April 10, 2025 • 35 mins
🎙️ In this episode we sit down with Dr. Mike Van Thielen—biohacking expert, PhD in holistic nutrition, TEDx speaker, and record-setting athlete. From mastering your mindset to improving test performance and reversing biological age, Dr. Mike shares powerful, practical tools for students and professionals alike.
💡 Learn how breathwork, belief systems, and daily routines can help you stay focused, reduce anxiety, and unlock your full potential—no matter your age or background.
📌 Whether you're a med student, entrepreneur, or just looking to level up your health and performance, this episode is packed with insights you won’t want to miss.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hello and welcome to another episode of the Med
School Minutes podcast, where wediscuss what it takes to attend
and successfully complete amedical program.
This show is brought to you bySt James School of Medicine.
Here is your host, kaushik Guha.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Thank you so much for joining us on another episode
of Med School Minutes, where wetalk about everything related to
medicine, with a focus oninternational students,
specifically students in theCaribbean.
Today we have a veryinteresting guest.
His name is Dr Mike Van Thielen.
He is a PhD in holisticnutrition, physician, mentor,
biohacking expert, best-sellingauthor, a TEDx speaker and an
(00:43):
international keynote andmotivational speaker.
Today we're going to ask DrMike exactly what is biohacking
and how this can really benefityou.
Whether you're a student, anathlete, an entrepreneur, no
matter what walk of life you are, we want to be able to tap into
the secrets of what biohackingis.
(01:04):
So, without further ado, let uswelcome Dr Mike Van Thielen.
Thank you so much, dr Mike, forjoining us today.
I really, really appreciate it.
So you know, before we evenbegin, why don't you give us a
little bit about a background ofyourself?
Speaker 3 (01:22):
Sure, I'll do a little short background about a
background of yourself.
Sure, I'll do a little shortbackground.
If you can hear me, I have anaccent.
I'm originally from Belgium butI came here in 1997 when I was
26.
I'm 53 now and I came here as alicensed physical therapist in
Belgium.
I was into sports, so I didphysical education at the
University of Brussels, whichwas fun.
(01:43):
But what really are you goingto do with a pe degree?
Right, then I decided to dophysical therapy afterwards and
then also at that time traveled,uh, the world with the belgian
olympic swimmers in preparationfor the atlanta games in 1996.
And so after that, um, theywere short of physical
therapists in the united states,so I was recruited.
I saved four hundred dollars,picked my backpack, put jeans on
(02:05):
and came.
Live the American dream.
But when I came here I got moreand more interested in
alternative medicine practices.
So I ended up going back toschool, to the Florida College
of Integrative Medicine, got mylicense in acupuncture, doctor
of oriental medicine, boardcertified in Chinese herbs
homeopathy the whole nine yards.
But after about a thousandpatients I got pretty frustrated
(02:29):
because these modalities areindeed less invasive than
conventional medicine, meaningdrugs, injections and surgeries,
but I really didn't get thelasting results I was hoping for
either.
So I decided I need to go backto basics, and that's when I got
my PhD in holistic nutrition.
But I also started to look atMother Nature, because I believe
Mother Nature would have theanswer to health, and so I
(02:52):
started to use animals in thewild as my second opinion and
just simply ask what do they doin this situation?
And by combining those I becamevery comfortable in helping
anybody overcome any medicalcondition, whether that's cancer
or whether that's just a commonflu or anything in between.
I became very confident inhelping anybody, and that's when
I started to write books.
(03:13):
I got 10 books now.
That's when I started to do alot of keynote and motivational
speaking to encourage people totake control of their own health
.
And you know, that's kind ofwhere it all started.
In the early 2000s I became theCEO of a regenerative medicine
company stem cell basedtherapies and since then I've
(03:35):
talked on stages like the A4M onmolecular hydrogen, published
many articles, and so I try tostay on the forefront not just
of health and wellness but alsolongevity, and so today it's
kind of called biohacking it'sone of those terms that is a
buzzword right now.
So today I'm considered anexpert in biohacking, which is
(03:55):
an amorphous term with manydifferent, different uh
definitions.
Uh, but we can go in uh to thata little bit later.
I assume Today I'm just a coachand a mentor and I do a lot of
one-on-one training and a lot ofvirtual training online for
students, professionals,entrepreneurs and athletes alike
(04:17):
.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Thank you so much for that introduction, Dr Mike.
So before we jump into the moredetails about biohacking, I
also want to talk to you aboutyour TEDx.
You've given a lot of speechesand lectures on TEDx.
Can you tell us a little bitabout that?
What did you really talk?
Speaker 3 (04:38):
about.
I did one TEDx talk, but thatwas mostly about how to be
present in the moment, becausewhen we talk about biohacking,
you will see that we really allneed to upgrade to mind.
With that I mean we need towork on our belief systems, we
need to work on the things thatwe think and the words that we
(05:00):
speak words that we speak.
We need to be pulled forward byour future and by our goals and
dreams and not be held back byour past experiences, which we
wrongly label as failures,because they're not failures,
they're lessons, right.
And so I really teach on how toupgrade that mind, and so one
of the things that I teach ishow to be in the zone which is
(05:23):
flow, state.
Right, because that's where weproduce, that's where we bring
our aim game, that's where wewill ace a test, right, right
and um.
And so you need to understandthat it's not something that's
just for athletes or musicians,it's a skill that everybody can
acquire.
So I teach that, but I alsoteach people how to be present
in the moment, because most ofus, we're always living in the
(05:44):
past, you know, or we live inthe future, we're projecting
into the future, but we neverare present in the moment, and
so the TEDx talk happened to beabout how a simple piece of
breath work, a minute of breathwork, which is called a reset
breath, could actually pullourselves into the present
moment, which is called a resetbreath.
(06:06):
Could actually pull ourselvesinto the present moment because
a breath, you know we're thefirst thing we do when we're
born is breathe, and the lastthing we will do when we leave
this, this earth, is, is take abreath.
But a breath is all there isalways with us in the present
moment, and so for those who, uh, who, heard about breath work
it's, it's probably one of thenumber one biohacks is to learn
how to breathe properly, butalso utilize your breath for
(06:27):
many different purposes to getpresent in the moment, or to get
into a meditative state, or toget from a sympathetic into a
parasympathetic state.
So using your breath as a toolto accomplish those things that
I just mentioned is a powerfulfree tool that everybody can
master.
So the TEDx talk is to how touse a reset breath to pull
(06:51):
yourself into the present moment, so you can be present and, you
know, enjoy the moment, or beengaged in a conversation with
your loved ones right or engagedin class, like if your students
are following classes, ifthey're thinking about what just
happened an hour ago on theconversation with their parents,
(07:11):
or they're thinking about nextweekend, what are they going to
do Then?
Obviously, they're not going toabsorb that material as much as
they would be present in themoment and fully engaged in
what's happening right now, andso that, well, that's what the
ted aesthetics talk is about.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
So check it out oh yeah, absolutely we will.
So it almost sounds like youare training people to be a
better version of themselves.
Is that you know?
Is that a good summary?
Speaker 3 (07:39):
that's a great summary.
I um, I, uh.
What I do is I maximizeperformance through
self-optimization.
I do that one-on-one, but Ialso have a virtual online
training that we could discusstoo, because I would love to do
something for the students.
It's usually a six-week virtualprogram.
I'm actually also making it anonline course, so we can make
(07:59):
that available.
But what we do there is I helppeople to get to that next level
, whether they are entrepreneursor professionals, or whether
they are students, or whetherthey are athletes or whether
they're just John Doe that wantsto climb up in life or get to
that next level.
It doesn't matter what they'redoing arts, performance, it
(08:19):
doesn't matter and I'm nothelping them hone in on their
skill, because I'm not awrestler, I'm not a finance guy,
I'm not an engineer, I'mcurrently not a student, right,
so I can't help them there.
But what I do is I upgrade tobody, the mind and life, and so
by getting you to a muchhealthier space, physically, but
also mentally and also life,meaning being organized, because
(08:43):
we're always distracted.
So it's about having a purpose,having a plan, eliminating the
distractions, only engaging inprojects that you love to do and
that are in line with yourpurpose and your goals, and
saving time.
We always feel that we're busy,busy, busy, but you would be
surprised how many hours I canfree up in every person's day
(09:07):
and so it's also gettingorganized and creating clarity,
because most of us are worriedand stressed because we're not
in control of our life, right,and so the more control we have
of our agenda of tomorrow andthe next day and next week and
next month.
The more control, the moreclarity and the more clarity
(09:29):
that we create, the less stressthat we have right.
So, it's, yes, it's aboutoptimizing our body, our health.
It's about upgrading the mind,which I think is one of the most
important things, because ifyou think you're going to fail a
test, guess what right You'remost likely going to fail a test
.
Guess what right you're mostlikely going to fail it.
So if, if there's doubt, theuniverse has two options failure
(09:50):
or success.
But if we work on your beliefsystem and you are 100 convinced
that you're not only going topass a test but graduate you
know um Q Lambda, a Q Lambda,and and then become this person
in your life and reach yourgoals and dreams, and if you are
convinced of that, because weworked on your mindset but also
(10:11):
made a very, you know, made aplan that's going to bring us
there.
Because most of the time, ourdreams, when they're big,
they're overwhelming, and whenthey're overwhelmed, we think,
oh, we can't reach those.
So it's important that we havea plan and we bake, we break
that big dream down in, you know, smaller incremental steps,
from years to months, to weeksto days.
(10:33):
What small incremental step canI do tomorrow, even if it's
only five or ten minutes, thatbrings me closer to my goals and
dreams and gives me fulfillmenttoday, right so?
So it's all about purpose, plan, plan and upgrading the body,
the mind and life, and then,with all that information, we
customize what I call a powerroutine.
It's something that you do on adaily basis, that you can count
(10:56):
on to get you a step closer tothose goals and dreams, and so
it's a very exciting six-weekprogram that can help anybody
get to that next level and thenext level and the next level.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
Wow.
So you definitely knowsomething about this, because it
seems like you have honed a lotof these skills through
competition and some of theachievements and if I'm not
mistaken, you are arecord-setting swimmer as well.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
Yeah, I do have a world record in the 45 plus and
I have many records when I wasyoung to swimming records.
So yes, I was very competitiveas a young boy, I would say.
But right now I'm trying to besmarter, because when I swamam I
(11:46):
was age 47, 1990, 97, I was 47,now I'm 53.
But all my competitors, theywould be in the swimming pool at
least two hours per day andthen they would go to the gym
too.
I only swam three times, 75minutes per week, but I
biohacked.
In other words, I dideverything else to upgrade my
(12:06):
body, my mind.
But biohacking many definitions, but to me it's from a health
point of view or performancepoint of view.
It is objectively reversing ourbiological age.
So if I'm competing in the 45plus as a 47 year old but my
body is only 35, then obviouslyI'm going to have a very big
advantage, right, and I believethat today, everybody that
(12:31):
implements these strategies cando that.
You don't have to be an elite,you don't have to have money,
because most of those strategiesare foundational things that we
have to incorporate on a dailybasis.
But we're always too focused onour chronological age, which is
our date of birth, right.
But it really doesn't meananything because, if we think
about it, we all know thatperson that's 60, 65 years old
(12:56):
and that's in and out of thehospital all the time, has two
pages of medications, you know,looks like 85, about to die, and
we all know that person.
But we also know that personthat's 80, 90 years old, that is
very witty, 100% independent,still plays golf every week,
three times a week.
So you can see thatchronological age doesn't mean
(13:17):
much.
It's our biological age.
How young are our cells, ourmitochondria, our tissues, our
organs, et cetera?
And so today we can objectivelymeasure, you know, a reversal
of our biological age.
So we can go back in time andwe can objectively measure that,
measure the success of thestrategies that we implement.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
Okay so, but Dr Mike, can you explain why it's called
biohacking?
Speaker 3 (13:44):
Well, like I said, it's an amorphous term that is
just a buzzword right now.
It's not the best term, Ibelieve, because hacking is
taking a shortcut, and so inhealth, you can't take shortcuts
.
People always are waiting forthe next fad diet or the next
magic pill, or, you know,they're thinking that the CDC is
(14:06):
gonna come up with some kind ofa pill that eradicates cancer.
That will never happen, believeme.
That will never happen.
You are in control of yourhealth, your mind's in control
of your body, and so you're yourown healer, and nobody can heal
yourself but yourself.
And it all starts with yourmind.
It all starts with emotionalemotion, emotional trauma and
(14:29):
clearing that trauma.
It starts about doing the rightthings for your body, because
our body is so complicated andthe best way to illustrate that
is is just with numbers.
Right, because studentslistening and numbers, uh, or
statistics are always fun, butthey're so immense.
When we talk about the humanphysiology and human body, you
(14:51):
know, some people say we have 40trillion cells.
Others say 100 trillion whocares?
It's a number that we can'tphantom number one.
But let's say we got 40trillion cells right Now, each
cell has a few hundred to a fewhundred thousand mitochondria
which, as you know, are ourenergy producing factories,
right?
They produce our energy in theform of ATP.
(15:14):
So, for example, our skin cellsonly have a few hundred
mitochondria, while more energyintensive, intensive organs, for
example, like the liver, ourmuscle, our brain, has tens of
thousands of mitochondria percell, but our heart has a few
hundred thousand mitochondriaper cell.
So we have 40 trillion cellsand 10 000 to 100 000
(15:38):
mitochondria for each one ofthose.
Now, each mitochondrion, eachmitochondrion, produces 2
billion atp per minute.
Oh, wow, 80 per minute.
So we need that energy to do.
To do what?
To sustain the 1.8 quadrillionchemical reactions per per day,
(15:59):
right?
So, next time somebody asks youif you're busy, you say yes,
extremely.
What I want to point out isthat we got to start to
understand, when it comes tohealth, that if we as humans
want to intervene in that verycomplex system of billions and
(16:20):
quadrillions of chemicalreactions and things that are
going on, and we think thatgiving a medication or doing an
injection or a surgery andtaking away an organ that that's
going to benefit that organism,that's kind of laughable, right
?
We need to understand thatdrugs don't cure, injections
don't cure, surgeries don't cure, supplements don't cure,
healthy food doesn't cure.
(16:41):
You know, exercising doesn'tcure.
Only the body can heal itself,and we need to start to
understand that the only thingthat we can do is make sure that
the body is in balance, thatit's in homeostasis and that we
give it the tools so that it canheal itself.
And so that's our job not tointerfere but to make sure the
(17:04):
body is in balance, that there'sno, you know, flight or fight
or systemic inflammation goingon, because then the body is in
a state of emergency, right.
So we need to always help thebody balance itself and then
we'll take care of anything,including cancer.
That's kind of, basically, whenwe talk about numbers to
(17:27):
hopefully give you an idea thatjust intervening with something
may disrupt something, but it'snot going to have any
long-lasting results.
I got you.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
So as far as biohacking is concerned, I mean,
as you know, we deal withstudents and our students are
range from everything fromliterally 19 to actually 17 and
some of the youngest we've seenall the way through 58 or even
more.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
I'm 53 and I'm just starting.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
Yeah, and that's the attitude that we want to see in
people.
But what do you think is a goodage to start thinking about,
say, biohacking?
Speaker 3 (18:06):
Immediately.
It's never too late, number one.
But you want to slow down aging, don't you?
And you want to.
You know, when I was sayingearlier about chronological age,
I believe truly that everybodyeasily can be 100 years of age
chronologically.
But that's not important.
The importance is that at age100, you can do things that a 40
, 50 year old can do, meaningyou still can travel, you can
(18:28):
play golf, you can go to yourgrand, grand, grand kid's
wedding, so that's what it is.
It's health span, it's qualityof life.
And so if you start doing ityoung, then obviously you know
it's going to be easier.
Because we think, we humans, wethink that aging is linear, we
think time's linear, but agingis not linear.
(18:49):
Aging is exponential.
So the longer we wait, theharder it is to overcome and
reverse, because we need tocounteract that exponentially
also.
So if you're young it's goingto be much easier to keep up
with it.
But if you're 50, 60, again youcan get to 100 and do the
things at age 100 that you'redoing now at 50, 60.
(19:11):
Because as you chronologicallyadd an age, what if you
biologically reverse an age?
Then you stay right here whereyou are right now.
So if you're listening andyou're 55, you know.
The question is do you want tobe yourself, feeling yourself,
looking the way you look now anddoing the things you do now
when you're 100 years old?
If the answer is yes, start now.
(19:31):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
Oh, wow.
So one question I did have isthat and this is a relatively
recent phenomenon, I mean, ourschool is 26 years old we and
this is a relatively recentphenomenon, I mean, our school
is 26 years old We've seenstudents right through the whole
gamut of things and what we'venoticed over the last couple of
years is that student quality isgetting better.
(19:55):
However, test-taking ability hasbecome worse, in the sense that
even you know, undergraduateprograms and things like that
are changing the way studentsare tested, because apparently
it induces a lot of stress, etc.
However, for almost anyprofession and you know this as
(20:16):
well as as well as well asanybody else it's completely
governed by standardized tests.
So universities might dowhatever they want to push
students through and make themcomfortable, but at the end of
the day, to become a physician,for example, you have to take
three licensing examinationsonce you become a physician.
Every couple of years, you haveto take board exams and and
remain relevant.
(20:36):
But if a student and we've seenthis over and over again a lot
of students are having testtaking anxiety and they're
student, and we've seen thisover and over again a lot of
students are having test takinganxiety, and they're brilliant
students they're.
They know the material in andout, but when they're taking the
test, they're just not beingable to perform.
Does biohacking help in thatsituation, and how does it if it
does?
Speaker 3 (20:55):
yes, of course.
Um, it's all about the mind,what people and there's so many
good books out there but whatpeople need to start looking
into is that only you createyour world.
We always like to blameexternal factors.
It's the professor that can'tteach, it's the curriculum it's
(21:16):
too much.
Uh, the test I didn't haveenough time, it's always the X.
We always blame external factors, but the plain truth is that we
create our own movie.
We create every detail and itstarts with your thoughts and
then it starts and then itcontinues with your spoken words
(21:38):
and your belief system spokenwords and your belief system.
And it's so powerful becausepeople that think negatively all
the time and blame others, theyare going to end up with lots
of diseases.
And people that are positiveand optimistic and learn to
utilize their thinking power andrealize that their thinking
(22:01):
power creates their world,they're going to be the
successful people.
No matter how intelligent youare, no matter how strong you
are, it doesn't matter.
Your thoughts is the mostimportant thing.
And anxiety is just anexpression of either a faulty
thinking pattern, because again,we said it to actually to
(22:22):
earlier.
We said it, but we kind oflaughing about it.
But it's so true.
If you think you're going tofail, there's a much higher
chance you will fail.
It's not a hundred percentbecause there's also something
inside of things.
With a little bit of luck I'llpass.
And you're justifying and I didstudy not long enough, I
started late, but I did study.
So maybe, if I'm lucky, basedon the questions because I know
(22:43):
chapter one to 10, good, 10 to20, not so good, so hopefully
there's a lot of.
So there's also a little bit ofhope and a little bit of
positivity.
If you're a hundred percentconvinced you failed and you
will a hundred percent fail.
But it's this balance and itall starts here.
Now, on the other side, ifyou're 100 think you're gonna
pass without studying, that'snot gonna work either, because
(23:07):
the fact is that if you didn'tstudy, you know that the
likelihood passing is less.
So it's also about truth.
What is the truth inside of you, right?
Um, you can't take, you can'ttrick your own mind is what I'm
trying to say.
You can say things, but if youdon't believe him, it doesn't
matter what you say, right?
So it starts with reallyexercising, and there's plenty
(23:30):
of books and YouTube and thingsout there, or coaches like
myself and others, where you gotto really become an observer of
your own thinking and whateveris negative or which is jealousy
and judging other people andpointing fingers or just
thinking like, oh my God, I'mgoing to fail something negative
, or I feel frustrated.
(23:51):
Oh my god, I'm gonna failsomething negative.
Or I feel frustrated, or I feeljealous, or I am fearing this
testimony, or I'm worriedbecause my parents are paying
and if I don't pass, so now I'mworried and it's all these
negative emotions.
But those negative emotions areattracting negative outcomes.
You're more likely to get inthe situation because your
(24:13):
mind's the blueprint.
If you mostly think you'regoing to fail and you're going
to get in trouble and you're notgoing to do this, then that's
your most likely situationthat's going to happen.
So you can prevent it bystarting to rewire your thoughts
and so step out of yourself,start to be conscious about what
you're thinking, and if it'ssomething negative, then you're
(24:35):
going to recognize that.
But you're going to reframe itright.
Okay, and so it's the same.
So that's important.
And the other thing is, I think,emotional trauma, which can be
even generational.
When you're born, you havetrauma with you from your
parents and your previousgeneration which is locked in
there, but all our lifeexperiences.
(24:58):
They cause emotional trauma andthe vast majority of us they
don't deal with that, they don'tface it or cope with it and it
sits in our body as an extra,extra weight, a scar, whatever
it may be.
It sits there and so many timeswhat I've seen people with
(25:21):
emotional trauma will expressthat as, for example, anxiety.
The anxiety is related tosomething in the past.
I can give you an example, ifyou like something in the past.
I can give you an example, ifyou like.
This is a real life, not aclient of mine, but of a friend
(25:43):
of mine.
So she does emotional work andmind work and those types of
things.
But he was a very successfulbusinessman who finally, after
many years, became the CEO of acompany and that's what his goal
was.
So he succeeded in his goal,right.
And he goes to the new companyand he goes on stage and he gets
(26:07):
a heart attack.
He survived, but he gets aheart attack which he didn't
understand because he washealthy, he was exercising, he
was in shape and again he justgot a promotion.
He was happy, right.
What happened was to all the notthe therapy, but asking
questions.
(26:27):
It's like when he was fouryears old in elementary school,
whatever it may be, he went onstage and his three best friends
were sitting up front, and whenthey went on stage they laughed
at him and the teacher was notpaying attention, looking down,
(26:47):
so she didn't come to his rescueeither, didn't come to her to
his rescue either.
And so from that moment on, asa kid, we make decisions in our
minds, and so the limitations,the limitations that he created
was I cannot trust women becauseit was a female teacher.
So in his whole life he nevertrusted women, never was married
(27:10):
.
He didn't trust women.
But he didn't know.
It came from that teacher,right, and he told that person
that laughed at him I'll be muchmore successful than you.
So his whole life was driven onbeing successful and showing
other people what he could do.
But he put that all away andnever realized that, and so
(27:30):
that's why he got a heart attack.
The reason he got a heart attackbecause he was put in that same
situation going on stage and hemade that connection to the
four-year-old and the emotionswere so big that it just
exploded right.
And so most of us don't realizethose things, but I encourage
people to read more aboutemotions, trapped emotions the
(27:53):
Em emotional code is a good bookand start counter releasing
emotions, because it's usuallyemotions that express physically
, whether that shoulder pain,whether it's anxiety, whether
it's a heart attack.
He was in perfect health.
His blood work, his arterieswere clean, he worked out out,
he ate, healthy, but that's notwhat caused the heart attack,
(28:15):
see.
And so to get back to what we'retalking about is, when it comes
to that anxiety and stresstaking, you cannot overcome that
with some kind of a medicationor a therapist.
You need to change yourthinking about taking the test.
And maybe you had a badexperience in the past and now
you told yourself that it's notfair taking tests.
(28:37):
Because I'm smart, I understandthe materials.
When I do a book report orwhatever it is, I get great
grades and when I do a test, youknow so the test is not fair.
It's external factors, it's nota way you should, you know,
evaluate my competency andwhatever it may be.
And it's all these externalfactors.
But it's something simpleinside of you that you can fix.
(28:58):
And because you're not going tofix the, you know the way
universities made doctors dotesting for medical.
You can't fix that, but whatyou can fix is the way you look
at it, because it's all in themind.
It's not that you can take thetest.
There's something blocking youand giving you that anxiety and
putting you in what we call alimbic state.
(29:20):
Um, you're not in yourconscious anymore, you're in a
flight or fight, and so now youbecome more of an animal versus
a reasonable human being, andthat's why you can't take the
test properly versus areasonable human being, and
that's why you can't take thetest properly, you know that
actually makes a lot of sense.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
So how does the concept of, say, manifestation
play in biohacking?
Speaker 3 (29:42):
Manifestation it depends.
Manifestation can work, butthere's many components on it.
If you just make a vision boardand read it every morning, if
you just visualize, you know youpassing the test or becoming
the best brain surgeon in theworld, that's good, but there's
more to it.
It won't come to you by justputting it out there.
(30:05):
You'll have to practice itevery day and you have to
recognize the resources.
But most of all, you need tobelieve it.
And that's the problem when youwrite things down and read them
or say them.
If your soul doesn't trulybelieve what you're saying while
you're saying it, it will notcome back to you.
(30:26):
And so many people thatpractice it it's not coming to
them because they really didn'tbelieve it.
So we got to work on the beliefsystem.
Once you believe that you earnto be a millionaire, or that you
earn to win Olympic gold, orthat you earn to be debt-free
(30:46):
and have financial freedom foryou and your family, that you
believe that you earn it it'syour birthright anyways.
But if you believe it and thenmanifest it, then it will come
to you.
But if you just say things andrepeat things but the belief
system's not there, you'rewasting your time.
That's very interesting.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
So one question I did have is, as you mentioned,
there are courses out there.
I know you have not a course,but a course right.
A six-week program that you rundoes.
Is this does the efficacyreduce or increase if it's
one-on-one versus a groupsetting?
Is this something that'sdeployable in, say, a classroom,
(31:27):
so to speak?
Speaker 3 (31:28):
yeah, no, it would be excellent in a classroom.
I only do small groups anyways.
I do 10 to 12 people maximumbecause we can customize things
that way.
If we do it with hundreds ofpeople, we don't.
So currently I do the limitedgroup six-week program, but I am
recording the videos as wespeak.
Probably somewhere next monthit will be available where it's
(31:57):
a download of an online course.
So now you go at your own pace.
There's worksheets, you getyour own pace, but there will be
weekly calls for you then tocome on and ask your personal
questions.
So you still have support andguidance from me personally, but
you go to the course at yourown pace.
Whether it takes you a year ortwo weeks, it doesn't really
matter.
You go through it and then youobviously can always email.
(32:19):
You can go to the weekly callsand we also will be we're
working on it a community whereyou not just ask me questions,
but other people in yourcommunity that are taking the
course.
They may have the answer alsoright To your question yeah,
okay, excellent.
Speaker 2 (32:36):
So from a student's perspective, obviously we talked
a little bit about examperformance and reducing
essentially the anxiety toimprove the performance.
Do you see any other advantagesthat a student might have from
biohacking?
Speaker 3 (32:50):
Well, yeah, they're enormous.
It's it's upgrading again thebody and the mind.
So think about this no matterwhat profession you are, whether
you're an athlete or an artistor any type of other performer,
or you're a finance guy or anentrepreneur or a car salesman,
if you are healthier, are yougoing to perform better, yes or
(33:14):
no?
Yeah, absolutely, of course.
If you're mind sharper and youknow how to focus and you know
how to be present in the moment,are you going to perform better
?
No matter, it is what you do.
Yes, you are.
So, no matter what it is thatyou're doing now you're going to
do later in life, the skillsthat you will learn to upgrade
your body and mind and life aregoing to be with you forever and
(33:36):
always, propel you to that nextlevel, and it's something that
we teach you so you can do itwithout us, even with the body.
I am convinced that what Iteach you about health will put
you in a position where you willbe able to heal yourself and
your loved ones and know exactlywhat to do.
(33:59):
We teach you how to optimizeyour immune system, how to
repair your DNA, how to keepyour body in balance and all
those types of things and theyare not difficult, but they are
common sense.
Speaker 2 (34:13):
All right, Awesome.
Thank you so much for a very,very insightful discussion on
what exactly is biohacking andhow this really may benefit any
individual, whether irrespectiveof their age, on how to
optimize their performance.
Again, once again, thank you somuch, Dr Mike Van Thielen.
We really appreciate your timeand remember there is no
(34:36):
shortcut to becoming an MD.
If you really like our content,please feel free to download
our podcast from any of thepodcast providers, whether it's
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content from.
And also don't forget to giveus a like and a follow, because
(34:56):
it goes a long way for us andour production team.
Thank you so much and untilnext time.
Speaker 1 (35:02):
Thank you so much for tuning into our show.
We hope you enjoyed anotherepisode of Med School Minutes.
If you like our content, pleasefollow us and receive
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This podcast is brought to youby St James School of Medicine.
For a video version of thispodcast, please check us out on
sjsmorg slash video.
Hello and welcome to another episode of the Med
School Minutes podcast, where wediscuss what it takes to attend
and successfully complete amedical program.
This show is brought to you bySt James School of Medicine.
Here is your host, kaushik Guha.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Thank you so much for joining us on another episode
of Med School Minutes, where wetalk about everything related to
medicine, with a focus oninternational students,
specifically students in theCaribbean.
Today we have a veryinteresting guest.
His name is Dr Mike Van Thielen.
He is a PhD in holisticnutrition, physician, mentor,
biohacking expert, best-sellingauthor, a TEDx speaker and an
(00:43):
international keynote andmotivational speaker.
Today we're going to ask DrMike exactly what is biohacking
and how this can really benefityou.
Whether you're a student, anathlete, an entrepreneur, no
matter what walk of life you are, we want to be able to tap into
the secrets of what biohackingis.
(01:04):
So, without further ado, let uswelcome Dr Mike Van Thielen.
Thank you so much, dr Mike, forjoining us today.
I really, really appreciate it.
So you know, before we evenbegin, why don't you give us a
little bit about a background ofyourself?
Speaker 3 (01:22):
Sure, I'll do a little short background about a
background of yourself.
Sure, I'll do a little shortbackground.
If you can hear me, I have anaccent.
I'm originally from Belgium butI came here in 1997 when I was
26.
I'm 53 now and I came here as alicensed physical therapist in
Belgium.
I was into sports, so I didphysical education at the
University of Brussels, whichwas fun.
(01:43):
But what really are you goingto do with a pe degree?
Right, then I decided to dophysical therapy afterwards and
then also at that time traveled,uh, the world with the belgian
olympic swimmers in preparationfor the atlanta games in 1996.
And so after that, um, theywere short of physical
therapists in the united states,so I was recruited.
I saved four hundred dollars,picked my backpack, put jeans on
(02:05):
and came.
Live the American dream.
But when I came here I got moreand more interested in
alternative medicine practices.
So I ended up going back toschool, to the Florida College
of Integrative Medicine, got mylicense in acupuncture, doctor
of oriental medicine, boardcertified in Chinese herbs
homeopathy the whole nine yards.
But after about a thousandpatients I got pretty frustrated
(02:29):
because these modalities areindeed less invasive than
conventional medicine, meaningdrugs, injections and surgeries,
but I really didn't get thelasting results I was hoping for
either.
So I decided I need to go backto basics, and that's when I got
my PhD in holistic nutrition.
But I also started to look atMother Nature, because I believe
Mother Nature would have theanswer to health, and so I
(02:52):
started to use animals in thewild as my second opinion and
just simply ask what do they doin this situation?
And by combining those I becamevery comfortable in helping
anybody overcome any medicalcondition, whether that's cancer
or whether that's just a commonflu or anything in between.
I became very confident inhelping anybody, and that's when
I started to write books.
(03:13):
I got 10 books now.
That's when I started to do alot of keynote and motivational
speaking to encourage people totake control of their own health
.
And you know, that's kind ofwhere it all started.
In the early 2000s I became theCEO of a regenerative medicine
company stem cell basedtherapies and since then I've
(03:35):
talked on stages like the A4M onmolecular hydrogen, published
many articles, and so I try tostay on the forefront not just
of health and wellness but alsolongevity, and so today it's
kind of called biohacking it'sone of those terms that is a
buzzword right now.
So today I'm considered anexpert in biohacking, which is
(03:55):
an amorphous term with manydifferent, different uh
definitions.
Uh, but we can go in uh to thata little bit later.
I assume Today I'm just a coachand a mentor and I do a lot of
one-on-one training and a lot ofvirtual training online for
students, professionals,entrepreneurs and athletes alike
(04:17):
.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Thank you so much for that introduction, Dr Mike.
So before we jump into the moredetails about biohacking, I
also want to talk to you aboutyour TEDx.
You've given a lot of speechesand lectures on TEDx.
Can you tell us a little bitabout that?
What did you really talk?
Speaker 3 (04:38):
about.
I did one TEDx talk, but thatwas mostly about how to be
present in the moment, becausewhen we talk about biohacking,
you will see that we really allneed to upgrade to mind.
With that I mean we need towork on our belief systems, we
need to work on the things thatwe think and the words that we
(05:00):
speak words that we speak.
We need to be pulled forward byour future and by our goals and
dreams and not be held back byour past experiences, which we
wrongly label as failures,because they're not failures,
they're lessons, right.
And so I really teach on how toupgrade that mind, and so one
of the things that I teach ishow to be in the zone which is
(05:23):
flow, state.
Right, because that's where weproduce, that's where we bring
our aim game, that's where wewill ace a test, right, right
and um.
And so you need to understandthat it's not something that's
just for athletes or musicians,it's a skill that everybody can
acquire.
So I teach that, but I alsoteach people how to be present
in the moment, because most ofus, we're always living in the
(05:44):
past, you know, or we live inthe future, we're projecting
into the future, but we neverare present in the moment, and
so the TEDx talk happened to beabout how a simple piece of
breath work, a minute of breathwork, which is called a reset
breath, could actually pullourselves into the present
moment, which is called a resetbreath.
(06:06):
Could actually pull ourselvesinto the present moment because
a breath, you know we're thefirst thing we do when we're
born is breathe, and the lastthing we will do when we leave
this, this earth, is, is take abreath.
But a breath is all there isalways with us in the present
moment, and so for those who, uh, who, heard about breath work
it's, it's probably one of thenumber one biohacks is to learn
how to breathe properly, butalso utilize your breath for
(06:27):
many different purposes to getpresent in the moment, or to get
into a meditative state, or toget from a sympathetic into a
parasympathetic state.
So using your breath as a toolto accomplish those things that
I just mentioned is a powerfulfree tool that everybody can
master.
So the TEDx talk is to how touse a reset breath to pull
(06:51):
yourself into the present moment, so you can be present and, you
know, enjoy the moment, or beengaged in a conversation with
your loved ones right or engagedin class, like if your students
are following classes, ifthey're thinking about what just
happened an hour ago on theconversation with their parents,
(07:11):
or they're thinking about nextweekend, what are they going to
do Then?
Obviously, they're not going toabsorb that material as much as
they would be present in themoment and fully engaged in
what's happening right now, andso that, well, that's what the
ted aesthetics talk is about.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
So check it out oh yeah, absolutely we will.
So it almost sounds like youare training people to be a
better version of themselves.
Is that you know?
Is that a good summary?
Speaker 3 (07:39):
that's a great summary.
I um, I, uh.
What I do is I maximizeperformance through
self-optimization.
I do that one-on-one, but Ialso have a virtual online
training that we could discusstoo, because I would love to do
something for the students.
It's usually a six-week virtualprogram.
I'm actually also making it anonline course, so we can make
(07:59):
that available.
But what we do there is I helppeople to get to that next level
, whether they are entrepreneursor professionals, or whether
they are students, or whetherthey are athletes or whether
they're just John Doe that wantsto climb up in life or get to
that next level.
It doesn't matter what they'redoing arts, performance, it
(08:19):
doesn't matter and I'm nothelping them hone in on their
skill, because I'm not awrestler, I'm not a finance guy,
I'm not an engineer, I'mcurrently not a student, right,
so I can't help them there.
But what I do is I upgrade tobody, the mind and life, and so
by getting you to a muchhealthier space, physically, but
also mentally and also life,meaning being organized, because
(08:43):
we're always distracted.
So it's about having a purpose,having a plan, eliminating the
distractions, only engaging inprojects that you love to do and
that are in line with yourpurpose and your goals, and
saving time.
We always feel that we're busy,busy, busy, but you would be
surprised how many hours I canfree up in every person's day
(09:07):
and so it's also gettingorganized and creating clarity,
because most of us are worriedand stressed because we're not
in control of our life, right,and so the more control we have
of our agenda of tomorrow andthe next day and next week and
next month.
The more control, the moreclarity and the more clarity
(09:29):
that we create, the less stressthat we have right.
So, it's, yes, it's aboutoptimizing our body, our health.
It's about upgrading the mind,which I think is one of the most
important things, because ifyou think you're going to fail a
test, guess what right You'remost likely going to fail a test
.
Guess what right you're mostlikely going to fail it.
So if, if there's doubt, theuniverse has two options failure
(09:50):
or success.
But if we work on your beliefsystem and you are 100 convinced
that you're not only going topass a test but graduate you
know um Q Lambda, a Q Lambda,and and then become this person
in your life and reach yourgoals and dreams, and if you are
convinced of that, because weworked on your mindset but also
(10:11):
made a very, you know, made aplan that's going to bring us
there.
Because most of the time, ourdreams, when they're big,
they're overwhelming, and whenthey're overwhelmed, we think,
oh, we can't reach those.
So it's important that we havea plan and we bake, we break
that big dream down in, you know, smaller incremental steps,
from years to months, to weeksto days.
(10:33):
What small incremental step canI do tomorrow, even if it's
only five or ten minutes, thatbrings me closer to my goals and
dreams and gives me fulfillmenttoday, right so?
So it's all about purpose, plan, plan and upgrading the body,
the mind and life, and then,with all that information, we
customize what I call a powerroutine.
It's something that you do on adaily basis, that you can count
(10:56):
on to get you a step closer tothose goals and dreams, and so
it's a very exciting six-weekprogram that can help anybody
get to that next level and thenext level and the next level.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
Wow.
So you definitely knowsomething about this, because it
seems like you have honed a lotof these skills through
competition and some of theachievements and if I'm not
mistaken, you are arecord-setting swimmer as well.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
Yeah, I do have a world record in the 45 plus and
I have many records when I wasyoung to swimming records.
So yes, I was very competitiveas a young boy, I would say.
But right now I'm trying to besmarter, because when I swamam I
(11:46):
was age 47, 1990, 97, I was 47,now I'm 53.
But all my competitors, theywould be in the swimming pool at
least two hours per day andthen they would go to the gym
too.
I only swam three times, 75minutes per week, but I
biohacked.
In other words, I dideverything else to upgrade my
(12:06):
body, my mind.
But biohacking many definitions, but to me it's from a health
point of view or performancepoint of view.
It is objectively reversing ourbiological age.
So if I'm competing in the 45plus as a 47 year old but my
body is only 35, then obviouslyI'm going to have a very big
advantage, right, and I believethat today, everybody that
(12:31):
implements these strategies cando that.
You don't have to be an elite,you don't have to have money,
because most of those strategiesare foundational things that we
have to incorporate on a dailybasis.
But we're always too focused onour chronological age, which is
our date of birth, right.
But it really doesn't meananything because, if we think
about it, we all know thatperson that's 60, 65 years old
(12:56):
and that's in and out of thehospital all the time, has two
pages of medications, you know,looks like 85, about to die, and
we all know that person.
But we also know that personthat's 80, 90 years old, that is
very witty, 100% independent,still plays golf every week,
three times a week.
So you can see thatchronological age doesn't mean
(13:17):
much.
It's our biological age.
How young are our cells, ourmitochondria, our tissues, our
organs, et cetera?
And so today we can objectivelymeasure, you know, a reversal
of our biological age.
So we can go back in time andwe can objectively measure that,
measure the success of thestrategies that we implement.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
Okay so, but Dr Mike, can you explain why it's called
biohacking?
Speaker 3 (13:44):
Well, like I said, it's an amorphous term that is
just a buzzword right now.
It's not the best term, Ibelieve, because hacking is
taking a shortcut, and so inhealth, you can't take shortcuts
.
People always are waiting forthe next fad diet or the next
magic pill, or, you know,they're thinking that the CDC is
(14:06):
gonna come up with some kind ofa pill that eradicates cancer.
That will never happen, believeme.
That will never happen.
You are in control of yourhealth, your mind's in control
of your body, and so you're yourown healer, and nobody can heal
yourself but yourself.
And it all starts with yourmind.
It all starts with emotionalemotion, emotional trauma and
(14:29):
clearing that trauma.
It starts about doing the rightthings for your body, because
our body is so complicated andthe best way to illustrate that
is is just with numbers.
Right, because studentslistening and numbers, uh, or
statistics are always fun, butthey're so immense.
When we talk about the humanphysiology and human body, you
(14:51):
know, some people say we have 40trillion cells.
Others say 100 trillion whocares?
It's a number that we can'tphantom number one.
But let's say we got 40trillion cells right Now, each
cell has a few hundred to a fewhundred thousand mitochondria
which, as you know, are ourenergy producing factories,
right?
They produce our energy in theform of ATP.
(15:14):
So, for example, our skin cellsonly have a few hundred
mitochondria, while more energyintensive, intensive organs, for
example, like the liver, ourmuscle, our brain, has tens of
thousands of mitochondria percell, but our heart has a few
hundred thousand mitochondriaper cell.
So we have 40 trillion cellsand 10 000 to 100 000
(15:38):
mitochondria for each one ofthose.
Now, each mitochondrion, eachmitochondrion, produces 2
billion atp per minute.
Oh, wow, 80 per minute.
So we need that energy to do.
To do what?
To sustain the 1.8 quadrillionchemical reactions per per day,
(15:59):
right?
So, next time somebody asks youif you're busy, you say yes,
extremely.
What I want to point out isthat we got to start to
understand, when it comes tohealth, that if we as humans
want to intervene in that verycomplex system of billions and
(16:20):
quadrillions of chemicalreactions and things that are
going on, and we think thatgiving a medication or doing an
injection or a surgery andtaking away an organ that that's
going to benefit that organism,that's kind of laughable, right
?
We need to understand thatdrugs don't cure, injections
don't cure, surgeries don't cure, supplements don't cure,
healthy food doesn't cure.
(16:41):
You know, exercising doesn'tcure.
Only the body can heal itself,and we need to start to
understand that the only thingthat we can do is make sure that
the body is in balance, thatit's in homeostasis and that we
give it the tools so that it canheal itself.
And so that's our job not tointerfere but to make sure the
(17:04):
body is in balance, that there'sno, you know, flight or fight
or systemic inflammation goingon, because then the body is in
a state of emergency, right.
So we need to always help thebody balance itself and then
we'll take care of anything,including cancer.
That's kind of, basically, whenwe talk about numbers to
(17:27):
hopefully give you an idea thatjust intervening with something
may disrupt something, but it'snot going to have any
long-lasting results.
I got you.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
So as far as biohacking is concerned, I mean,
as you know, we deal withstudents and our students are
range from everything fromliterally 19 to actually 17 and
some of the youngest we've seenall the way through 58 or even
more.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
I'm 53 and I'm just starting.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
Yeah, and that's the attitude that we want to see in
people.
But what do you think is a goodage to start thinking about,
say, biohacking?
Speaker 3 (18:06):
Immediately.
It's never too late, number one.
But you want to slow down aging, don't you?
And you want to.
You know, when I was sayingearlier about chronological age,
I believe truly that everybodyeasily can be 100 years of age
chronologically.
But that's not important.
The importance is that at age100, you can do things that a 40
, 50 year old can do, meaningyou still can travel, you can
(18:28):
play golf, you can go to yourgrand, grand, grand kid's
wedding, so that's what it is.
It's health span, it's qualityof life.
And so if you start doing ityoung, then obviously you know
it's going to be easier.
Because we think, we humans, wethink that aging is linear, we
think time's linear, but agingis not linear.
(18:49):
Aging is exponential.
So the longer we wait, theharder it is to overcome and
reverse, because we need tocounteract that exponentially
also.
So if you're young it's goingto be much easier to keep up
with it.
But if you're 50, 60, again youcan get to 100 and do the
things at age 100 that you'redoing now at 50, 60.
(19:11):
Because as you chronologicallyadd an age, what if you
biologically reverse an age?
Then you stay right here whereyou are right now.
So if you're listening andyou're 55, you know.
The question is do you want tobe yourself, feeling yourself,
looking the way you look now anddoing the things you do now
when you're 100 years old?
If the answer is yes, start now.
(19:31):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
Oh, wow.
So one question I did have isthat and this is a relatively
recent phenomenon, I mean, ourschool is 26 years old we and
this is a relatively recentphenomenon, I mean, our school
is 26 years old We've seenstudents right through the whole
gamut of things and what we'venoticed over the last couple of
years is that student quality isgetting better.
(19:55):
However, test-taking ability hasbecome worse, in the sense that
even you know, undergraduateprograms and things like that
are changing the way studentsare tested, because apparently
it induces a lot of stress, etc.
However, for almost anyprofession and you know this as
(20:16):
well as as well as well asanybody else it's completely
governed by standardized tests.
So universities might dowhatever they want to push
students through and make themcomfortable, but at the end of
the day, to become a physician,for example, you have to take
three licensing examinationsonce you become a physician.
Every couple of years, you haveto take board exams and and
remain relevant.
(20:36):
But if a student and we've seenthis over and over again a lot
of students are having testtaking anxiety and they're
student, and we've seen thisover and over again a lot of
students are having test takinganxiety, and they're brilliant
students they're.
They know the material in andout, but when they're taking the
test, they're just not beingable to perform.
Does biohacking help in thatsituation, and how does it if it
does?
Speaker 3 (20:55):
yes, of course.
Um, it's all about the mind,what people and there's so many
good books out there but whatpeople need to start looking
into is that only you createyour world.
We always like to blameexternal factors.
It's the professor that can'tteach, it's the curriculum it's
(21:16):
too much.
Uh, the test I didn't haveenough time, it's always the X.
We always blame external factors, but the plain truth is that we
create our own movie.
We create every detail and itstarts with your thoughts and
then it starts and then itcontinues with your spoken words
(21:38):
and your belief system spokenwords and your belief system.
And it's so powerful becausepeople that think negatively all
the time and blame others, theyare going to end up with lots
of diseases.
And people that are positiveand optimistic and learn to
utilize their thinking power andrealize that their thinking
(22:01):
power creates their world,they're going to be the
successful people.
No matter how intelligent youare, no matter how strong you
are, it doesn't matter.
Your thoughts is the mostimportant thing.
And anxiety is just anexpression of either a faulty
thinking pattern, because again,we said it to actually to
(22:22):
earlier.
We said it, but we kind oflaughing about it.
But it's so true.
If you think you're going tofail, there's a much higher
chance you will fail.
It's not a hundred percentbecause there's also something
inside of things.
With a little bit of luck I'llpass.
And you're justifying and I didstudy not long enough, I
started late, but I did study.
So maybe, if I'm lucky, basedon the questions because I know
(22:43):
chapter one to 10, good, 10 to20, not so good, so hopefully
there's a lot of.
So there's also a little bit ofhope and a little bit of
positivity.
If you're a hundred percentconvinced you failed and you
will a hundred percent fail.
But it's this balance and itall starts here.
Now, on the other side, ifyou're 100 think you're gonna
pass without studying, that'snot gonna work either, because
(23:07):
the fact is that if you didn'tstudy, you know that the
likelihood passing is less.
So it's also about truth.
What is the truth inside of you, right?
Um, you can't take, you can'ttrick your own mind is what I'm
trying to say.
You can say things, but if youdon't believe him, it doesn't
matter what you say, right?
So it starts with reallyexercising, and there's plenty
(23:30):
of books and YouTube and thingsout there, or coaches like
myself and others, where you gotto really become an observer of
your own thinking and whateveris negative or which is jealousy
and judging other people andpointing fingers or just
thinking like, oh my God, I'mgoing to fail something negative
, or I feel frustrated.
(23:51):
Oh my god, I'm gonna failsomething negative.
Or I feel frustrated, or I feeljealous, or I am fearing this
testimony, or I'm worriedbecause my parents are paying
and if I don't pass, so now I'mworried and it's all these
negative emotions.
But those negative emotions areattracting negative outcomes.
You're more likely to get inthe situation because your
(24:13):
mind's the blueprint.
If you mostly think you'regoing to fail and you're going
to get in trouble and you're notgoing to do this, then that's
your most likely situationthat's going to happen.
So you can prevent it bystarting to rewire your thoughts
and so step out of yourself,start to be conscious about what
you're thinking, and if it'ssomething negative, then you're
(24:35):
going to recognize that.
But you're going to reframe itright.
Okay, and so it's the same.
So that's important.
And the other thing is, I think,emotional trauma, which can be
even generational.
When you're born, you havetrauma with you from your
parents and your previousgeneration which is locked in
there, but all our lifeexperiences.
(24:58):
They cause emotional trauma andthe vast majority of us they
don't deal with that, they don'tface it or cope with it and it
sits in our body as an extra,extra weight, a scar, whatever
it may be.
It sits there and so many timeswhat I've seen people with
(25:21):
emotional trauma will expressthat as, for example, anxiety.
The anxiety is related tosomething in the past.
I can give you an example, ifyou like something in the past.
I can give you an example, ifyou like.
This is a real life, not aclient of mine, but of a friend
(25:43):
of mine.
So she does emotional work andmind work and those types of
things.
But he was a very successfulbusinessman who finally, after
many years, became the CEO of acompany and that's what his goal
was.
So he succeeded in his goal,right.
And he goes to the new companyand he goes on stage and he gets
(26:07):
a heart attack.
He survived, but he gets aheart attack which he didn't
understand because he washealthy, he was exercising, he
was in shape and again he justgot a promotion.
He was happy, right.
What happened was to all the notthe therapy, but asking
questions.
(26:27):
It's like when he was fouryears old in elementary school,
whatever it may be, he went onstage and his three best friends
were sitting up front, and whenthey went on stage they laughed
at him and the teacher was notpaying attention, looking down,
(26:47):
so she didn't come to his rescueeither, didn't come to her to
his rescue either.
And so from that moment on, asa kid, we make decisions in our
minds, and so the limitations,the limitations that he created
was I cannot trust women becauseit was a female teacher.
So in his whole life he nevertrusted women, never was married
(27:10):
.
He didn't trust women.
But he didn't know.
It came from that teacher,right, and he told that person
that laughed at him I'll be muchmore successful than you.
So his whole life was driven onbeing successful and showing
other people what he could do.
But he put that all away andnever realized that, and so
(27:30):
that's why he got a heart attack.
The reason he got a heart attackbecause he was put in that same
situation going on stage and hemade that connection to the
four-year-old and the emotionswere so big that it just
exploded right.
And so most of us don't realizethose things, but I encourage
people to read more aboutemotions, trapped emotions the
(27:53):
Em emotional code is a good bookand start counter releasing
emotions, because it's usuallyemotions that express physically
, whether that shoulder pain,whether it's anxiety, whether
it's a heart attack.
He was in perfect health.
His blood work, his arterieswere clean, he worked out out,
he ate, healthy, but that's notwhat caused the heart attack,
(28:15):
see.
And so to get back to what we'retalking about is, when it comes
to that anxiety and stresstaking, you cannot overcome that
with some kind of a medicationor a therapist.
You need to change yourthinking about taking the test.
And maybe you had a badexperience in the past and now
you told yourself that it's notfair taking tests.
(28:37):
Because I'm smart, I understandthe materials.
When I do a book report orwhatever it is, I get great
grades and when I do a test, youknow so the test is not fair.
It's external factors, it's nota way you should, you know,
evaluate my competency andwhatever it may be.
And it's all these externalfactors.
But it's something simpleinside of you that you can fix.
(28:58):
And because you're not going tofix the, you know the way
universities made doctors dotesting for medical.
You can't fix that, but whatyou can fix is the way you look
at it, because it's all in themind.
It's not that you can take thetest.
There's something blocking youand giving you that anxiety and
putting you in what we call alimbic state.
(29:20):
Um, you're not in yourconscious anymore, you're in a
flight or fight, and so now youbecome more of an animal versus
a reasonable human being, andthat's why you can't take the
test properly versus areasonable human being, and
that's why you can't take thetest properly, you know that
actually makes a lot of sense.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
So how does the concept of, say, manifestation
play in biohacking?
Speaker 3 (29:42):
Manifestation it depends.
Manifestation can work, butthere's many components on it.
If you just make a vision boardand read it every morning, if
you just visualize, you know youpassing the test or becoming
the best brain surgeon in theworld, that's good, but there's
more to it.
It won't come to you by justputting it out there.
(30:05):
You'll have to practice itevery day and you have to
recognize the resources.
But most of all, you need tobelieve it.
And that's the problem when youwrite things down and read them
or say them.
If your soul doesn't trulybelieve what you're saying while
you're saying it, it will notcome back to you.
(30:26):
And so many people thatpractice it it's not coming to
them because they really didn'tbelieve it.
So we got to work on the beliefsystem.
Once you believe that you earnto be a millionaire, or that you
earn to win Olympic gold, orthat you earn to be debt-free
(30:46):
and have financial freedom foryou and your family, that you
believe that you earn it it'syour birthright anyways.
But if you believe it and thenmanifest it, then it will come
to you.
But if you just say things andrepeat things but the belief
system's not there, you'rewasting your time.
That's very interesting.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
So one question I did have is, as you mentioned,
there are courses out there.
I know you have not a course,but a course right.
A six-week program that you rundoes.
Is this does the efficacyreduce or increase if it's
one-on-one versus a groupsetting?
Is this something that'sdeployable in, say, a classroom,
(31:27):
so to speak?
Speaker 3 (31:28):
yeah, no, it would be excellent in a classroom.
I only do small groups anyways.
I do 10 to 12 people maximumbecause we can customize things
that way.
If we do it with hundreds ofpeople, we don't.
So currently I do the limitedgroup six-week program, but I am
recording the videos as wespeak.
Probably somewhere next monthit will be available where it's
(31:57):
a download of an online course.
So now you go at your own pace.
There's worksheets, you getyour own pace, but there will be
weekly calls for you then tocome on and ask your personal
questions.
So you still have support andguidance from me personally, but
you go to the course at yourown pace.
Whether it takes you a year ortwo weeks, it doesn't really
matter.
You go through it and then youobviously can always email.
(32:19):
You can go to the weekly callsand we also will be we're
working on it a community whereyou not just ask me questions,
but other people in yourcommunity that are taking the
course.
They may have the answer alsoright To your question yeah,
okay, excellent.
Speaker 2 (32:36):
So from a student's perspective, obviously we talked
a little bit about examperformance and reducing
essentially the anxiety toimprove the performance.
Do you see any other advantagesthat a student might have from
biohacking?
Speaker 3 (32:50):
Well, yeah, they're enormous.
It's it's upgrading again thebody and the mind.
So think about this no matterwhat profession you are, whether
you're an athlete or an artistor any type of other performer,
or you're a finance guy or anentrepreneur or a car salesman,
if you are healthier, are yougoing to perform better, yes or
(33:14):
no?
Yeah, absolutely, of course.
If you're mind sharper and youknow how to focus and you know
how to be present in the moment,are you going to perform better
?
No matter, it is what you do.
Yes, you are.
So, no matter what it is thatyou're doing now you're going to
do later in life, the skillsthat you will learn to upgrade
your body and mind and life aregoing to be with you forever and
(33:36):
always, propel you to that nextlevel, and it's something that
we teach you so you can do itwithout us, even with the body.
I am convinced that what Iteach you about health will put
you in a position where you willbe able to heal yourself and
your loved ones and know exactlywhat to do.
(33:59):
We teach you how to optimizeyour immune system, how to
repair your DNA, how to keepyour body in balance and all
those types of things and theyare not difficult, but they are
common sense.
Speaker 2 (34:13):
All right, Awesome.
Thank you so much for a very,very insightful discussion on
what exactly is biohacking andhow this really may benefit any
individual, whether irrespectiveof their age, on how to
optimize their performance.
Again, once again, thank you somuch, Dr Mike Van Thielen.
We really appreciate your timeand remember there is no
(34:36):
shortcut to becoming an MD.
If you really like our content,please feel free to download
our podcast from any of thepodcast providers, whether it's
Spotify, the Google Store orwherever it is you get your
content from.
And also don't forget to giveus a like and a follow, because
(34:56):
it goes a long way for us andour production team.
Thank you so much and untilnext time.
Speaker 1 (35:02):
Thank you so much for tuning into our show.
We hope you enjoyed anotherepisode of Med School Minutes.
If you like our content, pleasefollow us and receive
notification when a new show isposted.
This podcast is brought to youby St James School of Medicine.
For a video version of thispodcast, please check us out on
sjsmorg slash video.
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