As I mentioned in Wednesday's show with Shawn Stevenson, this week we're bringing you a bonus episode of ReWild Yourself podcast! This interview, while a bit product-focused, is also rich in vital content; if you enjoyed Shawn’s interview, this is a great supplement.

I've been hinting about my new bed for a while, and after 6 months of sleeping on it, I'm finally ready to detail my experience. Today I'm talking to Claus Pummer of Samina Sleep Systems. Claus is an expert on all things sleep, particularly setting up an ideal sleep environment. He’s here to share how we can optimize our sleep sanctuaries, give insights into sleep psychology and to take us on a tour of what I think is the healthiest bed on earth! 

Shawn Stevenson — bestselling author and creator of The Model Health Show — is back on ReWild Yourself podcast to motivate us to make sleep a primary focus as he details his latest sleep research. Sleep has been a big focus for me as of late. I find I’m able to get more out of my day if I allocate a larger portion of it to getting quality sleep. In this interview, Shawn provides us with some powerful takeaways, including one important piece on the sleep—gut health connection that was completely new to me, and I think you’ll find particularly fascinating. I hope our conversation inspires you to create a nightly sleep practice that rejuvenates your mind and body.

Today’s show is all about getting the most out of your experience on planet earth. Gretchen Rubin, New York Times bestselling author and host of popular weekly podcast Happier with Gretchen Rubin, joins us to discuss health, habits & happiness. You’ll learn why there is no one-size-fits-all strategy to formulating habits; rather habit formation is unique to you and your personality. In this takeaway-rich episode (grab your notebooks for this one, folks!), Gretchen lets us in on the secrets to habits and happiness she’s learned over years of research and observation.

Tim Corcoran is co-Director of Twin Eagles Wilderness School, an organization he co-founded with his wife, Jeannine Tidwell, as a vehicle to support his life’s work of facilitating deep nature connection mentoring, cultural restoration, and inner transformation.

In today’s episode, Tim takes us deep into the true essence of ReWilding. This interview is such a great reminder of why it’s so important to foster our connection with nature and all living beings. Tim discusses nature immersion, community-based approach to education and the importance of Rites of Passage for men and boys. I hope you come away from this interview inspired to reconnect with the natural world!

My personal health strategy is based on the 4 elements: Earth, Water, Air, Fire. The food I consume, the air I breathe, the solar energy I take in, the water I drink.  

I’ve been gathering my water from springs for the past decade, and today I’m going to share a bit about my personal water strategy and the spring water gathering best practices I’ve learned along the way! 

ReWild Yourself Podcast is BACK, and we couldn’t think of a better way to kick off Season 2 than with the zany and lovable Bug Chef, David George Gordon.

David is the award-wining author of The Eat-a-Bug Cookbook and has been designing delectable insect dishes for quite some time. With spring upon us (in the Northern Hemisphere), the opportunity to forage insects is drawing near, so now is the time to familiarize yourself with this ancient practice. In this interview, David shares some fascinating facts on the history of entomophagy, as well as some practical advice for getting started with eating (and enjoying!) insects.

In the third and final installment of the How To Feed Your Human series, Arthur and I cover the fungal, bacterial, elemental and experiential food groups. This is one of my favorite conversations with Arthur to date! Topics range from adaptogenic mushrooms to lacto-fermented foods to the loss of firsthand experience and so much more.

I hope this series has inspired you to reclaim your genome and begin to live a lifestyle with the Neo-Aboriginal of the future in mind!

As you know, this is the last episode of the ReWild Yourself! podcast before we take a brief pause to reformat and revamp the show. What an incredible journey this podcast has been thus far, and I cannot wait to connect with you again in early 2016!

Episode Breakdown:

• Fungi are not plants
• Immune-modulating components of fungi
• Cultivated vs. wild mycelium
• Pick your favorite fungi game
• Civilization is an alcoholic
• Eating scoby's
• How to get probiotics in your diet
• Favorite lacto-fermented foods
• Getting dirty with soil microbes
• Elemental food
• Cold plunging and cryotherapy
• The loss of firsthand experience
• Importance of staying in motion
• Vital experiential foods for the healthy human
• Putting stress in perspective
• Spending time in natural settings
• Being eco-centric rather than ego-centric

How many plant species do you eat on a daily, seasonal or yearly basis? Before you answer that question, consider this: broccoli = kale = kohlrabi = cauliflower = cabbage = brussels sprouts = collard greens. They’re all variations of the same plant species, Brassica oleracea!

The average American is eating far fewer plant species (roughly 30 a year!) compared to our hunter-gatherer ancestors. In this podcast episode, you’ll learn the importance of diet biodiversity and how it can affect your day-to-day functioning and, ultimately, your genetic expression.

Arthur Haines is back on the show for the second installment in the How To Feed Your Human series! As a professional botanist, Arthur’s knowledge of the plant world is immense, and so we get into some pretty fascinating material, including wild foods, diet biodiversity, seasonal eating, anti-nutrients and much, much more. In part one, we talked animal foods, and you can listen to that episode here.

Enjoy, and stay tuned for the next installments in this series where we will discuss fungal, bacterial, elemental and experiential foods!

Episode Breakdown:

• Cultivated vs. Wild 
• The endless medicinal qualities of wild plants
• Brassica oleracea and diet biodiversity
• Never-ending growing season
• Dietary diversity = dietary sufficiency
• What kind of DNA fragments do you want floating in your body?
• Engaging your senses to develop a personal connection with your landscape
• Fiber’s many purposes
• A flourishing microbiota doesn’t come from a capsule
• Plant-based Omega 3 Fatty Acids
• Anti-nutrients
• What are tannins?
• How to consume nuts, seeds and legumes
• White bread vs, wheat bread
• The power of antioxidants
• How to bring more wild foods into your diet
• Herbal medicine
• Closing thoughts

Arthur Haines is back on the show! Arthur is both a mentor to me and a good friend, and he has been fundamental to many of the concepts presented on this podcast. As I mentioned last week, we’ll be taking a break from the podcast while we carry out a major revamp behind the scenes. Our very first podcast guest on ReWild Yourself! was Arthur Haines, and so I cannot think of a better way to close out this chapter than an interview series with Arthur. In this episode, we begin a discussion on how to feed your human, and Arthur presents the fundamental food groups for the ideal diet of the human animal. In part one, we focus on animal foods! Stay tuned for the next installments in this series where we will discuss plant, fungal, bacterial, elemental and experiential foods!

Episode Breakdown:

• Help! I’m lost!
• Sleep podcast recap
• Food group paradigm
• How to achieve healthy genetic expression
• The placebo effect
• The new “food groups"
• Food Group #1: Animal foods
• Importance of consuming DHA
• Fluid intelligence & Vitamin B12
• Eating pastured foods
• Foods from the sea, and how to consume fish safely
• Managing stress for better epigenetic health
• Daniel’s & Arthur’s favorite animal foods
• We’re not eating food; we’re eating life

In a culture that praises work and getting the most out of the day, sleeping tends to be under-rated and, often, looked down upon. Seeing as we spend 1/3 of our lives sleeping, it’s about time we start treating sleep as an intentional practice rather than hitting the pause button on life. Arthur Haines is back on the show to share some fascinating scientific research on the sleeping habits of wild, indigenous peoples. The research results are in: quality sleep can have tremendously positive effects on your health and well-being. I hope Arthur’s grounded perspective inspires you to put focus and energy towards your personal sleep practice!

Episode Breakdown:

• A new path
• Conscious sleep practices 
• When is the best time to go to sleep?
• Did hunter gatherers sleep through the night?
• Correlation between temperature and sleep
• Effects of light and color of light on sleep
• The importance of fire
• Rising at the same time each day — consistency is key
• Sleep for the cure
• The many benefits of melatonin 
• Bedding and grounding
• Thoughts on grounding technology
• Noise
• Concluding thoughts + wrap-up 

Every year in the United States, about 300,000 people are diagnosed with Lyme disease, according to recent studies. Symptoms of Lyme range from early on fever, achy joints and fatigue to long term severe migraines, short term memory loss and inflammation of brain and spinal cord. In this episode, Earth poet and award-winning author Stephen Harrod Buhner joins us to discuss this silent epidemic, how to avoid it and what to do if you contract it.

We discuss his recently updated book, Healing Lyme, where he outlines leading scientific research, tests and treatment for Lyme disease. Stephen also shares his potent herbal protocol for treating Lyme, which has an amazing success rate: "75% of those who use the protocol as a core treatment regimen (along with other herbs and supplements as symptoms dictate) feel that they are cured."

This interview is filled with helpful and crucial information for those infected with Lyme, have loved ones infected with Lyme or who live in areas where Lyme ticks are common!

Episode Breakdown:

• What is Lyme Disease?
• Zombie ticks
• Sophisticated bacteria
• Be proactive
• Antibiotics
• How a robust immune system can help you ward off a Lyme infection
• Diagnostic testing for Lyme
• Stephen’s herbal protocol recommendations
• Can apitherapy help minimize Lyme symptoms?
• The problems with Western medicine practices
• Lyme co-infections
• The longterm effects of Lyme on life
• Entering the Lyme Wars
• Stephen’s GoFundMe for the revised edition of Healing Lyme
• Key trigger symptoms of Lyme
• We’ve exceed the carrying capacity of the Earth 

This the most vulnerable and intimate interview I’ve ever shared publicly. I’ve decided to release the full unedited version, where I share deeply personal moments from my fairly traumatic childhood, because I think it’s important that we begin to have this conversation.

But first, let me introduce you to this week’s guest: My friend Neil Strauss is the author of the New York Times bestsellers The Game, Rules of the Game, Emergency, and Everyone Loves You When You’re Dead. Most recently, Neil has published an incredibly powerful piece of work called The Truth: An Uncomfortable Books About Relationships. In this book, Neil shares some very intimate and personal moments from his past that shed light onto his adult relationships, which made me feel comfortable to share a bit about my past here. The theme of this show is mommy/daddy issues: we all have them — even those with seemingly perfect childhoods.

Please have compassion on me, my family and yourself as you listen in. Thank you for being here and allowing me to share so openly!

Episode Breakdown:

• Why Neil wrote The Truth
• What The Truth is all about
• Daniel’s feelings on sexuality
• How your relationships with your parents can heavily influence your adult relationships
• Neil and Daniel dive into Daniel’s childhood
• A bit about Neil’s childhood story
• An intimate, transformational experience for Daniel and his mother
• A book about recovery
• Elders and olders
• Finding your sexual species
• Long term happiness vs short term pleasure
• Finding Neil and his work

John Gray is the leading relationship expert in the world and best-selling author of “Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus.” His books have sold over 50 million copies in 50 different languages around the world.

In this fascinating conversation, we discuss the philosophical and physiological components of polarity in men and women, and how to use polarity to create richer, more fulfilling relationships. John shares many insights he’s learned from his own personal relationship and experiences (and years of research, of course), and he offers countless strategies for increasing testosterone in men and oxytocin & estrogen in women. John is a true expert in his field, and this interview is brimming with juicy nuggets of information — you may want to listen more than once!

Episode Breakdown:

• Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus
• Women, work & testosterone
• How to double your testosterone in a week
• Ejaculation and celibacy
• Balancing polarity within ourselves
• John’s first sexual experiences
• Mastering sexual energy
• The big “O” (oxytocin)
• How men and women handle stress differently
• Ladies first — how the female orgasm works
• Processing emotions
• The benefits of a monogamous relationship
• Conscious Men
• Why schedule sex?
• Endure and contain
• John’s advice to women for bettering their relationships
• Sharing emotion is feminine; complaining is masculine
• Connect with John
• A tip from John on active listening in relationships

Jeff Kober is an actor/author who has spent much of the last 35 years studying metaphysics and meditation here in the US as well as in India. In this show, our conversation travels through a variety of topics, including Vedic meditation, the ego and the relationship between money and spirituality. This past year, I’ve picked up a daily meditation practice that has had profound impacts in my life, so it was exciting to talk to someone with 14 years of consistent daily meditation!

I had such a great time speaking with Jeff whose authenticity and grounded-ness shine through in this interview. Enjoy, and let this inspire you to delve into the world of meditation if you have not already!

Episode Breakdown:

• How Jeff got interested in meditation
• Happiness and meditation
• Jeff’s personal meditation practice
• How mantras work
• What does 14 years of meditation practice look like?
• Ego and meditation
• The Kali Yuga age
• The animal mind
• Buick’s unique happiness campaign
• Jeff’s role in The Walking Dead
• Money and spirituality
• How to connect with Jeff and his work

What is your personal self-protection strategy?

In this show, we’re joined by Craig Douglas aka “SouthNarc”, an incredible teacher in the world of self protection with a background as an undercover narcotics agent and former commander of his agency’s SWAT team. Craig is here to talk to us about protecting ourselves against predatory violence using some of the most important tactics to have in your personal self-protection arsenal: situational awareness and verbal skills to de-escalate situations. He shares some fascinating insights on how to identify a “bad guy,” as well as his thoughts on weapon-carrying. I hope this podcast inspires you to develop a more robust self-protection strategy!

Always practice situational awareness!

Episode Breakdown:

• A bit about Craig’s work
• Technologically-connected, but physically-disconnected
• Craig’s time as an undercover police officer
• What is a “bad guy”?
• Museum martial art
• Situational awareness
• What to do when someone is too close
• Unequal initiative event
• Craig’s thoughts on weapon-carrying
• How to work with Craig
• Do you have the ability to keep someone from imposing their will on you? 

“What I am capable of, anyone can learn.” -Wim Hof

Wim Hof — "The Iceman" — is internationally renowned for his countless ice endeavors that range from being up to his neck in a cylinder filled with ice cubes for over 90 minutes, swimming large distances under polar ice, running a marathon barefoot to climbing the Everest in nothing more than a pair of shorts.

Wim has pioneered a practice of breathing and cold immersion that has allowed him to set countless world records and can help you to harness your inner strength and achieve robust health & well-being.

In this episode, Wim shares from the heart on his journey confronting the cold and how his practices can help you become a better version of yourself in a very short time period. Our conversation was particularly powerful for me, as I’ve been playing around with Wim’s breathing and cold immersion techniques since we’ve spoken and have felt immediate positive effects. I share a bit about my experience so far in the beginning of the show!

I hope you enjoy our conversation as much as I did!

Episode Breakdown:

• What Wim is capable of, anyone can learn
• The Wim Hof Method
• Wim’s journey in confronting the cold
• Getting out of our comfort zones
• Tuning into your primitive, animal self
• Dealing with suppressed emotions that arise when practicing the breathing techniques
• Controlling your pH through breath
• What temperature does Wim keep his home?
• Generating energy through deep breathing
• Enjoying life to the fullest
• Using Wim's breathing techniques to improve sex
• How Wim sees the future of our world

Welcome back to part two of my conversation with Luke Storey on setting up a holistic strategy for lifestyle design! Luke has spent the past 18 years developing and refining a robust way of life based on the principles of nature and spirituality, while embracing technology and modern convenience. 

In this segment, we focus on our strategies for movement, sleep and meditation! If you missed it, check out part one where we break down our personal strategies and adaptations to modern life using a four elemental structure: Earth, Air, Water, Fire.

Episode Breakdown:

• Integrating useful movement into your lifestyle
• Optimizing your sleep routine in urban environments
• Luke’s tactics for falling asleep when not tired
• Pillow-less sleeping
• The discipline of meditation
• Spiritual connection through meditation and entheogens 

In this week's podcast, my good friend Luke Storey joins me for an intimate, peer to peer conversation on setting up a holistic strategy for lifestyle design. Luke has spent the past 18 years developing and refining a robust way of life based on the principles of nature and spirituality, while embracing technology and modern convenience. 

Luke and I apply many of the same lifestyle principles to our very different lives, and in this rap session, we have an awesome time discussing our personal strategies and adaptations to modern life. We break it all down for you using a four elemental structure: Earth, Air, Water, Fire.

We cover a ton of valuable, actionable information here, and so we’ve split up this episode into two parts. In part one, we get into our strategies on diet, water, air and sunlight. Stay tuned for part two (coming out next week) for our discussion on movement, sleep and meditation!

Episode Breakdown:

• Luke & Daniel’s history
• How Luke got started on his health journey
• Avoiding diet extremes — achieving a healthy relationship with your food
• Luke’s home + travel spring water strategy
• Navigating through air pollution
• #NakedSunTime 

Couples in the Paleolithic world would never have fantasized about running off by themselves to their own little retreats in the forest. No Stone Age lovers would have imagined in their wildest dreams that they could or should be “everything” to each other. That way lay death.

― Stephanie Coontz, Marriage, a History: From Obedience to Intimacy

Stephanie Coontz is a marriage historian and author of seven books on marriage and family life. In this podcast, she takes us on a tour through the evolution of marriage and intimacy throughout human history. We discuss everything from egalitarianism to “the one” to polyamory vs. monogamy. This show is enlightening and adds another piece to the puzzle as we continue to dissect the mating styles of the human animal, here on the ReWild Yourself! podcast.

Episode Breakdown:

• The way we never were
• Are we hardwired for egalitarianism?
• The quest for in-laws
• Marrying for love
• The soulmate fantasy
• Individual needs vs group needs
• Sex and marriage throughout history
• Monogamy vs non-monogamy
• The story of divorce over the ages
• Today’s marriage statistics 
• The changing roles of men and women in a marriage 

Most of us are exposed to an abundance of artificial blue light on a daily basis, via our modern technology (lamps, cellphones, computers, TVs, etc). Our bodies physiologically respond to light from the blue portion of the spectrum with a state of wakefulness, via the suppression of melatonin production. This constant stream of artificial blue light is wreaking havoc on our circadian rhythms.  

Today’s guest, a physicist, is one of the leading experts on this topic — Dr. Edward Carome. In this episode, you’ll learn how blue light interacts with our bodies by suppressing melatonin-production and some surprising, and not often discussed, effects this can have on us. Dr Carome relays some excellent strategies on how to minimize blue light exposure, particularly in the evening hours. Whether you are using these blue-light-producing modern devices on a daily basis or not, the information in this interview is extremely important! Enjoy, and please share your thoughts in the ReWild Yourself! Facebook group! I’d love to hear what strategies you are utilizing to safeguard your circadian rhythm! 

Episode Breakdown:

• Dr. Carome’s background in light
• The effects of blue light on the pineal gland
• Artificial light from our modern devices
• Dr. Carome’s experience with melatonin
• When to use blue-blockers to support your circadian rhythms
• The powerful effects of melatonin
• Amount of blue light in LEDs, Incandescents, Tungstens and other bulbs
• Do short bursts of blue light at night cause melatonin production to cease?
• The best blue-blocking products and how to use
• Crisper focus outdoors wearing blue-blocking glasses
• Concluding thoughts