Nail Board Benefits - Unlock Focus, Concentration and Mental Health | Sadhu Board Therapy for Stress Management | Reflexology, Acupressure Therapy, Sadhu Board Meditation, Yoga Pain Practice

0:03 This is the fitness wisdom. Podcast, did you know that standing on nails has so many incredible benefits for your overall health and well-being? This is why I invited Ivan, founder of Hedgeboards, onto the podcast today to inform us how standing on nails actually has so many incredible benefits. Welcome to the show Ivan. It's a pleasure to have you. Thank you. Thank. You So yeah, you sent me these nail boards a couple of weeks ago and I started using them on a daily basis, right? And so many people maybe have never heard about nail boards before.

0:39 So I think it would be really great if you explained what nail boards are. But I will just quickly share a little bit about my experience with them before you would describe them. So I've been using them every single day and I've just noticed that my whole nervous system is way more relaxed. I don't know if that has to do because of the feet, but it just feels like it has a systemic effect. And not only that, I noticed some areas in my body which were tense before, like in my hips and lower back also, those have started to get a little bit more relaxed.

1:10 So maybe you can tell us a bit about what a nail board actually is and if you know the origin of the nail board, like where do they, where does the history begin of nail boards? Yes, it started like, yeah, 2000 years ago somewhere in India. The yogi's, they wanted to do like Pilgrim hikes on bare, barefoot and it was like hundreds of kilometers. And they wanted to strengthen their feet. That was the first objective. And the second objective was to strengthen their mind. So they started to standing, Yeah, standing on nails and and I experienced a lot of benefits from it, not only that they could walk longer, but also the resilience and the commitment and and it also systematically did something to their bodies.

2:01 So they implemented like, like their in their yoga routines. That's how it started a little bit. And yeah, it's, it's, it's crazy that people don't know really about it because it's such as old tradition. And I think it has so much benefits that that you can explore your own boundaries with it. And but that's a little bit how it started, yes. So cool, so cool. And how did you get into this all? How did you discover it? And it started, you know, your own brand with it. What inspired you? Yeah, I'm a physiotherapist in Amsterdam, in Holland, and I'm a martial arts teacher as well.

2:42 And my whole life was like, how do I say in in in favor of like self development? You know, I was really young when I started meditating, like 7 years old, I was doing karate. And yeah, that was my first, first point that that I saw, OK, this is, this is maybe something for me. You know, the meditation behind it was for me even more interesting than the martial art itself. And that was like kind of a red wire in my life. That's how I started my studies also as a physiotherapist. And I've been practicing this like 20 years already, like physiotherapy.

3:23 Now I'm working much more on an energetic level with, with people because of these boards. And that really inspires me also to, to do this next level with people. I was always busy on the physical level. And this is such a different level that you can prevent a lot of complaints as well, right? So that that inspired me that was and I did a lot of ice baths. My first ice bath was like 2014, something like that. And I did a lot of like Indian native, Indian sweat cabins, fireworks, you name it, you know.

3:58 So I did a lot and Kundalini retreats and like 2 years ago I bumped into these nail boards and I thought oh this is, this is interesting right? Because I do dry needling also with needles in my practice. And so I thought OK, this is with pressure points, I have to learn this right? So I ordered them. It was really complicated somewhere from Russia or something really expensive quality was not good at all. So I thought OK, this, this we can do better, you know so and my business partner is an engineer and I said to him can we build this in Amsterdam?

4:32 He said yes we can you know it's a lot of work but we can. So I said, OK, let's do this and then we started do making these boards. I was practicing already like 2 years or something before we started the company. And for me, the, the biggest benefit was that I could implement it like in my daily routine. So that was really great, right? Because like an ice bar is always a little bit complicated. You have to bring a lot of ice with you and, and these fireworks as well. You have to build a big fire and everything.

5:06 And now these two small boards you can, yeah, take with you to work, you know. And, and so that was really the trigger for me to say, OK, I want to do this and implement it in my daily life because then you can really feel the the benefits of it, right? Because an ice bot, if you don't do that every day, then, you know, it's not in your system. So and I started practicing and what you just said is I also thought, first, it's painful. Of course it's painful, you know, and then you start to relax and you start to relax deeper and you get into it.

5:38 And when I noticed that is one of the biggest benefits for me in a short period of time, you can really relax deeply, you know, if you practice more and more and more, you stand on the nails and you get, you can, you're getting experience in relaxing, you know, so that was really great to, to, to see. And I do a lot of chi cooling as well myself. It's like working with the chi And that's what I noticed as well. The, the whole energetic system was, was triggered, you know, and, and that resolves a lot of problems in your body and that gives a lot of relaxation, but also a good, good amount of energy through the whole day.

6:22 So that's what that was my experience, the trigger to, to start the company and, and explore also to, to get it on a platform that people can experience it and, and, and, and feel what their boundaries lay in life, right. Struggling with gut tissues? Did you know that your circadian rhythms. And the type of light you're exposed to. Massively influences your gut health and microbiome. The gut heals and repairs itself at night in the absence of blue light and in the presence of melatonin. Another essential reason why you should be blocking and minimizing blue light after sunset.

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7:43 This is why I make sure to get my belly and entire out in the sun every single day as well as use my favorite red and UV therapy panels from emrtech.com. Check out the panels that I use on a daily basis to improve my overall health and well-being and use the promo code Mobility Fitness at checkout for a massive 20% discount. So. Very cool, very cool. Thank you for sharing your journey. I mean, it sounds like you were first spiritual before, before you were physical, you know, because a lot of people do it the other way around, not intentionally, but just obviously unintentionally.

8:17 It just happened to be so for you at a very young age. I'm very actually interested to hear what was the trigger at 7 years old that made you start meditating because it's not such a common thing for, you know, young individuals to do. Or maybe it is common, but maybe our societal conditioning has made it so that we don't, you know, tap into our spiritual powers. What was the thing? Yeah. What was the thing that that inspired you to start with? It's I think this is this is a really deep question that you asked me, but because, you know, we in Buddhism, they call it merits, right?

8:54 And merits are you build it up from past lives and here somewhere now it is just an under stream that is always with you. I think this is this is just what for me also when, when I have a lot of clients and they always tell me you bring so much more than only like a physiotherapist or a trainer or whatever. You know, I love it at self exploration, I think, and it was always interesting. I was always interested. I think that I read like 500 Buddhistic books when I was 16 years old already, right.

9:26 So there was and this self development. I think it's where why we're here for right. So it's, it's all an exploration of who you are or who you are not right, Because this ego that we have all is we want to to settle and tame it a little bit. You know, it's funny what I always say to my customers as well. And we have this mind that is so developed in three million years and now we want to shut it down, right? It's crazy, but still there is there is a whole exploration there. And I think everybody should, should explore because otherwise you bump into other things in life that holds you back or hurt you too much, you know, for maybe we can talk a little bit more about pain as well, because that is the first question that people ask me.

10:19 Is it, is it painful? You know? And then I said, what do you think? Is it painful, right? What is pain, this uncomfort in life? If you don't have that, then there is no growth at all, right? So, and I think that is for me As for me as well. I've my parents who come from the Balkans, you know, So yeah, kind of tough. In the 90s there was war and, you know, it was everything there. So. And yeah, I think also the fighting, you know, somewhere on the line, you have to stop fighting, right? And for me, in a young age, I experienced that already that I thought, OK, there is more to it than just going from here to work and going on vacation and, you know, having children.

11:07 I have children. But you know, there is more to life than only that because the. Yeah, the being of life is, is the most precious thing. If you take that away, we don't have anything anymore here. So. Wow. Yeah. It sounds for. Me. Yeah, sorry. It's, it sounds like you had like some really big realizations along the way, like from a really young age. And I feel like that's such a big blessing because it helps you open your eyes to all the different possibilities of life and the opportunities. Because as you mentioned, like in this modern day, we're just stuck in the fast lane and we're just doing, doing, doing.

11:42 And we just miss out on all the blessings and the beauty of life, right. And I feel like the beauty of life is found in the present moment and when we get to reconnect with nature and when we we feel physically, emotionally and spiritually our best. Because when we are feeling our best, it's like we can be more present, we can be more here and we can listen and we can engage with the surroundings and with the people around us as well. We can be better to ourselves and towards other individuals. But if we are not taking care of ourselves, even, for example, even if you're not taking care of your emotional and spiritual body, but if you're not taking care of your physical body either, then you are just going to be like a closed book, you know, And, and it's not like you're doing it on purpose.

12:27 It's just a protective response by your nervous system. So if your nervous system is shut down, you know, because it's in constant fight and flight and it wants to protect you, then it's very, very hard to be open and to and to receive right. Well, I feel like we've gone down a very different path than what I wanted to start with, but this is, this is, this is awesome. So maybe we can talk a little bit about the pain pleasure balance. I had the guest on, I don't remember which episode it was now, maybe episode 37 or or 34.

12:56 Anyway, we were talking about the pain pleasure balance and how that's actually very important because in the brain we are in the same area of the brain that perceives pain is the same area which perceives pleasure and basically what the body does. If we are receiving too much pleasure, we self sabotage ourselves. We we cause harm to ourselves on purpose to bring back that balance, that homeostasis to our system because our brain doesn't like it when there is one more than more than the other. And I'm sure that's tied to the dopamine system as well.

13:30 So how do you think that experiencing pain on a daily basis like obviously a controlled type, the pain right through nail boards like standing on maybe explain what nail boards actually are very descriptively for people if they don't know what they are. It's it's like a wooden board with nails in it and we put the nails one by one we put the nails in. So they're really it's really carefully made. We have three types of boards. Maybe that's also interesting to say that. Then you have a little bit of insight.

14:05 We have a 9mm board, a 10mm board and eleven 9mm is the basic one. That's the beginner's one. The version, the 10 is the advanced model and 11 millimeter. That's the professional and the millimeters. The the further the nails are apart, the harder it is. There is less surface to stand on, you know, So that's the of intensity. What, what you could go through. Yeah, it's, it's just you stand, you place your feet slowly on the on the nail boards and you stand up. Maybe people have seen also like this the something much that is where you lay down only there is a cushion under.

14:45 So that is not so intense as as the boards because it's really a hard surface under. And yeah, you stand directly on the iron nails. So that is the, that is the, the simple thing to, to how it, how it works. There are a lot of pressure points under the feet. I always talk about the feet as well because they carry you through your whole life. We are underestimating the, the, the importance of the, of the feet because our hands are in front of our face. So we see them a lot, you know, And so it's a little bit underrated how we take care of our feet because it's the first touch with the ground.

15:27 So also for grounding practices is really good to do nail, nail board training. But the first day carry your feet carry you through your whole life. And the balance is also starts there, right? And that is really what you feel when you stand on nails. If the balance is a little bit off, then the pressure is totally different and more than 10. So you have to balance your feet really. And so the grounding is important that you get more grounding because if you're more balanced in life, it begins with your feet, you know, So it's interesting to feel that as well.

16:04 Also the tension in the body starts as well in the feet. Like with women, they have tight shoes right from the from the start, from the, from the core. And then from there on, the whole tension spreads through the whole body. And these kind of things are really experience and with people as well, when they relax their feet more, they spread their balance better, it's much easier to do so. Yeah, that is that is the thing for the feet where it starts. That's really important. And of course there are a lot of pressure points under the feet that are not stimulated in normal daily life anymore because everything is like with stones, you know, especially in the Western countries, there is not no off the water roads anymore and we wear.

16:55 The shoes. The shoes as well. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So that is also, I think the points under the feet, they're not that triggered so much any more than they're used to, you know, So when we were still walking on bare feet, yeah. Oh yeah, you brought some. Sorry, did I cut you off? No, no, So yeah, what we defied always, like what are the better people ask also what, what are the benefits, right. So of standing on nails because it's kind of a crazy practice, but it's the same like sitting in the cold water.

17:29 I always say people can say, yeah, it's the water, yeah, it's cold, you know, yeah, it's painful. But if you look behind the process, then you're going to experience more and you can divide it a little bit like in these physical benefits that is have. So like what you just talked about, like the endorphins that is good that are coming, the pressure points, these kind of things and the energetic system that gets a boost. But there are also like mental components in it, like, like with a better focus, like you have more resilience, more discipline when you practice, you know, deeper meditations.

18:08 So that was one of what I just told. In a short period of time, you can relax much more deeper. And also that helps like the vagus nerve. You either heard you talk about it as well. What organizes all your organs and also the stress levels in your body. You know, you can influence that. I posted yesterday something from from Vim Hoff on our platform and he was also talking about these these chemicals in your body that you can't control, right. So there is a lot, a lot to do a lot to do with with standing on nails.

18:43 I think there are a lot of profits from it and also on deeper layers. So you have this physical layer, but you also have this mental, mental and emotional level, you know, and that's, I think, also really protected with the pain. Yeah. If there was 1 substance that could increase your energy levels, optimize mitochondrial function, boost ATP production, help to optimize your hormones, re mineralize the body with ionic minerals, boost cognitive function, assist detoxification and support your gut health via the microbiome.

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19:38 They have an extremely high quality shilajit product that has been rigorously tested for heavy metals and impurities. Grab yourself some Shilajit, the destroyer of weakness today and head over to mountaindrop.com. Use the promo code Mobility FITNESS at checkout for a nice discount as well. Oh, yes, 100%. So let's maybe start off layer by layer. So then we can guide the audience through basically all the different systems. Because I would like to cover the foundation why it's so important to stimulate the feet in the 1st place because as you mentioned that they are the foundation of the body.

20:10 It's the only thing that's in contact with the crown puts you all some very important things that you mentioned. Was that how the tension that we feel throughout the body is coming basically from the feet, right? Because obviously when we lay down, we we can feel. That the tension goes away. But why is that? I don't think anybody asks the question. That's because when we are standing on the ground, it's sort of like we are basically all our muscles are contracting in the right places to keep us basically standing up.

20:37 So it's pulling on the fascial system. The nervous system is obviously interplaying here. We have the nerve, we have the blood flow, we have the lymphatic system flow, we have the meridians. So all of these things, I would love to get into them 1 by 1. So let's begin. Let's begin with the feet as the foundation. And so tell me, like how, how does standing on nail boards actually help our nervous system state on a deeper level what's actually happening inside the body when we stand on the nail boards?

21:08 Well, you have the nociception, so the feeling when from touch it. So if you touch and if you touch too hard then it gets over in pain and pain sensations and that stimulates these hormone levels the opiates in, in your body, right. So the endorphins come. It's like with sports also the, the pain suppressive systems with what we call it. And these are immediately activated. So like a runner's high or something, you know that, that you can experience as well when standing on nails, but you have to 1st adapt a little bit, you know, so the first is going like, wow, it's really painful.

21:50 And then when your system adapts a little bit and when you slow down and you relax the body, then you can, you will reach that adaptation point that's somewhere between like 2 and 5 minutes. And then your body is a little bit used to the to the the stimulus right from the outside. Of course, you have a locally as well that it stimulates the blood flow. And yeah, and also this Chia, what we're talking about, this is really old. Like in Chinese medicine, you see that the chi is the, the energetic system is the basis of health.

22:30 And we here in, in the Western society, we treat people when they're sick. In China, for example, in Asia, they try to stay healthy as possible. That has to do with the chi. So if the chi has a good flow through the body, you don't get sick. So you don't have to go to the doctor, you know. So that is also the stimulus of acupressure points under the feet will stimulate the chi flow through the whole body. And that that is the self healing system. What I say, you know, and that is what I'm really intrigued about, you know, if you can heal yourself from inside out, you don't need all the chemicals from the outside, you know, and these kind of things are interesting.

23:13 I think we're in that level of thinking now in, in society as well, because taking pills and people don't want that anymore. They want to have this self healing. And but you have to have a kind of a consciousness before that. And of course you can do it also with meditation and different types of things. But nail boards are so direct, you know, there is no escape when you stand on it. You just have to relax, you know, So that is really what I find really interesting. Even people who cannot relax anymore, they have to relax.

23:48 And that is I think one of the stronger gimmicks of, of the nail boards is just so in your face, you cannot escape. And I had like a professional kickboxers, you know, they weigh like 120 kilos. They're so strong. And I put the on the nail boards and they're so small, you know, and I find it really interesting because it's really how you cope with yourself, right? And yeah, so for me it's, it's really direct form of, of, of doing the process immediately. So this is the the physical level that we talked about now.

24:23 Yeah. Yes, absolutely. And and as you mentioned, I love it how you always tie it back to the energetic level as well as if they are not separate, but more like intertwined. So I think this is what's actually most fascinating right now that the Western world is realizing the connection between the East Eastern knowledge. They are understanding that, for example, the different fascial systems in the body are the same like lines as the meridians and you know these energetic areas and the lymphatic system for example, is in line with the meridians.

24:57 And when you look at all of these systems of the body, they are all literally intertwined. So when you are stimulating something very, very, because people like to separate spirituality, you know, emotional state separate from physical. I like to look at it as one system because of course, if you take care of your physical body, right, you're like your brain, for example, is part of your body. People like to separate the brain from the rest of the body. They think, yo, you have your nervous system and then you have the rest of your body where it's more like, no, it's all one system.

25:27 Like your body is the soil and your brain is the plant and the nervous system is the roots of the plant, right? And it's sort of in inhabiting your body. And if you don't take care of your body, obviously it's not, it's going to impact your brain, it's going to influence your emotional state and obviously then your spiritual state as well. So maybe let's talk a little bit about why is actually practicing hard things on a daily basis so important? Because you kind of covered that a little bit. But why is it actually so important to do something hard every day?

26:00 Because if you look at in today's society, everyone is escaping all of the hard things. Everyone is gaining their dopamine through easy efforts, through screens like porn, eating sugar, like doing all the easy things that you're just sitting on your ass, You're not doing anything and you're just getting. Your brain is getting bombarded with this dopamine and then you are addicted. You run into addicted, addictive personality. So why is it actually important to earn our dopamine? Yeah, that's interesting that you, that you say that because I always say it's about it's compulsiveness, like behavior that you cannot control, like sitting on your phone window shopping, huh.

26:43 You know, so your brain is constantly sugar cravings, these kind of thing, drugs, everything is just short and instant and it's just the mind. If you if you don't control the mind, the mind is controlling you, right. So absolutely that is it's easier to say then then do because you have to practice and it has to come from inside out. So every stimulus from the outside is not going to change the inside, you know, So you have to work, you have to work with this inside momentum of, of shutting down the whole mind system.

27:25 If you're like in a relaxed state, then energy will flow through your body. If you're in a too, always in a too high state, then the tension is too much, you know, in the, in the body and the, and the energy will not flow so through the whole system. So I think that is that is the calming and taming the mind. That is what what is one of the best things to do on a daily basis. If you do it with meditation, if you do it with cold water plants, training, you know, sports are also great for these kind of things for the nail boards.

27:58 It's it's also like discipline. I think discipline is really important also. And in this correct mindset of like having a focus, you know, having a focus, not, not that your mind is constantly all around and constantly busy with the future, constantly busy with the past. You know, it creates a lot of chaos and a lot of insecurity. And if you, if you can put yourself in the now as and, and nail boards, you cannot escape. You have to put your when you stand, it's just this and nothing else because it's painful, right?

28:34 So, and of course it gets better by time, but there's not the nails don't change, you change, right? So that is the good thing about it. Yeah, what I say. So the tension release also in your system, in your mind, what you talked about, this fighting flight reaction that we have, it's kind of the same as this compulsiveness. This compulsiveness is I have to take my phone, I have to do this. It's the mind that is uncontrollable, but it's that is this kind of fight or flight reaction. So if we go out of that, then you have this wider perspective of everything because you don't react on the first activity in your brain, you know, So who is in control then, you know, so you're getting much more control over over your whole thinking system and also of over your energetic system.

29:30 And I think that is what I said for me really interesting about pain, because pain is this is this first reaction, you know, that you kind of control and kind of tame. And the Buddhists say, oh, always like you have first, the first layer is pain and then suffering comes. The Buddha talked about this like 3000 years ago, right? So you, you feel the pain, but it doesn't have to become suffering. And that is with an emotion. It's kind of easy things in life. So if you don't feel well or you feel irritated or you feel jealous or whatever, it's this first reaction that we always go dive deep in, right?

30:15 And if we don't have this first reaction anymore and we settle in, we have this overview and you, you take it a little bit loose from each other, then the pain doesn't become suffering. And that is, that is one of the biggest benefits, I think also from, for nail board training because you, you, you separate the, the, the pain from the suffering because the suffering is the emotion of, of the pain, what you create by yourself, right? It doesn't have to be like that. Yes, I heard stories about the people who they cut their legs off because they were in a heavy situation.

30:58 They had to cut their legs off. How does that work? So it's interesting to see so, and if you've been to heavy times in life or whatever, it should strengthen you. You should have the courage to say, OK, I know who I am now. Don't react too fast in this kind of thing because I make myself crazy, right? So yeah. Absolutely the. Mental thing about it, yeah. If you actually care about your health, you want to stop putting and using toxic personal care products on your hair, skin, and in general your entire body.

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32:07 Yeah, I love it. I love it. This is so many important things that you mentioned there especially. So basically what you're saying is that when people are standing on these nail boards, it helps their body to shift from a sympathetic state to a parasympathetic state because there is literally no choice. You kind of have to shift to a parasympathetic state to be able to tolerate the nails in the 1st place. Well, that was my personal experience as well, is that obviously at the beginning when you stand on and use your very first experience, the first time, you don't know what to expect.

32:37 So of of course your brain is a little bit like, you know, it's a bit more like this fight and fly state. But then as you learn that, Oh yeah, I need to calm down pretty fast because if I don't, it feels like the pain is increasing all the time. But all of a sudden, like when I was. Yeah, yeah, exactly. But when I was standing on it, I found that even just from the first time, I was able to tap into this deep level of control and I was able to just allow to, to quiet the pain just through my mind.

33:07 Even though my body was still experiencing the pain, my mind was not sending out the signals for pain. So then actually I didn't feel pain anymore, like physically, even though it was painful. So it was really cool that I noticed that, for example, the first day that I did it was I, I used a timer. So I managed to do 30 seconds only the first time. Then the second day, I was already like 45 seconds. The third day I was like like one minute and 10 seconds and then the the 4th day I was already like 2 1/2 minutes and then and then the the day after that, the 5th day was 5 minutes.

33:44 So it like it just grew exponentially like so, so fast. I was so impressed with myself. But like my partner Tina, she also started doing it, my partner, and she was standing on it as well. Every day. She totally blew me out of the water. She did like 10 minutes. I was like. What the hell? So yeah, it's it's. Insane.

34:09 Yeah, yeah. I don't know how she does it honestly. Yeah, yeah. But women, you know, they're much more in connection with pain, right? Like giving birth and everything. So I noticed that as well. A lot of a lot of women, they really are tough in these kind of things. Really tough. Yeah. Not everybody, everybody is different. But I in general is really, it's nice to see that they have they have this connection with pain already in their DNA. You know, it's just, yeah, it's just like that. And for me, like when I stand on it, I had the same in the beginning was like, I did so much, but this is so confronting.

34:50 I could not, I could not relax, you know, I think, oh, this is and I felt tension building in my whole body, you know, so not only in my feet, but in my whole body and near my heart area and in my legs. And so I thought, OK, how can I relax this, you know, so and, and then that was also trigger for me. So I felt all the blockages in my body because it was not streaming. Well, I was not relaxed in certain areas much more than others, but not tall and thought there was not and total relaxation. And also, and then you start to discover all this is where I hold my tension in my body because there it is up in the 1st place, right?

35:31 And then if you loosen that part of the body, then the whole system gets more aligned. So yeah, it's interesting. I think that's actually one of the most fascinating parts about it, how through the power of the mind and through the nervous system state, we can release tension areas, problematic areas, which have been chronically tight or problematic or painful for many years for no specific reason. Maybe not even from injury, but just because of misuse of the body, maybe some bad lifestyle habits and behaviors, maybe chronic posture of, you know, doing certain things.

36:04 We have built some adhesions and some stiffness and some pain in some areas which we are not aware of as you mentioned. And so when we stand on the nail board, it makes us instantly aware of where the problematic areas are. So it's not like the nail board is causing you those problems. It's illuminating basically where you have problems already pre-existing within your body. I always tell people as well, like in training, like in exercise, if you go and train in the gym and something hurts, you didn't hurt yourself in the gym.

36:37 It just tells you that there is something in your life or you have you have some built up tension somewhere in your body for some reason and the gym is just revealing the problem. It's not actually causing the problem. But of course, if you keep on hammering training on top of a dysfunctional pattern, it can lead to further problems down the line. But this is what I Love Actually about the nail board is that because it gets you from a state of sympathetic state and how quickly you have to shift into a parasympathetic state because you don't have a choice.

37:09 It literally allows these problematic tension areas to sort of release. Because even sometimes when you do like foam rolling and massage guns and even like some physiotherapy, for example, you may not even get rid of those problems if they may just keep coming back. But what the true actual release, I believe, in my opinion comes from the nervous system state. Because if if the way that the the brain is programmed for some reason is keeping those areas in the body tight as a form of protection, it's not going to let go of it just because we are doing some myofascial release or something.

37:45 We have to work with the brain. And that's why I love the fact that the nail board is so powerful in this way. Could you break down for us actually, if you actually know what's happening with the time frame when we are standing on the nail board? So for example, the 1st 10 seconds or the next 20 seconds, 30 seconds, what's what's actually happening inside of the body? Why do we go actually from a state of this heightened state and then all of a sudden to this more relaxed state? Yeah, it's, it's practice also, you know, so if if you know what meditation is, and I always ask people, you know, when they step on the nails, try to relax as much as possible, like stepping in the cold water.

38:28 It's a little bit different because the Wim Hof method with breathing is kind of intense, right. So these breathing methods are really good to go in the cold water, I think. But it. Perhaps on the nails? Really. Yeah, really active. It doesn't relax so much, so I try to ask people to relax as much as possible. We do most of the time like breath working before, but if I don't have the time that they want to experience immediately, then I try to relax them in a short period of time. They have to do that by themselves as quick as possible.

39:01 And then keep that state when you're on the when you're on the board, you know, and then every, yeah, it shoots, you know, if everything it should, will shoot through your body. So the heat goes up, you know, because yeah, sometimes you get sweaty from it and then you feel the endorphins come and then a lot like after a minute or two 3, then the pain suppressive system kicks in. So there's these opiates, these chemicals in your body. And then if your mind is relaxed and your body is relaxed, then these chemicals can do their work as well, right?

39:37 So that is also because we are uptight, the flow in the body is not there. So if you're relaxed and then this other taste system, so these opiates in your body come free and then you can relax much easier. You know, it's settling in the feeling. And I think that is that is really good because also like pain, this is really like physical pain, what physically happens to you. But also you will notice much more when you're like emotional out of balance. That's also kind of pain, right? So you will notice that in your daily life, because you stand on the nails, you get familiar with this uncomfortableness that you think, oh, it's building up in my body.

40:20 So, oh, no, this is not necessary. I can relax it again, you know, so And that is that is, I think what you ask, like this physical thing what is happening. That's what you see with William Hoff as well. In the cold, he can arrange his temperature. You know, this is a part of sympathic skill. You know, like years ago, we we could not have imagined this happening, you know, so and I think it's everything is a chemical in the body. And it's a lot with how you think and how you wear your body, how you react to certain things, how the chemicals in your in your body are right.

41:02 Yeah. Methylene blue, an incredibly powerful substance that has an affinity for the mitochondria. Discovered in 1876, at first as a textile dye, it didn't take long before it was noticed for its unusual biological effects. Here is a list of all the things that methylene blue is known for. My personal favorite it is effects that it has on the mitochondria. Methylene blue acts as a redox agent. What this means is that it has the ability to grab onto electrons, donate and transfer them anywhere where energy is required in the body.

41:33 And we know that most Neolithic diseases these days are due to a lack of cellular energy, ATP. The more electrons we can get through successfully along the electron transport chain in the mitochondria, the more deuterium depleted water we can make as well as the end of energy production, which is ATP, the energy that we need to how all our cellular processes come from electrons. So it only makes sense the more we take care of our mitochondria and our energy production, more energy we have for our overall health, well-being and vitality.

42:02 If you wish to explore the methylene blue that I use, head over to maragimedicinal.com/mobility Fitness and use the promo code MOBILITY FITNESS at checkout for 15% of your entire order. Very, very cool. Yeah. Like what you mentioned there about being able to tolerate like harder things. That's so true because I found, for example, if I do, I also have one of those spike mats that you lay on on your back. And basically if I do the nail boards 1st and then I lay on the spike mat, I feel like the spike mat is nothing.

42:33 But if I lay on the spike mats first, it feels like it's hard at the beginning, you know, and it's so much more uncomfortable. So it's, it's so true that actually when you do something so much tougher, it conditions you. And it's not like, it's not like you become tougher. It's actually that your nervous system now knows what to expect in certain situations. So you're actually training your mind and your nervous system literally to become more resilient to stressors. And that's super, super cool because I feel like so many people are stressed these days.

43:03 So many people are experiencing this stress with and this mental stress, which is not even like it's an, it's an imaginary threat, right? An imaginary tiger in the environment, which they cannot shut off for like at all. And I feel like they need something like this, as you mentioned, like a natural painkiller because they basically produces these natural opioids, like you mentioned, inside of the body, which is able to help you to deal with the internal pain and suffering that you have, whether that is like mental, emotional, or even physical.

43:36 So I think it's super cool, like how it's actually targeting so many different systems at the same time. Do you know if it like improves blood flow at all? You know, throughout the entire body and especially the feet? Locally, of course, yes, locally, of course, through the whole body. It's hard to say. I think what we did last week that was super interesting there are these like brain waves meters now on the market. So interesting yes my friends had listen, a a hey, we call it in Holland yeah. A EEG or something yeah, yeah.

44:15 And then you can measure these brain waves, you know, and then you saw really like and 1st you saw this fight flight reaction in the first minute and then after 2 minutes then the brain waves like settled slowly down. And then you could really see that the meditative states was reached and this random money meditates. He said, normally I can I reach this state in like 25 minutes of deep meditation. And now it was in 2 minutes. So I thought, OK, this is interesting, right? So you can really measure what is happening now.

44:48 So yeah, that is that is interesting. What I just what you mentioned before as well, like the stimulus that we have the pressure from the outside world, right? This is immediately pressure from the outside world, right? So it's only you have the choice if it's influencing you. I know what level, right? So it's really a synonym for me is if that you don't get the pressure from the outside world, let your inner peace disturb your inner peace, right? So and I think everything that we do now is for the outside world.

45:23 We all have to look good. We all want to have this career. We all want all under pressure, right? So, and it's good. It's good to do that because ambition is really interesting. Only ambition combined with tension, it's, it's not good because there's no flow anymore. The tension that we're constantly this pressure cooker. So the pressure cooker, if you constantly live on tension, it's not, it's not good. I work already like 25 years as a physiotherapist and I see now there's all these complaints with what we talked about underneath.

45:57 There is some discomfort that shows in the body, right? So it comes from somewhere that it keeps it in intact this these complaints. And if if you're not good and well in your body and relaxed in your body, of course you can do heavyweight training. But on the other side, you have to know how to relax again, right? Because you cannot leave the gym and people don't stretch anymore. They don't have knowledge of a fascia and you know they don't have. But this is the next step. The functioning of the body goes much, more, much further than only going to the gym, right?

46:37 And I think meditation is one of the best things to do and breath work as well to get this diaphragm active and also this vagus nerve that we have to influence to get to quiet the system down. And yeah, nail boards are also one of these tools that can really impact in a really short time, can impact these kind of systems in the body. Yeah. Yeah, I think that's why it's so powerful, because you can do it like every single day and it's so simple. You just have to get it out and just stand on it. You literally don't need to do anything.

47:13 Is so the ad? Yeah, so the adherence level, so actually, like committing to it is so easy. I mean, you don't even need to do it that long every day. It's not like you need to break a record every day. Like I was trying to do that initially because I was motivated and I wanted to see how far I can take it. But now I just stand on it every day. And when I feel like it's too much, I just stand off. But I do it more, as you said, more for the meditative purposes because I find that I'm able to tap into this state inside of my body where I feel very much calm and in control.

47:45 And that sets the tone for the day. And I love to do it in the morning staring at the sunrise. And if I do it like that, I just feel like it sets my my intentions for the day. Like I feel really, really good. Because if you start the day by looking at your phone and getting stressed and especially blasting yourself with the blue light and the electromagnetic fields, and you are telling your body that it needs to be in this state for the rest of the day because it's under threat. But if you start the day off that it's safe.

48:13 If the body literally feels safe from a nervous system level, then you're able to have so much more opportunities and you're able to respond, not react as we mentioned like previously, right? That's what what we call clarity, right? Exactly. So you, you talked a lot about flow and about this life force energy. And so I would love for you to to maybe share, do you think that by standing on these nail boards, if we are releasing the tension in the body, is it actually like releasing also like is it making the fascial system work better?

48:53 And then therefore it's actually thereby helping these flows of energy throughout the body? Because obviously I'm not the most aware or experienced in the different pathways or Meridian lines, let's say of of the body. But maybe you could get into that a little bit for us, like what's actually happening in the systemic level on the energy wise through the physical? Yes, of course, you know what it is. If we're in the Western medicine, health medicine, healthcare, we cannot see anything, you know, so like we meridians, you cannot see, you know, so if you cut somebody open, you cannot see it, the Meridian.

49:37 So if we don't see it, it doesn't exist, right. So that's The funny thing, right. And I always, you know, if somebody spills blood on the on the on the wall and you take it off, but you hold the blue lie to it, then suddenly you see the blood on again on the wall, right? So it's a little bit how a Meridian is. So you cannot, you cannot see it. But everything is built from energy, right? So, and we come from everything is connected, you know, So and we think, and that is the individual mind. I think that we all breathe the same air.

50:15 So this whole system, this whole functional system that we have, this body and this mind is not an independent system. It's connected with everything around us, right? So in the Western society, we don't see that. We see each other as individuals and egos. But if if you're more aware of these systems in your body, this flow of energy through your body, so eating healthy, sleeping well, breathing well, these kind of things will stimulate that sense of energy system in your body. And if you in the beginning, it's really hard because I do a lot of chicken like these breath work things in the beginning, it's really hard to feel these kind of things because it's a subtle thing, you know, it's.

51:03 Subtle, yeah. Yeah, subtle. So you really have to relax into it. And that is what nail board training is. Well, you will get more aware of this subtle of this subtle flow and stream in your in your life. And in, in Daoism, they have this Wu way principle that is action without any action. And, and that is a little bit connected with this, you know, so you will feel the stream in your body, but not doing anything. It's already there, right? Because we are always searching for things. But a lot of things are all are already there.

51:41 So it's noticing things, noticing this energetic system in the body, but it's in the beginning, it's hard. I cannot say because there are a lot of blockages, you know. So you have to 1st relieve the blockages with nail board training. That is really good to do with meditation, breath work in combination really good because you can train every day and then you will notice. And then when it starts to flow, then you will start to notice, oh, there is this energetic system in my body. And when the flow starts, then you will feel healthier for much more energy.

52:16 You feel much more connected with what is happening around you. You don't feel this individuality anymore so much. You feel connected with everybody that there is or feeling in nature. Nature comes much more, but everything is built from energy, right? So if your energy is flowing better, you connect better with other energies as well, right? So that's interesting. And there is a whole, there is a whole like Eastern science behind it, like the pressure points, the whole feet are, the whole body is connected with the feet.

52:52 Maybe you've seen the charts from the foot reflexology. You can see the liver, the stomach, everything is connected. And that is I think also really interesting because we're really in the Western society focused on the the physical and on the outer appearance of the physical. But we don't do things to get a healthy liver or get a healthy stomach or get a healthy heart or get healthy lungs, you know, and this is where the energetic system is really important. So if you're like heavy training is good, but you also have to do this light and slow movements to get the body In Sync in line again aligned.

53:36 Oh, I love everything that you mentioned there. There's there's so many directions we could go, but I think what's actually really important to mention that you said that so many people are taking care of their external appearance. Little do they realize that actually their external appearance is a reflection of their internal environment. So that's, that's like exactly what you said, like all the things that we are doing to our body, the way that we breathe, the way that we think about ourselves, our nervous system state if we're stuck in fight and flight oil all the time or are we relax, the type of food that we eat, whether we sleep good or not, that's all impacting our organs on a deep level, right?

54:13 And that's determining how our skin is going to look, our hair, our teeth, everything. So if we actually care how we look on the outside, we need to take care of the inside. And I feel, I feel like This is why it's so important to do these type of episodes because I feel like I want to educate the world and the audience that you need to actually take care of your vessel. Because if you don't take care of it, well, you only have one place to live, which is your body. Like obviously once your body is gone, then obviously you move on from your body.

54:41 I don't believe also necessarily that we actually when we die that we actually just disappear. I feel like our, our spirit just goes on and lives on and it whether it reincarnates or it doesn't, I don't know. But what I, what I do, but fundamentally believe is that like, you know, you can reach heaven on earth right here right now, because if you have reached it already, once you're dead, this is my opinion. I feel like it's not going to be somehow different. I feel like you're going to be in the same reality that you have created here.

55:13 So if you, I just feel like that the mindset is also so, so important as well. And you also said about the, the meridians and the reflexology about how the feet, you know, tie to every single organ of the body and the acupressure points. And yes, again, like This is why it's so powerful to stand on these nail boards because I also find as well, when I on the nail boards in the morning, I feel like instantly I need to go to the bathroom afterwards because, you know, it's like your body is going in this.

55:42 Yeah, your body is going into this parasympathetic state. So it's relaxing. So like all the organs now have less tension. So they can be, you know, they can flow as they want. They can, you know, they can swell and they can move. Whereas when we're in a sympathetic state, everything is more contracted. You know, breathing is more contracted. And as you mentioned, it's almost impossible to relax if you actually don't relax your breathing because the breathing in the nervous system, they are sort of, you know, a two way relationship communication system.

56:12 So if you relax your breathing and you breathe more deeply, more common through your nose, if you're able to oxygenate your body, you know, going to that parasympathetic state. But if you are hyperventilating like doing Wim Hof method on the nail boards, maybe it's not the best idea because your nervous system is like boom, like this, you know, So it gets like a little bit too much. So for everything that we talked about today, I will be leaving a link below so people can actually find you and explore you.

56:40 And if people actually use the promo code circadian. So just send the message to Ivan to his Instagram page and send him the message circadian and you will be able to get a discount on these nail boards that we talked about today. Is there anything that we didn't talk about, Ivan, that you would like to cover before we end the show? No, I think, yeah, I was interesting also to hear what your experience was from it. I was really curious. So yeah, no, I think we covered a lot, a lot of areas. And if people still have questions, they can always contact us or and then we'll see what we can do.

57:18 There are a lot of possibilities also. We do that with clients like these, walks over boards like a firework, but then in a row. That's so cool. Interesting to do all that, like with workshops and stuff like that. And it's really like also for companies and we do a lot of things like this mindfulness things that they have to be really aware and team building that they have to with each other do the whole team has to go over the board so they connect really with each other. So there's a lot to do.

57:49 We can we can help a lot of people to experience and rediscover their the true self, right. And everything starts from the inside. I think that is the key that we have to really this this line or from inside to the outside. We have to discover more, you know. So what do we let in and what do we hold out? And I think that is a really good, good thing to experience with the nail boards and practice with it on a daily basis. That's a beautiful place to end the episode. Thank you so much. You guys enjoy the topics and guests I bring on the show.

58:24 I would really appreciate it if you left me a five star review on Spotify and also subscribe to Fitness Wisdom Podcast on YouTube as well as this helps us spread the knowledge and wisdom with the world. Until next time, this is the Fitness Wisdom Podcast.