Dr. Andy Galpin

External is when you're actually watching your physiology on some screen and you're just trying to make that thing improve. So I'm not telling you how to do it. I'm telling you what I want the response to be. And you're using that direct visual feedback to make alterations. Both are great. They're a little bit different. And there's a lot of tools within them.

So getting a starter with a handful that I'll call internals. And these ones are free or close to it. The very first one is any sort of hypoxic exposure. I've talked about that earlier. Hold your breath. The Valsalva maneuver. Anything like that. This will give you an acute change and I'll absolutely reset you. It will change your subjective feeling by simply holding your breath.

So getting a starter with a handful that I'll call internals. And these ones are free or close to it. The very first one is any sort of hypoxic exposure. I've talked about that earlier. Hold your breath. The Valsalva maneuver. Anything like that. This will give you an acute change and I'll absolutely reset you. It will change your subjective feeling by simply holding your breath.

If you want to cue that to some physical exercise, like the Valsalva, or you want to do jumping jacks or pushups or something, you'd be surprised. But a very short burst of holding your breath combined with physical activity for a couple of seconds can change perception pretty immediately. And I'm calling this biofeedback because you're going to feel it. You're going to do it.

If you want to cue that to some physical exercise, like the Valsalva, or you want to do jumping jacks or pushups or something, you'd be surprised. But a very short burst of holding your breath combined with physical activity for a couple of seconds can change perception pretty immediately. And I'm calling this biofeedback because you're going to feel it. You're going to do it.

I'm telling you to do something to your body. Ones that are more chronic though, which is what we're trying to get into now, is a cascade of them. One that we've used a lot is actually a meditation app, if you will, called Waking Up. This is by Sam Harris. There are plenty of ways to learn meditation. There are many different strategies for it.

I'm telling you to do something to your body. Ones that are more chronic though, which is what we're trying to get into now, is a cascade of them. One that we've used a lot is actually a meditation app, if you will, called Waking Up. This is by Sam Harris. There are plenty of ways to learn meditation. There are many different strategies for it.

But I'm highlighting this one because we've used it a lot, as well as because it is a progressive system. So you can kind of take it, follow the course. And if you don't know anything about meditation, the lessons are pretty simple and small. And it kind of walks you through it. I've personally been paying for Waking Up for many years. We've given it to lots of clients plenty of times.

But I'm highlighting this one because we've used it a lot, as well as because it is a progressive system. So you can kind of take it, follow the course. And if you don't know anything about meditation, the lessons are pretty simple and small. And it kind of walks you through it. I've personally been paying for Waking Up for many years. We've given it to lots of clients plenty of times.

But I've only recently learned you can try it for free for 30 days by going to wakingup.com slash Huberman. That's my friend, Dr. Andrew Huberman's sponsor to his podcast over there. So you can try it all there. And I hope you enjoy it. It's truly phenomenal. We've used it a lot.

But I've only recently learned you can try it for free for 30 days by going to wakingup.com slash Huberman. That's my friend, Dr. Andrew Huberman's sponsor to his podcast over there. So you can try it all there. And I hope you enjoy it. It's truly phenomenal. We've used it a lot.

And why, again, I'm saying that is we maybe sometimes someone's done breath work or they won't do breath work or whatever. They're not interested in meditation. We can just send them that and say, hey, this is the only thing we're going to ask you to do. And they can kind of get hooked on a little bit. They can gamify it.

And why, again, I'm saying that is we maybe sometimes someone's done breath work or they won't do breath work or whatever. They're not interested in meditation. We can just send them that and say, hey, this is the only thing we're going to ask you to do. And they can kind of get hooked on a little bit. They can gamify it.

They can get there just focusing on paying attention to their breath, which is effectively what Sam is doing in that course. It's biofeedback. They have no connection with their breath. They don't understand what's going on. They're learning to connect to their breath and it makes a big difference. That's why that's in biofeedback. Another super simple one is what

They can get there just focusing on paying attention to their breath, which is effectively what Sam is doing in that course. It's biofeedback. They have no connection with their breath. They don't understand what's going on. They're learning to connect to their breath and it makes a big difference. That's why that's in biofeedback. Another super simple one is what

Brian McKenzie calls gear one walking. So you're going to walk 30 minutes, 45 minutes. We have one client who we have walking almost two hours a day like this. And why we're calling it biofeedback here is you're breathing through your nose, but you're breathing at a very specific and intentional breath rate. Two second inhale, two second exhale. That's a four second rhythm.

Brian McKenzie calls gear one walking. So you're going to walk 30 minutes, 45 minutes. We have one client who we have walking almost two hours a day like this. And why we're calling it biofeedback here is you're breathing through your nose, but you're breathing at a very specific and intentional breath rate. Two second inhale, two second exhale. That's a four second rhythm.

What that matters is four multiplied by 15 is 60. That's 15 breaths per minute, right? As I said earlier, 15 is kind of that respiratory line where we start to be concerned. If you're sleeping and you're breathing 15 breaths per minute, we think that's a little bit high. But if you're walking, 15 breaths per minute is appropriate.

What that matters is four multiplied by 15 is 60. That's 15 breaths per minute, right? As I said earlier, 15 is kind of that respiratory line where we start to be concerned. If you're sleeping and you're breathing 15 breaths per minute, we think that's a little bit high. But if you're walking, 15 breaths per minute is appropriate.

So in doing this, what we're trying to do is match an appropriate breath rate with an appropriate caloric expenditure. We're not having you do sprints or you're running where your heart rate's really, really high and you're under breathing. We're trying to retrain your baseline of saying, this is what 15 should feel like.