181. Dr. Jonathan Leary: Why Cold Plunge & Sauna Social Clubs Are The Future of Wellness Communities

We’ve been approaching wellness completely backwards, optimizing our bodies while destroying our social connections. Dr. Jonathan Leary, founder of Remedy Place, discovered that his highest-performing clients had one major complaint: “I feel incredible, but these lifestyle changes are ruining my social life.” Blue zone research confirms this — it wasn’t specific diets that created longevity, it was community and human connection. When you combine evidence-based therapies like cold plunges and saunas with intentional social design, you get optimization that enhances relationships instead of isolating you from them. Join the Ultimate Human VIP community and gain exclusive access to Gary Brecka's proven wellness protocols today!: https://bit.ly/4ai0Xwg Connect with Dr. Jonathan Leary: Website: http://bit.ly/4lHfiHk Website: http://bit.ly/3IgW9xf YouTube: http://bit.ly/4liB5oV Instagram: http://bit.ly/403bnfE TikTok: http://bit.ly/4nGC8ke Facebook: http://bit.ly/44L63jz LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/3IdepI1 Thank you to our partners: H2TABS - USE CODE “ULTIMATE10” FOR 10% OFF: https://bit.ly/4hMNdgg BODYHEALTH - USE CODE “ULTIMATE20” FOR 20% OFF: http://bit.ly/4e5IjsV BAJA GOLD - USE CODE "ULTIMATE10" FOR 10% OFF: https://bit.ly/3WSBqUa EIGHT SLEEP - SAVE $350 ON THE POD 4 ULTRA WITH CODE “GARY”: https://bit.ly/3WkLd6E COLD LIFE - THE ULTIMATE HUMAN PLUNGE: https://bit.ly/4eULUKp WHOOP - GET 1 FREE MONTH WHEN YOU JOIN!: https://bit.ly/3VQ0nzW MASA CHIPS - GET 20% OFF YOUR FIRST ORDER: https://bit.ly/40LVY4y VANDY - USE CODE “ULTIMATE20” FOR 20% OFF: https://bit.ly/49Qr7WE AION - USE CODE “ULTIMATE10” FOR 10% OFF: https://bit.ly/4h6KHAD A GAME - USE CODE “ULTIMATE15” FOR 15% OFF: ⁠http://bit.ly/4kek1ij HAPBEE - FEEL BETTER & PERFORM AT YOUR BEST: https://bit.ly/4a6glfo CARAWAY - USE CODE “ULTIMATE” FOR 10% OFF: https://bit.ly/3Q1VmkC HEALF - GET 10% OFF YOUR ORDER: https://bit.ly/41HJg6S BIOPTIMIZERS - USE CODE “ULTIMATE” FOR 10% OFF: https://bit.ly/4inFfd7 RHO NUTRITION - USE CODE “ULTIMATE15” FOR 15% OFF: https://bit.ly/44fFza0 GENETIC TEST: ⁠https://bit.ly/3Yg1Uk9 Watch the “Ultimate Human Podcast” every Tuesday & Thursday at 9AM EST: YouTube: https://bit.ly/3RPQYX8 Podcasts: https://bit.ly/3RQftU0 Connect with Gary Brecka: Instagram: https://bit.ly/3RPpnFs TikTok: https://bit.ly/4coJ8fo X.com: https://bit.ly/3Opc8tf Facebook: https://bit.ly/464VA1H LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/4hH7Ri2 Website: https://bit.ly/4eLDbdU Merch: https://bit.ly/4aBpOM1 Newsletter: https://bit.ly/47ejrws Ask Gary: https://bit.ly/3PEAJuG Timestamps: 00:00 Intro 01:22 Creating Remedy Place (Social Wellness Club) 10:58 The Growing of Social and Wellness Hubs 15:18 Community and Connection as Objectives of Remedy Place 22:25 Outcomes of Building a Social Wellness Environment 26:09 Seven-Pillar Lifestyle 48:32 Integrating Functional and Lifestyle Medicine 36:17 Dealing with Stress while Aging 40:52 Data-Proven Technology at Remedy Place 43:52 Going Back to the Basics 46:32 Why Undergo Functional Medicine Lab Testings? 49:36 Connect with Dr. Leary 50:12 What does it mean to you to be an “Ultimate Human?” Disclaimer: This podcast is for informational purposes only and does not provide medical advice. It is not intended for diagnosing or treating any health condition. Always consult a licensed healthcare professional before making health or wellness decisions. Gary Brecka is the owner of Ultimate Human, LLC which operates The Ultimate Human podcast and promotes certain third-party products used by Gary Brecka in his personal health and wellness protocols and daily life and for which Ultimate Human LLC and / or Gary Brecka directly or indirectly holds an economic interest or receives compensation. Accordingly, statements made by Gary Brecka and others (including on The Ultimate Human podcast) may be considered promotional in nature.. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

  Human connection is one of the most important things for our health. And right now it's plummeting. People are having more and more alone time than ever before. And then when they do socialize, they're going drinking alcohol, which is depressing and dissociative.

• 0:13Gary Brecka?

  Connection and community and purpose do not come through electronic media. And the more isolated a person is, the more they're accelerating towards the greater.

• 0:22Speaker 00

  And that's when I knew I needed to have remedy, not just be this beautiful place with hospitality standards, but also what I love about being in an ice bath or sauna, we're enhancing our physiology. So we're bringing out a better version of ourself and it's also allowing us to have a higher chance to have a better connection.

• 0:36Gary Brecka?

  The other thing that I think struck me when I was at your place was you've added this component of functional medicine.

• 0:43Speaker 00

  Functional medicine can analyze everything. And then you really get a full understanding of this puzzle that you have to figure out, like all of this biochemistry. How do all of these things affect one another?

• 0:53Gary Brecka?

  As you built this and this thing started to take shape, what were some of the things that surprised you? That were byproducts of that environment that you didn't see going in?

• 1:02Speaker 00

  For five years, I got to listen to patients. What are all the things that they were constantly complaining about? I'm like, how do I just figure out a solution for these things? And the number one complaint I had for five years was.

• 1:25Gary Brecka?

  Hey guys, welcome back to the Ultimate Human Podcast. I'm your host, human biologist Gary Brecka, where we go down the road of everything. Anti-aging, biohacking, longevity, and everything in between. And today, I know I say this all the time, but today is a real special guest. I gotta find like another way to do intros and say it's a special guest, but it truly is because this man is on a mission to change the way that we view healthcare and how we can integrate a lifestyle of wellness and longevity into everyday events that we would think about socializing, like drinking or going out or a nightclub or networking. And I think he was the pioneer of social wellness.

• 2:10Gary Brecka?

  In fact, I remember a few years ago, reading about this place, and I'll disclose it here in a minute, reading about this place and going, what the hell is social wellness? And now the founder of Remedy Place, Dr. Jonathan Leary is with us, man. Welcome to the podcast. Thank you for having me. It's an honor. I really think that. What you've done, I think there's first movers in like every industry that see ahead of these big trends. And, you know, I have often said that I feel like the pandemic in some ways did society a favor, maybe even did the world a favor.

• 2:43Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 2:44Gary Brecka?

  And it sort of rattled everybody's cage and it woke people up to wellness. Hey, you know, maybe, maybe our governmental and so, you know, social elites don't have our best interests at heart. And maybe this journey to being the most optimal version of ourselves, we kind of have to take personal possession of. And I remember when I first heard about Remedy Place and I saw your first place in New York, and I looked at it and it reminded me of like a really cool kind of London speakeasy vibe. And hopefully that's, I mean that in a very complimentary way. And I was like, what? You go in there and cold plunge and

• 3:22Gary Brecka?

  sauna and groups and like, and I would love to hear about, you know, your inspiration for that, maybe what it was in your background that made you take that bold step because now you seem like a genius. But then you seem like kind of a renegade, I feel like, you know?

• 3:42Speaker 00

  For sure, for sure.

• 3:43Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 3:43Speaker 00

  You know, when I first started, I always wanted to be a doctor. And when I was doing my undergraduate and studying pre-med, you have to volunteer in the hospital setting in shadow. And I had to build my resume. And I just quickly realized, I'm like, is this the environment that I imagined, like putting my whole career and life forward in? And also, is this how I really wanted to take care of people? And by the time that a couple of years passed, I'm like, I'm just going to create my own type of practice. And I went into alternative medicine only because your chiropractic degree in the state of California, you're a primary care physician and you can treat and diagnose anything. You just can't puncture the skin or prescribe meds. And I was like, I don't want to prescribe meds and I don't want to be a surgeon. So I'm just going to create Remedy Place. And

• 4:28Speaker 00

  I moved to LA when I-

• 4:29Gary Brecka?

  Out of the gate, you were thinking that. Wow. So when was this?

• 4:32Speaker 00

  2022.

• 4:33Gary Brecka?

  Okay.

• 4:33Speaker 00

  Moved to LA, started my doctorate, and then every Sunday I worked on the business plan. And I knew nothing about business, but I Googled everything. And throughout that whole entire program, I had 158 page binder. And I just thought, oh, when I graduated, I went to Wells Fargo, I'm like, today's the day that I get this business loan. And I walked in and the woman laughed at me and she's like, sir, you have no money and all this student loan debt, how am I supposed to give you a loan? And I'm like, What do you mean?

• 4:59Gary Brecka?

  But this business is gonna be amazing.

• 5:01Speaker 00

  That's why I need a loan. But it was great because at that time, you know, me talking about a social wellness club at, you know, 2015, people were like, that's the most LA thing in the world. That won't work anywhere.

• 5:13Gary Brecka?

  Right.

• 5:13Speaker 00

  So it was actually, I don't think the world was ready at that time. But then I went into private practice and I opened up a concierge practice in sports medicine. Not because it was fancy, but if I'm being honest, it was the only thing I could afford at that time.

• 5:25Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 5:25Speaker 00

  And I landed a couple of big patients and then after three months, I had a waitlist. And then for five years, I got to just travel the world with cool people and cool families and save them from surgery. And that's what I became kind of known for. And it was a blend from everything from functional medicine to chiropractic, to physical therapy, to Chinese medicine, but all in one.

• 5:42Gary Brecka?

  Hmm.

• 5:43Speaker 00

  And what was interesting was for five years, I got to listen to patients. What worked, what didn't work, what were they willing to do, what were they not willing to do? Common lifestyle habits, stressors, what are all the things that they were constantly complaining about? I'm like, how do I just figure out a solution for these things?

• 5:59Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 6:00Speaker 00

  And the number one complaint I had for five years was, Dr. Leary, I feel incredible. My problem's gone, but all these lifestyle changes that you made me implement are ruining my social life and now I can't have fun.

• 6:14Gary Brecka?

  Ah.

• 6:15Speaker 00

  So that's when Remedy turned.

• 6:16Gary Brecka?

  Cause they're not drinking.

• 6:17Speaker 00

  Yeah, like how are you supposed to go on dates? How are you supposed to go to these events? How are you supposed to hang out with friends after work?

• 6:22Gary Brecka?

  Yeah, network with peers, all that stuff.

• 6:24Speaker 00

  Yeah. And I was like, why is it that the most things I have documented of the five year in practice was this one complaint? And that's when I knew I needed to create, have Remedy not just be this beautiful place with hospitality standards, but also a place that they could actually use as substitution for how they socialize.

• 6:40Gary Brecka?

  Hmm.

• 6:41Speaker 00

  And, you know, as a guest, when we opened the first one in 2019 in LA, everyone, you know, I'm like, are they going to use as a date? Are they going to use as a meeting spot? Are they going to come here after work? And, you know, part of the tour was really just teaching people, just kind of like shedding light on the awareness of how you could use the space.

• 6:58Gary Brecka?

  Hmm.

• 6:59Speaker 00

  And people are like, wow, like that's strange. You know, I think anything that's not ordinary is a little, you know, misunderstood. But then as people started to do it, that's what we really became known for. And what I thought was like, this is a maybe, like maybe this works. But even if it doesn't, it can still just be this place where you have self-care and it's amazing with these hospitality standards, but.

• 7:20Speaker 00

  It's completely changed. I think you're right with the pandemic. I think that was like the light switch that went on in the world for everyone to know that knowing can make you healthy. Only you can make you healthy.

• 7:29Gary Brecka?

  Exactly.

• 7:30Speaker 00

  And then the awareness just shifted and now like everyone's talking about social wellness.

• 7:35Gary Brecka?

  Right.

• 7:36Speaker 00

  And you know, like even like I hear the word prevention, you know, self-care is all about prevention. And I'm like, we've gotten so sick that the goal of health is to prevent not getting sick. But I'm like, health is not the absence of illness.

• 7:49Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 7:49Speaker 00

  You know, health, like with my athletes, I had to get them in the healthiest state to not not be sick, but to perform.

• 7:55Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 7:56Speaker 00

  You and me aren't performing on a field, but we're performing in life.

• 7:59Gary Brecka?

  Right.

• 7:59Speaker 00

  It might be trying to achieve happiness. It might be better relationships. It might be creativity or it might be our work performance. But I think the future is going to have health as a tool to maximize your success and we'll see how this transitions as time goes on.

• 8:14Gary Brecka?

  You know, I think you see a lot of the biggest brands in the world. In fact, I just came from a meeting with the CEO of Equinox.

• 8:22Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 8:22Gary Brecka?

  And you know, Equinox now has hotel brands.

• 8:24Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 8:24Gary Brecka?

  I'm staying at one here in New York, which I love. I stayed in their sleep lab.

• 8:28Speaker 00

  Love it.

• 8:28Gary Brecka?

  Just the fact that a hotel even is conscious enough to have a sleep lab, right? An eight-sleep mattress, horsehair and, and you know, cotton fi- I mean coconut fiber and seaweed stuffed mattresses. You know, fully blackout blinds, like really kind of catering to the traveler, other than just a place to get out of the public eye and lay your head. But actually, you know, an environment that you could really benefit from. It's like you're, you're only going to be in that bed six or eight hours. You might as well get the most out of it. And, and now I think there's this massive ground swell of, of interest in destination wellness and.

• 9:12Gary Brecka?

  Sometimes we're, I mean, I know I select hotels by, first thing I'm look at is the gym.

• 9:17Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 9:17Gary Brecka?

  And then the next thing I'm like, do they have a cold plunge? And if they do, I'm like, I'd rather go to a four star hotel with a cold plunge and a good gym.

• 9:24Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 9:24Gary Brecka?

  Than a five star.

• 9:25Speaker 00

  Align.

• 9:26Gary Brecka?

  With like, you know, five star dining. And I see it in Miami, too. You know, there's these, um, these sort of wellness movements like coffee and chill that are really taking off. And, and we've, we've sponsored a bunch of these events and it'll be 2,000 people.

• 9:42Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 9:42Gary Brecka?

  You know, mainly just a really young, sexy, vibrant crowd. Your calling card is your physique, not your Richard melee.

• 9:49Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 9:49Gary Brecka?

  It's gonna be at a, at a club, right? No, nobody's, nobody's got a Louis Vuitton bag on because they're in a bikini and, and, and it's not centered around drugs and alcohol, but, but all the other things are there. Like a cool DJ and an awesome vibe and, but then cold plunges and coffee. And, and it just seems like it's a really safe environment. They start at like nine in the morning, go to noon.

• 10:11Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 10:12Gary Brecka?

  And if you walked into this, you would think it was any other South Beach nature, right?

• 10:17Speaker 00

  Yeah, it's amazing.

• 10:18Gary Brecka?

  Beautiful crowd, great music, sun shining and there's no drugs, there's no alcohol and it ends at noon. You know, and so, but you know, when, when, when you started this concept, I, I think you filled a massive gap in the space, you know, that, that, you know, we've always gathered around drinking, um, alcohol, food. Um, I mean, what's your first thing you think of when you go on a date? And what, where are we gonna go to dinner?

• 10:45Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 10:45Gary Brecka?

  Get a nice bottle of wine, have some champagne. And realizing that there's a whole lot more to that kind of social interaction. How about actually leaving and feeling better than when you arrived?

• 10:57Speaker 00

  Yeah, I mean, that's, that's our promise at our club, you know? Cause it's like, we, it's just such a habit. And when they're passed down habits that this is what you do to socialize.

• 11:06Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 11:06Speaker 00

  But there's no reason why we need to connect over food or alcohol. We could connect over anything.

• 11:11Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 11:11Speaker 00

  We could be sitting having IVs, we could be sitting in a sauna, we could be doing lymphatic compression. We can do.

• 11:16Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 11:17Speaker 00

  Anything.

• 11:17Gary Brecka?

  But you kind of normalize that because you know, IVs are so, you know, medical. So you think of sitting in a white room at a clinic with a nurse with the, you know, the full nursing outfit and, and nobody talking to you. You don't think of it as, as, as a socially engaging. Thing.

• 11:33Speaker 00

  Hundred percent. And that's why design, especially of an environment, is so important. You know, I like to say that we're designed to heal. The initial intention was to be the exact opposite of a clinic.

• 11:42Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 11:42Speaker 00

  Exact opposite of a white and sterile.

• 11:43Gary Brecka?

  Definitely pulled that off.

• 11:44Speaker 00

  But then I realized that treating patients in their homes, their guard was down. And the more that their guard was down and they felt comfortable, the faster they were receptive to the care.

• 11:54Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 11:54Speaker 00

  So then I was figuring out like, all right, when people do design, they're always thinking about, how do you want someone to feel in a space? But I'm thinking about, how do you manipulate their physiology in that space? There's so many things that you can do to alter whatever sense you're trying to target to start positively enhancing their physiology.

• 12:12Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 12:12Speaker 00

  Like you were saying in like the hotel, it's a no brainer that no matter what, every environment in the future is going to be optimized to hopefully be working with you, not against you.

• 12:22Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 12:22Speaker 00

  And I think no matter what the goal of that environment is, if it's a hotel room, to maximize your sleep.

• 12:28Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 12:29Speaker 00

  That would make so much sense that whether it's a hotel room or your bedroom, that design, that should be the number one focus of that room.

• 12:35Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 12:36Speaker 00

  You know what I'm saying?

• 12:37Gary Brecka?

  Yeah, it's so funny. My, my mom used to always tell my daughter when she started dating, like, you ought to go meet a nice man in a grocery store. You ought to hang out in the grocery store, wait for a nice man. She was like, cause you know, and I was like, mom, why are you telling Madison to go hang out in the gro- it sounds a little creepy. And she's like, well, at least you know that he's shopping for good food. And, you know, but, you know, but I think about the, these remedy places. And I'm like, you know, if I was single in the dating scene, if you're a young man or woman, or even an older man or woman, and you're, you know, and you're trying to find a mate, at least you know that if you're meeting there, you have some like-minded interests in like, you know, in, in self-care.

• 13:17Speaker 00

  For sure.

• 13:18Gary Brecka?

  And, and I gotta tell you, I, I was seeing these robotic massagers on, on, on Instagram. Seems a little creepy, but, and I was like, there's no way that that feels like a human massage. And nobody doesn't like a massage. And I was like, it looks like that thing's going to run right up my spine and it's going to be painful. And so I tried it at your place day before yesterday. And it was so incredible because.

• 13:47Gary Brecka?

  I think it was better than any massage I've had because something about that thing, it could track where my spine was and my bones. Not once did it like run over a rough spot and jerk me. But and then the, those little arms, the little, the little hands.

• 14:02Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 14:04Gary Brecka?

  They're heated.

• 14:05Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 14:05Gary Brecka?

  And I, so I finished going through all the program settings, the pressure and all of that. And then I laid there and then once I got used to it, man, I passed out. My production manager had to come in and wake me up to.

• 14:16Speaker 00

  You needed it. You needed it.

• 14:18Gary Brecka?

  I was out, man. It was a really pleasant experience. And I think designing an environment where people are over that, you know, that social stigma of, hey, I'm in a cold plunge or I'm in a, I'm sweating in front of you on, on, on a date is really cool. And I think how far you've thought about socializing and community is, you know, shouldn't be overlooked because as I've kind of built a brand in this space, and my brand is about messaging to the masses.

• 14:53Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 14:55Gary Brecka?

  I've sort of seen an erosion in the, in the celebrity influencer, even the social media influencer, because a lot of people are not building a community.

• 15:04Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 15:05Gary Brecka?

  And I think this remedy place that you've built is really about community.

• 15:09Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 15:10Gary Brecka?

  I mean, by the time somebody is selecting to enter that community, they kind of know what they're getting into and it already tells you a lot about that person's values.

• 15:18Speaker 00

  For sure. I think, you know, as an alternative medicine doctor, if I said 10 years ago, it's about human connection and community, people would have said that's the most woo woo thing.

• 15:27Gary Brecka?

  Yeah, exactly.

• 15:28Speaker 00

  And I would have to be very careful because I am so science backed. And however I delivered anything, no matter if it was saying the same thing, how it's said is very important. But it's great that people are now realizing, you know, whether it's blue zones to like all of this new research is coming out like. Human connection is one of the most important things for our health.

• 15:47Gary Brecka?

  So true.

• 15:48Speaker 00

  And right now, it's plummeting. You know, people are having more and more alone time than ever before. And then when they do socialize, they're going drinking alcohol, which is a depressant and a dissociative. Right? So then they're having false connections and they're numb and they're not even sure.

• 16:03Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 16:03Speaker 00

  Is this a connection?

• 16:04Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 16:05Speaker 00

  But what I love about being in an ice bath or a sauna or getting an IV, we're enhancing our physiology. So we're bringing out a better version of ourself and it's also allowing us to have a higher chance to have a better connection.

• 16:16Gary Brecka?

  Hey guys, let me tell you about one of my favorite new hydration drinks. Now, this is for distance athletes, HIIT cardio exercisers, people that sweat a lot or exercise intensely. And A Game is a hydration drink. It has eight essential vitamins. It has all of the electrolytes, the entire suite of B vitamins. Before you freak out and read that it has 21 grams of sugar, which it does, the sugar is coming from natural cane sugar and honey. My preferred mechanisms for getting glucose into the blood during intense exercise. It also has natural flavors, but these natural flavors don't come from bacterial fermentation. They actually come from real citrus fruits and the color is from vegetable juice, not artificial dyes. So next time you're looking for a great hydration drink and you're exercising intensely, A Game is your choice.

• 17:00Gary Brecka?

  Now let's get back to the Ultimate Human Podcast. Yeah, I totally agree with that. And what, you know, as you sort of, because you were the pioneer. So as you built this and, and this thing started to take shape and come to life, like what were some of the things that surprised you that were outcomes and byproducts of that environment that you didn't see going in?

• 17:22Speaker 00

  Yeah, first, you know, seeing if it actually caught on, like are people really?

• 17:26Gary Brecka?

  Must have been like, yeah, like, did you raise money? I mean, how did you really get it off the ground? Because they're not inexpensive places. They're very well done.

• 17:33Speaker 00

  Thanks. Thanks.

• 17:34Gary Brecka?

  Really well done.

• 17:35Speaker 00

  Over the years in practice, my patients became my mentors and then they became my investors. Um, so there's a really beautiful story of either like the individual was a patient or it was a family of the individual. So like all the money that went into it was, also had a story behind it. And I think that also gave us a cool, stronger platform. Um, but we really never raised a lot. You know, we had one raise for our series A, but we've been pretty quiet about our raises, but. Compared to most in a brick and mortar space, we've been, you know, we haven't, we haven't raised a lot.

• 18:10Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 18:10Speaker 00

  Uh, and I think it's just, we're still figuring out the business.

• 18:13Gary Brecka?

  Right.

• 18:14Speaker 00

  You know, I think like this isn't a like five year plan for me. Like this is what I want to do to leave a legacy and I'm 35 and I have my whole life ahead of me. I don't need to open a hundred of these rapidly. My goal right now is like, there's so much to learn. There's so much to also make sure that, you know, society also is receptive to. So if I go too far out there, I might lose some people. And especially with alternative medicine, I'm trying to make a lot of these things mainstream. And it's, I want to take it at the right pace and then get a stronger and stronger business. Because like I said, the end goal is so much bigger than just these brick and mortar clubs. Like there's so many verticals to this business, but at the end of the day, I just want to build a community that trusts us, that can lean on us, that we can be that reliable source of education.

• 18:57Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 18:58Speaker 00

  You know?

• 18:58Gary Brecka?

  You know, I, I, I talk about the blue zone research a lot. And, and when you look at blue zone research, there was no continuity between diets. Right? So it wasn't like a certain dogmatic diet, like keto, paleo, pescatarian.

• 19:09Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 19:09Gary Brecka?

  Vegan, vegetarian, carnivore, that, that said, okay, well, all the people in the carnivore, or all the people on paleo, or all the raw food vegans lived the longest.

• 19:17Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 19:18Gary Brecka?

  Um, it was the, the, they were all whole foods, but was not exchangeable, was this sense of community and purpose.

• 19:27Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 19:28Gary Brecka?

  Um, which I think, you know, goes a long way. And it also goes undervalued because connection and community and purpose do not come through electronic media. And we knew in the mortality space.

• 19:42Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 19:43Gary Brecka?

  That if you wanted to cut somebody's life expectancy in half, at any age, put them in isolation.

• 19:50Speaker 00

  Wow.

• 19:51Gary Brecka?

  And the more isolated a person is, um, the, the, the more they're accelerating towards the grave. And isolation doesn't mean you're in solitary confinement. Isolation means that you lack connection and you lack community and you lack purpose. And so that was a non-exchangeable in all of the blue zones.

• 20:11Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 20:12Gary Brecka?

  So we can learn a lot from the people that are living the longest in the simplicity of this sense of community and, and human connection. And sadly, what's happened with electronic media and social media is we're isolated in plain sight. We're, we're entertained.

• 20:31Gary Brecka?

  But we don't have a community.

• 20:33Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 20:33Gary Brecka?

  You know, I mean, I could pick up my phone and just get lost in Instagram or TikTok videos for, for hours, but I've built no connection, no community. I just saw the, you know, three guys get knocked out and, you know, one woman sledding with her dog and what, you know, whatever it is.

• 20:49Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 20:49Gary Brecka?

  So I was entertained.

• 20:50Speaker 00

  Yep.

• 20:51Gary Brecka?

  But I lost that, that connection. And so, you know, I want to bring you back to that question of like, what, what have you seen evolving from Remedy Place that maybe you didn't expect that you're like, wow, this wasn't, you know, how I intended, but this is what I see coming out of this. Do you see communities, relationships? Do you see like, was this a surprise to you? Maybe that corporations are now holding events there?

• 21:17Speaker 00

  Yeah, I would say two things. I would say, you know, about a fifth of our business is events now.

• 21:24Gary Brecka?

  Really?

• 21:24Speaker 00

  And we, we used to say when we opened, like, we could remedy any event. So we'd go to any event from Cannes Film Festival to the Kardashians backyard and like host like these events. And I was like, okay, it doesn't matter what the occasion, we can add something. Like we would bring our ice bath class everywhere. And that, that gained so much momentum. And that was like our, kind of our natural marketing that we got paid for to put on these events. But then everyone went nuts. And I think we started getting so many views online in these ice bath classes. And then we transitioned from all these external events to just using the club. We're like, the clubs are these beautiful venues. And all of these companies don't want to just have another open bar or another dinner. They're looking for experiences, an experience that makes people better and they're more memorable.

• 22:08Speaker 00

  So it's cool to have like companies like Saint Laurent to Nike that are coming and renting out the club and they're doing open self-care and they're figuring out a way that they want to make their event unique with their, maybe it's their product launch or whatever it may be, but it's fun. And I think it's interesting for me. I'm like, Every single industry is trying to figure out what their wellness edge is. Doesn't matter if it's like fashion till we partnered with Kohler, which is a plumbing manufacturer.

• 22:36Gary Brecka?

  Yeah, I saw that announcement the other day.

• 22:37Speaker 00

  Yeah, and it's to see like automotive airlines like I'm like, how cool is it that we're in an industry that everyone right now is trying to figure out how they can add some type of wellness component to their to their vertical. And that gets me excited because to be able to partner people like Kohler, right, that have 150 years of experience.

• 22:59Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 22:59Speaker 00

  You know, they've been building this business and they have such a reputable reputation to be able to have that and then be able to speak to their audience and shed awareness around something like ice baths that, you know, you me both love.

• 23:12Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 23:13Speaker 00

  And that have their audience now more aware to like, you know, maybe I'm going to try that now.

• 23:18Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 23:18Speaker 00

  And if we can cross into every single industry and use their platforms to also educate, I feel like it's our responsibility, right? To be able to give more education to as many audiences as possible. And that's why I love these partnerships that aren't where initially, maybe I thought, like you would think that you'd partner with health companies.

• 23:40Gary Brecka?

  Right.

• 23:40Speaker 00

  But now I'm like, I only want to partner with companies that aren't in the health industry because I think we can add so much more value.

• 23:46Gary Brecka?

  Right.

• 23:46Speaker 00

  And there's more of a compliment, you know, where their expertise and strength, we can combine and do something powerful that, you know, others can't.

• 23:55Gary Brecka?

  You know, I think most people watching this would say, man, I wish my company would host an event there. I mean, I think corporate events, you know, are so, you ever, you ever see the movie The Office?

• 24:03Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 24:05Gary Brecka?

  It's one of my favorites.

• 24:06Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 24:08Gary Brecka?

  But, you know, they, they make a spoof out of all of the traditional corporate boxes. There, you know, there's a birthday party, so somebody goes to the supermarket and gets a, you know, crappy $6 birthday cake and they're like, happy birthday to you. And there's the water cooler in the, you know, in the corporate kitchen with the Keurig. And but there's nothing special or communal about that. You know, my mom, my mom worked for Delta Airlines for 30 years and when she graduate, I mean, when she retired. They gave her like a Seiko watch. It was probably a $200 watch and a sweatshirt. Said Delta Airlines. Thank you for your service.

• 24:49Gary Brecka?

  I'm like, wow, 30 years, a sweatshirt and a Seiko. That's awesome. And, you know, and, and she doesn't have any connection with any of the people that she worked with for all, all of that time, because the environment was so sterile. So, you know, corporations, I think, are realizing, dude, you can build a lot of community and a lot of camaraderie in, you know, in your, in your staff, your employees, bring a lot of joy to them by doing some of these things that are outside the box.

• 25:19Speaker 00

  And building a stronger team.

• 25:20Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 25:21Speaker 00

  You know, like, it's crazy to me. You see, especially in New York City, like, everyone's working so hard and they're drinking all night. I'm thinking, why would I take my team out to drinks? That's going to slow them down. It's going to affect their mental health. And they're not going to perform as good the next day. Where if you think about doing something impactful, that's bringing them to have a stronger connection and amplifying their physiology, doing something healthy. It's like treating a sports team like I would treat my work team.

• 25:47Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 25:47Speaker 00

  And every corporation should be thinking about that. I mean, I've spoken for JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs and all these banks. I'm like, you guys should be treating your teams like I would treat a pro sports team.

• 25:57Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 25:58Speaker 00

  Because.

• 25:59Gary Brecka?

  Healthy, happy, vibrant, connected.

• 26:02Speaker 00

  And then think about how much better the company would do if everyone was performing better and was happier.

• 26:09Gary Brecka?

  Yeah, I totally agree. I've heard you talk about like a seven pillar lifestyle. What is that about? Like these, these pillars of lifestyle?

• 26:20Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 26:20Gary Brecka?

  Is that kind of remedy trying to?

• 26:22Speaker 00

  Yes, for us, you know, like, I'm trying to figure out our way to educate in a way like remedy is a luxury experience. And I'm like, how do we make things more accessible? And I think that's where like us just providing free education, right? Any opportunity that there's a time to educate and teach someone, you know, I think your body is your number one asset and most people don't even know how it works. Never mind I had to take care of it.

• 26:44Gary Brecka?

  Right.

• 26:44Speaker 00

  It's like, we just need to teach people what those foundational pillars are. And I think what's interesting is you don't have to go to remedy to be healthy. You know, remedy is amazing experience. It's like, you're going to feel better. It's going to amplify you. But the foundational pillars of health. Are so much simpler. And I think we're overlooking, you know, like, how are we teaching you how to eat? How are we teaching them how to move? How are we teaching them to really focus on their thoughts? How are you controlling your thoughts? And how are we rewiring your brains with like, these simple practices and routine? And then learning about things that might not feel as traditional, like, how are we teaching people to have better relationships? Yeah. How are we teaching people how to create communities? Right. How are we teaching them to audit all of their environments?

• 27:28Speaker 00

  Because if I believe that every environment can either work with you or against you. How are we looking at that? No matter what your budget is, or where you, what you have access to, figure out whatever you can do, as long as we're making small little changes and moving in the right direction. But I just think it's so important, you know, of course, all of the fancy technologies and red light and ice baths and Iberic are all amazing. But like you said, like, who's teaching people about human connection? Yeah. As people are having, especially the younger generation with, that grew up with only social media. Who's teaching them those skillsets to rebuild? Yeah. Human connection? And that's where I see there's so much opportunity, because that's what we need to really be focusing on.

• 28:10Gary Brecka?

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• 28:54Gary Brecka?

  Now let's get back to the Ultimate Human Podcast. Yeah, you know, it's, it's interesting. I have a 16 year old and I have, she just turned 17. I have a 27 year old. Yeah. And even though they're only 10 years apart, they had vastly different experiences going through grade school, middle school, high school, and vastly different experiences than when I had. I still remember, like, in eighth grade, if you wanted to ask a girl out, like, we would usually, like, write a note. Yeah. And, and there would be like a little box, like, yes or no. And then you would pass it to your friend, and then he would pass it to the desk in front of him. It would finally make it up to the girl. And then you were like sweating, your heart's pounding, and then they would open

• 29:34Gary Brecka?

  it up, like, check a box. Or you actually had to have, you know, the wherewithal to walk up to someone and ask them on a date, or tell them that you liked them. Yeah. And, and that sort of palpable fear, and, and, I mean, it's sort of gone now on social media, because, you know, like, my youngest daughter would be like, yeah, you know, five guys asked me out in the last month. I said, no, all of them. And I'm like, how'd they ask you out? And they sent me a text message, you know? Yeah. You know, so, so that's this whole connection thing that's, you know, the, the, the absence of that real, and it's, it's kind of beautiful, like, meet somebody, start to vibe with them,

• 30:17Gary Brecka?

  have a real connection, you know, grow that maybe into a relationship, maybe into a friendship, or maybe into nothing. But, you know, having a sieve, like, like a remedy place where at least you know that you have like-minded interests. Yeah. Maybe why my grandmother told my daughter to go to the grocery store, like, stand in the avocado aisle or something. He's picking up an avocado, at least he's healthy, you know? It's amazing. Yeah, so funny. Judy Brecka, big shout out, mom. The other thing that I think struck me when I was at your place was, you've added this component of functional medicine. Yeah. Right? Where, not as a requirement, but if you wanted to sort of up your game to

• 30:58Gary Brecka?

  the next level, because I think there's a, an increasing level of curiosity in, okay, this made me feel great. I took a sauna, I took a cold plunge. I feel clearer and clean and awake and like, you know, sort of switched on. I call the cold plunge my drug of choice. Yeah. For a reason, because nothing makes me feel better for longer. Agreed. I'm so excited that Equinox had a cold plunge this morning. And so, but you've graduated to like now these additional services in functional medicine. What is, what is that platform like? And you see that being something that you're going to integrate as you go forward?

• 31:36Speaker 00

  Huge. Yeah, I mean, half of my practice before Remedy was functional medicine. And you know, for me to actually treat someone to the best of my ability, it'd be naive of me to think that I would be able to do it without knowing what's under the hood.

• 31:50Gary Brecka?

  Yes.

• 31:51Speaker 00

  And I just think that functional medicine can analyze everything. All of these blood tests, right? We can look at every organ, every system, every deficiency, every toxicity, every sensitivity. And then you really get a full understanding of this puzzle. They have to figure out like all of this biochemistry. How do all of these things affect one another? And then what can we do to naturally get that to the right spot? And I just think it takes out all the guessing. You know, I used to do, you know, when people would be like, why do you have to do my blood work? And my patients, I'd be like, listen, because half of what's going on could be just be biochemical or nutrition, like nutritional. And especially when I was talking about patients that were recovering or in pain. They're like, why are we talking about my diet?

• 32:33Speaker 00

  I'm like, because your diet is going to play a major role in this, in this recovery process.

• 32:38Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 32:38Speaker 00

  And I just think for me, like I do my full functional medicine screening every six months. I'm like, my life changes so much, almost on a monthly basis. Whether it's work, travel, you know, work, stress, whatever I'm building, like your body's changing and ever changing. And because our lifestyle is not the same, we need to keep looking back. And I think everyone, my main focus with every patient first is like, you need to understand you. Whether it's, whether it's the wearable, whether it's the blood work, whatever you have access to, the more data that you can have, the more you can start understanding. So then we know what's the fastest, most effective way to get you the results that you want. But what's wild is like to think that functional medicine is not covered under your insurance.

• 33:22Gary Brecka?

  It's so crazy. I mean, I think that's my change under the new administration. You know, I think Bobby Kennedy is doing a good job of of opening some of these lanes. And I think we're going to see those get wider. Heptides, what I would call lifestyle medicine, not even functional medicine. Lifestyle medicine or just the, you know, back to the basics recommendations of drawing people's attention to the importance of sleep, drawing people's attention to the importance of hydration, drawing their attention to the importance of this basic movement. You know, I think walking is the most underrated exercise in the world.

• 33:56Speaker 00

  I say that all the time. It's one of the most important. That's why I think, you know, when I moved to New York, one of my favorite, out of my top three reasons why I love New York more than living in LA is just the walking.

• 34:08Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 34:08Speaker 00

  And I think it's harder to have as good of a diet here, but I think because you can walk more. My rule is like, the more you eat, the more you walk. And if you cheat, walk a little bit more.

• 34:17Gary Brecka?

  Yeah. That's a great one.

• 34:19Speaker 00

  And I think it's so cool because it's like, if you have to walk, if you walk to every meal, like say I go out to dinner most nights just because that's my current life right now. I wish I was cooking at home, but

• 34:30Gary Brecka?

  Right.

• 34:31Speaker 00

  I make sure that I walk. If it's under two miles, I walk there and walk back.

• 34:35Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 34:35Speaker 00

  And I just think that's completely changed my digestion in the, actually the best my digestion and GI health has ever been. And I owe that really just to the amount that I walk and the amount of steps I have.

• 34:48Gary Brecka?

  You know, it's funny, I noticed when I, when I pass women on the street in New York, half of them have like the high heels sticking out of their purse and they've got these sneakers on. So, um, you know, they've got their work gear and their dress on. And you can tell, you know, they're, they're walking to work, then they'll get to their office and pop the heels on.

• 35:05Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 35:06Gary Brecka?

  But you know, it's, that mobility is so important. You know, our lymph system is a static system. It doesn't have any pressure behind it. It's not like our arteries and veins that have the heart to move it, you know, move the fluid.

• 35:18Speaker 00

  For sure.

• 35:19Gary Brecka?

  The lymph moves by muscular contraction and by motion. And the more you move, the more you're just naturally detoxifying. And I think the, um, just the old school, we, I have a saying that Aging is the aggressive pursuit of comfort. Because I believe a huge component of aging is that we aggressively pursue comfort. We want to regulate our temperature in our car, in our house, in our office. We want to regulate our lighting, you know, we can make it the surface of the sun.

• 35:49Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 35:49Gary Brecka?

  At one o'clock in the morning if we want.

• 35:51Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 35:51Gary Brecka?

  And it's so unnatural and so out of sync with our circadian biology.

• 35:56Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 35:56Gary Brecka?

  Is to have whatever you want, whenever you want, and feel exactly how you want. You know, at your demand.

• 36:03Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 36:03Gary Brecka?

  You know, I, I often say, we gotta stop telling grandma not to go outside because it's too hot, not to go outside because it's too cold, just to lay down, to relax, to eat at the first pang of hunger.

• 36:13Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 36:13Gary Brecka?

  Because you're just collapsing all your natural defense mechanisms.

• 36:17Speaker 00

  Well, that's where like, I think aging is the result of adapting to stress. And the healthier you are, the better you adapt to stress.

• 36:26Gary Brecka?

  Right.

• 36:27Speaker 00

  And I think it's really interesting that being healthy is about figuring out how to be more resilient and adaptive, no matter what we're exposed to.

• 36:34Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 36:35Speaker 00

  And I think that's like, kind of what you're saying is just like, those stressors or those moments or those things that we interact with, being able to get more resilient and more adaptive to be able to handle those makes us healthier.

• 36:46Gary Brecka?

  I totally agree. I mean, a lot of the things that are stressing us in our life, there's not a lot we can do about it. I mean, if you're a young mother of three, that's stressful.

• 36:56Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 36:56Gary Brecka?

  Um, full stop, you know, if, or a young father of three.

• 37:00Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 37:00Gary Brecka?

  You know, or even of one. And, you know, your, your career is almost always going to, to stress you out. You have a boss that you don't like, you have a coworker you don't get along with, you have a job you're not particularly happy with. So there, there are a lot of these stressors, family, that we deal, that are, that are going to be there, whether we arm ourselves to deal with them or not. And it's incredible now, the correlation that research is able to draw between physical resilience and mental resilience and our ability to be adaptive to stress and have stress be less impactful.

• 37:38Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 37:38Gary Brecka?

  On our bodies, you know?

• 37:40Speaker 00

  Well, that's why I'm fascinated with stress, because I think like, You know, people say how bad stress is. I'm like, a certain level of stress I think is good for you. You know, like

• 37:49Gary Brecka?

  Hormonic stress.

• 37:49Speaker 00

  Yeah, exactly. We go to the gym and we tear our muscle fibers to become stronger. And we think that's normal. But I think every single system, us going in a sauna or a cold plunge, our body is adapting to a stressor in an extreme. And I think right now, we've been in such a period where people are avoiding all the things that are hard, especially, and I think that's affecting our mental health more than anything. Because, you know, just like you were saying earlier with the kids, like having to ask a girl out.

• 38:17Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 38:18Speaker 00

  Like, that amount of stress and like anxiety and nerves, like, that made you stronger.

• 38:23Gary Brecka?

  Yeah, exactly.

• 38:24Speaker 00

  Develop those skill sets.

• 38:25Gary Brecka?

  I still literally remember the feeling, you know, how they say like, you might not remember what happened, but you remember how it made you feel.

• 38:33Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 38:33Gary Brecka?

  I remember being in eighth grade and like, or ninth grade or 10th grade and prom's coming up and, you know, you've got to ask someone if they want to go with you and like, just the like, loss of breath, you know.

• 38:46Speaker 00

  Well, that heightened emotional state, right, is what imprints that memory.

• 38:49Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 38:50Speaker 00

  You know, like, so that's why that feeling of being anxious and being nervous, like, that's what made it so sound in your brain to be that memorable.

• 38:58Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 38:59Speaker 00

  And I think if we numb all of those strong feelings, we're going to lose a lot of memories.

• 39:03Gary Brecka?

  Yeah, I couldn't, couldn't agree with you more. So when you're, you know, one thing I find tough for people like me, and it's got to be for people like you too, is I'm so intellectually curious about what's going on out there. Like, what is the latest and greatest? I mean, are there new functional labs that we should be pulling? Are there advances in genetic testing, supplementation being refined? How do you go through the sieve of what lands in a remedy place? Because you could get paralysis of analysis of the possibilities.

• 39:37Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 39:37Gary Brecka?

  Right? I mean, PMF, oxygen, red light, you know, cold plunging, sauna, vibration, acoustics, you know, you could just go down this insane

• 39:47Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 39:47Gary Brecka?

  road. And then eventually, you don't have a business model anymore, right?

• 39:53Speaker 00

  No, for sure. And I think, listen, we get pitched things every week.

• 39:56Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 39:56Speaker 00

  You know, the latest and greatest technology, this new technology. And for me, you know, Like I said, remedy is so important to me and not just the short term for my whole life that we don't add a lot of new things to remedy. You know, everything that's in remedy is there because now I've used it for at least 10 years and I know that it works. And I want anyone that knows, like, when they come into remedy, I want them to know that anything here is here because they know that it works. And like something like an AI massage, I haven't been using an AI massage for a decade, but I know the power of a massage. You know, so the delivery of the modality might change and how people experience it, or the design, or like how people

• 40:36Speaker 00

  socialize it will change and evolve. But for us, we haven't changed much. And these are things that I was using in my practice before remedy. And I just, that's an important thing because if I start doing things to test out in the clubs, we could lose credibility. And right now, I just want to make sure we're gaining as much trust as possible and making sure that people just know that it's there because it's the best and it's the safest version and because they have the data to prove that it works.

• 41:03Gary Brecka?

  I think there's something interesting about the robotic massage because like I remember my, my, my father started in the Navy as a pilot. He was telling me stories about, this is years ago, obviously, but he told me stories about how like autopilot was just coming into the cockpit of some of these, these jets. And at first, like, all the pilots were like, there's no way in hell I'm getting in a cockpit with a computer flying the plane. And two years later, they wouldn't get into an airplane that didn't have an autopilot, right? Because of the level of comfort with the technology. And the truth is autopilot is safer than a human pilot because of the number of independent variables that it can, it can assimilate and create an actionable result. It's like AI. I think there's something to be said for these

• 41:48Gary Brecka?

  kinds of robotic massages because there's, you know, there's

• 41:53Gary Brecka?

  Potential, you know, social stress like, oh, my wife is going to get a massage by this really good looking dude, or you know, I mean, my husband's going to get a massage by this really attractive woman, like, and they're gonna be oiled up in his underwear. So, I mean, you're trying to normalize that. But like, the robot is like, hey, you get up and leave, he's not asking for your phone number, you know? Yeah. It's just you and the AI massager, nothing, nothing freaky is going down. So, kind of, you know, I might require my wife to only get AI massages now that I think about it. I'm really comfortable with that. Sage, sorry. So funny. But, but I think the, the acceptance of artificial intelligence, technology, I feel like it's 25 years ahead of where mainstream medicine is right now.

• 42:38Gary Brecka?

  Yeah. It's not an attack on mainstream medicine, but it takes a long time for the regulatory environment to catch up. And as I've traveled the world and met with literally the top functional medicine physicians, leading experts in anti-aging, biohacking, longevity, wellness, whatever you want to call it, researchers, PhDs, MDs, what's fascinating to me is that a lot of this research is bringing us back to the basics. For sure. They're like, by the way, you can't sort of eat your way around not exercising, and you can't exercise your way around a poor diet. Yeah. And nothing will supplement for lack of sleep. Yeah.

• 43:19Gary Brecka?

  So there's like some foundational things, and that human beings need if you want to live a long, healthy, thriving life. And I wish I could patent them. You and I'd be the wealthiest guys in the world, but you can't because they're widely available, they're basic, I gave it to us every day, sunlight, grounding, breath work, movement, sleep.

• 43:42Gary Brecka?

  And sometimes I find that it's hard. To emphasize the importance of that to people.

• 43:49Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 43:49Gary Brecka?

  Because it seems so basic.

• 43:52Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 43:53Gary Brecka?

  But the truth is, we've gotten so far away from that.

• 43:56Speaker 00

  It's that simple.

• 43:57Gary Brecka?

  Yeah, it's that simple. Like, I saw a video of gym classes in the 50s and...

• 44:04Speaker 00

  Insane. I've seen those.

• 44:05Gary Brecka?

  Have you seen those?

• 44:06Speaker 00

  Yeah, like, that's how it should be.

• 44:07Gary Brecka?

  Everybody's in crazy shape. Guys are just ripping pull-ups for no reason. And, you know, it was, it was, it was amazing. Like, you play Find the Fat Person. Everybody, you know, they're going up the walls with the little, you know, with like the sticks, you know, doing push-ups. Everybody's running a mile in under nine minutes. And now, three-quarters of our military-aged men and women can't enter the military because of poor health. I mean, that's, that's 77% of the population that's of the age to enter the military. Like, we are in a crisis. And I think a lot of this crisis could be solved

• 44:44Gary Brecka?

  by getting back to the basics. So I really, I can't see anything other remedy than you guys just continuing to, to explode.

• 44:56Speaker 00

  Yeah, thanks, man. Yeah, I think it's, like you said, it's that simple. And we've made it so complicated.

• 45:01Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 45:02Speaker 00

  And like, alternative medicine's been around for a very long time. And those were the foundations of those. Like, when you, when you provide those foundational things, and you put the body in the right state, it heals.

• 45:14Gary Brecka?

  Hap B is a warn-witting digital wellness company, and we invite you to join us in transforming the way people rest, renew, and focus. The goal is to help people take control of how they sleep, how they feel, and how they perform, all without taking drugs, supplements, or high caffeine energy drinks. The neuroscientists at Hap B have created a set of mood-enhancing programs. They're called vibes. So each vibe uses ultra-low frequency signals to mimic the effects of relaxants or stimulants in the body. When the brain detects these signals, it reacts as if you're actually taking the substance, giving you all the benefits without the downsides. So it puts you in control of how you want to feel, when you want to feel it naturally, with no chemicals, pills, or side effects.

• 45:58Gary Brecka?

  Just select a vibe on the Hap B app and let the soothing electromagnetic waves wash over your body. At Hap B, we believe a more rested world is a better world. It's time to change the vibe. Now, let's get back to the Ultimate Human Podcast. In a functional panel, because I think a lot of my audience is very woke to functional medicine, but a lot of them are new to it and they're sort of on this journey and they're on this platform trying to figure things out. What does it mean to you, like functional medicine, or when you say that you pull these functional panels, what are you kind of looking at?

• 46:31Speaker 00

  Yeah, I think what's important is like people, a lot of people think that their annual blood work that they do when they're primary care doctors, they're functional medicine. But that's just diagnostic tests.

• 46:42Gary Brecka?

  That's like, do you have disease, do you not have disease?

• 46:44Speaker 00

  Exactly. It's not telling you, hey, is there things that are concerning that could be a disease? Are there other things that are causing the symptoms that you're experiencing? A lot of people get blood work and their blood work's fine when they get their diagnostic blood work. They're like, I can't figure out why I feel this way. I have all of these symptoms. I don't understand why, you know, I'm always bloated. I have all these GI problems, but then they get their blood work and they're like, everything's fine. But it's just very surface level. Functional medicine will look at it at a very detailed level in ways that your normal panels won't. And I think that is what's really missing where it's like, you know, they'll do a couple of vitamins in your normal panel, but they're missing,

• 47:25Speaker 00

  there's so many more to be looking at. And a lot of the times, simple imbalances or deficiencies are causing the symptom that you're experiencing that no one can figure out.

• 47:34Gary Brecka?

  Dude, you are singing my tune. I've said for years, we are not as sick or diseased or as pathological as we think we are. We are nutrient deficient. When you deprive the human body of raw materials, vitamins, minerals, amino acids, nutrients, you get the expression of disease. I mean, a lot of brittle bone disease are mineral deficiencies, osteopenia, osteoporosis. A lot of the expressions of deficiency, hypertension, hypothyroid, autoimmune, are deficiencies that have gone on for a long period of time where the body can't defend itself and then eventually it breaks.

• 48:07Speaker 00

  For sure.

• 48:07Gary Brecka?

  You know, and you will eventually blow a motor if you don't put oil in the engine. And so if you're deficient in oil, the expression is blown motor. If you're deficient in radiator fluid, the radiator overheats. And it's astounding to me how we accept these things in, you know, mechanics and in plant physiology, but we don't believe it in human physiology.

• 48:31Speaker 00

  And the psychological component, right? That symptom that turned into a disease and then you're labeled. People feel handicapped because like, I have this disease and I'm like, Wait, you know that we can fix that. Like, it's not a permanent thing.

• 48:45Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 48:46Speaker 00

  And let's look at what's under the hood.

• 48:47Gary Brecka?

  Oh, yeah. Nobody thinks that.

• 48:48Speaker 00

  And then, you know, then sometimes people get stuck on these medications for their whole life, and they didn't know that there was a simple solution.

• 48:55Gary Brecka?

  Right.

• 48:56Speaker 00

  And unless it's an emergency, like, don't come to me if it's an emergency, but for first line of intervention.

• 49:01Gary Brecka?

  Right.

• 49:01Speaker 00

  For anything, functional medicine should be the first thing that we do.

• 49:05Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 49:06Speaker 00

  And if you still have to do all the other medical interventions, you should still do it to be co-managed.

• 49:10Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 49:11Speaker 00

  Because there's no more guessing anymore.

• 49:12Gary Brecka?

  Yeah. I totally agree with you. Um, you know, um, Dr. Leary, I, first of all, this is amazing, and I'm definitely going to have you, you back on the podcast. I want to spend a few minutes going into our VIP group because my VIP community has some very specific questions for you. Um, but for those folks that are watching this that want to find out more about you or more about Remedy.

• 49:35Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 49:35Gary Brecka?

  How do, how do they find you?

• 49:36Speaker 00

  Best way is Instagram, you know, at Dr. Jonathan Leary or at Remedy Place. We try to keep everything up to date there, whether it's the events, the education, or what is going on that's new in the club. So.

• 49:48Gary Brecka?

  Okay.

• 49:48Speaker 00

  You know, either come and stop by because, you know.

• 49:51Gary Brecka?

  And where are you located now and where are you anticipating to be, let's say, in the next six months to 12 months?

• 49:55Speaker 00

  Yeah, I'm mostly here. So I live between LA and New York, but New York, I'm trying to make my main home base. It's easier. We have the two clubs here. We just opened in Boston. So now it's easier.

• 50:05Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 50:05Speaker 00

  And I love it here. I really, you know, I grew up on the East Coast, so it feels nice to be back on the East Coast. And I just like.

• 50:11Gary Brecka?

  I'm trying to reel him down to Miami right now. We had a little talk about it. So off camera, I'm going to put a little more pressure on him.

• 50:18Speaker 00

  When we open there, I'll be there all the time.

• 50:20Gary Brecka?

  That'll be great. We'll fill the East Coast first, you know. Um, this is amazing. Uh, Dr. Leary, I, I, I pray every day for pioneers like you, and I'm, I'm excited for your success. And I'm really more excited for the impact that you're making on the world and what you're giving people, which is a way to normalize being optimal in a social situation, give them an alternative to, to just food and alcohol. And I, I really, I really appreciate that mission.

• 50:48Speaker 00

  Thanks, man. That means a lot.

• 50:50Gary Brecka?

  I wind down every podcast by asking my guests the same question, and there's no right or wrong answer to a question. And that is, what does it mean to you to be an ultimate human?

• 51:01Speaker 00

  Wow, I think it's to constantly pursue change. You know, for me, I, I think personally and professionally, in order to continue to be better than your environment allows you to grow.

• 51:14Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 51:15Speaker 00

  Um, and I think without challenge and without new obstacles, without new learnings, we plateau. And I think to get, you get one time on this plan.

• 51:24Gary Brecka?

  Not all stress is back. Totally agree with you.

• 51:26Speaker 00

  You know, and I just think everyone has their uniqueness. And I just think the more that you're able to allow yours to come out by being healthier and by challenging the norms, you get to like add your value to this world.

• 51:39Gary Brecka?

  That's amazing. Well, I'll link everything that he referred to in the show notes below. If you're interested in becoming a VIP, just go over to theultimatehuman.com/vip. It's 97 bucks a month. I provide tremendous value, really trying to build and cultivate this community. Dr. Leary and I are going to go in there and answer some of your direct questions. Um, but definitely make sure you check out the podcast and until next time, that's your site.