In this episode, Mollie is joined by Robbie Bent, an entrepreneur focused on helping people improve their mental health in an accessible way. Robbie discusses the use of breathwork and how it can help you deal with a variety of different issues, from sleep to increasing energy in the morning. Robbie also explains his use of psychedelics and his exciting new venture that is aimed at creating a fun, healthy, new form of social gathering.
SHOW NOTES
💭 Robbie’s story and what led him to create his organization
💭 Why the focus on breathwork for sleep
💭 Recommendations for an approach to breathwork
💭 How Robbie reduces stimulation before sleep and his sleep routine
💭 How breathwork helps to improve sleep
💭 Breathwork exercises
💭 Robbie’s morning routine
💭 Robbie explains his experience at a dark retreat
💭 His new venture that creates a new way of interacting
💭 Use of psychedelics for improving sleep and other mental health issues
BIO
Robbie Bent is building a global community to improve mental health in an accessible way. Inward, combines beautiful social spaces built around saunas/ice baths and the largest library of breathwork content in the world. Robbie and the Inward team host a Clubhouse Show on Psychedelic Medicines and have been profiled by leading wellness brands like Eight Sleep and the Natural State Podcast.
EPISODE LINKS
Email: robbie@inwardbreathwork.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/inwardbreathwork/ and https://www.instagram.com/robbiebent/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robbiebent/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/robbiebent1?lang=en
QUOTES
“The really cool thing about breathwork is you can feel it. So in a 20 minute session, you can totally change your state.”
Mollie McGlocklin 0:15
Welcome to the sleep is a skill podcast, I am really excited to speak with Robert Bent today. Uh, we had a couple of technical difficulties, so here we go. Second, time's a charm. Uh, but Robert, thank you so much for taking the time to be here today.
Robbie Bent 0:40
I'm excited and grateful. You've had me on Molly.
Mollie McGlocklin 0:45
Well, um, I know we got connected by, uh, levels health and they're fantastic products around, uh, CGM optimization and they were blown away by, uh, the difference that you've made in their organization. And, uh, I know you've had just a tie. I have a whole list of things for us to touch on for today. So why don't we get right into it a little bit about your background of how, um, how you got to where you are and a little touch on how that relates to sleep.
Robbie Bent 1:13
Awesome. And just real quick, the story is super long and it's a story of sort of, you know, hitting rock bottom and transformation. And I had struggles, you know, I had a addiction to cocaine and alcohol for, for people listening for around 10 years. Uh, lost my company was sort of at complete rock bottom, not sure what to do, struggling with health, but interested. And
over the last six years,
uh, I found sobriety and completely changed my life around. Met my fiance,
implemented a ton of amazing
habits related to meditation. Some psychedelic medicine. Yeah. Use, uh, hot cold therapies, uh, through these things really, really changed. My life, found a lot of career success.
I. You're in ecosystem. And then as a result of just being happy every day and using healthy habits, implementing them, um, I got inspired to teach others about this. And over the last year actually left the Ethereum foundation to build something,
uh, to help others that are struggling
just like me, you know, struggling with like self-love
career, um, addiction problems,
just, just like, I feel overwhelmed, uh, to give them a path to. Happy and healthy.
Mollie McGlocklin 2:31
Wow. Well, I, and I know we're only touching on this is like breezing through all the things, uh, that certainly have occurred in those over the series of years. Uh, but then even all the things that you've created, all the things that are coming. Um, but I also just really acknowledge you again for your vulnerability and sharing how it's been for you because, uh, so many people listening, uh, all of us can relate to having those really dark times or, um, you know, periods of our lives. That, uh, we're kind of at a crossroads and it sounds like you were able to really make that difference for yourself and now such a ripple effect for others. Um, so I think that could be a good place to begin of that ripple effect for others. Um, and certainly how that relates to sleep is, uh, this conversation around breath work and, uh, some of how you've been able to, uh, help scale that so that many people can take advantage of this practice. So if you can share a little bit about that, that'd be amazing.
Robbie Bent 3:30
Yeah. So why we chose breathwork I'd had
a background in meditation, so I've done a number of 10 day meditation retreats, and I've had a daily practice for around six years. And at first I was trying to teach people meditation, which is an absolutely amazing tool, which is very challenging.
So if you're listening and you know, you've downloaded Headspace, you've downloaded calm. You've tried it 10 times and kind of think, Hey, I am I doing this? Right? I'm just thinking, or maybe it's even more scary because
you realize how many thoughts you have.
It just seems like a lot of miles. Friends struggled. They were busy. Weren't really interested in spirituality, kind of just, you know, feeling awful and like this isn't working for me. And so I saw that happen. I tried to teach coworkers and friends and just really struggled. Not, not too many people made it a habit and it requires a lot of discipline. Like even I had a friend who
meditated, you know, 300 times last year
and was still saying, Hey, I think I'm going to give this up. I'm not seeing if I'm getting benefit is the benefit is there. It's just.
You get somebody to, to realize it because the feedback loop is quite long. And so enter breath work in
20 minutes,
you know,
you can change the physiology
of the brain. You can change your blood oxygen levels and you can change your nervous system state. You can upregulate. So
push the gas on the nervous system or down-regulate and relax, and you can do all that through breath. So you have something called the autonomic nervous system. It's managing, you know, your heart rate, your saliva. Your digestion,
your immune system function, and you can actually control this through your breathing.
And so we kind of saw that, did a bunch of research. And then also the really cool thing about breath work is you can feel it. So in a 20 minute session, you know, you can totally change your state. You can shut down the
blood oxygen to the brain and as a result, get space
from challenging emotions.
And so if you're really struggling and thinking all the time, if you're listening and it's, oh man, I had 5,000 slack. Vacations and social media is driving me insane. I have unlimited emails, my WhatsApp blowing up, like there's so much stimulation in today's world, which really affects your sleep, especially when you're stimulated at night. And so we were like, what is a way that we can stop the stimulation? Stop the thinking mind, allow people to relax and we've found breath work, which changes that state in literally 20 minutes. And then something interesting we did was add electronic and hip hop and trap music to me. Fun. So it's not the standard, you know, oh, I'm meditating. This is prescriptive. It's kind of boring. I don't get it and replaced it with, Hey, this kind of feels like a fitness class. And that we found really, really work. People are listening to like, whoa, this is cool. I'm just breathing to the beat. It's really fun. And I feel it. I feel the difference. And so we have sessions for both morning. So, you know, you're waking up, you want to reduce stress, start your day with energy on the right foot. It's kind of like a coffee replacement. It can be used in the afternoon as well. You have evening sessions, you know, so
breathing slowly, which I can talk about to kind of help you, downregulate the nervous system to prepare
for sleep.
Mollie McGlocklin 6:38
Sure. Wow. Yeah. One of the things I've already been struck by with you just in our, even as were speaking beforehand, um, before the podcast, just, it sounds like you're really looking at some of these things, um, that ha can work and not work for people in their lives and how to almost shake things up and put a new spin, uh, on something. Thing that we might have been frustrated by or tried. And I think you nailed it with, um, so many people I speak with, uh, also because we do lean into technology here at sleep as a skill, a lot of people are measuring with multiple different sleep trackers and with their trackers, they say, oh, what is going on? How do I move these numbers? How do I shift? How do I bring my heart rate down? How do I shift my respiratory rate? How do I improve my HRV, all of these sorts of things. And then from that, Lens the simplicity of something like breathwork can often get kind of pushed away or not. Um, or there can be a challenge of how to bring that in or is that really gonna make the difference? Uh, and I love what you're speaking to because it sounds like it's just like, not only can it make the difference, but it can also be fun and not like a chore and not something that you're beating yourself out again or up about while you're doing it. Um, and I do think you're also touching on, I do a number of times. That actually have a, um, not only are they not meditating, but they actually have a aversion to it because it feels very uncomfortable. And suddenly they're sitting with some of these thoughts that they're spending most of their day trying to purposely avoid in a lot of ways. Uh, and so, so I'm wondering if we can, um, break down for people listening that either already have a breathwork practice or, um, you know, this is kind of new to them for across the board. Are there certain kind of pillars or things that. You recommend or framework by which to approach this? Or how do you have people look at upleveling? The skill of breathwork.
Robbie Bent 8:37
Yeah.
And so this is like a super long conversation. You can think of it. Like, if someone's like, Hey, how should I exercise? And it's really like, what benefit do I want you to do? I want to build strength? Do I want to build mobility? Do I want to increase my cardiovascular system? So it's
kind of similar. It's do you want to improve your sleep? Do you want to boost your energy? Do you want to deal with
emotions and traumas and nervous system regulation? You want to boost your heart rate variability. Those are the four pillars of breathwork that you can really like improve with science, backed, you know, uh, practices and exercises. There's a ton around this.
And then the fifth is just your, your foundational breathing. And so your foundational breathing, which most people don't know is actually going to drive your heart rate, heart rate variability.
So there's a, there's a tool called coherent breathing, which is breathing in sync between your breath count and heart
rate
and breathing in sync. Generally between five and seven breaths,
a minute
is actually going to strengthen the parasympathetic
nervous system, the rest and digest system, your ability when you're stressed to move into that
de-stressed state, and it's going to increase your, your HRV. And so one of the best things you mentioned that device leaf, which sounds
amazing, but just
a coherent breathing pattern. You know, when you're cooking, can you put on music? We have on our side, just like a six and six out someone.
I, you know, it's just jazz music. And so you're listening to Jasmine. Breathing properly while you are cooking, same thing can happen while you're
working. And you're on your computer all day or focusing when you're focusing, you tend to hold your breath or
breathe quickly. So we have another device that you put in your mouth and it trains you to continue to exhale slowly. So
those are just two examples of, you know, what is the benefit I'm looking for? And then what are the habits I need to get that benefit.
And I think where people fail, it's like, oh, I should meditate or I should do work. It's it's really. Like, what habit do you want to change? And then what do you need to implement
to change, uh, to find that result? And so if it's sleep well, okay.
You know, we really want to reduce stimulation before bed.
Yeah. And so for me, my sleep stack, I'm
shutting down my computer
like 8:00 PM. I'm trying to do nothing after that. And I have,
it sounds silly, but I learned this from Cal Newport and deep work. It's a
great, yeah. It's, uh, like I'm done for the day and I actually. Say it out loud.
Exactly. Right. And I say it out loud, like, Hey, I'm, I'm done for the day. And it just gives my mind it, it knows like if something's coming up, I can focus on it tomorrow. And it's just giving me
a ability to rest like permission.
And so that's, that's a huge one because otherwise you're in your bedroom, just like thinking and ruminating. And it's so simple when he said, I'm just going to focus on something tomorrow. And then what is your routine after that? And so I'm trying not to eat late at night. And so if you're tracking on your aura ring, definitely when you. You eat, especially acidic forming foods, your body starts over-breathing to correct your pH balance. So you'll actually start breathing through the mouth, uh, increasing your respiration rate, decreasing your HRV, and you can see it on your order ring. If you have a meal, it's going to increase the respiration rate. So you really want to try not to eat. You know, for me, I'm doing intermittent fasting, but uh, late night food is a, is a tough one, especially if it's like late night junk food. Uh, and then it's kinda like, okay, well, what else? So my fiance and I, we have a routine. And we try to make it fun. So we just put on nice music. We do some stretching together, just like some yoga and kind of talk about, uh, our evening. And then we do one of our breath works. And so the breath works we use,
and I'll just go into this quickly, but at nighttime,
very nice to turn on the parasympathetic nervous system signal to your body. You're safe so you can fall asleep.
And how you do that.
Any style of breathing, where the exhale is longer than the inhale, breathing deep into the lungs, where the parasympathetic
nervous system activation nerves are. And slow exhale. So like
inhale for four hold for seven exhale for eight. It's a technique that Dr. Andrew Weil
amazing one at box breathing,
the Navy seals pioneered another good one,
a coherent breathing. As I mentioned, like in six out six, any of these slow breathing techniques for
10 minutes can really start to shut you down. So we put on something from our site, uh, usually with like binaural beats, which are just types of music, that pipe types of sound waves that help you get into a certain
brainwave state. And so for me, the combination of the stretching, like literally 10 minutes of simple yoga, rom wad, fantastic app, super affordable, just different long stretches each day. So we'll, we'll share about our day. We'll do the stretching. We'll do a 10 minute, you know, any of those breath work styles and like
ready to go, uh, out like a light. So if you're
looking to improve your asleep
in
one of them, please art and I'll stop there, but then could also talk about like, well, what about the day. And, you know, my sleep stacks. So happy to chat about that too.
Mollie McGlocklin 13:32
Yes. Well, number one, thank you so much for giving us that rundown, uh, because that's really, um, one of the things we do at the end too, is get into, um, some of your specifics around sleep too. Um, and so I'm so like, so many people want to know that for people that are so into this world is like, well, what are they doing? So thank you so much for sharing that. Um, and if you could touch on the daytime too, because one of the things that we aim to do as well, Is really look at how do we begin the day shifting the focus, um, from the propensity to look at the night, when all the way we've set up our selves, we might not have realized all of these steps that we've taken along the way that are not really serving us to be able to fall asleep with ease and stay asleep, uh, and not necessarily connecting how we are during the day does have an impact into the night. So, uh, I love that you called that out and if you could share about that, that would be amazing.
Robbie Bent 14:29
Yeah. I think if you're struggling to sleep, it's your body telling you there's something in your life you need to address. And so great to have a nighttime routine. But the day, as you mentioned is just as important. And so for me, I used to have, you know, legit a three hour morning routine. It was super important, a meditation, a breath work, stretching. And then if I woke up late, I would be stressed like, oh my God. I'm like, how am I going to get started? I have three hours.
Mollie McGlocklin 14:54
Yes.
Robbie Bent 14:55
Super excited. It's about, you know, all the biohacking stuff. You can go down this path and like, I can every meal and I, you
know,
I just found now I'm way more after 10 years, I'm way more relaxed about it. And yeah, so just less stress and more happiness. So my morning routine is actually really simple. I'll
just get up, do a bit of movement and like literally five minutes, you know, there's this nitric oxide boost by Dr. Macola that I really like, it's like breathing through the nose and some fast movements to boost nitric oxide in the body. And then I do a 10 to 15 minutes of breath work. Uh, it's called like. Upregulated breathing very similar to Wim Hoff style with a fast circular breathing and breath holds.
And I like to combine that with really great
music and during the breath holds a gratitude practice. And so it's kind of wrapping in everything, you know, the meditation, the journaling, the gratitude all into one 15 minute session. And I find if I do that every day, it's super quick, easy puts me right in the state, turns on the fight or flight nervous system in the morning, which you want to do. And then right after that, I'm getting light in my eyes. So if it's sunny, I go for a walk outside when I drink my
coffee. And that's like,
after the breath work is just beautiful. Like you're so present energized, the coffee is
amazing.
And then if it's not light outside, uh, love the Apollo neuro, which is really cool device and the bear Lux light. So I'm just making sure
when you wake up really
important thing for sleep, which you probably cover is just maintaining circadian rhythms and sort of do that. When you wake up, you want to boost your circadian rhythms, you know, you want to turn on and hit it. Cortisol wave right away to kind of set like, Hey, I'm awake. And we used to do this, you know, we lived outside and so you'd be in the sunshine immediately. And so I live in Toronto, it's dark, you know, so I have this light it's in my eyes. First thing I have the Apollo neuro has an energy setting, which is pretty cool. It like vibrates quite quickly. It signals to be alert and awake. And so I'm trying to boost my cortisol
so that those are after 10 years of like testing and tweaking.
I've now got it down to it. Probably twenty-five minutes,
super easy, super fun. The music is great and it works. It works really well.
Mollie McGlocklin 17:07
Ah, and I so appreciate you sharing this too. Cause if we, um, remind ourselves of your story, um, it's not as if it was always like this for you, like, you know, coming from that background, uh, and some of the addiction and what have you, it must, it's like a whole new world to step into and you really stand as a, um, an example of what's possible. For cause some people will just, you know, can have, oh, that's not, for me. I'm not like that. I'm not wired like that. And you really show us that there's, uh, no matter where you're coming from, no matter what state your brain was often finding itself in, uh, you know, how it had been now, there's this opportunity to train ourselves, to find peace, to calm the nervous system, uh, when it's needed to do that and then create that foundation throughout the course of the day. So that's really inspiring. Um, and, uh, so from that place, Got a number of things in addition that you have leaned into that are really just innovative. Uh, so a couple of things wanted to touch on, uh, one, tell us about the, um, dark retreat that you recently did. Certainly in the world of sleep, we were just talking about the importance of circadian rhythm optimization and the strengthening of our circadian rhythm. Uh, and you have recently had experienced when you were finding yourself all in dark and what that was like for you as it really
Robbie Bent 18:28
totally, uh, I guess. The first thing, he was like, why would somebody do this? And what is it? And it's, there's only one in north America. And it's a pretty intense experience was legitimately living in complete darkness and basically a cave for eight days to reset your brain's reward system.
So what's happening. And, you know, for people listening
who are struggling during COVID totally changed my patterns, even with all these like healthy things, you know, it was like
all of a sudden I'm on my phone all the time. I'm starting two businesses. I have back-to-back
zooms. They just like never, never end, basically. Yeah.
I was looking at Twitter for news cause I'm like, oh, what's going on with like the vaccine numbers and the closures. And it just like, kind of like
what is happening here and all of that, you know? And then no social time my gym was closed. So all of a sudden, all these habits I had just kind of started to change and like fall off the wagon and because I was so over- stimulated, you know, I'm like eating shitty food at night, Uber eats
like just was kind of going haywire. And so I said, okay, I need it. I need to stop. And
one thing I realized or less than I took away for people listening is just, just having a break. You know, it's great to have your morning and evening routine. They're awesome, but just a break.
And so for me, the break is, you know, after 8:00 PM, um, I'm shutting down from work one day a week. Since the dark retreat I'm taking completely
off no phone. I might microdose on that day, which has been helpful to just not think about work one weekend, a quarter, and then one week a year, like fully
off. And so the dark retreat was an exam. Apple of that, where you're shutting off stimulation and resetting your
pathways. And I knew just as being an addict, what happens when you're addicted is you're flooding your dopamine pathways so much
that the normal things in life are no longer fun. They're no longer stimulating. And so I could feel it from the phone, uh, that just like going for a walk. I couldn't shut off my mind.
Um, and so the idea behind the dark was like
no stimulation and it doesn't have to be dark. You could go
three-day retreat with no phone in a, in the woods. Go camping or something like that. It's just the idea to continuously
allow for periods of boredom
and 30 years ago, it's not a problem. You didn't have a cell phone, you know, here you go home from work. Like you're done, nobody's getting a hold of you on the weekend or at your house. And so there was just so many times for boredom and we don't have that anymore. And so I think a huge thing learning from the dark retreat is just making space for boredom, uh, which has been huge for me. And then I feel like, well, rested and not overstimulated and relaxed. And then another one from that, which was just cool, you know, in the first three days, this quality of sleep I had was
in sane.
And so, because you're, there's no light, there's no trigger to say like, Hey, you should be waking up. And so the slumber, like the depth of your dreams, completely vivid lucid, somewhere else. Uh, amazing. And that level of rest and recovery when I came out, like,
even if you just were to do something like that for two days.
Yeah. You you almost, because there's no light, you almost sleep the first 48 hours,
uh, just, just your body recharging. And so when I came home, the first thing I did was even, I don't own the house I'm living in. I spent
a ton of money to black out my entire bedroom because I noticed how much of a difference. And I, I also, like, I knew like, oh, like light, you know, it's going to affect your sleep. But I was like, oh, whatever, like little bit of light, it's probably fine. And it's not, it actually makes a huge difference. So blacked out my entire room. And that's yeah. It's, I think that's like a key thing for sleep.
Mollie McGlocklin 22:04
Well, I'm so glad you're sharing this too. Cause it does presence us too, because it can feel like nitpicky or neurotic of like, oh, you got to get every little crevice of light that's coming in. But to your point it's um, when we really get what true darkness looks like and feels like the result of that, and kind of what, from an ancestral perspective, um, our understanding of what we had been accustomed to, and now. Well, all of this kind of ultra hyper lit environments often, uh, that can, you know, you really beautifully illustrate the importance of that. Uh, did you have an attract during your dark retreat at all, or no,
Robbie Bent 22:43
no. I forgot my aura ring at home, which I was
super bummed because I was so interested to know what happened. Right? Like how deep was the sleep? I have noticed one really cool thing. So I obviously like track my sleep. I use the eight sleep beds of the pod. It's amazing to keep cold. That's another like dark and cold are the kind of the ultimate. And then like obviously clean air. So if plants and an air filter, but, uh,
one really interesting thing I've noticed is you'll listen and be like, oh, sleep is important. I think it's important. But when you look at your ordering over time,
like on days when you wake up and you have a 96 readiness score. Yeah. It's insane like that.
And then I kind of caliber of it that way.
Right. My day at work and especially people are listening. Entrepreneurs,
life is hard. Yeah. If you, you have to be positive and optimistic to build something because the odds are against you. And
when you wake up with the 65 score, because
you know, you ate late or had a glass of wine or whatever it is, you don't feel like you're going to
crush
the day. There's no confidence there. Yeah. So then I started just thinking, okay, well, what am I willing to spend on my
sleep setup? And like, the answer is like, whatever it takes, because I'm gonna, you know, like if you think of buying a car or
clothes or a gym membership, like literally
the best thing you can do to feel good. Is is optimize your sleep. So that was just a huge, huge eyeopener for me. Uh,
Mollie McGlocklin 24:08
I love that approach too, from almost that, um, kind of entrepreneurial lens or the ROI on the investment of what comes back to you. I love the approach to, to sleep of being such an important place, uh, to invest. And there's so many things, of course, as we know that we can do for no money. Uh, so many things that you didn't, that you spoke to in your lineup of how you start your day, how in and your day, you know, no. Real money involved there and yet, um, but some of those systems, some that we do, uh, put the, our expenses towards the setting, the, you know, getting it nice and cool with the particular types of mattresses or what have you, um, getting, you know, investing the money and doing, cause it's not our probably most people's favorite thing to black out the room or do all those sorts of things. And yet that can make such a difference. Um, and actually on that point, um, so further demonstrating your commitment to. Your sleep. Uh, you're actually taking on a new venture that is looking at how to bring people into this conversation, uh, and people that are already in this conversation, giving them a forum or a platform to have where to go, uh, in reality. So if we are starting to track, we quickly become, uh, uh, aware of the old school way of socializing and going out and drinking and drugs and all of those things. If we are tracking, we know that those are just going to obliterate our sleep. Um, Over, you know, particularly if we'd done consistently over time. So you're proposing a whole new way of, uh, interacting. So I'd love to hear more about that.
Robbie Bent 25:39
Yeah. This is my kind of life passion and how I got started on this path and why I left to the Ethereum foundation, which was my background was it was in tech and, um, a big thing for me was okay, I'm sober. How do I stay sober? And so I use the meditation, the psychedelic medicines to like, get rid of traumas I had and
kind of
if you're talking about behavioral change yeah. Your medicines are the most powerful tool to neuroplasticity and allow for short-term behavioral change.
But after that, it's like, how do you maintain? And
what I found was tough because you're, you're sober, but
like, you know, social activities happen at bars at restaurants.
And I also coach, uh, this really crazy
fitness
challenge, like hundreds of people AppleWatch WhatsApp and it's no drinking for 10 weeks and was struggling
because it's oh, it's 7:00 PM. Uh, you know, I want to wind down, I'm gonna have my glass of looking at this and meditation, wasn't working. You need to meet people where they're at and
give them some stimulation. So they like still feel good. And that's why you have these like works, but
increase
looked like everyone wine. And so I was powerful breath
also the ice bath and sauna and the ice bath triples interrupt an effort in the brain. It's the hormone responsible for neurotransmitter responsible for mood, attention,
vigilance.
So you get in,
you relax, you teach your body to do a stress and you feel amazing alive. I've ready to be vulnerable, ready to share. It kind of provides the value of
have a few drinks in terms of like lubricating social anxiety.
And so, you know, we started with an ice bath in our backyard over the last two years. Then we converted my garage into a space and now we're building out
what I think is the future of social
engagement. And so it's, you know, 40 person sauna with a crazy sound system for ice baths,
a fire pit, and we have classes. So, you know, uh, breath work in the sauna mobility in the sauna soundbite. The sauna. And then at night, it converts to a social space. So 8:00 PM to 1:00 AM
you want to go out on a Friday night with some friends? Yeah, I do, but
not at a bar. And you know, you come here, you have some soda, water, hot, cold, you feel primed to go to sleep. You feel
amazing. You feel like release the stress from the day you shut down the mind after long sauna you're toast. Like you're just ready for bed. And so
not
only were you not on your phone, connecting with your friends, but now you're just in this like amazing, inspiring environment, but now you're ready for sleep. And so for me, How do you make these healthy practices? Cool, fun. Inspiring. Like I used to go to addiction counseling. It would be in like the basement of a church and great. They're doing good jobs, but I felt like there's something wrong with me that I'm here. And like, why not go and meet my friends in a place where I'm like, wow, I feel cool.
And like inspired. And so that
was the goal. And we're launching that now. And it seems to be really, really working, providing people with like a healthy alternative.
Mollie McGlocklin 28:25
Ugh. That is so inspiring because that is one of those persistent. Topics that come up again and again, of how to balance. And I think so many people have worked in the old paradigm of, well, it's either a choice between, do I socialize? Do I end it early? But it's, it's just a particular set way. And you're kind of breaking that mold and saying, no, no, no. We can have an, a totally different alternative instead of just subtracting, um, a particular habit. We're adding in a whole new set of things. So from a behavioral change perspective, that can be. Feel powerful. Uh, cause it's not as if you're feeling deprived, you're getting a whole new type of, uh, inspiration, uh, awakening connection with others and, and in beautiful environments. And, uh, it's all just incredible. Yes. Okay. Well, I definitely want to check out that space. Um, and, uh, and you did touch on the psychedelic, uh, psychedelics and, uh, your commitment there and the, um, and your own personal, uh, funding, even on that topic. Uh, certainly many people. In the area of sleep or looking into, could this help me with my depression, my anxiety, my, you know, fill in the blank of what they might be dealing with and then help me get that sleep that I want. Uh, so have you seen some of those results for people, uh, that it, um, uh, improvement in their sleep as it relates to the use of psychedelics?
Robbie Bent 29:51
Yeah, I mean, so there's not specific studies on sleep in general, but there are studies on depression scores and the use of psilocybin. Ketamine, uh, like significantly better than any other option. And then with MDM, a we're in like phase three trials and the results they've released 68% better than any leading pharmaceutical drugs for PTSD. So what these things do at a basic level, they kind of correct the autonomic nervous system. So if
we had these traumas and just by trauma, I mean,
some type of exposure to failure or rejection, that's stuck in your,
in your body, which happens to everyone. You know, you were, someone broke up with you,
you were made fun of, and in high school, Well, you know, your,
your mom said something mean when you were a kid, like there's so many opportunities for these and they, they stay in the body and
they can
impact your nervous system response of some people. Uh,
you know, if you ever wonder why some people can get really triggered by something when others, can't,
your nervous system responses is impacted. And so that can, that can
cause problems with your sleep. Right?
And so
what I've found super powerful with these things, and I'm just speaking personally, not from a evidence-based framework, but what I've just found is. Is using these with a therapist, you can
reset the nervous system release a lot of the store trauma and energy that can lead to a ton of relaxation.
And so for me, that was like, what happened with the addiction? A lot of the things that were driving this lack of
self self-love, if you're listening and you're like, man, I don't love myself. I'm struggling. I need stimulation. I need to turn off. I need to escape. Like that was me.
And using these things, a lot of those
feelings I wanted to escape, uh, they came up, processed them, you know, left them. And so I had. Feelings of like, Hey, I'm not good enough. I'm not lovable. And, uh, those were processed and left and then they're made space for,
for feeling good. And so that is kind of the, the big guns is like clearing the emotional strain.
And then it also, there's tons of research around these, these compounds for forming new neural pathways, creating neuro-plasticity. And so, as a result, I really use them to change habits. So, you know, quit drinking, quit drug use, quit smoking, uh, whenever there's like something. I want to work on and like make a real habit change. So if you're like, man, I'm trying to sleep, but I just keep having this glass of wine at night, I find the psychedelic medicines can give you, let's say a window where it becomes much easier to make
behavioral change. So I think for those two things, I've personally seen a ton of success so much so that I'm now
investing and slash working in the space to fund research.
Mollie McGlocklin 32:23
Wow. Well one, thank you for sharing your experience and two for then, you know, really putting money on the line. To further help, um, this research effort that is very, very exciting. What's kind of coming down the pike from the sounds of it. So amazing. Um, and so one of the last things we do is just check in to, of how you're managing your sleep. Uh, anything that we can learn from that. So you actually touched on our first question, which is what is your current nightly sleep routine, which I'm sure it evolves and shifts and what have you, but, um, I loved your breakdown there. One of the things as an aside that I'm getting out of what you were. Which I wasn't expecting to is, um, the, uh, the interweaving of music into, throughout the course of your day. I am not doing enough of that. And you've inspired me to start bringing more of that in, I can be very cerebral and I'll go to like, you know, podcasts, audible, blah, blah, blah. But I think there's something so powerful about that. It's just such an immediate state change. Uh, and so really is a tool. Um, but getting into your specific sleep, the second question is, uh, What is on your nightstand and it could be your proverbial nightstand. It could be, you know, apps ambiance, but anything, uh, that we should be aware of from a, what we might see in your environment, as you are winding down to sleep.
Robbie Bent 33:42
Yeah, nothing. I think I want to keep, uh, my bedroom like completely empty, like sometimes a Kindle, uh, but pretty much like, I don't even have a lamp. I don't bring my phone in the bedroom. We have the blackout blinds, I've got a co way air filter, which is like a super
affordable, like $200
option. It's great. Uh, have a few plants, uh, there's a specific type of snake plants that are supposed to filter the air. So between the filter of the plants, the blackout blinds, the aide sleep pod, that is like my,
you know, sleek area.
And yeah, I think I forget who said it, but it was just, you know, you hear this line of the bedroom is for sex and sleep. And so you don't bring your phone in or any crazy things. I don't even have a, um, lamp or anything. I have a actual. My partner bought me a couple of years ago. It's a Phillips light that kind of mimics the sunrise.
Mollie McGlocklin 34:35
Yep. Oh, the, um, Stan simulator.
Robbie Bent 34:37
Yeah. John simulator. So we use that.
Um,
and then, so that's like the, the setup and
just as simple as, as possible, you know, cold, fresh air darkness.
Yeah. Good to go. Um, the sleep prep session I noticed, like I don't do that every night, probably four nights a week, but when I do like way, way better, uh, from a vital. Immense standpoint, my nighttime stack is magnesium glycinate, uh, sometimes melatonin and sync, and I find, uh, that's really helpful. Maybe a holy basil tea in my like wind down period.
Um, and then one thing that's
been amazing. That's kind of like the S the bazooka, if you need it
is floating. And surprisingly, I
actually don't like floats that much, like in the float. And so I was always
like, ah, you know, I don't know. And a lot of people say like, I don't like it. It's weird. But if you track your sleep on your order ring, every time I float legit, 30% increases in HRV deep sleep.
It is like, if
you're stressed and struggling, the number one thing to do, you're you're in complete darkness in the float. There's no gravity. So your body feels
it's almost womb. Like it's completely safe.
And as a result, all these anti-stress hormones kick in.
So
if you have an hour, don't worry too much about what's. Happening in the flow, just know that you're asleep that night
will be amazing. Um, so that that's like a, that's a killer one.
Mollie McGlocklin 36:06
Oh, that's awesome. Do you go somewhere? Do you have one with your, it sounds like you've got a cool setup, but yeah. Yeah. I wish I had one
Robbie Bent 36:12
too expensive and like the hand mask, but yeah, I slowed like once a week, there's one nearby. And so usually like Sunday nights to kind of end the week, my fiance and I will go, we both float together and then I love that ritual. That sounds
Mollie McGlocklin 36:25
awesome. Well, so that might answer our final question, which, but. Maybe you have another one, but, um, what's been kind of the biggest change to your sleep game or biggest sleep kind of aha moment that you've had on your journey so far.
Robbie Bent 36:39
So we mentioned the dark, the complete darkness. That was a pretty big one. The other one, I was never really a person that went to bed that
early. So like personally, I like really functioned well in the evening and kind of like 11, 12 was when I would naturally fall asleep and I'd always wake up around eight ish.
Yeah. And it was like, oh man, I need to be a morning person. I wish I was more. Yeah. Person, like all these successful people, they get up at four and like, what's wrong with me? You know? And, uh, I bought
the Apollo neuro, I heard this, I heard this podcast from Andrew Huberman, just like about light and like, yeah, he's legend. He's the best. And so when you
wake up, like really triggering the cortisol wave and no joke, that's this year I started using,
especially in the winter here. Cause you can't really go outside. And so the Varilux light, the Apollo neuro energy setting. Right. Wake
up and I've just started naturally waking up like six 37 and then, because I'm up earlier, I'm in bed earlier.
Uh, and so that kind of, I think really helps reset my circadian rhythms much faster than it would either. So that was a big learning was
get up and like use your morning to
bootstrap
the rest of your day and your sleep at night. Because if you sleep in, it becomes harder to fall asleep at night.
Mollie McGlocklin 37:53
Absolutely. No, I'm so glad you touched on that. And your re uh, you reman is got some incredible information that he's putting out. Yeah. At no cost and, you know, highly, highly recommend checking that out. Some of the fundamentals of how to set up your day from the start from when you first wake up to the end of the day are just invaluable. So, um, and I love that you not only heard that and instead of just like, oh, well, that's interesting, like really put that to practice. And it sounds like it's making that result in your sleep. And I'm also present to the fact that since like you are, uh, soaking up all of the information that you're learning and practicing and, uh, so I'm sure things will continue to evolve, but, um, uh, One thing I'm gonna say is I'm just really inspired by all that you're sharing and the difference that you've already made in your life and for many people's lives. So, and I'm sure other people listening feel the same way. So how can people follow more of what you are already have out and then what's coming?
Robbie Bent 38:45
Yes. I think now we're
in the process of launching a mobile app or super excited about, um,
but until then we have a website with 400 breathwork classes and for everything I mentioned. So if challenges resonate with you, like I'm struggling. You know, financial strain, relationship, strain, COVID strain. We have something for you. If I can't sleep is an issue. If I'm stressed or facing anxiety, if I want to perform better, perform better at work. If I want to like crush my morning routine, if any of those, you know, are captivating and were breathwork.com super accessible and affordable programs, uh, it's kind of like a calm for breathwork and then that's available now. And then yeah, if you're in the Toronto region, we have the physical space that I mentioned. Uh, it's opening October 1st and so super excited. My, my 10 year goal is to have one of these in every city in north America.
Mollie McGlocklin 39:38
Yes. One just humbly dropped that at the end. That was amazing. I, I will be involved in that. That sounds incredible. Um, and so I definitely want to, uh, check out the one that you're creating in Toronto and then super, uh, your future ones that will be super, uh, future ones down the road. That sounds like such an amazing mission. Uh, and did you say it's breath work? Dot com inward breathwork.com or duck a breath. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. First. I was like, geez, that's an amazing domain name. Oh my goodness.
Um, wow. Okay. So a lot to unpack. I'm clear. We only just scratched the surface, but thank you so much for taking the time, uh, to share, you know, all your wisdom and, um, and just for inspiring and, uh, being an example of really what is possible.
Robbie Bent 40:23
No problem. Love it. Molly. Just grateful that, uh, you had me on it's a, it's a pleasure.
Mollie McGlocklin 40:28
Awesome. Thank you so much.