welcome to the human experience podcast
the only podcast designed to fuse your
left and right brain hemispheres and
feed it the most entertaining and
mentally engaging topics on the planet
as we approach our ascent please make
sure your frontal temporal and occipital
lobes are in their full upright position
as you take your seat of consciousness
relax your senses and allow us to take
you on a journey we are the intimate
strangers thank you for listening they
hired me some nineteen year old kid off
the street doesn’t even want to be a
teacher they don’t take it seriously I’m
not gonna take it seriously so I
literally started just experimenting and
then I meet this guy who I used to hang
out with who was basically a drug addict
and a criminal and now he’s the super
wealthy successful internet marketing
guy if you believe you are or you can do
or be something you you can’t do it
right it’s that simple but the one thing
that remains unshakable is whenever I
have a moment of clarity I realize what
I’m really here to do I realize where I
came from who I really am and what the
most important thing is for me and that
is to share these stories and put them
out there so that people can be helped
by
[Music]what’s up guys you are listening to the
human experience and Wow
just another home run episode here for
you guys our guest Casper or Vander
Molen he is actually a friend of mine
that I spent some time with in LA and
learning from him I really wanted to
bring him on the show you guys are gonna
love this conversation there’s a lot of
practical usable tools we even get into
a reading exercise that Casper walks me
through which you can apply and use in
your everyday life
usually we cut out the episode for
members only we’re not doing that with
this episode because it’s that good so
enjoy this one thank you so much for
listening the human experience is in
session my guest for today’s mr. Casper
or Vander Molen Casper my good sir
welcome to hxp
Thank You mana I feel very welcome and
I’m very happy that you’ll have me did I
say your last name right because I’ve
known you for at least a year but I
don’t know how to say your last name is
it Newland you did that’s as good as any
American has ever said it I appreciate
that
Casper I’m really glad to have you here
man I loved mine lift and I love your
story why don’t you take us through that
tell us a little bit about yourself and
who you are today and then and then
we’ll go back to what made you into who
you are today
yeah oh that’s a great way to phrase the
question because the way that my life is
now it’s a lot of fun and there’s a lot
of adventure and there’s decent amounts
of success and a lot of people see it
and then they’re like that’s amazing and
I want that and most people if they
don’t look beyond that they don’t get
the see with the back story is so right
now it’s a lot of fun
I started let’s say two and a half years
ago when I had this wild idea of writing
a book in 30 days based on the
challenges I’d been through and I was in
a hunt
or the most disempowering and limiting
booty ifs that I had about myself and
about my life and about what I could do
and I realized that I’d always learned
and being taught that I couldn’t focus I
couldn’t concentrate you know I was the
kid in the back in the classroom could
focus and I could never be good at books
like I was I wouldn’t read books let
alone ever write one so those were two
really big limiting beliefs I had about
my life so I was like you know what
let’s see how hard I can crush those so
I decided to write a book about focus
basically and mindset and lifestyle
within 30 days so that I had to really
challenge everything that I knew about
it but also apply everything and I was
writing about in that moment and I did
that and the book came out about two
years ago in Dutch and ever since then
it’s been an amazing adventure in the
meantime you know we had a baby my wife
quit her job we’ve built this lifestyle
where we’re traveling around the world
we’re teaching people these principles
of lifestyle enhancement of health and
happiness through practice and right now
it’s it’s very exciting there’s amazing
things coming one of them that I’ve been
really looking forward to is this
podcast I know how big your reach is and
how well you reach people and how much
your listeners love this show so it’s an
honor to be here thanks man I really
truly appreciate that
your story is amazing and I I want to
talk about your childhood our childhood
it’s such a defining thing for us and it
really kind of characterizes who we
become you know like who what we become
so you know what was something in your
childhood that affected you deeply
I think that’s a great great question
because everybody has an origin story
that has formed them the way they are
and for some people it’s for example
losing a loved one for some people it is
coming through basically any kind of
hardship or being in negative social
surroundings or you know addiction
depression whatever it may be and those
are a deep depth in life but then if you
work through them they can become your
biggest strength that’s why I love this
topic in particular so one of the bigger
challenges I had it was kind of a
combination of everything I just
mentioned but it all started with not
being able to connect in my direct
social surroundings and I was you know
the weird quirky fat kid in the back of
the classroom I couldn’t really get
along with the subject matter in school
with the people around me I was being
bullied and then I had my own little
world inside my own head that I was
really into and certain creative modes
that I couldn’t express theirs I didn’t
feel a freedom of expression in that
time so this was between I was about
between 7 and 10 I had a hard time with
people judging me and people bullying me
but the most difficult part was the way
that I bullied myself basically based on
other people’s opinions and this whole
concept of I feel that I am this way and
I feel that I’m supposed to express
myself this way but in no way is it
being accepted or applauded my direct
surroundings and it was it was tough
times
my mother remembers me telling her when
I was a kid that I didn’t want to go on
with life and I can’t I can’t remember
being suicidal but I can remember this
feeling of how am I supposed to deal
with this life this is a very difficult
thing this thing called life and what’s
interesting is that a lot of people who
are supposed to be role models like
teachers for example they pretend to
have life figured out and they play this
game of look I know how life is and as
long as you listen to me and you know do
what I do then you’ll also maybe finally
be good enough to know how life works
and I very quickly caught on to the fact
that that’s the scan right it’s it’s one
of the biggest lies told in modern
society is that you know
people tell you follow along these lines
just do what I do I’ve got my stuff
figured out and then maybe one day
you’ll be good enough be part of the
whole thing and to really play the game
and as soon as I started to realize that
that basic authority that life is built
on it it all started to crumble so
that’s definitely one of these origins
stories actually this is really
interesting about stories by the way
what I love about the modern world is
that storytelling has become the best
commodity in the world so the fact that
hundreds of thousands of people are
tuning in to podcasts like these are
millions of people I should say is
because people are standing up and
telling their stories and I think that
stories are like the fundamental
technology of humankind to really evolve
and connect and to understand each other
it’s like the currency of you know
transaction energetic transaction but I
want to go back to something that you
said that really impacted me and
something you said about you know the
real opponent was yourself paraphrasing
your words a little bit but the
perception that you had of yourself was
determined based on this outside view of
what other people said to you but the
real hurdle was just you right
absolutely yeah and I and there have
been a few periods in my life where I
was really in deep depressions and has
struggled with addiction and feeling
burnt out and all of that and the
biggest problem is that we sometimes
don’t see how everything in our life is
our own responsibility and the way in
which we think in each moment and act in
each moments determines our results in
life right so some things aren’t your
fault there’s kids being put through
horrible things and there’s people who
just get caught by disease or by
hardship it’s not your fault but there’s
a big difference between fault and
responsibility and I feel that being
able to see the fact that everything in
your life is your own responsibility
even if it’s not your fault that gives a
lot of freedom so for me one of the
biggest things that I had to take
responsibility for was the fact that I
was judging myself based on what other
people told me so other people’s truths
only become your truth if you accept
them and if you live them
this is the big pitfall of the human
mind in a way one of the big pitfalls is
that we overestimate other people’s
valuation of who we are and we
underestimate our ability to change that
valuation and to change the way we look
at ourselves it’s a beautiful way to
paraphrase it because my own opponent
was me it was my you know destructive
thoughts my destructive behavior my
obsessive behavior around you know
substances and around anything that I
could use to get me out of present
reality so the first thing that people
do when they when they’re their own
worst critic is that they try to shape
and change and escape from reality
instead of facing how powerful and how
amazing they really are I still have
these moments of doubt and these moments
of worry and I can tell you like writing
a book and having my way of thinking out
there imprint on thousands of
bookshelves in the world where people
can just see whatever I think about life
that is really magnified the the fear of
you know people judging me which is
basically judging myself you know but
the one thing that remains unshakable is
whenever I have a moment of clarity I
realize what I’m really here to do I
realize where I came from who I really
am and what the most important thing is
for me and that is to share these
stories and put them out there so that
people can be helped by your mission
right it’s it’s really ingrained in your
DNA it’s something that you know you
live for and this was a big transition
for you so you became a teacher and
there was a point within the educational
system where you were sort of
disillusioned by the system you did a
sort of 180 and you wanted to teach and
that was your main draw you and you were
teaching middle school yeah so great
nine through eleven I think you know
different school systems but that’s
about the that age range okay so high
school ish and I said yeah so how long
did you do that
I did that for about nine years which is
really interesting it’s the only job
I’ve ever had I’ve never had even like
the smallest little side job anywhere I
literally walked into his school
reluctant to be a teacher actually I
didn’t want to be a teacher and you know
nine years later I left with this new
career path in mind or at least with
this new book in hand to try to give
what I’ve learned in nine years in the
education system as a science teacher
working with kids to give that to a
bigger audience I see some parallels
starting to form you know with what
you’re teaching and and I think it’s a
good moment to bring up mine lift you
know we so you call this mental fitness
for the modern world and I I love this
challenge that you gave yourself to
write a book in 30 days I mean who does
that
right so going back to just your life as
a teacher what happened was there a
moment that you remember where you just
you had enough you wanted to make that
turn into writing was there a single
event that did this well it was one of
those where it’s a culmination of all
these different events and there was one
moment where it really popped out
but the I’ll give it a little bit of
backstory before the moment because like
I said I was 19 years old I walked into
a school and because I had such a hard
time in school
I couldn’t go straight to study
University because I wanted to be a
scientist and in one of the study
biology at the University but I was you
know I didn’t have a very successful
school career myself in high school so I
had to do like an internship in the
field of biology and the only thing
available was basically a teaching
internship but I didn’t want to be a
teacher because in my mind those were
the bad guys I always felt like the
teachers were the ultimate bullies
because there were the ones allowing the
bullying and they weren’t the ones not
allowing me to learn in my own way so I
had a lot of resentment for it and I
walked into the school this guy who was
supposed to be like my mentor in that
period he greeted me and I basically
said to him like you know I’ll do some
copying I’ll get some coffee I’ll do
some chores but don’t let me do any
teaching that’s not for me right and
then he was like I think you might be a
teacher actually and before I could
actually say no he just opened the door
and he was standing right next to a
classroom he
shut me in he says go and teach what’s
this guy doing right and he gives me
this physics worksheet which at the time
was actually my worst subject I’ve
worked as a science teacher but my main
thing was biology physics was not my
strongest side right and I don’t know
what happened but I walked in and I
started talking and these kids started
laughing and kind of went for the flow
and and an hour later he walked back in
and the kids were smiling I was having
fun I felt amazing and like charged and
in flow and he looked at me and he was
like see I told you you were a teacher
and I was like man what happened there
and interestingly then they even offered
me a job I was 19 I didn’t even finished
my education but they needed a science
teacher they saw something in me and
they hired me and I was like you know if
they’re not gonna take this seriously
because I was like if they hired me some
19-year old kid off the street doesn’t
even want to be a teacher they don’t
take it seriously I’m not gonna take it
seriously so I literally started just
experimenting and I started trying stuff
they just walked into the classroom and
I was like let’s see how far we can take
this and how much fun I can have before
they kick me out right so I walk into a
classroom and go hey guys so what do you
want to learn today and they go why are
you asking us and I just went well
because I’m interested so what do you
want to learn and how shall we learn it
and that was the main way of teaching
that I use and it was an amazing ride
and interestingly if you don’t take
yourself seriously but you do take the
work seriously then suddenly you can
think innovatively which was I didn’t
even try to innovate but it was like
they started giving me all these
opportunities to do like innovation
projects and teach other teachers the
way that I was successfully teaching
these kids right and if there were
classes with kids that were all messed
up and all over the place they would
send me in and I would kind of like set
them straight at least that was what
they thought I was doing like I would go
in and be drill sergeant but I was
really just going in and being nice to
them and asking questions so I was kind
of on intuition doing things that work
but it didn’t really know what I was
doing and then at one point so this is
the the answer to the question at one
point there was a conference in London
it was called learning without frontiers
and they were going to bring together
like a thousand minds in education
innovation to discuss different topics
and
one of the guys there was Sir Ken
Robinson who has the best watched TED
talk ever which is called do schools
kill creativity and two things happen at
the same time so I went to London for
the conference and instead of me being
this weird guy just going off the cuff
having success in the school system but
not really knowing what I did and also I
had this frustration with the system
because why do these kids enjoy it so
much when they’re in my class but then
in the next class they have a really
hard time right so why this is system
work in a way that where they’re not
empowered so I went there with that
mindset and actually I was on my own in
London I opened up Facebook and this guy
added me who was a good friend
14 15 years ago when I was doing drugs
and hang out in the street as a kid
basically and he invites me over to his
hotel and it’s like the fanciest hotel
in the city and I’m like what’s this guy
been doing right and it turns out he’s
been massively successful his name is
marked by the way he wrote a book about
the whole story it’s a fun thing that
we’re now both authors and he was like
yeah man you can just you can just do
this you know and I was like what are
you talking about he’s like you can go
in a business you can be successful you
can make money and have the lifestyle
you want you could do that that was like
what I’d never even considered it so two
things came together my frustration for
the education system but also being at
this conference for all these great
minds were that we’re saying the things
that I’ve been thinking and feeling the
whole time and I was like maybe I’m not
crazy maybe I really get this but I’m
just one of the few people and now I’m
finally meeting my peers so that was an
interesting perspective and then I meet
this guy who I used to hang out with who
was basically a drug addict and a
criminal and now he’s the super wealthy
successful internet marketing guy and so
in that weekend those two things came
together and I was like you know what I
should stop pretending like I’m not
taking this seriously I should step my
game up and really create a very clear
vision and a mission to build something
bigger than me just messing around in
the classroom so that was a really
pivotal moment yeah that is such a
profound story love love that it’s
almost you know reminds me of Joseph
Campbell’s hero journey it’s almost as
if you were at that moment sort of
presented this
break through but then also this
challenge to you know how are you gonna
accomplish this how are you gonna create
this new life for yourself and how are
you gonna do all these different things
and one of the things that you did was
you wrote mine lifts I really want to
get into that I mean each chapter has
something different in it is there
something about mine lift that you find
yourself talking about or is there
anything that you think you know people
would want to hear about something that
you have noticed in other people if that
makes sense well that yeah that’s that’s
a really cool question that’s probably
the most original question that I’ve
gotten in 18 podcast interviews in the
last two years so that’s also welcome to
expound yeah my great job so one thing
that I find very interesting is that
people are they are in a way passionate
about changing their life and they want
to change their results and they always
want to have the most practical insight
so what can I do now and they always ask
me like what’s your best protocol and
then go well I eat some of that or maybe
I do this meditation thing or that
breathing thing okay okay so how long
and how often and what time of day and
and I want to say something like I don’t
know it’s your mind in your life you
have to figure it out but that doesn’t
work right and I’m a teacher so I want
to give them something making you eight
so I make like little protocols that
people can instantly use and and what I
found interesting is that I really tried
my best to explain this system and I
always say the system’s behind the
symptoms so the mechanisms that produce
the results and I found that people are
much more interested in learning the
quick fix techniques people who read my
book because my book is like fifty
things that you can implement right away
that are simply you don’t need to
understand how they work and just do
them but then when I speak and I start
to explain science I noticed that people
at first I kind of like hold on now
here’s all this kind of like graphs and
and yeah you know physiological systems
and scientific studies and they assume
that it too difficult for them and
that’s what I find really interesting so
they even though if they’ve already felt
the results of the practice for example
I tell people you know go take cold
showers every day or go do this
meditation technique every day
they’ve already felt the results and
still they’re kind of reluctant to get
into this scientific mindset and then my
background is in teaching basically 11
to 15 year olds that don’t want to learn
science right so my toolkit is based on
that and if I approach it in that way
and make it fun and interesting then
certainly they really open up to it and
what I’ve learned from that is that not
just kids in school have a hard time
learning because they feel disempowered
but those kids have now grown up and
they still as soon as somebody starts
speaking abstract or scientific terms
they get into that disempowered mindset
of learning something that they find
difficult right and but then when I
break it down they go that’s amazing I
do more of that because we have these
mental and physical states that we find
ourselves in and my work is really about
the question how do you influence those
and there’s two ways to look at it you
have these very practical things that
you can implement right away that I give
people a lot but if you also understand
the underlying mechanisms of how and why
they work then you can start to view
life in a completely different way and
looking back on it I see that people
have a very high interest for learning
it but they don’t know it yet most
people that I meet they go like oh
that’s very interesting does it work yes
okay you’re fine right so the few that
I’m trying to teach people is your human
being is a set of very complicated
interrelated biological physiological
chemical systems and these systems they
produce an output and these outputs are
what we call the results in our life now
these results a lot of times deal the
people as though they are happening to
them right especially if you don’t feel
like you’re in full responsibility of
your lives like oh now I’m angry I’m sad
all my health is bad or now this happens
right they feel like they’re at affect
to those things now as soon as I start
to teach people and I try to teach
people to look at these physiological
systems and ask okay so there’s a system
and there’s an output that we call a
result what is the input where did it
come from how did it shapes how does it
influence these specific systems that I
have what is my personal physiology what
is
my mental toolkit how do these things do
states that I’m in every day and I feel
that that’s the answer to your question
that I’m giving now might also become my
next book I’ve been really thinking
about this thing so I’m hope I’m making
a clear statement because this question
is so original that I don’t have any pre
friend answers wouldn’t want to take you
out of your pre framed answers man I
love that perspective and I also find it
to be very true very accurate it’s as if
when you’re at a seminar or when you’re
at a conference or when you’re at
somewhere where learning is induced and
you’re seeing these people speak or when
people are coming to see you speak
they’re in a state where they’re ready
to sort of absorb what you have to say
but then when they go home it’s a little
bit more difficult to apply it you have
to really want it right you really have
to want it for yourself and in that
moment when you’re giving a person this
technique if they believe that they
can’t do that technique or if they have
this preset belief that they will fail
at that technique that’s exactly what
will happen absolutely and this has been
measured physiologically with athletes
and your belief and what’s in your mind
before you attempt an action is what
determines the outcome so if you think
you can do something probability you
will be more likely to do that thing
then if you do absolutely and that’s
what I love about understanding I love
love love about understanding the human
physiology and psychology because here’s
the thing I basically I work in the
human potential field right and so do
you but to really understand the full
magnitude of human potential you have to
also really understand and embrace the
fundamental flaws of human psychology
one of them is beliefs belief systems
right and you see it in the placebo
effect and you see it in the example you
just gave and it’s been studied in so
many different ways that the way that
you focus your mind the way that you
focus your intentions really determines
the quality of your life
this is such an interesting thing
because it works both ways exactly like
you just said it’s such a perfect
example where if you believe you are or
you can do or be something you can’t do
it right it’s that simple but it’s just
a simple the other way around and we all
have in our lives built up this mental
and emotional database almost like a set
of bookmarks that tell us how we feel
and what we believe about the things
that we encounter in our lives right so
what’s interesting about that and this
is why I said also understanding the
fundamental flaws we pick up those
systems in relation to our direct
environment and in relation to direct
situations in our life
most of them which is why I love how you
started the podcast about asking about
childhood because most of these systems
are picked up in childhood yes so you
find a child finds itself in a situation
that is unbearable that is difficult
where the world doesn’t make any sense
then it tries to find a solution you
know for example children who are in a
bad breakup between their parents or
children who have a situation of abuse
or who have a parent that needs a large
amount of care let’s say you know a
parent gets sick a parent leaves or
something bad happens they lose their
own health or whatever and then the mind
needs to figure out how do I survive
this and what’s important to understand
is that in terms of priority our psyche
is built first to survive and it doesn’t
ask how can I live in this situation but
how do I survive this situation which
make perfect sense because let’s say
you’re you know in an actual survival
situation you’re attacked by a bear
you’re not asking yourself how can I
thrive in this in this bear attack
you’re asking how can I survive the bear
look so something horrible happens and
then it goes how do I survive this you
figure something out and for example
what a lot of people do that I work with
they sacrifice themselves they start
taking care of the parent too much or
they start know sacrificing their own
well-being for the sake of having a
harmony in in you know they’re there
comforting the mother if the father is
aggressive or whatever the martyr the
martyr complex yeah exactly right and
this is just one exam
but there’s a lot of them and then
what’s interesting is that even though
that system works in that specific
situation in that environment in that
time if it doesn’t have a reason to
change it’ll stay there right so if you
believe I need to sacrifice myself in
order to have the world work you will
keep believing that until you actively
disprove it so people walk into these
seminars with these belief systems that
are old and outdated and a lot of times
no longer serving them and that forms
behavioral patterns so guess what
happens if you feel you need to make the
world work by sacrificing yourself these
people they seek out relationships that
require their sacrifice these people
they seek out jobs that require their
sacrifice and they end up getting in
this loop and you know finding
themselves in the same place of burnout
every time or a depression or whatever
every time right so what’s really
interesting is that these belief systems
they’re wiring literally hardwiring
neural patterns in the brain and there
are so many ways to work with this but
the first step is awareness and the
first step is to understand how the
experience of life which we know one of
my favorite and ways to call life is the
human experience right is this thing
that we’re all in that we’re all kind of
like trying to figure out and go through
I think the first step in improving a
subjective experience of life as a human
is by creating the awareness to really
look honestly deep inside and go okay so
let’s really honestly take a look at
these belief systems that we have and
really really really question if they’re
still serving us because my belief
system years ago before I started this
was I can focus I can get my mind ride I
can’t write a book if I would have kept
believing that I wouldn’t be here right
now and if it would have been about me
right if it’s about yourself it’s more
difficult to change something but I made
it bigger than myself and I still do
because I I have days that I wake up and
I feel this depressed mode I have these
dark thoughts but then I go hold on
right
two three years ago I challenged these
beliefs about myself now my book has
become a best-seller thousands of people
are vetted and on a weekly basis I get
multiple emails of people saying hey
listen I was suffering in my life I had
a hard time now I used your work and I
live a better life for it
so that’s another thing that’s really
important to me is having the
perspective of this thing is bigger than
me and I can sit on the couch and be
depressed and addicted and overweight
and in migraines and like I used to be
or I can realize that I need to discard
those limiting beliefs about myself
step up show the world who I am and give
something good to others yeah yeah yeah
it’s so empowering and you’re not doing
it in the sense of oh hey let me fish
for you and you know hand you your
dinner it’s more of a you know here’s
the fishing pole here’s how you find the
water like go go do it you’re very much
handing people their own responsibility
and I think that’s so much different
then you mentioned it earlier the the
sort of snake oil that gets sold and I
don’t want to drop any names in this
podcast but they exist then it’s pretty
disgusting the way that happens but
getting back to just mind lifts and some
of the key elements of this for you when
you were writing the book through this
30 day period was there a point where
this Eureka moment where you were like
yes okay that has to go in the book and
what were you doing when you were in
those Eureka moments how are you getting
to those states let’s talk about
really accessing that that state
that’s a great question because the main
goal of the 30 days was to really figure
out whether I could bring myself into
that state so it’s very much about state
management and the whole idea of this
state that you want to achieve does it
happen to you or do you do it and my
statement is you do it so how do you do
it
first of all you need to understand what
strengths and the pitfalls of your own
brain are so for example for me I have a
really hard time keeping time and I have
a really hard time focusing on one thing
for a longer period of time right so
what I learned about myself is that I
can access these flows States and really
get into it but as soon as I have them I
try to grasp them and hold on to him and
but I can’t and then I kind of lose the
flow because your mind is like a muscle
right and if you focus on something and
your muscle can’t injure that focus the
mental muscle it has to let go at some
point so what I learned for example is
that I take my work and I kind of chop
it up into little 20 minutes sprints of
really focused and intense work and then
take a little five-minute break then I
can access that flow state much easier
but it’s also very important to do the
right things in those five minutes and
to put myself in the right space so
there’s a few things that happened I
cleaned out my attic right and I made
this space to write this desk which was
my focus temple I was like this is the
the most important thing and what I had
in mind is I’m gonna do all of the
things that I wasn’t allowed to do when
I was a kid in the classroom I’ve kind
of reversed engineered the hyperactive
hyper creative curious learner that I
was in school but couldn’t be and now go
I just let that little kid run free and
what does he need well he needs a bit of
structure so I’m not gonna sit here at
my desk and work for eight hours
wouldn’t make any sense that’s not what
I want to do so I set up the whole space
I put like a pull-up bar in the office I
had this giant whiteboard I had a desk
for sitting I had a standing desk and a
bicycle desk and I had all these
different places to work because I had
learned from working in education with
kids
my type of brain that a lot of kids that
we call a DD or ADHD they can focus just
fine if you have them switch spaces and
places and postures every 15 minutes
right so an ADHD kid is either gonna
wiggle around and be annoying after 15
minutes or you allow him to stand up and
wiggle around and then he can focus
perfectly so that’s something I’ve
learned so I’d set up this space that
was the first thing and the only
distractions that were there were
positive distractions so instead of
saying I can’t have any distractions I
figured you know life is about balance
it’s yin and yang right so if I want to
be able to focus I have to embrace the
distraction but at least I’ll give
myself distractions that are useful so
for example I would have my musical
instruments and I play six or seven
musical instruments so I’d have my piano
I have my bass guitar flute I’d have a
drum like in corners of the room so if I
would lose focus and get distracted I’d
get distracted by playing a bit of piano
well instead of checking my facebook or
instead of whatever kind of distraction
is there like doing notifications or
answer an email which only deplete your
brain if you go and sit down at a piano
for five minutes and you use your finger
you have fine motor skills your brain
connects to the musical notes it starts
to pattern eyes it starts to sync up the
different brain hemispheres you’re
actually recharging your brain by
getting distracted so all of these
little things I noticed so I would do it
a twenty minute block so I almost had
like a mental training schedule
I had intervals and rests and you know
all that stuff so I would do a 20 minute
block of hyper focused work at my
sitting desk the timer would drink I
would do
for example pull-ups for five minutes
get my blood flowing then I would do the
next block 20 minutes at my standing
desk right and I would have my music on
and kind of like dance around and move a
little bit and then when the timer would
go I would have my planned distraction
of playing piano then another focus
block at my bicycle desk and then
another little distracted break time or
I would do some juggling your again a
coordinating coordinating your
hemispheres and having your motor skill
alright because I understood the
workings of my brain and especially and
this goes for everybody but especially
for
active creative brains which we like to
call ADHD which is kind of I have my
opinions about it but anyway the motor
cortex activates and the the neocortex
right so then moving brain activates the
thinking brain so from that
understanding I realized the brain needs
fresh and interesting and a little bit
challenging input in order to keep
thinking and to keep thinking clearly
so if I would align all of those factors
I would be able to access these flow
states of creative writing work and
actually pretty accurately determine
when I would have a Eureka moment this
is one of a problem that geniuses have
right now I do coaching for example like
famous singers and artists and people
that are actually geniuses if you have
too many Eureka moments that can
actually be kind of like a burnout
moment if you don’t want to have a
thousand of them so I was able to pace
myself able to really determine how to
work on this thing and whenever I
wouldn’t use those systems I would just
be bashed by stress and anxiety like if
I would just sit down behind my desk and
just type for two hours I would get
stuck and like completely get into
stress mode and and self-doubt not of it
let’s talk about that a little bit more
so anxiety I mean we all deal with this
and I’ve been doing the show for a long
time now man and we’ve talked to a lot
of different types of people we’ve
covered stress and anxiety and like you
said earlier you know it’s it’s the
human experience and I’m a human being
and and I’m here experiencing and I have
my moments you know I go into stress and
go into worry when you see people going
into these states what is your technique
to interrupt those moments or is this
where your cold showers come in or yeah
yeah I like Tony Robbins and NLP people
I use that as an excuse to swear I have
to say profusely chokes I throw out a
lot of bad words now I just pretty good
it’s that that definitely works so
there’s two things one of them is
interrupting it in the moment which is
what you asked about and the other one
is training the specific stress response
which is what the cold shower for
example is about so those are two
different things that are both equally
important so in the moment the most
practical most
thing I can do is posture and breath so
if your mind is out of control and it’s
racing all over the place people don’t
realize that they are creating
physiological circumstances under which
this stress can thrive so stress is a
series of very clear very well-known
physiological circumstances and
responses you know there’s some
chemistry involved you’ve got your
cortisol and your adrenaline you’ve got
your amygdala as the fear center that is
gathering the input determining how to
respond to it and if there’s this mental
bookmark that it’s scary or stressful
whatever it responds with stress and
also the more burnt-out you are the more
tired you are the more likely you are to
have stress but also the more relatively
‘silly acidic your blood is the more
likely you were to have stress and
anxiety now what’s interesting is if you
are stressed and anxious or panicking
you find yourself hyperventilating so
people who are in a stressful mode their
body produces cortisol it raises the
blood sugar it raises the heart rate
with an increased heart rate
we need more oxygen you start breathe
faster so this also means that breathing
faster and it’s not just faster it’s
also through your mouth and into your
chest so fast breathing into your mouth
and to your chest
those sustained this stressful and
anxiety mode because they are a result
of it but this also works the other way
around
and this is so incredibly simple and so
incredibly profound
if you understand that you find yourself
in a state and then a state of mind and
body and then there is a state of
breathing that comes along with it we
all know that like you’re tired and
you’re young right you’re relieved you
take a sigh of relief you’re panicked
you’re hyperventilating guess what works
the other way around
just as effectively so if you
hyperventilate guaranteed your body will
produce stress and cortisol and
adrenaline this is actually one of the
things to wim HOF method is built on to
actively produce this stress in order to
cope with it better and you’ve had whim
off on the show alright so so a lot of
people know about this right now but
that’s one of the things that this is
built on so if somebody is in a
stressful state if I can get them to
come to look me in the
and I can tell them breathe like I’m
breathing right now and I just show them
a very calm nose breathing breathing
through your nose for four seconds hold
it for four seconds very calmly breathe
out you know hold it out for four
seconds those kinds of little techniques
if you don’t give the body more oxygen
and if you stop breathing out extra co2
it will stop producing stress because it
doesn’t have the energy to produce
stress so that’s one thing well let’s do
it right now let’s have everyone
listening and why don’t you guide us
through that
Kaspar and if you don’t mind and just
absolutely why don’t you show us this
breathing technique and I’ll do the
breathing and you can sort of direct me
into you know how to move out of an
anxiety state and we can show that
people absolutely so there’s I think 23
different techniques to go from anxiety
to calm I think the most effective and
most well-known is called box breathing
this is actually used a lot by the Navy
SEALs to switch between a heavy sprint
and then being able to down regulate
calm down the heart rate for them to be
able to actually aim their rifle so this
is a very practical thing now if
anybody’s listening and you’re in a car
or you’re in any place where it’s not
safe to kind of feel busy don’t do this
right so it’s important to kind of sit
down and even if you’re in an anxious
state and I do this with people I tell
them to sit down you know calm down or
even lay down if people get you know
dizzy easily or if people easily snap
into hyperventilation they want to make
sure they’re safe so just as a quick
precaution for people I listen to
podcast bribing all the time and I don’t
want anybody getting dizzy behind this
massive disclaimer don’t do this if
you’re driving and make sure that you’re
at home on your couch in your living
room and the safety of your own home
while you do this take it away exactly
so here’s box breathing it’s called box
breathing because it has equal parts so
first sit down and sit back into your
chair lean back relax let your shoulders
hand back because stress really goes
into the shoulders also right and just
watch how changing your posture can
already calm down your mind and maybe
even your body
the next is just a little invitation you
might be able to do this some people can
do it right away but just kind of ask
the internal question in your body of
what’s my heart rate doing and without
saying what it’s doing or giving it a
name
just gently observe where your heart is
maybe you feel it around your chest or
in your wrist or in your neck anywhere
else just see if you can locate it
anywhere and see if it’s maybe it’s
rhythmical maybe it’s fast maybe it’s
slow doesn’t really matter where it is
try not to judge it then the next is how
are you breathing so what’s this state
of your breath right now your breathing
your your mouth or through your nose all
right and this is something people can
check for themselves also at home
are you breathing fast relatively or
slow and if you don’t know what faster
slow is are you breathing at a pace that
is more like you are just waking up in
bed so very calm and relaxed or is it
more as though you’ve just run up a few
steps so is it better to be fast so now
wherever you are what we’re gonna do is
we’re gonna try to down regulate the
nervous system so get out of the active
mode and this is a very simple technique
where you breathe in for four counts you
hold it in for four counts you breathe
out for four counts you hold it out for
four counts this is one of the easiest
ways to start with breath work and down
regulate yourself so we’re gonna start
with it with a deep sigh of relief yeah
one more time you you breathe in for a
four count breathe out for a four count
and then breathe back in for a four
count I’ll walk you through it in old
out hole and what we’re gonna do is
start with a deep sigh of relief so that
we start on an out breath so breathe all
the way in let it go and now breathe in
two three four hold it in
breathe out two three four and hold it
up two three four
breathe in two three or hold it in two
three four breathe out
hold it up to three threes in two three
four
hold it in two three four breathe out
two
hold it out to be alright
deep sigh of relief
let it go Wow
that’s really impressive man I uh I feel
like this sort of weight is off my
shoulders I feel lighter I feel renewed
refreshed and it’s so simple it’s just
such a simple little exercise I feel
much more calming is that the whole
exercise that’s the whole thing man I’m
just did three rounds and normally I do
four rounds which equates to one minute
basically just about one minute and this
is what I do every night before I go to
sleep just to make sure that the last
little inches of stress and anxiety are
out of my nervous system so there’s so
much going on there just controlling the
breath if you more control over your
physiology then doing the breath holds
sends the signal internally of there
might not be enough oxygen to sustain
activity so you’re calming down and as
you calmly and control the breathe out
and hold it out you’re actually
stimulating the vagus nerve and the
vagus nerve is the most important actor
in the parasympathetic nervous system
which is the nervous system we call rest
and digest so the opposite of fight and
flight so as you are stimulating that
nerve it is actually sending signals to
the organs to get out of anxiety mode
and even if you practice very intently
and focused to get out of inflammation
mode it lowers the heart rate it
actually decreases activity in the right
prefrontal lobe which is the place where
we can show anxiety or stress or
depression in the brain they come
together in this very simple practice
and you only need like a minute of it if
it doesn’t in a situation you do it for
a minute
it doesn’t change anything that’s the
surest sign you need to get out of the
situation instead of change your
breathing right so on yeah this is one
of my favorite little quick tools to get
people’s beautiful I love it man and I’m
sure many many people will benefit from
that little exercise that we just did I
want to talk about your relation to
success I dislike the word success and
there are so many different
interpretations of success there is you
know society’s interpretation of success
and there is this sort of idea that when
you see someone what people usually see
is that person has you know sort of
blown up to a point where everybody
knows who they are and suddenly they’re
successful but in the backstory there’s
an everyday grind that you put in and
work and it’s hard work I want to know
what your perception and your idea of
success is beautiful beautiful question
so my personal definition of success is
a continuous practice of finding balance
between the important factors of life
being mental physical emotional
spiritual and financial and also
relationship is one of the one of the
things so financial is one of them right
and I think that this is an important
thing where a lot of people if you ask
about success they start throwing out
definitions about money and I meet a lot
of people who are financially successful
but they are spiritually or emotionally
clogged up or out of balance right for
me and that’s why I called a continuous
practice because what’s in there is in
the definition it is built the idea that
this is an effort a constant effort and
a conscious effort that you do every day
and also the word practice implies skill
and skill implies development and
putting in the effort practice so for me
success is about the balance between
those things I am NOT interested in
financial success is I if I have to
sacrifice my relationships with family
or my physical health or my mental or
emotional health and also I’m not
willing to put my physical success in
front of financial success or emotional
success I was a pretty good basketball
player when I was a kid I’ve trained a
lot right and I was the fat kid in
school so I and I couldn’t get along and
I didn’t have any friends and the one
kid that I liked went to basketball so I
was like shit I better go there and show
up and be good at and these other kids
they could get away with three hours of
practice in the week and they would all
beat me on the court so I was like man
the only thing I can do is put in more
effort and practice and work harder
I worked hard and hard and hard and
within like a year or something nobody
on the court could even touch me right
because I put in so much more work brain
because I didn’t have any talent now
another thing that happened there as I
had my growth spurt I was just a kid and
I was so obsessed about this physical
work about being the best basketball
player on the court that it completely
messed up all the other parts I didn’t
have any time for anything else right
they didn’t reflect well on my
friendships and all these other factors
so on different parts of my life I’ve
been out of balance and I know a lot of
people are out of balance and they say
I’m successful and then go at what right
so I think it’s important to have a
personal statement of success and then
to really take that success very
seriously because I feel that nobody is
helped by me being unsuccessful and
everybody is helped by everybody being
successful this is one of the
fundamental beliefs that I have about
the work that I’m doing in the way that
I’m approaching the world is I want
everybody to win because my definition
of my success doesn’t mean that anybody
else has to fail so I can win but it
doesn’t mean somebody else has to lose
so yeah that’s my two cents on it I love
that that brings true for me so much I
have a very similar perspective on you
know just the way we’ve identified with
consumerism and competition and this
need to win what we’ve learned is you
know there is a winner and there’s a
loser I really connect with the way that
you describe your relationship to your
own personal health and you know money
you know I talked to a lot of different
entrepreneurs people who are building
their own businesses and these people
are working 12 14 16 hour days like just
slaving away for this dream that they’re
really passionate about and what you
will notice is that slowly over time
they degrade because they’re not
nourishing their body they’re not giving
their body this attention that it needs
and the crash oh yeah because not all of
those areas and grow the whole time so
obviously the foundation of my
definition of success is growth it is
about continuous forward motion
relentless forward motion I think that’s
the title of a book about ultrarunning
but it’s it’s kind of like one of these
mantras that I have for a landless
forward motion just keep doing the next
step sometimes I find I have a little
growth spurt on the financial level and
I go awesome that’s amazing and it’s
really easy to become obsessive about it
and go this is awesome I should keep
doing this and this and this and then
you notice that these other parts are
falling back and I think that’s where
the exact entrepreneurs you just
described they get tunnel vision on this
one area and then the other ones start
lacking and you know that’s one of the
pitfalls but it’s also fine you know I
found myself staring into this tunnel of
one of these things going like another
physical stuff is all over the place
right and getting stronger and getting
healthier and getting fitter and then
noticing like oh man I could have done
this and my business it could have gone
for that opportunity and actually
recently I went for a whole ton of
opportunities when I was doing this tour
through the US you know I live in Europe
and I’m flying all over the place like
12 flights in six weeks 14 seminars like
all this high-profile work working with
these amazing people and then I got home
and it’s the first time in years that
I’ve gained weight lost muscle mass and
to less strong and then I go up did it
again it was awesome you know my
business grew my bank account grew but
now it’s time to really be honest and
say the body the mind spirit they need
something extra right now right so I
think it’s good to kind of juggle them
and and sometimes one of them goes up
and the other one goes down as long as
in this continuous board motion as long
as there’s balance overall I think
that’s the most important thing its
equilibrium its balance and really
understanding yourself you know know
thyself understanding your own
limitation understanding your own body
just listening to your body because your
body will tell you your intuition will
tell you and it will speak and most of
the time it speaks in whispers I I just
want to interject really quickly and say
that there’s there’s a quote in my book
that is
what you just said and the quote is the
body whispers before it’s screamed yes
and if you can listen to the whispers
you’ll save yourself a lot of screens
and that’s what you’re doing in this
book you’re really giving people these
sort of ways to you know hear those
whispers and before they become screams
you know you’ve also created
methodologies to deal with those screams
because we all eventually end up
screaming you know like that’s that’s a
part of the human condition as part of
life I wanted to ask you about one more
thing and then we’ll put a bow on this
and wrap it up but I want to know how
important is it for our lives to do
absolutely nothing how important is it
to not be working on the next project
not be flying around to different
speaking engagements literally not be
doing anything so you know it’s always
come down and this is one of those
things where I bumped my head against
the same wall again and they go up I
should listen to my own advice because
it’s all yin and yang right so if you
want to have and this is interesting
because I just said relentless forward
motion but there is no motion without
standing still so you know there is no
action without rest and I think silence
and emptiness even are very very
important teachers where I think that
entrepreneur is people who build
lifestyles and build businesses and good
products out the ones that are
successful the ones that are doing the
best jobs are making art in a sense
they’re making something beautiful
something unique right you know and
we’ve met in person you know when we’re
at the kitchen table we don’t sound like
this but as soon as your podcast might
go on you become a poet your tone
becomes phoretic in your language and
you get into this flow and you your
wording becomes like eloquent and this
is something that I find is really
important to understand for people who
want to build something put something
out into the world is that you are
making something that people are going
to see or use or consume and it’s a form
of art
art is something that has to connect
like spring from something deep inside
and you have to create circumstances for
it to be able to spring and to be able
to grow and to be able to flourish and
the creation of these circumstances
comes from allowing that source of truth
and that source of inspiration and flow
to really sometimes have a moment of
silence at a moment of rest in a moment
of really not having to do the next
thing not having to go anywhere and my
grandfather he was a genius man I love
them so much and I grew up in all of his
stories and every time I would stay at
his house and it was kind of like a
sleepy town and with all people and I
would go to him and I would say I’m
bored and then he said congratulations
okay because he said this is the soil of
good thought right boredom is the soil
of good thought and I believe that
that’s important sometimes you have to
kind of sit around and be in this
silence because that’s where you hear
the whispers that’s where the good idea
catches him that’s where this stroke of
genius of inside issue and you realize
that that’s something you needed to do
the whole time and I have one last
anecdote that I that I’ll share so this
is in meditation and mindfulness and Zen
which are all practices that I’ve put a
lot of time in it’s very much about
finding the silence finding the
stillness but even finding like
deprivation and suffering and then
within that finding beauty so that’s
kind of like what I was just talking
about it create the silence this space
where the beauty the art to kind of
spring into flourish about I think a
year and a half ago I was running an
ultra marathon which is kind of crazy
right it’s more than a marathon this was
51 cake-like 10% more than a marathon in
Switzerland in the mountains there was
9,000 feet of elevation in total right
crazy stuff I ended up continuously
running in the mountains for nine hours
and it was equal parts glorious as
miserable as ultra endurance athletes no
I came to a point where I was I couldn’t
move my left leg I had been running for
about seven hours I tripped twice
I’d hurt my ankle I was just completely
broken I had never been so exhausted I
couldn’t hold in my food right I
couldn’t my stomach was upset I couldn’t
do another static cough and I was
staring out into the distance and there
was just emptiness I felt like I I
didn’t have even the tiniest amount of
energy left in my body I couldn’t
appreciate anything that was just pain
emptiness exhaustion right and
interestingly my mind went completely
quiet my mind always has something to
say and in that moment it was like you
know what I give up I don’t have
anything to do with this figure it out
and it was just intense silence and I
was just staring out into the distance
not even noticing whatever was going on
it was that silent this guy came up next
to me a Scotsman and he looked at me and
then he looked at where I was looking
where I was staring and then he said
something like oh man you’re right
sometimes you have to stop and enjoy the
view he thought that I was mindfully
stopping look at the beautiful view
because it was like the most beautiful
mountain view ever and I didn’t I was
imprisoned and then just because he
thought I was doing it he reminded me
that’s the goal that’s what thing is
about my taking time to stand still and
enjoy the scenery and I just snapped out
of it and being in a place of that
intense like emptiness and silence and
then the first and most profound thought
to come up was enjoy this moment it was
the loudest confirmation of that idea
that I ever had
so you know and and then I just found
this new well of energy because I came
from the silence I faced all this
difficulty and now you know it’s luxury
and difficulty I mean there’s people who
are of actual poverty and actual like
I’m a white man born in a western
country and fucking like wait I have to
I have to pay money to go to a mountain
and feel suffering right so it’s like
this is all I want people to understand
this is all luxury you know my life I’ve
been through some hardships but
statistically my life is the easiest
life in his
come on but the point is that that
moment of silence where there was
nothing mystery just a minute and then
the first thing that came in to my
experience so vividly was that moment of
enjoy it make art make something
beautiful the rest of the trill which
was like probably like 25% was still
left it just became a dance and I
started laughing and I started making
jokes with people around me I started
taking the whole thing seriously so
that’s just a little anecdote of a
profound moment in my life where I
realized that every now and then we have
to seek out the stillness the emptiness
the not anxiously obsessively seeking
for the next thrill and to really grasp
what is in front of you and then watch
the inspiration happen you can issue a
mic drop after that little story just
drop the mic
Kaspar that this has been beautiful man
we touched on so many different things
and I feel like we just scratched the
surface there’s so much in this book
that is genuinely helpful and I highly
recommend it the book is called mine
lift mental fitness for the modern mind
my guest is Kasper Van der Mullen Kasper
I know that you travel around a lot are
you doing anything where people can kind
of sign up and come see you oh yeah yeah
so I’m doing a tour on the East Coast
and Colorado so I’m kind of like all
over the place but that’s October and
November I’ll be teaching a bunch of
workshops around New York Boston area
let me think
Atlanta Colorado and a quick trip to LA
and so that’s that’s this fall then in
the winter in January and February I’ve
got a bunch of retreats in Poland in
probably Iceland and I’m looking for one
more location where I’m doing a full
week retreat with grass work and cold
exposure and all the biohacking stuff so
that’s that’s definitely something worth
traveling for in my experience and then
in May and June Oh I’ll be around in the
west coast which is Southern California
has become one of my favorite places to
be so I’ll be pouring around San Diego
Los Angeles around there so I’m around a
lot to check out my website and if
anybody has learned anything from this
taking away anything or it has a
question you can find my contact info on
my website I will answer your questions
and I will answer every just little note
that you sent me but it might take some
time because I know how big your
listener bases but I always just want to
know let people know like a I appreciate
hearing back from listeners is that’ll
make the this you know beautiful medium
of podcasting a bit more interactive
yeah I’m sure I’m sure that you’ll
you’ll get some questions and you know I
highly recommend for people to order the
book and Casper what is your website
mind lift commas so that’s easy mind
lift calm and you know I highly
recommend people either download the
e-book or just order a copy Casper are
you doing anything where if people go to
mind lifts that you like sort of
autograph the copy or anything like that
for the American version it’s difficult
because I don’t get involved in any of
the process difficult this is by the way
there is an audiobook and I myself
enjoyed listening to audiobooks more
than reading and then you can listen to
my smoother voice for six hours but
that’s definitely a pain but I would
love for people to come follow me on
Instagram you can find my Instagram
thing on there on the website too that’s
where I’m most active and I love getting
you know little notes or pictures from
people who are lose your ghost again
it’s at Casper’s focus ka SPER fo see us
got it it’s my favorite favorite outlet
cool yeah come check me out we will
definitely have people get to the
website the book and and your Instagram
Casper thank you so much for being here
man I’m bowing humbly crushed it thank
you so much
Thank You Man you’ve got one hell of a
beautiful podcast go in here so it’s my
honor to be here thank you so much man
guys you have been listening to the
human experience we are going to get out
of here it bub huge thanks to my guest
Casper Vander Molen make sure that you
pick up a copy of the book mine lifts
mental fitness for the modern mind and
we will catch you guys next week thank
you so much for listening hey guys
you’ve been listening to the human
experience and you just heard our
episode with Casper van der vielen
really great episode and you heard the
full episode but we do have a member
section now and now with all the
messages that we get on Twitter and all
the inspiration that we’re giving all
these people we love that we love the
feedback and thank you for that but if
you enjoy what you’re hearing and you
want us to continue doing this show has
to be sustainable so if you want access
to the members content we’re going to
create a giveaway for that and we’re
finishing the member site right now but
get to the human XP
sign up right now and help support what
we’re doing thank you guys so much for
listening I hope you enjoyed this
episode it was a really really fun
episode to do with Casper
you
you