Breathwork And Cold Therapy: How To Milk The Shit Out Of Life With Dan Voss

[00:00:00] Jeremy: If you're doing it right now and you have for your entire life, but there's a good chance you're doing it wrong or could do it better. We're talking about breathing

[00:00:08] Zach: That's what today's guest is gonna enlighten us about. His name is Dan Vos and he's the host of a new way of living podcast as well as a coach in the ways of breathwork and cold therapy.

[00:00:18] Jeremy: today on the fit mess.

[00:00:20] Dan Voss:  just being able to be more aware and more present by literally bringing it back to our breath, which is so fundamental to being a human. , it's more than just. Staying alive. And it's more than just what we did when we first entered this, this world.

[00:00:35] It's really more about maximizing our, our life.

[00:00:38] Zach: That's Dan Vos. He's the founder of Nova now mindset, emotional health. And breathwork coaching. He's also the host of the podcast, a new way of living. Today, we'll talk to him about why breath work and cold exposure are two ways you can milk the shit outta life

[00:00:54] Jeremy: But first I'm Jeremy.

[00:00:56] Zach: And I'm Zach we've spent years pushing ourselves to learn more about our own physical, emotional and mental health, and picked up a few coaching certificates along the way.

[00:01:03] Jeremy: But really we're two guys who got sick of our own shit and started making changes to be healthier, happier, and live more meaningful lives.

[00:01:10] Zach: And each week we talk to world class experts with advice to help you do the same

[00:01:15] Jeremy: You already said, what is probably my favorite part of this interview? We're about to hear, tell me more about milking this shit out of life. How do I do that?

[00:01:22] Zach: Oh, if I could tell you I'd, I'd be a rich man, but I think, you know, breathwork and cold therapy is, is, is definitely one of the things that will let you milk the shit out of life. I just love that phrase. I really wanna put it on a poster.

[00:01:36] Jeremy: we we're totally gonna steal it. And, uh, we're not gonna give Dan any credit, even though he's the one that's about to say it in a few minutes, but yeah, breathwork and cold therapy are two, just absolutely essential parts of my toolkit. Whenever I, you know, bother to get out the tools and play with them.

[00:01:50] And I was actually, I was making a list the other day of, of all the things that, that I want more of in my life and cold therapy was on top of the list is I, I, I want more of it because it just, it improves everything. Every time I go drop my body in some freezing cold lake or river or some natural body of water, I come out feeling incredibly better.

[00:02:10] There are just so many physiological benefits to it. There are so many just spiritual and just mood benefits to. I, I can't get enough of it. And, , I, I hope that you'll hear today. Some of the reasons why, if you're not doing it, you should add it to, to your daily routine.

[00:02:26] Zach: Yeah. And I think even just beyond that, like we touch on it in the interview, the discipline of it. Right. If you can just do that one thing with cold therapy, you just apply that to everything else. Like if you don't wanna do something and you don't think you can do something yeah. You can,

[00:02:42] Jeremy: I

[00:02:42] literally 

[00:02:43] did I literally did that. I was at the dentist yesterday and, and they're like, you know, they're getting me all prepared. Oh, it's this gonna hurt a little bit. And it's gonna be a thing. And I literally, in my mind, I've been in the snow, like without clothes on, I can handle an injection.

[00:02:59] Like I literally called back to that piece of evidence that I can do hard things. So I have no problem, you know, having you numb my face for two seconds, this is no big deal. It's, it's incredible. How many of those little moments that otherwise could be super anxiety inducing or make you just overthink and worry when you can call back points in your life where you've done hard things, especially if you did it this morning.

[00:03:22] It makes those little things throughout your day, so much easier to overcome.

[00:03:25] Zach: Yeah. One of my favorite yoga teachers, Cassie. There's this one phrase, she says all the time during class, , we'll be doing like planks or like something really hard and then we'll move on and then we'll come back to that same movement again. And she just says this phrase up, we've been here before 

[00:03:44] Jeremy: Yeah. 

[00:03:45] Zach: then, and that actually like plays through my head.

[00:03:47] Occasionally when I'm doing things like cold therapy or breathwork or something like that. Yes. I've been there before. And yes, I got through it. I didn't die. And I actually got, you know, ended up like being better at the end of it. So yeah, the discipline of this is just amazing.

[00:04:04] Jeremy: And breath work, I think is different. I mean, there's definitely, as we'll talk about in a few minutes, there are some hurdles to the setup of when you're told how long you're going to do it and what your body's going to do in reaction to it. There's parts of that. Where again, you need to sort of remember you can do hard things, but it is such a, a different practice that it is a very healing practice in a lot of ways.

[00:04:24] I, I will never forget when I got my second COVID vaccine. That was the, the only one I really had any sort of physical reaction to where I didn't feel. I started feeling kind of foolish and felt kind of crappy. And I went and did some breathwork for like 40 minutes. And by the end of it, I was 100% better.

[00:04:40] Like whatever side effects I was having, I kicked them literally by laying down and breathing the way I was told to for 40 minutes now. Sure. It is entirely possible that had I done nothing. My body might have also just gone. We got this and, and, and dealt with the side effects. But I, but I truly believe that what I did through that act of breathing helped me get through that.

[00:05:00] And I've used it in other ways when I've gotten sick to just get through stuff faster. And every time I don't regret it because I've, I'm certain that I, that I get through those illnesses and those bad experiences faster because of the breathing.

[00:05:14] Zach: So I think breathwork is, is one of those things where you can do it every day. You can do it every hour. There's always an opportunity for it. Like it's not. You know, cold therapy where you have to go find the water to get into, or the cryo chamber to get into, , breathing is just one of those things you can do every single day to really help your immune system and help your body and, and to be, you know, just fully functional, , and milk the shit outta life.

[00:05:39] Right. But the other thing you can do to milk the shed outta life is to make sure your body has all the nutrients it really needs. And that's why I take athletic greens.

[00:05:47] I started taking athletic greens because I really needed to have a supple. That tasted great. Gave me all the things that I needed and I didn't wanna have to take 10 pills a day or spend all of my time cooking all the meals. I try and get my nutrients from food, but let's face it. We don't get everything we need every day from food.

[00:06:07] So athletic greens was a great solution for me. It tastes great. It gives me everything I need for more energy, better gut health optimized immune system. It has less than a gram of sugar. There's no nasty chemicals or artificial anything, and it actually does taste good. And for what you get, it's less than $3 a day.

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[00:06:41] That's athletic greens.com/fit. Mess to take ownership over your health and pick up the ultimate daily nutritional insurance. That link will be on the show notes and it's plastered all over our website@thefitmess.com.

[00:06:53] Jeremy: All right. As we've mentioned, our guest today is Dan Vos. He is the founder of Nova now mindset, emotional health, and breathwork coaching. He's also hosted the podcast, a new way of living. We started by just asking him about why breath work is really so much more than the breathing you do every day. That just keeps you alive. 

[00:07:09] Dan Voss: Yeah, I love how you phrase that, that there's more to it than, , just keeping ourselves alive and. when I tell people that I am a breathwork coach and that I have, you know, been certified in breathwork training and coaching. , that's kind of the first thing that comes up is like I've been breathing my entire life.

[00:07:24] It's the first thing that I, I did when I entered this world is take a breath. And it's the last thing we do when we leave this earth is take our final breath. , but there's so much more to it there in between those two phases of life. and what's really interesting to me is that we go most of our lives without learning about any of this, you know, the importance of intentional breathing, , the optimal way of breathing, how to breathe efficiently and effectively.

[00:07:49] , and , for some people, they go much later in their life when they start learning about this, you know, I'm 30 right now. So I'm, I'm blessed to have learned about this in my, my late twenties is when I kind of started, started picking it up. , but what's happening there. And that word breath work is kind of tricky.

[00:08:05] , that's kind of the industry term is, is breath work, but I also like to call it breath play. And what I mean by that is when you. Learn and experience what an intentional breathing practice is and what it can do for your health, what it can do for your physical health, your mental state, , and you learn some of the basics on how to breathe more efficiently or how to get yourself into an altered state of consciousness.

[00:08:31] , it sounds like really crazy stuff that might take a. Work, but it's really not, you know, you really get into the basics of it and you're like, okay, cool. I can do this on my own now. And I can take a deep breath in a moment where I might need it most, , that it's really, that's really what it is at its core is being conscious when we breathe.

[00:08:51] and that could be, , in the morning, uh, a 10 minute breathwork practice. , it could be a longer one hour, like holotropic breathing whim off style breathing where you shoot off into outer space. , it could just be taking a couple deeper breaths, you know, right before you go on stage to public speak, or go into a podcast interview or have a difficult conversation with your spouse or, or your kids.

[00:09:13] , just being able to be more aware and more present by literally bringing it back to our breath, which is so fundamental to being a human. And that's exactly what you said when you started off here is like it's, it's more than just. Staying alive. And it's more than just what we did when we first entered this, this world.

[00:09:32] It's really more about maximizing our, our life. And that's where I get most, uh, excited milk the shit out our breath work is way of doing that.

[00:09:45] Zach: I love that milk the shit out of our lives. That's that's that's gonna go up on my wall somewhere. 

[00:09:50] Jeremy: gonna that. I the tagline teaching you how to the shit out of your life. 

[00:09:55] Dan Voss: They oughta put that on a t-shirt

[00:09:57] Jeremy: all right, here you go.

[00:09:59] Dan Voss: TM.

[00:09:59] Zach: So, so you, you mentioned that, , you feel fortunate that you got into this in your late twenties. How did you get into this? Like what, what inspired you to start learning about, you know, Jeremy alluded to earlier, like this thing we've been doing all our lives, maybe wrong though.

[00:10:18] Dan Voss: Yeah. Yeah. I mentioned a name not too long ago. Wim H um, is really how I got into all of this and people that are in the breathwork community, uh, like myself. A lot of them have that same story where they heard about this crazy guy from the nether lens. , talk about breathing and how it can change your life.

[00:10:37] and I actually, I heard him on a number of different podcasts that I was listening to, , talk about his story and how he developed this method. And, you know, this was going back decades ago when he, , decided to walk into this river in Amsterdam. , when he was going through a lot of, , trauma and grief from the death of his wife, she committed suicide and he would go on long walks and one day he.

[00:11:03] And walked by the river and decided to, to get into the cold water. And it changed his life. He realized how much better he felt. He realized how much, , it helped with his anxiety, with his depression. And he was doing deep breathing when he got into that, that cold water, cuz there was an initial shock.

[00:11:20] And then he was like, huh, what if I did this before I got into the water? So long story he developed this whole method, which is now known as whim off method of deep breath. cold water immersion. and I, I heard him talk about this story over and over again on all these different podcasts I was listening to.

[00:11:37] And I, I knew I had to try it for myself. this was around late 20, 19, early 20, 20. , And then of course the pandemic hit and, that's when I really had some extra time on my hands. You know, professionally, I was actually a wedding photographer for about five years and that's when I had some extra time.

[00:11:57] And I started up a podcast on my own when all of my weddings were dried up overnight, everything was kind of canceled, postponed. And I got into this podcast space and remembered. What I was learning from Wim H on, on the different shows I was listening to and started working on it on my, own, doing the breathwork on my own. And then I realized this is so I want to do this myself, not just for myself personally, but talk about it on my show share this with the world. And that's when I decided to make my podcast all about breath work and cold exposure. Um, And then, like I said, this was right around when the, the pandemic was happening and I was going through so much change.

[00:12:33] Professionally with my career, a career shift, um, you. know, my business taking a huge hit and kind of overnight, , just a lot of uncertainty and question marks and doubt. and but then I always brought it back to my breath, and then in addition to all of that I went through a. breakup that summer. I was just kind of at this Point in my life where I was questioning who I was And what I was supposed to do in this world. And whenever I had moments of, of grief or sadness or depression or anxiety or panic, or all the number of things that so many people faced in that year, um, I would literally just lay down in my bed and breathe for 20 minutes.

[00:13:13] I would turn on the whim off app and I would three rounds of this deep breathing And after 20 minutes, I felt like a whole new person. And that's when I. That's the moment I realized how powerful this was. Um, and I couldn't help, but just make that a mission to share with the world. 

[00:13:28] Jeremy: So you mentioned using the app. That's something I've done a few times. Um, and I wanna just sort of paint a picture for people for what this looks like, because I've gone through, I've done a number of just breathwork sessions on my own at home with the app or, or without, and I've done a couple of guided sessions. 

[00:13:43] Dan Voss: Nice. 

[00:13:44] Jeremy: The guided sessions. It, the most intimidating part of it for me was, well, there were two, one, I was at a retreat, a weekend retreat self-care woo, woo. Thing that, that. changed my life. And part of it was, you know, lay on ground, surround yourself with pillows because you're going to thrash and you're going to you know, sort of lose control of your body, which scares the crap out of you when you hear that.

[00:14:06] And then they follow it by the way, we're gonna do this for about 75 

[00:14:09] Zach: contact you find you 

[00:14:11] Jeremy: the, the sort 

[00:14:12] Zach: can of those 

[00:14:13] Jeremy: control, the fear of, oh my God, I'm gonna, I'm gonna do this, this deep, heavy, like very difficult or, or challenging, I guess, breathing. Uh, and, and I'm going to lose control of my body to the point where I'm gonna be slamming my hands against the floor and all these things.

[00:14:28] It's very scary. 

[00:14:30] Dan Voss: Mm. 

[00:14:30] Jeremy: But when I got into. I traveled through time. I traveled through space. I, I went back and aided or, or, or comforted myself as a child through some of the most traumatic events where I was left alone to sort of figure it out on my 

[00:14:45] own. I was able to literally stand next to that child version of me in the room where it happened and comfort him and say, you're gonna come out okay.

[00:14:53] From this you're you're going to be all right. And, and I'm, I shit, you. It was as real as you and I having this conversation right now, all, all through literally this breathing technique. So it is an incredibly powerful, spiritual practice, an incredibly powerful healing practice. But for someone who has maybe heard about it has heard conversations like this has heard whim on, on different things, but has never done it themselves.

[00:15:17] Would you sort of explain what a typical, , breathwork session, both? I mean, you, you mentioned they're sort of the simple. Lay down and, and sort of prepare for a conversation, but also like the, the deep spiritual stuff. Can you kind of walk us through what that looks like, what someone would experience if they tried that? 

[00:15:31] Dan Voss: Yeah. I mean, to your point, there's different styles of breathing, right? You could have, um, a smaller session, shorter 10 minute session to, calm your nerves. You know, it's it's, to me, it's, uh, there's a huge part of this is the nervous system And what you're doing there is you're doing a reset with your nervous system.

[00:15:50] So what we're looking at when it's swim H style breathing, deeper breathing styles, holotropic it sounds like, what you experienced might have been a form of rebirthing, uh, breath work. Um, those are much more in depth, deep sessions. A lot of what I focus on is, is a shorter session to literally downregulate.

[00:16:09] If you're in a overly activated sympathetic nervous system. That fight or flight where you're in panic or fear or anger, and just being able to do some breathing to downregulate that's super simple. ,, You could also do the opposite side of that, right? Upregulated breathing. If you're feeling a little sluggish, uh,, instead of grabbing a cup of coffee at 2:00 PM, that might keep you up later at night, you can do some upregulated breathing to.

[00:16:34] To feel more energized And alert and focused. Now What you're getting into is some of those longer sessions, whether that's whim, ho or holotropic, or, you know, rebirthing, um,, in terms of an experience, it's, it really is individualized . What they're going through. ,, I have had many moments in many sessions where I have had something similar where I see colors and I you know, I it's very euphoric.

[00:16:57] It's very blissful. , I've had moments where I, I have visions of where I should be at in my life And, what I should be doing with career or with a, a relationship. So it can be very profound, very spiritual. , but then I've also had some sessions where I maybe went into it with really high expectations, hoping to get to that Point where I just get super high and like outta my mind.

[00:17:17] and then I don't get there and that's okay. Because I got, like I said, every session's a little bit different. It's gonna be a little bit different for each person. 

[00:17:24] Jeremy: It's really it really easy to get caught up chasing the dragon once there. Like I gotta go back. I gotta, I gotta taste that 

[00:17:30] Dan Voss: Yeah, absolutely. There are times where you want to 

[00:17:33] have that big shoot then you don't get it. 

[00:17:36] Zach: exactly So 

[00:17:38] so you you mentioned 

[00:17:39] Dan Voss: still have a really great experience, 

[00:17:40] right? still BLIS. It's 

[00:17:41] Zach: in your in your late twenties 

[00:17:43] Dan Voss: It's still, 

[00:17:43] Zach: How 

[00:17:44] Dan Voss: leave feeling really good 

[00:17:45] Zach: what what 

[00:17:46] inspired 

[00:17:47] Dan Voss: and then there's other moments where 

[00:17:49] have an emotional you know, I've 

[00:17:51] Zach: Jeremy 

[00:17:52] alluded earlier like this thing we've been doing all our 

[00:17:54] lives maybe 

[00:17:55] Dan Voss: sometimes it's for a specific reason where like you look back And you're like, oh yeah, I was, really holding onto this, you know, this. Resentment in a relationship or I'm just going through some shit this week or stress or an argument or whatever. and there's just this immense emotional release. And then I've also had emotional releases where I couldn't explain what it was about Right. Like I just started crying and I was like, I had no idea I was holding 

[00:18:18] onto anything. I didn't know. I even needed that. But what I'm getting at is what what's so cool about this 

[00:18:24] and what's so beautiful about this practice. and there's different forms as I've explained. , but it usually will give you what you 

[00:18:32] need and sometimes you don't know what you 

[00:18:34] need, But it'll, it'll get you there. 

[00:18:37] Um, and, and that's, what's 

[00:18:38] so cool for me is to just kind of go into it and surrender and not 

[00:18:42] have clear but now I'm out and could be a number of any of those 

[00:18:48] things described.

[00:18:51] Zach: I usually am pretty clear on what I want, what I actually need is murky. right. 

[00:18:59] Dan Voss: Mm. Yeah. 

[00:19:00] Zach: usually what happens to 

[00:19:01] me when I, I start going through those, uh, those moments. 

[00:19:07] Dan Voss: and that's a big difference. And I, I think, I think a lot of people can relate to that. They're like, I know what I 

[00:19:12] want, but I'm not so sure what I really 

[00:19:15] needed. and that's what I love about 

[00:19:18] this the most is like we, we can go into it with an idea of like, and that can be for anything even outside of breathwork like cold exposure is 

[00:19:25] the same thing for me. I have almost the exact same experience. and I think that's why the, 

[00:19:29] two correlate so much is that know what I want 

[00:19:32] out of a certain cold exposure, nice bath session, , maybe it's a number that I want, I want to be in there for five minutes. but then I get in there. My body's like, no, that's not what you need today.

[00:19:44] You only need two minutes and that's enough and get out, like, don't overdo this don't be a macho man. So that's the, there's a huge that's a, a a brilliant There you know, very easy know what want at times, 

[00:19:59] Zach: Yeah. I, I, I feel like I suffer from that far too often. , but you, kind of went down the, the road that I was gonna go next and, and talk about cold therapy and does it relate to breath work? Is it something you should use in conjunction with breath work or is it completely separate 

[00:20:15] Dan Voss: yeah, I guess I'll, I'll relate it back to Wim because that's where I learned all about it. And he is such a pioneer and leader in this space. I mean, when people think of cold exposure and, and ice baths and all that, they usually think of of Wim H , and he's gaining popularity for sure. It's kind of funny when I start talking to people about this in my circle, in my life fam family, friends, you know, I'll talk about ice bath and they'll.

[00:20:37] Is that, that guy. And I'm like, yeah, that's, that's way I'm off. but I mentioned it in, in his origin story earlier is when he went into that river in Amsterdam and he kind of first created this or discovered it, he got into that cold water and he started doing. Really deep breathing just naturally, right.

[00:20:56] It was almost like a hyperventilation thing where you get in and there's that initial shock. Your, your body goes into that sympathetic state and it's just like, you like freak out a little bit. , so that's what he started realizing. And then he realized, okay, well, what if I did this before going into the cold? And he started laying down and doing that deep breathing on his own separate from the. and that's when he realized the power, all it and how it can make you 

[00:21:21] feel better I will say, , as just like a disclaimer, the two should not ever be done together. Especially the deep breathing.

[00:21:29] , it's dangerous, right? It's in terms of doing it in water, you could get lightheaded. You could actually pass out, so never do deep breathing. Even near water, Even like a puddle of water, you could slip. And I mean, people actually have died doing this, trying to do it in, in conjunction, , at the same time.

[00:21:47] So in terms of cold exposure and you know, how it relates to our breath, you have that element of doing the deep breathing before you go into the cold, it acts as a, a, a way to naturally heat up your body, which is a, a really great thing to do before you go into the cold. , but then once you get into the cold, like I said, you don't want to do that deep breathing, but you certainly wanna focus on your breath.

[00:22:11] I do recommend to focus on that downregulated breathing, slowing the exhale down. So, and especially when you first get in and you have that initial shock of like that kind of that hyperventilation movement, bring it back to your breath and just, you can take a brief, a deep breath in, but then just really slowly exhale, like 6, 7, 8, 10 seconds even.

[00:22:33] and that's what I usually do when I'm in that cold. I might take, you know, five, six deep breaths in the beginning in terms of just like slow breathing, nothing too crazy where I'm gonna get lightheaded, but just more so down regulating and focusing on that exhale. And that gets me back into that parasympathetic state from that initial shock down to, okay, I got this and it's usually about 30 seconds for me, where you get to that 32nd threshold.

[00:22:57] And 

[00:22:57] you're like, okay, I got it under control. I have my breathing now under control. and at that point, it sounds crazy, especially for people that aren't used to this, but at that point you really do 

[00:23:06] get used to it. You really do get into the state of flow 

[00:23:10] and relaxation, and it's still a little painful.

[00:23:13] It's still hard. I'm not gonna say it's like easy. but it is easier than the first 30 seconds or that first minute. Uh, that's usually the hardest part.

[00:23:22] Jeremy: Well, and, and it gets easier, right? I mean, that that, moment you talk about where you sort of take control or, or I guess when your body flips from sympathetic to parasympathetic, there's just something. It is for me, it's like a light switch. You go in there with all of the baggage and, and the shit that has, you know, dominated your mind for the day or the week or however long it's been.

[00:23:41] You get in that water. And there's, it's two things I love while I love so many things about it. But for one that moment where you are suddenly just at peace, where your whole body just relaxes and goes, oh yeah, we're good. We're we're not gonna die. It's all right. I mean, all of a sudden you go from like, oh my God, I was freezing to, I think I'm gonna swim.

[00:24:02] This is a good time I'm enjoying this. And, and I love that about it. And I love just the discipline part of it too,

[00:24:09] that that

[00:24:10] you know, when you do build up your tolerance, when you go from that 10, 20, 30 seconds, and you're up into the twos and the fives, and more minutes, just the, the mental challenge of can I do this longer?

[00:24:22] Not from like an ego perspective, but just from like a mind control thing, because it, it does become this thing where you start to sort of freak out a little bit and I'll just share a quick story. I was actually in the, in the river, we live right next to a river and I was in it with my daughter yesterday.

[00:24:35] And I think she looks up to me. She sees me do it. She's like, oh my God, you're crazy. But then she wants to follow me in and does it. And yesterday we're standing in, in the Creek and, and I just walk in, like, I'm getting in a bath, cuz I'm so used to this now. Like I just know what it feels like. I'm gonna be She gets in and she stands up to her knees. She stands. I mean, just for minutes, like I just hold on. Just, I gotta, I just need a, I just need a minute. And then she's, she's saying I don't, I don't know how to get in. I don't know how to sit. I don't know how to get into the water. I'm like, literally you just have to literally sit down.

[00:25:05] That's all you have to do is sit down and she could not like the mental and physical barrier was impossible. And I was like, go over to the dry land and sit down. The only reason you can't do it in the water is because your mind is telling you, you can. You need to overcome that monster. You need to tell that thing it's wrong.

[00:25:21] And literally just sit down and I mean, just, it turned into tears and it was this whole overblown thing. So she literally couldn't do it. So I had to help her and I had to like layer in the water and then, but then, but when she did it, she just lit up and was like, yes, like it's. So my point in telling all this, is that just when you.

[00:25:39] When you are sort of a slave to your mind and, and you're constantly just chasing whatever random thoughts come up and feelings. This is such an amazing practice to get over that because you have to, you have to overcome those voices and you have to overcome that cold because otherwise you do, you freak out and you don't know what to do.

[00:25:56] And it's just another extension of, of your life sort of out of control. 

[00:26:00] Dan Voss: Absolutely. It's probably my favorite thing about cold exposure is that discipline element, right? That moment of telling yourself I can't do this. And oftentimes. It's not even a matter of whether you can or can't, it's a matter of whether you want to or not. So when you say I can't do it, it's almost always, I don't want to.

[00:26:20] And when you get into the cold and especially in, in the morning, that's why I love doing this. Like first thing in the, in the morning, you're now start starting your day and setting yourself up for success. You're setting yourself up to. Realize I can do this, you know, something I might not want to do, but I really can do it.

[00:26:36] when you, when you get past that 

[00:26:38] Zach: I usually am pretty clear 

[00:26:40] Dan Voss: a brain barrier. a mindset

[00:26:42] Zach: what I actually 

[00:26:43] Dan Voss: you get past that. then you go throughout your day and you're like, oh, I can't this, but

[00:26:47] Zach: that's usually what happens to me when I 

[00:26:49] Dan Voss: And then you remember, you know what? I got into the

[00:26:51] Zach: uh those 

[00:26:52] Dan Voss: two minutes today, I got into an ice cold bath today and I sat there for whatever, four minutes, five minutes.

[00:26:58] And then you go into this meeting or two, a project or to something you're putting off. Whenever it may. And you look back and you say, okay, well, you know, I actually did something that I, my mind told me I can't do it and I end up doing it. And now what's next. that's, what's so cool. Is, is ability to shift, uh, how you look whole day whole your whole life.

[00:27:20] Zach: so I wanna ask you about, so I, I, I suffer the same issue with cold, you know, In the beginning, it was very hard to get into. Now I can, you know, I jump into the shower. I really enjoy like three to four minutes. I'm as hot as it can possibly get to the point where it like leaves red marks on my skin.

[00:27:42] And then I just dump it all the way to cold for the rest 

[00:27:45] Dan Voss: Yeah. 

[00:27:45] I'm in 

[00:27:46] Zach: Like, I, I really 

[00:27:46] love a hot shower, but, um, uh, but, and it you know, I'm used to it 

[00:27:51] now, but I do wanna ask you the difference between, so there's getting into 

[00:27:56] water. There's also Like, cryo chambers where you like, for me, like, I don't have access to 

[00:28:01] a body of water that I can go get into regularly, but I do have access to cryo 

[00:28:06] chambers,

[00:28:07] Jeremy: a minute. don't you have a pool backyard? Turn the heat 

[00:28:10] Zach: even with the heat off, even with the heat off it's 80 degrees. 

[00:28:13] So like it, that doesn't count. Like I only get like, Very small SLIs of time where 

[00:28:19] that's like sitting at 60 degrees. , but cryo chambers, right? There's one that I go to. It's a full body. 

[00:28:25] Like you get in. And it, I believe the one I do, it's like 

[00:28:28] negative 240 

[00:28:30] degrees for, for three minutes.

[00:28:32] And I know it's a very different thing, but like, what's 

[00:28:34] your

[00:28:35] experience between water and, , these cryo chambers, are they the same thing? Are they different? Like, should we avoid 'em. 

[00:28:42] Dan Voss: Yeah, I, I wanna start by saying, I don't know enough about cryo to have an educated answer. , I have done cryo a few times. It's definitely not my level of expertise to really share like the difference there. 

[00:28:56] , I would definitely. 

[00:28:57] You know, the cold water immersion is, is more my, my style. And I'm, I'm sure on a scientific level, there's definitely some differences there in terms of the benefits and what's going on and, and how it improves, , certain elements of your health, 

[00:29:11] but with water it's, it's interesting how even within cold water there's differences, right?

[00:29:17] You. A shower that you're talking about. And by the way, I'm the same way. I 

[00:29:22] love a good warm, warm, hot shower. , and I take almost all my showers starting off hot water, and then I flip it to cold. And people that are, uh, that tear that they're like, oh, you're not really doing a cold shower, but you really are.

[00:29:35] Cuz I'm still getting like three minutes, four minutes of cold water at the end. 

[00:29:39] , and then you have ice baths. You have. 

[00:29:42] Natural water, a river, a lake, 

[00:29:44] you know, and within all of that, there are 

[00:29:47] different experiences. At least for me, , between a cold shower where you have these like drop droplets of water hitting you.

[00:29:55] And I actually have sometimes a more challenging time in a cold 

[00:29:58] shower. , just because it's not consistent, you're not fully submerged. And then you get into an ice bath. And for me, that's actually a little bit more manageable, even though it's probably colder. , at least your body's just like fully submerged and you can 

[00:30:12] just you're you surrender you're there at that point.

[00:30:15] So like, let's just make the most of it. And then same thing with the natural body of water. That's my favorite. , just because there's some element there of being in nature and. Going back to the whole like morning thing. , I just love that idea of even if you can get there for the sunrise and I'm, I'm in Chicago.

[00:30:34] So I have lake Michigan, not too far from me, actually just blocks away, which is awesome. So half the year I have this giant body of water I can go into at any time, , to do a cold, cold plunge and sitting in the cold water in natural body water, , with sun, sun rising, and you have. You know that nature element you have maybe birds flying by and just there's something so blissful about it.

[00:31:00] , even just that stillness when you're sitting there that you don't really quite get, uh, in a, in a cold shower or in a cryo chamber, um, there's something about sitting a natural body water that I just love. So, yeah, to answer your question, I, I, I definitely would like to know a little bit more about cry and have more experience there, but I, I don't wanna.

[00:31:22] Sit here and act like I'm an expert on what the differences are. So, um, yeah, that's something I'll have to, to read up on a little bit more.

[00:31:29] Jeremy: Just to, to echo the, the natural environment thing. That's that's my jam too. I love it because you're combining typically if you're doing it in the morning, you've got those early warning sun. You've got the grounding that's happen. Just just being there's, there's something about being in, you know, the wild using air quotes, cuz I'm in a perfectly protected environment, but, but just being there and realizing like there are any number of things that could kill me doing this right now

[00:31:52] I'm, I'm overcoming them and blissful.

[00:31:55] So I mean, it's just, there's just so many layers of like I'm, I'm beating the world, I'm beating my mind. This is, you know, 

[00:32:01] Dan Voss: a hundred percent. 

[00:32:02] One of, one of my favorite spots to do the cold exposure in Chicago here. Like 

[00:32:06] I said, it's like Michigan, but there is this little like 

[00:32:08] Harbor area that I like to go to. That 

[00:32:10] has a ladder that goes right down into the lake. So me and a lot of my buddies that are into this will 

[00:32:15] go to that spot and. There were a few days, this past winter where there was just like sheets of 

[00:32:20] ice over lake. And, but just enough, it was like, just like 

[00:32:26] broken up a little 

[00:32:27] bit enough to get into the lake. It wasn't fully iced over. 

[00:32:30] And, um, there was one day where it was like pretty windy and there was like current coming in and these sheets of ice were 

[00:32:35] just like traveling towards us.

[00:32:37] So there were several 

[00:32:38] times where we had to be. Yo look out 20, like 20 yards away. There's this giant thing 

[00:32:42] of ice coming towards you. So to your point, when you're in nature, like there is just a number of ways 

[00:32:47] , that, could be dangerous, but that's the whole point of. Doing all this for me, 

[00:32:52] especially, you know, now that I'm getting into this professionally and coaching and things like that is to keep in mind that element of safety, right?

[00:33:00] Like go with friends, make it a community aspect, especially when you're out in nature, when you're in a frozen lake, , there's ice involved, like definitely be smart about this and do it in a safe way and, and educate yourself. And don't just like go in and, and get videos for Instagram. Try to be cool looking in everything.

[00:33:18] Like I'm all about safety first, for sure.

[00:33:20] Jeremy: And, and, you know, keeping your ego in check, you know, when your hands and your feet are hurting, it's okay to get out. You know, 

[00:33:26] Dan Voss: really 

[00:33:27] Jeremy: you don't have to stay there and endure that. 

[00:33:30] Dan Voss: Yeah, that's a really good point. I, I actually went up to, uh, it was in Wisconsin. I was hired to lead breathwork for this company retreat. They had, uh, a log cabin that they rented out. They had like 20 of their employees come for the weekend. So I led breathwork and then there was an I, there was a frozen pond in the, in the back, you know, in the yard space there.

[00:33:50] And some of those guys were like really good at it. Like they were actually much more, , Experience with it. Then I realized, and they were going in for like 10, 12 minutes, 15 minutes. And then a few of the others were like, I don't think I want to do that. And I'm like, don't like, this is not a competition.

[00:34:06] And I even went in for like three minutes tops, cuz it was really, really gold. , and to your point, like it's, it's an ego check. Like this doesn't have to be a competition. It doesn't have to be who's better or who's stronger who can stay in longer. It's about getting the minimum effective dose, which is about a minute and a half to two minutes.

[00:34:22] and, and that's all you need, right? Like, I don't want to overdo it. I don't want to become overly, , tolerant want it to be a lifelong practice where I can it and throughout years

[00:34:35] Zach: see, that's, that's the one thing about the cryo chamber that really, I guess gets me is when I go into water, my hands and my. Dictate when I get out, right. When I go into the cryo

[00:34:48] chamber, you wear gloves and you wear like booties on your feet because it's so cold in there. Like it will literally hurt them.

[00:34:56] So it's interesting. I I'll have to do a little more reading on it, but like your body gets more exposure to colder temperatures because your hands are quite well protected in those little gloves. So, I don't know. I, that, that's my thing. Like I can only stand the water as long as my feet can. So when I do ice baths, I actually like stick my feet out and just it was very hard to

[00:35:22] Now you know 

[00:35:23] Dan Voss: I I keep my hands out. 

[00:35:24] Zach: I

[00:35:24] really enjoy like three to 

[00:35:27] four 

[00:35:27] Dan Voss: yeah, I I'm the same way those, I mean, for most people, those are the first parts of your body 

[00:35:32] Zach: red 

[00:35:33] Dan Voss: cold or, you know, 

[00:35:34] Zach: And then I just dump it all the 

[00:35:35] Dan Voss: is your hands in your feet because furthest away 

[00:35:37] Zach: minutes Like I I love a 

[00:35:39] Dan Voss: so I usually, depending on how cold the water is, when it's really, really 

[00:35:42] Zach: and you know I'm used to it now 

[00:35:44] Dan Voss: just cuz it's 

[00:35:44] Zach: but do wanna 

[00:35:46] Dan Voss: but I think that's also part of why I doing it 

[00:35:48] Zach: There's like 

[00:35:49] Dan Voss: water so much or Just 

[00:35:51] Zach: you me like I don't have access to a, 

[00:35:54] Dan Voss: have this kind of signal 

[00:35:56] Zach: but I do have access cryo 

[00:35:58] Dan Voss: of saying like, Hey, it's, time's up. And that usually comes from your hands and your.

[00:36:01] Zach: even

[00:36:02] with the heat even with heat off 

[00:36:04] Jeremy: Tell us about the the coaching that you do and where we can learn more about 

[00:36:06] Zach: that Like I only get 

[00:36:08] Dan Voss: Yeah, absolutely. So I do, uh, breath work coaching that's one on one where I work with individuals 

[00:36:14] Zach: but cryo chambers right There's one that I go full body Like You 

[00:36:17] get in And I believe the one I do it's 

[00:36:20] Dan Voss: know, people that are looking for a 

[00:36:21] Zach: 240 degrees for for three minutes And I know it's a very 

[00:36:25] Dan Voss: to feel better to manage with.

[00:36:28] Zach: between 

[00:36:28] Dan Voss: so many things that we, that we 

[00:36:30] Zach: cryo chambers Are they the same thing different should avoid 'em 

[00:36:34] Dan Voss: as well. , locally I'm starting up breathwork classes. , and then I also offer a one on one. Transformational coaching program. That's a 12 week program. , again, similar to people that are experiencing a lot of, of stress and anxiety, and they want to look deeper into how they can make changes in their lives.

[00:36:55] So we look at behavior change, we look at mindset growth and, , emotional health. And that's where I really love merging and bridging the two is bringing it back to our breath. You know, how can we use something like. Breathwork and mindfulness and meditation to better manage our emotions, whether that be anger or sadness or, , doubt.

[00:37:20] Uncertainty or you want to facilitate more happy emotions or good, you know, good emotions like, like happiness and joy and bliss. , we look at all of that. So that's the 12 week program. Uh, they can learn more about me and my work at my website, which is Nova now.co that's N ova, N O w.co. And then I'm pretty active on Instagram.

[00:37:41] My handle is Dan 

[00:37:42] dot Vos. 

[00:37:44] Jeremy: and your podcast, a new way of living. Uh, we a, I, I'm not sure who's gonna release first, but we will be guests on your show. So we're really looking 

[00:37:51] Dan Voss: absolutely. yeah. I'm really looking forward to that.

[00:37:53] Jeremy: yeah. Thank you so much for your time today. And, uh, I look forward to seeing where you go with this really

[00:37:57] Dan Voss: Yes. Likewise. Thanks so much guys. Appreciate you. 

[00:38:00] Jeremy: Thanks to Dan Vos. Again, he's the founder of Nova now mindset, emotional health and breathwork coaching. He's also the host of the podcast, a new way of living. You can find links to him and all of his work in the show notes for this episode@thefedmass.com.

[00:38:12] Zach: One of the things that really just kind of struck me as we were, , talking with Dan, I learned years ago, like when my first yoga class, where I was like, oh, I'm not really breathing. Okay. We really do take for granted the fact that we are breathing right. And it's just keeping us alive.

[00:38:27] It's the bare minimum, but like real breathwork like disciplined, guided breathwork is so good for you. Like physically, emotionally, like our show is about physical, emotional, mental health. That one thing hits all three of those buckets. Like it is just that good for.

[00:38:46] Jeremy: With everything that I have heard and have not yet experimented with myself with regard to psychedelics for, , emotional healing and, and all that. My understanding is that breathwork is as close as you can get without actually doing iowaska or mushrooms or, or whatever you're gonna do. So if that's something you're interested in, if you're, if you're hearing about all these studies and all these things and.

[00:39:07] , using psychedelics can help you, but you're maybe nervous. This is an amazing place to start and I would highly recommend doing it with the facilitator. I did have one experience where, uh, through a breathwork session when it was over. I was not back yet. I was still off in the cosmos somewhere and I literally felt like I was floating and was upside down.

[00:39:26] And the person had to sort of like, bring me back into, into reality, , or at least this shared reality, whatever, whatever this space is. So if you can find like a guided one, which is hard in a COVID world, but I highly recommend getting a facilitator because it, it will help you in case you do get trapped in the cosmos.

[00:39:45] Zach: But once you get back from the cosmos cold therapy is good too. It really sucks. Like I'm not gonna lie. Like if you haven't done it, those first 30 seconds. They will test your discipline for sure.

[00:40:00] Jeremy: I, and I will say if you haven't done it, 30 seconds might be a good, you know, down the road, mark, go 10 seconds. Do a ten second cold shower, then 15 then 20 it's rough man. But. If you can build up the mental toughness to get through that part and get to the good it's so good. It's so it's just such a, a release of control and, and fear and anxiety.

[00:40:30] When you can get to the part where your body just goes, Hey, I'm all right. This, this actually feels good. It is so healing. I can't tell you how many times that I have. I have been in the middle of a, of a depression episode. Just going and do that. Just tells my brain first. It tells my brain, Hey, dummy, you're gonna die.

[00:40:46] Focus on this right now. Don't worry about all that shit from 10 years ago that you're probably still hanging on to try to not die right now. And then after about a minute, you're just like, oh shit, this, this is kind of amazing. And, uh, and it can just help you move past so much of, of that stuff.

[00:41:02] Zach: And I've always applied it to like real world situations. Like the, the, the ability to get into the cold realize you're not dying and then accept it and be okay with it, like applies to situations that you're in. Like, if you can just think about the cold therapy when you're in a situation where you know, your anxiety's getting you and you're, you're not in a situation where you're gonna die, but you think you're going. right. It all, it like that practice actually applies to other situations in.

[00:41:33] Jeremy: And like Dan said, you know, if we can throw in a disclaimer here, don't combine the two don't combine your breathwork and, and your water. Don't not smart. You're gonna drown. You're gonna die. Don't do that. , and it's not a don't, don't let ego drive this right. Don't stay in the water too long.

[00:41:45] Don't don't push through the pain because you are a tough guy and you can do four minutes and you only did three last time. Like, just do what you need. You don't, you don't need to. Beat some milestone or beat somebody else. It's not a competition. It's just about taking better care of yourself.

[00:41:59] Zach: All of this just builds discipline. It requires discipline to get started, but as you continue to go through it, like your discipline muscle will, will build. And, and again, like it just applies elsewhere too. Like as long as you can build your discipline here and get through it, you'll get through that work project a little bit better.

[00:42:18] You'll get through that home project a little bit better because every time you test that discipline, it's gonna get a little bit better.

[00:42:24] Jeremy: And like we said, every time you, you do that, it it's just more evidence that you can do those hard things and, and, and overcome them.

[00:42:30] Zach: See, that's why I don't do hard things because I just don't wanna, like, it's the laziness. It's like, if you do this one thing, it'll snowball, so don't do the thing. And then you don't have to worry about doing the other things

[00:42:41] Jeremy: That's that's the other way. I, or you could just do nothing that we just talked about for the last 45 minutes. That's another option too. So how's that working out for you so far?

[00:42:51] Zach: so far. It's kind of depressing.

[00:42:53] Jeremy: it's kind of depressing. All right. Well, we do need to wrap things up there, but don't let the conversation end there. Join us in our Facebook group, where you and fellow fit mess. Listeners can connect for monthly challenge. Accountability to reach your goals and just connection with others who are on a similar journey.

[00:43:07] The link to do that is on our website, the fit mess.com and that's where we will be back next week with a brand new episode. Thanks so much for listening.

[00:43:14] Zach: See everyone.