July 28, 2025

#117 Ephraim Herschmann / Breath Work Experiences

#117 Ephraim Herschmann / Breath Work Experiences

Solo episode!


I talk about my first breath work class, how it compares to psychedelics, my grandfather, and 9th of Av (Jewish Holiday).

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All right, we are live.
Cheers.

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Got my double espresso second
video podcast like this kind of

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vibe over here going.
I'm working now on a microphone,

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maybe a stand to put my phone
and start upgrading quality of

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the podcast.
Really, really interesting.

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I have a couple of things I
wanted to talk about.

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Number one is why I'm doing a
solo episode.

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And generally speaking, what's
been going on.

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I know the podcast has been a
little bit slower than it has

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been, you know, in the last
year, I would say.

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And that's pretty much because
again, I've, I've talked about

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this, but I'm shifting my focus
on getting guests that are more

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outside my circle.
I'm not going to say more or

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less reputable, but more outside
my circle, more outside the

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immediate group of people that
I'm part of.

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And to really expand and to
really grow and to really turn

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this into something that is
bigger, more fun and just

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really, really, really great.
So I've got a lot of people that

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I'm reaching out to.
I'm doing a lot of more cold

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reaching out and you know,
making our way got a couple of

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calls, got a couple
introductions, got to keep on

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following up.
Things have been a little crazy,

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you know, not complaining.
It's all it's all amazing things

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to be what to be dealing with,
but a lot of a lot of hands on

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participation required in my
life at this point.

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So I'm totally cool with it.
I love it, but it just, it just,

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I have, I have to work on
balancing better and now that

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I'm not focusing on necessarily
putting out fresh content every

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single day or a bunch of times a
week, rather than focusing on

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who I'm talking to and what
that's going to be like.

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It's, I think we'll be seeing a
little bit of a slower pace for

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now until I could really work a
lot of people into the pipeline

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and then, you know, knock a
bunch out.

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So yeah, there's, there's I
guess two or three main things I

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wanted to talk about today.
I wanted to start bringing up.

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It's fun to do video.
I don't usually do it.

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I got my kid this ball.
And I know if you grew up with

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this or if it's like an early
90s, mid 90s, early 2000s thing

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to grow up with, but these are
all like science balls.

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Reminds me of atoms.
I feel like lying around.

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It's good to be hanging out in
this.

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It's good to hang out in the
house with a lot of creativity

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and a lot of things around to
spark your, your creativity.

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You know, I forgot, you know,
there was something about the,

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you know, having a little bit of
a not necessarily messy because

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I think order is good, but
something to having a lot of

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stuff around your house
apparently is very good for your

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creativity because it just keeps
your brain firing and creating

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associations between things that
don't necessarily associate with

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one another.
So I had, I went to my first

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breath work class.
I've done breath different

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variations of breath work.
I've done breath work to kind of

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find stillness and comfort, to
be able to slow down what's

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going on in my life and to take
that pace of responding to so

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many things that were calling me
at one time and pulling me in

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all different directions that I
needed to just settle down.

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And breath work had definitely
helped with that.

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And then I learned and then I
came across Huberman's 10 and 20

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minute non sleep, deep rest,
respiratory breathing, an STR I

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think is what it's called.
And that was amazing too.

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And that's also to kind of help
re ground you, recenter you.

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And when you feel like your life
is just all over the place and

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it's hard to keep track of
everything and you feel like

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your head is just in a million
different directions at one time

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that I from my experience, you
can do as many times in the day

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as you want.
You can do as many times in a

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row as you want.
You can do it almost wherever

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you are pretty much, and it's an
incredible tool.

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But this type of breathing that
I did was a little bit more

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about this was this was a little
bit more psychedelic, a type of

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breath work exercise.
And by that I mean, most of the

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breath work that I've done in
the past had been a strong, had

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had a stronger emphasis on
breathing in through your nose

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and breathing out through your
mouth.

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Deep inhales, deep exhales.
So, you know, and just kind of

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resetting yourself and letting
the clean, new fresh air soak

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into your, I guess brain and
into your body and into your

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lungs and just breathe out all
the bad air and breathe out all

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the stale air.
But this this type of exercise

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was different.
This was mouth breathing

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specifically.
So the way that the teacher had

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explained it was by breathing in
through your gut and again

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through your chest and then out
and do that for about 45 minutes

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to an hour straight.
And I don't understand exactly

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how it works.
I'm actually going to try to get

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some breath work professionals
on the podcast and see if

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someone could explain that to
me.

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But my very, very limited
understanding is that it has to

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do with actually depleting
yourself of oxygen to a certain

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extent.
And as a consequence, your

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fingers get a little crampy and
they kind of tend to curl.

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You get pins and needles, you
get a lot of very similar of

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this similar sensations to the
type of sensations you get when

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you're taking psychedelics.
And there is really a very

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tangible kind of like moment of
take off, I guess you'd call it,

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where you're, you're in one
place and then you end up in

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another.
And this is actually, so I want,

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I wanted to kind of walk through
the whole experience and kind of

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explain what happened and the
benefits and what I was able to

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see and what I was able to kind
of draw back into.

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And I think it's really, I think
it's really important.

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I think it's really cool.
And I, it's definitely, you

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know, two thoughts coming out of
the class.

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Number one was that was
incredible.

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I got to do that again.
And #2 was, this is definitely,

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absolutely not for everyone.
And you know, I, I think it's

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true.
I think it's not for everyone.

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So it's, it was on this ranch
in, in, in Florida, in South

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Florida, big backyard, big, you
know, you walk on the back and

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it's calm, it's quiet.
It's a little warm, a little

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muggy.
And in the backyard of this

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place there's a huge kind of
gazebo, I guess gazebo type

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structure.
And but I mean, it's way bigger

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than any gazebo.
There's I mean, there's probably

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room for 50 people to walk
around and fit in pretty

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comfortably.
I'd say that the ceiling, you

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know, kind of it was triangular,
right?

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I guess had it was pointed kind
of like a TB and that was

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probably 1520 feet in the air,
maybe even more, maybe 25 feet.

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It was really tall and there
were beautiful speakers and

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lights along the walls and
everything was wood and and then

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there were sheets or mattresses
rather on the floor.

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And and so you know, there was
there's two parts to the class.

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Number one was kind of having
honest open interactions with

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your walls down.
And I think that that initial

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purpose, at least my experience
of it, was to kind of prepare

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yourself mentally, prepare
myself rather mentally for what

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was about to happen.
So group of 20 people say 20

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guys and walk around, get loose
in the place, come familiar with

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the place, which I think is also
important physically.

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And then that kind of translates
over into our head is to kind of

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feel comfortable with the space
that we're in and to kind of

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actually walk around, get to
place ourselves, understand

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where we are, understand what
what what you know, the the

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setting and what the floor feels
like.

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I was, I was, I personally went
barefoot, actually, I took off

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my shoes and and then it was
basically look around, don't

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speak, just make eye contact and
show people that you're, that

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you're friendly and that you're
not an enemy.

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And so you're walking around and
you're looking at people and

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you're kind of giving them head
nods or smiles.

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If they smile at you or you can
tell it's someone's eyes,

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whether they're looking like
they want to, you know, smile

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and talk or whether they feel
like they're just in their head

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and want to do their own thing.
And then he made a stop and look

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at a person that would the
instructor rather made a stop.

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Look at a person next to us and
speak honestly, you know, you

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switch off who's speaking.
One happy childhood memory that

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you have and one burden of
responsibility that's weighing

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on you.
And I immediately, you know, I

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mean, So what I've learned,
especially over the course of

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the many years of creative
writing that I've been doing and

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the course of the, you know,
lyrics and poetry and, and even

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the psychedelics that I've done,
one thing that I've noticed and

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one thing that I've learned
about is that a lot of times

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it's really fun to, and it's
really healthy and important,

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especially to, especially to
understand yourself and create

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and to be creative, to kind of
learn how to follow a train of

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thought rather than think it's
weird and try to pull back from

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it.
See where it goes, see why

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you're thinking, what you're
thinking, articulate maybe what

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it could be, even if you're not
100% sure, right.

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So for example, my happy memory
that came up was a memory of and

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I was probably my son's age
around that age because I, I

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know because this I have a
picture and the jacket that I'm

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wearing, the picture I still
have and my son actually still

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wears.
It's like this little bomber

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jacket.
It's very cute.

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And so I have, I don't think I
have memories of that age,

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right?
And So what I'm fascinated by is

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A, why I think I have this
memory, B, where is this memory

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coming from?
And C, what made me think of it

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now, right.
And I didn't even know going

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into this breath work.
There are people that go in.

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I know a bunch of people that
have gone in with a particular

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intention.
They're trying to understand

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themselves better.
They're trying to work through,

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you know, an addiction that they
have.

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They're working through a
relationship problem that

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they're having either with
themselves or with people around

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the people that are important to
them.

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And I didn't have any goal.
My goal was kind of just to

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recalibrate and kind of just
check under the hood and see

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what was going on and see what I
was, you know, what's what's

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going on in my mind.
Because I haven't been writing

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as much recently as I typically
do.

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Again, pretty much because of a
shortage of time and because my

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head hasn't been in the space to
really be blunt and honest to

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myself and really right in that
raw way that I like to.

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So I didn't really know what I
was going there for.

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I just knew that I wanted to try
it and I knew that it was that I

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was a proponent of it because I
knew that, you know, I've heard

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enough.
I've heard enough stories and

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experiences about what was
about, about what it's been like

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that I wanted, I knew that I
wanted to try it myself.

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So I didn't have a particular
goal, but I was also open to

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kind of seeing anything and
experiencing anything, which I

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think is actually probably a
better way to go into a lot of

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these things.
I think it's also good to have

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an agenda.
I think it's, I think both

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mindsets are really important
and I think that it's important

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to kind of dive into both
intentionality and

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unintentionality and kind of
just or meandering is the other

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way to put it and kind of see
where it is that you end up and

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explore and see, you know, why
am I ending up here?

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So I don't really know what it
was that I was going to be

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experiencing or even focusing on
thinking about it.

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So when the guy asked me about a
happy childhood memory, I

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thought back at this picture and
this experience that I've had.

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And I, I, I had, I'm going to
try to do the best job I can

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about articulating this.
I've had.

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And I had a vision, probably
predicated on the picture that

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I'm used to seeing because it's
a picture of my grandmother's

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house that I see quite a bit
every couple of years,

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certainly.
And so, but I kind of feel like

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I remember the experience of
being on the horse and buggy and

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and then I remember this feeling
of warmth and love and safeness.

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And this was already, and I'd
already said this out loud

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without even meaning to.
This was just my train of

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thought rambling, I guess, my
auditory version of what I do

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00:14:33,560 --> 00:14:35,680
when I write.
And I was explaining to the guy,

222
00:14:35,680 --> 00:14:38,640
you know, that I was talking to,
who I'd not talked to about

223
00:14:38,800 --> 00:14:41,440
anything in the past.
You know, he's essentially a

224
00:14:41,440 --> 00:14:43,240
stranger.
I've seen him around once or

225
00:14:43,240 --> 00:14:45,960
twice, but a couple of times in
my life, but he and I have never

226
00:14:45,960 --> 00:14:49,720
really spoken.
And I'm talking to him.

227
00:14:49,720 --> 00:14:52,680
I'm trying to figure out why I'm
talking to him, why I'm feeling

228
00:14:52,680 --> 00:14:53,680
this.
I'm like, I don't even know if

229
00:14:53,680 --> 00:14:57,440
this is a real memory or there's
just a picture, but I just, I'm

230
00:14:57,440 --> 00:15:00,720
just connecting very strongly at
the moment to this particular

231
00:15:01,640 --> 00:15:04,680
memory that I have.
And this feeling, this feeling

232
00:15:04,680 --> 00:15:09,240
is not a familiar feeling to
anything that I have had in my

233
00:15:09,240 --> 00:15:12,440
conscious memory that I can
remember.

234
00:15:16,440 --> 00:15:24,160
But what I did realize was I
felt that very primal,

235
00:15:24,400 --> 00:15:37,040
protective, loving feeling of
fatherhood while holding my son

236
00:15:37,040 --> 00:15:41,120
recently.
And I felt coming from him that

237
00:15:41,120 --> 00:15:46,160
love and security and safety in
me.

238
00:15:46,680 --> 00:15:50,680
And I believe could be wrong.
I don't know.

239
00:15:51,120 --> 00:15:52,520
I don't really know how this
stuff works.

240
00:15:52,520 --> 00:15:56,040
I don't think anyone really
knows how this stuff works, but

241
00:15:56,040 --> 00:16:03,680
I believe that by me having that
experience with my 2 1/2 year

242
00:16:03,680 --> 00:16:10,320
old or two two my 2 year old
son, that I was able to

243
00:16:10,320 --> 00:16:15,160
recognize a feeling or an
experience that I haven't had

244
00:16:15,520 --> 00:16:17,240
since I was about that age as
well.

245
00:16:19,120 --> 00:16:23,760
You know, the best way that I
could describe it is when you go

246
00:16:23,760 --> 00:16:28,160
to a concert or you're going to
a live event and their music's

247
00:16:28,160 --> 00:16:31,360
playing and the music hits a
peak and there's a climax to the

248
00:16:31,360 --> 00:16:32,880
music and you're with the whole
crowd.

249
00:16:33,280 --> 00:16:36,360
And then there's just something
that like engulfs you and you

250
00:16:36,360 --> 00:16:38,760
don't know what how to put that
experience into words

251
00:16:38,760 --> 00:16:39,680
necessarily.
And you don't.

252
00:16:40,080 --> 00:16:42,000
And most people don't know how
to describe that experience.

253
00:16:42,000 --> 00:16:45,840
But most people know that
experience and then they know

254
00:16:45,840 --> 00:16:50,240
that they want it again and they
but they won't be even familiar

255
00:16:50,240 --> 00:16:55,040
enough to even tell you what it
is or how they achieve it until

256
00:16:55,040 --> 00:16:59,440
they're in that place again at
another point in their lives.

257
00:16:59,960 --> 00:17:05,000
And the feeling I think was so
primal of, you know, being a

258
00:17:05,000 --> 00:17:10,079
father and loving and protecting
my son, that I think that it

259
00:17:10,079 --> 00:17:14,079
probably had triggered an
associative memory in my head,

260
00:17:14,079 --> 00:17:18,119
an association in my head of the
last time that I was in one of

261
00:17:18,119 --> 00:17:23,240
those type of scenarios, being
so young and essentially

262
00:17:23,240 --> 00:17:29,080
unconscious, pretty much, right?
Being so young and life was so

263
00:17:29,080 --> 00:17:33,320
simple and being feeling so safe
and protected and loving of my

264
00:17:33,320 --> 00:17:35,440
father.
I felt the same way.

265
00:17:37,200 --> 00:17:40,080
I, I, I felt that that
experience from my son.

266
00:17:40,080 --> 00:17:41,280
And I think I was able to share
in that.

267
00:17:41,280 --> 00:17:49,160
And I know that all of this kind
of sounds much, but I think that

268
00:17:51,320 --> 00:17:55,760
it's got to be true.
Meaning these are discernible,

269
00:17:56,080 --> 00:18:01,400
tangible emotions and
experiences that may be the

270
00:18:01,400 --> 00:18:09,200
projections of my own bias and
cognitive structures, right?

271
00:18:09,640 --> 00:18:15,680
But I don't know, I mean, they,
they, they, they seem real.

272
00:18:15,680 --> 00:18:18,440
They seem relevant.
They are refreshing to me.

273
00:18:18,440 --> 00:18:21,160
They recharge my batteries.
They give me a deeper

274
00:18:21,160 --> 00:18:24,360
understanding into myself and
into how to be a father and how

275
00:18:24,360 --> 00:18:25,880
to, and what I was like as a
son.

276
00:18:26,360 --> 00:18:30,480
And that stuff is real.
And that stuff is as crucial or

277
00:18:30,480 --> 00:18:33,600
important as almost anything
else in the parenting journey,

278
00:18:33,720 --> 00:18:37,400
you know, which is the ability
to relate, the ability to recall

279
00:18:37,400 --> 00:18:40,240
what it's like to be in your
kids shoes and the ability to

280
00:18:40,600 --> 00:18:45,280
understand that.
So that was already just, you

281
00:18:45,280 --> 00:18:48,920
know, already just so I'm
walking around, you're outdoors.

282
00:18:48,920 --> 00:18:50,360
It's evening.
It's about 8:00 PM.

283
00:18:51,520 --> 00:18:56,280
You know, the sun's set or
setting, and you're lowering

284
00:18:56,280 --> 00:18:58,600
your guards.
You're an unfamiliar new place,

285
00:18:58,600 --> 00:19:01,520
but that place that's already
designed to kind of feel like it

286
00:19:01,520 --> 00:19:06,000
is returning you to your roots.
And after a couple more

287
00:19:06,000 --> 00:19:09,040
conversations, a little bit more
sharing, you sit down, you start

288
00:19:09,040 --> 00:19:16,000
doing the breathing and there is
music blasting, blasting.

289
00:19:16,160 --> 00:19:20,280
And the music, obviously,
especially in conjunction with

290
00:19:20,280 --> 00:19:24,240
your breathing and with your
thoughts, helps create a picture

291
00:19:24,240 --> 00:19:29,920
and a narrative.
I don't know why what I

292
00:19:29,920 --> 00:19:32,400
experienced, I experienced.
I mean, I do know.

293
00:19:32,400 --> 00:19:35,680
So I'm, so I think I'm already
setting the stage in my own

294
00:19:35,680 --> 00:19:38,000
head, checking under the hood.
What seems to be coming to my

295
00:19:38,000 --> 00:19:41,160
mind is this experience of
parenthood and fatherhood.

296
00:19:41,160 --> 00:19:42,920
And that's something that really
has been on my mind a lot

297
00:19:42,920 --> 00:19:46,840
recently of obviously being a
father to a three month old and

298
00:19:46,840 --> 00:19:50,280
a 2 1/2 year old.
There's, you know, so much my

299
00:19:50,280 --> 00:19:59,360
life evolves around that.
But I somehow got, you know.

300
00:19:59,360 --> 00:20:02,480
So I start breathing, we start
doing the breathing and.

301
00:20:05,320 --> 00:20:10,280
And you feel that you're
slipping from being in this

302
00:20:10,280 --> 00:20:15,920
world and being in your present
cognitive conscious, responsive

303
00:20:15,920 --> 00:20:20,200
to the stimulus around you.
You feel that slipping away one

304
00:20:20,200 --> 00:20:22,760
breath at a time.
And every breath that you take,

305
00:20:23,360 --> 00:20:26,080
you're get you, you're kind of
pulling yourself into another

306
00:20:26,080 --> 00:20:28,840
little world, another little
dimension of what's whatever is

307
00:20:28,840 --> 00:20:33,760
going on in your head, I guess.
And I mean, you know, it's so

308
00:20:33,760 --> 00:20:38,720
funny because I spent so much of
my life denying the potential

309
00:20:40,080 --> 00:20:41,960
authenticity of these
experiences.

310
00:20:41,960 --> 00:20:46,000
But then once I experienced it,
I have a very difficult time

311
00:20:47,600 --> 00:20:52,080
pushing back or fighting it
because it is so real and so

312
00:20:52,080 --> 00:20:55,760
true that I don't even know what
it means.

313
00:20:55,760 --> 00:20:57,040
I don't know what the
consequences are.

314
00:20:57,040 --> 00:21:01,200
I just know that it felt and
seemed unimagine, just as true

315
00:21:01,200 --> 00:21:04,240
as any other aspect of life that
I'm part of.

316
00:21:04,720 --> 00:21:10,640
And I was deeply connected at
the, you know, and you know, the

317
00:21:10,640 --> 00:21:13,360
first experience that I had, I
was deeply connected with my

318
00:21:13,360 --> 00:21:18,960
grandfather, my mom's father's
soul, which sounds crazy to even

319
00:21:18,960 --> 00:21:21,680
say.
But once you're already kind of

320
00:21:21,680 --> 00:21:26,160
like pulling away from the world
of what's immediately present to

321
00:21:26,160 --> 00:21:31,440
your senses around you, I don't
know what's going to happen.

322
00:21:31,440 --> 00:21:33,560
I don't know where I'm going to
go and I don't, I didn't know

323
00:21:33,560 --> 00:21:36,920
what was pulling me to 1, One
Direction or the next.

324
00:21:38,120 --> 00:21:41,480
So I am connected.
So I feel my grandfather's soul

325
00:21:41,480 --> 00:21:42,800
around me.
And my grandfather and I were

326
00:21:42,800 --> 00:21:45,200
very close.
My grandfather was actually

327
00:21:45,200 --> 00:21:52,500
probably the the most old school
father figure and like quote UN

328
00:21:52,500 --> 00:21:55,080
quote proper father figure in my
life.

329
00:21:56,600 --> 00:21:59,960
My father and I are very close.
My father doesn't never really

330
00:21:59,960 --> 00:22:08,040
loved the notion, excuse me, the
traditional notion of being a

331
00:22:08,040 --> 00:22:11,560
dad because his I think that his
father was pretty tough on him

332
00:22:11,560 --> 00:22:15,080
growing up and he wanted and it
felt it made I think his

333
00:22:15,080 --> 00:22:17,360
childhood a little harder.
He wanted to do right by his

334
00:22:17,360 --> 00:22:20,920
kids and kind of abandoned that
kind of sense of strict

335
00:22:20,960 --> 00:22:26,000
authoritarian father fatherhood
and the consequence of that and

336
00:22:26,120 --> 00:22:30,720
was amazing because I'm me and I
love me and I love my life and

337
00:22:32,600 --> 00:22:35,280
I've got happy relationships
with myself and my family and my

338
00:22:35,280 --> 00:22:46,440
siblings and my kids and I I I
owe that all to but but, and

339
00:22:46,440 --> 00:22:51,680
rather, I think that there was a
different type of fatherhood

340
00:22:51,680 --> 00:22:56,160
that my grandfather embodied and
encompassed, and that was put

341
00:22:56,160 --> 00:22:59,840
your head down, get to work.
Life is tough, life is pain.

342
00:22:59,840 --> 00:23:02,640
To be fair, the man was a is a
Holocaust survivor was a

343
00:23:02,640 --> 00:23:04,360
Holocaust survivor.
Rather, he passed away a couple

344
00:23:04,360 --> 00:23:11,000
years ago and he spent World War
2IN Soviet labor camps.

345
00:23:11,520 --> 00:23:13,760
And I'm actually going to, I
have his book and I have to

346
00:23:13,760 --> 00:23:16,720
reread it for the first time in
or maybe even read it all the

347
00:23:16,720 --> 00:23:18,640
way through for the first time
in my life.

348
00:23:19,040 --> 00:23:22,280
But now that I kind of know more
about my family and now I know

349
00:23:22,280 --> 00:23:24,880
more about that part of the
world, I want to kind of start,

350
00:23:24,880 --> 00:23:26,080
I want to do more homework on
that.

351
00:23:26,560 --> 00:23:33,200
But he was old school, Eastern
European, a teacher, professor,

352
00:23:33,280 --> 00:23:38,840
valued education, valued hard
work, valued family more than

353
00:23:38,840 --> 00:23:40,960
anything.
So he loved hard work and he let

354
00:23:40,960 --> 00:23:43,480
and he thought money was really,
really obviously crucial.

355
00:23:45,600 --> 00:23:49,320
But he always had his values
straight in the sense that he

356
00:23:49,320 --> 00:23:53,360
knew that money did not replace
relationships or family or

357
00:23:53,360 --> 00:23:58,440
exceed them.
And my grandfather would get

358
00:24:00,280 --> 00:24:07,600
angry as his method for getting
for, to, to to be heard.

359
00:24:08,840 --> 00:24:10,800
It's actually really funny
because everyone has their own

360
00:24:10,800 --> 00:24:15,120
methods of ways to figure out
how to get attention, how to be

361
00:24:15,120 --> 00:24:17,000
validated, right?
Some people try to be funny,

362
00:24:17,000 --> 00:24:18,920
some people try to be
condescending, some people get

363
00:24:18,920 --> 00:24:23,240
angry, some people laugh a lot.
Some people are intellectual,

364
00:24:24,160 --> 00:24:26,360
some people are emotionally
eloquent.

365
00:24:26,480 --> 00:24:32,200
You know, some people turn to
spiritual and, and metaphysical

366
00:24:32,200 --> 00:24:37,280
kind of stuff to, you know, kind
of create this world that they

367
00:24:37,280 --> 00:24:39,800
could feel that, you know, that
they not to, to, I guess, find

368
00:24:39,800 --> 00:24:41,920
themselves and, and find the
world that they're comfortable

369
00:24:41,920 --> 00:24:45,160
in.
My grandfather, who was very,

370
00:24:45,160 --> 00:24:49,960
very grounded in a very, very
harsh and real and tough world.

371
00:24:51,600 --> 00:24:53,960
And I, I, I, and I knew all this
stuff.

372
00:24:53,960 --> 00:24:56,080
It's so funny.
I knew all these things, but I

373
00:24:56,080 --> 00:25:00,240
never put them all together as
like a formative or as a

374
00:25:00,240 --> 00:25:04,920
sequential series of events or
story or narrative that embodied

375
00:25:04,920 --> 00:25:07,480
my grandfather's life.
I never really thought of things

376
00:25:07,480 --> 00:25:10,320
like that until I'm in this.
So I'm in this and I'm actually

377
00:25:10,320 --> 00:25:13,720
being brought back to while I'm
breathing, while I'm doing this

378
00:25:13,720 --> 00:25:15,200
breathing.
And it takes a couple of minutes

379
00:25:15,200 --> 00:25:17,960
of the breath again.
You breathe in through your gut,

380
00:25:18,760 --> 00:25:21,040
through your chest and out of
your mouth again.

381
00:25:21,120 --> 00:25:23,520
And you just keep on doing that.
And there's music blasting.

382
00:25:23,520 --> 00:25:26,200
And then he's letting a certain
kind of like scent, I forgot

383
00:25:27,320 --> 00:25:31,240
what you're called, but an
incense or whatever.

384
00:25:31,600 --> 00:25:35,880
And I'm brought back to my
grandfather.

385
00:25:36,680 --> 00:25:40,960
And it's so funny because I
don't see images as much as I

386
00:25:40,960 --> 00:25:48,200
feel his feelings of feeling
lost and scared in New York when

387
00:25:48,200 --> 00:25:51,920
he first came to New York after
after leaving the refugee camps

388
00:25:51,920 --> 00:25:57,680
in I think it was it was one of
the stands Kazakhstan maybe I

389
00:25:57,680 --> 00:25:58,840
have to check.
I have to check the book.

390
00:25:58,840 --> 00:26:03,200
But after leaving Eastern
Europe, when he came to New York

391
00:26:03,520 --> 00:26:06,840
and he came with nothing.
He came with no money.

392
00:26:06,840 --> 00:26:08,360
He came in and speak any
English.

393
00:26:08,360 --> 00:26:11,960
He put himself through school.
He went to what was at the time

394
00:26:12,200 --> 00:26:15,040
what I guess what still is a
huge Jewish institution called

395
00:26:15,040 --> 00:26:19,720
Yeshiva University in the in
Washington Heights in New York.

396
00:26:20,200 --> 00:26:24,960
And he had told me stories that
my life and I didn't really know

397
00:26:24,960 --> 00:26:26,960
what he was in trying to tell me
when he was telling me this.

398
00:26:26,960 --> 00:26:29,480
He used to tell me these stories
about these rabbis that would

399
00:26:30,240 --> 00:26:35,240
that who you know, he'd say your
job as a rabbi is to lead.

400
00:26:35,240 --> 00:26:37,080
Your job as a rabbi is to create
leaders.

401
00:26:37,080 --> 00:26:40,680
Your job as a rabbi is to look
at the downtrodden and to help

402
00:26:40,680 --> 00:26:42,920
them out.
And he's like, I never got any

403
00:26:42,920 --> 00:26:45,560
of that.
I never got an ounce of that.

404
00:26:45,560 --> 00:26:48,080
And all the people that were
supposed to all these great men.

405
00:26:48,080 --> 00:26:50,280
And he'd tell me about these
great rabbi, you know, rabbis

406
00:26:50,280 --> 00:26:52,920
names.
And he would say, and that guy

407
00:26:54,440 --> 00:26:56,040
didn't, didn't say 2 words to
me.

408
00:26:56,040 --> 00:26:58,400
And I asked that guy for help
and he just wasn't able to.

409
00:26:58,400 --> 00:27:00,320
He just said, I'm sorry, I can't
do anything for you.

410
00:27:00,680 --> 00:27:04,520
And and so my Saba and so at the
time I thought my grandfather

411
00:27:04,520 --> 00:27:07,160
was telling me a Saba, that's
the Hebrew word for grandfather

412
00:27:07,480 --> 00:27:18,160
was telling me about why he
disdains formal, bureaucratic, I

413
00:27:18,160 --> 00:27:20,840
guess you could call it Judaism
and structure and the, and the,

414
00:27:20,840 --> 00:27:23,440
and the and the and the
structures of Orthodox Judaism.

415
00:27:24,040 --> 00:27:26,360
And even though he was always
Orthodox and he always believed

416
00:27:26,360 --> 00:27:28,840
in God despite what he went
through, and, you know, I

417
00:27:28,840 --> 00:27:31,360
couldn't blame him one way or
the other after what he went

418
00:27:31,360 --> 00:27:33,240
after, what him and his family
went through, I couldn't blame

419
00:27:33,240 --> 00:27:35,120
him one way or the other for
being religious, you know,

420
00:27:35,440 --> 00:27:40,200
anyway, but he wasn't mad at
God.

421
00:27:40,360 --> 00:27:43,760
He was mad at man.
He was mad at, he was mad at the

422
00:27:43,760 --> 00:27:46,640
rejection of the world around
him.

423
00:27:46,720 --> 00:27:50,440
And he was scared and he was
lost and he didn't know how to

424
00:27:50,440 --> 00:27:55,320
get heard.
And the only way for him to be

425
00:27:55,320 --> 00:28:00,920
heard was to get angry.
And when he would use an angry

426
00:28:00,920 --> 00:28:05,920
tone or when he would use angry
rhetoric, then that was that.

427
00:28:05,920 --> 00:28:09,840
That was a effective way for him
to get attention from anyone.

428
00:28:09,840 --> 00:28:13,040
He was talking to his friends,
his family, the rabbi in his

429
00:28:13,040 --> 00:28:15,400
community, his grandkids,
whoever it was.

430
00:28:17,360 --> 00:28:21,040
And then there was always a line
where he would, he would try to

431
00:28:21,560 --> 00:28:24,520
where he would use anger to be
heard.

432
00:28:24,840 --> 00:28:28,800
But if the anger can turned into
him hurting someone, then he

433
00:28:28,800 --> 00:28:31,120
would pull back completely and
he would just like tug back, you

434
00:28:31,120 --> 00:28:33,880
know?
Oh no, I did my goal with anger.

435
00:28:34,080 --> 00:28:38,280
The expression of anger is not
to hurt other people around me.

436
00:28:38,520 --> 00:28:40,960
It's to protect myself and to
let myself be hurt.

437
00:28:41,800 --> 00:28:52,320
And I had this intense
understanding of that and it

438
00:28:52,320 --> 00:28:54,840
gave me in that moment in
particular.

439
00:28:54,840 --> 00:28:58,200
And these and time does not feel
like it's happening the same

440
00:28:58,200 --> 00:29:00,680
time, the same way.
Obviously, when you're in that

441
00:29:00,680 --> 00:29:04,640
state as when it's just regular,
like me talking to Mike into a

442
00:29:04,640 --> 00:29:08,800
camera right now, you know, time
feels different.

443
00:29:08,800 --> 00:29:11,160
And so I'm soaking in this and
I'm understanding and I'm like,

444
00:29:13,960 --> 00:29:17,200
this was his.
This was my grandfather's

445
00:29:17,200 --> 00:29:20,240
fatherhood journey.
This was his journey through

446
00:29:20,240 --> 00:29:24,760
life.
And, and so and, and I, and one

447
00:29:24,760 --> 00:29:27,800
of the things that I think that
I was able to relate to and I

448
00:29:27,800 --> 00:29:31,040
think one of the things that I
found under the hood, under my

449
00:29:31,040 --> 00:29:37,520
own hood, was that I too AM and
was scared.

450
00:29:39,240 --> 00:29:43,400
I'm a lot less scared now than I
used to be about life, but

451
00:29:43,480 --> 00:29:45,600
especially as a kid, I was
scared.

452
00:29:45,600 --> 00:29:47,560
And especially as a kid, I was
rejected.

453
00:29:47,880 --> 00:29:56,800
And especially as a kid, I was
definitely not heard and I was

454
00:29:56,800 --> 00:30:01,720
able to connect with him and his
soul in that same sense.

455
00:30:01,720 --> 00:30:04,600
I don't know what soul means,
whether that means that like the

456
00:30:04,600 --> 00:30:08,160
conscious energy of his of, of
who my grandfather was was with

457
00:30:08,160 --> 00:30:12,360
me, or whether that soul is the
soul of his experience, that

458
00:30:12,600 --> 00:30:16,560
that rooted itself in my
consciousness and in my brain

459
00:30:16,560 --> 00:30:19,800
and in my in the back of my head
and in my experiences.

460
00:30:20,160 --> 00:30:24,200
But it almost felt like we were
both like, like, I felt like he

461
00:30:24,200 --> 00:30:27,840
never had really that
opportunity to figure that and

462
00:30:27,840 --> 00:30:30,080
sort that stuff out.
And I was kind of doing it with

463
00:30:30,080 --> 00:30:35,120
him and for him together.
I thought that was, you know,

464
00:30:35,120 --> 00:30:41,000
so, so that was the first part
of this experience, this

465
00:30:41,000 --> 00:30:47,360
breathwork experience that was
truly, truly profound and

466
00:30:47,360 --> 00:30:50,520
completely spontaneous,
completely sporadic.

467
00:30:52,440 --> 00:30:56,960
I also had a very, very weird, I
mean, it wasn't weird now that

468
00:30:57,000 --> 00:30:59,480
you know, but at the time it was
weird when I was thinking about

469
00:30:59,480 --> 00:31:03,040
it, the music kind of moved to
Middle Eastern prior type of

470
00:31:03,040 --> 00:31:05,040
music.
It almost sounded Arabic

471
00:31:05,040 --> 00:31:12,720
actually.
And and I and I found myself in

472
00:31:12,720 --> 00:31:15,560
a prison.
So, and again, it was

473
00:31:15,560 --> 00:31:18,200
interesting because the way that
a lot of this was happening in

474
00:31:18,200 --> 00:31:21,840
my head was first there would be
like the music would change, a

475
00:31:21,840 --> 00:31:24,760
setting would appear in my head
and the setting was white sand.

476
00:31:24,760 --> 00:31:27,480
I was just in a white world of
desert and sand.

477
00:31:28,320 --> 00:31:34,320
And then and then a, a prison
cell appeared and it was made of

478
00:31:34,600 --> 00:31:41,320
white Middle Eastern
Mediterranean style brick and or

479
00:31:41,320 --> 00:31:45,160
stone rather.
And I'm in this prison cell by

480
00:31:45,160 --> 00:31:50,880
myself, and there's no guard and
there's no lock on the door.

481
00:31:51,880 --> 00:31:57,080
And I'm sitting in the cell, I'm
sitting on the floor, and I know

482
00:31:57,080 --> 00:31:58,720
that there's something outside
because I know I'm in the

483
00:31:58,720 --> 00:32:00,280
desert.
I don't know where I am.

484
00:32:00,280 --> 00:32:02,000
I don't know which desert I'm
in.

485
00:32:02,880 --> 00:32:04,440
And I don't know what prison
cell I'm in.

486
00:32:04,440 --> 00:32:06,400
I don't know where I am.
But I just know that I'm free to

487
00:32:06,400 --> 00:32:09,720
go if I want, but I don't know
that I want to go.

488
00:32:10,200 --> 00:32:15,480
You know, I don't know that I'm
ready to leave this cell and see

489
00:32:15,480 --> 00:32:19,760
what's outside of it and what's
now.

490
00:32:19,760 --> 00:32:21,880
I'm going to just like pull
aside for a second from that

491
00:32:21,880 --> 00:32:26,160
narrative and just explain that
one of the interesting things

492
00:32:26,160 --> 00:32:28,280
about breathwork versus
psychedelics is that

493
00:32:28,280 --> 00:32:31,640
psychedelics completely will
hijack your system.

494
00:32:32,080 --> 00:32:34,000
And you don't have a choice as
to whether or not you're

495
00:32:34,000 --> 00:32:36,760
tripping and whether you like it
or not.

496
00:32:36,960 --> 00:32:40,000
Once you take those mushrooms or
once you take the psilocybin or

497
00:32:40,000 --> 00:32:43,880
once you take the MDMA or the
LSD, there's no other, there's

498
00:32:43,880 --> 00:32:47,160
no going back.
There's no, there's no, oh,

499
00:32:47,160 --> 00:32:48,400
nevermind.
I don't feel like doing this

500
00:32:48,400 --> 00:32:52,080
anymore when you're doing breath
work, because a lot of this is

501
00:32:52,080 --> 00:32:57,200
based on your performing your
own voluntary performance by

502
00:32:57,200 --> 00:33:02,360
doing that breath, by doing the
breathing exercise, you kind of

503
00:33:02,360 --> 00:33:06,360
have to keep a little bit of
consciousness tucked away to

504
00:33:06,360 --> 00:33:07,720
make sure that you're breathing
right.

505
00:33:08,160 --> 00:33:16,120
And, and then as and then, and
then, but, and so the more that

506
00:33:16,120 --> 00:33:21,400
you breathe correctly, the more
vivid the journey is or the

507
00:33:21,400 --> 00:33:25,760
experience is.
And, but the more vivid and the

508
00:33:25,760 --> 00:33:30,240
experience is, the less likely
it is that you're going to be

509
00:33:30,240 --> 00:33:32,880
focusing on your own breathing
because you're soaking on the

510
00:33:32,880 --> 00:33:36,160
experience.
So I thought so at that point,

511
00:33:36,160 --> 00:33:39,720
while I'm in this cell, I'm
trying, I'm, I'm, I'm pushing

512
00:33:39,720 --> 00:33:41,800
them and I'm like, and one of
the big things that I've

513
00:33:41,800 --> 00:33:44,600
recently started asking myself a
lot when I'm feeling scared is

514
00:33:44,600 --> 00:33:46,480
why are you scared?
What are you afraid of?

515
00:33:46,480 --> 00:33:48,840
There's nothing I what, what
can't you handle?

516
00:33:49,360 --> 00:33:50,320
I've talked about this a little
bit.

517
00:33:50,320 --> 00:33:53,360
When it came to having my second
kid, one of the first things

518
00:33:53,360 --> 00:33:55,440
that I was afraid of was, I know
how to handle this.

519
00:33:55,440 --> 00:33:57,280
But I'm like, wait a minute, I
do know how to handle this.

520
00:33:57,280 --> 00:33:59,280
OK, so I had a boy and I have a
girl.

521
00:33:59,280 --> 00:34:01,200
OK, So obviously there's going
to be something, there's going

522
00:34:01,200 --> 00:34:02,320
to be some things that are
different.

523
00:34:02,320 --> 00:34:03,800
But I know what it's like to
wake up every day.

524
00:34:03,800 --> 00:34:04,960
I know what it's like to change
a diaper.

525
00:34:04,960 --> 00:34:08,320
I know what it's like to put to
to put food on the table and to

526
00:34:08,320 --> 00:34:10,880
be able and, and what it cost
to, you know, be able to afford

527
00:34:10,880 --> 00:34:14,159
a kid right now.
And I think I'm OK and I know

528
00:34:14,199 --> 00:34:16,639
I've done this all before.
So it's not anything new, which

529
00:34:16,639 --> 00:34:18,960
is the question of putting the
effort in again.

530
00:34:19,440 --> 00:34:20,679
But there's nothing to be afraid
of.

531
00:34:20,679 --> 00:34:25,120
There's nothing that I can't
handle, you know, And so I was

532
00:34:25,120 --> 00:34:27,520
trying to go into this whole
experience with that same

533
00:34:27,520 --> 00:34:31,520
perspective, which is I know I'm
just in my head.

534
00:34:31,679 --> 00:34:33,199
I know I'm just checking under
the roof.

535
00:34:33,199 --> 00:34:37,320
So go wherever you go, follow
that line of that, follow that

536
00:34:37,320 --> 00:34:39,920
line of thinking, follow that
images, follow those images.

537
00:34:39,920 --> 00:34:42,480
Rather follow that scene and see
where it takes you.

538
00:34:42,480 --> 00:34:50,000
So I'm going down, but because I
already have this natural desire

539
00:34:50,000 --> 00:34:56,320
to kind of pull away my
breathing, my breathing started

540
00:34:56,320 --> 00:34:57,640
to slow down.
So I had to pick it up.

541
00:34:58,480 --> 00:35:03,600
And I never did find out what
was on the outside of that

542
00:35:03,760 --> 00:35:05,480
prison cell.
Yeah, I'm going to have to go

543
00:35:05,480 --> 00:35:09,320
back and check it out.
But yeah, I mean, and then and

544
00:35:09,320 --> 00:35:12,160
then and then there were other
experiences and other thoughts

545
00:35:12,600 --> 00:35:15,400
that were kind of coming, coming
and going along the way, like

546
00:35:15,400 --> 00:35:19,000
the certainty and the experience
that just physical life is not

547
00:35:19,000 --> 00:35:23,160
all that there is that.
And it it felt particularly

548
00:35:23,160 --> 00:35:26,960
weird because at this point my
hands are are are to my side.

549
00:35:27,320 --> 00:35:30,800
I put my hands on my stomach and
like just touching my skin felt

550
00:35:30,800 --> 00:35:32,360
like the weirdest thing in the
entire world.

551
00:35:32,640 --> 00:35:36,480
It just felt like a totally
foreign, it didn't feel like it

552
00:35:36,480 --> 00:35:44,480
was even my own body and my own
skin and that was that was an

553
00:35:44,480 --> 00:35:47,920
amazing, amazing experience.
It's not always pleasant.

554
00:35:48,200 --> 00:35:52,280
There are physical, again,
physical symptoms that occur

555
00:35:52,280 --> 00:35:57,640
like your body feeling like it's
clamping, getting clamping.

556
00:35:57,640 --> 00:36:00,480
I kind of clamping up pins and
needles.

557
00:36:01,320 --> 00:36:03,920
It took me, you know, I felt a
little nauseous, not nauseous,

558
00:36:03,920 --> 00:36:08,120
but a little dizzy at the end.
And it takes about 20-30 minutes

559
00:36:08,120 --> 00:36:13,320
to kind of just like, come down
and get your brain back to, you

560
00:36:13,320 --> 00:36:16,280
know, to recenter yourself and
kind of get back to itself.

561
00:36:16,680 --> 00:36:19,600
But, you know, this whole thing
actually made me think.

562
00:36:19,840 --> 00:36:22,560
So I'm reading a book.
I'm hopefully doing an interview

563
00:36:22,960 --> 00:36:26,280
with the author.
This book is called The Great

564
00:36:26,280 --> 00:36:30,360
The Last Great Dream and how
bohemians created became hippies

565
00:36:30,360 --> 00:36:34,040
and created the 60s right down
my aisle.

566
00:36:34,960 --> 00:36:39,200
I know but one particular line
from that that the that the

567
00:36:39,200 --> 00:36:40,760
author captured.
I don't want to say the author's

568
00:36:40,760 --> 00:36:44,960
name yet because I want to 1st
get him on the podcast and we

569
00:36:44,960 --> 00:36:49,640
can talk about it.
But but he quotes Aldous Huxley

570
00:36:49,640 --> 00:36:52,640
in the book.
Aldous Huxley is famous for

571
00:36:52,640 --> 00:36:56,120
writing Brave New World.
The Doors of Perception was in

572
00:36:56,120 --> 00:37:01,840
English.
I think he was a writer that had

573
00:37:01,840 --> 00:37:05,920
moved to San Francisco.
And at the time there's actually

574
00:37:05,920 --> 00:37:08,880
quite a there, there was quite a
quite, quite a few people that

575
00:37:08,880 --> 00:37:12,920
were moving like intellectuals
and writers and and creatives

576
00:37:12,920 --> 00:37:15,840
and humanitarians, I guess
people that are part of the arts

577
00:37:16,080 --> 00:37:17,320
that are moving to San
Francisco.

578
00:37:18,080 --> 00:37:20,960
And so he wrote a great line
after he took his first

579
00:37:21,160 --> 00:37:23,440
psychedelic dose, but I felt
this really applied to breath

580
00:37:23,440 --> 00:37:26,360
work as well.
And he wrote the survival need,

581
00:37:26,400 --> 00:37:30,240
the survival needs of evolution.
He came to understand had

582
00:37:30,240 --> 00:37:33,720
imposed A reduct, A reducing
valve on the brain's sensory

583
00:37:33,720 --> 00:37:36,400
intake.
The drug loosened the valve.

584
00:37:36,800 --> 00:37:42,680
So in other words, what that
quote means is in order for us

585
00:37:42,680 --> 00:37:46,800
to survive, we need to be able
to focus on.

586
00:37:46,920 --> 00:37:53,720
We have to, we have to ignore a
lot of what we perceive and we

587
00:37:53,720 --> 00:37:55,480
have to be able to focus on one
thing at a time.

588
00:37:58,080 --> 00:38:03,800
That is billions of years of
evolution speaking with

589
00:38:03,800 --> 00:38:10,200
psychedelics, that intrinsic
need, which is almost like

590
00:38:10,200 --> 00:38:14,320
combative to like only zone,
zone in on one particular thing

591
00:38:14,320 --> 00:38:20,160
and to kind of, and, and again,
as it, as it says, the reducing

592
00:38:20,160 --> 00:38:22,640
valve for the brain of the brain
sensory intake.

593
00:38:24,400 --> 00:38:28,400
We have a valve in our brain and
we could only take in X amount

594
00:38:28,400 --> 00:38:32,960
of sensory of sensory stimulus
around us.

595
00:38:34,160 --> 00:38:37,720
Psychedelics allow us to explore
a lot more than that.

596
00:38:38,240 --> 00:38:44,640
And just following that
particular line of thinking and

597
00:38:44,640 --> 00:38:49,400
line of thought I could, I would
definitely make the argument

598
00:38:49,520 --> 00:38:55,960
that if we'd evolved to own to,
to have a reduced ability to

599
00:38:55,960 --> 00:39:00,920
process our senses, then we're
definitely missing a ton.

600
00:39:01,280 --> 00:39:06,200
Then we're definitely missing a
a ton of what else is going on

601
00:39:06,200 --> 00:39:08,720
in the world, What else is going
out in going out in the

602
00:39:08,720 --> 00:39:12,240
universe.
And I'm really excited to check

603
00:39:12,240 --> 00:39:14,240
it all out.
I'm really, I'm really excited

604
00:39:14,240 --> 00:39:17,760
to see it.
I wanted to kind of end out end

605
00:39:17,760 --> 00:39:22,920
off this video episode on a on
another note.

606
00:39:23,200 --> 00:39:25,680
It's not, I guess, such a happy
note, but I think it's a little

607
00:39:25,680 --> 00:39:27,560
more meaningful, a little bit
more thought provoking and

608
00:39:27,560 --> 00:39:29,880
thoughtful.
And that is that there's a

609
00:39:29,880 --> 00:39:34,760
Jewish holiday coming up called
Teshaba of which is actually

610
00:39:34,800 --> 00:39:39,200
Hebrew for the 9th day of of is
the Hebrew month, So the 9th of

611
00:39:39,480 --> 00:39:46,200
of 9th of the month.
And it is a, it's basically a

612
00:39:46,200 --> 00:39:51,000
Jewish version of or a religious
version of Memorial Day.

613
00:39:51,480 --> 00:39:55,160
Of all the terrible things that
have happened to the Jewish

614
00:39:55,160 --> 00:39:58,200
people throughout history.
You're all commemorated on one

615
00:39:58,200 --> 00:39:59,480
day.
It's a fast day.

616
00:39:59,920 --> 00:40:04,760
You, you fast for 25 hours.
No eating, no drinking, no

617
00:40:04,760 --> 00:40:06,520
brushing your teeth, nothing
going into your mouth.

618
00:40:06,960 --> 00:40:09,280
A lot of people don't speak a
lot of people, they call it a,

619
00:40:09,720 --> 00:40:14,760
a, a word fast, a tiny D board,
a fast of actual speech and like

620
00:40:14,760 --> 00:40:16,840
to make sure that we're just
kind of focused on like

621
00:40:16,880 --> 00:40:20,360
ourselves and, and our lives and
our thoughts and not focused on,

622
00:40:20,400 --> 00:40:22,960
on what's going on around us,
Which I guess is also part of

623
00:40:22,960 --> 00:40:27,600
the same kind of the same kind
of conversation that we've been

624
00:40:27,600 --> 00:40:33,480
having until now.
But one the, I guess the thought

625
00:40:33,480 --> 00:40:39,800
that I will leave you with is
that an enormous aspect of

626
00:40:39,960 --> 00:40:47,520
Tishab of the 9th of, of, as
part of the observance is to

627
00:40:47,520 --> 00:40:57,200
look inwards at not just what
the world has done to us has not

628
00:40:57,200 --> 00:40:59,240
what the world has done to
Jewish people throughout

629
00:40:59,240 --> 00:41:03,200
history, but what have the
Jewish people done to ourselves

630
00:41:03,200 --> 00:41:06,680
to 'cause that to happen, you
know, what do we do?

631
00:41:08,600 --> 00:41:10,680
And sometimes the answer is
nothing.

632
00:41:11,120 --> 00:41:12,920
And sometimes the answer is,
well, we could have been a

633
00:41:12,920 --> 00:41:16,080
little bit more accommodating.
We could have been a little bit

634
00:41:16,080 --> 00:41:17,720
more thoughtful.
We could have been a little bit

635
00:41:17,800 --> 00:41:20,680
more kind to one another.
We could have been a little bit

636
00:41:20,680 --> 00:41:25,840
more focused on our emotional
and mental needs as opposed to

637
00:41:25,840 --> 00:41:30,160
our physical needs, you know,
and not necessarily what's

638
00:41:30,160 --> 00:41:33,840
everyone's problem and why is as
well such a bad place, but

639
00:41:33,840 --> 00:41:35,960
what's our problem?
And how could we get better?

640
00:41:36,120 --> 00:41:38,600
And how could we not only be
better, but make the world a

641
00:41:38,600 --> 00:41:40,800
better place?
How could we make our world a

642
00:41:40,800 --> 00:41:43,120
better place?
How can the consequences of our

643
00:41:43,120 --> 00:41:46,440
actions have a widespread
rippling effect on the rest of

644
00:41:46,440 --> 00:41:52,080
the world around us?
And I think and you know, and

645
00:41:52,160 --> 00:41:54,680
there's a Jewish concept that
the reason, one of the reasons

646
00:41:54,680 --> 00:41:57,960
why we still have these fast so
today is because we haven't

647
00:41:58,360 --> 00:42:00,880
address the root of the issue.
And if we had addressed the root

648
00:42:00,880 --> 00:42:04,040
of the issue, then we wouldn't
need to commemorate anymore.

649
00:42:04,720 --> 00:42:09,200
And one of the hardest issues I
think that are to really come to

650
00:42:09,200 --> 00:42:11,640
terms with is our, is our own
flaws.

651
00:42:11,640 --> 00:42:17,600
One of the biggest issues is our
own fears, our own insecurities.

652
00:42:17,600 --> 00:42:22,000
To even discover it about
ourselves is hard and scary.

653
00:42:22,080 --> 00:42:25,800
And there's particular practices
that don't take place in the 9

654
00:42:25,800 --> 00:42:30,680
days leading up to the 9th of
Ave. to Shab Ave.

655
00:42:31,000 --> 00:42:35,280
And some of those practices are
no, not listening to music, not

656
00:42:35,720 --> 00:42:41,120
going to the movies, not eating
meat and not indulging in food

657
00:42:41,120 --> 00:42:43,720
that you love, not really
drinking, not drinking wine for

658
00:42:43,720 --> 00:42:45,320
sure.
And a lot of this stuff is

659
00:42:45,320 --> 00:42:48,000
because what is, what is that
what, what are you trying to

660
00:42:48,000 --> 00:42:49,920
focus on?
Are you trying to focus on the

661
00:42:49,920 --> 00:42:51,320
externals?
What's going to distract you

662
00:42:51,320 --> 00:42:52,680
from yourself?
You're going to try to focus

663
00:42:52,680 --> 00:42:55,640
internally on what can make you
better.

664
00:42:56,240 --> 00:43:00,800
And I think that's that's
something pretty happy we're

665
00:43:00,800 --> 00:43:03,000
pretty comfortable leaving you
with.

666
00:43:03,000 --> 00:43:07,160
So thanks for listening more,
more episodes coming out this

667
00:43:07,160 --> 00:43:09,240
week.
Got our first Australian guest,

668
00:43:09,240 --> 00:43:11,440
I hope coming up in a couple of
days.

669
00:43:11,840 --> 00:43:14,640
And I'm really excited to see
what's coming up next.

670
00:43:14,640 --> 00:43:17,240
So thank you all and love you
all.

671
00:43:17,360 --> 00:43:17,560
Bye.