All language subtitles for S01E02 - Overcoming Fear & Stress.en

[MUSIC PLAYING]

When I was 26, I got
a huge wake-up call.

It was stage III colon cancer.

At that time, I was a
real estate entrepreneur.

I was just working really
hard to build a business.

I was just basically
going 90 miles an hour.

Well, the first thing that
happens when you're diagnosed

with cancer, you know, is fear.

It's a huge stress
and fear bomb.

I mean, this is how fast the
cancer industry moves, right?

Patients, they get a diagnosis.

It's a whirlwind, like
what, I have cancer now?

What's going on?

Oh, and you're going to need
to be in surgery tomorrow.

And we've got to
get this out of you

right before it
spreads and kills you.

I mean, that's
what they told me.

[MONITOR BEEPING]

So I have surgery, they take out
a third of my large intestine,

and they took out
the tumor, and they

realized it had spread
to my lymph nodes,

and it's worse than we thought.

It's stage 3c, not stage
two, and things were

looking worse and worse, right?

It was just more bad news,
like oh, now you need chemo.

You need nine to 12
months of chemotherapy.

The idea of chemotherapy
didn't make sense to me.

I mean, even though I'd never
had any friends or family

members go through cancer,
just the idea of poisoning

myself back to health, or
that you're going to poison

me back to health, and I'm going
to get really, really sick,

but then somehow it's
going to make me better?

I couldn't make sense of it.

I didn't know what
to do though, right?

And my wife and I go
home, we pray about it,

and I'm like God, if there's
another way, just show me.

I don't know want to do.

And get a book that comes to
me from a man in Alaska who

knew my dad that was
written by a man who had

healed his own colon cancer.

And I'm reading this book,
and I'm like, this is it.

Like I asked for something,
and this book came, this is it.

I'm just going to believe this
is the answer to my prayer.

The next thing
that happened was,

I had all these family members
start to call me and tell me

that I was making a mistake.

All of a sudden, the
fear is back, right?

The fear, the
doubt, the anxiety,

like it's all back and present.

And so in order to appease,
you know, the people around me,

I agreed to go
see an oncologist.

And we go to the clinic,
and it's full of people.

They're all twice my
age, three times my age.

I was just like,
what am I doing here?

I don't even belong
here, you know?

And the TV is on, and
out comes Jack LaLanne.

Jack LaLanne is on the morning
show in the tiny little window

of time that I'm sitting in
the oncologist's waiting room.

And he comes out, and he starts
going off about nutrition,

and the natural therapies, and
healing, and the reasons why

we're all sick is because
we're eating all this junk

food and processed food, and
if man made it, don't eat it.

I'm like, man, I can't
believe this is happening,

like he's on the TV right now.

There's no way, this is not--
this is not a coincidence.

This can not be a coincidence.

So we go back and
see the oncologist,

and he gives me this really
standard pitch, you know?

You've got stage
III colon cancer.

You've got about a
60% chance of living

five years with treatment.

And I'm thinking, you know, 60%
chance of living five years.

That's barely better
than a coin toss.

What if he's wrong?

What if it's worse, you know?

We asked him about alternative
therapies, and he said--

he was like, no.

There are none, and if you don't
do chemotherapy, you're insane.

That moment, a
tidal wave of fear

just smashed me, like
smashed me on the rocks.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

[WAVES CRASHING]

[MUSIC PLAYING]

My research back in 1967
was cloning stem cells,

which are embryonic cells.

I put one stem cell
in a dish by itself.

It divides every 10 or
12 hours, so first it's

one, two, four--
doubling, doubling.

And after a week, 50,000
cells in a Petri dish.

The most important
point is, all the cells

are genetically
identical, because they

came from one parent.

So I have 50,000
genetically-identical cells,

I split them up into three
different Petri dishes,

but I change the culture medium.

That's the environment
in which cells live.

It's the equivalent to blood.

So in environment A,
the cells form muscle.

In environment B,
genetically identical cells

in a different
environment form bone.

And in environment C,
the cells form fat cells.

So the fate of the cells--

muscle, bone, fat,
wasn't based on genetics.

They all had the same genes.

It was based on the environment.

So they say, OK, cells
in a plastic Petri

dish, culture environment,
what the heck does

that have to do with me?

When you look in the
mirror and see yourself,

you see one human looking back,
and I go, oh, one organism, I

go misperception.

A human is comprised
of 50 trillion cells.

The cells are the living entity.

When I say the word
Bruce, that is a word

that is covering a
community of 50 trillion

individual, sentient cells.

So the point is simple,
and kind of funny.

A human being is a
skin-covered Petri dish.

It doesn't make a
difference for the cell

if it's in the plastic
dish, or the skin dish.

The fate of the cell
is not controlled

by the genes, its controlled by
the composition of the culture

medium.

In your skin-covered Petri
dish, the culture medium's

called blood, and the
brain is the chemist

that determines what is the
composition of that blood.

What chemistry should the
brain put into the blood?

And I go, it's based on
the perception of the mind.

If I open my eyes, and
I see someone I love,

the brain releases
chemistry related

to love, which is dopamine,
pleasure, oxytocin,

bonding to the one I love.

Vasopressin, a
chemical in my blood

that causes my cells to become
more attractive to my mate.

And growth hormone is
released when you're in love.

And that, by the name, says--

causes you to become healthy.

And so I'm saying, when
a mind perceives love,

the chemistry from
that brain is chemistry

that enhances your vitality.

That's why, when people
are in love, they glow.

The same person, if
they open their eyes

and see something
that scares them,

will not release the same
chemistry as in love.

If you're afraid, you
release stress hormones,

and inflammatory agents that
affect the immune system.

So I say, oh my goodness.

If I open up my eyes and I
see something that scares me,

then cortisone,
and norepinephrine,

and inflammatory agents
called cytokines are released

into the culture medium--

a different composition
of culture medium.

I'm sitting there, and
I'm in this, you know,

hyper-fear anxiety situation,
and he's belittling me,

and just talking down to me,
and just kind of, you know,

essentially saying, if you don't
do what I'm telling you to do,

you're going to die.

Something he said just
kind of pokes through,

and he says, blah, blah, blah,
and I'm not telling you this

because I need your business.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

And I was like, wait
a minute, this guy--

this sounds like a sales pitch.

I was in sales, and this guy's
doing the push away technique

on me right now.

So even though I had these sort
of, you know, little epiphanies

and was kind of getting
these clues at our meeting,

the fear was so strong
and so powerful,

and the anxiety,
that like a robot,

I basically finished
our meeting,

and walked straight to the
desk, and made an appointment

to start chemo.

And so I made a fear-based
decision, you know?

I just-- I'm afraid
I'm going to die,

so OK, I guess I've got to
do chemo if I want to live.

I just so desperately wanted
an option that wasn't scary,

and I didn't have one.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

When we are in fear, stress,
the stress hormones shut down

the immune system.

It's so effective at shutting
down the immune system

that doctors use stress
hormones therapeutically,

meaning if I want to
transplant a foreign organ

into a recipient, I don't want
the recipient's immune system

to reject that organ, I give
the recipient stress hormones

before transplanting
in the organ.

Because it's so effective
in shutting down

the immune system,
it allows the organ

to take hold before the
immune system activates.

Well, if you're using stress
hormones therapeutically

to shut down the
immune system, what

does that mean for the
average person, who

is now living in stress 24/7?

And the answer is,
we are inhibiting

our immune system every day.

That immune system is
responsible for preventing

cancer, because every
day, normal people

create cancer cells, but
a healthy immune system

will always get rid of it.

But if we look at
people's everyday lives,

and we look at what leads people
to make stress hormones today,

it's not the tiger coming
out of the jungle at us,

or someone from another tribe
chasing us with their spear.

It's not those--
usually, thankfully,

those physical
threats to our life.

What leads us to make things
like adrenaline and cortisol

today, block your ears, is
caffeine, and our perception

of pressure and urgency.

Now I choose those
words very carefully,

because we can tend to forget
that pressure and urgency is

a perception.

We actually choose to
see our day like that.

And what so many
people have done

is made their email inbox
full of stress, and pressure,

and urgency.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

When we wake up in
the morning, and we

see our day as
difficult, or we see it

that everything is urgent,
when maybe, in reality,

two things are
actually urgent, we

put ourselves into what's called
sympathetic nervous system

dominance, which is essentially
the fight or flight response.

And it's adrenaline
driving that.

So it changes our
biochemistry on the inside,

because it literally thinks
our life is in danger, so it

prepares us to get away.

[BLOOD PRESSURE CUFF INFLATING]

So the first thing it does is
elevate our blood pressure,

which is an ongoing
problem for so many adults

in the Western world.

It changes where our
blood supply is directed.

So normally blood
supply is fantastic

to our digestive system,
but it gets diverted away

to the periphery, to
the arms and the legs,

to power us to
get out of danger.

So we have three
types of stress--

physical, chemical,
and emotional.

Physical stress, of
course, is trauma,

injuries, accidents, falls.

Chemical stress is flus,
bacterial infections,

blood sugar levels, hangovers.

Emotional stress-- family
tragedies, second mortgages,

single parenting, 401(k)s.

All of those things knock the
brain and body out of balance.

And so then, it's a
combination of all those things

with chronic conditions.

And so when we talk about
anxiety and depression,

anxiety and depression
on a functional brain

scan it looks exactly the same.

Anxiety is when we are
knocked out of balance,

and when we are knocked
out of homeostasis,

or we're knocked
out of balance, we

turn on what's called
the stress response.

And when the stress
response is turned on,

we mobilize enormous amounts
of the body's resources

for some threat in our
external environment.

We turn on that sympathetic
nervous system, or the fight

or flight nervous system.

When we begin to mobilize
all that energy, of course,

it gives the body a
rush of adrenaline--

-- which changes the fuel
that your body perceives it is

safe to use.

So in any given moment,
the body is making

a decision which fuel to use.

And it can only use glucose, or
fat, or a combination of both.

And when your body
is on red alert,

thinking it's got to get
out of danger quickly,

it needs a fast-burning
fuel to power it to do that.

So take a wild guess
between glucose and fat,

which is the preferred
fuel source in that moment?

It's glucose.

So I have literally met
thousands of people,

in the almost 20 years
that I've been working

with people one-on-one, who have
lost the ability to effectively

use their body fat as a
fuel, because they're always

relying on their glucose,
because of stress hormone

production.

That's essentially
phase one of stress,

which is high adrenaline.

But because with
high adrenaline,

it creates a lot of
inflammation in the body.

Now the body knows that
inflammation is the beginning

of most degenerative disease.

So it's trying to
keep you alive,

so it needs to dampen
down that inflammation.

And because, historically,
adrenaline production

was short-lived-- we
escaped from the danger,

we won the fight, whatever
happened happened,

but it was short-lived.

And now that you've been making
adrenaline for the last year,

or decade, the
body says, well, I

can't sustain this
level of inflammation.

I now need to go into the
second phase of stress,

which is when your
cortisol starts to elevate.

But when we're producing
excessive amounts of cortisol,

its job is to slow
your metabolism down

to get you through a famine.

And so your clothes get tighter.

And what's most
people's response

when their clothes get tighter?

They think, oh, I
better go on a diet.

And if you go on
a diet, you tend

to eat less, which just confirms
to your body what it perceives

is true, which is that there's
no food left in the world.

And so it slows your
metabolism even further.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

The immune system
is suppressed,

because the energy used by the
immune system is so great that

it will interfere with us
avoiding that saber-toothed

tiger.

I mean, think about it.

When a person is sick,
they have so little energy

they can't get out
of bed sometimes.

And I say, yeah, the immune
system uses a lot of energy.

If you're tapping the body's
resources for some external

threat, for the short
term, that's great.

When the stress
is over, the body

returns back to homeostasis,
and of course, the body

builds its resources again.

But if you keep turning
on that stress response,

and you can't turn
it off, and you're

mobilizing all this
energy for some threat

in your external
environment, there's

no energy in your
internal environment

for growth and repair.

There's no energy for
long-term building projects.

It's like there's
a war out there,

and you're sending
all the troops out,

and there's no
Homeland Security.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

And when that happens,
melatonin levels

go down, of course,
which means you're not

going to want to sleep.

Because if there's a
predator out there,

why would you be vulnerable
in the middle of the night?

You've got to stay awake.

So the survival gene switches
on, and we get in trouble.

And so if it's not a
predator that's in the cave,

or outside the cave
waiting for you,

which was highly adaptive
thousands of years ago.

But what if it's your co-worker
that's sitting at the cubicle

next to you, who you
resent and despise?

Well, that primitive nervous
system that was once adaptive

is now very maladaptive.

Today's world is
24/7, 365 stress.

Our biology was never designed
to be in perpetual stress,

and I say why is it a problem?

Stress hormones are shutting
down the immune system.

Fear is the primary source
of the stress hormones.

So fear is the cause of
today's health care crisis.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

When you're living in stress,
the unknown is a very scary

place.

So people cling to their fear,
they cling to their guilt,

they cling to their sadness.

They would rather hold
on to that than take

a chance in possibility, because
in survival, or in stress,

it's not a time to create.

It's not a time to imagine.

It's not a time to learn.

It's not a time to
open your heart.

It's not a time to go within.

It's not a time to sit still.

It's a time to run,
to fight, or to hide.

And when that primitive
nervous system is activated,

all of your attention
is on your outer world--

where the danger is-- on the
person, the thing, the place.

We focus on matter.

We narrow our focus
on things and people.

We put our attention
in our environment,

and when we're living by
the hormones of stress,

our attention is on time.

We obsess about time.

The body, the
environment, and time.

Stress results in illness.

How much illness?

Over 90% of illness
on this planet

today is based on lifestyle
and stress, and not genetics.

The small percent of the
population can claim,

my ill health is because
I have bad genes.

Yeah, but what about the
90% of the population

that is causing the
health care crisis?

It had nothing to
do with the genes,

and everything to do with
lifestyle and behavior.

Relevance?

Those are things we can control.

"Stressed" is really the
achiever's word for fear.

When people share with me
what they're stressed about,

if I pull the curtains back on
that, what I'll actually see

is what they're frightened of.

They're frightened of
letting people down.

They're frightened of how
other people see them.

So if we can actually,
in those moments

where we feel really worked
up and really stressed,

if we can pause there and think,
what am I really worried about?

It's not actually
about running late,

or it's not actually about
not replying to that email

promptly.

It's nearly always
about how we perceive

people are going to see us.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Now, when you turn
on the stress response,

and you can't turn it off,
now you're headed for disease.

Because no organism
can live in emergency

mode for extended
periods of time.

Chronic conditions require
a lifestyle change.

A person has to begin to
make different choices.

They have to change
the way they think,

they have to change
the way they feel,

and that requires them becoming
conscious of how unconscious

they were.

The fact that we can turn
on the stress response just

by thought alone--

and it's a scientific fact
that the long-term effects

of the hormones of stress
down regulate genes to create

disease--

by the very nature
of those chemicals,

our thoughts can make us sick.

So the question is, if our
thoughts can make us sick,

is it possible that our
thoughts can make us well?

Maybe this is why I'm sick.

Because I have so much
negativity swirling around

in my mind, and that's
translating into my body,

and it's suppressing me.

And it's making me sick.

The chemo appointment shows up,
the day arrives, and, you know,

every day approaching that day,
I got more and more stressed,

and nervous, and like what
am I going to do, you know?

And finally the day arrives, I
was just like, I can't do it.

I can't, like--

I just could not
see myself doing it.

I didn't go.

No show.

And then they badgered
me, and called my house,

and left messages on
my answering machine,

and sent me a certified letter.

I mean, they were really trying
to get me into treatment,

and eventually, left me alone.

And so I was willing to change.

Like, that's really
the bottom line.

I was willing to
change everything.

Break all my bad habits,
and break all my bad thought

habits, which are the
hardest to break, right?

So I just got busy
doing it, you know?

To me, it was, at that
time, it was life or death.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

I took massive action, and I
convert it to a raw food diet.

Then I just had this amazing
turnaround in my energy levels,

and life was good.

I mean, I was just
feeling great.

And the farther away I got
from the cancer industry,

the more confident I got,
and the less fear I had,

and the more of an
adventure it became.

I don't know what's coming next.

I just need to enjoy every
day, and every time fear

would creep in, I would have
to immediately catch it, right?

Like catch myself in
those fear moments,

because with cancer, every
single day you're wondering,

am I getting better or worse?

But I realized that I had to
get control of my thoughts

and my emotions, right?

That I couldn't let
my emotions rule me,

and I couldn't let
fear take over.

And so catching myself thinking
negatively, and changing

the way I thought,
plus gratitude,

is the way I dealt with fear.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

[WATER BUBBLING]

I've dedicated my life
to helping to get people

to overcome their fear,
to change that fear

to fascination.

I work in the field
in marine research,

so that puts me in close
proximity to whales, dolphins,

and especially sharks.

Sharks are the focus of
my work, both in research

and my passion in conservation.

I feel so lucky to
get to spend time

with over 30 species of
sharks around the world.

So I actually work with
great white sharks.

Every single year, I've
been very fortunate to dive

with a lot of
great white sharks.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

And it's so neat to
get to not only inspire

people to become
involved in conservation,

and change their
perception of sharks,

but also to watch them
overcome their fear.

[WATER SPLASHING]

A lot of people have
a fear of sharks,

and that comes from a
lack of understanding

and a lack of information.

For some people,
fear is a big burden,

and fear is very
blinding for people.

People have negative thoughts
that come into their mind,

but it's up to you
to make a choice

whether you want to hold onto
those and believe them, or not.

So anything that you're
doing in your life that's

not serving you, try to
be more aware that habit.

Because everybody's going
to go through stuff,

but it's those people that
are stronger mentally--

that choose to be
stronger mentally,

that are going to
overcome those obstacles,

take it as a challenge,
integrate it into their lives,

and just make them stronger.

We buy fear because of
people's programs that tell us

we should be afraid.

We watch the TV,
we read the news,

and fear is like everywhere.

Fear-- be afraid
of these people.

Be afraid of criminals,
be afraid of terrorists.

Be afraid, be afraid.

We are being programmed
to be afraid.

[JET ENGINE]

[SCREAMING]

In the first days
after 9/11, George Bush

was on the television every
day telling the world,

be afraid, be very afraid.

Whoever these people are,
we don't know who they are.

Where they're coming
from, we don't

know where they're coming from.

Where they're going to
next, we don't know.

But be afraid.

He said that for
three days in a row.

On the fourth day, he
changed his message.

On the fourth day, he said, hey,
America is open for business.

And the reason why he
had to say that was

for three days of fear,
he shut down the growth--

not just of the bodies of
the people in the country,

he shut down the growth of
the entire country, which

is a living system, and
put everybody on fear.

What was the consequence?

People were so afraid, they
handed over the power and said,

do whatever you need to do.

In stress, the
hormones shut down

the blood vessels
and conscious brain,

and push us into reaction,
which is as fast as anything

we can do.

But it makes us
less intelligent.

So fear not only dilapidates
our health system,

but it creates a less
intelligent population.

British parliamentarian
Tony Benn

said governments do not
want a healthy, intelligent

population, because they're
difficult to control.

And the fact is, we have become
powerless in our own world

because of the fear, and
giving away our power.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

You know, a lot of people
don't realize that certain

emotions actually cause
disease in specific organs.

This has been known
in Chinese medicine

for thousands of years.

Emotions of fear affect
the reproductive organs,

the kidneys, and adrenals.

Think about this--
if somebody has fear,

like a child gets really
scared, they can wet themselves.

Why does that happen?

Fear directly affects the
bladder and the kidneys,

causing that to happen.

If somebody is experiencing
the emotions of frustration

and anger, it's
toxic to the liver.

If somebody is experiencing
emotions of grief,

and sadness, and depression--
maybe they lost a spouse,

or went through a divorce,
or had a trying time

in their life, that affects
the colon and the lungs,

which is your immune system.

If somebody has anxiety
and nervousness,

it affects the heart,
the small intestine,

and the nervous system.

And if somebody
is a big worrier,

it affects the
spleen, the pancreas,

as well as the stomach.

And so specific emotions drive
disease in specific organs.

And I can tell you from working
with thousands of patients,

taking care of the
emotional aspect of health

is just as important,
if not more important,

than changing the diet.

Because when
you are stressed--

whether you're in a state of
chronic worry and anxiety,

or fear, or resentment, or
bitterness, or unforgiveness,

jealousy, envy--

if you're entertaining
those emotions every day,

multiple, all of
them, some of them,

whatever, then you stay in
a state of chronic stress.

And it doesn't happen overnight.

It's not like, oh,
I got in a car wreck

and it was really stressful,
like, oh no, I got cancer.

It's not like that.

It's people that are living in
this state of chronic stress

for years, usually--

could be even a decade of a
really difficult marriage,

right?

An abusive relationship, an
abusive work environment.

They go through a
really bad lawsuit,

they lose their business, they
have a death in the family,

or multiple deaths
in the family,

or loved ones, or
friends, they're

teetering on the brink
of disease for years.

And then oftentimes,
there's one traumatic event

that pushes them over the edge.

So they've got chronic
stress for years,

and then, you know, bam--

someone important
to them dies, right?

Or their career is
over for some reason,

or they lose their
home, bankruptcy, right?

And that's what we call the
stress trigger, or the cancer

trigger.

It's just like the straw
that broke the camel's back.

And cancer, of course,
then, every time a person hears

the word cancer, and they're
given that diagnosis,

the first emotion that
they feel is fear.

So they get the
diagnosis of fear.

All of a sudden their
body's altered internally.

They're looking at
the doctor, they're

taking a snapshot
of that moment,

they're creating a
long-term memory.

Every time they think
about what the doctor said,

they're conditioning their body
to become the mind of fear.

So then people, then, when
they hear the voodoo curse,

when they get the
death sentence--

three months to live, six months
to live, nine months to live,

12 months to live--

that information
goes right in, and it

begins to program their
autonomic nervous system

to that outcome.

Now, there's nothing
wrong with that.

The problem is, is
then the person is

at war with themselves,
because they're

waiting for the
diagnosis to change

to feel the relief from
the fear and emptiness

that they're experiencing.

And cancer patients can get
PTSD just from the diagnosis,

right?

It's that stressful,
it's that traumatic, it's

that powerful that they
have symptoms of PTSD,

because it's such a
scary bomb in their life.

And guess what happens?

Well, all that stress has been
contributing to their disease.

Now they get a stress bomb,
and their immune system

goes even lower, right?

And they become even weaker.

And that's scary.

And it's something that
no one is talking about.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

When we're always in
that stressed out place,

you can go into adrenal fatigue,
which is when the adrenal

glands can no longer sustain
that level of cortisol output.

When you wake up
in the morning, you

feel like you've
been hit by a bus.

The fatigue is deep
and relentless.

So the consequences of
being intensely busy,

and perceiving all that pressure
and urgency in our lives,

the long-term
consequences of that

are deeply concerning to me.

And it also doesn't
have to be that way,

because if we pause for
a minute and consider

what the real currency of health
is, I believe it's energy.

But when we stop and
think about energy,

when we don't have energy,
everything is more difficult.

When you're tired,
it impacts the foods

that you choose, whether
you get off the couch

and go for a walk or not, the
jobs that you would apply for,

the friends that you
make, your self talk,

and the way you speak to
everyone you love in the world.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

On a physical level, when we're
in sympathetic nervous system

dominance-- when we're
in that red zone,

in that fight or
flight response,

the only thing science
currently knows

that will get us out
of that is to extend

the length of our exhalation.

So the other arm of
the nervous system

is called the parasympathetic
nervous system.

It's the rest, digest,
repair, reproduce arm

of the nervous system.

And from that place, our body
is able to work so incredibly

efficiently.

We're able to use our body
fat effectively as a fuel,

and it's simply
because it's getting

the message, via the nervous
system, that it is safe.

We need to become breath aware.

So essentially what
I mean by that is,

we need to
diaphragmatically breathe.

So when you breathe in
through your nostrils,

with the inhalation, your
tummy starts to stick out.

And then there's a gentle pause
at the end of that inhalation,

and then you slowly exhale--

again, through your nostrils,
and your belly comes back

in towards your spine.

And if you can really slow
that style of breathing down,

your body gets the message
via your nervous system

that you're safe.

The heart starts getting
very orderly, and very rhythmic,

and it sends a very strong
signal to the brain,

and the person starts to
relax, they start to feel safe.

Everything changes,
because they start

to change their breathing.

Obviously, we
all have to breathe,

but it's reminding ourselves
to become breath-aware through

a potentially busy day.

So you might start with
a breath focus practice,

whether it's yoga, meditation,
polarities, tai chi.

If none of those
things appeal, it

might just be
going to the window

or going outside, placing your
hands on top of your tummy,

and thinking of the things
that you're grateful for.

It might be every time you
stopped at red traffic lights

instead of checking
social media,

or sending emails, you actually
breathe diaphragmatically.

When you boil the kettle
first thing in the morning,

to make warm water and
lemon juice, of course,

you stand there and
breathe diaphragmatically.

So just taking
those micro-pauses

throughout the day to
check in with your breath,

and just commit to
becoming more breath-aware.

The more time we spend in
that diaphragmatic breathing

place, the more supported our
nervous system is going to be.

We now know that the effect
of stress on the body is

profound.

And even if you eat perfectly,
if you're chronically stressed,

you can create depressed
immune function.

You can cause gut
disruption, a leaky guy.

You can cause depression.

You can create
inflammation of the body.

And so techniques that help
the body to reset and restore

are critical.

It's one of the key
foundational principles

of functional medicine.

So in my practice,
I often recommend

people learn various
techniques that

work for them,
whether it's yoga,

whether it's meditation, or
prayer, or nature experiences.

Personally, I find
meditation very powerful.

I think the literature
on it is profound

in terms of optimizing
gene expression,

regulating immune system,
affecting the brain structure,

increasing neuroplasticity, the
connection between brain cells,

creating new brain
cells, increasing stem

cell production of the body.

So we know it's not just this
eastern hokey pokey thing,

that it actually has real
biologic effects that

transform your health everyday.

And for me, it's one of the
most powerful things I've

begun to do as a practice,
because other than food

as medicine and
exercise, it's probably

one of the most important levers
I found to create my own health

and to actually
help my patients.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Interesting
point, Dean Ornish,

a physician in San
Francisco, a wonderful study.

He worked with prostate
cancer patients.

What he did is he split his
patients into two groups.

Before the 90-day
experiment, they

read the genetics
of both populations.

And then one group got regular
conventional pharmaceutical

treatment.

The second group was
the experimental group.

And what did he do?

He taught them stress
reduction techniques.

He taught them how to
meditate and he taught them

how to have a better diet.

After 90 days, they read
the genes of both groups.

The group that got the
conventional treatment,

the genes essentially stayed the
same as they were for 90 days.

But the group that changed
lifestyle, 500 genes

changed their
function in 90 days.

Most of the genes were
contributing to the cancer.

Just changing lifestyle,
just changing diet

rewrote the genetics
of that individual

and took them toward health.

There's so much we can
do to reduce stress.

And when you start
identifying all of the things

that we're doing in the
modern society, just

what our daily
routines look like,

so much of our daily
routine is stress-promoting.

But there's so many easy
changes you can make, right?

Getting more sleep, exercising,
eating a plant-based diet,

spending time with your loved
ones, breathing fresh air,

getting sunshine,
connecting to the earth.

Like, all these
things are not hard.

Most of them don't
cost anything,

and they have such a deeply
profound and measurable effect

on the human body
and on our stress.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

The trauma of my birth.

They never expected me to come.

I was one of a twin,
and they didn't know

that somebody was in there.

So I stayed in far too long,
and I almost suffocated.

And I was born in a
hallway, in a cold hallway.

That makes a psychic
imprint on the baby

who has no reference of
consciousness of what

is happening, just surviving.

So it always haunted me within.

And when I became
an adolescent, I

began to get much more
into esoteric disciplines

and look in practices,
philosophies,

because I couldn't find
the match which was going

on in the depths of my psyche.

And then I found the
water, the cold water.

And the water, cold
water is direct.

It brought me right
in there in that area

where trauma is
chemically stored,

and it made me feel just good.

For the first time,
I knew, this is it.

[DEEP BREATHING]

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Then I began to become
aware that breathing

makes a big difference when
you are, say, in ice water.

It made me become aware that if
I was breathing more profound,

I was able to stay much longer
in that cold environment.

A couple of months later,
because I felt so good

and began to explore
just by feeling,

I can do more of the
profound breathing.

I was able just to do
with 25 deep breaths

to stay five to seven
minutes under the ice.

Stay there, find tranquility,
deep tranquility.

So the cold made me
learn to tap in deeper

by deeper breathing,
very controlled.

Then I did it at home
separate from the cold,

and I saw all these lights, all
the-- again, these sensations,

deep sensations began to happen.

And it made me able to do
challenges beyond belief.

Suddenly, I could
stay a whole night

sitting outside in
freezing temperatures

in shorts, having
control thereover.

That means a physiological
control by the mind,

by your will.

I knew that I talked
about it, but nobody

was able to understand
for real what I was doing.

On television, I
talked about it,

and they said, hey, he's crazy.

[BIRDS CHIRPING]

Africa's highest point, world's
highest free-standing mountain

of the world's
largest volcanoes.

Welcome.

The scientists began
to become interested.

They saw this on television.

Hey, what this man is
doing is not possible.

Human physiology is not
capable of doing these things.

They began to test me in term
of physiological experiments,

and they saw incredible things,
data they never saw before.

A man being two hours
in the ice and not

decreasing his core
body temperature.

That's outside of our will,
the autonomic nervous system,

and that's not
possible to stay, say,

2 hours with no core
body temperature decrease

by breathing and believing.

Now, I believe.

You think believe is
something abstract.

It shows that in an experiment
standing before an ice tank,

I was able just by
standing, thinking,

motionless to increase
metabolic activity 300%.

That's like running, but
now I was motionless.

And it makes me able to
stay, like, for two hours--

just because I think,
that's my believing--

that I'm able to stay
in the ice for two hours

and have no core body
temperature decrease.

So they tested me in the
immune system experiment.

They injected me with
the E. coli bacteria.

[NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]

OK.

[NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]

[NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]

OK.

[NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]

[NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]

[NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]

[NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]

[NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]

Yeah.

[NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]

Yeah, yeah.

[NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]

[NON-ENGLISH SPEECH].

[MUSIC PLAYING]

[DEEP BREATHING]

Normally, you get
sick for three to six

hours, headaches and all-over
agony, uncontrolled shivering,

and fever, and all
that, but not me.

Within a quarter of
an hour, I had it

completely under control.

[NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]

[NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]

[NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]

Nay, nay.

[NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
I'm a tough guy.

Yeah.

[NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]

And that showed in the
blood analyzed later

that I was suppressing
the cytokines.

Those are the
inflammatory markers

in the blood, which
is the immune system,

and directly got the E. coli
bacteria specifically out

of my body, like neutralized.

But once again, they said,
yeah, but that's you.

You are the exception.

So I told him, no.

It's not about me.

It's about everybody.

Anybody can do this.

It is just learning how to
expose gradually back to work

this depth of their physiology.

Let me have a group
of 18 persons,

test subjects come with me.

And how much time do
you need with them?

A year, one and a half year
to be a little bit closer

to the results you have given?

I said, no.

10 days.

And it became four days.

And in four days, without
prior experience in the cold,

they were able to
endure five hours

on the top of a
mountain in shorts

in freezing
temperatures, minus 27.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

The path is getting steeper.

No one can stop us anymore.

[GROANS]

We feel close to nature.

This is nature.

Human.

Thank you.

Man.

Yeah.

Thank you.

That's the capability
of a human to endure.

[CHEERING]

They learned how to
control their body

by breathing and believing.

If you are able to do that,
and you get an injection,

say, with an E. coli
bacteria, or virus,

or anything like
that, then you are

able to steer directly
the adrenaline

and to attack the intruder,
the danger, to fend off danger.

And anybody can do this just
by breathing and believing.

Many literature has been
written on breath work,

and by the nose, through
the [INAUDIBLE] chakra

breathing, and the Kundalini,
and the [INAUDIBLE]..

And you have to do it like this,
and four seconds like that,

and then reset like that,
and they've got to--

just use any hole.

Get it in.

Breathe.

Become light.

Have it make a difference.

Feel different.

The only thing
you are doing then

is bringing in oxygen, getting
out the carbon dioxide.

It begins to roam freely
throughout the body

and it gets naturally
to its destiny, which

is the cell, any cell,
and you can feel it.

You become lightheaded
at a certain moment,

loose in the body, tingling.

That's just oxygen.

It enables you to reconnect
with the immune system,

suddenly feel the
power that you are

able, just by
breathing and believing

to prevent from disease, to
become stronger in performance,

to gain confidence
and trust that you

are in charge of your own
mood, health, strength.

Just do it, 20
minutes, and boom.

And the transportation system,
which is the vascular system,

just take a cold shower.

You got to clean up anyway.

So you take a nice warm one
hot as you wish, but end cold.

Like half a minute to
a minute, that's all.

That's just to
ignite, to stimulate

this beautiful vascular system
who wants to work with you.

But it needs some
activation, and it's

done by a little bit of cold.

So only those two already
enable you to go far deeper

in your physiology.

Then little by
little, you find out

you are able to do so much more.

Then little by
little, the confidence

entered inside of
your own body and mind

is grown automatically,
naturally.

We want to bring back
the belief, to belief

of mother nature within.

It's there.

It's there for
everybody, and it showed.

All these 18 persons, 12
of them randomly selected,

they were exposed
with the bacteria.

All, they had to control
within a quarter of an hour

over the bacteria
injected reacting

on the immune system,
all of them, 100%.

What consequences will
this give for health care?

[MUSIC PLAYING]

You should be able to control
your mood, which is hormonal,

your strength, which is
hormonal, adrenaline, cortisol,

epinephrine, and your health,
which is the immune system.

And yes, we are the first
ones in scientific history

to show that we
are able to go back

to the depth of our physiology
far more than scientifically

stated.

We are the first ones to show
that the autonomic nervous

system can be influenced
deeply to prevent from disease,

prevent from depression,
to have a lot

more control over your life.

Happiness, strength,
and health, those

are the most important
assets of life,

not money, not greed for power,
no politics, no possession, no.

Happiness, strength, health.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

I did get well, and my
wife and I started a family.

I have two girls that are
eight and 11 years old now,

and I'm 39.

It's been 13 years since I was
diagnosed, still cancer-free.

But that's the
power of my choice

is not just to change my diet.

But also, I changed
the way I thought.

It changed my
attitude, my emotions.

I started to choose positivity.

I chose gratitude.

I stopped being bitter, and
envy, and jealous of people,

and I realized that I'm so
blessed to have what I have.

All of those things
created health in my body.

And so I sit here
now 13 years later

in the best shape of my life
in the best health of my life.

So here I am.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

(SINGING) Going back to
where the story all began.

Do you want to hear the
journey of this man?

So maybe, maybe you're
going to call me crazy,

a feeling I know
it can't be wrong.

So one day, you're
going to be my lover.

Everybody run for cover.

The ceiling's coming down.

And one day, we're
going to be forever.

Everybody said we'd never.

The ceiling's coming down.

So stop.

I'm going to be
there for your now.

Don't run.

I'm going to be
there for you now.

[INAUDIBLE]

I want to feel the
sunshine in the rain.

I believe that second
chances come again.

So maybe, maybe you no
longer call us crazy,

a feeling I know
it wasn't wrong.

So one day, you're
going to be my lover.

Everybody run for cover.

The ceiling's coming down.

One day, we're
going to be forever.

Everybody said we'd never.

The ceiling's coming down.

So stop.

I'm going to be
there for you now.

Don't run.

I'm going to be
there for you now.

[INAUDIBLE]