June 22, 2025 • 47 mins
Are you ready to level up your performance and take control of your health? In this episode of The First Responder Playbook, I sat down with Brandon Day—former college athlete, Sports Illustrated cover star, and creator of the Neuroflow Method. Brandon shares how overcoming chronic pain and mental burnout led him to applied neurology and the science of flow states. We dive into how first responders and athletes alike can harness neuro training to conquer pain, boost resilience, and achieve peak performance—both on the job and in life. Don’t miss it!
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Episode Transcript
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(00:01):
Guys, welcome to the first responder playbook. I'm joined by Brandon Day
today. Usually I, I try to give a little bit of an
intro, but he has such a awesome background that I'm not going to do it
justice. So Brandon, I'm going to let you give your own
introduction today. Okay. Well,
first of all, thanks, Brent, for having me here. It's a pleasure.
(00:23):
And you know, I, off the bat, if you do hear some, some
screaming in the background, those would be my, my nine month old
triplets and they are hungry at the moment, so
that's fine. Yeah. Feel
like a first responder all the time. Yeah.
Right now. Oh, I can imagine. Yeah.
(00:47):
So anyway, yeah, my background, you know, it started in
athletics and I played sports, all the sports, as
many as I could growing up. And
I ended up going to college to play football and
had a great career, great time, won some national championships,
ended up on the COVID of Sports Illustrated, was an all American.
(01:10):
And although I had a fantastic
time, it left me with some, some pain
afterward. So I had some injuries, you know,
lucky enough to never miss a
down due to injury, but
afterwards I dealt with chronic pain for a long time and
(01:32):
that kind of sparked my, my interest in what I do now.
And long story short is I took a little
sojourn into independent filmmaking for a
bit. I, and that really didn't do a lot of
great things for my mental health. And I fell out of
the fitness game, wasn't really taking care of my body and that led
(01:54):
to just more pain. And
I was concerned also with where my brain health was heading.
And so that really sparked, you know, I hit kind of a rock
bottom moment around 2013 and
decided to kind of take control of my health again and figure out
(02:15):
how to heal myself from this chronic pain that I was experiencing
in my neck, my lower back, my knees, my
ankles. You know, I was cursed with the quote, unquote,
bad knees and bad ankles. And then I was developing
a bad back. Right. I just
couldn't accept that. So I went on a mission to try to figure
(02:38):
it out. And I was also very concerned
about not just my mental health, but my brain health
more broadly. Right. So, you know,
fast forward a few years. I got a job as a personal
trainer. I worked with some people that were dealing with some, some
heavier issues, which gave me some perspective. And I decided I
(03:00):
really wanted to go down that route to help these people get better.
So I went, got a master's degree in kinesiology and I focused on orthopedic
rehabilitation and I Built wellness programs for physical therapy
clinics for a while. And then I stumbled into this world of
applied neurology. And that's when the doors really, like, busted open
for me. Within a very short time, couple months,
(03:22):
my chronic pain was gone. My neck pain, back pain, everything
gone. And I really started to see changes
happening in my. My brain health. Like the brain fog,
the. The behavioral issues, impulsive impulsivity,
anger issues, mental health issues started to
slowly but surely dissolve a little bit,
(03:44):
and I started to start to, like, I was able to kind of feel like
myself again a little bit and actually put in the work
in the gym and in my training to get back that capacity and,
like, that athletic kind of body and
also mindset. Right. That I had been missing for a
long time. And within that, there was also a
(04:07):
huge defining moment that I
can't. Can't just gloss over, because it's a big part of what I do,
which was discovering what flow states are through a book that I read by a
guy named Steven Kotler, and
how important and impactful those are for
not just performance, physical and cognitive performance, but also mental
(04:30):
health. And I'm sure we'll get into this a little bit, but,
you know, I've worked with a lot of people with, you know, first responders and
veterans of war and others, athletes
that develop a little bit of
PTSD or a lot of PTSD
(04:52):
from certain things that happen, but also from losing access to
the state of flow. And that was a huge moment for me and really
defined, you know, what I would be doing for the rest of my
life. So that's a big pillar in my work, in my program, which is,
you know, the neuroflow method that I call it. It's this
marriage of applied neurology, or neuro training and flow
(05:15):
state coaching. So that's kind of the.
The long and short of it. So
I can now say I know two people estimate the COVID of Sports Illustrated.
Hey, as a former athlete, I'm sure you probably know who Sam
Bradford is. Oh, yeah. Okay. Yep.
So all me, all my friends were Oklahoma State fans,
(05:38):
went to osu. Okay. And there was
a moment, I think it was 2008. Sam Bradford dove into the end
zone and kind of got helicoptered in the end zone by the defense, and it
made the COVID Sports Illustrated. And, uh, you can see my buddy in the
background, like, along the wall, like, just, you know, defeated.
And so. So, you know, of course he thinks
(06:01):
it's awesome now, but it's time when you're like, oh, you got to Be kidding
me. Not again. And so that's awesome that you get to make Sports
Illustrated. Like, that's, that's something you'll always remember, you know,
for sure. Yeah, it was a wild, wild moment.
So as a, as a college athlete, especially in football, it's such a
heavy contact sport,
(06:23):
you kind of said that you, you had the, the bad knees and the bad
ankles. What do you think was driving that
mindset that you just, you weren't the one that got beat up by the
sports. Like, and it was just more of a genetics issue.
Like, what, what made you think that originally just had that mindset? Was it just
being, you know, trying. To push through it or that's part
(06:45):
of it? Yeah, certainly. I think in the culture of
football, hockey,
mma, you know, these big kind of
violent, more violent sports, and I would put all
first responder positions in those. Let's just
call those, Call those all the same sports. Like, they're all similar. Yep.
(07:10):
The major difference is that my life is not really
in danger so much. Maybe a little bit, you know. Right. Things
do happen, but. Right. But, yeah, big, big caveat there. I'm not
trying to say that playing football is, like, going out there and fighting fires or
putting your life in danger as a police officer. Like, that's a, that's, that's a
different thing. Right. But the mindset is similar. Right.
(07:33):
And a big part of that is like, push through pain.
You know, pain is weakness leaving the body. You
know, we've heard all the sayings. And so there's that
mindset and culture that's kind of baked in. And
there's also the
lack of awareness around the root cause
(07:55):
of some of these issues. And so in my case, yeah, I went, I
did all. I did the pt, I did the Cairo stuff when I
would sprain my ankles, and I was just told I had weak
ankles, they weren't stable. So I got to go get on this balance thing
and, and work on my ankle proprioception
and do these things. And I did those things and, you know, they helped
(08:17):
a little bit, but I would continue to injure myself. And
the knee pain was the weird one, the knee pain and the back pain, because
there wasn't really any injuries. And so that's
where the thought process. Because nobody could explain it to me. Pts,
the doctors, nobody, they're just like, well, you know, they. Does. Does your
dad have bad knees, too? It's like, well, not really,
(08:39):
but I, I, Yeah, I don't know. So I'm just looking to be this way
forever. And that's kind of what we were, you know,
relegated to, was just this acceptance of this
life of pain because there's
something wrong with you structurally and you were just kind of born
with it. And you could try to fix your
(09:01):
know, muscle imbalances and, and do the,
the icing and the rice method and all that kind of stuff. And it would
be beneficial for a short time, but then those type
of things would always come back. And so that's just kind of like a,
you know, it's a, it's. I don't know if cop out is the right word,
but, but it's kind of an excuse for lack of awareness
(09:23):
and the knowledge around what is or an
underlying cause of those things.
So that's where the mindset comes from. And I, it's a, it's a, it's
a mindset then a belief that I in my work
get the pleasure of reframing and changing
for people on a daily basis. Yeah. And I love doing that because
(09:47):
that gives people hope. It's like, oh,
my knees aren't jacked up for my entire life. I don't have
a bad back. Okay. I can actually
do something about it that's really empowering. Right. And so I
love helping people see that. That's awesome. I,
I actually, that's where I was leading to was that it is also
(10:09):
very prevalent in the first responder community. Whether it's
physical health or mental health, it, it's pushed through it. It's
not get help and figure out what's going
on. It's, it's just pushed through it. It's slowly getting better,
but we still got a long ways to go. And you know,
I'll never forget that, like
(10:33):
I would say probably until about two to three years
ago is the first time that like in, in
Oklahoma, at least we're required to get two hours of mental health every year training.
But it's usually stuff that people just get an hour here, an hour there and
they don't really take it seriously. And so
I would say maybe in the past five years is when
(10:56):
it finally started catching up a little bit. People started taking that more
seriously just as much as your physical health. And so like
those two really go hand in hand. A lot of times, you
know, if you're beat up physically, then you know it's going to drag down your
mental health and vice versa. Here's the way I think about it.
One to two hours a year of mental health
(11:20):
training is akin. I see it as no
different than One to two hours a year of physical
training. Yep. Right,
that's. And it's, it's unfortunate
that it's taken a long time to kind of
get there, but I'm really happy to hear that it's at least improving.
(11:42):
And the people that, I know that the people that are
seeking me out are generally a little bit more
attuned to it. Right. Maybe they've been through some.
They probably usually have. Right. By the time they've got to me,
but they're more aware of it. So I don't see
the full picture of the whole thing. Like, like you do,
(12:07):
but man, it's, it can't be understated how
impactful just a little bit of awareness can
be around your own thought processes and
the processing of the things that y' all see every day.
Yep. It's a mental fitness game.
And what I do is a little bit different. I do a lot of mindset
(12:30):
coaching, especially around the flow state stuff. And there's
actually some pretty cool research from the Department of Defense and
DARPA around flow states and PTSD
for veterans specifically that they've worked with.
Wild cool stuff. So really impactful there
for mental health. But the neuro approach
(12:53):
is, is, it's a little bit more of a bottom up kind of approach.
You know the buzzwords these days are things like nervous system regulation.
And it's a buzzword because it's, it's correct. Like it's right.
You know, when you're dysregulated you don't get to think very
clearly. This like big, big beautiful brain
(13:14):
up here that is thinking and makes decisions
when you're dysregulated or when you have like a, a
trauma response or something like that from some ptsd, that brain just
shuts off. Yep. And now you're just stuck in
like survival mode, quote, unquote. And that's real stuff.
Like you're, that brain doesn't have language. It doesn't, you can't talk
(13:36):
your way out of that. The way I say it is you can't mindset your
way out of survival. And so that's where
neuro training from the bottom up can be really helpful inputs to the body.
Inputs like breathing, breath work, even
vestibular work, vagus nerve stuff, visual work.
These input systems are the language of the body and
(13:59):
the language of the survival brain. So that's really,
really helpful in that kind of mindset or
mental health kind of work. Awesome.
Can you kind of explain for just like most
people like what that applied neurology is.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So
(14:21):
applied neurology is the
intentional and repetitive
activation of,
or training of the nervous system, specifically.
So it's assessing and training the nervous system
and the brain intentionally and specifically.
(14:44):
Just like we would train the body, the muscles, the connective tissue,
the fascia, the cardiovascular system, your heart, your lungs,
your aerobic system. We can train in the nervous system, in the brain,
the same way. We give it the right input and then
we add on repetition and intensity and your brain
changes, your nervous system adapts.
(15:07):
That's what applied neurology is. So you'll.
This stuff's been around for quite a while.
Things like vestibular rehab or training.
It's been in the physical therapy world or clinical vestibular
rehab for a long time. There is a whole field of
(15:27):
study called neuro optometry or behavioral optometry, where
you would go in and do eye exercises,
right, to improve the movement of your eyes, maybe improve
your vision a little bit, maybe improve your depth perception,
convergence. These, all these skills that our eyes need to be able to
do, they've been behind, you know,
(15:50):
white coats in ivory towers for a long time and you'd
had to be way far on the dysfunctional scale
in order to gain access in there. So what we've done
is we've just kind of taken all of that clinical stuff
and we apply it to anyone,
(16:10):
everyone, right. To get them out of pain, if they're in
pain, or to improve their performance.
How do you apply that in a practical sense to like, you know,
athletes or first responders or military? Like, how do you do that?
Yeah, So I have a colleague,
(16:31):
I'll shout him out. His name's Mike Oxford and
he runs, I think his website is
visiontraining.com and he's a firearms instructor
and he works with groups of first responders. And
training your vision, you know, training your
vision would. It's kind of easy to see, sorry
(16:54):
for the pun, how that can really
improve your ability to be accurate with a firearm.
Right, so that's, that's an obvious one, but maybe not so
obvious. One is the.
The long distance runner, the athlete that comes
(17:15):
to me for knee pain, and then I work with their
inner ear in order to absolve their knee pain.
That might not be so obvious. Right. But
there are a couple principles in applied neurology that
make that make sense, and one of those is just the fact that
(17:36):
your nervous system is just one big nerve,
right. It comes out of your brain in the womb and
it grows like a spider web. Or like
the roots of a tree comes from one spot and then it just branches out.
Right? So in that way,
(17:56):
because here's the other key thing for pain specifically,
pain is an output from the brain 100
of the time. No brain, no
pain. Right.
And I always view like a meme of Homer Simpson,
right? Actually, yeah.
(18:21):
So because the nervous system is just one big
nerve, and because pain is always an output from the brain,
then I can use any input to
affect the nervous system output.
Right? That's how the brain works. It takes in inputs from the environment, it
interprets them. If it's perceiving those inputs as dangerous or
(18:44):
threatening, we get an output of protection. Pain,
anxiety, reduced range of motion,
slow speed, slow thinking, brain fog, all of these
are protective outputs. For some reason, our brain thinks that they will
protect us, right? So if we give a
brain, if we give a brain under threat a new input that makes it feel
(19:07):
more safe, then we don't have to get that protective output. So pain
can go away. So in that way, through the nervous system, anything
can affect anything. That's the
overlying principle, all of it. And one
example of that, I mean, you like so
that, let's say we got right side knee pain. After a few
(19:30):
miles of running, ah, my knee really starts to hurt.
It's colloquially called runner's knee sometimes
or jumper's knee is another example. And it's
like there's no injury there. So why are we having pain? Right?
Well, for some reason the brain feels unsafe. Okay,
So I could go do some work on that knee, which
(19:53):
is what most pts or kairos doctors might do. If
you're a surgeon, they're going to cut it open and poke around in there, right?
Because that's the tools that they have. But if we
know that anything can affect anything, then I can go
to the opposite elbow and I can move that elbow around.
And if that can send the brain
(20:16):
information that says, okay, I feel a little bit more safe
in my environment because I can feel this
arm better. The map that I have is a little more clear.
That makes my environment more predictable. I feel safer.
I don't need to give you that pain anymore.
Okay, now we can be more precise, right? That's
(20:39):
called opposing joints, by the way. And it's really powerful for pain relief.
Right? So you take the joint that's in pain, you go to the
opposite side, opposite joint. So knee, elbow, hip,
shoulder, ankle, wrist, toes, fingers,
and you can move that joint and you can oftentimes get a pretty good reduction
in pain because of the connection in the nervous system,
(21:02):
and we can be even more precise and figuring out where is the threat coming
from. And so because
of how the vestibular system works, in telling our
brain where we are in space and which
way we're going, those are questions it's always
answering. Where am I at and which way am I going? Right. It's
(21:25):
always fighting gravity. If that vestibular system is a
little bit off, maybe a head injury, maybe a medication caused
problems in there, or a virus, those can affect your vestibular system.
If it's a little bit off, then after a while, the brain is like trying
to process, and it's taken more energy than normal because it's
a little bit off. Right. And so that extra energy, at a
(21:49):
certain point, it's like getting fatigued. It's like this vestibular
system is not functioning great.
I don't have pain receptors there, so I don't know what signals to give you,
oh, wait, knee pain works. That'll get you to
slow down or to stop running,
so I don't have to process this, so I don't feel unsafe anymore.
(22:14):
So anything can affect anything
because pain is simply an output from the brain.
And we can be very targeted with some assessments, some simple
assessments on the function of these systems to figure out
where is that threat coming from and if we can remove that threat.
Oftentimes that pain just is no longer needed. So it'll go away.
(22:38):
That's awesome. Like, that's like, definitely a game
changer. I mean, there's so. So much that,
like, so many doors that can open, not just with athletes, but, like,
you know, first responders and military people, because,
you know, they can push a little bit harder or push a little bit longer
or, you know, get over something that's bothering them.
(23:01):
How you kind of said this was out there for a long time,
but kind of, you know, hidden in the ivory towers of these academic
circles. How did you guys get that information out?
So there's a few
mentors of mine and leaders in the space that really
(23:22):
kind of took a lot of the. The clinical research
that had been done around functional neurology and
things and just started applying them in an athletic sense. And then
now there's a big push in the kind of neurosomatic
worlds around trauma therapy and emotional regulation and
stuff. And some of those people,
(23:45):
like some of my direct mentors, are Matt Bush and Kathy Mock
of Nick Next level neuro. That's where I learned all of my
education of in applied neurology and I actually am their lead
instructor now. So I teach. I teach this
through that company to Cairos and doctors and first
responders and coaches and trainers and anybody, anybody that
(24:08):
wants to learn it. That's awesome. Yeah. And then, you know,
beyond that, there's a Z health performance and Dr. Eric Cobb,
he's a big leader in the space as well. And
there's some other companies that are kind of doing the same thing.
Neurosomatic intelligence is one that's more on the trauma
side and, and that kind of stuff.
(24:30):
But it all kind of came from, you know, the functional
neurology of the Carrick Institute and some of these places that have been
teaching it to chiropractic neurologists and functional
neurologists and your clinical neurologists. And again, just
kind of taking that and just trying it, trying it with
anybody outside of the clinic and, and seeing what happens.
(24:52):
It's still. It's becoming more and more
prevalent now, which makes me very happy. I think,
in my opinion, everyone has a brain,
so we should all know how to use it, right?
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And so we don't have an owner's
manual, but this is. This is about as close as we've got right now.
(25:16):
And what's really beneficial in that sense
is the ability to get immediate
feedback on the inputs that you give to your
nervous system. A really silly and
simple example that I often use with new
clients or in groups is something like
(25:38):
smell. And so one of
the most powerful tools in all of applied neurology is the ability to
assess and reassess the state of your nervous system in the
moment. And you can use something as simple as just a range of
motion. So if I take my shoulder out to the side, it
gets a little sticky. I'm about an inch away from my ear right here.
(26:01):
But if I take something that smells really nice,
I don't have anything to grab right in my vicinity here,
because smell goes straight into the brain, right into the
cortex. Right. And it's right side,
(26:24):
right brain, left side, left brain. I can
affect the state of my nervous system and the activation of my brain with a
simple input like this. So we test the shoulder.
And I've done this a million times, so I already know which side needs it.
But I'll show you both, actually. So I'll show you the right side.
(26:44):
Nice smell right there. And my shoulder is
like completely unlocked. It feels free and
totally smooth. I'm hitting myself in the head, right?
All that restricted in the rainbow range of motion is gone
because that input Lowered the amount of
threat in my system. So my brain
(27:07):
just takes off the foot off the brake pedal
and says, okay, we're going to let you perform at a higher level now.
Okay, now left.
I already have more activation over here, so I just made that
imbalance bigger. And I'm back. My neck
(27:28):
just popped. That did not feel great. And I'm back to.
Not quite as bad as it was in the beginning, but it's worse.
Can you kind of see the difference there? I'm like, yes,
very simple example, but you can
use that assessment process with literally any. Any input
to your nervous system.
(27:52):
So that is a very powerful
tool in your toolbox that you can
apply to any kind of training. Your physical
training, your. Your field training,
your. Your firearms training, right?
Another example is like ear protection, right?
(28:16):
Earplugs. When you're out on the range, right? You can test
different earplugs and different levels of
audio inhibition or excitation and, you
know, figure out what the right
makeup is for you. You could test different shoes.
That's another one that I get asked all the time. Like, I'm a fitness guy,
(28:38):
I'm an athlete. I know a lot about feet,
right? So clients will ask me, like, what kind of shoe should I get, Brandon?
And I'm like, I don't know. Why don't you ask your nervous system? Ask
your Brandon. And so I'll say, go to the store,
take a walk in your normal shoes, do your assessment. Take off your
shoes, walk around, do your assessment again.
(29:00):
Does it change better, worse? Okay, now try on the shoes that
you want to buy or you're thinking about buying. Walk around the store real quick
and reassess. Your brain will tell
you whether or not it wants you to buy those shoes based on that
reassessment.
(29:20):
That's interesting, and that's very simple.
But, like, that's something anybody could do
once they receive the proper information. Exactly.
That's. That's awesome, actually. Yeah.
Tell me the difference between that and, like, the. The neuroflow method. What's the difference
(29:40):
there? So the neuroflow method that
I've kind of developed is taking.
It's a lot more than. Well, I kind of put under the banner of applied
neurology, all movement science. So all of my
previous education and training and experience in
athletics, training athletes, in
(30:04):
all of my fitness training in the gym and
orthopedic testing, everything, I kind of put under the banner of
applied neurology because the nervous system controls everything.
That's the governing system of all the Systems. So no change happens
in your movement or your muscles or anything
without the brain telling it to change.
(30:26):
So, you know, my career to this
point in strength and conditioning, fitness and
athletic performance, and then in physical therapy, orthopedic
rehab and pain relief
with the Applied Neurology foundation, you know,
working directly with the brain and nervous system to change those things.
(30:49):
And then that's kind of like, I call it like the
two pillars of my program, the neuroflow method is this
applied neurology training or neuro training, which is everything in the body
and training the brain for physical and cognitive
performance. And then flow state coaching is
the training and the mindset work
(31:12):
and the neurobiological underpinnings of what flow
states are and chasing that
peak performance state of mind or state of consciousness rather,
because that is our peak state of performance.
And so it's kind of the full spectrum.
(31:34):
Most people come to me initially in pain, whether
that's emotional, cognitive,
PTSD or physical pain.
And we take them from in pain to
peak performance, which is flow states.
Right. So I believe that flow states should be the
(31:56):
goal because when you make flow the goal, then
you're focused on the process and the outcome that you want kind of takes care
of itself. So every major
championship in the world, athletic or otherwise, every
incredible and awe inspiring piece of music or art,
(32:16):
those are all a product of flow states.
Somebody totally in the zone, so much
so that their sense of self goes away, time
disappears, right? It speeds up like crazy or it
slows way, way, way down.
In those states, the, the chemical cocktail that
(32:39):
happens in your brain is like the greatest drug on
earth, which makes it an incredibly
enjoyable experience which becomes an
end in itself. Also
said another way to say it is, it's an autotelic experience.
That's a term for like enjoying the process. Right?
(33:02):
Okay, so anybody that comes
to me, they're like, I want to be the best pickleball player in the world.
Right? Okay, well, let's break down
your sport. Let's get you out of pain if we need to do that. Let's
break down your sport and train you like an athlete that wants to be the
best at this. And then let's focus on trying to find flow in
(33:24):
that. Because when you find flow, you also learn like
490% faster. Any skill
in the knowledge worker realm. We're sitting at our
desks at a computer right now. You're 500% more productive
in flow. You're going to be
like, I think the number was 230 or
(33:46):
250% more creative for up to three days
after you're in a flow state.
So the effects of this altered state of consciousness are
incredibly powerful no matter what the
task is. So again, when we make
that the goal, then the outcome kind of takes care of
(34:08):
itself. So
I take that and the applied neurology and we
marry it into one to really make people
athletes or otherwise. And I think everybody's an athlete, by the way,
I should say that everyone I train is an athlete, whether they're in a
(34:28):
high competitive sport or they're a chess
champion or wannabe, or they're just a weekend warrior
or a first responder who doesn't play any sports but just wants to
be better at their job. They're athletes. We're all athletes. We're all playing
the sport of life. You're trying to master your craft?
Absolutely. Yeah. We're playing the sport of life and it's a contact
(34:50):
sport, so we should be prepared. So I train
everybody as if they are an athlete.
And so we take that type of training and
layer in the flow state coaching in order to really
take somebody from where they are to like
consistent peak performance over the long term.
(35:13):
That's awesome. So
how, like I said, I want to like get this,
the coaching and like everything in between. Like, how do
they start that process?
So unfortunately, most people find me
(35:34):
after they've been through all of the hoops in our
traditional kind of system,
which, you know, I can kind of, I think I
can speak for the whole kind of neuro trainer community
when I say that we're trying to change that.
(35:55):
I think that neuro trainers, like physical trainers, personal
trainers and coaches and I think they should be the frontline
kind of people that, that people go to first before they go see
doctors and stuff. Right. Doctors should be the last resort,
I think. Pharmaceuticals, psychiatry, that
should be the last resort. Right. Not the first place we go.
(36:17):
Yep. So, you know, unfortunately, a lot
of times people see me that way and,
and that's okay. Right. I love working with those people and anybody and
no matter where they're at in their journey. But we're really trying
to spread the word. And you know, I personally have
built a community online
(36:40):
that people from all walks of life,
I've come to, to kind of learn about applied
neurology and how to maximize their brain
function and performance and find flow more often in their life
and, and all of these things. And so I
have a pretty awesome community online there.
(37:02):
And, and then of course, you
know, there's always Instagram Right. Like out
there, you know,
throwing balls at people and, and, and
trying to communicate how brains work online in, you
know, 30 second short clips, which
(37:25):
can be challenging, Brent. But,
but yeah, we're just out there spreading the word as much as
we can. Most people come to me throughout the, through the community, through
Instagram or some of my advertising
and a lot through referrals and just word of mouth
and it's a pretty cool community in the neuro world once you dive into it.
(37:49):
It's a fairly small community at this point, so people kind of
know each other and I have a whole list,
whole network of neurotrainers that all have different specialties.
Right. I specialize in flow states and athletic performance
and pain relief. But I've got, you know,
(38:09):
friends and colleagues that specialize more in nutrition and metabolics
or in trauma and somatic healing
or vision training like, like my
mike ox that I was talking about earlier. So
even within the neuro community there's going to be more specialization
(38:30):
and at this point in my life, in my career, I wouldn't,
I personally probably wouldn't work with anybody in a coaching capacity unless
they were a neuro informed trainer.
It's awesome. Yeah. So
two things I think that you would run into with first responders.
(38:54):
What's the cost of like something like that?
I think that'd be the first thing. Yeah. So great question because
you know, neuro training sometimes can feel out of
reach when you first hear about it because it's like, right. It seems like so
specialized and things. And it's true. And
you know, it's mainly more costly in general.
(39:17):
Just in general because of the background that most
neurotrainers have and because of the results that they get,
you know, so, and here's, here's kind of one of the
ways that I, that I kind of talk to potential clients and people thinking
about it is I usually ask, okay, so you've had this
back pain for how long? No, 10 years.
(39:41):
And then I ask, okay, and what have you done so far to try
to help it? Well, I've been to physical therapy, I've done chiropractic,
we did massage. I get a massage every week. You know,
I've done this, this and this. And then I get, and then I just,
we start to add it up now. How much have you spent
on all of that so far? And it's like, well,
(40:04):
insurance covers most of it, but I still, you know, have to pay my co
pays and, and you know, most people are spending 10
to $20,000 over the life
of this injury or pain to get it
fixed. And
it's like, well, okay, if I could, you know, and
(40:26):
I'm not, you know, I'm not about guarantees, right. I don't, I
don't do that. I don't play that game. Right.
But just based on the, my experience and
the statistics that, you know, I personally
know and with my colleagues and some of my mentors,
right, if we can, you know, have a pretty like 80, 90
(40:49):
chance to get rid of this pain within two to three months,
is that worth, you know, just throwing a number out, like five
grand? Would you pay five grand if you knew that that pain was going to
be gone? And most of them, like, hell yeah, of course,
right. The real question is like, do they trust you? Do they actually
(41:09):
believe it? Right. And that is a different conversation.
But. There
are all levels of neuro trainers as well.
You know, I charge a pretty good amount,
but I work one on one with people and I take them through a process
and a method that has been working really well for a lot of people for
(41:33):
years. And I developed that over time and started trying
to perfect it. Right. And I also, you
know, don't work with a lot of people because I also have a community
that I have a free community where somebody could go in and they could teach
themselves just by watching all the videos. You could go in there and just
stare at my ugly mug for like a hundred hours
(41:57):
and learn so much about neurology,
fitness, nutrition, mindset, flow states,
all of it. And then I have a paid community as
well. That's a subscription, monthly subscription. It's
not a lot. And there are a bunch of people in there
that have a more step by step process. And then I show up and I
(42:19):
give my time, you know, a few hours a week to teach
to the group and they're getting through it.
You really, you have different options. There's really no
excuse to not at least start on
that path to helping yourself. No matter what your profession is,
no matter what your income is, there's something for everybody
(42:42):
that really you're paying for speed. Usually. Yeah,
yeah, well, and you kind of touched on it. But here's my second question.
Is there a want or
a goal of you guys eventually trying to get with insurance and
getting that covered or you guys gonna stay away from that monster?
(43:02):
Well, I'll speak personally. After
working in physical therapy for many years and dealing with insurance and
having to kind of hold back
on some of the things that I wanted to do and
seeing the whole process and Just kind of getting. Yeah. Kind of sick
(43:23):
of it. I personally won't. Fair enough. Yeah.
I know some other colleagues that would like to and some that
actually do in certain scenarios
like under the direct supervision of a chiropractor or
a pt sometimes that can work or.
(43:45):
But not for me. I just.
Yeah. And there's something to. I
would love to be able to help everyone and that's why I have a free
community. So anybody can come get help
and help themselves. But I've been through all that
and I personally feel pretty
(44:09):
strongly that
I enjoy working with people who are heavily
invested. Doesn't always mean money.
But I have found just
law of averages. Right. Insurance
(44:31):
companies don't always
give rise to the greatest practitioners or the greatest clients
sometimes. Fair enough. Yep. I. I know what you mean.
Yeah. That's why I said I didn't even know if you wanted to tackle that
monster eventually. No, I've tried to wrestle with that monster
before and yeah. Yeah, I'm not. So
(44:55):
anymore somebody wants to join your community, your
free one or your subscription, where can they find you at?
So I host my
communities on the platform called Skool S K O O
L and it's an amazing platform and
I really admire the
(45:17):
owners, Sam Ovens and what he's trying to
put together there and Alex Hermosi, if you're familiar with him, he's a
big investor in that. He was big in the fitness
and gym building gyms world.
Now he's a. He owns acquisition.com and he just buys businesses
and he's a baller entrepreneur.
(45:40):
Right. They are building something really
awesome and it's kind of like the all
the best of Facebook groups and teaching
platforms with a much,
much more distraction free and focused community
aspect of it. Built around community. It's gamified. It's
(46:02):
amazing. Like I go all day about how cool school is.
All right. I don't know if 13 year old Brandon would have ever
thought of himself saying those things but
I host both my communities on there. So you can go to school.com
neuroflo performance lab and you can find it
(46:22):
there or you can just head to my Instagram. That's where I spend most of
my time on social media talking to people and posting about neurology and
flow states, pain relief movement, that kind of stuff. And it's just at
I am Brandon Day. All one word.
Awesome. Well I'm going to give you some. Once we
get done recording I'm going to give you some networking ideas I think would be
(46:44):
good for you. Cool. But, man, I'm excited to have you
tonight. Like, this is, like, I've got a whole new rabbit
hole I've got to go down now, but I'm one of those
guys. Like, I'm a lifelong learner, so, like, I. I love to learn new
things. And, man, I. You are welcome on here
anytime. And like I
(47:06):
said, it's pretty dang cool to have somebody that was on the COVID
of Sports Illustrated here. But
in all seriousness, like, thank you for the awesome information,
and you're welcome back anytime. Yeah. Thanks, Brent. It's a good
time. Appreciate it. Have a good night, too.
Guys, welcome to the first responder playbook. I'm joined by Brandon Day
today. Usually I, I try to give a little bit of an
intro, but he has such a awesome background that I'm not going to do it
justice. So Brandon, I'm going to let you give your own
introduction today. Okay. Well,
first of all, thanks, Brent, for having me here. It's a pleasure.
(00:23):
And you know, I, off the bat, if you do hear some, some
screaming in the background, those would be my, my nine month old
triplets and they are hungry at the moment, so
that's fine. Yeah. Feel
like a first responder all the time. Yeah.
Right now. Oh, I can imagine. Yeah.
(00:47):
So anyway, yeah, my background, you know, it started in
athletics and I played sports, all the sports, as
many as I could growing up. And
I ended up going to college to play football and
had a great career, great time, won some national championships,
ended up on the COVID of Sports Illustrated, was an all American.
(01:10):
And although I had a fantastic
time, it left me with some, some pain
afterward. So I had some injuries, you know,
lucky enough to never miss a
down due to injury, but
afterwards I dealt with chronic pain for a long time and
(01:32):
that kind of sparked my, my interest in what I do now.
And long story short is I took a little
sojourn into independent filmmaking for a
bit. I, and that really didn't do a lot of
great things for my mental health. And I fell out of
the fitness game, wasn't really taking care of my body and that led
(01:54):
to just more pain. And
I was concerned also with where my brain health was heading.
And so that really sparked, you know, I hit kind of a rock
bottom moment around 2013 and
decided to kind of take control of my health again and figure out
(02:15):
how to heal myself from this chronic pain that I was experiencing
in my neck, my lower back, my knees, my
ankles. You know, I was cursed with the quote, unquote,
bad knees and bad ankles. And then I was developing
a bad back. Right. I just
couldn't accept that. So I went on a mission to try to figure
(02:38):
it out. And I was also very concerned
about not just my mental health, but my brain health
more broadly. Right. So, you know,
fast forward a few years. I got a job as a personal
trainer. I worked with some people that were dealing with some, some
heavier issues, which gave me some perspective. And I decided I
(03:00):
really wanted to go down that route to help these people get better.
So I went, got a master's degree in kinesiology and I focused on orthopedic
rehabilitation and I Built wellness programs for physical therapy
clinics for a while. And then I stumbled into this world of
applied neurology. And that's when the doors really, like, busted open
for me. Within a very short time, couple months,
(03:22):
my chronic pain was gone. My neck pain, back pain, everything
gone. And I really started to see changes
happening in my. My brain health. Like the brain fog,
the. The behavioral issues, impulsive impulsivity,
anger issues, mental health issues started to
slowly but surely dissolve a little bit,
(03:44):
and I started to start to, like, I was able to kind of feel like
myself again a little bit and actually put in the work
in the gym and in my training to get back that capacity and,
like, that athletic kind of body and
also mindset. Right. That I had been missing for a
long time. And within that, there was also a
(04:07):
huge defining moment that I
can't. Can't just gloss over, because it's a big part of what I do,
which was discovering what flow states are through a book that I read by a
guy named Steven Kotler, and
how important and impactful those are for
not just performance, physical and cognitive performance, but also mental
(04:30):
health. And I'm sure we'll get into this a little bit, but,
you know, I've worked with a lot of people with, you know, first responders and
veterans of war and others, athletes
that develop a little bit of
PTSD or a lot of PTSD
(04:52):
from certain things that happen, but also from losing access to
the state of flow. And that was a huge moment for me and really
defined, you know, what I would be doing for the rest of my
life. So that's a big pillar in my work, in my program, which is,
you know, the neuroflow method that I call it. It's this
marriage of applied neurology, or neuro training and flow
(05:15):
state coaching. So that's kind of the.
The long and short of it. So
I can now say I know two people estimate the COVID of Sports Illustrated.
Hey, as a former athlete, I'm sure you probably know who Sam
Bradford is. Oh, yeah. Okay. Yep.
So all me, all my friends were Oklahoma State fans,
(05:38):
went to osu. Okay. And there was
a moment, I think it was 2008. Sam Bradford dove into the end
zone and kind of got helicoptered in the end zone by the defense, and it
made the COVID Sports Illustrated. And, uh, you can see my buddy in the
background, like, along the wall, like, just, you know, defeated.
And so. So, you know, of course he thinks
(06:01):
it's awesome now, but it's time when you're like, oh, you got to Be kidding
me. Not again. And so that's awesome that you get to make Sports
Illustrated. Like, that's, that's something you'll always remember, you know,
for sure. Yeah, it was a wild, wild moment.
So as a, as a college athlete, especially in football, it's such a
heavy contact sport,
(06:23):
you kind of said that you, you had the, the bad knees and the bad
ankles. What do you think was driving that
mindset that you just, you weren't the one that got beat up by the
sports. Like, and it was just more of a genetics issue.
Like, what, what made you think that originally just had that mindset? Was it just
being, you know, trying. To push through it or that's part
(06:45):
of it? Yeah, certainly. I think in the culture of
football, hockey,
mma, you know, these big kind of
violent, more violent sports, and I would put all
first responder positions in those. Let's just
call those, Call those all the same sports. Like, they're all similar. Yep.
(07:10):
The major difference is that my life is not really
in danger so much. Maybe a little bit, you know. Right. Things
do happen, but. Right. But, yeah, big, big caveat there. I'm not
trying to say that playing football is, like, going out there and fighting fires or
putting your life in danger as a police officer. Like, that's a, that's, that's a
different thing. Right. But the mindset is similar. Right.
(07:33):
And a big part of that is like, push through pain.
You know, pain is weakness leaving the body. You
know, we've heard all the sayings. And so there's that
mindset and culture that's kind of baked in. And
there's also the
lack of awareness around the root cause
(07:55):
of some of these issues. And so in my case, yeah, I went, I
did all. I did the pt, I did the Cairo stuff when I
would sprain my ankles, and I was just told I had weak
ankles, they weren't stable. So I got to go get on this balance thing
and, and work on my ankle proprioception
and do these things. And I did those things and, you know, they helped
(08:17):
a little bit, but I would continue to injure myself. And
the knee pain was the weird one, the knee pain and the back pain, because
there wasn't really any injuries. And so that's
where the thought process. Because nobody could explain it to me. Pts,
the doctors, nobody, they're just like, well, you know, they. Does. Does your
dad have bad knees, too? It's like, well, not really,
(08:39):
but I, I, Yeah, I don't know. So I'm just looking to be this way
forever. And that's kind of what we were, you know,
relegated to, was just this acceptance of this
life of pain because there's
something wrong with you structurally and you were just kind of born
with it. And you could try to fix your
(09:01):
know, muscle imbalances and, and do the,
the icing and the rice method and all that kind of stuff. And it would
be beneficial for a short time, but then those type
of things would always come back. And so that's just kind of like a,
you know, it's a, it's. I don't know if cop out is the right word,
but, but it's kind of an excuse for lack of awareness
(09:23):
and the knowledge around what is or an
underlying cause of those things.
So that's where the mindset comes from. And I, it's a, it's a, it's
a mindset then a belief that I in my work
get the pleasure of reframing and changing
for people on a daily basis. Yeah. And I love doing that because
(09:47):
that gives people hope. It's like, oh,
my knees aren't jacked up for my entire life. I don't have
a bad back. Okay. I can actually
do something about it that's really empowering. Right. And so I
love helping people see that. That's awesome. I,
I actually, that's where I was leading to was that it is also
(10:09):
very prevalent in the first responder community. Whether it's
physical health or mental health, it, it's pushed through it. It's
not get help and figure out what's going
on. It's, it's just pushed through it. It's slowly getting better,
but we still got a long ways to go. And you know,
I'll never forget that, like
(10:33):
I would say probably until about two to three years
ago is the first time that like in, in
Oklahoma, at least we're required to get two hours of mental health every year training.
But it's usually stuff that people just get an hour here, an hour there and
they don't really take it seriously. And so
I would say maybe in the past five years is when
(10:56):
it finally started catching up a little bit. People started taking that more
seriously just as much as your physical health. And so like
those two really go hand in hand. A lot of times, you
know, if you're beat up physically, then you know it's going to drag down your
mental health and vice versa. Here's the way I think about it.
One to two hours a year of mental health
(11:20):
training is akin. I see it as no
different than One to two hours a year of physical
training. Yep. Right,
that's. And it's, it's unfortunate
that it's taken a long time to kind of
get there, but I'm really happy to hear that it's at least improving.
(11:42):
And the people that, I know that the people that are
seeking me out are generally a little bit more
attuned to it. Right. Maybe they've been through some.
They probably usually have. Right. By the time they've got to me,
but they're more aware of it. So I don't see
the full picture of the whole thing. Like, like you do,
(12:07):
but man, it's, it can't be understated how
impactful just a little bit of awareness can
be around your own thought processes and
the processing of the things that y' all see every day.
Yep. It's a mental fitness game.
And what I do is a little bit different. I do a lot of mindset
(12:30):
coaching, especially around the flow state stuff. And there's
actually some pretty cool research from the Department of Defense and
DARPA around flow states and PTSD
for veterans specifically that they've worked with.
Wild cool stuff. So really impactful there
for mental health. But the neuro approach
(12:53):
is, is, it's a little bit more of a bottom up kind of approach.
You know the buzzwords these days are things like nervous system regulation.
And it's a buzzword because it's, it's correct. Like it's right.
You know, when you're dysregulated you don't get to think very
clearly. This like big, big beautiful brain
(13:14):
up here that is thinking and makes decisions
when you're dysregulated or when you have like a, a
trauma response or something like that from some ptsd, that brain just
shuts off. Yep. And now you're just stuck in
like survival mode, quote, unquote. And that's real stuff.
Like you're, that brain doesn't have language. It doesn't, you can't talk
(13:36):
your way out of that. The way I say it is you can't mindset your
way out of survival. And so that's where
neuro training from the bottom up can be really helpful inputs to the body.
Inputs like breathing, breath work, even
vestibular work, vagus nerve stuff, visual work.
These input systems are the language of the body and
(13:59):
the language of the survival brain. So that's really,
really helpful in that kind of mindset or
mental health kind of work. Awesome.
Can you kind of explain for just like most
people like what that applied neurology is.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So
(14:21):
applied neurology is the
intentional and repetitive
activation of,
or training of the nervous system, specifically.
So it's assessing and training the nervous system
and the brain intentionally and specifically.
(14:44):
Just like we would train the body, the muscles, the connective tissue,
the fascia, the cardiovascular system, your heart, your lungs,
your aerobic system. We can train in the nervous system, in the brain,
the same way. We give it the right input and then
we add on repetition and intensity and your brain
changes, your nervous system adapts.
(15:07):
That's what applied neurology is. So you'll.
This stuff's been around for quite a while.
Things like vestibular rehab or training.
It's been in the physical therapy world or clinical vestibular
rehab for a long time. There is a whole field of
(15:27):
study called neuro optometry or behavioral optometry, where
you would go in and do eye exercises,
right, to improve the movement of your eyes, maybe improve
your vision a little bit, maybe improve your depth perception,
convergence. These, all these skills that our eyes need to be able to
do, they've been behind, you know,
(15:50):
white coats in ivory towers for a long time and you'd
had to be way far on the dysfunctional scale
in order to gain access in there. So what we've done
is we've just kind of taken all of that clinical stuff
and we apply it to anyone,
(16:10):
everyone, right. To get them out of pain, if they're in
pain, or to improve their performance.
How do you apply that in a practical sense to like, you know,
athletes or first responders or military? Like, how do you do that?
Yeah, So I have a colleague,
(16:31):
I'll shout him out. His name's Mike Oxford and
he runs, I think his website is
visiontraining.com and he's a firearms instructor
and he works with groups of first responders. And
training your vision, you know, training your
vision would. It's kind of easy to see, sorry
(16:54):
for the pun, how that can really
improve your ability to be accurate with a firearm.
Right, so that's, that's an obvious one, but maybe not so
obvious. One is the.
The long distance runner, the athlete that comes
(17:15):
to me for knee pain, and then I work with their
inner ear in order to absolve their knee pain.
That might not be so obvious. Right. But
there are a couple principles in applied neurology that
make that make sense, and one of those is just the fact that
(17:36):
your nervous system is just one big nerve,
right. It comes out of your brain in the womb and
it grows like a spider web. Or like
the roots of a tree comes from one spot and then it just branches out.
Right? So in that way,
(17:56):
because here's the other key thing for pain specifically,
pain is an output from the brain 100
of the time. No brain, no
pain. Right.
And I always view like a meme of Homer Simpson,
right? Actually, yeah.
(18:21):
So because the nervous system is just one big
nerve, and because pain is always an output from the brain,
then I can use any input to
affect the nervous system output.
Right? That's how the brain works. It takes in inputs from the environment, it
interprets them. If it's perceiving those inputs as dangerous or
(18:44):
threatening, we get an output of protection. Pain,
anxiety, reduced range of motion,
slow speed, slow thinking, brain fog, all of these
are protective outputs. For some reason, our brain thinks that they will
protect us, right? So if we give a
brain, if we give a brain under threat a new input that makes it feel
(19:07):
more safe, then we don't have to get that protective output. So pain
can go away. So in that way, through the nervous system, anything
can affect anything. That's the
overlying principle, all of it. And one
example of that, I mean, you like so
that, let's say we got right side knee pain. After a few
(19:30):
miles of running, ah, my knee really starts to hurt.
It's colloquially called runner's knee sometimes
or jumper's knee is another example. And it's
like there's no injury there. So why are we having pain? Right?
Well, for some reason the brain feels unsafe. Okay,
So I could go do some work on that knee, which
(19:53):
is what most pts or kairos doctors might do. If
you're a surgeon, they're going to cut it open and poke around in there, right?
Because that's the tools that they have. But if we
know that anything can affect anything, then I can go
to the opposite elbow and I can move that elbow around.
And if that can send the brain
(20:16):
information that says, okay, I feel a little bit more safe
in my environment because I can feel this
arm better. The map that I have is a little more clear.
That makes my environment more predictable. I feel safer.
I don't need to give you that pain anymore.
Okay, now we can be more precise, right? That's
(20:39):
called opposing joints, by the way. And it's really powerful for pain relief.
Right? So you take the joint that's in pain, you go to the
opposite side, opposite joint. So knee, elbow, hip,
shoulder, ankle, wrist, toes, fingers,
and you can move that joint and you can oftentimes get a pretty good reduction
in pain because of the connection in the nervous system,
(21:02):
and we can be even more precise and figuring out where is the threat coming
from. And so because
of how the vestibular system works, in telling our
brain where we are in space and which
way we're going, those are questions it's always
answering. Where am I at and which way am I going? Right. It's
(21:25):
always fighting gravity. If that vestibular system is a
little bit off, maybe a head injury, maybe a medication caused
problems in there, or a virus, those can affect your vestibular system.
If it's a little bit off, then after a while, the brain is like trying
to process, and it's taken more energy than normal because it's
a little bit off. Right. And so that extra energy, at a
(21:49):
certain point, it's like getting fatigued. It's like this vestibular
system is not functioning great.
I don't have pain receptors there, so I don't know what signals to give you,
oh, wait, knee pain works. That'll get you to
slow down or to stop running,
so I don't have to process this, so I don't feel unsafe anymore.
(22:14):
So anything can affect anything
because pain is simply an output from the brain.
And we can be very targeted with some assessments, some simple
assessments on the function of these systems to figure out
where is that threat coming from and if we can remove that threat.
Oftentimes that pain just is no longer needed. So it'll go away.
(22:38):
That's awesome. Like, that's like, definitely a game
changer. I mean, there's so. So much that,
like, so many doors that can open, not just with athletes, but, like,
you know, first responders and military people, because,
you know, they can push a little bit harder or push a little bit longer
or, you know, get over something that's bothering them.
(23:01):
How you kind of said this was out there for a long time,
but kind of, you know, hidden in the ivory towers of these academic
circles. How did you guys get that information out?
So there's a few
mentors of mine and leaders in the space that really
(23:22):
kind of took a lot of the. The clinical research
that had been done around functional neurology and
things and just started applying them in an athletic sense. And then
now there's a big push in the kind of neurosomatic
worlds around trauma therapy and emotional regulation and
stuff. And some of those people,
(23:45):
like some of my direct mentors, are Matt Bush and Kathy Mock
of Nick Next level neuro. That's where I learned all of my
education of in applied neurology and I actually am their lead
instructor now. So I teach. I teach this
through that company to Cairos and doctors and first
responders and coaches and trainers and anybody, anybody that
(24:08):
wants to learn it. That's awesome. Yeah. And then, you know,
beyond that, there's a Z health performance and Dr. Eric Cobb,
he's a big leader in the space as well. And
there's some other companies that are kind of doing the same thing.
Neurosomatic intelligence is one that's more on the trauma
side and, and that kind of stuff.
(24:30):
But it all kind of came from, you know, the functional
neurology of the Carrick Institute and some of these places that have been
teaching it to chiropractic neurologists and functional
neurologists and your clinical neurologists. And again, just
kind of taking that and just trying it, trying it with
anybody outside of the clinic and, and seeing what happens.
(24:52):
It's still. It's becoming more and more
prevalent now, which makes me very happy. I think,
in my opinion, everyone has a brain,
so we should all know how to use it, right?
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And so we don't have an owner's
manual, but this is. This is about as close as we've got right now.
(25:16):
And what's really beneficial in that sense
is the ability to get immediate
feedback on the inputs that you give to your
nervous system. A really silly and
simple example that I often use with new
clients or in groups is something like
(25:38):
smell. And so one of
the most powerful tools in all of applied neurology is the ability to
assess and reassess the state of your nervous system in the
moment. And you can use something as simple as just a range of
motion. So if I take my shoulder out to the side, it
gets a little sticky. I'm about an inch away from my ear right here.
(26:01):
But if I take something that smells really nice,
I don't have anything to grab right in my vicinity here,
because smell goes straight into the brain, right into the
cortex. Right. And it's right side,
(26:24):
right brain, left side, left brain. I can
affect the state of my nervous system and the activation of my brain with a
simple input like this. So we test the shoulder.
And I've done this a million times, so I already know which side needs it.
But I'll show you both, actually. So I'll show you the right side.
(26:44):
Nice smell right there. And my shoulder is
like completely unlocked. It feels free and
totally smooth. I'm hitting myself in the head, right?
All that restricted in the rainbow range of motion is gone
because that input Lowered the amount of
threat in my system. So my brain
(27:07):
just takes off the foot off the brake pedal
and says, okay, we're going to let you perform at a higher level now.
Okay, now left.
I already have more activation over here, so I just made that
imbalance bigger. And I'm back. My neck
(27:28):
just popped. That did not feel great. And I'm back to.
Not quite as bad as it was in the beginning, but it's worse.
Can you kind of see the difference there? I'm like, yes,
very simple example, but you can
use that assessment process with literally any. Any input
to your nervous system.
(27:52):
So that is a very powerful
tool in your toolbox that you can
apply to any kind of training. Your physical
training, your. Your field training,
your. Your firearms training, right?
Another example is like ear protection, right?
(28:16):
Earplugs. When you're out on the range, right? You can test
different earplugs and different levels of
audio inhibition or excitation and, you
know, figure out what the right
makeup is for you. You could test different shoes.
That's another one that I get asked all the time. Like, I'm a fitness guy,
(28:38):
I'm an athlete. I know a lot about feet,
right? So clients will ask me, like, what kind of shoe should I get, Brandon?
And I'm like, I don't know. Why don't you ask your nervous system? Ask
your Brandon. And so I'll say, go to the store,
take a walk in your normal shoes, do your assessment. Take off your
shoes, walk around, do your assessment again.
(29:00):
Does it change better, worse? Okay, now try on the shoes that
you want to buy or you're thinking about buying. Walk around the store real quick
and reassess. Your brain will tell
you whether or not it wants you to buy those shoes based on that
reassessment.
(29:20):
That's interesting, and that's very simple.
But, like, that's something anybody could do
once they receive the proper information. Exactly.
That's. That's awesome, actually. Yeah.
Tell me the difference between that and, like, the. The neuroflow method. What's the difference
(29:40):
there? So the neuroflow method that
I've kind of developed is taking.
It's a lot more than. Well, I kind of put under the banner of applied
neurology, all movement science. So all of my
previous education and training and experience in
athletics, training athletes, in
(30:04):
all of my fitness training in the gym and
orthopedic testing, everything, I kind of put under the banner of
applied neurology because the nervous system controls everything.
That's the governing system of all the Systems. So no change happens
in your movement or your muscles or anything
without the brain telling it to change.
(30:26):
So, you know, my career to this
point in strength and conditioning, fitness and
athletic performance, and then in physical therapy, orthopedic
rehab and pain relief
with the Applied Neurology foundation, you know,
working directly with the brain and nervous system to change those things.
(30:49):
And then that's kind of like, I call it like the
two pillars of my program, the neuroflow method is this
applied neurology training or neuro training, which is everything in the body
and training the brain for physical and cognitive
performance. And then flow state coaching is
the training and the mindset work
(31:12):
and the neurobiological underpinnings of what flow
states are and chasing that
peak performance state of mind or state of consciousness rather,
because that is our peak state of performance.
And so it's kind of the full spectrum.
(31:34):
Most people come to me initially in pain, whether
that's emotional, cognitive,
PTSD or physical pain.
And we take them from in pain to
peak performance, which is flow states.
Right. So I believe that flow states should be the
(31:56):
goal because when you make flow the goal, then
you're focused on the process and the outcome that you want kind of takes care
of itself. So every major
championship in the world, athletic or otherwise, every
incredible and awe inspiring piece of music or art,
(32:16):
those are all a product of flow states.
Somebody totally in the zone, so much
so that their sense of self goes away, time
disappears, right? It speeds up like crazy or it
slows way, way, way down.
In those states, the, the chemical cocktail that
(32:39):
happens in your brain is like the greatest drug on
earth, which makes it an incredibly
enjoyable experience which becomes an
end in itself. Also
said another way to say it is, it's an autotelic experience.
That's a term for like enjoying the process. Right?
(33:02):
Okay, so anybody that comes
to me, they're like, I want to be the best pickleball player in the world.
Right? Okay, well, let's break down
your sport. Let's get you out of pain if we need to do that. Let's
break down your sport and train you like an athlete that wants to be the
best at this. And then let's focus on trying to find flow in
(33:24):
that. Because when you find flow, you also learn like
490% faster. Any skill
in the knowledge worker realm. We're sitting at our
desks at a computer right now. You're 500% more productive
in flow. You're going to be
like, I think the number was 230 or
(33:46):
250% more creative for up to three days
after you're in a flow state.
So the effects of this altered state of consciousness are
incredibly powerful no matter what the
task is. So again, when we make
that the goal, then the outcome kind of takes care of
(34:08):
itself. So
I take that and the applied neurology and we
marry it into one to really make people
athletes or otherwise. And I think everybody's an athlete, by the way,
I should say that everyone I train is an athlete, whether they're in a
(34:28):
high competitive sport or they're a chess
champion or wannabe, or they're just a weekend warrior
or a first responder who doesn't play any sports but just wants to
be better at their job. They're athletes. We're all athletes. We're all playing
the sport of life. You're trying to master your craft?
Absolutely. Yeah. We're playing the sport of life and it's a contact
(34:50):
sport, so we should be prepared. So I train
everybody as if they are an athlete.
And so we take that type of training and
layer in the flow state coaching in order to really
take somebody from where they are to like
consistent peak performance over the long term.
(35:13):
That's awesome. So
how, like I said, I want to like get this,
the coaching and like everything in between. Like, how do
they start that process?
So unfortunately, most people find me
(35:34):
after they've been through all of the hoops in our
traditional kind of system,
which, you know, I can kind of, I think I
can speak for the whole kind of neuro trainer community
when I say that we're trying to change that.
(35:55):
I think that neuro trainers, like physical trainers, personal
trainers and coaches and I think they should be the frontline
kind of people that, that people go to first before they go see
doctors and stuff. Right. Doctors should be the last resort,
I think. Pharmaceuticals, psychiatry, that
should be the last resort. Right. Not the first place we go.
(36:17):
Yep. So, you know, unfortunately, a lot
of times people see me that way and,
and that's okay. Right. I love working with those people and anybody and
no matter where they're at in their journey. But we're really trying
to spread the word. And you know, I personally have
built a community online
(36:40):
that people from all walks of life,
I've come to, to kind of learn about applied
neurology and how to maximize their brain
function and performance and find flow more often in their life
and, and all of these things. And so I
have a pretty awesome community online there.
(37:02):
And, and then of course, you
know, there's always Instagram Right. Like out
there, you know,
throwing balls at people and, and, and
trying to communicate how brains work online in, you
know, 30 second short clips, which
(37:25):
can be challenging, Brent. But,
but yeah, we're just out there spreading the word as much as
we can. Most people come to me throughout the, through the community, through
Instagram or some of my advertising
and a lot through referrals and just word of mouth
and it's a pretty cool community in the neuro world once you dive into it.
(37:49):
It's a fairly small community at this point, so people kind of
know each other and I have a whole list,
whole network of neurotrainers that all have different specialties.
Right. I specialize in flow states and athletic performance
and pain relief. But I've got, you know,
(38:09):
friends and colleagues that specialize more in nutrition and metabolics
or in trauma and somatic healing
or vision training like, like my
mike ox that I was talking about earlier. So
even within the neuro community there's going to be more specialization
(38:30):
and at this point in my life, in my career, I wouldn't,
I personally probably wouldn't work with anybody in a coaching capacity unless
they were a neuro informed trainer.
It's awesome. Yeah. So
two things I think that you would run into with first responders.
(38:54):
What's the cost of like something like that?
I think that'd be the first thing. Yeah. So great question because
you know, neuro training sometimes can feel out of
reach when you first hear about it because it's like, right. It seems like so
specialized and things. And it's true. And
you know, it's mainly more costly in general.
(39:17):
Just in general because of the background that most
neurotrainers have and because of the results that they get,
you know, so, and here's, here's kind of one of the
ways that I, that I kind of talk to potential clients and people thinking
about it is I usually ask, okay, so you've had this
back pain for how long? No, 10 years.
(39:41):
And then I ask, okay, and what have you done so far to try
to help it? Well, I've been to physical therapy, I've done chiropractic,
we did massage. I get a massage every week. You know,
I've done this, this and this. And then I get, and then I just,
we start to add it up now. How much have you spent
on all of that so far? And it's like, well,
(40:04):
insurance covers most of it, but I still, you know, have to pay my co
pays and, and you know, most people are spending 10
to $20,000 over the life
of this injury or pain to get it
fixed. And
it's like, well, okay, if I could, you know, and
(40:26):
I'm not, you know, I'm not about guarantees, right. I don't, I
don't do that. I don't play that game. Right.
But just based on the, my experience and
the statistics that, you know, I personally
know and with my colleagues and some of my mentors,
right, if we can, you know, have a pretty like 80, 90
(40:49):
chance to get rid of this pain within two to three months,
is that worth, you know, just throwing a number out, like five
grand? Would you pay five grand if you knew that that pain was going to
be gone? And most of them, like, hell yeah, of course,
right. The real question is like, do they trust you? Do they actually
(41:09):
believe it? Right. And that is a different conversation.
But. There
are all levels of neuro trainers as well.
You know, I charge a pretty good amount,
but I work one on one with people and I take them through a process
and a method that has been working really well for a lot of people for
(41:33):
years. And I developed that over time and started trying
to perfect it. Right. And I also, you
know, don't work with a lot of people because I also have a community
that I have a free community where somebody could go in and they could teach
themselves just by watching all the videos. You could go in there and just
stare at my ugly mug for like a hundred hours
(41:57):
and learn so much about neurology,
fitness, nutrition, mindset, flow states,
all of it. And then I have a paid community as
well. That's a subscription, monthly subscription. It's
not a lot. And there are a bunch of people in there
that have a more step by step process. And then I show up and I
(42:19):
give my time, you know, a few hours a week to teach
to the group and they're getting through it.
You really, you have different options. There's really no
excuse to not at least start on
that path to helping yourself. No matter what your profession is,
no matter what your income is, there's something for everybody
(42:42):
that really you're paying for speed. Usually. Yeah,
yeah, well, and you kind of touched on it. But here's my second question.
Is there a want or
a goal of you guys eventually trying to get with insurance and
getting that covered or you guys gonna stay away from that monster?
(43:02):
Well, I'll speak personally. After
working in physical therapy for many years and dealing with insurance and
having to kind of hold back
on some of the things that I wanted to do and
seeing the whole process and Just kind of getting. Yeah. Kind of sick
(43:23):
of it. I personally won't. Fair enough. Yeah.
I know some other colleagues that would like to and some that
actually do in certain scenarios
like under the direct supervision of a chiropractor or
a pt sometimes that can work or.
(43:45):
But not for me. I just.
Yeah. And there's something to. I
would love to be able to help everyone and that's why I have a free
community. So anybody can come get help
and help themselves. But I've been through all that
and I personally feel pretty
(44:09):
strongly that
I enjoy working with people who are heavily
invested. Doesn't always mean money.
But I have found just
law of averages. Right. Insurance
(44:31):
companies don't always
give rise to the greatest practitioners or the greatest clients
sometimes. Fair enough. Yep. I. I know what you mean.
Yeah. That's why I said I didn't even know if you wanted to tackle that
monster eventually. No, I've tried to wrestle with that monster
before and yeah. Yeah, I'm not. So
(44:55):
anymore somebody wants to join your community, your
free one or your subscription, where can they find you at?
So I host my
communities on the platform called Skool S K O O
L and it's an amazing platform and
I really admire the
(45:17):
owners, Sam Ovens and what he's trying to
put together there and Alex Hermosi, if you're familiar with him, he's a
big investor in that. He was big in the fitness
and gym building gyms world.
Now he's a. He owns acquisition.com and he just buys businesses
and he's a baller entrepreneur.
(45:40):
Right. They are building something really
awesome and it's kind of like the all
the best of Facebook groups and teaching
platforms with a much,
much more distraction free and focused community
aspect of it. Built around community. It's gamified. It's
(46:02):
amazing. Like I go all day about how cool school is.
All right. I don't know if 13 year old Brandon would have ever
thought of himself saying those things but
I host both my communities on there. So you can go to school.com
neuroflo performance lab and you can find it
(46:22):
there or you can just head to my Instagram. That's where I spend most of
my time on social media talking to people and posting about neurology and
flow states, pain relief movement, that kind of stuff. And it's just at
I am Brandon Day. All one word.
Awesome. Well I'm going to give you some. Once we
get done recording I'm going to give you some networking ideas I think would be
(46:44):
good for you. Cool. But, man, I'm excited to have you
tonight. Like, this is, like, I've got a whole new rabbit
hole I've got to go down now, but I'm one of those
guys. Like, I'm a lifelong learner, so, like, I. I love to learn new
things. And, man, I. You are welcome on here
anytime. And like I
(47:06):
said, it's pretty dang cool to have somebody that was on the COVID
of Sports Illustrated here. But
in all seriousness, like, thank you for the awesome information,
and you're welcome back anytime. Yeah. Thanks, Brent. It's a good
time. Appreciate it. Have a good night, too.
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