June 13, 2020
My guest on today's show, an immersive journalist and self-experimenter named Scott Carney, first joined me for the fantastic episode entitled “What Doesn’t Kill Us: Why Your Body Needs Freezing Water, Extreme Altitude & Environmental Conditioning.“
Today, Scott—a New York Times Bestselling author—is back to discuss his brand new book, which I found to be a thrilling and inspirational read: The Wedge: Evolution, Consciousness, Stress and the Key to Human Resilience.
Thrive or die: That's the rule of evolution. Despite this brutal logic, some species have learned to survive in even the most hostile conditions. Others couldn't—and perished. While incremental genetic adaptations hone the physiology of nearly every creature on this planet, there's another evolutionary force that is just as important: the power of choice. In an explosive investigation into the limits of endurance, in The Wedge, Scott discovers how humans can wedge control over automatic physiological responses into the breaking point between stress and biology. We can reclaim our evolutionary destiny.
While writing the book, Carney submerged himself in ice water and learned breathing techniques from daredevil fitness guru Wim Hof. It gave him superhuman levels of endurance and quieted a persistent autoimmune illness. At the core of those methods is a technique called The Wedge that can give a person an edge in just about any situation.
In this thrilling exploration of the limits and potential of the human body, Carney searches the globe for people who understand the subtle language of how the body responds to its environment. He confronts fear at a cutting-edge neuroscience laboratory at Stanford, and learns about flow states by tossing heavy weights with partners. He meets masters of mental misdirection in the heat of a Latvian sauna, experiments with breathing routines that bring him to the cusp of transcendence, searches his mind in sensory deprivation tanks, and ultimately ends up in the Amazon jungle with a shaman who promises either madness or universal truth. All of this in service of trying to understand what we're really capable of. What can we accomplish when there are no true human limits?
During our discussion, you'll discover:
-What exactly “The Wedge” is…18:00
- It's a continuation of Scott's book, What Doesn't Kill Us
- Learned in depth from Wim Hof (breath holds, ice water)
- Less anxiety
- Improved immunity
- Breath holds prepare the body for the ice water
- Ben did daily Wim Hof Breathwork with his kids for 4 weeks
- Morozko Forge (use code BENFORGE for $150 off the retail price for any Forge)
- Natural response to ice water is to crunch up; Wim teaches you to relax
- The Wedge separates stimulus from response to stressful situations
- Change (or hack) the way we respond and react to stress
- Focus on the response vs. the reaction
- Tony Robbins' walking over hot coals
- The people who get burned are the most confident they'll get across okay
- Fear releases a slight amount of perspiration on the feet which may assist getting across the coals
-The concept of “neural symbology”…18:23
- We create an “archive” of information every time we experience a new sensation (neural symbols)
- Someone experiences ice water for the first time
- Signal goes to the brain: chemicals, electricity, volume, but no character (to the limbic system)
- Brain receives the signal but can't decipher what it means
- Signal goes to the paralimbic system (like a book binder)
- Paralimbic identifies ice water as terror/horror due to the body's response to it
- The next time we have ice water, we experience terror/horror due to our previous experience
- We're living in the emotional past
- The Wedge fills up the library with more and more neural symbols to not live in the emotional past
- Creating new symbols with each experience (grow the collection of books in the library)
-How kettlebells build trust and allow your body to relax in the face of stress…24:10
- Andrew Huberman virtual shark tanks to simulate a scary situation (which didn't work because Scott's not afraid of sharks)
- Introduced to kettlebell throwing as a way to create a legit scary situation
- It's more about focus, empathy, connection with the other person vs. getting in shape
- Relaxation under stress
- It's a great way to strengthen a bond between spouses
- Kettlebell Partner Passing, invented by Michael Castrogiovanni
-Scott's findings on carbon dioxide (CO₂)…37:09
- Breathing is the ultimate “wedge”
- DMT breathwork to induce a psychedelic state
- Benefits of DMT breathwork
- Vape pens can be intense
- Better achieved via breathwork
- Better orgasms
- Creates awareness of possibilities in the body
- Blue Lotus from Essential Oil Wizardry
- Calcification of the pineal gland inhibits production of DMT through breathwork
- High amounts of fluoride consumption
- High exposure to EMF
- Epitalon results in decalcification in the pineal gland
- DMT is one CO₂ molecule off of melatonin (which is created by the pineal gland)
- The Oxygen Advantage by Patrick McKeown
- Buteyko breathing method builds up tolerance to CO₂
- Mouth breathing is very problematic (listen to BGF podcast with James Nestor)
- BGF podcast with Brian MacKenzie
- CO₂ correlates with anxiety (body doesn't detect oxygen)
- CBT method to counteract panic attacks
- Justin Feinstein Laureate Institute for Brain Research
- CO₂ apnea table
- Apnea Trainer smartphone app
- Never mix Wim Hof breathing with diving
-How Scott and his wife condensed 6 months of couples therapy into 3 hours…58:00
- MDMA (ecstasy) or what Scott calls “Truth Serum”
- Scott and his wife took MDMA in the presence of 2 couples therapists
- Ayahuasca is part of the Christian church in S. America and small parts of N. America
- Terence McKenna theorizes that the roots of religion come from psychedelic plants during the Paleolithic era
-Projects and biohacks Scott is currently working on…1:07:30
- Sound Medicine by Dr. Kulreet Chaudhary
- Shaking with a mini trampoline
- BGF podcast with Drew Canole
-And much more!
Click here for the full written transcript of this podcast episode.
Resources from this episode:
– Podcasts and articles:
- With James Nestor: Biohacking breath
- With Brian MacKenzie: Performance breathing
- With Drew Canole: Lucid dreaming
- With Scott Carney: What Doesn't Kill Us book review
- With Patrick McKeown: The Oxygen Advantage
- With Dennis McKenna: Ayahuasca 101
- Ben's article on Epitalon: The Little-Known Russian Wonder Compound & The Fringe Future Of Anti-Aging Medicine
- Ben's article on Smart Drugs: Limitless & Lucy – Your Ultimate, Done-For-You Guide To Nootropics, Smart Drugs & Psychedelics.
– Books:
- The Wedge, What Doesn't Kill Us, and other books by Scott Carney
- The Oxygen Advantage by Patrick McKeown
- Sound Medicine by Dr. Kulreet Chaudhary
- Breath by James Nestor
– Gear:
- Morozko Forge (use code BENFORGE for $150 off the retail price for any Forge)
- Kettlebells
- Mini trampoline
– Other resources:
- Wim Hof Breathwork
- Tony Robbins' walk over hot coals
- Huberman Lab
- Michael Castrogiovanni's Kettlebell Partner Passing
- DMT breathwork
- Blue Lotus or Third Eye from Essential Oil Wizardry
- Buteyko breathing
- Justin Feinstein of the Laureate Institute for Brain Research Feinstein Laboratory
- CO₂ Apnea table
- Apnea Trainer smartphone app
- Article on The Bioregulator Company: Epitalon And The Pineal Gland
- Article on FreeDive UK: CO₂ and O₂ Training Tables for Freediving
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I tried TRE therapy with my kids last year after a very traumatic armed robbery at our home in rural Africa. It was SO SO good for all of us to release the trauma in a physical way. The kids found it fun (my teenagers rolled his eyes, but the little ones enjoyed it) and I found it incredibly helpful in overcoming this traumatic event so quickly. We find shaking in animals – I know buck do this after being chased by lion, leopard, whatever. Trauma gets stored in our DNA so it’s a great way to release it and make sure it doesn’t stay there and get passed on to the next generation. Love your show – such a wealth of knowledge. Thanks for sharing
Hey Ben, the Vuori code does not appear to be working. Thanks!
Hi Ben,
Like Joel, I’m also looking for clarification on the DMT push. My understanding is that you do the push on the recovery inhale after the longer breath hold on the exhale. Is this correct? WHM advises 10-20 second hold on this recovery inhale. With the DMT push do you retain longer than this? Last thing, when I’ve attempted longer holds on the recovery inhale I get a sense of pressure in my head, like the inter-cranial pressure you might feel when doing valsalva technique with heavy lifting. I don’t like it. Any sense that this kind of pressure might be dangerous? Any ideas about mitigating?
Thanks,
Joe
Hey Ben,
I was just looking for clarification on the DMT push during Wim Hof breathing.
Is the push done during each breath in of the breath work, or is the push done during the breath holds at the end of the breath work? If during the breath hold, you mentioned the push/squeeze/hold is on a breath in, but Wif Hof breathing requires the hold on the breath out.
I look forward to your feedback so I can test this out during my Wim Hof breath work.
I’m looking for the same clarification on the breathwork since I would love to implement it! Thanks in advance Ben!
Hey Ben,
Wondering what brand you would recommend for a dmt vape pen?? All the best!!
Hey Ben,
In the show notes above, I think you meant to say that “Epitalon creates DE-calcification in the pineal gland” instead of calcification. I think it’s a typo, thanks!
-S
You are correct. Thanks