Spelade
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Breathwork is increasingly infiltrating our daily routines, thanks to the popularity of James Nestor’s book Breath and the Wim Hof Method. As Nestor says, it’s the new science of a lost art.
This episode, Frank levels up from his usual box breathing (which he uses before surfing and voiceover gigs alike) to altered states. He goes under the guidance of breathwork practitioner Alex Buxton, whose personal journey is quite incredible – from a ‘Heart of Darkness’ moment in a jungle in Thailand, to spending eight years in an ashram, and then becoming a whistleblower, which saw him exiled from his community.
Alex explains holotropic breathing and rebirthing, then takes Frank through several sessions of his favoured practice: Facilitated Breath Repatterning. It’s a technique he learned in Bali that offers something very different…
LINKS
James Nestor’s Breath
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Episode released 28/11/23
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Bodybuilders are perfectionists. They’re fastidious on internet forums, economical in their IRL conversations, and at the gym they wear ‘No excuses’ singlets. As kids they may have been the ones insisting on only eating orange food, or completing a Rubik’s Cube in 15 seconds.
This episode, we're looking at shredding, the art of getting jacked – be that for bodybuilding, gymfluencer photo shoots, athletes who need to drop a weight class, actors who need to look buff, or just because.
Jenny recounts her lead up to competing in bodybuilding (a once-only venture), when she transformed into a human Cadbury's Curly-Wurly and brought home gold and bronze medals, but at a cost to her health. This is a rare fish-out-of-water insight into the surreal world of bodybuilding, part sport, part spectacle, which comes laden with risks and rewards. What draws people to it? Who excels at it? What gets spoken of and what doesn't? And more pressingly, what did Frank think about the dramatically changing body of his girlfriend?
Our guests this week are Paul Jayilian, Jenny’s trainer and a world champion, who goes deep into the alchemy of ‘peak week’. Also, Jenny’s posing coach, Nat Kitney, who aims to be a soft place to land for her clients, in a sport that’s all about being hard on yourself.
LINKS
Paul Jayilian’s Empire Fitness
Posing Coach Nat Kitney
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This episode was mixed by Ally Kallis. Episode released 14/11/23
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Is throwing yourself full tilt into a physical activity a noble leap or a nosedive? It's marathon season in Australia, inspiring many of us to leap from 5k to much grander feats of endurance. And runners aren't the only culprits! In the recent past, Jenny has hurtled headfirst into Muay Thai fighting and competitive bodybuilding like the world is about to end, while Frank has found himself in seriously gnarly surfing and rockclimbing situations, but believes who dares wins.
This episode, we look at Strava show-offs, the gospel of David Goggins and the influence of figures like the Liver King, in our bid to weigh up short cuts versus mastery. Let's say you decide to make the leap into a sport or event. What tests can you get so that forewarned is forearmed? Frank and Jenny get a barrage of them done and tell you how you can do the same. We're helped in this mission by Doc Adrian Jury and our friends from the Stronger Stride podcast as well as the team at La Trobe University Bendigo's Rural Health School/Holsworth Research Initiative.
LINKS
Stronger Stride podcast
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ADHD coach Meghann Birks joins Jenny and Frank on the show to nut this one out. Being 'obsessive' doesn't have the most positive connotations, but our hyperfixations can also connect us to community, propel us towards goals and benefit our working life.
Some people have one lifelong obsession, while for others a special interest could last an intensive few months or years before being replaced by the next shiny thing. And then what do you do with all your unicycles/grappling hooks/cosplay outfits? (Meghann's got an answer for that.)
What does the nature of our obsession tell us about what's going in our inner life? (Gary Oldman indirectly answers that one.)
How is our reward system and identity affected by each venture? Finally, what's the difference between an obsession and an addiction?
LINKS
You can book Meghann here and listen to her podcast, Sisters in Stoke.
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A Sonder X Production. Episode released 31/10/23.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Cold water immersion has many different faces. There’s the cold blast in the shower; ice baths; wild swimming… Which one are you prepared to look in the eye?
Frank is building an ice bath at Jenny’s house – so that he can use it when he’s there. That means he needs to convince his girlfriend of this painful practice’s benefits. Where better to start than on their holiday to the UK, where he can usher her into the North Sea, followed by a dunk in a glacier lagoon in Iceland?
Since the Melbourne lockdowns, Frank has followed a cold water regime, going for winter ocean swims. He also works at Peninsula Hot Springs, so of course he takes full advantage of their ice bath. Professor Marc Cohen is the medical director of the Hot Springs and designed the 'Fire and Ice' feature, so he’s got a lot to say about the therapeutic aspect of this practice and the workings of the sympathetic nervous system. That screaming you hear at the top of the episode? That’s courtesy of the Hot Springs four-degrees ice bath.
Finally, in the middle of winter, Frank meets the Port Melbourne Ice Bergs as they train to swim the heads – which will have them in the ocean for 75 minutes. Somehow, they manage to make their daily endurance feat sound like a really good time.
LINKS
Professor Marc Cohen
Port Melbourne Icebergs
Peninsula Hot Springs
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A Sonder X production.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Australia looks set to be the first country to run an MDMA-assisted couples therapy trial. What is it about ecstasy that researchers and couples therapists found promising back in the 70s and 80s, before it was made illegal?
Frank and Jenny talk to ‘late-bloomer Boomer’ Charley Wininger about his regular use of ecstasy in his marriage (he’s now 74 and they’ve “rolled” around 80 times, which he likens to 80 honeymoons), and how as a couples psychotherapist he views ecstasy as “emotional superglue”.
Jenny and Frank recall their own Pammy Anderson/Tommy Lee-style first date that wound up with big promises being made and eyebrows being intensely groomed, and they get some advice on how to achieve such intimacy without the use of drugs, through the 36 Questions That Lead to Love, developed by groovy husband and wife researchers Arthur and Elaine Aron.
This episode was mixed by Ally Kallis. A Sonder X Production. Episode released 23/10/23.
LINKS
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Frank’s film Sengatan on Prime Video.
Jenny’s latest book, Everything Harder Than Everyone Else: Why Some of Us Push Our Bodies to Extremes, on Audible. In paperback.
Jenny’s article on MDMA couples therapy in the Australian Financial Review.
The 36 Questions That Lead to Love.
36 Questions: the musical.
Charley Wininger. and his book Listening to Ecstasy.
Sex educator Eleanor Hadley.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
