What if the fastest way to feel calmer is to choose your stress on purpose? We sit down with Matt Sowell of Cold Club to map a clear, practical approach to training your nervous system using breathwork, cold and heat exposure, fasting, movement, and human connection. Matt’s story moves from a turbulent childhood to martial arts and into the science of adaptive stress, showing how targeted protocols can transform anxiety into focus, and reactivity into resilience.

We dig into why breath is the remote control for your state—and why one-size-fits-all routines fail. You’ll hear when high-metabolic breathing like Wim Hof unlocks energy and clarity, and when it backfires by spiking adrenaline and wrecking sleep. Matt shares nose-only strategies, extended exhales, and coherent breathing to downshift fast, plus a simple way to match your breathing to your current baseline so you don’t overload your system. We also break down safe, progressive cold exposure: why full submersion calms the mind faster than extremity-only dips, how to build tolerance in weeks, and the must-know safety rules for rivers, lakes, and at-home plunges.

From there, we explore the five adaptive stress pathways—thermogenic (cold and heat), fight or flight, fasting, connection, and breath—and how to train each for performance, recovery, and emotional stability. If you work with plant medicines, you’ll learn practical preparation and integration: anchor with the breath during peaks, use coherent breathing to re-center afterward, and build community so insights become habits, not just memories. Along the way, we share simple starting steps: a daily three-minute nasal cadence, short cold finishes, gentle movement, and one-line journaling to spot which stress circuit you’re in.

If you’re ready to turn discomfort into a teacher and make small, consistent inputs that compound into a steadier mind, this conversation is your playbook. Listen now, subscribe for more micro practices with macro impact, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway—what practice will you try this week?

For more information on the Cold Club visit https://www.coldclub.com/.