Jordan Ryan OHara welcomes Matt Domyancic to explore his transition from law enforcement to wellness. They discuss the daily challenges faced by first responders, mental health barriers, and the crucial role of peer support. Matt highlights the need for proactive mental health care and shares his journey to functional and integrative medicine, focusing on preventative care and overcoming legal battles in worker's compensation. The conversation delves into scientific health markers, testosterone therapy, and the importance of sleep. Matt emphasizes wellness practices and community engagement. The episode also introduces Dr. Emily Stone's insights on the benefits and cultural significance of mushrooms in coffee, with a sponsor mention of WindanSea Coffee.
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(00:04):
Alright.
Welcome back to the mind body mushroom, thepodcast where we explore the holistic health,
personal growth, and the mindset shifts thatdrive high performance.
I'm your host, Jordan Ryan, and as always, thisepisode is brought to you by Wind and Sea
Coffee, the world's best tasting adaptogeniccoffee crafted to fuel both body and mind.
Today, we're diving into a conversation that'sas important as it is overdue, mental health
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for first responders.
Now we talk a lot about alternative health formilitary and veterans, but first responders
face a unique set of challenges, often dealingwith the high stress environments daily without
the same support systems.
Our guest, Matt Domiansick, has walked the pathhimself.
A former SWAT officer, police academyinstructor, and strength coach for elite
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athletes, Matt knows firsthand the physical andmental toll that comes with a life on the front
lines.
After medically retiring from law enforcement,he shifted his focus to advocacy, chaplaincy,
and holistic wellness, dedicating his life tosupporting active police officers through peer
support, mental health programs, and a modernapproach to spirituality.
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Matt has worked with agencies across thecountry, helping first responders integrate
strength training, stress management, andproactive mental health care into their lives.
Because the tactical performance isn't justabout physical endurance, it's also about
resilience in all aspects.
Today, we're going to deep dive into hisjourney and the realities of policing and what
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needs to change to truly support those whoserve.
Matt, welcome to the show.
Thank you so much.
That was a great intro, man.
We didn't even talk for over a year, and yougreat song.
It it it it it makes it easier when we have aguest that has a lot of, like, publicly
available, you know, information.
And, I mean, you're a busy man, dude.
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You were just mentioning actually right beforewe got on that you've been, super busy.
You wanna tell us what you've been working onfor, like, the past, you know, since since, I
guess, we we met, which I'll I'll introduce howwe met, but what have you been working on?
So I used to do more when I lived in LA, was atpolice and fire stations every day, riding
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along, lifting weights, shooting guns, going totraining, also taking them on retreats,
shooting with veterans that are transitioningout of the military.
So I was more like in the trenches, and each ofthose types of daily visits also would generate
text phone calls to get together off duty, andthat's go for a walk in the beach, lift
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weights, do jiu jitsu, but often share theirstory or go to a wellness center and do cold
plunge, sauna, float tank, breath work, go getan organic meal, and allow people to just kinda
get things off their chest, share their story,and normalize better self care, holistic
wellness.
And, yeah, man, you're gonna see a lot ofsuffering as a first responder or combat
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veteran.
A lot of people already have a diversechildhood experiences.
High performance people in general, includingathletes that are now in corporate America.
It's like gas pedal, gas pedal, gas pedal.
Suck it up.
Drive on.
And when tough things get tough, grind more.
Get up.
Work out more and more coffee, more chew.
Like, work harder.
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Yep.
And it ends up draining the battery.
We know that men in general and alpha maletypes end up with PTSD, divorce, addiction,
suicidal issues, and yet most of our resourcesare reactive only to PTSD, addiction, suicide.
They come after the bomb has blown up in yourlife.
Second divorce, you're now addicted, you're outof shape, you're in a dark hole, getting
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medically retired or got a DUI, whatever it is.
And then somebody that's not culturallycompetent or trauma informed offers you help.
Or even if you seek help, they don't understandthe the veteran, the cop, the firefighter.
And in and even when people are seekingtherapy, meditation, yoga, journaling, like,
guys will see guys and gals from theseprofessions will get curious, but the resources
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for those things, like, turn them off.
Mhmm.
Yeah.
So Totally.
You know, that's funny.
I I you're you're kinda jogging my memory ofsome stuff that we talked about.
So real quick quick little rewind.
We met at a, surf therapy kinda I guess it waslike a competition sort of, but there's a lot
of these surf therapy groups, one more wave,the swell mission, Pendleton Surf Club, and
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they their mission is kind of, you know,providing some holistic health support for guys
in these professions and gals, through surftherapy.
And that was one thing that, so so that was alittle bit how we met.
But, what I remember you talking about that wassuper interesting was, even if you get a guy
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that's on board with these type of, like, yeah,man.
I need help.
I I I don't wanna just, you know, take somepills or whatever the case is or just suck it
up.
You know, and so then you go to these, like,therapy or or whatever it is that that your
command may offer you.
It's not run by your peers.
It's run by, you know, like a soft, kindasquishy, like, you know, psych psychology or
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some like an academic.
And so there's already this cultural barrierthat, you know, it creates a barrier for them
to access those resources in the first place.
You wanna talk about that?
Well, I mean, I think if you're a jock, a cop,a vet, a firefighter, you want people to be
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able to you wanna be seen, heard, understood,not judged, not have people psychopathologize
you, and not give you unsolicited bullshitadvice on how to fix you before they've even
heard your story.
And so this is the world of influencers.
This is also the world of mental health andwellness for first responders and veterans is
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that some it could be some former special opsdude or somebody that worked with them, that
two or three years ago, they started theirhealing journey, and they did EMDR or ketamine
or I WASC or SGB or this type of yoga or thistype of meditation.
And now they're the guru, and they're tellingyou that the solution to your problem is
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CrossFit or jujitsu or carnivore or vegan orfill in the blank with this type of I have the
therapy that will save you or cure you.
I have the retreat or the medicine or thisprotocol or hang out with me and my friends and
pay me.
And and sometimes it's the former operators andcops and firefighters themselves or it's the
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clinician or the clergy or the coach.
Like, how many coaches these days are peoplethat god bless you for being on your healing
journey and your growing journey, but that's alifetime.
And if you have zero training in psychology andtheology and spirituality and kinesiology and
functional and integrative medicine, and you'vejust started your journey, like, pump the
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brakes on going out and fixing everyone else,especially if you're not a good listener.
And so, like, the people that are hurting oftenare desperate for relief, so they they may
listen to the charismatic guru if they're inthat broken of a place.
But I know that there's a big void for highfunctioning alphas that even if they're
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hurting, they're still high functioning, andthey don't fall for the charlatans or the quick
fixes.
But nobody's speaking to them in a manner thatit resonates.
So, I mean, I don't stay in shape to try toforward my message.
I've been working out since sixth grade andbeen a, you know, a jock and a strength coach
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and a SWAT guy.
But that's part of what people first starttalking to me about is, oh, you look like you
still lift weights.
What do you what protein shake or what diet orhow much do you bench?
And you know what?
That gives me an in than an hour or two lateror maybe even a year later if it's a longer
term relationship.
We can talk about how's your heart, brother?
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How are you how are your feelings doing?
How's your mental health?
How's your thought life?
Are you are you taking care of yourself?
Versus if and this is this is other cops and SFguys talking to me.
If a middle aged female that's totally out ofshape, that's a clinician, starts talking them,
they're like, dude, this broad doesn'tunderstand me.
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And I'm not saying broad in a derogatory sense.
I'm using the language of the people that arespeaking to me.
Or in the case of chaplains, you know, I'm achaplain, and I obviously believe faith and
spirituality is important.
But if the chaplain's an 80 year old out ofshape person that's never done a ride along or
wasn't a military chaplain deployed with thetroops and then starts telling you how to take
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care of yourself, like, it there's just a hugedisconnect because there's no common ground.
Like, there's a sign on my parents' wall that Iremember since I was a kid.
It's still there.
It says, never criticize a man until you walkeda mile in his moccasins.
So for us, when I say us, high functioning,high achieving alpha, first responder veteran,
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former athlete, corporate America types.
Like, we want somebody that understands whatit's like to pursue excellence and to have had
strong bonds where the job or the sport is ahuge part of our identity, but not in the worst
ways.
There's a lot of beautiful things about thebrotherhood and about the grind and about
achieving success together and understandingthat we don't have to see eye to eye, but we
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gotta stand shoulder to shoulder.
There's beautiful things about sports,military, law enforcement, fire.
But at the same time, on the on either side ofevery virtue, there's also a vice, and our
cultures have a lot of unhealthy vices that weoften deal with to self medicate, numb, and
distract ourselves often just from ourfeelings.
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You know?
And then we stigmatize you're a pussy, weak,broken, or a bitch, or I'm crazy
Mhmm.
Because I'm feeling my feelings.
And then people sometimes will start sharingtheir story and then be like, oh, man.
I'm so sorry.
And it's like, what are you sorry for?
This is this is part of what's gonna heal youto share your story with a brother or sister
that's also high functioning, been there, whereat one point in their life, maybe driving fast
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and hard in your profession or your sport was abeautiful thing, but now we're at a different
phase of life where it's a detriment to ourrelationships and our further psychological,
emotional, and spiritual growth.
Right.
And and another part of it is that that you hadkinda talked about is even if somebody is being
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proactive about getting help, if they're stillactive in their role, they don't want to, you
know, not just the stigma that is associatedwith that, but, like, they literally don't want
to, you know, have their their gun taken fromthem.
Hey.
We're not gonna put you, you know, out on thesemissions because you have now you're you're the
nail that's sticking out.
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You know?
And so now, uh-oh, are you a problem?
Do we need to worry about you?
So guys are, like, you know, just suckingeverything up because they don't they want to
stay in the fight.
They wanna keep doing their job.
Mhmm.
Yeah.
That's a big problem.
And if I mean, look at sports.
Like, we don't wait until you blow out yourknee or tear your hamstring.
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Okay.
Now you can't play and you need a surgery.
You're gonna be in rehab for three to fourmonths.
It's like, we look ahead in this sport.
These are the common injuries.
So the strength and conditioning coach is gonnaaddress this.
The sports medicine staff is gonna do prehab onthese areas.
The sports psychologists and clinicalpsychologists at your big time d one school or
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some of the special ops units.
You have resources for all these things to dothe preventative and resiliency building before
you deploy, before you play in a game, where atleast for first responders, it's like zero
strength conditioning, sports psychology,nutrition.
Go until you blow out your hamstring and thenlet's address it.
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It's all reactive only.
And if if we know that PTSD, addiction,divorce, and suicide is an issue for people
that are immersed in the suffering of others,you have a steady diet of toxic and
dysfunctional people, on and off adrenalinedumps and exposure to trauma, and often
military veterans and first responders arepeople that come from a lot of adverse
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childhood experiences for which combat and thestuff you see on the street is unconsciously
scratching at your childhood wounds, but wehaven't educated you for you to understand that
we need to do some self reflection, pump thebrakes, train the parasympathetic nervous
system so you can be more in touch with yourphysio physiology.
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We calm our physiology down.
We have a safe container in our body.
We allow our thoughts and feelings to come up.
We don't judge our thoughts and feelings asweak, crazy, or broken because perhaps police,
fire, and military start training people onpost traumatic growth, which is a valid area of
psychological research that shares how we cangrow from the adversity in our life just like
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we grow from running faster or more miles orputting more weight on the bar, doing more
reps, or we manipulate variables in ourworkouts to grow stronger.
Well, life gives us shit sandwiches andadversity.
Sometimes we cause them ourselves by themistakes we make from patterns that we don't
recognize from childhood that helped us surviveor thrive.
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But at some point, the patterns that helped ussurvive and thrive are now the obstacle to
further growth.
If we were teaching these things younger in themilitary, first responder professions, or even
schools for all human beings, Well, then whenthese things come up, we're doing the strength
conditioning, we're doing the sportspsychology, and then there's self awareness of,
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hey.
Let me address this and let's not stigmatizethe self care or seeking professional and, you
know, objective help.
Like, are you, are you a moron at your d oneschool for listening to a strength coach, the
sports psych, or your linebacker coach?
Like, no.
You go to these people.
You you go to the whoever's in charge ofnutrition if they have a perp person that's in
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charge of nutrition.
You pay attention to these people.
But as a cop or a firefighter or the regularmilitary as I understand it, we don't have
strength coaches, sports psych, sportsmedicine, sports nutrition, like some of the
tier one teams may have and what d one athleteshave.
So, like, athletes prepare 90% of the time andcompete maybe five or 10% of the time.
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Right?
And they know who their opponents are.
They get to study their opponents.
They know what date they're playing thatopponent.
Like, man, every day could be your Super Bowlas a cop or a firefighter, and there is no off
season.
Every day is freaking game day, and we have nostrength and conditioning or sports psych or
sports nutrition.
In fact, the badge of honor goes to the copperfirefighter that works a shit ton of overtime
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and brags about how many girls they're bangingeven though they're married, then everybody
high fives each other, How much chew, how manycoffees, how many energy drinks?
And we somehow, like, the culture allows that.
And I'm not saying to, like, shame or guilttrip people, but more, woah.
Woah.
Woah.
If you're doing that, pull somebody to theside, like, bro, what's going on that you gotta
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work so much overtime, drink so many energydrinks, and, dude, if you get caught cheating
on your wife, it's gonna destroy your kids'lives.
So even if you should get a divorce, let'sthink about doing how can I help you do this in
a better manner?
Totally.
And, you know, one thing that, Guy McDermott,who we interviewed, a couple weeks ago, former
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Navy Seal, I believe a friend of yours, I thinkyou connected us.
And and he was saying that one thing that iskinda unique between because he he was a first
responder.
He he was a, believe, a firefighter.
In Los Angeles.
Yeah.
In Los Angeles after I mean, so that's a it's agnarly job.
And, you know, he he was saying that, like, oneone major difference that he felt between, you
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know, the military and and, first response isthat there's this, like, off time kind of.
Like, there's a decompression to an extent.
I mean, you're you're doing something overseasin a completely different context, and then,
hey, you get some downtime in Germany for, youknow, a week before your your PCS back here,
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and then you have a little bit.
But when you're when you are on the front linesin a first response role, you're constantly in
that war zone, and you're also constantly athome.
And so it's like it it seems like it kindacrosses wires in a way that, like, being in the
military kind of it's a little bit different.
You know?
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Mhmm.
Yeah.
Kevin Gilmartin, a book called EmotionalSurvival for Law Enforcement.
That's probably the best short book by apsychologist that's also a former cop and
veteran.
He talks about hypervigilance.
And by the time a cop gets home, like, they'reburned out, and the wife's like, what do you
want to eat?
I don't care.
What do you wanna do tonight?
I don't care.
Like, your it's your gas pedal, your cortisol,your adrenaline.
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And by the time you get home, you're notconnected to your family at all.
We don't teach how to do that transition everyday, which, like you said, in the military, you
get a transition because you're in Germany fora week and then you fly home and you're not
deployed.
So how do you and I called it to armor downroutine is even on your if if a five to fifteen
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or fifty minute drive home, are you crankingthe radio and another chew on a coffee just to
get home or a beer?
Like, back in the day, when I was a cop, peoplewere drinking beer, choir practice after the
shift, drinking a beer on the way home.
None of this stuff's gonna help your heart ratevariability, your deep sleep, or or your brain
health.
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But what do you do in the transition and takethe armor off before you go home?
Tap the brakes, activate the parasympatheticnervous system, and change your intentions for
I'm entering into even if I'm a single person.
Hey.
I'm going home to my normal neighborhood toengage with civilians, and I don't have to be
the hard ass cop anymore.
And not everything is a threat.
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And not everyone's an asshole and a and a liar.
Yeah.
You're right.
But we don't we don't teach hey.
Most of our lives in general as human beingsare unconscious reactions, and we're not
teaching people to be aware of, you know,responding versus reacting.
Mhmm.
Pausing, pumping the brakes, taking a breath,calming down our physiology, self reflecting.
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Hey.
What's really going on here before I react tothese other people or circumstances in my life?
Yeah.
I mean, that space is hard to get.
It's hard to build, you know.
But I wanna pause for a second because I, let'slet's go back to kind of the start of maybe
your career or wherever wherever seems like agood starting point in your life, to pick up
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and kind of, introduce who you are really as asa person and why, you are passionate about
these things and how you've kind of createdthis, not just a career, but, like, a vocation
for your life.
Maybe a a good way to answer that is, like, Igrew up in Northeast Ohio and Western
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Pennsylvania.
Beaver County, Pennsylvania specifically is,like, a famous area for athletics, specifically
football.
Like, my dad played youth sports against JoeNamath.
I played high school football against Ty Law,who's in NFL Hall of Fame.
My my dad's dad was friends with Mike Ditka'sdad.
Tony Dorsett's cousins live across the street.
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These are older school people, but there's aton of famous peep the Tom Cruise's early
movie, All the Right Moves, is about Aliquippa.
And there was, Friday night tights was this,like, documentary on youth football, and they
did a couple years in Texas.
And they said in Texas, football is religion.
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Then they did a couple years in Beaver County,and they said in Beaver County, Pennsylvania,
football is much more than, what did they say?
In Texas, football is religion.
In Beaver County, Pennsylvania, it's much morethan that.
It's life.
And then they go into their rundown steel milltowns.
Your only way out is, like, get a collegefootball scholarship.
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So I grew up in, like, blue collar areas, and Ilove sports.
And I my dad got me a jump rope, ankle weights,a Walkman, and a force recon and army ranger
Jody cassette tapes in sixth grade.
So I'm push ups, sit ups, jump rope, runningaround the neighborhood.
In seventh grade, my dad got me a weight setand asked the high school football team if I
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could train with them, Lake Bluestreak.
So I'm in seventh grade, ride my BMX bike up tothe high school, monkey roll, stadium steps,
bigger, faster, stronger for older people outthere.
It's a bench squat deadlift or power cleanprogram.
And then I got a weights set at home.
And so I and then I started taking supplementsearly.
My dad took me to people.
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He did a lot of things.
Like, you wanna get better at pitching?
Here's a guy in town that pitched in the MajorLeagues World Series.
Like, I'm gonna have him mentor you inpitching.
You're gonna train with the high schoolfootball team.
Like, whatever he could provide for me to getbetter at football, like, I I soaked it up, and
I loved it.
And I knew I wanted to play college football inhigh school.
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I started meditating and journaling.
Like, nobody taught me, but there's a a soldierof Fortune magazine had Paladin Press.
And that's when we were kids, me and my buddieslearned how to make pipe bombs and smoke bombs
from these these books.
But they also had secrets of the ninja mind,And it had it had these stare at a candle and
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do breath work.
And I I forget when Pavel Satsulan startedputting things out, but he was doing breath
work things, not just kettlebell things.
So very early on, even in high school, it waslike, what can I do to get better at football,
nutrition, meditation, journaling?
I was drawn to spending a lot of time in naturebecause of hunting with my father.
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And back then, I didn't connect that with myspirituality.
I wish the organized religion did more to teachus about the contemplative and mystical
traditions because I was drawn to nature andsilence.
And so I did all these things to be better atfootball.
And then in college, there's deeper stories.
High school and college, I had severe footballinjuries.
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But the work habit that I had from grinding sohard and lifting strict with my nutrition,
spending the the quiet time in nature,journaling, meditating.
Those things helped me rehab and come back froma lot of injuries where they said you'll never
squat again.
You'll never run again.
And I also had a a very deep converge a deeperspiritual conversion in college after I ripped
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my calf in half and they said I'd never runagain.
I was like, oh, man.
I won't be able to go back in the military orjoin the FBI or try to play in the NFL.
All my dreams, I thought were gonna be gone,and it's a much longer story.
But I realized, for me at least, going tochurch every Sunday, saying your prayers, god,
thank you for this.
God, please give me that.
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Let me do it was a lot of selfishness and very,like, first grade religiosity or churchianity
to try to do the right thing and also get toheaven.
So I had a deep conversion in college where Idove into the contemplative and mystical
traditions.
I got to come back, play another year offootball.
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And so the point of this is was when Ieventually became a cop, and it's a longer
story why I didn't go federal to why I chose tobe a cop.
I wanted to either end up a psychologist or apriest, and I learned through, my first
master's degree in forensic science.
I lived on a mountain in West Virginia at acontract training facility, Storm Mountain
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Training Center, former DC SWAT, Green Beret.
I was a forensic science grad student that wasgoing through CQB, SWAT school, sniper school,
rappelling, fast rope with all these greenberets and SWAT teams.
I was like, dude, this is badass.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And by the way, the feds that came to theseshooting courses, like, weren't into lifting
(25:01):
and fighting and were not as high speed asenlisted special operations or just
metropolitan SWAT teams.
So I was like, man, it's not what I thought inthe movie.
So I ended up becoming a local cop.
I I decided to be a cop as a form of ministry.
I can learn about spirituality, theology,psychology, and what a great place to do
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ministry.
Everybody's hurting, the victim and thecriminal.
You know?
And so I thought it was like a spiritualjourney, but also I can try to be on a SWAT
team and apply everything I did and enjoyedabout sports to be in a cop.
Eat strict, work out, meditate, journal,seeking out spiritual mentors.
I ended up being a strength coach at Yale andGeorgetown under some big name coaches, Steve
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Pliss, Rustarosa, Augie Morelli.
Like, if you go back twenty five, thirty years,these were big names in the industry.
And at the same time, I'm meeting with prieststhat are also psychologists, Dominicans, and
Jesuits, and Benedictines, and diving into thatin addition to yoga and zen and training in MMA
and mixed martial arts with Vinnie Giordano inNew York City, Roger Denton in Connecticut.
(26:11):
Vinnie introduced me to Tony Blauer, the spearsystem well known with first responders and
vets.
So I can
like, generally speaking, like, what whatdecade is is all this happening?
Because a lot of these things is it nineties?
Is that what you said?
Yeah.
This is all pretty, like, contemporary stuff.
Like, I mean, we're this is, like, bleedingedge for right now.
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People are kind of understanding that, like,this mind, body, spirit connection, you know,
in in creating this full spectrum warrior andjust person in general, but that's pretty ahead
of your time, I would think.
I mean, I was the bay baby, but, you know, werepeople looking at you like you're a, like, a
weirdo in the nineties for doing this, or werethe results kinda speaking for themselves and
(26:57):
it was, you know?
I think if you were to talk to the people thatknow me, and my girlfriend did a beautiful
thing for my fiftieth birthday and reached outto a bunch of friends and mentors from
different areas of my life and had them write aletter to me, and she put it in a book.
And it's very consistent throughout my lifethat I've had people step up either to mentor
me or had beautiful friends because I was kindalike the badass guy, but it was also, like,
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emotional and sentimental and pushing reallyhard to better myself.
But how do I love on and help other peoplearound me as well?
And so all those lessons from sports translatedinto law enforcement, and I'm sure that's why
guys like Benny Giordano, Rod Ryan at StormMountain Training Center would let me run and
gun with SF guys is because he saw something inme, you know, and trusted me, which is funny
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because then you go to my first police academyand you have all these egos and they're still
shooting Weaver.
I'm shooting modified isosceles.
You see the defensive tactics programs andpolice work are really garbage old school
karate, and I'm doing I I was already trainingin jujitsu Muay Thai and Tony Blauer Spear, and
they're saying that's bullshit.
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And I'm like, wait.
Wait.
No.
No.
Like, where did you learn how to shoot likethat?
And I wanna be, like, from guys that havekilled people for a living.
I I kinda trust these tier one specialoperators.
So Right.
Which this translates into later when I becomea police academy instructor, two thousand and
six to 02/2009, I implement division onestrength conditioning, ground and pound
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dummies, uppercut bags, Muay Thai bags, heartrate monitors during fitness, fighting,
shooting, breath work with an early HRV device,the stress eraser, imagery, progressive muscle
relaxation.
I was integrating this into the strength andconditioning and the tactical training, which I
don't even know police academy is doing thatnow.
(28:54):
I'm still, like, banging the drum and fightinglike, are you gonna teach about the
parasympathetic and the sympathetic nervoussystem?
Are you gonna teach about heart ratevariability?
Are you gonna use some objective data to showpeople that they're stressed out and they're
not gonna make good decisions or perform theirmotor skills in a proficient manner when
they're this stressed out.
So what do we need to do?
(29:15):
And everybody criticizes the police that theythey're brutal and they're racist.
It's like, no.
They're spazzing out because they don't haveenough training.
Look at the the an athlete in high school getsmore motor skill development in a week of
catching and throwing a ball than a cop willget in a whole year of driving, fighting, or
shooting.
And the shooting is hit a big piece of paperwhile you're breathing, closing an eye, and
(29:41):
squeezing the trigger with no stress in broaddaylight.
But then you're in a foot pursuit or a carchase.
You crash.
You get out in the dark with somebody pointingthe gun.
You're shooting on the move at a movie Target,and you've never scrimmaged like that in
practice.
But then you're a racist because you're a whitecop and it was a black man, and nobody goes
under goes over motor skill development,complex decision making under stress, and look
(30:05):
at the training records to see that most copscan barely, barely punch holes in a paper
target with no stress.
Most cops cannot pull off any, like, martialarts skills even if you have a a compliant
subject, let alone for every tool on your belt.
I have a radio.
I have handcuffs.
I have an ass.
(30:25):
I have a taser.
Those add layers of complexity to decisionmaking under stress that you need to hone each
of these motor skills individually to haveunconscious competence with the handcuffs, with
the radio, with the different martial artsskills, with the driving.
And then you have to integrate them as anathlete would while they're practicing and
(30:46):
scrimmaging long before the game.
But we don't do that, and then we say that thisperson's a murderer or a racist when it's
really they were
There's an added layer as well of kind of inthe back of your mind knowing that every
decision that you make is going to be Mondaymorning quarterbacked, you know, right after.
So it's like, do you do hesitate?
(31:08):
Do you follow your instincts?
Do you do you know, which because because, youknow, you don't rise to the occasion.
You fall to the level of training.
And Mhmm.
Like, as you just mentioned, the training isn'tthere.
You know?
So, yeah.
Sorry to interrupt you, but I just wanted toNo.
The other component of it is that, you know,knowing that, like, man, any everything that
I've every choice that I make right now isgoing to be scrutinized and psychoanalyzed by
(31:34):
people who weren't there.
You know?
Yeah.
We have expectations of perfection for cops toact like a tier one gunslinger, a UFC cage
fighter or ninja, a lawyer, a psychologist, asocial worker, and a paramedic
Right.
Without any of the training of all these otherprofessions.
And if you look at the numbers, hey.
(31:54):
Look it up.
How many people get killed or permanentlydisabled?
And I'm one of them from a medical error.
I have permanent disabilities from a surgery Inever should have had.
Look it up.
Look up the numbers every year.
Doctors and nurses are doing their best withfar more education and training than cops, and
things happen.
(32:15):
They do their best, and people die or getdisabled, and we don't make them wear body
cameras.
We don't let people film the Operating Room andscream and yell at them while they're doing
brain surgery on a car accident victim.
And we don't scrutinize them if somebodycomplains or a family complains that somebody
died.
So we take you away from all the other doctorsand nurses.
(32:37):
We put you in a dark room or make you sit athome for two years and call you a racist or a
murderer in the media.
You and your family are getting death threats.
We offer out of sight, out of mind.
You're gag ordered.
Your coworkers aren't allowed to call you aftersomebody complains on you.
So imagine if every doctor and nurse, whensomebody got hurt or a surgery or procedure
(32:59):
didn't work out, what if we threaten all ofthem with getting fired or going to prison, and
we made them sit at home or sit in a dark roomby themselves for one or two years where
they're not allowed to talk to their coworkers.
Do you think doctors and nurses would be realconfident, or they'd be walking on eggshells
like cops?
Like, oh, we already have paralysis by analysisbecause we're not trained enough.
(33:23):
Right?
So that happens.
And now am I the next guy that's gonna be inthe media that black lives matter wants to burn
my house down?
And then some rogue district attorney that'sfunded by George Soros is gonna charge me with
murder or manslaughter, and I'm gonna go toprison.
I've had a number of cops, and I just wrote aletter to a judge recently for a police
(33:44):
officer's case.
They asked me to do it.
Usually, when I support people, I'm on thesidelines in the shadows.
I've dealt with many people in these big,horrible when I say horrible, nobody knows what
the cop and their family's gone through whenthey get charged with a crime or not even
charged, but they don't know if for two yearsthey're gonna get charged with a crime or
fired.
(34:04):
And I wrote this judge and I talked about this,including the medical profession, and I said,
you know, I have had numerous cops across thecountry say, if I have a black man with a gun,
I'd rather be shot and killed because my familywould get the benefits and I'd be considered a
hero.
But if I use my firearm, I may get fired, I maygo to jail, and my family won't get the
(34:27):
benefits.
And we'll lose the house and get a divorce,which happens a lot of the times when people
are under investigation.
That's how bad it is.
The fact that that is, like, honestly like,that's the first time I ever heard anyone say
that and sounds incredibly rational.
Like, that is not an irrational position tohave.
You know what I mean?
Like, I mean, like, I'm not saying it's it'sthe right necessarily position, but, like, I
(34:50):
could absolutely see how somebody
could go
through that thought process and be like, yeah.
I mean, it on paper, that's the move.
That is a better move than, you know, roll thedice with the alternative.
You know?
Wow.
Well, then let's go back, use sports as ananalogy because most people understand sports.
(35:10):
What if the only training you got in soccerfive years ago, I put you three feet in front
of the goal, and you just gotta kick the ballin the goal?
Mhmm.
No goalie.
And maybe and and no goalie.
And maybe you do it twenty, fifty times.
Five years later, then I make you sprint up anddown the field, and you have defenders, and you
(35:32):
have a goalie, and you have a crowd screamingat you, and you have referees or umpires.
I'm not a soccer guy, so I don't know if thereare referees or umpires in soccer.
And what if oh my god.
So now I'm I'm exhausted because I never had torun sprints before I kick the ball.
I've never had a defender on me plus a goalie.
(35:53):
Oh my gosh.
The fans are are a huge distraction.
And what if I make a mistake and the referee orumpire, referee, I think it is, calls a
penalty, and the penalty isn't just the otherside gets the ball.
Hey.
I may get kicked off the team, or you might begoing to prison.
And what if the referee makes calls sometimesbecause the fans are booing?
(36:17):
So there's pressure from the fans, politics.
So the referee calls a penalty because of thepressure.
And what if my coach doesn't defend me?
Sanctuary trauma.
Agencies often don't back their cops or evenfirefighters that make a promise cops.
Right.
(36:37):
Right.
But, oh my god, the only practice you gave mewas kicking a ball in an empty net five years
ago.
Now now I had all these other variables.
I don't do it perfectly.
The fans boo, the referee makes a call, and mycoach ignores me even though he didn't prepare
me, and I might be going to jail.
(37:00):
If if that was the the position for everyprofessional athlete, like
Yeah.
How how well would they be performing?
Yeah.
And no wonder it would be, you'd be have a hardtime recruiting soccer players.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yep.
So, back to your story.
Where where were we at now?
We're about, okay, as a police instructor apolice academy instructor.
(37:24):
Right?
And you're bringing all these differentrealities into the training.
So pick it up from there.
Well, I ended up an instructor because I gothurt during SWAT, got the surgery that jacked
me up, and then I was overmedicated withoutunderstanding it because it was before we knew
that opiates, benzos, muscle relaxers werereally bad for you.
I was on antibiotics for three years on andoff, which killed my good gut bacteria and
(37:50):
immune system.
But back then, doctors were saying it wasn'tthat.
I was sick.
I was fat.
I was usually two twenty to two thirty.
That's what I've been since 17.
That's what I am now.
Yep.
You know?
People listening.
I was gonna say, made sure that you had, like,mass built like a brick shit house.
So, like Yeah.
Well, anyway, perfect.
These people can't see you, but I I recommendlooking him up.
(38:10):
This he looks absolute unit.
So okay.
So you're you're overweight and and, you know,clearly something is not in alignment because,
you know, your your physiology has fluctuatedto this point, which kinda showing something's
out of whack.
Right?
Yeah.
Yeah.
So I was supposed to be at home on bed rest orlight duty or whatever, like, out on injury.
(38:36):
And I didn't and I didn't wanna do that, so Istayed in the fight by going to the somebody
well, first, we had two officers killed.
So I got pulled full time to dealing with twoofficers murdered at a police station, which is
a a super tragedy.
But I was already doing the peer support mentalhealth, but it gave me, like, really, like,
gritty experience to have two cops murdered attheir station, and the agency wasn't that
(39:01):
prepared to handle that.
So to help hire contract and the full timepsychologists do all the rebuilding and
debriefing while I'm going through my medicalissues, but it gave me something to focus on to
have meaning and purpose while I'm getting fatand wearing diapers, and they can't figure out
what's up with my medical.
And then after I did that, they called me tothe academy, and then I ended up rebuilding the
(39:24):
strength conditioning and the and the wellnessand all of those things with the breath work
and heart rate variability, polar heart rate.
We did research, a lot of stuff.
I get medically retired, and I was on a ton ofdrugs, and fat and wearing diapers.
And my psychiatrist in the DC area was veryholistic.
(39:47):
She had a nutritionist long before people weretalking about this is over sixteen years ago.
Nutrition has a ties to mental health.
She had yoga, she had meditation, she hadtissue work.
So she was an amazing woman and a greatadvocate for me, doctor Colleen Blanchfield.
If you're in the DC area and you want anamazing psychiatrist, she's way she was ahead
(40:09):
of her time.
But she called me in after I got medicallyretired and told me to move to LA for
functional and integrative medicine because shesaid everything that she was doing was normal
in LA, and I needed more resources like that.
So, that's why I moved to Manhattan Beach, andtook I grinded away at physical therapy three
(40:31):
days a week, vitamin IV every week,neurofeedback and cycle analysis two to three
days a week back then.
And it took you know, it it was a grind.
And here's the thing that I share with people.
I already was meditating, journaling, had aspiritual director that were priests, that were
psychologists.
As soon as I started going through problems, Iasked work comp, I need a therapist, and they
(40:55):
fought me on it.
Right?
And I'm and I didn't have a stigma to it.
So to get that psychiatrist, I had to jumpthrough hoops.
I'm doing all the I know how to eat.
I know how to work out, and I know how to seekhelp, and it's still hard.
I don't want people to wait until you're fatand out of shape or an addict or in the middle
of your medical retirement or your divorce andbe like, hey.
(41:17):
Try to learn how to eat healthy or meditate ordo yoga or journal or share your feelings with
a professional while you're in this dark place.
That's it's like, wait till you're four hundredpounds, you have a heart attack, and you're
diagnosed with diabetes and say, hey.
Maybe you should eat clean and work out.
I could give you a personal trainer.
We could give you meal prep sent to your house.
(41:39):
It's gonna be so hard to change that.
Or what if I wait until you have a mouthful ofblack cavities and I send you to a dentist that
doesn't use anesthesia and has to yank all yourteeth?
Like, how about teaching people how to brushand floss?
These food and drinks might cause cavities, somaybe avoid these foods, eat more of these, get
a checkup every year.
(41:59):
We catch a cavity early, we can do some work onit and not have to yank the tooth.
So I'm this health nut guy that's grindingintellectually, spiritually, emotionally,
physically.
But, dude, when I hit my adversity, my shitsandwich, life is still hard.
There are no shortcuts.
It's still a grind, and it sucks.
So I want people to have awareness and betrying to do things to help themselves before
(42:24):
the crisis hits, before the bomb blows up inyour life.
Like, what if the military got rid of EODunits?
What if we only train for after somebody stepson a IED or drives over it?
We we don't know situational awareness.
Everything's right of bank instead of left ofbank.
Hey.
(42:44):
We know this stuff happens in sports.
We prepare for it.
We know that there's IEDs over here, so we'regonna send out the EOD unit.
We're gonna do our best to avoid this stuff andbe trained how to respond after.
But in first responders and even mental healthfor veterans, I think we're still more right of
bang versus left of bang.
(43:04):
So my journey is I was a left of bang guy mywhole life, but it's still hard when things
happen.
Right.
You know?
So LA, I get a second master's in sportspsychology planning on a PhD in clinical psych
because I wanna help athletes, veterans, firstresponders.
I've known all along mental health, self care,stigmatized.
(43:24):
As a former athlete, coach, tactical guy,hopefully, I can at least get a foot in the
door and maybe help people when they're ready.
And there's also a performance aspect to it.
You know?
So self regulation, performance enhancement,optimizing performance before the wheels come
off, before we blow an engine or transmissionwhere we're taking pit stops.
(43:45):
You gotta take your foot off the gas, roll intoa garage or a driveway, let the engine cool
down, change the fluids, rotate the tires,check the brakes, run a diagnostic, and address
things.
Like, why aren't we doing operationalmaintenance on our minds and our hearts and our
bodies?
It's not just all CrossFit and jujitsu till thewheels come off.
(44:08):
So let's do maintenance.
Let's do self care.
So I finished the sports psych degree.
I'm doing coaching and sports psych out here orwas in LA, and I get a work a call from work
comp that says your doctors cost too much andthey're quacks.
And you need to go back on medicines to saveyour department money.
(44:29):
So wait.
And and I'm too fit and productive.
And they had pictures of me with NFL guyslooking like you've seen me look like, and
they're criticizing me versus be on opiates,benzos, muscle relaxers, psych meds, sleep meds
versus physical therapy, psychotherapy,neurofeedback, IVs, vitamin IVs, supplements,
(44:53):
and hormone replacement therapy.
Yep.
I'm a conspiratorial guy.
So when I I don't know.
But let me let me ask you before I kinda inputmy 2¢.
Where do you think that pressure is comingfrom?
Is it coming from ignorance, or is it comingfrom, like, malfeasance?
(45:16):
You know?
Like, this idea
of malfeasance.
Yeah.
Wow.
And and in court, we went all the way to thestate supreme court.
They cut off my pension, my disability pay, andmy medical care for three and a half years,
which is why I didn't get a PhD.
They dragged me through the mud, and it wasjustifying my functional integrative care.
And there's a Colgate football player that doesdocumentaries, and I've Colgate's where I
(45:39):
graduated from.
I did two years at Air Force Academy thenColgate.
He was researching it.
The money fell through, but he found out thatwork comp companies make a percentage of the
money they save on you.
So if my integrative care was a hundredthousand a year and they cut it off to take a
hundred bucks of drugs a year, Well, the workcomp company makes money off the money they
(45:59):
save.
Also, there's a kickback or there was from thepharmaceutical companies.
Always.
Yeah.
So and and I can tell you this.
People don't if you get hurt as a cop or afirefighter, it's ignored, delayed, deny in
most agencies.
They try to get out of help.
It's all about saving money.
You could be a hero cop.
(46:20):
And there's there's another story from my oldagency going on right now that, you know, a guy
was like an amazing patrol cop, got all theseawards, amazing detective, combat vet, ends up
getting in a fight with a suspect that caused abunch of serious injuries.
And he's getting medically retired andstruggling to get the medical care he needs.
(46:42):
And also he did child sex crimes.
And he he's like, dude, I got PTSD from doing,like, you have to watch videos of children,
like, what happens.
Right?
They have to write reports.
And he's asking for mental health help, andthey're like, no.
You're in limbo.
And and I I've done peer support and chaplaincyfor different nonprofits and through
(47:04):
networking.
That's not a one off story.
It's a common story.
If people have legit PTSD or medical problemfrom an on the job injury or exposure to
trauma, and it's all about saving money.
But if we did the proactive mental health andwellness, we talked about post traumatic
growth.
(47:25):
If we had red light, cold plunge, sauna,meditation at stations, we would have more
perform higher performance and service to thecommunity, better morale, better mental health.
People would stay in the careers longer.
They wouldn't lateral or retire early.
You would be saving money.
Yeah.
You'd be saving money.
It's in the preventative care in in the firstplace because it's like we know with most,
(47:47):
like, emergency medicine.
You know?
If you get somebody insulin is really cheap,you know, but if you wait until they're having,
you know, a a diabetic like DKA, you know, andyou now you gotta go there amputate their leg
in the emergency room, and then the insurancecompany or the hospital is like, well, let's
just amputate below the knee because it costs alittle bit more to get them up there.
(48:09):
You know what I mean?
It was like you guys are penny pinching on thewrong side of the equation, you know, if that
really is about saving money.
You know?
Yeah.
Yeah.
So the the system's broke.
It's not it's
Yeah.
It's and and that came up in court even thoughI was cut off for three and a half years.
No pay.
(48:31):
I sold my old Jeep, my old third gen fourRunner that I love to pay bills, emptying my
savings, and people had to GoFundMe while I'mfighting for my medical care.
And but the universe or God works things out ifthey will.
No PhD, which would allow me to be apsychologist to make money to support my
pension, which I would have loved to do.
(48:53):
But I ended up getting a third master's inpastoral theology, which allowed me to go
deeper on my spiritual journey and allowed meto meet the next mentor I needed for this very
dark, dark another dark season.
But father Jim Clark is an expert in masculinespirituality and psychology, the contemplative
tradition, spiritual direction.
(49:15):
And I met him while I was in this third mastersthat I was just doing for myself.
So there's a there's there's things that happenthat benefit me even though I went through this
misery.
And then it changes the trajectory to where I'ma volunteer nonprofit one man show like
chaplain fitness, wellness, self regulation,self care type thing for first responders and
(49:39):
veterans, which is I I know it's a much neededarea.
We need more people doing this.
We need more retreats before people have PTSD,addiction, suicide.
We need more outdoor activities, more shootingand jujitsu, and then sharing your story
without alcohol and chasing women, likenormalizing healthy things or do some jujitsu
(50:01):
and then do artwork, do some tactical shooting,do some breath work or yoga.
You know, like do a a hard workout and then dosome journaling.
Do what you're doing with guy this Sunday,Sound bath, meditation, yoga, and an
opportunity with people that are on a differentpath at this point.
I wanna heal.
(50:21):
I wanna grow.
I wanna be more present.
I wanna be more loving first and foremost tomyself and forgive myself for anything that
I've had insecurity or baggage about.
And let me just be honest about it.
And then I wanna show up more for my family, myspouse, my friends, in a much more meaningful
and deeper manner for the rest of my life.
(50:42):
And guess what?
I can still be a badass firefighter, cop,businessman, and also emotional and loving.
I I can do both.
But for whatever reasons, we're we're oftenlocked into thinking to be the best.
I gotta be so identified with this one area ofmy life.
(51:04):
Totally.
You know, I I I talk about this sometimes or II've it's been brought up before.
But, you know, balance in our Western Americansociety, especially if you want to be a a high
achiever in business or or in anything.
It it's sort of like the the culture is youneed to have a single-minded approach.
(51:28):
You know, you look at a a Steve Jobs or a LanceArmstrong or a Michael Jordan or any of these,
you know, people that, you know, we look up to,we put up on a on a pedestal as and and without
a doubt, those are, you know, the greats.
But I think what people kind of fail to torecognize is that you can't be the best in
(51:50):
business if your family life is falling apart,you know, or your health you know, like, hey.
I'm I'm working, you know, sixty, seventy hoursa week, and, that just means I'm gonna, order
in, you know, crappy food and eat super late atnight or what whatever the case is.
And now your health is taking, as toll.
You're not getting as good of sleep, and nowyou're making more mistakes on the job.
(52:14):
You know, I I think people fail to, like,appreciate a holistic approach to your life and
and and wellness, and and maybe it's I'd liketo use the word balance, but I know that some
people don't.
But I think it makes you better in the pursuitthat you want to.
(52:35):
You know what I mean?
Oh, absolutely.
And we could and I could go down the theologyand the spirituality of that in different
orientations of psychology.
But even scientifically and very objectively,we could prove this at least with the military,
police, and fire.
Let's give everybody an Oura ring.
Right?
Let's measure your HRV, and I wanna do bloodlabs on you with your hormones, your
(52:59):
neurotransmitters, your gut microbiome, yourblood sugar, and inflammation markers before
you go to boot camp, police, or fire academy.
I wanna do an EEG and measure your brain waves.
And then throughout your career, we're gonnahave an aura ring on you.
And every year, we're gonna do EEG, and we'regonna do blood labs, and we can track that
stuff.
(53:19):
And so guess what?
Even if you're the SWAT guy that does CrossFitand jujitsu and paleo and you're, like, high
fiving and rah rah and you got your shirt offon your Instagram.
But what if I look at your HRV and it's dogshit?
Right?
And especially if you realize, oh, I drink somebeer before bed.
(53:40):
That really messes up my deep and REM sleep.
Or I have six cups of coffee.
I'm not operating at my best.
And let's we should be covering the science ofsleep and the parasympathetic nervous system
and the and the fact that you cannot out grindand caffeinate and tobacco and gritty hardiness
(54:04):
and still perform at the highest your reactiontime is suffering if your HRV looks bad, if
your nervous system's burned out, if you're notsleeping, your motor skills, your decision
making, and your decision your decision making,your motor skills are not optimal at all.
Now what are some and you kinda ran throughsome, like, blood markers.
(54:26):
But, like, just for, you know, the averageperson, but maybe somebody that, you know, is
is conscientious of these things, they aretrying to, you know, operate or live at an an
optimal, you know, level.
What are some markers that would be a goodthing for most people just to kinda, like, be
aware of, generally speaking, and not just waituntil they're 50 year old colonoscopy?
(54:49):
You know?
Like, what I'm 34.
How old am I?
34.
You know?
What should I be focusing on, you know, or notnecessarily focusing on, but getting tested
just at least be aware of?
Man, while you're still feeling good,testosterone, estrogen, ultra sensitive
estrogen for men, thyroid, at least TSH, IGFone, indicator of your growth hormone, blood
(55:12):
sugar, a one c, glucose, and insulin,inflammation markers like homocysteine, CRP.
I I would seek a read up on functional andintegrative doctors.
Functional and integrative medicine, if you canafford one, find one in your area.
And now they have, gut microbiome tests.
I'd I would do that.
(55:32):
There's also you can use your ancestry.com oryour 23 and me, and there's all these, like,
30.
I think that Gary Brekadu does, like, five.
But, I mean, yeah, like, you can actually justeven my ancestry.com Yeah.
My integrative doctor had, like, 40 differentthings that he broke down just from my
ancestry.com saliva test.
(55:53):
Wow.
Yeah.
So there's functional and integrative medicineis what I would look up, but I would look at
inflammation markers, blood sugar markers, andhormones.
And, obviously, I'm more familiar with men'sstuff than women's.
And I would wanna see that when I'm doing good
Mhmm.
Like, early in my career.
Right.
Right.
Because here's here's another issue with copsacross the country and firefighters is people
(56:18):
are hopping on TRT, testosterone replacementtherapy, in their late twenties.
Yep.
Wow.
Something's wrong if in your late twenties, youneed testosterone.
And they're going to men's clinics that willgive them two hundred, three hundred
milligrams.
Like, even if you're a hundred and eighty poundguy and you're starting at two hundred or three
(56:38):
hundred milligrams, like, woah.
But that they know that you might see resultsright away, but it's like, how's your nutrition
been?
How's your sleep been?
Have you been managing your stress?
How or your workouts, your exercise?
Are you getting morning sunlight?
What like, how are the relationships in yourlife?
And when people talk to me, it's like, Ihaven't worked out in five years.
(56:58):
Oh, I've been eating like shit.
My marriage is so stressful.
I hate my boss at work.
It's like, dude, TRT is not the answer rightnow.
You need I suggest you work on your nutrition,your sleep, your fitness, your relationship,
and your self regulation and stress managementbecause all of those things affect your
(57:20):
hormones.
And you wanna maximize your health to the bestof your ability and not just put a band aid on
something and not address the root issues.
Because if you start TRT now, then you'relowering your natural levels.
Sometimes your estrogen or red blood cells orpeople have problems or complications, and then
you get off and then you might have hurtyourself and have been at a lower level.
(57:43):
It's just like, if you haven't maximized yourfitness levels naturally, there's no reason to
do steroids.
Right?
Yeah.
But people want the magic bullet, the magicshortcut, the quick fix, the spiritual
bypassing.
Like, if you've done no work on yourself,unless you're suicidal, I don't suggest hopping
(58:04):
on the veteran retreats to go south of theborder and do on psychedelics.
If you're in a terrible marriage and all yourfriends are drinkers and cheating on their
wives and you go peek behind the curtain andget some self forgiveness or meet God with
Ayahuasca or BUFO or Ibogaine, and then youcome back to a very toxic and dysfunctional
(58:25):
marriage, you don't have a therapist, all yourfriends are still boozehounds, like, then
you're looking forward to the next retreat totrip your balls.
That's the next Like gate.
You know?
It's the next self medicating.
Like, so I I would tell even for becausepsychedelics, I wish people in the police world
(58:46):
and the fire world need to talk about itbecause cops and firefighters are hearing all
the seals and the green braes on podcast, andthey're talking to me.
They're already doing it.
And I can't get people to talk about ketamineassisted therapy.
I I that's legal.
You could keep your job.
You wouldn't be in trouble.
But then if they do it, people are just gettingan IV, and they're not in therapy.
And there are scientific benefits to it.
(59:08):
But what comes up, that's important stuff thatyou should be in therapy.
So like my advice is, can you get in weeklytherapy for six months?
Can you start eating better and start either ameditation or a yoga or a journaling practice
or one or more of those?
Start having boundaries in your unhealthyrelationships.
(59:30):
These friendships are no longer serving mewell.
I love you.
I thank you, but, like, I'm headed in adifferent direction.
Here's my new values, mission, and goals.
Find a community that supports your growth oryou need to be isolated a lot of the times.
Get comfortable being isolated with mentors,elders, a therapist, or a community of support,
(59:50):
and it might be a support group of some are youstruggling with porn or alcohol or whatever
your addictions are?
And then can you go on a veteran, firstresponder, meditation, yoga, silent, or a faith
based retreat if that's your thing?
And can you share your feelings while you'resober with other people?
Because that's a hard thing for a lot of peopleto do.
(01:00:14):
Now if you do that, six months or a year ofbeing in therapy, I have been on one or two
retreats.
I now journal or I meditate or I do yoga or I'mdoing artwork or I'm learning how to play a
musical instrument.
I'm doing something to calm my nervous systemand self reflect and and recharge my battery
and start seeking to redefine my mission andgoals, then maybe I'll go on a psychedelic
(01:00:40):
retreat.
But then I caution people because it's hard tofind a good therapist.
It's hard to find a good chaplain.
A lot of people in the psychedelic space I'vemet are really broken people that wanna be the
guru.
Hundred percent.
And and so when you talk to how receptive haveyour community been to this message, just in
(01:01:06):
general?
I mean, it sounds like I'm trying to figure outat what point in the the hierarchy at, you
know, let's say, the police level, are yougetting are you starting to lose people?
You know?
I would imagine my gut is telling me that thethe your average enlisted dude, like, you know,
(01:01:27):
your beat cop that's that's they're kind of onboard with this because they're maybe suffering
even though I don't know.
Maybe I'm kind of putting my own, layer on topof it.
But, you know, are people pretty receptive toit?
And at what point are you starting to losepeople to where they're like, nah.
That's just too expensive.
Not here.
You know?
(01:01:49):
This is maybe where this is where maybe this issome of my strength and my weakness.
My strength and love is working in small groupand individually because everybody's story is
different.
Everybody's preferences are different.
And that goes back to it's not gonna be stellarganglion block for everyone, ketamine for
(01:02:09):
everyone, EMDR for everyone, transcendentalmeditation versus this meditation versus keto,
carnivore, paleo, vegan.
Everybody's story matters, and everybody'shealing or growth prescription or formula is
gonna look different, even spiritually andreligiously.
(01:02:30):
And I and I personally wanna be sensitive toeverybody's unique individual journey.
So a lot of the deeper things that I may betalking to you about, like, openly are not
things that I I go stand and just blast.
Because I I want everybody to be comfortableand share their story with me.
Yeah.
(01:02:50):
And and if they ask, I may share a little bitof some of this stuff that we may have fire
hosed in this last hour or so.
But I think, individually, there's a lot ofpeople that are very receptive like we shared
earlier because they don't wanna hear from the80 year old pastor that's out of shape or the
(01:03:14):
50 year old MFT that shares her story that shehad a terrible marriage and a terrible
childhood.
And then whether she went to therapy or didpsychedelics or got EMDR herself four years
ago, and then it went and did an online MFT,and now she's a therapist and wants to heal
cops or veterans.
(01:03:34):
But you're like some out of shape 50 year oldwoman that doesn't understand me pursuing
excellence and that I've been on a SWAT team orI've been on a special operations unit or I've
been a smoke jumper, firefighter, hotshot, whatyou don't understand the fact that I played
division one sports and went to a top tier lawschool.
(01:03:56):
Like, you don't get me.
So and and those people are the ones that Iknow because guys are honest with me when we go
to a peer support conference or they seesomebody online that they share their broken
story, and there's still a bit of a victimmindset with some first responders and
veterans.
This happened to me and oh my god.
(01:04:17):
And I ruined my marriage and I got medicallyretired.
And it's okay not to be okay.
So seek help before you ruin your life likemine.
And by the way, buy my book, pay me to be aspeaker, or pay me to be your life coach.
And the high functioning guys and gals arelike, that doesn't resonate with me.
These guys you know?
(01:04:39):
But there's somebody out there that is in themiddle of the bottle on a divorce, and that
story may hit them.
But high functioning alpha types, men and womendon't wanna burden others.
Yeah.
Right.
They don't wanna burden others, and they wannabe seen, heard, understood, not judged, and
they don't want somebody that tries to fix themor pull the guru thing.
(01:05:01):
Yeah.
Right.
But then there's the other people that arehurting so bad, they'll listen to the guru.
Let me do EMDR, and I'll cure you.
I'll do it.
Let me do this retreat, and we'll do thesedrugs, and you'll be cured.
Or you could do this SGB shot, and you'll becured.
I believe in all these things, and I've beendoing Merck.
And if I haven't told you about Merck No.
(01:05:21):
It's out of Encinitas Wave Neuroscience.
Dude, it helped my sleep more than anything.
Really?
I Wow.
Yeah.
We need to talk about that because they do anEEG.
Doctor Eric Wan is a is, like, the lead guy forWave Neuroscience.
Yeah.
I stumbled upon this.
And here here it is.
Here's other tools out there to try nonpharmaceutical.
(01:05:44):
They do an EEG.
They measure your brain waves, which I'mfamiliar with because I've been doing
neurofeedback for sixteen years.
I meditate, measure my brain waves, and theywanna improve your alpha.
Yep.
And TMS, transmagnetic cranial whatever, Iguess, is like one size fits all.
Mhmm.
So they use the same equipment, and they usethe EEG to do the voltage or whatever specific
(01:06:09):
to your brainwaves.
Interesting.
And in four week hey.
I've done stellate ganglion block, five ofthem, even with Botox.
Wow.
I have done ketamine.
Yep.
I I've done a lot of things.
Yep.
In four weeks, that was like I cut my sleepmedication in half.
No shit.
Boom.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And if you have TRICARE, it's I if you haveTRICARE, it's covered.
(01:06:33):
No way.
Pretty sure.
Yes.
Credible.
Yo.
Out offline, I'm I'm gonna follow-up about thatbecause, that's one of that's probably the
biggest area.
I mean, like, I I sleep I I'm in.
It's like I I, you know, I'm I don't wake upsuper tired or anything like that, and, you
know, like, but I I just know I'm I'm, like,I'm always awake in my sleep, if that makes
(01:06:53):
sense.
Like, I'm kind of like a a hypervigilantsleeper, and, and I've just sort of you know?
But I also recognize you know, there's that guyBrian Johnson.
He's, like, the the guy who's trying to, like,live forever tech dude.
He's kind of a weirdo.
But he has he's, like, doing his, like,biometric age on, like, every single, like,
(01:07:14):
system in his body, and he you should look thisguy up.
But, anyway, long story short, his one piece ofadvice to, like, just every person, that he's
like he views the way he kinda goes through hislife now is it's all about trying to sleep.
Like, he's like his waking hours are just toset up the best level of sleep that that he can
(01:07:39):
get because he's found that it's, like, theprobably biggest thing that you can implement
in your life or improve in your life to startseeing carry on, effects throughout.
And and that goes to nutrition.
It goes to other stuff because if you're eatingsuper late at night or you're having, you know,
a a lot of sugar or something, you know,different different, aspects to it, but it's
(01:08:01):
all gonna jack up your sleep, and then that'sgonna jack up your cortisol and your heart rate
variability and all that Mhmm.
Stumps.
You know?
So that's probably one of the areas where I'mlike, and I don't want to take sleep
medication.
You know, I wanna figure out how to sleepbetter naturally.
And I I take, like, my mushroom supplements,and I do a lot of things that kind of that
really do help me, but, I'm definitelyinterested in, you know, finding some more
(01:08:25):
stuff just to kinda maybe improve thatnaturally.
So, let's let's see.
We're kinda wrapping up here, but I would loveto, you know, what are some final notes that
you wanna leave people?
I mean, we've we've touched on a lot, but, isthere any sort of, like, parting message you
(01:08:49):
can leave with the audience?
Yeah.
Well, we've talked about it.
So I challenge if you have the financialability and if you have a PPO insurance, almost
every PPO and some HMOs have an annualpreventative wellness lab, and they will cover
the full gamut of blood work.
So there's no reason that once a year and doyour own research because it's hard unless you
(01:09:12):
can get a functional and integrative doctor.
Look up the labs you want and take them to yourprimary care, find a primary care, and be like,
I wanna get all my blood sugar.
I wanna get all my metabolic.
I wanna get inflammation markers, and I wannaget my hormones tested.
Mhmm.
And go get that done.
If you can afford an Oura ring, buy an Ouraring.
(01:09:34):
Educate yourself on heart rate variability.
Start pay attention to your deep and REM sleep.
Look up sleep hygiene.
Look at the ways to improve your sleep.
And if we had if you wanna do another episode,we could, like, break some of this down, but
look up sleep hygiene.
Pay attention to your HRV at least once a monthat least once a month.
(01:09:55):
So blood work
Yep.
HRV, schedule half a day or a full day whereyou're not gonna be on your phone.
Yeah.
You're gonna have a fast from technology.
You're gonna go to a park.
You're gonna go to the ocean.
You're gonna go on a hike.
You're gonna rent a canoe with your loved oneor a best friend.
You're gonna do something in nature where it'ssilent.
(01:10:15):
And if you can on that one day a month, go geta massage or acupuncture after.
If you live somewhere like we do on SouthernCalifornia, go to a wellness center, do a cold
plunge, a sauna, and or a sensory deprivationfloat tank.
Do one day a month that is your pit stop, thatis your maintenance, that's your tune up.
(01:10:38):
And and I would hope that over time, you lookat your HRV.
You may be looking at your blood work, and youjust feel better.
And especially if you're doing it with yourspouse or a loved one or your one of your
children, if you have a child, like yourrelationship starts improving.
Hey.
Maybe we need to do this twice a month.
Maybe we need to do this once a week.
(01:11:00):
Love that.
That's such a good that's such a good message.
Before, I have you tell the audience where theycan find you and connect with you, I'd love to
send you a bag of coffee or, are you more of amatcha guy, like, to drink coffee?
Oh, yeah.
We're all in yeah, brother.
Me, we're all in the organic coffee.
(01:11:20):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Alright.
Cool.
We'll we'll send you a bag of, our mushroominfused, organic Mexican coffee.
Awesome.
But, Matt, you wanna just tell the people whereto find you, how they can connect with you, if
they have any other questions, maybe where howthey can reach out?
Yeah.
My website is tacticalchaplain.com.
(01:11:41):
Really easy.
Tacticalchaplain.com.
That'll have interviews, media I've been in,more of my personal story.
I'm supposed to be building another websitesoon.
Hopefully, that's gonna be broader because somepeople think that chaplain pigeonholes me
because I do much more than just spirituality.
So I'm gonna have a different website in thefuture, but I'll always have
(01:12:02):
tacticalchaplain.com.
On LinkedIn, Matt Domyancic, d o m y a n c I c.
So I'm on LinkedIn.
On Instagram, I post most on Thin Blue LineSpirituality Thin Blue Line Spirituality, and I
also have the tactical chaplain.
Even though I'm I'm not a social media guy, butI do try to post, And I don't post really
(01:12:26):
anything about myself.
I try to post up positive quotes like mind,body, spirit, psychology, self care, functional
and integrative medicine.
So thin blue line spirituality and the tacticalchaplain.
I am on Facebook, but I never check it.
I think my Instagram posts automatically go toFacebook.
So please don't try to reach out on Facebook.
(01:12:47):
Reach out on LinkedIn or through the tacticalchaplain or Instagram.
And, happy to help anyone individually or anyagencies or other nonprofits that would maybe
wanna do more retreats, more outdoorrecreational stuff like with swell and the
Jimmy Miller, like the surf therapy.
We didn't talk about it, but I do somethingcalled piu jitsu peer support.
(01:13:09):
There'll be jujitsu, tactical firearms, coldplunge breath work, and then I do a four hour
interactive mental, emotional, physical, andspiritual health and wellness.
This is what I've been doing going back to whenI was at the police academy where we need more
for cops.
All cops need more tactical firearms, moremartial arts, but they gotta understand the
(01:13:30):
parasympathetic nervous system, HRV, as well asself reflection, learning lessons from our
hardship, post traumatic growth, the hero'sjourney, the second half of life per Carl Jung.
Very important concept.
And people will do the shooting and thefighting, and then we'll get to the end and,
you know, arms unless you know me already.
The people that have ridden with me or beenfriends with me know that, okay.
(01:13:54):
Matt Matt will say something useful and not bea dork.
But guys that don't know me will be you know,they'll go from arms crossed to, like, leaning
in and then be like, wow.
I thought this was gonna be the same oldbullshit about PTSD, addiction, suicide from
somebody that doesn't care and doesn'tunderstand.
(01:14:14):
How come we're then they'll be like, how comewe're not having more of these proactive
conversations explaining it in a manner that'spractical and applicable to all their lives
that we could implement these things throughoutour career and be a better cop, firefighter, or
military operator, and a better father,husband, wife, mother, friend to the people we
(01:14:35):
love, and a better part of society in ourcommunity with building bridges instead of more
division.
Yeah.
Damn, man.
You're you're such a deep such a deep dude.
A breath of fresh air.
This is exactly the impression that I had whenI first met you.
I was like, wow, dude.
We need more of that and just that message.
I mean, I don't I didn't even have a podcast atthe time when we met.
(01:14:58):
I was just doing my my business and and tryingto grow it that way, but this is what I was
trying to communicate to the world is is themessage that you're putting out there.
So thank you so much for what you're doing.
I'd love to also support, any of these, like,Fujitsu events, anything that I could, help
show up for, give out free coffee, and justsort of, you know, just be there because that's
(01:15:22):
that's what makes me feel good in giving backto my community, through my business, which, is
Wind and See Coffee.
So thank you again, Matt.
Awesome, brother.
And, yeah, yeah, we we need to get goingbecause there is a community growing.
So let's get this going in San Diego more wherewe're gonna go lift weights and cold plunge and
(01:15:43):
sound bath and do some archery or horsebackride or rent NTVs.
And we're not gonna drink, and we're gonna havemeaningful conversations about growing and
healing.
Incredible, dude.
I'm so on board.
Yeah.
%.
Cool.
Alright.
Hold on.
Stick stick around.
Alright.
Welcome back to the mind body mushroom, thepodcast where we explore the holistic health,
personal growth, and the mindset shifts thatdrive high performance.
I'm your host, Jordan Ryan, and as always, thisepisode is brought to you by Wind and Sea
Coffee, the world's best tasting adaptogeniccoffee crafted to fuel both body and mind.
Today, we're diving into a conversation that'sas important as it is overdue, mental health
(00:28):
for first responders.
Now we talk a lot about alternative health formilitary and veterans, but first responders
face a unique set of challenges, often dealingwith the high stress environments daily without
the same support systems.
Our guest, Matt Domiansick, has walked the pathhimself.
A former SWAT officer, police academyinstructor, and strength coach for elite
(00:49):
athletes, Matt knows firsthand the physical andmental toll that comes with a life on the front
lines.
After medically retiring from law enforcement,he shifted his focus to advocacy, chaplaincy,
and holistic wellness, dedicating his life tosupporting active police officers through peer
support, mental health programs, and a modernapproach to spirituality.
(01:12):
Matt has worked with agencies across thecountry, helping first responders integrate
strength training, stress management, andproactive mental health care into their lives.
Because the tactical performance isn't justabout physical endurance, it's also about
resilience in all aspects.
Today, we're going to deep dive into hisjourney and the realities of policing and what
(01:32):
needs to change to truly support those whoserve.
Matt, welcome to the show.
Thank you so much.
That was a great intro, man.
We didn't even talk for over a year, and yougreat song.
It it it it it makes it easier when we have aguest that has a lot of, like, publicly
available, you know, information.
And, I mean, you're a busy man, dude.
(01:54):
You were just mentioning actually right beforewe got on that you've been, super busy.
You wanna tell us what you've been working onfor, like, the past, you know, since since, I
guess, we we met, which I'll I'll introduce howwe met, but what have you been working on?
So I used to do more when I lived in LA, was atpolice and fire stations every day, riding
(02:14):
along, lifting weights, shooting guns, going totraining, also taking them on retreats,
shooting with veterans that are transitioningout of the military.
So I was more like in the trenches, and each ofthose types of daily visits also would generate
text phone calls to get together off duty, andthat's go for a walk in the beach, lift
(02:35):
weights, do jiu jitsu, but often share theirstory or go to a wellness center and do cold
plunge, sauna, float tank, breath work, go getan organic meal, and allow people to just kinda
get things off their chest, share their story,and normalize better self care, holistic
wellness.
And, yeah, man, you're gonna see a lot ofsuffering as a first responder or combat
(02:57):
veteran.
A lot of people already have a diversechildhood experiences.
High performance people in general, includingathletes that are now in corporate America.
It's like gas pedal, gas pedal, gas pedal.
Suck it up.
Drive on.
And when tough things get tough, grind more.
Get up.
Work out more and more coffee, more chew.
Like, work harder.
(03:17):
Yep.
And it ends up draining the battery.
We know that men in general and alpha maletypes end up with PTSD, divorce, addiction,
suicidal issues, and yet most of our resourcesare reactive only to PTSD, addiction, suicide.
They come after the bomb has blown up in yourlife.
Second divorce, you're now addicted, you're outof shape, you're in a dark hole, getting
(03:43):
medically retired or got a DUI, whatever it is.
And then somebody that's not culturallycompetent or trauma informed offers you help.
Or even if you seek help, they don't understandthe the veteran, the cop, the firefighter.
And in and even when people are seekingtherapy, meditation, yoga, journaling, like,
guys will see guys and gals from theseprofessions will get curious, but the resources
(04:08):
for those things, like, turn them off.
Mhmm.
Yeah.
So Totally.
You know, that's funny.
I I you're you're kinda jogging my memory ofsome stuff that we talked about.
So real quick quick little rewind.
We met at a, surf therapy kinda I guess it waslike a competition sort of, but there's a lot
of these surf therapy groups, one more wave,the swell mission, Pendleton Surf Club, and
(04:33):
they their mission is kind of, you know,providing some holistic health support for guys
in these professions and gals, through surftherapy.
And that was one thing that, so so that was alittle bit how we met.
But, what I remember you talking about that wassuper interesting was, even if you get a guy
(04:57):
that's on board with these type of, like, yeah,man.
I need help.
I I I don't wanna just, you know, take somepills or whatever the case is or just suck it
up.
You know, and so then you go to these, like,therapy or or whatever it is that that your
command may offer you.
It's not run by your peers.
It's run by, you know, like a soft, kindasquishy, like, you know, psych psychology or
(05:24):
some like an academic.
And so there's already this cultural barrierthat, you know, it creates a barrier for them
to access those resources in the first place.
You wanna talk about that?
Well, I mean, I think if you're a jock, a cop,a vet, a firefighter, you want people to be
(05:47):
able to you wanna be seen, heard, understood,not judged, not have people psychopathologize
you, and not give you unsolicited bullshitadvice on how to fix you before they've even
heard your story.
And so this is the world of influencers.
This is also the world of mental health andwellness for first responders and veterans is
(06:08):
that some it could be some former special opsdude or somebody that worked with them, that
two or three years ago, they started theirhealing journey, and they did EMDR or ketamine
or I WASC or SGB or this type of yoga or thistype of meditation.
And now they're the guru, and they're tellingyou that the solution to your problem is
(06:30):
CrossFit or jujitsu or carnivore or vegan orfill in the blank with this type of I have the
therapy that will save you or cure you.
I have the retreat or the medicine or thisprotocol or hang out with me and my friends and
pay me.
And and sometimes it's the former operators andcops and firefighters themselves or it's the
(06:51):
clinician or the clergy or the coach.
Like, how many coaches these days are peoplethat god bless you for being on your healing
journey and your growing journey, but that's alifetime.
And if you have zero training in psychology andtheology and spirituality and kinesiology and
functional and integrative medicine, and you'vejust started your journey, like, pump the
(07:15):
brakes on going out and fixing everyone else,especially if you're not a good listener.
And so, like, the people that are hurting oftenare desperate for relief, so they they may
listen to the charismatic guru if they're inthat broken of a place.
But I know that there's a big void for highfunctioning alphas that even if they're
(07:36):
hurting, they're still high functioning, andthey don't fall for the charlatans or the quick
fixes.
But nobody's speaking to them in a manner thatit resonates.
So, I mean, I don't stay in shape to try toforward my message.
I've been working out since sixth grade andbeen a, you know, a jock and a strength coach
(07:57):
and a SWAT guy.
But that's part of what people first starttalking to me about is, oh, you look like you
still lift weights.
What do you what protein shake or what diet orhow much do you bench?
And you know what?
That gives me an in than an hour or two lateror maybe even a year later if it's a longer
term relationship.
We can talk about how's your heart, brother?
(08:19):
How are you how are your feelings doing?
How's your mental health?
How's your thought life?
Are you are you taking care of yourself?
Versus if and this is this is other cops and SFguys talking to me.
If a middle aged female that's totally out ofshape, that's a clinician, starts talking them,
they're like, dude, this broad doesn'tunderstand me.
(08:39):
And I'm not saying broad in a derogatory sense.
I'm using the language of the people that arespeaking to me.
Or in the case of chaplains, you know, I'm achaplain, and I obviously believe faith and
spirituality is important.
But if the chaplain's an 80 year old out ofshape person that's never done a ride along or
wasn't a military chaplain deployed with thetroops and then starts telling you how to take
(09:04):
care of yourself, like, it there's just a hugedisconnect because there's no common ground.
Like, there's a sign on my parents' wall that Iremember since I was a kid.
It's still there.
It says, never criticize a man until you walkeda mile in his moccasins.
So for us, when I say us, high functioning,high achieving alpha, first responder veteran,
(09:28):
former athlete, corporate America types.
Like, we want somebody that understands whatit's like to pursue excellence and to have had
strong bonds where the job or the sport is ahuge part of our identity, but not in the worst
ways.
There's a lot of beautiful things about thebrotherhood and about the grind and about
achieving success together and understandingthat we don't have to see eye to eye, but we
(09:53):
gotta stand shoulder to shoulder.
There's beautiful things about sports,military, law enforcement, fire.
But at the same time, on the on either side ofevery virtue, there's also a vice, and our
cultures have a lot of unhealthy vices that weoften deal with to self medicate, numb, and
distract ourselves often just from ourfeelings.
(10:14):
You know?
And then we stigmatize you're a pussy, weak,broken, or a bitch, or I'm crazy
Mhmm.
Because I'm feeling my feelings.
And then people sometimes will start sharingtheir story and then be like, oh, man.
I'm so sorry.
And it's like, what are you sorry for?
This is this is part of what's gonna heal youto share your story with a brother or sister
that's also high functioning, been there, whereat one point in their life, maybe driving fast
(10:41):
and hard in your profession or your sport was abeautiful thing, but now we're at a different
phase of life where it's a detriment to ourrelationships and our further psychological,
emotional, and spiritual growth.
Right.
And and another part of it is that that you hadkinda talked about is even if somebody is being
(11:04):
proactive about getting help, if they're stillactive in their role, they don't want to, you
know, not just the stigma that is associatedwith that, but, like, they literally don't want
to, you know, have their their gun taken fromthem.
Hey.
We're not gonna put you, you know, out on thesemissions because you have now you're you're the
nail that's sticking out.
(11:25):
You know?
And so now, uh-oh, are you a problem?
Do we need to worry about you?
So guys are, like, you know, just suckingeverything up because they don't they want to
stay in the fight.
They wanna keep doing their job.
Mhmm.
Yeah.
That's a big problem.
And if I mean, look at sports.
Like, we don't wait until you blow out yourknee or tear your hamstring.
(11:46):
Okay.
Now you can't play and you need a surgery.
You're gonna be in rehab for three to fourmonths.
It's like, we look ahead in this sport.
These are the common injuries.
So the strength and conditioning coach is gonnaaddress this.
The sports medicine staff is gonna do prehab onthese areas.
The sports psychologists and clinicalpsychologists at your big time d one school or
(12:08):
some of the special ops units.
You have resources for all these things to dothe preventative and resiliency building before
you deploy, before you play in a game, where atleast for first responders, it's like zero
strength conditioning, sports psychology,nutrition.
Go until you blow out your hamstring and thenlet's address it.
(12:28):
It's all reactive only.
And if if we know that PTSD, addiction,divorce, and suicide is an issue for people
that are immersed in the suffering of others,you have a steady diet of toxic and
dysfunctional people, on and off adrenalinedumps and exposure to trauma, and often
military veterans and first responders arepeople that come from a lot of adverse
(12:51):
childhood experiences for which combat and thestuff you see on the street is unconsciously
scratching at your childhood wounds, but wehaven't educated you for you to understand that
we need to do some self reflection, pump thebrakes, train the parasympathetic nervous
system so you can be more in touch with yourphysio physiology.
(13:14):
We calm our physiology down.
We have a safe container in our body.
We allow our thoughts and feelings to come up.
We don't judge our thoughts and feelings asweak, crazy, or broken because perhaps police,
fire, and military start training people onpost traumatic growth, which is a valid area of
psychological research that shares how we cangrow from the adversity in our life just like
(13:38):
we grow from running faster or more miles orputting more weight on the bar, doing more
reps, or we manipulate variables in ourworkouts to grow stronger.
Well, life gives us shit sandwiches andadversity.
Sometimes we cause them ourselves by themistakes we make from patterns that we don't
recognize from childhood that helped us surviveor thrive.
(14:00):
But at some point, the patterns that helped ussurvive and thrive are now the obstacle to
further growth.
If we were teaching these things younger in themilitary, first responder professions, or even
schools for all human beings, Well, then whenthese things come up, we're doing the strength
conditioning, we're doing the sportspsychology, and then there's self awareness of,
(14:20):
hey.
Let me address this and let's not stigmatizethe self care or seeking professional and, you
know, objective help.
Like, are you, are you a moron at your d oneschool for listening to a strength coach, the
sports psych, or your linebacker coach?
Like, no.
You go to these people.
You you go to the whoever's in charge ofnutrition if they have a perp person that's in
(14:42):
charge of nutrition.
You pay attention to these people.
But as a cop or a firefighter or the regularmilitary as I understand it, we don't have
strength coaches, sports psych, sportsmedicine, sports nutrition, like some of the
tier one teams may have and what d one athleteshave.
So, like, athletes prepare 90% of the time andcompete maybe five or 10% of the time.
(15:08):
Right?
And they know who their opponents are.
They get to study their opponents.
They know what date they're playing thatopponent.
Like, man, every day could be your Super Bowlas a cop or a firefighter, and there is no off
season.
Every day is freaking game day, and we have nostrength and conditioning or sports psych or
sports nutrition.
In fact, the badge of honor goes to the copperfirefighter that works a shit ton of overtime
(15:34):
and brags about how many girls they're bangingeven though they're married, then everybody
high fives each other, How much chew, how manycoffees, how many energy drinks?
And we somehow, like, the culture allows that.
And I'm not saying to, like, shame or guilttrip people, but more, woah.
Woah.
Woah.
If you're doing that, pull somebody to theside, like, bro, what's going on that you gotta
(15:54):
work so much overtime, drink so many energydrinks, and, dude, if you get caught cheating
on your wife, it's gonna destroy your kids'lives.
So even if you should get a divorce, let'sthink about doing how can I help you do this in
a better manner?
Totally.
And, you know, one thing that, Guy McDermott,who we interviewed, a couple weeks ago, former
(16:14):
Navy Seal, I believe a friend of yours, I thinkyou connected us.
And and he was saying that one thing that iskinda unique between because he he was a first
responder.
He he was a, believe, a firefighter.
In Los Angeles.
Yeah.
In Los Angeles after I mean, so that's a it's agnarly job.
And, you know, he he was saying that, like, oneone major difference that he felt between, you
(16:36):
know, the military and and, first response isthat there's this, like, off time kind of.
Like, there's a decompression to an extent.
I mean, you're you're doing something overseasin a completely different context, and then,
hey, you get some downtime in Germany for, youknow, a week before your your PCS back here,
(17:00):
and then you have a little bit.
But when you're when you are on the front linesin a first response role, you're constantly in
that war zone, and you're also constantly athome.
And so it's like it it seems like it kindacrosses wires in a way that, like, being in the
military kind of it's a little bit different.
You know?
(17:21):
Mhmm.
Yeah.
Kevin Gilmartin, a book called EmotionalSurvival for Law Enforcement.
That's probably the best short book by apsychologist that's also a former cop and
veteran.
He talks about hypervigilance.
And by the time a cop gets home, like, they'reburned out, and the wife's like, what do you
want to eat?
I don't care.
What do you wanna do tonight?
I don't care.
Like, your it's your gas pedal, your cortisol,your adrenaline.
(17:45):
And by the time you get home, you're notconnected to your family at all.
We don't teach how to do that transition everyday, which, like you said, in the military, you
get a transition because you're in Germany fora week and then you fly home and you're not
deployed.
So how do you and I called it to armor downroutine is even on your if if a five to fifteen
(18:08):
or fifty minute drive home, are you crankingthe radio and another chew on a coffee just to
get home or a beer?
Like, back in the day, when I was a cop, peoplewere drinking beer, choir practice after the
shift, drinking a beer on the way home.
None of this stuff's gonna help your heart ratevariability, your deep sleep, or or your brain
health.
(18:29):
But what do you do in the transition and takethe armor off before you go home?
Tap the brakes, activate the parasympatheticnervous system, and change your intentions for
I'm entering into even if I'm a single person.
Hey.
I'm going home to my normal neighborhood toengage with civilians, and I don't have to be
the hard ass cop anymore.
And not everything is a threat.
(18:51):
And not everyone's an asshole and a and a liar.
Yeah.
You're right.
But we don't we don't teach hey.
Most of our lives in general as human beingsare unconscious reactions, and we're not
teaching people to be aware of, you know,responding versus reacting.
Mhmm.
Pausing, pumping the brakes, taking a breath,calming down our physiology, self reflecting.
(19:15):
Hey.
What's really going on here before I react tothese other people or circumstances in my life?
Yeah.
I mean, that space is hard to get.
It's hard to build, you know.
But I wanna pause for a second because I, let'slet's go back to kind of the start of maybe
your career or wherever wherever seems like agood starting point in your life, to pick up
(19:38):
and kind of, introduce who you are really as asa person and why, you are passionate about
these things and how you've kind of createdthis, not just a career, but, like, a vocation
for your life.
Maybe a a good way to answer that is, like, Igrew up in Northeast Ohio and Western
(19:59):
Pennsylvania.
Beaver County, Pennsylvania specifically is,like, a famous area for athletics, specifically
football.
Like, my dad played youth sports against JoeNamath.
I played high school football against Ty Law,who's in NFL Hall of Fame.
My my dad's dad was friends with Mike Ditka'sdad.
Tony Dorsett's cousins live across the street.
(20:20):
These are older school people, but there's aton of famous peep the Tom Cruise's early
movie, All the Right Moves, is about Aliquippa.
And there was, Friday night tights was this,like, documentary on youth football, and they
did a couple years in Texas.
And they said in Texas, football is religion.
(20:41):
Then they did a couple years in Beaver County,and they said in Beaver County, Pennsylvania,
football is much more than, what did they say?
In Texas, football is religion.
In Beaver County, Pennsylvania, it's much morethan that.
It's life.
And then they go into their rundown steel milltowns.
Your only way out is, like, get a collegefootball scholarship.
(21:03):
So I grew up in, like, blue collar areas, and Ilove sports.
And I my dad got me a jump rope, ankle weights,a Walkman, and a force recon and army ranger
Jody cassette tapes in sixth grade.
So I'm push ups, sit ups, jump rope, runningaround the neighborhood.
In seventh grade, my dad got me a weight setand asked the high school football team if I
(21:26):
could train with them, Lake Bluestreak.
So I'm in seventh grade, ride my BMX bike up tothe high school, monkey roll, stadium steps,
bigger, faster, stronger for older people outthere.
It's a bench squat deadlift or power cleanprogram.
And then I got a weights set at home.
And so I and then I started taking supplementsearly.
My dad took me to people.
(21:49):
He did a lot of things.
Like, you wanna get better at pitching?
Here's a guy in town that pitched in the MajorLeagues World Series.
Like, I'm gonna have him mentor you inpitching.
You're gonna train with the high schoolfootball team.
Like, whatever he could provide for me to getbetter at football, like, I I soaked it up, and
I loved it.
And I knew I wanted to play college football inhigh school.
(22:10):
I started meditating and journaling.
Like, nobody taught me, but there's a a soldierof Fortune magazine had Paladin Press.
And that's when we were kids, me and my buddieslearned how to make pipe bombs and smoke bombs
from these these books.
But they also had secrets of the ninja mind,And it had it had these stare at a candle and
(22:31):
do breath work.
And I I forget when Pavel Satsulan startedputting things out, but he was doing breath
work things, not just kettlebell things.
So very early on, even in high school, it waslike, what can I do to get better at football,
nutrition, meditation, journaling?
I was drawn to spending a lot of time in naturebecause of hunting with my father.
(22:51):
And back then, I didn't connect that with myspirituality.
I wish the organized religion did more to teachus about the contemplative and mystical
traditions because I was drawn to nature andsilence.
And so I did all these things to be better atfootball.
And then in college, there's deeper stories.
High school and college, I had severe footballinjuries.
(23:12):
But the work habit that I had from grinding sohard and lifting strict with my nutrition,
spending the the quiet time in nature,journaling, meditating.
Those things helped me rehab and come back froma lot of injuries where they said you'll never
squat again.
You'll never run again.
And I also had a a very deep converge a deeperspiritual conversion in college after I ripped
(23:36):
my calf in half and they said I'd never runagain.
I was like, oh, man.
I won't be able to go back in the military orjoin the FBI or try to play in the NFL.
All my dreams, I thought were gonna be gone,and it's a much longer story.
But I realized, for me at least, going tochurch every Sunday, saying your prayers, god,
thank you for this.
God, please give me that.
(23:57):
Let me do it was a lot of selfishness and very,like, first grade religiosity or churchianity
to try to do the right thing and also get toheaven.
So I had a deep conversion in college where Idove into the contemplative and mystical
traditions.
I got to come back, play another year offootball.
(24:18):
And so the point of this is was when Ieventually became a cop, and it's a longer
story why I didn't go federal to why I chose tobe a cop.
I wanted to either end up a psychologist or apriest, and I learned through, my first
master's degree in forensic science.
I lived on a mountain in West Virginia at acontract training facility, Storm Mountain
(24:40):
Training Center, former DC SWAT, Green Beret.
I was a forensic science grad student that wasgoing through CQB, SWAT school, sniper school,
rappelling, fast rope with all these greenberets and SWAT teams.
I was like, dude, this is badass.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And by the way, the feds that came to theseshooting courses, like, weren't into lifting
(25:01):
and fighting and were not as high speed asenlisted special operations or just
metropolitan SWAT teams.
So I was like, man, it's not what I thought inthe movie.
So I ended up becoming a local cop.
I I decided to be a cop as a form of ministry.
I can learn about spirituality, theology,psychology, and what a great place to do
(25:21):
ministry.
Everybody's hurting, the victim and thecriminal.
You know?
And so I thought it was like a spiritualjourney, but also I can try to be on a SWAT
team and apply everything I did and enjoyedabout sports to be in a cop.
Eat strict, work out, meditate, journal,seeking out spiritual mentors.
I ended up being a strength coach at Yale andGeorgetown under some big name coaches, Steve
(25:45):
Pliss, Rustarosa, Augie Morelli.
Like, if you go back twenty five, thirty years,these were big names in the industry.
And at the same time, I'm meeting with prieststhat are also psychologists, Dominicans, and
Jesuits, and Benedictines, and diving into thatin addition to yoga and zen and training in MMA
and mixed martial arts with Vinnie Giordano inNew York City, Roger Denton in Connecticut.
(26:11):
Vinnie introduced me to Tony Blauer, the spearsystem well known with first responders and
vets.
So I can
like, generally speaking, like, what whatdecade is is all this happening?
Because a lot of these things is it nineties?
Is that what you said?
Yeah.
This is all pretty, like, contemporary stuff.
Like, I mean, we're this is, like, bleedingedge for right now.
(26:34):
People are kind of understanding that, like,this mind, body, spirit connection, you know,
in in creating this full spectrum warrior andjust person in general, but that's pretty ahead
of your time, I would think.
I mean, I was the bay baby, but, you know, werepeople looking at you like you're a, like, a
weirdo in the nineties for doing this, or werethe results kinda speaking for themselves and
(26:57):
it was, you know?
I think if you were to talk to the people thatknow me, and my girlfriend did a beautiful
thing for my fiftieth birthday and reached outto a bunch of friends and mentors from
different areas of my life and had them write aletter to me, and she put it in a book.
And it's very consistent throughout my lifethat I've had people step up either to mentor
me or had beautiful friends because I was kindalike the badass guy, but it was also, like,
(27:24):
emotional and sentimental and pushing reallyhard to better myself.
But how do I love on and help other peoplearound me as well?
And so all those lessons from sports translatedinto law enforcement, and I'm sure that's why
guys like Benny Giordano, Rod Ryan at StormMountain Training Center would let me run and
gun with SF guys is because he saw something inme, you know, and trusted me, which is funny
(27:49):
because then you go to my first police academyand you have all these egos and they're still
shooting Weaver.
I'm shooting modified isosceles.
You see the defensive tactics programs andpolice work are really garbage old school
karate, and I'm doing I I was already trainingin jujitsu Muay Thai and Tony Blauer Spear, and
they're saying that's bullshit.
(28:10):
And I'm like, wait.
Wait.
No.
No.
Like, where did you learn how to shoot likethat?
And I wanna be, like, from guys that havekilled people for a living.
I I kinda trust these tier one specialoperators.
So Right.
Which this translates into later when I becomea police academy instructor, two thousand and
six to 02/2009, I implement division onestrength conditioning, ground and pound
(28:34):
dummies, uppercut bags, Muay Thai bags, heartrate monitors during fitness, fighting,
shooting, breath work with an early HRV device,the stress eraser, imagery, progressive muscle
relaxation.
I was integrating this into the strength andconditioning and the tactical training, which I
don't even know police academy is doing thatnow.
(28:54):
I'm still, like, banging the drum and fightinglike, are you gonna teach about the
parasympathetic and the sympathetic nervoussystem?
Are you gonna teach about heart ratevariability?
Are you gonna use some objective data to showpeople that they're stressed out and they're
not gonna make good decisions or perform theirmotor skills in a proficient manner when
they're this stressed out.
So what do we need to do?
(29:15):
And everybody criticizes the police that theythey're brutal and they're racist.
It's like, no.
They're spazzing out because they don't haveenough training.
Look at the the an athlete in high school getsmore motor skill development in a week of
catching and throwing a ball than a cop willget in a whole year of driving, fighting, or
shooting.
And the shooting is hit a big piece of paperwhile you're breathing, closing an eye, and
(29:41):
squeezing the trigger with no stress in broaddaylight.
But then you're in a foot pursuit or a carchase.
You crash.
You get out in the dark with somebody pointingthe gun.
You're shooting on the move at a movie Target,and you've never scrimmaged like that in
practice.
But then you're a racist because you're a whitecop and it was a black man, and nobody goes
under goes over motor skill development,complex decision making under stress, and look
(30:05):
at the training records to see that most copscan barely, barely punch holes in a paper
target with no stress.
Most cops cannot pull off any, like, martialarts skills even if you have a a compliant
subject, let alone for every tool on your belt.
I have a radio.
I have handcuffs.
I have an ass.
(30:25):
I have a taser.
Those add layers of complexity to decisionmaking under stress that you need to hone each
of these motor skills individually to haveunconscious competence with the handcuffs, with
the radio, with the different martial artsskills, with the driving.
And then you have to integrate them as anathlete would while they're practicing and
(30:46):
scrimmaging long before the game.
But we don't do that, and then we say that thisperson's a murderer or a racist when it's
really they were
There's an added layer as well of kind of inthe back of your mind knowing that every
decision that you make is going to be Mondaymorning quarterbacked, you know, right after.
So it's like, do you do hesitate?
(31:08):
Do you follow your instincts?
Do you do you know, which because because, youknow, you don't rise to the occasion.
You fall to the level of training.
And Mhmm.
Like, as you just mentioned, the training isn'tthere.
You know?
So, yeah.
Sorry to interrupt you, but I just wanted toNo.
The other component of it is that, you know,knowing that, like, man, any everything that
I've every choice that I make right now isgoing to be scrutinized and psychoanalyzed by
(31:34):
people who weren't there.
You know?
Yeah.
We have expectations of perfection for cops toact like a tier one gunslinger, a UFC cage
fighter or ninja, a lawyer, a psychologist, asocial worker, and a paramedic
Right.
Without any of the training of all these otherprofessions.
And if you look at the numbers, hey.
(31:54):
Look it up.
How many people get killed or permanentlydisabled?
And I'm one of them from a medical error.
I have permanent disabilities from a surgery Inever should have had.
Look it up.
Look up the numbers every year.
Doctors and nurses are doing their best withfar more education and training than cops, and
things happen.
(32:15):
They do their best, and people die or getdisabled, and we don't make them wear body
cameras.
We don't let people film the Operating Room andscream and yell at them while they're doing
brain surgery on a car accident victim.
And we don't scrutinize them if somebodycomplains or a family complains that somebody
died.
So we take you away from all the other doctorsand nurses.
(32:37):
We put you in a dark room or make you sit athome for two years and call you a racist or a
murderer in the media.
You and your family are getting death threats.
We offer out of sight, out of mind.
You're gag ordered.
Your coworkers aren't allowed to call you aftersomebody complains on you.
So imagine if every doctor and nurse, whensomebody got hurt or a surgery or procedure
(32:59):
didn't work out, what if we threaten all ofthem with getting fired or going to prison, and
we made them sit at home or sit in a dark roomby themselves for one or two years where
they're not allowed to talk to their coworkers.
Do you think doctors and nurses would be realconfident, or they'd be walking on eggshells
like cops?
Like, oh, we already have paralysis by analysisbecause we're not trained enough.
(33:23):
Right?
So that happens.
And now am I the next guy that's gonna be inthe media that black lives matter wants to burn
my house down?
And then some rogue district attorney that'sfunded by George Soros is gonna charge me with
murder or manslaughter, and I'm gonna go toprison.
I've had a number of cops, and I just wrote aletter to a judge recently for a police
(33:44):
officer's case.
They asked me to do it.
Usually, when I support people, I'm on thesidelines in the shadows.
I've dealt with many people in these big,horrible when I say horrible, nobody knows what
the cop and their family's gone through whenthey get charged with a crime or not even
charged, but they don't know if for two yearsthey're gonna get charged with a crime or
fired.
(34:04):
And I wrote this judge and I talked about this,including the medical profession, and I said,
you know, I have had numerous cops across thecountry say, if I have a black man with a gun,
I'd rather be shot and killed because my familywould get the benefits and I'd be considered a
hero.
But if I use my firearm, I may get fired, I maygo to jail, and my family won't get the
(34:27):
benefits.
And we'll lose the house and get a divorce,which happens a lot of the times when people
are under investigation.
That's how bad it is.
The fact that that is, like, honestly like,that's the first time I ever heard anyone say
that and sounds incredibly rational.
Like, that is not an irrational position tohave.
You know what I mean?
Like, I mean, like, I'm not saying it's it'sthe right necessarily position, but, like, I
(34:50):
could absolutely see how somebody
could go
through that thought process and be like, yeah.
I mean, it on paper, that's the move.
That is a better move than, you know, roll thedice with the alternative.
You know?
Wow.
Well, then let's go back, use sports as ananalogy because most people understand sports.
(35:10):
What if the only training you got in soccerfive years ago, I put you three feet in front
of the goal, and you just gotta kick the ballin the goal?
Mhmm.
No goalie.
And maybe and and no goalie.
And maybe you do it twenty, fifty times.
Five years later, then I make you sprint up anddown the field, and you have defenders, and you
(35:32):
have a goalie, and you have a crowd screamingat you, and you have referees or umpires.
I'm not a soccer guy, so I don't know if thereare referees or umpires in soccer.
And what if oh my god.
So now I'm I'm exhausted because I never had torun sprints before I kick the ball.
I've never had a defender on me plus a goalie.
(35:53):
Oh my gosh.
The fans are are a huge distraction.
And what if I make a mistake and the referee orumpire, referee, I think it is, calls a
penalty, and the penalty isn't just the otherside gets the ball.
Hey.
I may get kicked off the team, or you might begoing to prison.
And what if the referee makes calls sometimesbecause the fans are booing?
(36:17):
So there's pressure from the fans, politics.
So the referee calls a penalty because of thepressure.
And what if my coach doesn't defend me?
Sanctuary trauma.
Agencies often don't back their cops or evenfirefighters that make a promise cops.
Right.
(36:37):
Right.
But, oh my god, the only practice you gave mewas kicking a ball in an empty net five years
ago.
Now now I had all these other variables.
I don't do it perfectly.
The fans boo, the referee makes a call, and mycoach ignores me even though he didn't prepare
me, and I might be going to jail.
(37:00):
If if that was the the position for everyprofessional athlete, like
Yeah.
How how well would they be performing?
Yeah.
And no wonder it would be, you'd be have a hardtime recruiting soccer players.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yep.
So, back to your story.
Where where were we at now?
We're about, okay, as a police instructor apolice academy instructor.
(37:24):
Right?
And you're bringing all these differentrealities into the training.
So pick it up from there.
Well, I ended up an instructor because I gothurt during SWAT, got the surgery that jacked
me up, and then I was overmedicated withoutunderstanding it because it was before we knew
that opiates, benzos, muscle relaxers werereally bad for you.
I was on antibiotics for three years on andoff, which killed my good gut bacteria and
(37:50):
immune system.
But back then, doctors were saying it wasn'tthat.
I was sick.
I was fat.
I was usually two twenty to two thirty.
That's what I've been since 17.
That's what I am now.
Yep.
You know?
People listening.
I was gonna say, made sure that you had, like,mass built like a brick shit house.
So, like Yeah.
Well, anyway, perfect.
These people can't see you, but I I recommendlooking him up.
(38:10):
This he looks absolute unit.
So okay.
So you're you're overweight and and, you know,clearly something is not in alignment because,
you know, your your physiology has fluctuatedto this point, which kinda showing something's
out of whack.
Right?
Yeah.
Yeah.
So I was supposed to be at home on bed rest orlight duty or whatever, like, out on injury.
(38:36):
And I didn't and I didn't wanna do that, so Istayed in the fight by going to the somebody
well, first, we had two officers killed.
So I got pulled full time to dealing with twoofficers murdered at a police station, which is
a a super tragedy.
But I was already doing the peer support mentalhealth, but it gave me, like, really, like,
gritty experience to have two cops murdered attheir station, and the agency wasn't that
(39:01):
prepared to handle that.
So to help hire contract and the full timepsychologists do all the rebuilding and
debriefing while I'm going through my medicalissues, but it gave me something to focus on to
have meaning and purpose while I'm getting fatand wearing diapers, and they can't figure out
what's up with my medical.
And then after I did that, they called me tothe academy, and then I ended up rebuilding the
(39:24):
strength conditioning and the and the wellnessand all of those things with the breath work
and heart rate variability, polar heart rate.
We did research, a lot of stuff.
I get medically retired, and I was on a ton ofdrugs, and fat and wearing diapers.
And my psychiatrist in the DC area was veryholistic.
(39:47):
She had a nutritionist long before people weretalking about this is over sixteen years ago.
Nutrition has a ties to mental health.
She had yoga, she had meditation, she hadtissue work.
So she was an amazing woman and a greatadvocate for me, doctor Colleen Blanchfield.
If you're in the DC area and you want anamazing psychiatrist, she's way she was ahead
(40:09):
of her time.
But she called me in after I got medicallyretired and told me to move to LA for
functional and integrative medicine because shesaid everything that she was doing was normal
in LA, and I needed more resources like that.
So, that's why I moved to Manhattan Beach, andtook I grinded away at physical therapy three
(40:31):
days a week, vitamin IV every week,neurofeedback and cycle analysis two to three
days a week back then.
And it took you know, it it was a grind.
And here's the thing that I share with people.
I already was meditating, journaling, had aspiritual director that were priests, that were
psychologists.
As soon as I started going through problems, Iasked work comp, I need a therapist, and they
(40:55):
fought me on it.
Right?
And I'm and I didn't have a stigma to it.
So to get that psychiatrist, I had to jumpthrough hoops.
I'm doing all the I know how to eat.
I know how to work out, and I know how to seekhelp, and it's still hard.
I don't want people to wait until you're fatand out of shape or an addict or in the middle
of your medical retirement or your divorce andbe like, hey.
(41:17):
Try to learn how to eat healthy or meditate ordo yoga or journal or share your feelings with
a professional while you're in this dark place.
That's it's like, wait till you're four hundredpounds, you have a heart attack, and you're
diagnosed with diabetes and say, hey.
Maybe you should eat clean and work out.
I could give you a personal trainer.
We could give you meal prep sent to your house.
(41:39):
It's gonna be so hard to change that.
Or what if I wait until you have a mouthful ofblack cavities and I send you to a dentist that
doesn't use anesthesia and has to yank all yourteeth?
Like, how about teaching people how to brushand floss?
These food and drinks might cause cavities, somaybe avoid these foods, eat more of these, get
a checkup every year.
(41:59):
We catch a cavity early, we can do some work onit and not have to yank the tooth.
So I'm this health nut guy that's grindingintellectually, spiritually, emotionally,
physically.
But, dude, when I hit my adversity, my shitsandwich, life is still hard.
There are no shortcuts.
It's still a grind, and it sucks.
So I want people to have awareness and betrying to do things to help themselves before
(42:24):
the crisis hits, before the bomb blows up inyour life.
Like, what if the military got rid of EODunits?
What if we only train for after somebody stepson a IED or drives over it?
We we don't know situational awareness.
Everything's right of bank instead of left ofbank.
Hey.
(42:44):
We know this stuff happens in sports.
We prepare for it.
We know that there's IEDs over here, so we'regonna send out the EOD unit.
We're gonna do our best to avoid this stuff andbe trained how to respond after.
But in first responders and even mental healthfor veterans, I think we're still more right of
bang versus left of bang.
(43:04):
So my journey is I was a left of bang guy mywhole life, but it's still hard when things
happen.
Right.
You know?
So LA, I get a second master's in sportspsychology planning on a PhD in clinical psych
because I wanna help athletes, veterans, firstresponders.
I've known all along mental health, self care,stigmatized.
(43:24):
As a former athlete, coach, tactical guy,hopefully, I can at least get a foot in the
door and maybe help people when they're ready.
And there's also a performance aspect to it.
You know?
So self regulation, performance enhancement,optimizing performance before the wheels come
off, before we blow an engine or transmissionwhere we're taking pit stops.
(43:45):
You gotta take your foot off the gas, roll intoa garage or a driveway, let the engine cool
down, change the fluids, rotate the tires,check the brakes, run a diagnostic, and address
things.
Like, why aren't we doing operationalmaintenance on our minds and our hearts and our
bodies?
It's not just all CrossFit and jujitsu till thewheels come off.
(44:08):
So let's do maintenance.
Let's do self care.
So I finished the sports psych degree.
I'm doing coaching and sports psych out here orwas in LA, and I get a work a call from work
comp that says your doctors cost too much andthey're quacks.
And you need to go back on medicines to saveyour department money.
(44:29):
So wait.
And and I'm too fit and productive.
And they had pictures of me with NFL guyslooking like you've seen me look like, and
they're criticizing me versus be on opiates,benzos, muscle relaxers, psych meds, sleep meds
versus physical therapy, psychotherapy,neurofeedback, IVs, vitamin IVs, supplements,
(44:53):
and hormone replacement therapy.
Yep.
I'm a conspiratorial guy.
So when I I don't know.
But let me let me ask you before I kinda inputmy 2¢.
Where do you think that pressure is comingfrom?
Is it coming from ignorance, or is it comingfrom, like, malfeasance?
(45:16):
You know?
Like, this idea
of malfeasance.
Yeah.
Wow.
And and in court, we went all the way to thestate supreme court.
They cut off my pension, my disability pay, andmy medical care for three and a half years,
which is why I didn't get a PhD.
They dragged me through the mud, and it wasjustifying my functional integrative care.
And there's a Colgate football player that doesdocumentaries, and I've Colgate's where I
(45:39):
graduated from.
I did two years at Air Force Academy thenColgate.
He was researching it.
The money fell through, but he found out thatwork comp companies make a percentage of the
money they save on you.
So if my integrative care was a hundredthousand a year and they cut it off to take a
hundred bucks of drugs a year, Well, the workcomp company makes money off the money they
(45:59):
save.
Also, there's a kickback or there was from thepharmaceutical companies.
Always.
Yeah.
So and and I can tell you this.
People don't if you get hurt as a cop or afirefighter, it's ignored, delayed, deny in
most agencies.
They try to get out of help.
It's all about saving money.
You could be a hero cop.
(46:20):
And there's there's another story from my oldagency going on right now that, you know, a guy
was like an amazing patrol cop, got all theseawards, amazing detective, combat vet, ends up
getting in a fight with a suspect that caused abunch of serious injuries.
And he's getting medically retired andstruggling to get the medical care he needs.
(46:42):
And also he did child sex crimes.
And he he's like, dude, I got PTSD from doing,like, you have to watch videos of children,
like, what happens.
Right?
They have to write reports.
And he's asking for mental health help, andthey're like, no.
You're in limbo.
And and I I've done peer support and chaplaincyfor different nonprofits and through
(47:04):
networking.
That's not a one off story.
It's a common story.
If people have legit PTSD or medical problemfrom an on the job injury or exposure to
trauma, and it's all about saving money.
But if we did the proactive mental health andwellness, we talked about post traumatic
growth.
(47:25):
If we had red light, cold plunge, sauna,meditation at stations, we would have more
perform higher performance and service to thecommunity, better morale, better mental health.
People would stay in the careers longer.
They wouldn't lateral or retire early.
You would be saving money.
Yeah.
You'd be saving money.
It's in the preventative care in in the firstplace because it's like we know with most,
(47:47):
like, emergency medicine.
You know?
If you get somebody insulin is really cheap,you know, but if you wait until they're having,
you know, a a diabetic like DKA, you know, andyou now you gotta go there amputate their leg
in the emergency room, and then the insurancecompany or the hospital is like, well, let's
just amputate below the knee because it costs alittle bit more to get them up there.
(48:09):
You know what I mean?
It was like you guys are penny pinching on thewrong side of the equation, you know, if that
really is about saving money.
You know?
Yeah.
Yeah.
So the the system's broke.
It's not it's
Yeah.
It's and and that came up in court even thoughI was cut off for three and a half years.
No pay.
(48:31):
I sold my old Jeep, my old third gen fourRunner that I love to pay bills, emptying my
savings, and people had to GoFundMe while I'mfighting for my medical care.
And but the universe or God works things out ifthey will.
No PhD, which would allow me to be apsychologist to make money to support my
pension, which I would have loved to do.
(48:53):
But I ended up getting a third master's inpastoral theology, which allowed me to go
deeper on my spiritual journey and allowed meto meet the next mentor I needed for this very
dark, dark another dark season.
But father Jim Clark is an expert in masculinespirituality and psychology, the contemplative
tradition, spiritual direction.
(49:15):
And I met him while I was in this third mastersthat I was just doing for myself.
So there's a there's there's things that happenthat benefit me even though I went through this
misery.
And then it changes the trajectory to where I'ma volunteer nonprofit one man show like
chaplain fitness, wellness, self regulation,self care type thing for first responders and
(49:39):
veterans, which is I I know it's a much neededarea.
We need more people doing this.
We need more retreats before people have PTSD,addiction, suicide.
We need more outdoor activities, more shootingand jujitsu, and then sharing your story
without alcohol and chasing women, likenormalizing healthy things or do some jujitsu
(50:01):
and then do artwork, do some tactical shooting,do some breath work or yoga.
You know, like do a a hard workout and then dosome journaling.
Do what you're doing with guy this Sunday,Sound bath, meditation, yoga, and an
opportunity with people that are on a differentpath at this point.
I wanna heal.
(50:21):
I wanna grow.
I wanna be more present.
I wanna be more loving first and foremost tomyself and forgive myself for anything that
I've had insecurity or baggage about.
And let me just be honest about it.
And then I wanna show up more for my family, myspouse, my friends, in a much more meaningful
and deeper manner for the rest of my life.
(50:42):
And guess what?
I can still be a badass firefighter, cop,businessman, and also emotional and loving.
I I can do both.
But for whatever reasons, we're we're oftenlocked into thinking to be the best.
I gotta be so identified with this one area ofmy life.
(51:04):
Totally.
You know, I I I talk about this sometimes or II've it's been brought up before.
But, you know, balance in our Western Americansociety, especially if you want to be a a high
achiever in business or or in anything.
It it's sort of like the the culture is youneed to have a single-minded approach.
(51:28):
You know, you look at a a Steve Jobs or a LanceArmstrong or a Michael Jordan or any of these,
you know, people that, you know, we look up to,we put up on a on a pedestal as and and without
a doubt, those are, you know, the greats.
But I think what people kind of fail to torecognize is that you can't be the best in
(51:50):
business if your family life is falling apart,you know, or your health you know, like, hey.
I'm I'm working, you know, sixty, seventy hoursa week, and, that just means I'm gonna, order
in, you know, crappy food and eat super late atnight or what whatever the case is.
And now your health is taking, as toll.
You're not getting as good of sleep, and nowyou're making more mistakes on the job.
(52:14):
You know, I I think people fail to, like,appreciate a holistic approach to your life and
and and wellness, and and maybe it's I'd liketo use the word balance, but I know that some
people don't.
But I think it makes you better in the pursuitthat you want to.
(52:35):
You know what I mean?
Oh, absolutely.
And we could and I could go down the theologyand the spirituality of that in different
orientations of psychology.
But even scientifically and very objectively,we could prove this at least with the military,
police, and fire.
Let's give everybody an Oura ring.
Right?
Let's measure your HRV, and I wanna do bloodlabs on you with your hormones, your
(52:59):
neurotransmitters, your gut microbiome, yourblood sugar, and inflammation markers before
you go to boot camp, police, or fire academy.
I wanna do an EEG and measure your brain waves.
And then throughout your career, we're gonnahave an aura ring on you.
And every year, we're gonna do EEG, and we'regonna do blood labs, and we can track that
stuff.
(53:19):
And so guess what?
Even if you're the SWAT guy that does CrossFitand jujitsu and paleo and you're, like, high
fiving and rah rah and you got your shirt offon your Instagram.
But what if I look at your HRV and it's dogshit?
Right?
And especially if you realize, oh, I drink somebeer before bed.
(53:40):
That really messes up my deep and REM sleep.
Or I have six cups of coffee.
I'm not operating at my best.
And let's we should be covering the science ofsleep and the parasympathetic nervous system
and the and the fact that you cannot out grindand caffeinate and tobacco and gritty hardiness
(54:04):
and still perform at the highest your reactiontime is suffering if your HRV looks bad, if
your nervous system's burned out, if you're notsleeping, your motor skills, your decision
making, and your decision your decision making,your motor skills are not optimal at all.
Now what are some and you kinda ran throughsome, like, blood markers.
(54:26):
But, like, just for, you know, the averageperson, but maybe somebody that, you know, is
is conscientious of these things, they aretrying to, you know, operate or live at an an
optimal, you know, level.
What are some markers that would be a goodthing for most people just to kinda, like, be
aware of, generally speaking, and not just waituntil they're 50 year old colonoscopy?
(54:49):
You know?
Like, what I'm 34.
How old am I?
34.
You know?
What should I be focusing on, you know, or notnecessarily focusing on, but getting tested
just at least be aware of?
Man, while you're still feeling good,testosterone, estrogen, ultra sensitive
estrogen for men, thyroid, at least TSH, IGFone, indicator of your growth hormone, blood
(55:12):
sugar, a one c, glucose, and insulin,inflammation markers like homocysteine, CRP.
I I would seek a read up on functional andintegrative doctors.
Functional and integrative medicine, if you canafford one, find one in your area.
And now they have, gut microbiome tests.
I'd I would do that.
(55:32):
There's also you can use your ancestry.com oryour 23 and me, and there's all these, like,
30.
I think that Gary Brekadu does, like, five.
But, I mean, yeah, like, you can actually justeven my ancestry.com Yeah.
My integrative doctor had, like, 40 differentthings that he broke down just from my
ancestry.com saliva test.
(55:53):
Wow.
Yeah.
So there's functional and integrative medicineis what I would look up, but I would look at
inflammation markers, blood sugar markers, andhormones.
And, obviously, I'm more familiar with men'sstuff than women's.
And I would wanna see that when I'm doing good
Mhmm.
Like, early in my career.
Right.
Right.
Because here's here's another issue with copsacross the country and firefighters is people
(56:18):
are hopping on TRT, testosterone replacementtherapy, in their late twenties.
Yep.
Wow.
Something's wrong if in your late twenties, youneed testosterone.
And they're going to men's clinics that willgive them two hundred, three hundred
milligrams.
Like, even if you're a hundred and eighty poundguy and you're starting at two hundred or three
(56:38):
hundred milligrams, like, woah.
But that they know that you might see resultsright away, but it's like, how's your nutrition
been?
How's your sleep been?
Have you been managing your stress?
How or your workouts, your exercise?
Are you getting morning sunlight?
What like, how are the relationships in yourlife?
And when people talk to me, it's like, Ihaven't worked out in five years.
(56:58):
Oh, I've been eating like shit.
My marriage is so stressful.
I hate my boss at work.
It's like, dude, TRT is not the answer rightnow.
You need I suggest you work on your nutrition,your sleep, your fitness, your relationship,
and your self regulation and stress managementbecause all of those things affect your
(57:20):
hormones.
And you wanna maximize your health to the bestof your ability and not just put a band aid on
something and not address the root issues.
Because if you start TRT now, then you'relowering your natural levels.
Sometimes your estrogen or red blood cells orpeople have problems or complications, and then
you get off and then you might have hurtyourself and have been at a lower level.
(57:43):
It's just like, if you haven't maximized yourfitness levels naturally, there's no reason to
do steroids.
Right?
Yeah.
But people want the magic bullet, the magicshortcut, the quick fix, the spiritual
bypassing.
Like, if you've done no work on yourself,unless you're suicidal, I don't suggest hopping
(58:04):
on the veteran retreats to go south of theborder and do on psychedelics.
If you're in a terrible marriage and all yourfriends are drinkers and cheating on their
wives and you go peek behind the curtain andget some self forgiveness or meet God with
Ayahuasca or BUFO or Ibogaine, and then youcome back to a very toxic and dysfunctional
(58:25):
marriage, you don't have a therapist, all yourfriends are still boozehounds, like, then
you're looking forward to the next retreat totrip your balls.
That's the next Like gate.
You know?
It's the next self medicating.
Like, so I I would tell even for becausepsychedelics, I wish people in the police world
(58:46):
and the fire world need to talk about itbecause cops and firefighters are hearing all
the seals and the green braes on podcast, andthey're talking to me.
They're already doing it.
And I can't get people to talk about ketamineassisted therapy.
I I that's legal.
You could keep your job.
You wouldn't be in trouble.
But then if they do it, people are just gettingan IV, and they're not in therapy.
And there are scientific benefits to it.
(59:08):
But what comes up, that's important stuff thatyou should be in therapy.
So like my advice is, can you get in weeklytherapy for six months?
Can you start eating better and start either ameditation or a yoga or a journaling practice
or one or more of those?
Start having boundaries in your unhealthyrelationships.
(59:30):
These friendships are no longer serving mewell.
I love you.
I thank you, but, like, I'm headed in adifferent direction.
Here's my new values, mission, and goals.
Find a community that supports your growth oryou need to be isolated a lot of the times.
Get comfortable being isolated with mentors,elders, a therapist, or a community of support,
(59:50):
and it might be a support group of some are youstruggling with porn or alcohol or whatever
your addictions are?
And then can you go on a veteran, firstresponder, meditation, yoga, silent, or a faith
based retreat if that's your thing?
And can you share your feelings while you'resober with other people?
Because that's a hard thing for a lot of peopleto do.
(01:00:14):
Now if you do that, six months or a year ofbeing in therapy, I have been on one or two
retreats.
I now journal or I meditate or I do yoga or I'mdoing artwork or I'm learning how to play a
musical instrument.
I'm doing something to calm my nervous systemand self reflect and and recharge my battery
and start seeking to redefine my mission andgoals, then maybe I'll go on a psychedelic
(01:00:40):
retreat.
But then I caution people because it's hard tofind a good therapist.
It's hard to find a good chaplain.
A lot of people in the psychedelic space I'vemet are really broken people that wanna be the
guru.
Hundred percent.
And and so when you talk to how receptive haveyour community been to this message, just in
(01:01:06):
general?
I mean, it sounds like I'm trying to figure outat what point in the the hierarchy at, you
know, let's say, the police level, are yougetting are you starting to lose people?
You know?
I would imagine my gut is telling me that thethe your average enlisted dude, like, you know,
(01:01:27):
your beat cop that's that's they're kind of onboard with this because they're maybe suffering
even though I don't know.
Maybe I'm kind of putting my own, layer on topof it.
But, you know, are people pretty receptive toit?
And at what point are you starting to losepeople to where they're like, nah.
That's just too expensive.
Not here.
You know?
(01:01:49):
This is maybe where this is where maybe this issome of my strength and my weakness.
My strength and love is working in small groupand individually because everybody's story is
different.
Everybody's preferences are different.
And that goes back to it's not gonna be stellarganglion block for everyone, ketamine for
(01:02:09):
everyone, EMDR for everyone, transcendentalmeditation versus this meditation versus keto,
carnivore, paleo, vegan.
Everybody's story matters, and everybody'shealing or growth prescription or formula is
gonna look different, even spiritually andreligiously.
(01:02:30):
And I and I personally wanna be sensitive toeverybody's unique individual journey.
So a lot of the deeper things that I may betalking to you about, like, openly are not
things that I I go stand and just blast.
Because I I want everybody to be comfortableand share their story with me.
Yeah.
(01:02:50):
And and if they ask, I may share a little bitof some of this stuff that we may have fire
hosed in this last hour or so.
But I think, individually, there's a lot ofpeople that are very receptive like we shared
earlier because they don't wanna hear from the80 year old pastor that's out of shape or the
(01:03:14):
50 year old MFT that shares her story that shehad a terrible marriage and a terrible
childhood.
And then whether she went to therapy or didpsychedelics or got EMDR herself four years
ago, and then it went and did an online MFT,and now she's a therapist and wants to heal
cops or veterans.
(01:03:34):
But you're like some out of shape 50 year oldwoman that doesn't understand me pursuing
excellence and that I've been on a SWAT team orI've been on a special operations unit or I've
been a smoke jumper, firefighter, hotshot, whatyou don't understand the fact that I played
division one sports and went to a top tier lawschool.
(01:03:56):
Like, you don't get me.
So and and those people are the ones that Iknow because guys are honest with me when we go
to a peer support conference or they seesomebody online that they share their broken
story, and there's still a bit of a victimmindset with some first responders and
veterans.
This happened to me and oh my god.
(01:04:17):
And I ruined my marriage and I got medicallyretired.
And it's okay not to be okay.
So seek help before you ruin your life likemine.
And by the way, buy my book, pay me to be aspeaker, or pay me to be your life coach.
And the high functioning guys and gals arelike, that doesn't resonate with me.
These guys you know?
(01:04:39):
But there's somebody out there that is in themiddle of the bottle on a divorce, and that
story may hit them.
But high functioning alpha types, men and womendon't wanna burden others.
Yeah.
Right.
They don't wanna burden others, and they wannabe seen, heard, understood, not judged, and
they don't want somebody that tries to fix themor pull the guru thing.
(01:05:01):
Yeah.
Right.
But then there's the other people that arehurting so bad, they'll listen to the guru.
Let me do EMDR, and I'll cure you.
I'll do it.
Let me do this retreat, and we'll do thesedrugs, and you'll be cured.
Or you could do this SGB shot, and you'll becured.
I believe in all these things, and I've beendoing Merck.
And if I haven't told you about Merck No.
(01:05:21):
It's out of Encinitas Wave Neuroscience.
Dude, it helped my sleep more than anything.
Really?
I Wow.
Yeah.
We need to talk about that because they do anEEG.
Doctor Eric Wan is a is, like, the lead guy forWave Neuroscience.
Yeah.
I stumbled upon this.
And here here it is.
Here's other tools out there to try nonpharmaceutical.
(01:05:44):
They do an EEG.
They measure your brain waves, which I'mfamiliar with because I've been doing
neurofeedback for sixteen years.
I meditate, measure my brain waves, and theywanna improve your alpha.
Yep.
And TMS, transmagnetic cranial whatever, Iguess, is like one size fits all.
Mhmm.
So they use the same equipment, and they usethe EEG to do the voltage or whatever specific
(01:06:09):
to your brainwaves.
Interesting.
And in four week hey.
I've done stellate ganglion block, five ofthem, even with Botox.
Wow.
I have done ketamine.
Yep.
I I've done a lot of things.
Yep.
In four weeks, that was like I cut my sleepmedication in half.
No shit.
Boom.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And if you have TRICARE, it's I if you haveTRICARE, it's covered.
(01:06:33):
No way.
Pretty sure.
Yes.
Credible.
Yo.
Out offline, I'm I'm gonna follow-up about thatbecause, that's one of that's probably the
biggest area.
I mean, like, I I sleep I I'm in.
It's like I I, you know, I'm I don't wake upsuper tired or anything like that, and, you
know, like, but I I just know I'm I'm, like,I'm always awake in my sleep, if that makes
(01:06:53):
sense.
Like, I'm kind of like a a hypervigilantsleeper, and, and I've just sort of you know?
But I also recognize you know, there's that guyBrian Johnson.
He's, like, the the guy who's trying to, like,live forever tech dude.
He's kind of a weirdo.
But he has he's, like, doing his, like,biometric age on, like, every single, like,
(01:07:14):
system in his body, and he you should look thisguy up.
But, anyway, long story short, his one piece ofadvice to, like, just every person, that he's
like he views the way he kinda goes through hislife now is it's all about trying to sleep.
Like, he's like his waking hours are just toset up the best level of sleep that that he can
(01:07:39):
get because he's found that it's, like, theprobably biggest thing that you can implement
in your life or improve in your life to startseeing carry on, effects throughout.
And and that goes to nutrition.
It goes to other stuff because if you're eatingsuper late at night or you're having, you know,
a a lot of sugar or something, you know,different different, aspects to it, but it's
(01:08:01):
all gonna jack up your sleep, and then that'sgonna jack up your cortisol and your heart rate
variability and all that Mhmm.
Stumps.
You know?
So that's probably one of the areas where I'mlike, and I don't want to take sleep
medication.
You know, I wanna figure out how to sleepbetter naturally.
And I I take, like, my mushroom supplements,and I do a lot of things that kind of that
really do help me, but, I'm definitelyinterested in, you know, finding some more
(01:08:25):
stuff just to kinda maybe improve thatnaturally.
So, let's let's see.
We're kinda wrapping up here, but I would loveto, you know, what are some final notes that
you wanna leave people?
I mean, we've we've touched on a lot, but, isthere any sort of, like, parting message you
(01:08:49):
can leave with the audience?
Yeah.
Well, we've talked about it.
So I challenge if you have the financialability and if you have a PPO insurance, almost
every PPO and some HMOs have an annualpreventative wellness lab, and they will cover
the full gamut of blood work.
So there's no reason that once a year and doyour own research because it's hard unless you
(01:09:12):
can get a functional and integrative doctor.
Look up the labs you want and take them to yourprimary care, find a primary care, and be like,
I wanna get all my blood sugar.
I wanna get all my metabolic.
I wanna get inflammation markers, and I wannaget my hormones tested.
Mhmm.
And go get that done.
If you can afford an Oura ring, buy an Ouraring.
(01:09:34):
Educate yourself on heart rate variability.
Start pay attention to your deep and REM sleep.
Look up sleep hygiene.
Look at the ways to improve your sleep.
And if we had if you wanna do another episode,we could, like, break some of this down, but
look up sleep hygiene.
Pay attention to your HRV at least once a monthat least once a month.
(01:09:55):
So blood work
Yep.
HRV, schedule half a day or a full day whereyou're not gonna be on your phone.
Yeah.
You're gonna have a fast from technology.
You're gonna go to a park.
You're gonna go to the ocean.
You're gonna go on a hike.
You're gonna rent a canoe with your loved oneor a best friend.
You're gonna do something in nature where it'ssilent.
(01:10:15):
And if you can on that one day a month, go geta massage or acupuncture after.
If you live somewhere like we do on SouthernCalifornia, go to a wellness center, do a cold
plunge, a sauna, and or a sensory deprivationfloat tank.
Do one day a month that is your pit stop, thatis your maintenance, that's your tune up.
(01:10:38):
And and I would hope that over time, you lookat your HRV.
You may be looking at your blood work, and youjust feel better.
And especially if you're doing it with yourspouse or a loved one or your one of your
children, if you have a child, like yourrelationship starts improving.
Hey.
Maybe we need to do this twice a month.
Maybe we need to do this once a week.
(01:11:00):
Love that.
That's such a good that's such a good message.
Before, I have you tell the audience where theycan find you and connect with you, I'd love to
send you a bag of coffee or, are you more of amatcha guy, like, to drink coffee?
Oh, yeah.
We're all in yeah, brother.
Me, we're all in the organic coffee.
(01:11:20):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Alright.
Cool.
We'll we'll send you a bag of, our mushroominfused, organic Mexican coffee.
Awesome.
But, Matt, you wanna just tell the people whereto find you, how they can connect with you, if
they have any other questions, maybe where howthey can reach out?
Yeah.
My website is tacticalchaplain.com.
(01:11:41):
Really easy.
Tacticalchaplain.com.
That'll have interviews, media I've been in,more of my personal story.
I'm supposed to be building another websitesoon.
Hopefully, that's gonna be broader because somepeople think that chaplain pigeonholes me
because I do much more than just spirituality.
So I'm gonna have a different website in thefuture, but I'll always have
(01:12:02):
tacticalchaplain.com.
On LinkedIn, Matt Domyancic, d o m y a n c I c.
So I'm on LinkedIn.
On Instagram, I post most on Thin Blue LineSpirituality Thin Blue Line Spirituality, and I
also have the tactical chaplain.
Even though I'm I'm not a social media guy, butI do try to post, And I don't post really
(01:12:26):
anything about myself.
I try to post up positive quotes like mind,body, spirit, psychology, self care, functional
and integrative medicine.
So thin blue line spirituality and the tacticalchaplain.
I am on Facebook, but I never check it.
I think my Instagram posts automatically go toFacebook.
So please don't try to reach out on Facebook.
(01:12:47):
Reach out on LinkedIn or through the tacticalchaplain or Instagram.
And, happy to help anyone individually or anyagencies or other nonprofits that would maybe
wanna do more retreats, more outdoorrecreational stuff like with swell and the
Jimmy Miller, like the surf therapy.
We didn't talk about it, but I do somethingcalled piu jitsu peer support.
(01:13:09):
There'll be jujitsu, tactical firearms, coldplunge breath work, and then I do a four hour
interactive mental, emotional, physical, andspiritual health and wellness.
This is what I've been doing going back to whenI was at the police academy where we need more
for cops.
All cops need more tactical firearms, moremartial arts, but they gotta understand the
(01:13:30):
parasympathetic nervous system, HRV, as well asself reflection, learning lessons from our
hardship, post traumatic growth, the hero'sjourney, the second half of life per Carl Jung.
Very important concept.
And people will do the shooting and thefighting, and then we'll get to the end and,
you know, arms unless you know me already.
The people that have ridden with me or beenfriends with me know that, okay.
(01:13:54):
Matt Matt will say something useful and not bea dork.
But guys that don't know me will be you know,they'll go from arms crossed to, like, leaning
in and then be like, wow.
I thought this was gonna be the same oldbullshit about PTSD, addiction, suicide from
somebody that doesn't care and doesn'tunderstand.
(01:14:14):
How come we're then they'll be like, how comewe're not having more of these proactive
conversations explaining it in a manner that'spractical and applicable to all their lives
that we could implement these things throughoutour career and be a better cop, firefighter, or
military operator, and a better father,husband, wife, mother, friend to the people we
(01:14:35):
love, and a better part of society in ourcommunity with building bridges instead of more
division.
Yeah.
Damn, man.
You're you're such a deep such a deep dude.
A breath of fresh air.
This is exactly the impression that I had whenI first met you.
I was like, wow, dude.
We need more of that and just that message.
I mean, I don't I didn't even have a podcast atthe time when we met.
(01:14:58):
I was just doing my my business and and tryingto grow it that way, but this is what I was
trying to communicate to the world is is themessage that you're putting out there.
So thank you so much for what you're doing.
I'd love to also support, any of these, like,Fujitsu events, anything that I could, help
show up for, give out free coffee, and justsort of, you know, just be there because that's
(01:15:22):
that's what makes me feel good in giving backto my community, through my business, which, is
Wind and See Coffee.
So thank you again, Matt.
Awesome, brother.
And, yeah, yeah, we we need to get goingbecause there is a community growing.
So let's get this going in San Diego more wherewe're gonna go lift weights and cold plunge and
(01:15:43):
sound bath and do some archery or horsebackride or rent NTVs.
And we're not gonna drink, and we're gonna havemeaningful conversations about growing and
healing.
Incredible, dude.
I'm so on board.
Yeah.
%.
Cool.
Alright.
Hold on.
Stick stick around.
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