actually talk about it and bring the technology there. And so what we, what we love is I can bring a lot of, a lot of wisdom and a lot of knowledge. And this is something that they could probably go Google to be honest. A lot of different things that we have when it comes from combat and operational stress control the lessons we've learned over the last 15 years of all the different wars that we've had of recent.
But where the power comes in is when I connect them to the technology.
And we know we've been kind of, I think we've been pointing at technology as a bad thing for, for a little bit of a time here because we know that we've been training add in our kids right from just because they want to scroll and that dopamine button they're pressing and they want to, they want to see what's next other likes and otherwise. But what we're realizing now, and this is where, this is the beauty of the program in the military and what we're doing here is that we're leveraging the technology. It's not going to go any, you know, go away anytime soon. Just like stress is not going to go any away anytime soon. So what are we doing to leverage technology to empower them with this technology to co create their own resilience and for optimal performance. And so those are one of the things that we do and brings back biofeedback. And here's where I love just understanding that you're getting feedback on your own biology. And what is that? What's the definition of biofeedback? In my mind, it's the, it's the window into your physiology. Here you are, you're giving them access into their physiology. It's almost like if you had a mirror and you have a look at the mirror and say, okay, now I can see within myself not just what the rest of the world's seeing, but introspectively, what's going on in my body and identify if I'm dysregulated.
And by the way, I have tools, techniques, and strategies to shift and reset into a place of regulation. So to answer your question, my approach is, first and foremost, I speak their language. We have those conversations up front. We identify their own challenges.
We challenge them, because I love a challenge in a room because then we can really get deep into it and identify them, what do they want more of in their life. And then it's my job to bridge that communication of how we can use biofeedback, understanding their biology, understanding the psychophysiology, and how they can apply that in their own life and they can get more of what they want in their life. And I will tell you, it is probably 80% of the time they're not talking about performance in the military. 80% of the time, it's about being better at home with those that matter most in their life. And so again, that conversation transcends to everybody globally, not just in our military.
[00:58:57] Speaker C: Wonderful. I love that. So, Amanda, any. Any final words? And you're coming to us from Aruba, so thank you for taking time out of your vacation there, your. Your workcation, as you call it.
Any final words?
[00:59:14] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:59:14] Speaker B: Well, and I would say when you love what you do, you're never working. Right? So it's just a. It was just a matter of like, you know, getting in front of the computer. And that's also what I wish for everybody. I wish for everybody this. There's, you know, so many people are looking for a work life balance. Well, work life balance, it's. There's no balance. There's a rhythm, right? There's a rhythm of sometimes a little bit more life, sometimes a little bit more work. And when we get to choose, what are we doing for that work? The rhythm is in sync and the rhythm is coherent.
Right? So what I love about Aya and the platform and all the technology and the research, it is a way to empower us to live the life that we all desire. We're all dreaming for. Everybody is dreaming for this peace and ease. And it's not to be like on a Caribbean island, staring into the ocean, doing. Doing nothing. It's peace and ease from our own mind. It's peace and ease because if we haven't done the human work, you know, we sit in front of that ocean and we just have this mental list going. If here's my to do list and here's what I have to do and all the self judgments and everything else. So what we're all searching for is that peace and ease to just sit and be. And one of the reasons that I am so aligned with the IFIT mission and the founders and the community that we have is we can build that so much easier than people believe. We don't have to continue to struggle. We do have a choice though, right? And we can use our physiology and how our physiology, you know, functions our, our biology, our physiology with the life that we're trying to build. Because it's all the same if I'm, if I'm working a job that I don't like, then it doesn't matter how many vacations I go on a year, it's not going to be the same, right? So helping everybody to get in touch with, let's go, let's let go of what we don't want, what doesn't serve us anymore. Let's use the music of the IFF platform to move it out and to dump it out and to get rid of it. Let's anchor into a coherent standpoint and that's, let's dream together, right? Because the ability to tap into a creative, innovative state is endless when we're all connected and coherent. So that's what I'm really super excited about in everybody that we have on board the science that we have on board the ability to do the research, the future of, you know, wearables, the future of technology and even how technology can really bring in our own personal wisdom and be a reflection like into our day to day. You know, before learning about Aya, I used to go to the forest to like, you know, meditate. And now I'm having these little synchronicities and seeing 1111 and all the little exciting things happen on the platform and to have a community to share it with, who get so excited about those, you know, the little synchronicities that come up is so fun. So I would invite everybody to check out Aya Fit and what we have to offer. You know, we've got an amazing community, we've got lots of tools and technology already right on our platform. And then the future, with Patrick's help that we're going to tap into with the wearables will be coming. So stay tuned, check out our platform. So thank you, Kingsley.
[01:02:13] Speaker C: Yes, well, thank you again for your time and I just encourage you to walk in the sand and take in that, take in the beauty of the nature. There.
I'm visualizing that for you right now.
And Patrick, any final words about, you know, what you got for us?
[01:02:42] Speaker A: Last final words is spend some time with yourself.
Get away from the doing and more about the being.
[01:02:52] Speaker C: Love it. It's great advice. And with that, I want to just thank everyone for joining us on this episode of Harmonize youe Life. We hope you found inspiration and practical insights to enhance your well being. And until next time, stay well and keep shining.
