I feel fortunate to be invited to many, many events in the health and wellness industry…
…but honestly, lately I haven’t felt all that motivated to go to most of them.
This new reluctance to get on a plane (or a train, or an automobile) doesn’t have anything to do with the events themselves. Most of them offer informative, interesting content and the chance to spend time with like-minded health-seekers. But during the pandemic, my travel stopped entirely, and that time at home felt like a real gift. Now that events are back up and running, I’m being ultra-choosy about what’s worth taking away from my family time.
There is one event, though, that is well, well worth the travel. It’s called RUNGA, and it’s the most uplifting, rejuvenating, and empowering event I’ve ever attended. RUNGA is held twice a year for three days, and I’m a regular. Earlier this month, I flew down to Austin, Texas for RUNGA, and I was once again blown away by the experience.
Only fifty guests are invited to the beautiful, secluded property, which gives RUNGA an intimacy that I’ve never felt at other events. The people who go have a wide range of backgrounds, but what they share is their dedication to optimal health.
Each day, we woke up to a delicious, nourishing organic breakfast, then spent the days engaged in activities like yoga and meditation, oxygen treatments, IVs, biohacking, cooking workshops, and much, much more. The special dinners in the evening were just as delicious and nourishing as the breakfasts (with the added bonus of organic wine from my favorite Dry Farm Wines). The evenings were also a time for expert panels, and I was fortunate to not only be able to listen and learn, but to be on two panels myself.
The first was a panel called “State of Mind,” during which we talked about spirituality, psychedelics, smart drug stacks, and general mindstate shifting using plant medicines, technologies, breath, and other cutting-edge, scientific, and natural methods to alter one’s state of mind. My co-panelists were Tero Isokauppila from Four Sigmatic, Joseph Anew from the Intuitive Warrior podcast (and the creator of RUNGA), and my friend Dr. John Lieurance of MitoZen. John and Joseph have been on my show for multiple episodes (listed below), so it was really cool to have a chance to talk to them both at once.
- Podcasts with Dr. John Lieurance
- The “Dr. Strange” Of Medicine & Biohacking: Methylene Blue, Stem Cells, Lasers, Earth, Air, Water, Fire & More With Dr. John Lieurance.
- The Crazy Future Of Medical Biohacking: Skull Resets, Suppositories, Nasal Sprays, Nebulizers, Sound Therapy & More With Dr. John Lieurance.
- The Shocking Truth About High-Dose Melatonin, Does Melatonin Supplementation Shut Down Your Own Production, How To Use Melatonin To Enhance Fasting & Much More With Dr. John Lieurance.
- Podcasts with Joseph Anew
While at RUNGA, I also hosted a free-bag Q&A, which included questions on everything from biohacking a healthy home to how I manage my schedule and family/work obligations, water filtration, EMFs, regrowing cartilage and treating joint injuries, and much more (even the best time to eat dinner).
I recorded both the panel and the Q&A, so there’s a huge range of topics covered in this one episode – you may even need to listen more than once! And if you’re interested in joining me for the next RUNGA event that is set to be held in April 2023 in Austin, Texas, you can apply here. I’d love to meet you in person.
During our discussion, you’ll discover:
-Joseph Anew introduces the RUNGA State of Mind panel…09:30
- Dr. John Lieurance of MitoZen
- Ben Greenfield
- Tero Isokauppila of Four Sigmatic
- State of Mind panel categories
- Free Medicine – how to control and alter state of mind, not requiring anything be consumed or any technology be utilized
- Hacks to alter the state of mind or put us in a specific state of mind
- Cutting-edge technologies used to control state of mind
-Where does your mind go when you hear the term free medicine, in terms of state of mind?…10:27
-Ben:
- Not consuming anything to shift your state of consciousness
- Breathwork
- Endorphin release from heat
- Nervous system reset from cold
- Combine heat and cold and breathwork
- Hard things can shift your state of mind (difficult workout)
- Relationships, friendships, laughter, social outing, sex
- People turning to altered states of consciousness achieved through drugs or plant medicines or exogenous compounds must have boring lifestyles
- Dopamine reset – finding yourself constantly craving television shows, snacks, sugar, and candy, your phone, and whatnot, a lot of times, that’s indicative that you need to find other ways to trigger dopamine
-John:
- Fasting – you can achieve amazing levels of clarity, become cleaner
- Fast Track Fast fasting protocol
- Fasting is about signaling; we have these rhythms that are tied to the earth
- Gut digestion has movement every 3 seconds; constipation if 2 seconds, diarrhea if 4 seconds
- Rhythm of feast/famine
-Tero:
- Evolutionary response to certain triggers that existed for a really long time which shifted our mental space – these are what I consider “free”
- There is a shift, an anchor; we are good at adjusting our behavior
- If you want to change your state, you have to get uncomfortable and break the pattern
- Finding and incorporating elements into your life
- Rule of 3
- 3 weeks without food
- 3 days without water
- 3 minutes without air
- But you can barely go 3 seconds without a thought
- Be mindful of how much you’re consuming something – compounds over time
- Build up slowly from nutrition to hydration to fasting to breath to mind/spirit
-How do ritual and routine play into our ability to balance life with biohacks?…19:50
-John:
- Research by the Heart Math Institute shows the heart responding before an image is projected
- The idea that there’s an internal guidance system that knows before you know, has no boundary of time and space
- Have a good coach; get a teacher but feel what is right for you
-Ben:
- Scheduling
- Sauna 4-5x a week, 20-30 minutes
- Cold pool afterward
- Evenings, play a musical instrument
- 6:00 am devotional
- 7:30 am family meditation for 10 to 15 minutes
- Make a meal together
- A lot of these are intuitive – go out and sprinkle this stuff in throughout the day, and you feel great
John:
- Having positive anchors – find joy in the middle of doing these exhilarating activities, find a deeper reason, find the “why”
Tero:
- Not everything is going to give you immediately the same result, and that doesn’t mean that they’re less valuable, but there are habits that are easier and or more effective
- If what needs to be done is stacked up, do the ones first that will give you a faster response
- Habit stacking is valuable and worth doing as long as it is fun
- Not having a routine is the routine
- Veer away from having routines – make it fun and playful
Joseph:
- Routine to create the habit, then switch to intuition as soon as possible
-What are substances that can help keep us in a desired mental state or bring us into it?…27:01
John:
- Breathwork – its challenges and benefits
- Melatonin and its importance
Ben:
- Stacking Paraxanthine with the peptide Tesofensine
- Nootopia Dopa Drops for dopamine, increases motivation
- Microdosing with psilocybin or LSA for creativity and focus
Joseph:
Tero:
- Baselines like sunrise and sunset and spending time with people you care about are critical
- Cacao and theobromine and vasodilators and spices like cayenne
- Mucuna
- Green tea
- Kava
- Psilocybin mushrooms
- Most people misunderstand microdosing, it is supposed to be a sub-perception experience by its original definition
- Herbalism and finding ways to test psychoactive and nonpsychoactive plants and rotating them
- There are a lot of mental benefits from common spices that people don’t realize
-For a long day at work, what biohacking devices should you use?…37:12
Ben:
John:
Tero:
- Nail beds for acupressure
- Sauna is a worthy investment
- Hydration: water and salt – we don’t drink enough, don’t take enough salt, and eat too much
- Fasting, water, salt, and sleeping is a good remedy when sick
-Q&A…50:11
-Question: How do you balance being an online influencer and giving things like social media the attention it needs without getting sucked into that world?…51:33
- The One Thing by Gary Keller
- God has made you good at that unique skill set that you were born with, and then figure out a way to outsource and delegate all the other stuff to someone else
- Built a team that does as much as possible for me and then kind of like handcuffed myself from being able to manage a lot of it by just not knowing how to even log into most of my accounts or anything like that
- Just do what you do best
- Operate in a spirit of abundance
- Scarcity mindset – we don’t want to pay somebody else to do it for us
- The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferris
-Question: Key things you’ve been looking for in your search for a healthy home?…54:41
- 4 variables to consider in a healthy home
- Air – clean air (oils, plants, etc.)
- Light – maintain natural levels
- Water
- Electricity
- Low VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds) materials
- Ben uses a special wood that blocks 99% of EMF, a naturally mold-resistant, natural insulator for heat or for cold, and naturally windproof
- How to Biohack The Ultimate Healthy Home by Ben Greenfield
- Other resource people for building biology – Brian Hoyer
-Question: How to mitigate the information and circadian rhythm issues if you don’t have a traditional work schedule?…1:01:48
-Question: When is the best time to eat dinner, especially if you cannot eat super early?…1:06:09
-Question: What’s going on with Ben’s knees?…1:09:01
-Question: What is a good diet for dogs?…1:11:19
- BARF (Biologically Appropriate Raw Food or Bones And Raw Food) diet for pets
- BARF’s World
-Question: How long should pre-menopausal women fast?…1:12:51
- Do not fast longer than 10-12 hours
- 2-4 times/month, 24-hr dinnertime to dinnertime fast
- Quarterly: 4-5 day clean-up period
-Question: What is the best kind of training for longevity?…1:15:17
-And much more…
Upcoming Events:
- Elements Of Vitality with Dr. John Lieurance, Ben Greenfield & Friends: December 2, 2022, 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM EST.
Dr. John Lieurance & Ben Greenfield offer a rare experience to explore the elements of Earth, Fire, Air, and Water with unique treatments, technologies, modalities, and biohacks to represent the healing powers of each element individually. Learn more here.
Click here for the full written transcript of this podcast episode.
Resources mentioned in this episode:
– The Panel:
– Podcasts:
- The “Dr. Strange” Of Medicine & Biohacking: Methylene Blue, Stem Cells, Lasers, Earth, Air, Water, Fire & More With Dr. John Lieurance.
- The Crazy Future Of Medical Biohacking: Skull Resets, Suppositories, Nasal Sprays, Nebulizers, Sound Therapy & More With Dr. John Lieurance.
- The Shocking Truth About High-Dose Melatonin, Does Melatonin Supplementation Shut Down Your Own Production, How To Use Melatonin To Enhance Fasting & Much More With Dr. John Lieurance.
- How & Why To Change Your Name, Why You Should Meditate Right After You Get Out Of Bed, Principles Of Healthy Flourishing & More With Joseph Anew (Formerly Known As Joe DiStefano) and Emilía Rún.
- Digital Detoxing, Travel-Proofing Your Immune System, Underground Body Weight Workouts & More With Joe DiStefano.
- Kettlebell Yoga, The Best 5 Cardio Machines You Can Use, How To “Reset” Your Body With An Adventure & Much More!
- Hunting Down EMF In Your Office, Bedroom, Gym & Beyond: Is Your Home’s “Dirty Electricity” Wrecking Your Sleep, Your Recovery, Your Health & More? The Official Ben Greenfield & Brian Hoyer Low-EMF Home How-To, with Bryan Hoyer.
- How To Get Rid Of Knee Pain Forever, The Best Knee Rehab Exercises, The Ancient Chinese Technique To Keep Your Knees Young & More With Ben Patrick, The “Knees Over Toes Guy.”
– Books:
– Other Resources:
Episode sponsors:
Elements of Vitality Event: Join me in Sarasota, Florida, with Dr. John Lieurance on Friday, Dec 2nd from 8:00 am-5:00 pm for a rare experience exploring the elements of Earth, Fire, Air, and Water with unique treatments, technologies, modalities, and biohacks to represent the healing powers of each element individually. Claim your spot today at bengreenfieldlife.com/elements-event.
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BGL Careers: Recruiting an IT Specialist. Check out BenGreenfieldLife.com/ITJob to learn more about this position.
Do you have questions, thoughts, or feedback for Joseph, John, Tero, or me? Leave your comments below, and one of us will reply!
