RARE SENSE | Mind Fitness Chris Irwin

Self-made respiratory mechanics expert.
Dr. Andy Sabatier is the physiotherapist behind Academy West Breathing Performance, an innovative clinic that optimizes the human breathing system. His athletic background, first as a college lacrosse player and later as a professional skier, uniquely prepared him to observe and improve human movement. After completing his doctorate at NYU and clinical training at Stanford, he became the primary ICU physical therapist in a hospital system in Central Oregon. During this time, he became obsessed with the mechanics of how we breathe and cultivated a “Breathing First” approach buttressed by the teachings of Dr. Mary Massery.  Dedicated to eliminating confusion, misunderstanding, and harmful practices around breathing, his strategy relies on precise language, relatable examples, and research concepts that connect the dots on how and why it matters. Andy aims to change how humanity feels, sees, uses, and discusses this most central aspect of all life.
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You can also support my work by purchasing RARE SENSE gear or sharing my content with others.
DISCLAIMER: RARE SENSE content is not medical advice. Nor does it represent the official position or opinions of any other organization or person. If you require diagnosis or treatment for a mental or physical issue or illness, please seek it from a licensed professional.


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Thought leader in innovative medicine.
Caspar Szulc is the President and Co-Founder of Innovative Medicine, a company dedicated to transforming healthcare through an advanced and genuinely comprehensive form of personalized integrative medicine. His work has garnered the attention of top minds across six continents, including Nobel Laureates, leading CEOs, Hollywood royalty, and best-selling authors. In addition, he oversees the New York Center for Innovative Medicine (NYCIM), a renowned center that attracts patients from all over the world.
Caspar's parents are doctors who have spent a lifetime seeking better solutions to whatever ails people. As a result, he grew up traveling the world exploring various forms of treatment. His family's search for new therapies, modalities, and how other cultures heal continues to take him to new places around the globe. To date, he's visited six continents, sixty-eight countries, and all fifty states in the U.S. He has applied the knowledge gained from these experiences to help others achieve a healthier, happier existence.
I was introduced to Caspar through Ben Ahrens, my guest on Episode 6 of the RARE SENSE Podcast. Ben's treatment at NYCIM was crucial to his recovery from chronic neurological Lyme Disease, and his story inspired me to try the same thing. I spent about two months at their center in the fall of 2022, which absolutely moved the needle in improving my overall condition.
Earlier this year, I was a guest on Caspar's podcast, Your Health. Your Story. I wanted to return the favor as I feel he has a unique and vital perspective on healing. During our discussion, we talked about dirty energy and EMFs, ancient medicine and the moniker of "pseudoscience," optimizing health vs. treating disease, chronic illness in general, experience-based vs. evidence-based medicine, remote healing, the uniqueness of each patient, Newtonian vs. quantum medicine, the interconnectedness of the mind and body, what it means to be alive, getting people back to a self-healing state, treatment as information, the power of belief and fear, subconscious patterns, the downsides of trying to live a perfect life, cell memory, the future of medicine, navigating snake oil salesmen, and other topics.
Level up your mental health:
- Subscribe to the RARE SENSE Substack.
- Subscribe to the RARE SENSE podcast on any major streaming platform and leave a five-star review if you love it.
- Subscribe to the RARE SENSE YouTube channel.
- Take the RARE SENSE Challenge.
- Connect with me on all major social media platforms @thischrisirwin.
- Invite me to speak about mind fitness to your organization by filling out the RARE SENSE contact form.
You can also support my work by purchasing RARE SENSE gear or sharing my content with others.
DISCLAIMER: RARE SENSE content is not medical advice. Nor does it represent the official position or opinions of any other organization or person. If you require diagnosis or treatment for a mental or physical issue or illness, please seek it from a licensed professional.


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Physics doctorate and psychedelic researcher.
Abhranil “Neel” Das is originally from India, where he earned his Bachelor's and Master’s in physics. He then received a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Texas (UT) at Austin, performing interdisciplinary research in computational neuroscience and vision science. He is now continuing as a postdoc while working at UT's new Psychedelics Research and Therapy Center, conducting tests and analysis on how psychedelic treatment might improve mental health. Much of his efforts have focused on understanding how the visual part of our brain functions, how it makes sense of the images it sees, and how vision correlates to cognition.
I was "Patient Zero" for his current experiments as part of a more extensive study, which is how we met. I found his work fascinating, specifically how measuring eye movement may help diagnose and track quantitative improvement for conditions like depression.
During our conversation, we discussed his studies, EMDR, psychedelics in general, the sense of self, and other topics. Neel has his own podcast, The Room of Lives, which focuses on science, spirituality, the mind, and mystery, where this episode first appeared. Consequently, the initial eighteen minutes were mainly him interviewing me. I hope you enjoy this discussion as much as I did.
You can learn more about Neel at https://abhranil.net.
Level up your mental health:
- Subscribe to the RARE SENSE Substack.
- Subscribe to the RARE SENSE podcast on any major streaming platform and leave a five-star review if you love it.
- Subscribe to the RARE SENSE YouTube channel.
- Take the RARE SENSE Challenge.
- Connect with me on all major social media platforms @thischrisirwin.
- Invite me to speak about mind fitness to your organization by filling out the RARE SENSE contact form.
You can also support my work by purchasing RARE SENSE gear or sharing my content with others.
DISCLAIMER: RARE SENSE content is not medical advice. Nor does it represent the official position or opinions of any other organization or person. If you require diagnosis or treatment for a mental or physical issue or illness, please seek it from a licensed professional.


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Stress reduction coach and Hope Shortcut founder.
I would describe Lilian Sjoeberg as a stress reduction coach. She works with people to minimize the symptoms of chronic illness via various non-invasive forms of nervous system downregulation. She also has a Master’s in biology and, combined with her success helping others, founded Hope Shortcut, an online course that allows people to go through her methods independently. Additionally, she publishes content on her own Substack. I was introduced to Lilian through Gary Sharpe, another Substack author. Together, they are working to address the effects of Parkinson’s Disease on him.
During our conversation, we discuss instincts and how they relate to chronic illness, the mind-body connection, negative messaging and how it impacts you, instilling hope, Block Therapy and fascial decompression, stored memories, and other topics.
Lilian is from Denmark, and English is not her first language. So please be patient while listening. She is a wealth of knowledge. Besides, most of us can barely speak our native tongue, never mind one from another country…
Level up your mental health:
- Subscribe to the RARE SENSE Substack.
- Subscribe to the RARE SENSE podcast on any major streaming platform and leave a five-star review if you love it.
- Subscribe to the RARE SENSE YouTube channel.
- Take the RARE SENSE Challenge.
- Connect with me on all major social media platforms @thischrisirwin.
- Invite me to speak about mind fitness to your organization by filling out the RARE SENSE contact form.
You can also support my work by purchasing RARE SENSE gear or sharing my content with others.
DISCLAIMER: RARE SENSE content is not medical advice. Nor does it represent the official position or opinions of any other organization or person. If you require diagnosis or treatment for a mental or physical issue or illness, please seek it from a licensed professional.


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Navy SEAL turned "sleep genius."
Rob Sweetman is an entrepreneur and former Navy SEAL who served on active duty from 2010 to 2018. After his time in the military, he turned his attention to studying sleep and helping others get a better night’s rest. He now runs both for-profit and nonprofit sleep enterprises. Many people know him as the "sleep genius."
During our conversation, we discussed the causes and effects of long-term sleep deprivation and disruption, the prefrontal cortex vs. the amygdala, the ideal amount of sleep, night and shift work, short sleeping, safety concerns with a lack of sleep, keeping a sleep diary, winding down before bed, when to go to sleep and wake up, biphasic sleeping and napping, sleeping with background noise and ambient light, bedroom temperature, the effects of WIFI, sleep tracking with wearables, mattress selection, and other topics.
Sleep is something many of us now take more seriously than ever. Hopefully, this episode will help explain why.
Level up your mental health:
- Subscribe to the RARE SENSE Substack.
- Subscribe to the RARE SENSE podcast on any major streaming platform and leave a five-star review if you love it.
- Subscribe to the RARE SENSE YouTube channel.
- Take the RARE SENSE Challenge.
- Connect with me on all major social media platforms @thischrisirwin.
- Invite me to speak about mind fitness to your organization by filling out the RARE SENSE contact form.
You can also support my work by purchasing RARE SENSE gear or sharing my content with others.
DISCLAIMER: RARE SENSE content is not medical advice. Nor does it represent the official position or opinions of any other organization or person. If you require diagnosis or treatment for a mental or physical issue or illness, please seek it from a licensed professional.


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Navy veteran and 3 Doors Down guitarist.
Chris Henderson is an Army and Navy veteran who, since 1996, has been a member of the band 3 Doors Down. He also suffered immense abuse as a child, leading to mental health and addiction issues later in life. During our discussion, Chris opened up about what he went through, what it did to him, and how he still works to overcome those effects.
I’ve known Chris for years. Going into this interview, I intended to talk about alcohol and drug abuse and using music as therapy. I wasn’t aware of the trauma he had endured from a young age. This conversation made me reflect on how you never know what people are dealing with internally, even if they are legitimate rock stars. When I hear a story like this, I realize how much more compassionate and understanding we must be with one another.
Note that this may be a challenging listen if you or someone you know has experienced anything similar to what he went through. It gets heavy and very emotional at times. Please be aware of that. I also wouldn’t recommend this episode for young ones without parental consent. So, I’ve age-restricted it on YouTube. That said, I think watching the interview adds to its impact.
I was amazed by Chris’s willingness to be vulnerable and forthright about his journey, including detailing how it shaped his behavior as a young man and adult. It takes immense courage to speak this openly, and I commend him. This is about as raw and real as it gets.
Level up your mental health:
- Subscribe to the RARE SENSE Substack.
- Subscribe to the RARE SENSE podcast on any major streaming platform and leave a five-star review if you love it.
- Subscribe to the RARE SENSE YouTube channel.
- Take the RARE SENSE Challenge.
- Connect with me on all major social media platforms @thischrisirwin.
- Invite me to speak about mind fitness to your organization by filling out the RARE SENSE contact form.
You can also support my work by purchasing RARE SENSE gear or sharing my content with others.
DISCLAIMER: RARE SENSE content is not medical advice. Nor does it represent the official position or opinions of any other organization or person. If you require diagnosis or treatment for a mental or physical issue or illness, please seek it from a licensed professional.


Get full access to RARE SENSE | Mind Fitness at raresense.substack.com/subscribe