Discover How to Beat Stress and Anxiety with founders of Sensate Anna Gudmundson and Stefan Chmelik; a Device To Calm The Nervous System

This episode explores the innovative stress-relief device, Sensate, designed to calm the nervous system using vibrational therapy.

1. Sensate uses infrasound technology to induce relaxation and manage stress effectively.
2. The device targets the autonomic nervous system, offering a non-invasive method to enhance mental health.
3. Regular use of Sensate can lead to significant improvements in sleep quality and duration.
4. The technology behind Sensate is rooted in extensive research on sound vibration and its effects on the body.
5. Sensate is particularly beneficial for individuals who struggle with traditional meditation and require aid in achieving deep relaxation.

1: Introduction to Sensate

Exploring the origins and technology behind Sensate, a device designed to calm the nervous system through vibrational therapy.
Anna Gudmundson: "Sensate started as a way to harness vibrational therapy for mass market stress and anxiety relief."

2: The Science of Vibrational Therapy

Discussing the scientific principles of infrasound and bone conduction used in Sensate to facilitate deep relaxation. Stefan Chmelik: "Our device uses the chest's natural acoustics to deliver calming frequencies directly to the nervous system."

3: Impact on Well-being

Analyzing the benefits of Sensate on users' mental health, including improved sleep and reduced anxiety. Anna Gudmundson: "Users report significant improvements in their anxiety levels and sleep quality with regular use."

4: Future Directions

Insights into the future of Sensate and potential new features aimed at enhancing user experience. Stefan Chmelik: "We are exploring new applications of our technology to further assist with stress management and wellness."

1. Try Sensate for Daily Relaxation: Incorporate 10 minutes of Sensate into your daily routine to aid relaxation.
2. Combine with Meditation: Use Sensate alongside traditional meditation to enhance the calming effects.
3. Monitor Sleep Improvements: Track changes in sleep patterns with Sensate use to observe its benefits.
4. Engage with Vibrational Therapy: Explore other forms of vibrational therapy to complement Sensate’s effects.
5. Stay Informed on Updates: Keep up with new developments and updates from Sensate to maximize the device’s potential benefits.

Episode Title: Unraveling Stress Relief with Sensate
Join host Jenny Jones on the Biohacker Blondie Podcast for an enlightening discussion with Anna Gudmundson and Stefan Chmelik, the creators of Sensate. Discover how this innovative device uses vibrational therapy to help manage stress, enhance relaxation, and improve sleep. Learn about the science behind Sensate and how it leverages the power of sound and vibration to calm the nervous system and foster well-being.

Key Highlights:

Origin and Mission: Insight into the creation of Sensate and the founders' vision to improve global well-being.
Science of Vibrational Therapy: Understanding how Sensate uses resonance and bone conduction to influence the nervous system.
Benefits for Meditation Newcomers: Discussing the device’s accessibility and its appeal to those new to meditation.
Enhancing Daily Productivity: How calming the nervous system can lead to better focus and efficiency.
Long-Term Health Benefits: The cumulative effects of regular use on overall health and stress management.
User Testimonials and Feedback: Real-world experiences and the positive impact of Sensate on users' lives.
Future Innovations: A sneak peek into upcoming features and enhancements based on user feedback.
Holistic Health Tips: Stefan and Anna share their top biohacking tips for integrating technology with natural health practices.
Disclaimer: The content discussed in this podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be considered medical advice.

People

Anna Gudmundson, Stefan Chmelik

Companies

Sensate

Books

None

Guest Name(s):

Anna Gudmundson, Stefan Chmelik

Content Warnings:

None

Jenny Jones
Welcome back to the Biohacker Blondie podcast, where we talk all things health, wellness, longevity, and, of course, biohacking. I'm your host, Jenny Jones, aka Biohacker Blondie. And today we're diving into the fascinating world of stress relief and relaxation technology. We have a very special episode featuring Anna and Stefan, the innovative minds behind Sensaite, a remarkable device designed to calm your nervous system and enhance your overall well being. In our conversation, Anna and Stefan will share their journey of creating sensate, a device that harnesses the power of vibrational therapy to aid in relaxation and mental health.

They'll explore how this technology not only helps with anxiety and sleep, but also enhances daily productivity and long term resilience through the subtle art of your nervous system regulation. Whether you're an expert meditator struggling to find time for your practice, or a busy professional looking for a quick way to unwind, Sensei offers a unique solution to manage stress and foster deep relaxation. So tune in, relax, and discover how this cutting edge technology could revolutionize your approach to health and wellness. Don't miss this deep dive into the science of sound vibration and the future of personal health technology. Let's get started and unlock the secrets to a calmer, more centered you with sensate.

Anna Gudmundson
Okay, well, welcome to another episode of the Biohacker Bondi podcast. I am so excited because we are here with Anna and Stefan, founder, co founder of Sensate, this vibrational device that you put on your body to calm you down and all the great things for anxiety, sleep, everything. So let's get into it, and I want to hear how this journey began. And if you guys can, like, introduce yourselves, that would be great. So welcome to the podcast and thank you for taking the time out of your early morning from LA and your afternoon in London.

Do you want to start, Anna? Yeah, sure. Yes. Okay. My name is Anna Godmonson.

Anna Godmonson
Since we're podcasting, I'll get my weird accent out of the way. I was born in Sweden and lived in six countries and California based. My background is all in exponentially growing technology fields. So it's very early and mobile before the iPhone and developing experience there early in big data and social media tech, etcetera. So really gravitated towards continue to work with these technologies to change our society, but in a positive way, very interesting in health and well being.

And I would say, like human evolution. So, like, I would say health optimization, like a little while hacking, maybe. And so I had the opportunity to be connected with several people with Stefan when he was working on this really groundbreaking product in his clinic, which is very, you know, now he's doing this full time also, but very famous in London. And so I was fascinated by their two mega trends. One, which is, I think we're starting to understand how to use sonic and light waves to manipulate matter and actually, like, on a much deeper level, actually understanding that everything is vibration.

Right. And also the big, big need in the market for effective tools for stress and anxiety asleep in the mass market. So we started working together. It took a while before I joined as co founder, but at that point, really got to know Stefan and got to see that this product was the real deal and something very unique that you very rarely come across. And from there, you know, I went on to really making my business together with Stefan and scaling and raising money and all that fun stuff.

Anna Gudmundson
Amazing. And, Stefan, how did you get into this space? I saw you're also a physician as well. Yes, I'm Stefan Khmelik. I invented the technology.

Stefan Chmelik
I have been an integrated healthcare physician with a particular interest in chinese medicine for the last 30, 35 years. Oh, nice. But background for a very young age in meditation and breathing techniques from my father, actually. And I founded New medicine Group, as Anna mentioned, in Harley street, which was a team of integrated healthcare physicians. And we were doing some great stuff there.

Fantastic team. And increasingly over the last few years of being centered in that clinic, I was using sound based technology, particularly infrasound based technology, to regulate people's nervous systems. Because what we were finding with pretty much almost everybody with some kind of chronic condition that was hard to treat, hard to diagnose often, was that there was always an underlying dysregulation of the nervous system, the autonomic nervous system in particular. And if we didn't address that, then they didn't tend to get better. But what I realized fairly rapidly was the techniques I was using, meditation, breathing, were hard for people to do because their nervous.

Our nervous systems are so overwhelmed and dysregulated from the sheer volume of digital information being thrown at us that we needed some kind of easy to practice and pleasurable to do technology. And really, that's where sensei came out to. So that's. I'm now focused entirely on that because through Sensei, we can influence millions of people, not just tens of thousands. Yeah.

Anna Gudmundson
And do you. So, sensei, you know, there's other devices out there that say, okay, this vibrational technology can increase energy, can, you know, or calm you down or focus. So sensei is just for anxiety, for calming the system down. Correct. Well, so we do make a distinction between vibration and resonance.

Stefan Chmelik
So, sensei is the device itself, which sits on the chest. You know, if you've tried it utilizes the bone conduction phenomena. Yeah. So the. And it.

And it teams with it, synchronized with the sound you hear in the headphones and the ears via the app. So the device plays the infrasonic, the low frequency portion of the soundscapes that then resonates through bone conduction into the chest, where there's a lot of hollow space, and that creates a resonance. So, you know, if you think of that like a speaker, you know, if you've got a beautiful hi fi and you might have a fantastic speaker, if you stick it in a biscuit tin, it's gonna sound rubbish. You need to put it in a nice wooden or whatever cabinet, and then it'll resonating for a beautiful sound. And this is very much how our chest works through the bone conduction phenomena.

So, just to answer your question fully. So the kind of vibration we're using, the resonance we're using, is not haptic vibration. It's not simply like you would get on a phone or a watch or other devices. That's simply rattling, which is a great, but doesn't produce any tonal frequency. Oh, interesting.

So, sensei produces full frequency sound between the device and what you hear in the headphones. So the very. It's not just simply an alert function. It's a musical experience that turns the. Body into the instrument into a very calming state.

Anna Godmonson
Yeah, yeah. It is for down regulation for sleep and relaxation. So we have not developed things for upregulation of the nervous system. So it is definitely focused on relaxation. And so it also means.

Stefan Chmelik
Say again? Sorry. And so it also needs to be on the chest as well, because some other devices, too, can be, you know, on the wrist. But you're saying this is different because it's creating that little vibrational frequency between the sound through the chest. Yeah.

Chemicals. So human beings have, for the last many, many thousands of years, human beings have found ways to make their chest resonate. Yeah. You know, through oming, chanting, singing, humming, beating your chest, whatever. We all hum and sing in the shower and we feel good afterwards.

Right. So we know that making our chest resonate produces an effect on the autonomic nervous system, which runs down from the. The brainstem, through the throat, through the back of the chest. So the stern and the chest bone here, the vagus nerve in particular, and the longest part of the autonomic nervous system sits right behind the stern. So you can access it very directly here using sound.

You don't have to use electrical impulses or other interventions to have a stimulating and calming effect on the vagus nerve and the autonomic nervous system if you approach it through bone conduction. So how much research has gone into, sensei? I know it's been out for a while. Correct. And then you guys have done a lot of research behind as well.

Well, so there's buckets of research, more than we would ever hope or want to do on the effects of down regulation of the nervous system, the impact of the relaxation response through meditation, breathing, and other major biohacking techniques, which you will know about, is undisputed. But what we find is that Kirkle's ability to do these practices, these tried and tested practices, is limited, either due to time constraints. Who's got an hour a day to meditate for the next ten years, or because it's very hard for people to sit still for ten minutes. This was a frequent piece of feedback for me that I was receiving, which was the motivation to develop sensei. People would say to me, oh, I tried to.

I tried to sit still and meditate and breathe for ten minutes, but I kept on thinking about all the stuff I had to do and I kept on looking at my watch. Whereas with sensei, what we find is you can't really fail at it. Virtually everybody, whether it's the first session or a few sessions within the ten minutes, will experience an autonomic down regulation, which is a very powerful healing phenomenon. We have also conducted specific research as well. We are a consumer device, not a medical device.

So we haven't, and we have large scale double blind trials because we're not going in, you know, at this moment, over the next period, we're not going into a medical only environment. But some of the, some of the things we have found in research are consistent brain hemostatic synchronization effects, which is essentially the same phenomena that you see when you brain scan long term meditators. There is this brain hemispheric synchronization that takes place specific impact on sleep. So in one study we did people with sleeping an hour extra per evening, which is a huge amount normally in sleep studies, you know, it's all they people sleep for 7810, twelve minutes longer. We, our participants were sleeping for an hour longer and falling asleep half as fast.

And also, obviously, major impact on experience of anxiety, experience of stress. What about deep in REM sleep? Is there anything on that about increasing deep or remotely.

So we didn't, we didn't rig people up to brain scanning machines in our research because then the issue always with research is, does the research alter the outcome? So obviously, if you're asking somebody to sleep with relatively invasive technology, that's going to alter the sleep itself. So we recorded duration of sleep and got people to report on how many hours a night they were sleeping and how, and how well they felt after. There's lots more. I mean, like we, I mean, we haven't focused specifically on sleep.

Anna Godmonson
We're not a sleep device. What we found is that a lot of people use it for sleep and probably more than 25% of our users often use it for sleeping. We're primarily focused on relaxation and downregulation of the nervous system. So, yeah, the, the brainwave changes were significant. And that's really exciting and promising.

I think one of, and as the CEO is like owning the strategy for me, super encouraging research. I've seen a lot of products that have great results in clinic and don't make it in the market. And that's why I'm doing this, because Sensaid is actually the first product that I've come across that does that. I've come across a lot of products that have great clinical programs because I think the difference between Stefan and I, I come from consumer tech, and so I'm so used to, it's extremely difficult to achieve behavioral change in the space of health and wellness, whether that is, you know, eating healthier, exercising more, stop smoking, whatever it is, our behavioral change for higher wellness, increased wellness. And so, you know, I've been looking at so many different products and what I've seen is always this kind of single digit conversion.

And those are the optimizers of biohackers. You know, we're kind of successful in, you know, taking on new behaviors. But even if you look at something like meditation, there is a lot of people that wish they had a meditation practice that know they would feel better if they did it regularly and still don't do it. So for me, the game changer, really, and because I'm also interested, as Stefan is, on the really big impact. And so, you know, the fact that people with no experience in meditating, with also feeling quite anxious and overwhelmed, continuously use sensate and find that it's accessible to them.

And to Stefan's point as well, there is this spiral. If you're not feeling well and you're feeling anxious, you possibly also even less likely to sit down and take time for yourself. Looking to optimize your sleep and stay on top of your health. Check out the oura ring, the ultimate tool for health enthusiasts who want to take control of their well being. This sleek, smart ring effortlessly tracks your sleep patterns, helping you understand your body better and make informed decisions about your rest, recovery and overall health.

Jenny Jones
With the Oura ring, you can keep yourself accountable and ensure you're getting the quality sleep you need to perform at your best every day. It's not just about tracking sleep, it's about optimizing your entire lifestyle for peak performance and health. Ready to transform the way you sleep and live? Click the link in the show notes to discover more about the Oura ring and take the first step towards a healthier, more balanced life. Don't just sleep better, live better with.

Anna Godmonson
Aura and the more anxious you feel or the more sick and unwell. So I'm very, very, very encouraged about seeing people that have a lot of anxiety or they've been trying a lot of other things find and also just looking at overall usage numbers that we are achieving that ongoing usage. I think that plays into both Stefan and I are meditators, experienced meditators, and we still use sunsaid. So it's both the optimization aspect, obviously, given that for thousands of years we've used sound and frequency and atracitron vagus nerves, that's obviously what the product aims do. But then for myself, certainly there are days when my head is so full and I like, I've had so many meetings, I cannot sit down in a short break of half an hour and actually get my mind quiet and oh, then it's perfect because then I just, I use the sensation and it's almost like the sound, my thoughts just go into the background and I get this nervous system level relaxation.

And it's also interesting because I've learned a lot in this process. You know, Stefan already knew all of this, but the fact that you actually train the nervous system. So now that I've been using sunset for a long period of time, even if I'm sitting doing a sunset on a plane and my oura ring will register that as sleep, that's how deep level relaxation I get, although I wasn't sleepy. So there's the long term, the kind of cumulative effects and, but it was, as I mentioned, like the thing that I'm most passionate about and what I think is quite unique is the fact that people with no practice and the same thing with the studies at the first time session, right, actually get a sensation of shifting towards calmer, more relaxed. Which means that they also then are much more likely to continuous use.

Anna Gudmundson
Yeah, I think a lot of people too. I also think of sleep as a lot of, you know, entrepreneurs or people just can't calm their system and, you know, before bed and you just have all these thoughts going through. And so I think having this relaxation device, it would be so helpful for sleep just to get those noise, you know, that noise out of your head so that you can calm down and get into that, you know, space of relaxation, which is hard, you know, and you have 5000 things going on during your day or 5000 things you want to do the next day. And all these thoughts come in at night. It's like, it's, I think a lot of people struggle with that.

That's when you sit there with your own thoughts and you're like, I need to do this, I need to do that. And to train your system. I even know, like the founder, you know, Wade was saying, too, like he has had to train himself with meditation, everything to calm his system down. And now he gets really good sleep. But that took a lot of practice, you know, and now he can get a good night's sleep.

So it's a struggle that I think we all kind of get to in a point of our lives where we just have so much going on and then we have to say, I need to do something, you know, and then also curious. Yeah, I mean, one of the, I was going to say one of the major ways to increase productivity is to come from a place with having a calm nervous system. Yeah. Nobody would expect to take a load of coffee and then have useful productivity. So there's a difference to running around anxiously and useful.

Stefan Chmelik
So if we want to increase products. One of the best things we can. Do is have a nervous system. Yeah. And even, like, a good night's sleep is so important, too, because then you're more productive the next day.

Anna Gudmundson
So, like. But the thing that predicates a good night's sleep is almost entirely dependent on having the ability to have a calm nervous system. Yeah. So the reason we focus on this is because everything is downstream of this. Yeah.

Stefan Chmelik
So everything we're interested in is downstream of having a well regulated, down regulated nervous system. You know, whether it's sleep, whether it's productivity, whether it's blood pressure, whether it's how your digestion is working. Remember the vagus nerve nervous system control, or they control the digestive system, they control the breathing of the diaphragm, they control the heart rate and the heart rate variability. And actually, although this isn't talked about much. They go right down into the pelvis.

So they also control sexual function. That's true. Yeah. It's all connected. Right?

Anna Gudmundson
So everything's connected. So everyone. I think we're just getting to a point, you know, in the health wellness spacing that, you know, our gut brain connection, vibrations, all these things are hormones. Everything's connected. Right.

And I think we, you know, in the past have always focused just on maybe one little specific thing of, like, our intestines or, you know, this area, when really there's so much connected. I think that goes back to, like, you know, ancient chinese medicine, too, like, doing some acupuncture on your foot affects maybe your shoulder or these things, you know, so the whole body is so connected. I'm really curious, too. So many people struggle with anxiety. I think it's a huge issue.

A lot of people are on medication for it. And also panic attacks, these things, and PTSD. I know they have something like with the ganglion block, or they're actually. Now they can do some stem cells or exosomes within the nerve. So there's different procedures for people because people are struggling with this so much.

So have you guys done any research? Like, you know, I know someone who also struggled with extreme panic attacks as well. Can they just. Have you done anything where, hey, put this device on when you feel something come on. And it will calm your system.

Could it be like a distraction as well? Like, when you feel those vibrations and it puts you in a different state instead of, you know, with anxiety or panic, you start getting into this worry, and it can, you know, have this downward spiral. So when you put on this device, is it just saying to your system, like, it kind of distracts you as well? Have you done anything with anxiety or panic attacks? I mean, Nana mentioned that there's an in the moment effect, but there's also a cumulative effect.

Yeah. Although some people do use sensate when they're actually having something like a panic attack, obviously, the best way to avoid you wouldn't start doing breathing exercises when the event was happening. You wouldn't learn how to swim if you intended to swim across the channel. Obviously, with anything in life, it's best to have some experience prior to the thing you want to do. Yeah.

Stefan Chmelik
So, because everything is downstream of autonomic regulation, everything that we're thinking about here, improving the tone of your radius nerve, improving the autonomic nervous system tone, will have an impact on everything downstream of that sleep, anxiety, calmness, et cetera. If our, you know, if our stress barrel is already overflowing to the brim, then it doesn't take much to make it run over. Yeah. So that's what I call antifragility. So resilience is important, right?

We need to build, but antifragility is a uniquely biological function. Only living organisms can develop antifragility. That means they get stronger as a result of the stress. So a really resilient tank, but it doesn't get stronger the more you hit it. Whereas a plant or tree or human being can actually develop resilience as a result of experiencing something difficult and challenging and growing into that.

And I think one of the reasons, certainly we're seeing this massive, and you're absolutely right, global increase in stress and trauma, direct trauma, and big trauma with a PTSD trauma, is that people's tolerance is so close to full all the time that a relatively minor addition to that can make the barrel overflow. So I think by developing the tone of the autonomic nervous system, you increase resilience, you increase antifragility. So you can. And the more you do that, the more you will benefit in the moment. As Anna said, we have people who can actually just think about their sensate, and it will have an autonomic calming effect after they've used it for a little while.

So I wouldn't suggest to somebody that their first ever experience of using sensate is in the middle of a panic attack, because, you know, the system is so dysregulated at that point that there's no way, there's no way of predicting how they might feel. They might feel better, they might not. So best to practice a bit beforehand. If you're very sensitive, which a lot of people are, just start low and build up, and over a relatively short period of time, a small number of sessions, the nervous system will learn to trust the experience, and it will respond positively in kind. In terms of testing with panic attacks as well, I mean, you can't really create a panic attack in a clinical environment.

Anna Godmonson
You can only allow people to have a sense when they have a panic attack. We do not make medical claims. We are like a general general wellness product in terms of just know well being product. Ready to take your health to the next level. Discover the power of level up health's premium oral peptides.

Jenny Jones
I've been absolutely loving their comprehensive range, especially the gut repair formula, which features KPB and PPC 157, perfect for those looking to soothe and heal their digestive system. Don't forget to check out their liver detox and their tudka for optimal liver health, health and detox. And they even have GHKCu, a must have for radiant, youthful skin. Elevate your wellness routine with level up health and see the difference high quality peptides can make. As a special treat for my listeners, use the code biohacker Blondie and that is Biohacker Blondie Blondi at checkout for 10% off your purchase.

Just click the link in the show notes to start any enhancing your health with level up health's exceptional peptides. Let's level up together.

Anna Godmonson
We have a lot of people that report, obviously, and a lot of people that use it for panic attacks in Dallas a couple of weeks ago at future of healthcare summit, speaking there and actually met a woman who had watersensate and it had completely helped her daughter with panic attacks. So, you know, we have a lot of these, of these stories, but we have not ran any specific tests. But I think like the best test you can have, again, you can't really bring someone in and try to stress them out. And to have a panic attack is just, we have a lot of users that are using it at home with quite severe. I like the cumulative effect too, because I think a lot of the times we think of like this one extreme workout, this one time I do this, you know, and really it's building your system up for these situations, you know, and also just making your whole system stronger, making your muscles stronger, making your, you know, your response to stressful situations stronger.

Anna Gudmundson
So doing these things kind of either. I don't. Do you recommend doing this daily or a few times a day? What is how much like, how often do you use sensei? Well, the recommendation is ten minutes, once a day.

Stefan Chmelik
You can do less than that. Certainly some people do. Some people actually do it several times a day. We have some people that they find and they don't do it several times a day. They notice the difference.

And it's just to follow up on a point that you touched on, which is there is a fundamental difference between muscle strength and nerve toning. So whereas we build muscles in the gym by basically tearing them and building them back, and, you know, by the time you've left the changing room of the gill, your muscles are already atrophy. Whereas with nerves, as Carla Schatz, the Harvard said, Stanford said, nerves are fired together, wire together. So when we are what we do, we build neural networks by having a pattern of behavior neurologically and what somatically. So mind and body together.

When we do something, that is what we become. And that can be a good habit or a bad habit. So if it's a habit, habitual behavior around building the relaxation response, then that is the neural network your brain will create. And then that's where the cumulative effect comes from. Each time you do that, that neural network becomes stronger.

Anna Gudmundson
Yeah, I love that so much. I think it's just people need to realize also there's, you know, this effect of it's not just one medication that's going to, you know, fix you or, I mean, I think a lot of medication is putting a band aid on something that we need to be doing these other things to build our system up, you know, and health, real health, I think, is just having all these little sums of making sure, you know, our brain is functioning well by doing these practices and then also doing the supplementation, eating real food movement. I mean, it all adds up to, you know, great health, mentally and physically. And I think we just, I don't know if, you know, now there's so many different things with the economy and, you know, we live in 2024 now, so our stress is different from, you know, 1900 or whatever where they had to, like, fight for food. So that's the other thing, too, where our stress has changed.

And so now we have to look at how do we, you know, evolve into this different type of lifestyle and have all these things we can do for our health. And so we have to add in these devices. I also think, like, grounding is another thing that we're not doing enough and getting into nature. And so we have to add these, like, tech devices, like PMF Max or these things because we're inside now all the time. We live in cities, so we have to adjust to these different situations and add these tech into our system so that we can, you know, have a healthy, long life.

So, yes, this is so great. So what is the future of sensei? Is there anything, are you guys going to come up with anything new or this is your device and you're going rolling through with it or anything new in the works? We have a whole bunch of things on, on the roadmap. I said, like, if we're an early.

Anna Godmonson
Stage company, I kind of joke, like, if, if I wasn't here, being the CEO, we would probably have, like, 14 products with probably no money. So Stefan has a lot of, you know, tons of experience. You're talking about the integrated approach is something new. This is something that Stefan has pioneered, you know, to really see the body as a whole. So, you know, right now, near term, just from a business perspective we're about to launch around.

We actually just about to go public on Wefunder. So all your users can be small co owners around a company here. I think we'll see a little bit more exciting changes. We launched a plus subscription last year and had incredible success with that. So it really comes down to the fact that this product works for people.

So even if you don't have a habit of using it every day, people stress is guaranteed in life, so people come back to using the product. So, yeah, a lot of exciting things on the horizon. Most of it will be next year. Amazing. Yeah, I think it's just so important to add these things, no matter where you are in your life, to add these things because it pushes you to another level of health.

Anna Gudmundson
And so if you don't do these things, it's just they all add up to a better health. So I think we'll need to realize that like all these, you know, supplementation, these wearable devices, even, you know, my oura ring, which I love, you know, it's been a great device because I now can get feedback of maybe a supplement I took last night or something is affecting my sleep or the, you know, so all this new tech is just so helpful and I'm really excited for the future, so. But thank you guys. Being part of a company and with Anna leading it, is that my interesting idea isn't just sitting in my clinic. The team led by Anna in particular.

Stefan Chmelik
What that enables us to do is take this product out to potentially benefit the lives of millions of people. And you touched on a very important thing when you mentioned access to nature, and certainly nature. We can't underestimate the value of spending time in nature. So much of the soundscape work within sensate is using nature sounds, using ambient sounds that I go out into the wild and record as the inspiration for virtually all soundscapes in one shape or another. So, you know, that gives access to elements of nature that our nervous systems over millions of years have been programmed to respond positively to.

But, you know, we should all be trying to access nature as much as possible anyway. Now that can be, if we live in a big city, you know, that can be as much as staring at a tree out the window or having a pot plant. You know, just having some contact with a living, breathing thing is essential. Getting some sun, you know, getting outside. Great if we don't need a sunset in the future.

Anna Godmonson
But I think we're far away from that. Technology can and shall amplify goods. I know that's why a lot of this, you know, biohacking tech is really just kind of replicating nature, right? We're doing all these things because we're just inside now so much at our computer, sitting, not moving, not getting outside, you know, not hunting, not, you know, going to the beach and swimming in the ocean. It's like we have these cold plunges and the sauna, and we're just replicating nature, you know?

So. But it's needed because we, a lot of us want to live in a city, and so we need these devices to replicate in nature while we're sitting at our computers like we are now.

Right. So, since this is the Biohacker Blondie podcast, I would love to hear three biohacks that you guys love and maybe use daily or something that you guys want to share with the audience. You want to start? Well, I think there is no substitute for exposure to the natural world. That will calm our nervous system and that will accelerate and add, see, the power to any biohacking experience that we might then add to that when we come back to our desk.

Stefan Chmelik
There's a phrase which is, civilization is only four days deep, and this has been researched, and we know that if you spend four days under the stars, it completely resets your light and your pituitary experience back to a much more natural state. So, yeah, absolutely. Spend time outside as the wilder, the better. And that's one major thing I would say. And while you're doing that, consider how you can learn from the wisdom of traditional cultures.

You know, everything we're experiencing has been experienced before by people over thousands of years. We can benefit from looking at the knowledge of the wisdom of elders and ancients, particularly indigenous cultures around the world, north american, south american, african, australian, indian, chinese cultures. You know, they have written and talked about this for many thousands of years. So incorporating rituals and ceremony in your life enable contact with more traditional procedures as we more traditional processes is massively important. And then push your comfort zone so, you know, we can think of comfort as being basically the opposite of resilience.

The problem with comfort is the more there's no such thing as too much comfort. When we get comfortable, there's always a deeper bed or a warmer room or a nicer coat or whatever it might be a bigger job. And actually, what happens in life is those things get stripped away from us. So being comfortable with uncertainty, being comfortable with challenge, is the single thing that will make the biggest difference in your resilience. Oh, I love that so much.

Anna Gudmundson
Those are three great. I have never. Those have never been, you know, on the podcast. And those are three great bio hacks. I love it.

Anna Godmonson
Yeah, I think I'm also kind of. I've done a bunch of functional medicine which is saved my life, I think back a few years ago when I was sick, and I keep doing tests every now and then and making sure that I rebalance certain things. Now that I know very specifically genetically, kind of what I need. Breath work is a tool I use frequently and I find extremely powerful. Also quite deep breath works that almost create a psychedelic experience.

And I am a certified practitioner, so I can do go very deep myself. And I think you can clear almost anything in my mind. And so with sense eight, I mean, sometimes I stack, so I do like goddess pose which opens the chest, opens so hip. I do a sunset session and very, very deep breathing and just get this fully immersed and just feel the vibration and the music in my body. It's very, very grounding and centering.

But yeah, I think, you know, to Stefan's point, I'm also, I think that, you know, as a startup founder, I've very much chosen to see that as personal growth. You know, we have challenges presented to us all the time and so how we grow from those, so I think like, from, from biohacking, it's almost like more into my personal spiritual growth at this point. And I find that that is also so incredibly connected. You know, your mind, how you manifest all the body chemistry that you create based on, based on how your stress levels and how your mind is. So, so, I mean, I'm in that space.

I'm always reading up with things. I treat myself to a little, you know, cold plunge here and there and all the other normal things, you know, living in LA and we have available. But yeah, I think those practices are much more of reprogramming and shifting how we perceive the world and get more resilient are definitely part of it. And meditation, of course, I love that so much. Well, this is so great.

Anna Gudmundson
So I'm so glad to talk about sunset, talk about mental health. You know, our brain health is just important, you know, as the physical body, I think a lot of people think of just the gym and getting muscle and looking good, but also we need to focus on our brain, focus on do we feel good internally, you know, and that's the most important, right? So we all want to feel good, energize, feel relaxed, feel this, you know, good vibrations every day. So thank you guys so much for coming. Stress hormones are very corrosive and very.

Aging yeah, I know. Exactly one thing we can do for. Longevity and for our aging is eliminate stress. We can't eliminate it. We don't actually don't want to eliminate it, but to make it our friend and to work with it.

Yeah, I think that's so important. It's like your stress impacts everything. Even like you were saying, with digestion, it's like, you know, how we metabolize food. It's so important to make sure that we're not stressing because we will just hold on to that and not be able to digest food and the nutrients. So it all comes into play.

So anyways, but thank you guys so much for coming on the podcast early, early in LA and in London while you're moving. So I appreciate this so much. So thank you guys. Thank you so much. Honey.

Anna Godmonson
Thank you. Thank you. And that is a wrap for another enlightening episode of the Biohacker Blondie podcast. I hope you enjoy our deep dive into the innovative world of sensei with Anna and Stefan. Their insights into stress relief and the use of vibrational therapy to enhance well being are truly transformative.

E
If you found value in today's discussion and are excited as we are about harnessing technology for health and relaxation, please share this episode with your friends and colleagues. Your support helps me bring more of these valuable conversations to you. Don't forget to leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify wherever you listen to your podcasts. Your feedback not only helps me improve, but also helps others find this podcast so they can too, benefit from the cutting edge topics we discuss here. Thank you for tuning in, and remember to subscribe so you never miss an episode.

Until next time, keep biohacking your way to a healthier, happier life.