Modern wellness often turns recovery into a collection of tools. This conversation brings it back to something quieter: the way deliberate stress, breath, heat, cold, and consistency teach the body to adapt.
Prosperity Pathways frames the subject through practical experience and accessible science. The strongest thread is simple. Resilience is not built in one extreme session. It is built through a ritual the nervous system can trust.
Today is the coldest day of the year here in Miami, Florida. It's a perfect day to talk about deliberate cold exposure. And my computer just broke. So, I'm going to let this fly from my heart to yours without notes. Deliberate cold exposure. Cold exposure has meant so much to me on my path and journey. It's super buzzy right now in our culture for good reason. When we get into the cold, when we take a cold shower or we do the ice bath or a cold plunge, we get big boosts in dopamine and norepinephrine. Dopamine up to 250%. Again, dopamine is the molecule of motivation, of crave, of pursuit, of getting things done, of drive. And norepinephrine is the molecule of focus. We get a boost up to 540%. So, we all want more motivation. We all want more focus. This is a a way that that most all of us can turn that knob and it's very lowhanging fruit, so to speak. So, we could access some of these indogenous neurochemicals and source again our own from within motivation and focus. In this video, I want to talk about the psychology of deliberate cold exposure. I want to talk about why this is so buzzy and such a big aspect right now in our culture. I'll share my time with Wimhof. I think that whim is almost singlehandedly uh responsible for this cultural surge in people that are deliberately getting into the cold. And this is again a hormetic stress that we've talked about in depth when I had the episode around anti-fragility. There'll be more to come on that topic. But hormetic
to come on that topic. But hormetic stress is a stressor that in a small amount is very very good for us. In a large amount probably could do some serious damage. And and before we dive in, if you have any health conditions, uh please consult your medical professional before doing any ice baths. I think cold showers are going to be safe for most everyone, but if you're getting in, you know, it will shock our system. It does take some time to adapt and this is something that we do. Uh again, we adapt over the course of time and it's and and it might not be healthy for someone if if they have heart problems or high blood pressure to be jumping in an ice a freezing cold plunge. So So be sensible with that. And um and don't do this around bodies of water in the bathtub or um in in a cold plunge. Shallow blackouts have have happened. people have died while passing out from the breath and and then being in a horrible situation where they're in the bathtub or they're in a cold plunge. So, be very uh just common sense there that that that's not um to be, you know, mixing the two. We do the breath work separate. That's completely fine. That's safe. We've gone over that in depth and the cold exposure is as well. But when we're mixing the two together, it can be potentially problematic. So again, why is this so big in our culture? I believe because of Wimhof. And he's a Nordic yogi, a Dutchman who who I first came across back in 2015. I'd heard him on a podcast and was really excited about some of his claims around mental health and around mood and energy levels and just the fact that he is he has 26 Guinness Book of World Records or 26 world records and I think 20 Guinness Book of World Records for these wild feats and and there was a
these wild feats and and there was a Vice documentary and all sorts of other documentaries where he's getting into the cold and he's showing his um you know, prowess in the cold and sharing the science and his enthusiasm. And I saw that and was thinking, whoa, this is something that I can do and this is something that I need. And uh so I I got curious about that. And then I believe a year later I was in Europe on my 18-month travel journey where I was uh my brother lives in Switzerland. So I had some time with him and I was traveling around with a train pass in Europe where I was bouncing around city to city and and I was there in a perfect timing when they did have a inner fire retreat and I felt called to that and it was a wonderful time. I wrote about this in depth in my book worth the fight. You can find that at worth the fightbook. org. or and th this uh was a cultural phenomenon that was emerging. There was again 65 to 75 seekers from all over planet earth and it was just a wonderful time deep training. We did a lot outside and a lot of breathing and a lot of getting in very bitter cold December, you know, uh streams and rivers and ponds in Poland and it was absolutely brutal truthfully. Uh, but I needed that and I needed that I was in a very vulnerable time on my travel journey. I was doing a lot of psychedelics in 2016 and it was December of 2016 when I trained with women as team and I needed that strong grounded masculine mentorship that I was lacking on my path. And it was just an incredible time to like hang around with him and his team and pick his brain and he was very available. We had lots of conversations so much that he ended up driving me to the train station. That's how ground level this was. And I remember sharing
level this was. And I remember sharing my IASa journeys and my psychedelic journeys. And he was very he gave me some good good wisdom and good pointers like hey you know don't lose your intention. Why are you doing those? Why are you engaging those ceremonies? And and to hold on to that intention because I think he saw many many people that were traveling maybe untethered that had lost their intention and he could see where this could potentially get be problematic in our culture. So his breathing strategy uh ironically is a is is a powerful integration strategy that can help us integrate the experiences and it's very synergistic with the psychedelic movement because we can get into these quasi altered states of consciousness with just the power of the breath and power of the mind and embracing a little bit of discomfort. It's something that I practice every day. I do the Wimhof for 20 to 30 minutes. Every morning upon waking I'll first wake up. I'll have some hydration, uh, some some water with some Himalayan sea salt or maybe an element pack or a salt of the earth pack and dive into my breath and then I'm I'm going for my coffee and diving into my work. That's been my workflow of late. And uh, again, the Wimhof method is a cultural phenomenon right now. uh whim I believe it was 2015 when I first heard about him, but but 2012 I think or 2014 he was in Time Square and he went he was in this ice tub with ice fully submerged to his neck and he didn't lose his core body temperature. So that was something that really turned a lot of heads and got a lot of press. Just recently in the last last few weeks, I saw a picture of Shaquille O'Neal, the Hall of Fame basketball player was apparently he'd released his book right at the same time. So he was in New York and he got
time. So he was in New York and he got into the picture with with whim in the cold cold plunge and and maybe he was doing some of the the breathing as well or just uh took the the cameo opportunity as an opportunity to plug his book. Um, yeah, it was that was the year that that this started to trickle out into our culture. Tim Ferrris had him on the the podcast and he's been on every single podcast and there's some ultra compelling science to support that the breathing method can boost our immune system. It charges up our cell at the mitochondria level. It's uh good for for pain and for inflammation. That's what I attribute, not the fact that I micro dose from time to time as to why I'm 46 years old and absolutely obliterating my fitness goals. I believe it's because I have a strong breathing practice and it's shifted and changed my relationship to inflammation and therefore it's it's changed my edge um and again my relationship to inflammation and pain. So if we change that relationship then we can push ourselves a lot further. And Whim's message is you're so much stronger than you think you are. And that we can all be healthy, happy, and strong. And he's [snorts] right. We can embrace a little bit of discomfort. We can get in the cold. Again, the psychology. Let's It was a little bit of a degression. Uh let's get back to the psychology of cold showers. And when I first started this, I could barely go for 10 seconds and it was horrible. I was living in Wisconsin and Chicago at the time. and and Illinois Wisconsin winters Illinois winters are no joke and the cold showers in December, January and February are brutal and uh most of the year they're brutal and you know very formidable and yeah it was really challenging at first and you know my brother calls it going going Viking. When I first started going Viking, it was brutal and it was hard for me
was it was brutal and it was hard for me to keep my breath and to keep my focus and to engage the discomfort. But again, this is a horatic stress. This is good for us. This again is going to give us the big boost in focus and and uh motivation, norepinephrine and dopamine respectively. And it's a way that we can cultivate the spirit of resilience. We're doing hard things. I love I think Mark Mark Twain said it best. If you eat a live frog first thing in the morning, that's going to be the most challenging thing that you do the rest of the day. And so that's the same kind of ethos, the same kind of mindset here is that if we do something really hard to start the day, then it's going to reframe everything that we do for the rest of the day. So, it's going to make all the other challenges that we have, the tough conversations with loved ones, the business negotiations, the, you know, polarization in our culture, whatever it might be. Connecting to our breath, knowing, hey, I've already been through a very big challenge and I can handle whatever the world throws at me during this time because I've I've already uh sought out discomfort and healthy, adaptive discomfort. So again, when we're starting the cold shower, 10 seconds in the sandwiched in the middle of a 5 to 10 minute hot shower. Again, most of us are are showering every day. So there's an opportunity for us to start with the 10 seconds and then the next day we go to 20 seconds with maybe a few minutes [clears throat] of the hot shower before and and then a few minutes after. And then we get to the point where we're just doing full cold showers. And for me, there was a that was a moment. And I do remember that that moment where I was like, "Oh, whoa. I can do this for for two to three minutes." And then this was a helpful strategy that I'll share with with all of you is to, you know, pick your highest vibration uh rock song or inspirational song. For me, it was uh Whatever it Takes by Imagine Dragons. And it's a three minute song. So these these uh two to four minute songs. You press play. I
to four minute songs. You press play. I had my phone in the bathroom like on the mantle. and and then I would say you've got to stay in the cold until the song is over. And so that's that's a fun little strategy that can be helpful to again embrace the discomfort. We we all feel so good afterwards and just see see how this affects your day, how this affects how you show up at work. Uh there was a a really interesting uh study recently that I I put a video out about the Wimhof method and there was it was done in Queensland uh where they had uh showed that the Wimhof method beats just mindful meditation and that the benefits acrew over the course of time as we uh get more proficient in this practice. this is a practice like everything else and that people did report feeling more workplace safety. So I thought that was really uh interesting that they would measure that and that the verbiage the in the scientific study would would was that uh the participants that were practicing the Wimhof method uh felt more workplace safe safety in addition to uh more clarity and better energy and mood uh if I recall correctly from that study. So again this is something that all of us can do and and we we just start where we stand. When I first moved when I came back to u Miami uh from my time away, I hadn't been doing the cold plunch for a little while and I remember getting in the cold punch for for 10 seconds. I could barely do it. Then the next day I did 20 seconds. The next day I did 30 seconds. Next day I did 40 seconds. And and then in a week or two I was back to being adapted. So that's the approach that we do. We don't put too much pressure on ourselves and we're finding our edge. we're pushing it at 3% or 3 to 5%. We can all push ourselves. The idea that our bodies are adaptation machines
that our bodies are adaptation machines and they will adapt if we program and instruct it to do so and if it's a reasonable adaptation and this again is a horatic stressor, a healthy stress that will will help us be more resilient uh help boost our mood and energy levels and u and then the the benefits of cardiovascular health. When I first started doing this, my breath holds were 90 seconds. I had a lot of trauma in my nervous system. Very wonky. My breath holds now doing this, and I know this isn't a video. This is a video about the cold, but not about the breath. My breath holds right now. I I've had breath holds over four minutes. And so, this has completely rebuilt my cardiovascular system. So, that has attributed to my gains at the gym and my health and my vibration and my fitness level. So I'm just again inviting possibility and of course I've been at this for a long time since 2016. So it's almost a decade. Uh so you start where you're at and you build at it and work at it. The Wimhof app is really strong. It can help be an accountability partner for your cold showers and also for your breath work as well. The functionality is super strong. There's nothing that I would change about the app. It's it's must have must be on its hundth iteration. And because it again super strong and uh you can I love turning this app on and syncing up my breath to the breath from the app that's really it's almost primal. It's almost like there's a another human being sitting next to me and we're diving into this breathing together and I'm just again sync up my breath to the cadence on the on my iPhone. So again, just inviting possibility and I'll I'll put the app and uh a few of the Wimhof um guided breathing sessions which would be a good place to start. There's three rounds kind of these are YouTube videos where whim is coaching and it's kind of
where whim is coaching and it's kind of rah rahrrah masculine energy rah breathe and then there's another one that's nature-based where you're just following the breath. Uh so again that that that's something that might be might or those are some scripts that might be a good place to to start. The the cold plunging is the next level. And I think that's when you're going to get we're going to get more of the dopamine and more of the norepinephrine. It's something that I do almost every day for for two minutes. Um, there's a very interesting and something that I'm going to be writing about and sharing about more in time, but I I know personally many many men here in Miami who have utilized the cold and resistance training afterwards and have more than doubled their testosterone. Uh, Mark Magna, the owner of the gym at Anatomy here in South Beach, he did he shares his journey. I think he was at his testosterone was at 450 or 470 or something like that and it went up to to 880. And uh there's another let's call him Ethan um a man that I've interviewed that I'm going to be sharing uh his his story more in depth when I have more data around this and and more accounts. Uh his testosterone was at 300. He felt invisible. He he just felt like he he didn't have any affect or any uh essence. His essence was was missing and uh just just was feeling no confidence and uh very low energy. His his tea at the time was around 300. And with cold plunging and resistance training, he got a trainer. He got motivation. He started maybe eating a little bit better, sleeping a little bit better. His testosterone more than doubled. and he he showed me the the results or the the uh the function health or I think it was a different service that he had used,
different service that he had used, excuse me, where but uh had had showed me that the the data so it more than doubled. So I'm just inviting possibility here that this is something that you know again I've been doing for the last year. I know that my numbers have gone up slightly. I' I've got another test coming up here in the next few weeks. Uh, I feel as though they've uh the numbers have have increased. It could be placebo. I don't know. Uh, I've been training really really hard and lifting really really hard and feeling really really good. So, we'll see and I'll definitely be reporting back more on that. And that's just a really fascinating angle that that we especially now with the ubiquity of again Whoop devices, function, health, we can get our blood tests. It's just $ 365 to get your full plan panel at functionhealth. com, which is wild. This this would have cost thousands of dollars years ago. So, there's an opportunity for us to know where we stand. And of course, you could have you could request this through your your doctor and and to have these labs prepped. But when we know, then we can start to make some of these adjustments and and start to shift uh what we're eating and maybe some supplementation and to work on our sleep and stress reduction. there's so much we can do. So, it's such a dynamic process and one that I didn't think that we had an ability to change and that's really exciting to think that we we can impact it with lifestyle and to the degree to which we can impact it is mindboggling. And I think that if this information was out there in the collective, it would give a lot of people some incentive to embrace the discomfort and put in the the hard work necessary. And and what does testosterone do? I love u Robert Seapolski. He's a neuroscientist at Stanford. Dr. Robert Seapolski, he he talks about how it just gives you more of your essence. It's more of what you are. I think there's a lot of there's a
are. I think there's a lot of there's a little bit of degression and people think that that people with high testosterone are all jerks and and if they're jerks and then they're going to be jerks more of a jerk or more of an and uh but the idea that this can be give you more of what you are more of your essence is a very alluring um notion and and something that I'm feeling more like Matt Simpson more of my essence than I've ever felt in my life ever and that might be the case. There's a lot of other things going on. I don't know. I'll report back to it. Um, but again, just planting that seed of possibility and and to know that there are natural ways. Of course, there's TRT. That's something that's a whole different uh conversation. People are using creams to boost their testosterone. This is not that. This is doing it endogenously, activating our system to produce more hormones in in a healthy again adaptive manner. So again, the cold could be beneficial for that. Um, you know, getting into the science of that. Uh, we're already at 21 minutes here. But, uh, again, the the boost in norinephrine, boosts in motivation. Um, the cold is good for our mitochondria. it produces brown fat activation and or it activates brown fat and that is is something that is uh correlated with with energy as well. It was once thought that when we were brown fat is something that uh babies have lots of uh because they're from an evolutionary standpoint they can't care for themselves. So if they're uh ever kind of left out in the cold, they can activate this warmth to to as a protective mechanism to keep them safe because they they they're not going to run and go grab a coat for themselves. And and it's thought that we lose our brown fat, but the the cold exposure can start to regain that. And it's my understanding that that uh brown fat is around our shoulders and our neck and
around our shoulders and our neck and and that is um the our mitochondria is very very dense and energetically uh it it helps us to again activate more energy. Perhaps I'll put uh out more videos in time with a little bit of a deeper dive into the science. If you're curious about the science, there's a wonderful book uh called Uncommon Testosterone by Dr. Thomas Seager. He's a professor of engineering of all things at at ASU, but he's the uh largest purveyor of uh the premium ice bath, Morasco Forge, and I've really enjoyed his book and he's he's a forward thinker. Uh he's kind of out there with with the cold and uh cutting edge, but he's getting everybody's sending in their labs. He's got, you know, almost he shares daily people that have doubled or tripled their testosterone naturally by doing the cold and then doing resistance training afterward. And so again, you can check him out. He's got a big presence on Instagram. I get his substack as well, but but in Instagram again, it's I've seen so many of these accounts and I do trust and believe that that these numbers that he's sharing are accurate and uh the accounts from his book are case studies and it's real and grounded in science. And uh again, this is um expanding our perception of possibility. And when we're we have our hormones are elevated again, we have we're we're more of our essence and who we are and what we are and our body is going to be stronger. It's going to work better. This feels like a good place to stop. Thank you so much for listening and I'd love to hear your questions around cold exposure or your experiences with cold showers or or cold plunging or have you experienced anything with the hormones.
experienced anything with the hormones. This is and I know we didn't talk much about the Yes, this is for for men and for women. Um, and I will create another video in time where we'll go in a little bit deeper. Again, this is something just be mindful of and and this won't be for everyone. And again, we're when we're getting into the cold, we're getting big surges in adrenaline. And that's the noropinephrine. And that is going to not be for everyone. And uh, but again, it's working on our mitochondria. And this is a hormetic stressor. So we just start low, we adapt in time and and then our body will adapt. But uh of course if this is is not working for you then then don't do it. Um but this is again I'm just inviting possibility. I think a few minutes per day can be uh good for uh and beneficial for almost all of us. So again if you have any questions uh please put them in the comments below or feel free to reach out to me. I'm here to serve. And thank you so much for listening. Till tomorrow, love and peace. Thank you.
Transcript auto-generated by YouTube. Verbatim — duplicates intentionally preserved.
Cold plunges, saunas, and recovery tools matter. But the deeper value comes when people have a place to practice together, return consistently, and feel known.
Entrepreneurs often try to remove every stressor while living inside constant pressure. Deliberate cold offers a different lesson: meet stress in a bounded way, regulate, and carry that steadiness back into work.
A recovery practice becomes easier to sustain when it is shared. The room, the people, and the rhythm all reduce friction.
"The most useful protocol is the one that helps you return with more clarity, not more strain."
Start with a modest dose and let consistency do the work before increasing intensity.
Use breath as the anchor. If breathing becomes chaotic, reduce the exposure or end the session.
Pair stress with recovery: hydration, minerals, sleep, and enough space between demanding sessions.
