Podcast
Summary
Burmans crew (Ted, Erica & Nicole) are joined by guest Brian Cunningham, CEO of PureLife supplements and advocate of nutritional health and the mind-body connection. Learn how to improve mood and mental health through natural plants and habits, as we discuss kanna, meditation, psychedelics, their impact in the brain, GABA receptors and more.
Transcription
Erica (00:12):
Hey guys, welcome back to Rising Core powered by Burman’s health shop located in Brookhaven, PA. This is Erica and I’m joined here tonight with Ted and Nicole and we’ve got a special guest, Brian Cunningham with us tonight. Brian Cunningham specializes in getting to the core of common issues people wrestle with day to day so that they can have a better, more positive quality of life. In addition to being a featured writer for Positive Impact magazine and former host of Quantum Physiques radio show, Brian is CEO of Pure Life, a company that produces nutritional formulations and supplements that improve mind body performance with a graduate degree in epidemiology from New York medical college with a focus in nutrition. He has over 30 years of experience in a variety of related fields including environmental health, pharmaceutical and medical research, nutrition, fitness and the mind body connection. Brian, thanks so much for coming on. We’re excited to have you here.
Brian (01:05):
Thanks guys. I’m honored to be on your program.
Erica (01:08):
Thanks Brian. We appreciate it man. All right. So Brian, quickly, can you tell us where you’re from and you know, a bit about your, your background and you know, your area of focus in health?
Brian (01:21):
Yeah, just really quickly cause I want to get into the meat and potatoes of it all. Grew up in New York, outside the city. You know, met Dave Palumbo who Ted knows in a New York medical college are both for students there. And I got into bodybuilding and fitness and then the whole, you know, bio hacking of course, then went on to finish my graduate degree there. And epidemiology focusing on brain function and nutrition work for a drug company for many years was an environmental engineer for many years. I began to realize, you know, the symbiotic relationship between all these various factors and how they influence you know, people and their health and happiness of course. And then from there I began to realize that, you know, the Holy grail of it all really is the mind. You know, we’re also focused on this physical body and looking good and feeling good and having nice cars. And nice shoes and nice nails and big houses and big money. But that is all perceived and judged and and really processed in our mind. And so I began to look at creating products even before we had this Renaissance in psychedelics, you know, there’s 15 years ago, I began creating products for the mind, body connection, realizing that if you can shift how somebody feels, you can really influence a profound changes in their life. Way more than taking like, you know, vitamin, fish oil or protein powder. Not that they’re not beneficial products, I’m not in any way castigating them. I’m just saying that to influence someone’s psyche and help them be more inspired and motivated and happy and feeling less stressed and negative is really the beginning. The Genesis of profound changes in somebody. You so hope that was a synopsis for you guys.
Ted (03:03):
Yeah, that was perfect, man. You described it was just amazing. Yeah, you hit the nail on the head. And it’s funny, the small world that we live in, you know, I and I think we went back and forth a little bit on email. I always followed bodybuilding and Dave Palumbo, I watch RX muscle and I remember the, the radio show, quantum physics, and, and then I guess he had you on to do an episode on ayahuasca, which,
Brian (03:32):
Oh yeah. It’s very good. You saw that.
Ted (03:34):
Oh yeah. Which caught my attention. And you know, definitely had me start looking into ayahuasca and psychedelics and, you know, it’s just a really cool way, like you said, you know, the, the mind and the body kinda interconnect. But one of our reps has she used to come in here, Lisa from from Bluebonnet, and every time she would come in she’d go, Aw, man, you gotta talk to my friend Brian. You guys would get along so well. And you know, he’s got some really cool products. And, you know, it’s funny, I, I’d never even realized that, you know, who she was talking about was, you know, the person that I, that I’ve listened to and watched previously is this really neat man.
Brian (04:15):
It is definitely. And yeah, you know, listen, Michael Pollan’s book change your mind. Is the New York number one best, maybe not the number one, but it’s up there on the New York times bestselling list. The point is that, you know, the cultural paradigm is shifting. Now people are realizing we are really sick as a society and you know, benzos and opioids are only causing us more problems. You have this opioid epidemic that’s really destroyed a lot of communities. You had that methamphetamine or whatever you want to call it, epidemic before that. And now of course the new thing that’s sweeping the nation is this benzodiazepine epidemic. You see an industry, the specialist is going to be the next big thing is that people are hooked on these benzos that work on, which works on GABA of course. But the bottom line is between them and recreational drugs, they’re really not helping people. And that’s why I think people are looking more towards the entheogenic or the psychedelics as they’re called, because of their profound ability to heal people. You know?
Ted (05:09):
Yeah. When we get people that come in and they tell me they, they want an energy boost, you know, I, I really start to ask them a couple of questions. And really a lot of times it gets down to maybe not an actual stimulant that they’re looking for. They’re not looking for a physical energy boost. I think as well as myself, when my mood is improved, my energy is improved. I feel like I want to go do more things. I want to be more productive, you know, whether I drink, you know, a pre-workout and I feel physically amped never gets me as productive as when I feel emotionally you know, emotionally sound or I feel good. And GABA of course is definitely a a product that I’m very familiar with and I’m a big, big fan of. And I think a lot of times when people come in that’s often a recommendation that we give them and they come back and they’re, you know, they’re very happy. It’s, it’s something that we also use. You know, like you said, people are, the opiate epidemic is huge right now. We also do a, I’m sure you’re familiar with Kratom. We you know, we carry Kratom here for people that are looking to try and kind of transition away from opioids, but another big one that we’re seeing a lot being either abused or, you know, kind of even even not if it’s being abused, it’s being prescribed as a comfort med is Lyrica, Gabapentin, Neurontin, things that work on those GABA receptors, you know?
Brian (06:41):
Yeah, yeah, exactly. No, I mean, definitely big pharma has its fingers in all of it and unfortunately, it’s a very one dimensional approach. I mean, you know, I really honor and respect what you guys are doing in the trenches of healthcare. It really bridging the gap between where priests and mainstream religion which is the spirit and doctors, which is the body have let us down and they really been a failure to a large extent. And so I see guys like you and your store really, like I said, like really piecing together the my body, the spiritual aspects really giving people a more integrative approach. And it’s never just about supplements either. A truly about telling people, look, you know I’m going to get you the right supplements but you’ve got to take the next step as well, right? You got to get out in the gym or out in the woods and find your source and move your body more. And unfortunately, like I said, vitamin C and fish oil, I won’t really do that as much as taking like two capsules of this GABA product we’re talking about that you know, really shifts your mood and makes you more inspired. And like you were saying, you know, a lot of times when you’re depressed it’s that word means to take away your energy. And when you feel that relief from that, you are going to feel in a sense inspired and re-invigorated, which is a sense of new energy. So that’s a great point. Yep.
Ted (07:52):
Yeah, Marty’s Had this place for, I think it’s going on 25 years now and I’ve been on board for, I think it’s been about the last five. I’m a little bit younger. I’m a, I’m a little bit more of the the new age and, you know, I’m into the nootropics and the biohacking and bodybuilding and fitness. But it’s funny, we we’re kind of, you know, in our area we’re kind of looked at as like, I dunno how we describe it, like the we’re like the Ozzy of natural, a natural supplement stores because I realized while back that to get somebody to listen to me about going to the gym to get somebody to listen to me about taking that, you know, like, you know, finding those other puzzle pieces was I had to capture their attention quick. And people want instant gratification. They need something that they can feel today.
Ted (08:43):
And that really, you know, that helps them start to build trust and they start to listen to us a little bit more. So I’ve really started to shift what we’re, we’re looking to do here for a lot of people, you know, of course we have the, you know, the people that come in for their multivitamins and their, you know, their antioxidants and things of that nature. But we’re getting a much younger crowd now compared to what we were, you know, six, seven years ago because we’ve started to shift and, and started to provide more nutritional supplements that give you more of that immediate boost and you can feel it and then you go, all right, these guys know what they’re talking about. Let, let’s, let’s listen to what else they have to say. And I’m sure you’ve seen that, you know, with with some of the other stores and some of the other retail shops that you deal with. Like, I think the you know, with Amazon and the the internet now it’s so easy for people to just jump online and order their products. But we really focus, you know, we, we try to focus on the education and getting people to pay attention to more than just the supplement that you’re putting in your body. But the, you know, it’s the whole puzzle that kinda goes hand in hand.
Brian (09:51):
It is without a doubt. And as you said, you know, GABA really is a bridge. I mean, the funny thing about GABA is that it’s the number one inhibitory calming neurotransmitter. When you meditate or pray or even do yoga, you actually increase GABA expression in the brain. And that’s why those you know, practices are so calming and grounding, you know, and even depression of it, the theory of depression is shifting away from serotonin to really be in that’s longterm stress that ends up like depressing the system and causing a spill over into serotonin dysfunction. So really GABA is the first one that you want to start getting back in line and supplementing gap oil of course is a great way regular GABA doesn’t work near as well as the product that you guys are featuring with the fetal GABA of course, because it’s the only type that gets in the brain past the blood brain barrier that gives that psychological effect that really inspires and motivates people.
Brian (10:46):
You know what I mean? So that’s the big key difference. And take it in conjunction with getting off your butt and going into the woods or meditating or doing yoga or going to the gym or whatever it is. That combination gives you a synergistic effect that really causes massive positive neuroplastic changes in the brain that facilitates new habits and new, really a new emotional connection with life. You know, so it’s a great, in a sense, initiator, like a spark plug to get that engine going to fill you more to feel more positive in life.
Ted (11:16):
Yeah, I agree. I think I just saw an article actually now I haven’t read it yet, but I believe some of the studies have shown that they’re actually starting to look at having I believe having too much serotonin could actually be the cause of depression. It’s not that people don’t have enough that they could actually be having too much. You know, I haven’t read into the article much, but, you know, I, I think you’re right. I think, I know when I take GABAs specifically phenyl-Gabba my mood gets increased significantly, you know, and, and, you know, I’ve taken other serotonergic drugs and I still still find that I feel much better on, you know, when I feel calm and euphoric and my anxiety is gone. And I think that all goes back to stress and, and high cortisol levels. And, you know, I think that all plays a part in mood more than just, you know, having excess serotonin.
Brian (12:10):
Oh, without a doubt. And get this. I mean, modern living really is stressful. It’s like the new normal and even technology, you know, studies show that just screen time alone causes hypertrophy of the Omega. It causes the amygdala, the stress, you know, responding part of the brain to get bigger. And so just by being on computers and phones longer, we are now accentuating the stress reaction in the body, which of course we adjust to. It becomes normal. But now you’re almost in a constant fight or flight syndrome. You get, you said adrenaline, cortisol elevated your, your feelings and your behaviors change. They showed that people that were like this, we’re more inclined to be narcissistic and self centered hello self a generation. Right. And that when given like studies when given like I guess like tests where they had to pick things to save the environment they were, they were crueler believe it or not. So it’s amazing. And how much these, you know, technology alone is almost like the new cigarettes these days. Then we thought it was safe and we’re not finding out that it’s really causing a lot of deleterious effects longterm that is not really good for, for our, you know, for human beings. You know, all our organisms so to speak.
Ted (13:18):
Yeah. And I, I don’t, I don’t know a whole lot about it, but I just actually recently watched a video of a guy, I don’t know, it might’ve went viral. Maybe you guys have seen a guy that works for a, one of the cell phone tower companies and he was talking about what five G cell towers are going to basically do to us. You know, with the, with the three G in 4g have these Longwave troughs where 5g is more direct, but they were saying that it could like leave your hormonally imbalanced that it could, that it could cause all kinds of issues, you know, just for faster scrolling time when your Instagram, you know.
Erica (14:08):
Well I think it’s interesting like this intersection of you know, mind body with you know, doing day to day healthy habits like meditation or exercise in combination with nutritional supplements. I think that you know, I thought it was interesting what you were saying about meditation and one of the video interviews that I saw of you. I recently started meditating and I’ve been doing, are you familiar with Sam Harris? I’m sure you’re familiar with him. So I started doing is waking up his Waking Up course and so it’s like a, you could start with just 10 minutes of meditation day or whenever you can do it. And then he has just a lot of other theory discussions but about mindfulness and meditation and then you can continue after the 50 days. He has like an, you know, 10 to 20 minute meditation, but it just has been really interesting as an experiment to see how that changes the way that you react to things throughout your day.
Ted (15:16):
Well, I can think, I think Brian, you had mentioned when you, when you meditate or when you get into a more common D, doesn’t it create alpha wave brain state like or elevation and Gaba?
Brian (15:28):
Yeah, as far as the actual ways, I mean, I’ve heard that before. I’m not an expert on that, but definitely what really caught my attention was that meditation actually you know, activates or upregulates GABA-B receptors in the brain in particular, which is really interesting to me because that’s what the field GABA targets is GABA receptors, you know, and it seems to have a phenyl- GABA in particular really being very powerful because unlike PharmaGABA and regular GABA it activates GABA-B but also has some like, you know, ancillary dopamine activity as well. So that that’s what probably causes this to be a little bit more of an uplifting experience. And it is similar. It does work great in concert with meditation. I’ve done that many times myself and found that the combination works phenomenal. And believe it or not, a lot of showmen that use ayahuasca. If you go on YouTube and look at some of the videos, they recommend taking like a tranquilizer or vallium to calm me down. That’s to elevate GABA. So if anyone is ever want to experiment with those, or take a shamanic journey with a psychedelic, they could consider taking this on hand. It’s like a, you know, to kind of dampen down the, the, the, the fear because one of the honestly I have lost is terrifying for a lot of people and this really helps to us to stop that. You know,
Ted (16:41):
I took my, you know, I’ve taken mushrooms a few times and I remember one of the times that I took it, I had a really bad trip and one of my buddies was going to school to be a chemist at the time and he handed me a Xanax and he said, he said, take this. And I said, hell no man, I don’t want to be any worse than I am now. You know, and I was having a complete complete breakdown and he handed me a Xanax and I took it, you know, just going off of his word, he kind of knew what he was talking about at the time when we were, were much younger in our experimental phases. And 10 minutes later I was completely normal. Like I could control the psychedelic experience. I was calm and I was able to really enjoy it where anytime after that I thought, man, if I ever do this again, I’m definitely gonna need to keep that just almost like as a safety blanket.
Ted (17:32):
…
Ted (17:50):
Actually. I think there even a benzodiazepine receptor on neurons but it’s affiliated or associated with the GABA a receptor. You’re right and has been, you know, you guys, have, you heard longterm studies or studies on the longterm use of benzos have shown a profound increased risk of Alzheimer’s as well. And so, you know, the really powerful drugs, I mean they are working in orders of magnitude less than fetal gavel. I feel the galley, if you typically need like 70 milligrams to feel something at a minimum, but like something like a Xanax or a clown and they work at like five or six milligrams, 10 milligrams, you know, so they’re very powerful pharmaceuticals. And because of that, I guess their ability to you know, to potentially have a negative side effects are more profound too, obviously. You know, I mean I agree with that though, cause when I was on benzos, I mean now looking back my memory….
Ted (19:37):
But, you know, it’s sad. We have a lot of older folk that come in and they’re like, they try to come off of these medications with out knowing that there’s severe, severe withdrawal affects and you know, and they’re coming to us kind of looking for help. They’re, you know, they’re being, and now with the opiod epidemic, a lot of people were being pulled off of their pain medications early. Doctors don’t want to write prescriptions for it anymore. So they’re coming in, you know, as a last ditch effort. You know, maybe people that never would have walked through these doors, but it gives us the platform to kind of educate them and, and you know, show them that there’s another way. You don’t always have to go the pharmaceutical route and that there are plenty, plenty of effective natural products and products that are a little bit more holistic than just, you know, going off of a very strong, you know, pharmaceutical med, you know.
Erica (20:30):
Yeah. I think it’s back to what, what you were saying, Brian, about just the holistic patient, you know, looking at the whole picture of, you know and also like the medications that they’re currently on. And it’s, I think a lot of, it’s a lack of information out there. So, you know, it’s really great what you’re doing. You know what we’re trying to provide this podcast and what Ted and Nicole are doing here every day is giving people information so they can, you know, make decisions of natural, natural alternatives.
Brian (20:59):
Yeah. Yeah. Well you guys might find a lot too, cause we got a lot of calls like this and love various stores is that people typically come in wanting this product to get off prescription medication like SSRI’s or benzodiazepines. So that’s a very common thing is people don’t want to be on the long term looking for national solutions. And this is a great segue for them to kind of pyramid down off whatever medication they might be on.
Ted (21:23):
Yeah. We had someone call yesterday when when we were here, guy from over in New Jersey, he obviously had no idea. He had no idea what his wife was doing, but she was using heroin and and he was, you know, he was looking for anything that could help her and that this was the product that we actually sent him to, you know, to help as she tapered down and, you know, to help with her anxiety and to help with her stress and hopefully give her a little bit of a mood lift. And you know, hopefully it works out and we’ve had a lot of success stories, like you said, we, you know, people trying to get off of SSRI and benzo medications. This is, you know, this is definitely a GoTo of ours. But while we’re, you know, one that, the topic of SSRIs, I wanted to ask you a little bit because I know you’re a, your company, pure life, you guys have a, one of the, one of the reasons why I wanted to reach out to you originally was cause I saw, you know, some of the ingredients that we’re using were a little bit more cutting edge.
Ted (22:20):
I’m a big fan of Kanna. So if you, you know, if you can tell us a little bit about Kanna from what I understand, it works almost as a natural SSRI and and can be used to help elevate mood. It’s, it’s a psychoactive plant, right?
Brian (22:37):
It is actually, yeah, it has documented you know, it’s been documented in the literature.. Going back like over 400 years now in South Africa, the country of origin, they were writing about it back in the 16th century, noticing that the indigenous peoples were truly on the leaves when they were you know, for stress and depression. But then also for a long Hans and they’d be out chasing game for hours on end. They would shoot leads cause it helped to decrease their appetite and stuff and make them not feel so hungry. But yeah, it is a, a PDE four inhibitor and also a, I believe it has Mao monoamine oxidase activity, which I believe is a safer way to elevate serotonin versus a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor. You know, MAOI is, are, are typically you know, more well tolerated. It also has some psychoactive properties, but it’s been a great, I mean, people you know, can chew the leaves, but we also have been using that for a long time because of the fact that you know, you can feel it when you take it off of it. You definitely can feel it. There’s a small amount of it in in the GABA product, but definitely it’s, I know that it actually modulates the endocannabinoid system too. I just read that recently that it is a modulator of endoccanabinoid functioned in the body as well. And it windows with that is by now I’m sure.
Ted (23:56):
Yeah. Yeah. Do you have a, you have a CBD store, right?
Brian (23:59):
I do. I open a CBD store about 10 months ago. Yeah.
Ted (24:30):
…And people don’t know what they’re getting. And that’s been, that’s been a big issue. You know, we’ve had people come in and bring in products that that were definitely lower grade, but, you know, because it has the word has the word CBD on it, people think it’s high quality stuff. You know, it’s, it’s a shame that there’s not more you know, people are just trying to, I guess they call it the green rush right now. They’re just trying to capitalize off the popularity of it.
Brian (24:55):
They are. Yeah. But you know, a study published in JAMA about a year and a half ago showed that of a full products tested mostly from smoke shops and convenience stores. Like 79% of them were adulterated or under dose. Basically, you know, so obviously they were definitely not getting the full quality product we were paying for. So yeah, people gotta be a caveat into a buyer beware, you know?
Ted (25:18):
Yeah. You gotta trust your source and you got to go to people that actually care about, you know, your health and wellbeing.
Brian (25:24):
You do without a doubt. Yeah.
Erica (25:26):
So I wanted to ask you quickly, I mean, you touched upon it, but you know, you’ve spoken about meditation, psychedelics you know, can you briefly tell us about your experience with psychedelics and how you think that they improve mental health?
Brian (25:40):
Oh, yeah. Well, you know, first of all, I just tell you guys my first, here’s the thing. Now this is really the Holy grail. This is why like life works in mysterious ways and I just happened to create this product and then it became like this, you know, pseudo shaman I guess I’m not even saying I’m a shaman, but I really got into walking meditation like probably 10, 11 years ago and had what’s called a mystical experience. I call a Satori, which is really the Zen term for a flash of a light mint. And it’s the first step. I’m away towards Nirvana or whatever. But basically it’s the transcendent experience that if you’re lucky and take a high dose, what’s called a hormone with dosa psilocybin or Iowasca you might get to experience. But you know, walking meditation, the way Christ and Buddha and Lao Tzu and Mohammad did thousands of years ago was the way that I came to experience that other world, the world of the infinite and the eternal.
Brian (26:30):
And it was just a profoundly healing set of events that happened to me. After that, then, you know, I kinda got sucked into the world again and became successful with this company and began making money and stress and everything, and I couldn’t devote as much time to my practice. So I took it upon myself to try some DMT. You know, when I went off in the woods again and I smoked DMT and I was like, wow, this is really cool. You know what, it does the same thing as, as you know, walking meditation does. And I think walking meditation in particular was better than sitting meditation because for the Western mind that’s so busy, you’re doing one thing, you know, you’re not just breathing, you’re actually walking in breathing and you’re doing what’s called bilateral movement therapy. You’re actually causing electrical signals to go across the Corpus callosum of the brain and the left, right hemisphere coordination is something that our busy minds appreciate and helps us to, to shift into that deeper, a transcendent, transcendent state, I believe…
Brian (28:03):
So, you know, I dismissed it, but it was kinda cool actually, you know, and you know, and for many months after those experiences you know, you’re on a different plane, like just nothing phased me for, for years actually, you know. But then after that, you know, I kind of got married, got divorced, went through kind of how would have it and all kinds of crap in the real world. And I’m like, you know, I gotta do some Iowasca. So I went to Brazil, I hooked up with this, you know, group down at a Sato, Dinae religion that does it as part of their religious practices. And you know, I was lucky that they took me into an advanced and advanced retreat. And, you know, obviously I did kind of a lot my first time, but it was still a mild experience but then I came back to the States and I wanted to continue doing it, but I couldn’t find anybody. So Canada’s began do it myself. You know, I had a friend over here, lucky enough who was a psychiatrist, a physician that was also into a psychedelic research. And we began to buy the plants online. You can buy them from like organic farms. They’re Hawaiian. It’s illegal to buy the the ayahuasca plants and what you’re doing with them of course, is then becomes questionable. But we began to then experiment and have journeys ourselves. And you know, just going to say some of the most terrifying journeys were the most productive. You know, when you have the guts to sit and, and bear it really, it had that like that vomiting, the habits that ayahuasca. It’s also an emotional vomiting. And I knew that because my first experience is back when I did my walking meditation, I had this emotional purging, like this emotional vomiting where I would sob so heavy….
Ted (31:38):
Wow, that’s awesome man. You sound very like, I’m very content. And do you still stress out day to day?
Brian (31:46):
Oh dude. I mean seriously. You know, I’m in this world, not of it as, as as Christ said, you know, we’re all life sustains and you know, I mean, without a doubt, I’m up and down. It’s like a roller coaster man. I’m a very intense, passionate individual, which means, you know, I’m a roller coaster. You know, I just had mold exposure like last year and I got some mold touches and I’m working with now. So that’s affected my brain kinda. You can’t escape this shit. You know what I mean? Really. Like, you know, you’re going to get sick and die. Something fucked up is going to happen to you. You, you’re not going to escape that, you know, and you’re going to be an asshole. Sometimes I am a prick. Sometimes the people without a doubt, you know what I mean? But I can bring it back.
Ted (32:22):
….
Brian (33:03):
You know, that’s, he was in that state of Satoria transcendence where he was like, it’s just pain. You know, I am the embodiment of unconditional love. This body can burn to a crisp, and you, I mean, look at Christ when politics policy, I’m not even a Christian, but seriously, why should I not crucify you? You didn’t even answer him. He’s like, I don’t have to answer you. You can’t kill this thing that I am. This is the incident. Any turtle embodiment, all that light. So I’m going to be crucified. Let’s get it on, buddy. You know, let’s tango. You know what I mean? So that’s fucking power, man. It really is. Pardon my French guys. I’m sorry.
Erica (33:42):
That’s all right. Where are you? I have a question. Were you religious before?
Brian (33:47):
Yeah, I was kind of steeping in Catholicism. I went to get this, I went to Catholic schools my entire life. Even my New York medical college is a Catholic medical school. They’re a Catholic medical school. I couldn’t believe that. You know, so yeah, I’ve been steeped in it for a long time. I’m not really anti religion. I do that to provoke people to think, you know, so if someone says they’re an atheist, but I believe in God cause I want to engage them in conversation. If somebody says they believe in God, I said, well I don’t believe in your daughter. And that makes me an atheist and near where they know it’s birth to stimulate. I love you, the philosophers. Last one. We love to promote people to think because we are agents of change. If you think about a really what Christ and Buddha and all these great people were Shakespeare, they’re philosophers, right? They wouldn’t make you think, you know, don’t accept a facto, don’t accept, don’t trust authority, question everything, you know. So that’s really what I think I am the embodied the novel, make some kind of cursed past life philosopher, those probably stoned or something like that. It has to get all this stuff out in this lifetime.
Erica (34:51):
So you gotta get that red. Yeah,
Brian (34:52):
I know, right?
Erica (34:54):
Wow, that’s right. It’s really interesting to hear your experience with that.
Brian (34:58):
It is because it’s the essence of what our experience down here is about. Why I you think about it, you know, it’s like I don’t get into the core things and inspiring people to want to learn more about it. Because like Ted said, you know, if you can bio hack, you know, little look at Dave Asprey, the biohacker, I mean that guy went through hell as a kid, raised in a mold infested house. And it really, you know, people pick on him a lot on YouTube and say he looks so old, you will think the guy went through hell man. You know, like I have some capacity for the guy. You know what, maybe he’s doing great considering what he went through because they’re before the grace of God go. I right. And maybe you wouldn’t be doing so good. Are you over there picking on him and stuff? So my point is, is that you know, all carrying across and we probably could be less detrimental of everybody.
Brian (35:38):
I think it’s always that, you know, but biohacking is great. If you can go take old tinker with the chemistry of your mind through whatever way you can, you can hope cause we’re all trying to be better people. That’s the beautiful thing about all of us is that no matter how messed up we are, there’s a nobility in all of us that really, it brings tears to my eyes when you think about it, like they’re looking at someone’s fucking eyes and say, you know, this is a noble person that has been beat down by life, but you know, in their heart of hearts, they want to do the right thing. It’s just like, Oh, I have to get us embrace that more. We’d all be happier and more loving of all of you. Everybody in the world, I think to some extent, you know?
Ted (36:13):
I agree man. It’s like performance enhancement drugs, but for the non-athlete
Brian (36:19):
Nice. It’ll look the event, man will all athletes because life is an Olympic event. It really is.
Erica (37:17):
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Brian (37:20):
So it’s like, you know, if you want to be bicep, you know, or a six pack of abs, you can’t go to the gym one day. You know, everybody kind of wants to control their mind and there’s so positivity movement is such bull crap because you can’t shift your mind into thinking part. It’s like pulling a rubber band. If you pull it off the bat really strong and positive, it’s going to snap back really strong as a negative, negative territory, you know? And so the thing about that efficient I love is that it doesn’t, it’s not about controlling your thoughts, it’s about not letting your thoughts control you because that machine, like your heartbeats, your lungs breathe, your mind thinks your brain thinks you can’t turn it off. There’s no controlling. Your brain and studies prove this. You’re not in control. Trust me, I can go on for a half an hour guys on free will. And that the sense of self, I can go down that neurological what all if you want to. But suffice it to say that you’re not going to stop it, but by practicing detachment from it and not identifying with it, you have the freedom then to say, wow, you know, I have a lot of negative thoughts today, but I’m not going to start acting them out. Like you’re more, in a sense, you’re freer to not have the influence, your thoughts, and in a sense, your, your, your behaviors and your actions. That’s the key. [inaudible]
Erica (38:36):
Well thank you so much, Brian, for joining us. We hope to continue the conversation with you and other time definitely learned a lot about your products and your experience, the mind- body. You got to invite us on your next trip.
Brian (39:08):
Well, they always say about ayahuasca that’s pretty cool too. And get this, nobody really knows this, but this is kind of new information. I lost a shift your brain’s architecture so that cannabis becomes a more sacred plant and its ability to affect your psyche. I noticed that, you know, cause I’ve, I’ve experimented with cannabis before ayahusca and afterwards it’s like, Oh my God. Like it takes on a sacred plant aspect much more profoundly such that you almost have like a, you know, a kind of like a mild psychedelic trip now, you know, just a very introspective experience. And I think it’s because the Iowasca up-regulates some you know, serotonergic receptors that cannabis effects. And that expression is what gives it a deeper spiritual aspects. Pretty cool stuff, man.
Ted (39:56):
I’ve heard a lot of people using the kanna to potentiate the effects of cannabis as well. And a lot of people say when they take those two together, that yeah, that’s a big thing in like if you go on like the Reddit threads on the internet and look up kanna, you know, and, and a lot of people, yeah. You know, and it’s a lot of it’s anecdotal experiences, but you’re at least you’re getting the non-filtered, you know, and it’s a lot of people use kind of in conjunction with cannabis and they say it’s like a totally different experience. Like it potentiates it super, super. I
Brian (40:34):
Oh, no kidding. That’s pretty cool. Yeah.
Ted (40:36):
Yeah. A lot of people I think, you know probably a couple of years ago when I first found out about kanna. God, I think I ordered it on eBay and it came in like a fermented little, it was like it was so shady. And it was like put it under your tongue or snorted and you know, I just, I just did it sublingual and I didn’t notice a whole lot with it. But just like cannabis, you know, you hear people say the first time you smoke, you don’t get high. A lot of people say that with is, is same thing. You have to prime your system, you know, take it a few times and then you’ll start to really experience it. But as it started to become a little bit more popular, a little bit more mainstream, I guess, you know, I guess it was only a matter of time before all the before all the stoners figured out, you know, you can take it, take the two together and definitely get an improved effect.
Erica (42:06):
All right, well on that note thanks for tuning into their rising core podcast. I’m Brian. If people want to find more information on you or your articles or anything where can they find you?
Brian (42:19):
You know what? I’m going to have to be launching a new website pretty soon called Brian’s wow.com. It’s dedicated to the philosophy of all the stuff we just talking about. I kind of like a continuation of quantum disease, so Brian’s wow.com will be lost coming up in a few days.
Ted (42:36):
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