What if you could transform your biggest traumas into your greatest strengths? Join us in a deep dive as Matt Simpson, author of 'Worth the Fight: Acting for a Better World,' charts a remarkable course from corporate America to an empowering servant to the military and veteran community. Matt’s story is one of selfless service, donating all the profits from his book to veteran charities and facilitating over 100 psychedelic experiences to help veterans navigate from post-traumatic stress disorder to post-traumatic growth.
As we lean into society's perception of trauma, Matt brings forth the compelling idea of how our deepest wounds can birth our most significant strengths. He recounts experiences with the Heroic Hearts Project and his recreational plant medicine journeys, emphasizing the necessity of forging connections with the world around us for our mental health. As we wrap up this enlightening discussion, we delve into the complex realm of recreational psychedelics use and its benefits, with Matt sharing pragmatic advice to better navigate this space. Don’t miss out on this conversation that promises to be both inspiring and enlightening, as we learn about the liberating energy of trauma, the transformative power of plant medicines, and Matt's dedication to healing and empowering the veteran community.
Psychedelics & Limitless Personal Growth Meetup:
https://www.meetup.com/psychedelics-and-limitless-personal-growth/
Wim Hof App:
https://www.wimhofmethod.com/wim-hof-method-mobile-app
Wim Hof Method: Potent guided breathwork: For full effect 4-5 rounds 40-50 breaths.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tybOi4hjZFQ
www.EPCCPV.org or info@epccpv.org
What if you could transform your biggest traumas into your greatest strengths? Join us in a deep dive as Matt Simpson, author of 'Worth the Fight: Acting for a Better World,' charts a remarkable course from corporate America to an empowering servant to the military and veteran community. Matt’s story is one of selfless service, donating all the profits from his book to veteran charities and facilitating over 100 psychedelic experiences to help veterans navigate from post-traumatic stress disorder to post-traumatic growth.
As we lean into society's perception of trauma, Matt brings forth the compelling idea of how our deepest wounds can birth our most significant strengths. He recounts experiences with the Heroic Hearts Project and his recreational plant medicine journeys, emphasizing the necessity of forging connections with the world around us for our mental health. As we wrap up this enlightening discussion, we delve into the complex realm of recreational psychedelics use and its benefits, with Matt sharing pragmatic advice to better navigate this space. Don’t miss out on this conversation that promises to be both inspiring and enlightening, as we learn about the liberating energy of trauma, the transformative power of plant medicines, and Matt's dedication to healing and empowering the veteran community.
Psychedelics & Limitless Personal Growth Meetup:
https://www.meetup.com/psychedelics-and-limitless-personal-growth/
Wim Hof App:
https://www.wimhofmethod.com/wim-hof-method-mobile-app
Wim Hof Method: Potent guided breathwork: For full effect 4-5 rounds 40-50 breaths.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tybOi4hjZFQ
www.EPCCPV.org or info@epccpv.org
Hello everyone, welcome to the all things military veteran podcast. Our guest today is Matt Simpson. Matt is the author of the worth the fight acting for a better world, a guide to spirituality, psychedelic medicines and overcoming trauma. And Matt is a habit donor for the military or veterans and he donates a hundred percent of all the profits of his book to veteran charities To help further power the psychic that like healing in our warriors. Uh, today Matt has raised over a hundred thousand dollars for our us war veterans who are taking their lives at a rate of 22 per day and help facilitate over 100 psychedelic experiences for our veterans to transition from post-traumatic stress disorder to post-traumatic growth. And, matt, I think that's an excellent way to put that, um, because you can't really get rid of the post-traumatic. You know it's that trauma is always there but growing from it. I think that's really cool that you you like to highlight that, um. But, matt, thank you for joining me today. Uh, how you doing.
Speaker 2:Doing really good. Adam, thank you for having me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm excited for this conversation. You know I've been getting more into, uh, the, the psychedelic world and even the cannabis industry. You know, trying to help our veterans, um, untie some of the knots that are in us. Um, what draws you to, uh, you know, kind of being given back to the veteran community.
Speaker 2:Yes, yeah, I appreciate that and I appreciate the work that you're doing. Uh, I'm not a veteran and uh, it was A. You know, I my a little bit about my background. I did the whole corporate america thing in chicago big business man, kind of boss man. Uh, really disconnected. Uh struggled with addiction and drinking and materialism, itis and fake power, all that stuff, and uh had a deep, deep healing with plant medicines and ayahuasca specifically.
Speaker 2:That inspired an 18 month travel journey, uh, for me to walk away from my corporate career. And in month 17 of this 18 month travel journey, I came across this veteran organization Uh, veterans for entheogenic therapy at the time, Um, and and a marine named brian, the comp, who was doing this work. Um, kind of he was. He was the first mover in this space, kind of the, the lone nut, so to speak. Who who went out on this limb back in 2012, 2013, um, to say, hey, you know that these medicines are powerful and we can heal. And and um, you know he had a profound healing with ayahuasca himself. And and uh, you know it was the the. You know I remember this conversation I had with with, with ryan, that really drew me into this veteran collective soul healing mission was the.
Speaker 2:The fact at the time, uh, upwards of 200 veterans had been through his program and 80 to 90 of those veterans it wasn't the war trauma that they were healing from, it was it was time and time again the childhood sexual trauma or, um, extreme events, um, you know, a deep childhood wounds and uh, for me, as somebody you know I'm a survivor of childhood sexual trauma.
Speaker 2:I just knew then and there that that was, this was my work to do, and it was to kind of bridge the gap and to create awareness about, uh, the veteran's suicide tragedy and epidemic and uh, to help get the word out there so we can we can, um, you know, inspire our veterans to heal, and so they, ultimately, they, you know, that they can lead and push this edge and and if they can heal and get right after going to war, um, you know, I think that's an immediate reframe for for everyone that's struggling with mental health right now um, you know, one of the the big things we always talk about uh, the military does a great job of kind of stripping you of kind of your manatee, and then they take you down, you know to kind of nothing, and try to rebuild you so that you can go do whatever it is that they tell us to go do.
Speaker 1:Um, trying to reconnect to humanity? Um is difficult once you get out, because I'm even talking to to civilians is difficult, um, so you're big on, uh, the micro dosing. How does micro dosing help people in, like their day-to-day interactions with people?
Speaker 2:Oh, the micro dosing has been a. It's been a true blessing. Um, I saw a big shift about two to three years ago, a big shift in the the marketplace and a big shift in people coming to me for seeking support with micro dosing. And you know this, this the the best way that I can describe it is three percent more empathy, three percent more courage, three percent more self-awareness, and which isn't much. But when we're stacking micro dosing with an earnest commitment to deepen into our meditation practice, a commitment to, uh, moving our bodies, uh, commitment to contemplative journaling maybe some breath work sometime out in nature so that we can leverage that boosted neuroplasticity and deepen into all of these other practices, uh, for really significant gains.
Speaker 1:You talked about the neuroplasticity there. You know us being able to learn new things. I was listening to your podcast, the Work to Fight podcast, which I encourage everybody to go check out, thank you, and your guest that was on there you know she talked about, you know, recognizing our thoughts and being able to, like, once you start recognizing your thoughts, you can start kind of keeping them at bay or, you know, processing them with some distance when you're dealing with, you know, some of these veterans. How much of man I don't want to ask this because you brought up the sexual trauma how much of it is from the sexual, how much of the sexual trauma is the driving factor versus their military experience? Like, do you have like a percentage on that? Because that kind of surprised me when you said that. I just wanted to swing back to it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I would say and this is common outside of the veteran community, within the psychedelic renaissance as well is that there's a very high, disproportionate amount of people I mean people that are struggling with childhood sexual trauma. But certainly in our veterans that number has been staggering. And you know it's something that we see time and time again and it's not always the case. Sometimes there's other forms of trauma. Typically there's a, there's a capital T trauma that is that route and of course there's war trauma that they're healing from as well. But it's the, you know, this childhood trauma that drives people to the service and to the military to begin with, to seek, try to seek community, to find a family, because so often with this and I can speak for myself from having the childhood trauma that it made connection really difficult with you know, romantic partners made connection difficult with my family. You know it's hard to connect when we have all this, this unprocessed, thorny trauma in our nervous system.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and then you know, to fill that gap, you go into that consumerism that you talked about and trying to get approval from bosses and higher ups and things like that. And you know meeting that bottom dollar and we give. We give into that constant stimulation and that constant need for stimulation in your you know past corporate life, like how bad was it for you. You know trying to get that acceptance and you know drive forward while having trouble connecting with people.
Speaker 2:You know it wasn't it. I don't regret anything and you know I learned a lot from my time as a businessman in Chicago. You know made a lot of money at the time and that afforded that 18 month travel journey and a lot of useful experience for the service mission that I'm on right now and and that you know my empowerment coaching that I do and and you know the podcast that I host. You know getting my book out to our human family. You know the. I draw upon that, that experience.
Speaker 2:But it was the my inability to connect with intimate partners on a heart and soul level that really drove my curiosity to the plant medicines. Ultimately, I was like, hey, there has to be something more. You know, I had this really peculiar moment, epiphany probably 2014, 2015, maybe sooner when I was thinking, geez, the more I follow our societal definitions of success, the sicker I'm becoming, and at that point I got really really curious. And the curiosity led me to plant medicines. Specifically, you know high dose psilocybin experiences and a recreational setting back in 2014. And then that led to, you know, an ayahuasca retreat that really cracked my open, my heart and mind and, and you know, inspired a visionary experience for the path that I'm on right now.
Speaker 1:So for those of us that haven't, you know, done ayahuasca, how would you like describe to me that experience, Because I hear there's a little bit of prep work, a little bit of like you know, you kind of like feel nauseous and possibly vomiting and things like that Like how was that experience leading up to it? And like the prep work and then the experience itself?
Speaker 2:Yeah, the prep work didn't do much prep work the first time around. Of course, you know we live and learn. Everything is an iterative process and I gave it more reverence afterwards. You know I had multiple ceremonies over the course of many years. The first ceremony I remember, you know I had eaten McDonald's for the last time five days earlier. So the prep wasn't wasn't there per se, but but yeah, the medicine is a purgative and I don't know what that means.
Speaker 2:It makes you throw up. Okay, I can, I'd say half the time I've done that and it's just a really. It can be really gnarly in your body. You know kind of a trembles. You know a little bit of hot and cold action. You know just very uncomfortable. You know it's getting in almost like a like a like a like a drain. Oh, it's getting into all the gunk in our in our gut and moving through and kind of clearing out our system. It's the ultimate detox and it's there's a deep spiritual component to the medicine as well and a visionary experience to where we can see ourselves objectively from the from the 5000 foot high eagles eye view of our lives and our patterns and our behavior, etc.
Speaker 1:You know you mentioned, like the religious experiences, and listen into your podcast, you talk about how there was a lot of religious trauma associated with this, along with the sexual trauma. Like I find it frustrating that these substances will show us what religious experience should be and then when we come back we see how it's being used with the religious trauma. How much experience or how much have you seen the religious trauma affecting these people going for these trips?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think that religious trauma is really sneaky and it's very pervasive. I think insidious is the right word. It's kind of deceptive and because it's such a big part of our culture it's really hard to recognize. Yeah and yeah, with psychedelics, and the ayahuasca experience is a very deep spiritual journey, and certainly the psilocybin and all the others as well, and there's a direct experience of the divine which I think is very threatening to the established powers that be what I affectionately call bullshit incorporated. And there's an opportunity for one to really see for themselves and to see what this human experience is about, stripped of all of the social adaptations and all of these societal constructs. And it's a beautiful experience. For me, it was deeply cathartic, deeply healing, and it was an opportunity to formulate my internal truth and to see what was real for me.
Speaker 1:The connection to the divine. That's an interesting statement. Can you expand on that a little bit?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think that these medicines they do help us deepen into our spiritual connection and to see that there's divinity within all of us and this idea of not talking about God but living a divine life or a godly life. And I think that we miss the mark in our culture because there's so much dogma and righteousness and there's hypocrisy, just blind. And that's the problem with the religious trauma, but living the message being the change and showing up for our brothers and sisters, showing up for our purpose, showing up for the natural world, etc. To me that's what it's all about.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that'd be magical to experience that. So, matt, how can our biggest traumas be our greatest hidden strengths?
Speaker 2:You know, there's so much energy in our traumas, In our deepest pain. That place that we don't want to go is so energetically charged and I'm a big believer in what the fight is all about. Is that a greed of which we lean into? Our darkness, the pain, the adversity, the traumas in our life is the very same degree to which we can stand and share and love in our light. I think Dr Gabbara Mate says it best that we can liberate the energy of trauma into the energy of life. So there's a big opportunity here, with these medicines and the ability to confront our blockages, to move through that energy and again to liberate that stuck energy so ultimately we can have the levels of creativity, levels of health, vibrancy, clarity on the path.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's very interesting man. You keep saying things and I keep getting introspective into my head, and then you say something else that gets me introspective into my head and I'm like man slow down. You're throwing so much good information at me here.
Speaker 2:I appreciate that and I think there's so many again what I call bullshit incorporated programs that people stuck and there's a lot of toxic beliefs that life is supposed to be easy and effortlessness and this idea of leveraging this energy and embracing the discomfort. It's a paradox, but I believe it so that there's again so much opportunity in our traumas and a lot of people don't think to even look there.
Speaker 1:No, it kind of intersects with the physics theory that no energy is created. All energy is already created. We just have to find how to tap into it and redirect it, like you said. So that's. I've never thought of it that way before, that all that hate or fear, anger, hurt that we're holding onto could be better served somewhere else. But you're absolutely right, we do put a lot of energy into those emotions and hiding things, absolutely so. You do a lot of work with US veterans. What are some of the organizations that you've worked with for veterans to help them out?
Speaker 2:Yeah, the Heroic Hearts Project has been the biggest one. Jesse Gold he's a former Army Ranger is doing incredible work, sending veterans that have treatment-resistant posts, traumatic stress disorder and depression and other mental health challenges down to Peru and other Central America and South America countries for healing with plant medicines. So Jesse's doing incredible work.
Speaker 1:Just to clarify. You say plant medicine a lot. Do you ever do any like LSD or MDMA or the man-made ones or anything like that? Have you ever had any experience with those?
Speaker 2:I have yeah, I've had a few recreational journeys with MDMA at concerts. This was kind of early on in my path, nothing therapeutic or spiritual, but pretty epic experiences. And then LSD. I've had a few of those journeys as well, one of which was in beautiful Conifer, colorado, and it was just in this sacred valley and it was such a special experience to have this. I was staying at a cabin in the mountains and it's just an incredible journey and opportunity to connect with nature.
Speaker 1:Sounds beautiful. I've heard you talk about it on your podcast, about just about getting out and trying to get some sun every day. I find that the hobbies that I picked up after leaving the military like woodworking and stuff like that that keeps me inside the barn, kind of away from the sunlight. So it's good having somebody remind me that you need to get out there and experience the world and the beauty around us. It's too easy for me and I think that leads to a lot of our mental health problems too is we think we have a hobby and we think we're doing something good. In reality, we're just kind of closing ourselves off from the world. So again, I definitely appreciate everything you're saying right now, brother.
Speaker 2:Great to hear it. Yeah, that morning, morning sunlight is so keyed I mean, that's Dr Hubertman's number one health directive is to get that morning sunshine in our eyes, in our eyes to set our circadian rhythm.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, kind of remind you that you're, you're awakened out doing things. Yeah, that's good. Mm, hmm, um, with, uh, you know, the natural plant based medicines. They've been with us throughout history. Um, how do we bring it like our, our history, you know with them to the forefront of our you know society now, and how do we change society's? Um misperceptions of these types of plant based medicines?
Speaker 2:Yeah, these medicines have, um it's thought for for thousands of years, uh, possibly longer, um, you know very much, have been a part of our, our uh, you know, evolution, evolutionary past, and right now we're in a time where, you know, maps is leading the charge here the multi-disciplinary association of psychedelic studies, uh in phase three clinical trials with MDMA assisted psychotherapy as a cure for post-traumatic stress disorder, and they're they're leading the charge and you know the leading with uh, the the you know therapeutic uh model and um specifically treating post-traumatic stress disorder.
Speaker 2:And the other medicines are waiting in the wings. You know, once, once MDMA assisted psychotherapy is approved, uh, psilocybin is likely uh a year or two behind and uh, these other medicines. Of course, there's a massive decrim movement that's going on right now where we're, the great state of Oregon and Colorado have taken bold measures, uh, and major cities all over America have have um basically said, you know, fuck you to the war on drugs, saying hey, no, this is, this is a mental health challenge that we're gonna, we're gonna approach it in this manner, not in a criminal manner. And uh, yeah, times are changing right now in real time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, it's uh, yeah, colorado, I think, last year, passed their law where it's no longer illegal to um possess it. You can't sell it still, so people will gift it from my understanding, but, yeah, yeah, so like, yeah, you can possess it now, which I mean coming from you know my upbringing, where you know anybody takes shrooms five times is considered legally insane. You know, like, like, those are the types of, uh, you know propaganda that we've been kind of fed. So this 40 year moratorium on psychedelic studies, uh being broken down. I have a lot of friends that are excited for this. You know they. They found themselves under fire, you know, like, every day for years, um, so they're excited for it, for this stuff. Uh, so how can, like, healing or struggling um lesbets help unite our nation as a whole and, and you know, humanity as a whole?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think our veterans are the ones to, to, to push this edge and to and to lead this charge. And again, if, if, our veterans can, can heal and get right after service time and after um war, real life hell in the Middle East, and that's going to send a big signal to the rest of our collective. I mean, everybody is 2023. It's election season, everybody's struggling with something and, uh, you know, our veterans are all leadership trained, they know honor, they know integrity, they know courage. They just need medicines that work, and these medicines do. They can help get to the root of the trauma we can feel, the feels process, whatever's at the root, move through it, clear that energetic blockage and to to be healthy, happy and strong and enjoy the freedoms that they fought for.
Speaker 1:I think it also helps when a veteran is saying what they went through and how it helped, it's harder for people to call bullshit on them. You know what I mean, cause, like, no, like it's documented what they went through, you know, and you know the things that they saw and did and you know so being able to better, uh, you know, be in society a little bit more calmer and, you know, not so angry and quick to, you know, flip off the handle. Like it's easy to document with veterans because the trauma is pretty obviously there. Uh, so, like I agree that veterans should be leading this charge and I think it's something that everybody should be able to get behind. You know it, putting people at war for 20 years, that that did a number on a lot of good people and they still have a lot to give, but they're they're stuck on the inside still, you know. So, yeah, I agree with you. I hope this stuff really takes off and you know we can kind of keep a keep pushing forward with it all.
Speaker 2:Absolutely yeah, and further there's. There's a big opportunity here. I'm I'm seeing as, as the the temperature is is getting turned up in terms of it being election season and the polarization, the climate that we're in right now, the state of our politics, that this is something potentially that can unite the left and the right. This is bipartisan. Veteran healing is bipartisan. Psychedelic medicines are largely bipartisan, and an opportunity that that um, again healing our warriors. This is something that transcends all the bullshit and all the fighting and this is something that that that we can come together and that can bring, can humble people to, to have a collaborative conversation, maybe again a unifying point, a rallying point.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we need something, that's for sure, Because I mean this next election cycle like you said, it's already heating up and we're a year out yeah, these items that can bring us all together definitely get pushed up to the the front of the ballot. For me, Like I mentioned earlier, I'm working with the kind of the cannabis industry around here to get recreational cannabis legalized here in Colorado Springs. It's legal in Colorado, but each municipality gets to choose whether they sell it recreational or not. So, like, all of our tax money goes to the cities around us versus being spent here. But but, as a veteran, having recreational cannabis psychedelics available, uh, one, yes, they can be used just for fun. But two, those veterans will get something positive out of it, because sometimes it's hard to ask for the medical helper to like to get it, you know, through the proper channels it's hard to ask for that help.
Speaker 1:So, having you know the legalization or the decriminalization right now, and then hopefully the next step will be the legalization Uh, having those steps moving forward, is a it's important for us to keep this momentum rolling, you know, and not just kind of be happy with not getting arrested if you have some on you, but actually making it more readily available for veterans or for anybody experiencing trauma. You know, like I don't want to just single out, you know, only vets. Um, anybody experiencing trauma should have access to these things more easily. Um, that's my opinion. What are your thoughts on the actual recreational use of uh, or being or being legalized for psychedelics?
Speaker 2:Yeah, four, I think that. Yeah, I do think that they should be legalized, and recreational use is something that's a little bit tricky. These are extraordinarily powerful medicines. Of course, the microdosing. The whole point is that we're doing this going to work, hanging out with friends and family, walking the dog, going to the gym, going to the grocery store. We're doing all the things, just slightly elevated the high dose experience. This is a time I think that we should have prudence with and to make sure that we're adhering to a proper set and setting. If that's recreationally and you're out at a concert with friends and you feel like there's a manageable amount, then yeah, that's great, have a great time. But to bring mindfulness to these medicines they're extraordinarily powerful and they can put us in a bad spot if we're not reverent about the power of these misunderstood medicines.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I've read about like coaches, like trip coaches and things like that. Always have somebody kind of a safety net there for you. So if anybody listening does want to do something, make sure you always have somebody there that's going to be sober and can help you out, just guide you a little bit. So it's got to be somebody you trust.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the buddy system and having a guide or trips that are sober is imperative.
Speaker 1:So with your book Worth the Fight, acting for a Better World A Guide to Spirituality, psychedelic Medicines and Overcoming Trauma. Is this just your story, or did you gather stories from around the world in your travels? What does this book contain for us?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I share my story only to the degree to which it tells a larger narrative about what is possible, again, if we come together over what is shared. I share in depth the work that I did with Veterans for Antheogenic Therapy and this Veteran Collective Soul Healing Mission. We did run out of funds in 2018, but the mission is very well alive with the Horal Parks Project and Jesse Gould and the work that the Special Forces and Navy SEALs are doing, marcus and Amber Compone at VET Veterans Exploring Treatment Solutions. There's a lot of anachronisms here but, yeah, I roll out. I look at my book Worth the Fight as a 308-page psychedelic integration program to help my readers get the most out of this unconventional strategy for health, happiness, well-being. I share all the different strategies, hacks, practices, rituals everything that I came across on my journey to leverage these medicines, to embark on my path of post-traumatic growth and leveraging my past hurts to be healthy, happy and strong and do the work that I'm here to do. I impart all of what I learned on my journey.
Speaker 1:What would be one thing somebody could focus on to help them better on their journey?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think that what stands out as a pragmatic, practical tip and probably the biggest surprise and biggest thing that I leverage is a conscious breathwork practice could be extraordinarily powerful. I trained with Wim Hof and his team in our fire in Poland in 2016. And there's this very, very powerful breathwork practice that we can do. I train and do it six days a week, 20 to 30 minutes a day, and it's a practice that is scientifically proven to reduce inflammation and pain in our body. It's also scientifically proven to boost our immune system and also charge up our energy levels at the mitochondria level.
Speaker 1:And do you notice like a drop off? If you don't, if you miss a day or if you take two days off, do you notice a drop off?
Speaker 2:You know I don't. I enjoy it so much that I don't miss. I don't take day off, that's cool. I can't honestly answer that question because I one day a week I tried to not do it and I'll have a rest day or kind of a Sabbath day where I'm, you know, not amping up my energies and there's a lot of acute adrenaline with the practice and yeah, but it's something that is. It's it's essential for me to to amp up my energies and I typically, you know, spend a few hours in the morning kind of get and go in and, you know, doing a little journaling, a little meditation. If I only had 20 minutes or 25 minutes, I would do that practice and then, you know, grab my shoes and go. Yeah For for time spent, time and effort spent. It has more ROI, return on investment and energy.
Speaker 1:So it helps you, like kind of shut off the constant stimulation that we're we're attacked with, or and just kind of focus your own energy. Is that what you're?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it amps up our energy and maybe quiet's the monkey mind a little bit. And you know there's a kind of an edginess edgy piece if that even makes sense that, yeah, you know that we feel amped, elevated, kind of getting high on our own supply, so to speak. It's underneath our nose, yeah.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. It's funny because you know I've been, you know, there before many times throughout my life and you know they always teach those are breathing techniques. You know, like a box breathing or something like that, and like all it is for me is it's for me to count to 20. Really, you know, to slow down, like I don't really focus on my breath or the breathing, or like what's going on or like the feelings in my body. I'm just counting one, two, three, four. One, two, three, four, one, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. You know what I mean.
Speaker 1:So, like here in that, to really focus on the breathing and, you know, get these techniques to get that kind of feeling out of it. Man, that's something I definitely need to look into because, like I said, like the techniques that they're teaching me, I use them as just like checkboxes, right, like I don't use them to actually like heal myself or feel better. You know it's just I check the box, I move on Then. That's cool that you got a whole guide to help us out with that. So I'll definitely be diving into that here in the future.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the, the. I appreciate you sharing that. I know the box breathing can be beneficial for down regulating our nervous system. The, the Wim Hof is more of an activation of activating our nervous system and you know that this I totally just just just drew a blank here. You know it's along with cold exposure. You know that those are the three pillars. Yeah, it's a little bit of a different, different oh, I was gonna liken it to 120th of an ayahuasca journey the, the Wim Hof method.
Speaker 1:I love that. It's qualified.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so there's there's big benefits there and and when I was really deep in my trauma back in 2016, mm-hmm, I was practicing this and and having a big cathartic release every three to four days and and having these really supercharged introspective journaling sessions after doing this breathing method. So there's a there's a big therapeutic you know elements With this as well.
Speaker 1:Are there any studies on like the dopamine or chemical releases and things like that move while doing this, breathing?
Speaker 2:acute adrenaline, we're flooding our system with acute adrenaline and Of course with the, with the cold exposure, we're getting big boosts in dopamine and more adrenaline. And you know there's, I would imagine, some endorphins, perhaps even some of the you know kind of the visionary component DMT, a slight release of DMT, indiginously. Of course we're not taking any external substances, but there is a slight visionary component to this. I mean, we're kind of not quite full-blown psychedelic, but you know we can, we can access similar states, but again, we're not taking any external substances.
Speaker 1:Have you combined this with any kind of like a fasting or anything like that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I do fasting. I Do a weekly 36 hour water fast or a fast from food and I do notice that that while fasting that you know we even get deeper into this practice. So absolutely, it's and and and. The fasting, the Conscious breath work and the psychedelics are all kind of working on the same network. We're working to kind of down, regulate or shut off or shut down our default mode network kind of this. This always on Inner chatter that we have.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's like a constant. You know fighter flight, you know that's going on with those that. You know it's that reptile like survival brain, that. But we're not in that mode anymore. We're not in that point of our evolution anymore. We can, we can slow it down, you know. Take a breath, you can enjoy life. You know, and I think that's tough for anybody to kind of wrap their head around.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so true.
Speaker 1:So the last thing I want to talk about here is um, you got a bullet point on your one sheet about altruism and service. First, what do you want to do with your movement here? What are you looking to accomplish?
Speaker 2:I'm looking to get the word out there and to illuminate the, the hidden potential that's in the hearts and minds of our veterans that are struggling amid a mental health crisis and suicide epidemic. So, looking to to get my book out and to sell books and to raise money my self-published author five to six dollars of every book sold goes towards veteran healing. Looking to get the podcast out, you know, seeking to serve more people, I hold a Weekly microdose Monday meetup. On the app meetup, I have a meetup called the psychedelics and limitless personal growth meetup and I'm serving people in that manner. Again, I've seen a in incredible time and time again that people are leveraging these medicines, even with micro dosing, to be healthy, happy and strong, to move through traumas, to elevate cognition and creativity. I've seen it boost fitness and health and vitality and and so much more.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I've seen it with a few of my friends. Do some combat vets that I know it's been night and day since they've started it. Yeah, thank you so much for coming on and talk to us about this, again very near and dear to my heart. I deeply appreciate everything that you're doing for, you know, my community of vets here. Please pass, like the meetup Link and stuff like that, and I'll make sure it's in our our write up for the show today so that everybody can kind of get access to that and hopefully you know, like you said, grow this community. Matt, thank you again for joining me today.
Speaker 2:Yeah, my absolute pleasure, adam. I appreciate the work that you're doing and the advocacy that you're doing, and and Feel free to have your community reach out to me. You can find me on Instagram. I'm at at worth the fight book and my website is worth the fight bookorg. And again, I'll be delighted to share the meetup link as well. And and a host of micro dose Monday meetup every Monday at 7 pm Central. Feel free to join us. We go over best practices on micro dosing, how to leverage these misunderstood medicines to be healthy, happy and strong and to do the work that we're here to do. That's awesome. Thank you very much.
Speaker 1:Thank you, adam, appreciate you, and that's the podcast for this week. If you have any comments, you can check us out. You can drop us a line on Facebook or Instagram or you can email me at info at e p c c p v org. The website is also e p c c p v org. Swing by, check us out, sign up for the newsletter and stay informed. Now for a quick word from our sponsors.
Speaker 1:The all things military veteran podcast is proudly sponsored by native roots cannabis company, colorado's leading locally grown and owned dispensary chain. Native roots has been our largest owner since we were founded four years ago and we thank them for their continued support. They have 20 locations in Colorado and native roots is ready to educate and serve recreational medical patients like. Thank you everyone for listening today. We can be found on over a dozen podcast apps, including Apple podcast, google podcast and Spotify. We hope you find the programs rewarding and informative. Check us out on the web at e p c c p v org and until next time I'll be here and find out there and stay safe.