Anna Levesque
My guest today, Adam Spillman, is a breathing and meditation teacher, mental skills coach, student, athlete, and cancer survivor who lives in the beautiful town of White Sam in Washington. And I’m really excited to have him on the show. So welcome, Adam. Thanks for being here.

Adam Spillman
Thank you for having me, I’m excited.

Anna Levesque
Yeah, so I always start out with the first question being, when I say discomfort zone, what comes up for you?

Adam Spillman
I love that. When I think discomfort zone, ultimately, I kind of think of life in general. I find that I have very many different discomfort zones. Some of it’s being around big groups of people. Sometimes it looks like sweaty palms, my heartbeat is racing. Other times it’s just discomfort, cold.

Yeah, so really wherever I just kind of feel challenged, I feel out of place. I feel like I need to really focus to move forward. Yeah, so I feel like it’s kind of a broad area for myself and where I find myself finding discomfort.

Anna Levesque
Sure, yeah, I hear that. What are some strategies? Well, you mentioned sweaty palms. So like, if you start feeling sweaty palms, what is a strategy that you use maybe to help you move through the discomfort or face the discomfort, whatever, know, wherever you want to go in that moment?

Adam Spillman
Yeah, that’s a great question. Generally when I start to feel those like sweaty palms and heartbeats racing, maybe I feel like prickling on my skin, like sweat starting to pierce through or I’m just hot in general. I definitely start to disassociate myself from thinking about the emotions and I try to just focus on either calming myself down via my breath, seeing if I can get my heart rate to lower or I try to just focus on the task at hand. So how can I bring my focus here rather than focusing on the sweaty palms or the racing heartbeat? Because generally when I start to focus on that and then let the unknowns kind of tell a story in my head, it’s kind of when I get taken away from the situation and absorbed into the emotional response rather than what I’m actually doing. So that’s one of my tips is to just kind of calm everything down and focus outward or focus on a feeling somewhere that’s relaxed in my body and try to get the rest of the body to follow.

Anna Levesque
Yeah, thanks for sharing that. There was something you said that I wanted to follow up on. yeah, so what I think is important about what you said is that you feel like…

the sweaty palms, the heart racing, the sweat. I you don’t focus on that. Like what I heard is that you take that as a cue to then shift into, shift your focus to something else that will help you focus on something else or move through the discomfort. And I like to, when I’m working with my clients, I talk to them about that because I think a lot of folks

Adam Spillman
Definitely.

Anna Levesque
I mean, I actually had a client this morning say, well, I can’t change how I’m feeling. And I said, well, you can actually change how you’re feeling. It’s not about resisting how you’re feeling, to be clear. It’s not about trying to ignore the nerves or the fear that doesn’t work. But taking this self-awareness, taking these physical cues as your sign or your cue to then focus on the strategy that, know, whether if it’s a client that we’ve worked together to cultivate that we know works for you, so that you can actually change how you feel. It’s not that the fear goes away, however you create space for something else to come through.

Adam Spillman
Yeah. Yeah, that’s amazing. I, yeah. And I think the other way I look at it too, like from my perspective is, you know, that feeling, the heart racing, the sweaty palms, all of that. It’s like the stress mechanism kicking on. And I think so much in today’s age where we kind of look at stress as an emotion or stress as like a bad thing, but really it’s a mechanism that is kicking on all these responses in our body to get ready to fully engage into something that

We need to be present in and take action in. And oftentimes when we think too much about the sweaty palms or the high heart rate or our vision narrowing in, we’re not allowing the body to do what the body is going to do. So if we just take action and drop into what we’re doing, that stress response is there to make us do things that honestly we never would have thought we could do. So when we learn to get out of our own way and allow our…

our body’s intelligence to fully be there and fully be present, amazing things can happen. And it takes practice, it takes time and understanding, but yeah, I totally agree with you.

Anna Levesque
Yeah, I love how you frame that. That the, yes, it’s the body’s response to do something that’s exciting, you know, or that, like you said, that maybe you never thought you could do. And to view it as a friend as opposed to a foe, like something that we need to fix or even change, I suppose, you know? So I love that reframe, for sure.

There was something else that you said also, but I’ve lost it now, but maybe it’ll come back. I know that you work with paddlers in the Gorge. I know that you paddle yourself and that you work with some really high performing paddlers in the Gorge. They’ve mentioned you in podcast episodes, Rush and Isaac, and what brought you to this field of breathwork. They mentioned breathwork specifically. know that you’re a meditation teacher and a mental skills. They mentioned and several people actually have mentioned on the podcast that breathwork is one of the most helpful strategies. And I think I’ve said before, when I started kayaking in the 90s, like if you had mentioned breathwork, it would have totally been like, what? Woo-woo.

You know, so I love that this is becoming, this is a strategy that high-end adventure athletes are looking to. Can you tell us more about how you got into breath work, your experience with it and why you think it’s so powerful?

Adam Spillman
Yeah, definitely. So my journey with breathwork started in 2019. I had a very serious cancer diagnosis. So I spent all of 2018 kind of being misdiagnosed. was getting skin infections pretty much every other couple of weeks, followed by just mood disorders and fatigue and went kayaking in Chile for three months at the beginning of 2019. And when I returned, I could barely walk. had, I was just in a lot of pain. was dealing with a range of emotions. And upon that, got diagnosed with stage three C testicular cancer, which is basically stage four. was given one week to live when they discovered it. And then through the treatment,

Basically immediately upon discovering the cancer, there wasn’t like gap to learn about, we’re gonna do chemo, we’re gonna do this. It was like, no, we need to get you into chemotherapy now. So first time ever spending the night in the hospital, I spent 10 days. I almost died in the hospital a couple of times over those 10 days. And during that 10 days, there was like…

a whole thing that was happening that I didn’t realize was happening. people I had briefly met on the river, shaked hands with, high-fived with, we did one lap, shared a very short-lived but very powerful experience together. They were reaching out to my wife and giving her suggestions, alternative solutions and directions. And one of those was breathwork. And particularly this gentleman Wim Hof and

that came through, was a bunch of nutrition things that came through. And also somebody handed me this little pocket size book called the little book of inner peace by the Dalai Lama. And I started reading this in the hospital and it kind of made me reflect on kayaking itself and not necessarily just the rapids and the rivers, but how I handled scouting rapids and how I handled.

You know, being in situations where I was trying to judge the risk versus reward and making correct decisions. know, throughout the years, I wouldn’t by any means say that I’m a high level paddler, but my, my best friends are of a very high level and I’ve always gotten little tips and tricks from them. you know, one of them was, you know, when I’m scouting a rapid, I scout it from bottom to top and top to bottom, but I’m also visualizing.

And while I’m visualizing, I’m paying attention to my heart rate. And as I’m paying attention to my heart rate, I also tune into my breath and see if I can get my heart rate to calm down. And if I can get all of that to kind of be in synchronicity, then that’s a good sign for me that this is going to be a very rewarding rapid for me to run. And as I’m reading this book, it’s kind of explaining the same things. And the hospital was a very intense situation for me. And the fact that

or cancer in itself was just an intense situation for me. My whole life, I expressed myself physically. So if I was going through hard times in life, it’s like I wouldn’t really talk about my problems. would just go and I would go do my physical activity and somehow that would help me through that, even though I now call that a distraction. But

going through this and kind of relating, was like, and you know, then I started practicing breathing in the hospital. And then shortly after my chemo session, I had about three months to prepare for a very serious surgery. It involved five surgeons and basically the information I was given was very intense. First panic attack I ever had in my life, but it was, you you may, there’s a good chance you could die from this surgery, but there’s also, an even better chance that if you survive the surgery, you’re never gonna be the same again, especially as an athlete. So it was just a big hit to me and who I thought I was as a person and as a human. But also the day before that surgery, I think it was like one of three people reached out that said, hey, you should check out this Wim Hof guy.

And I honestly knew nothing about him. And I was like, okay, I’ve heard this three times now. And after that conversation with the surgeon, I just wanted to be cold. I wanted to be, I wanted to walk into a walk-in freezer or be in cold water. And I never had that.

that want that desire in my entire life. And when I got home from the hospital, I went in my backyard and put a garden hose over my head. And I live next to like one of the coldest rivers in the United States, the White Salmon and the groundwater is like 40 degrees here year round. So, but that situation, it opened me up internally. So, you know, the stress, the anxiety kind of had me closed down and wanting to crawl into a hole and not let this surgery happen. for, you know, about an hour after that ice bath, had this or this, you know, putting the cold water over me, I had this new perspective, like, you know, maybe I could prepare my body better. Maybe I could prepare my mind better. Maybe I could get ready for this. They do say that I can survive this surgery. And so

I looked into Wim Hofmoor and at the time there wasn’t too much information. So I just put my little breathing thing together that I had kind of got through blogs and stuff. And the very next morning I woke up, hit in my stomach, fear, dreading the day, dreading the month, dreading the surgery. And I didn’t want to leave my bed. And just by taking one step forward, I did a breathing for about 30, 40 minutes, did the ice bath and it was just a complete shift in the way I was thinking. And I did that for probably every day for the two months leading up to the surgery. And the tests that came back, my lungs were in a lot better shape than they thought they would be. I had tumors in my lungs. also had, my lung was damaged from the chemo. So there was a bunch of physical benefits, but what I really noticed more than ever was my…

My internal space was so much easier for me to regulate. it was just, you know, going into the hospital was very intense. It was, I never wanted to be there, but I started to really gain control of you know, how I was thinking, how I was feeling about situations and I wasn’t really coming from a place of emotion. I was coming more from a space of, you know, responding intelligently and just being like, you know, we have to do this. Like if I don’t do this surgery, I’m not going to be cured from cancer. So either way, it’s kind of a catch 22, but that’s how it came into my life was through that.

Anna Levesque
Wow, that’s an amazing story. I’m so grateful that you’re here to tell us about it and to, yeah, to tell us about it. Grateful. Yeah. When you said you’ve heard this three times now, I think that’s, you know, I think we’ve all had that experience in our lives. I know I have of, okay, I’ve heard about this person or this book or this technique.

Adam Spillman
Thank you.

Anna Levesque
like three or four times now, to me, that’s like a sign to go and check it out. And then, so, I don’t know, I just wanted to highlight that for folks listening, if you’re hearing something, even if you’re resisting it, if it keeps, people keep telling you about it, there’s probably something there for you to check out. Yeah. And so after the surgery, you continued, so the surgery went well. I this is a, I mean, talk about discomfort zone. I mean, this whole story is one huge discomfort zone. So yeah, what happened after the surgery?

Adam Spillman
Well, the surgery went good. did end up like losing a few organs, like a kidney, and I had to have some arteries replaced with, you know, technology that they have now. surgery went fine. And then I would say probably two months after the surgery, you know, my body was, my body was wrecked from everything, but they gave me the, we got all the tumors out we’ve biopsied everything and your blood work is now showing that you’re cancer free. So that was amazing, but literally right when that happened, we went into COVID in the lockdowns. So I lost touch with all of my doctors. lost, cause my doctors were in Seattle and Portland, which is like, it’s, it’s a distance, you know, and just lost track with all of them. And then I was left to navigate what I’m, you know, now know as

Anna Levesque (16:27.182)
Wow.

Wow.

My gosh.

Adam Spillman
the toughest part of surviving cancer, which is cancer survivorship. I just was talking to a group of cancer patients recently, maybe like two weeks ago, cancer survivors, and I think everyone kind of agreed that cancer survivorship was kind of equally, if not harder than cancer itself. You know, it’s a…

For me, was a world of my physical body took shape faster than my internal self-healed. And I was finding myself at rivers, know, particularly one story I remember was being at the North Fork of the Payette shortly after. And the summer before when I was going through chemo, was there paddling. I was 30 pounds underweight, bald, sick, but my mental space was strong. And when I returned that year,

You know, I wasn’t into going to the top of the river. I didn’t even want to go to the middle of the river. I just kind of wanted to stay on the bottom five. And, know, I had a lot of friends who were just like, dude, look at you. You’re so in shape. Like, come on, come on. Like you’ll be good. And I just was feeling this huge disconnect and the excitement that was there to get me on the river was turning into more of like a post-traumatic stress response to.

I’ve got one kidney, I’ve got this, I’ve got that. And was quickly, it was right then when I realized nothing on my friends, but just overall as maybe society, like this is, this is mental health. Like this is being mentally broken. This is being emotionally overwhelmed. Like, you know, I physically look good, but that’s not a representation of internally how I’m feeling. And so, I went to breath work, I went back to breathing more and I started to really research it more and that’s when I really started to discover, you know, the umbrella of breath work, you know, from.

you know, trying to fix somebody’s physiology to make their breathing and their respiratory system healthier and more optimal all the way to spiritual exploration. And more in the spiritual exploration is where I started to really discover the power and the benefits of getting yourself into, you know, a different state of mind and then starting to reframe how you’re viewing your emotions in your memories. And then shortly after that, I had friends just, you know, a lot of people were interested in the nutrition that I threw at my health, but people were also interested in the breath work. And so I started taking friends through it and immediately it just, you know, teaching it, coaching it just kind of stumbled in my lap. So

That’s how it kind of went after the surgery.

Anna Levesque
Yeah, that’s cool. Yeah. You you bring up a good point of, gosh, it’s so important that like how someone looks or appears externally doesn’t mean you really have any idea about what’s going on internally. And I think that, you know, treating folks with compassion and curiosity,right, is so important. The other thing is, also the idea of, you know, that you can have total like fun and joy on the lower five, for instance, right? Like I love the lower five. And again, nothing, it’s only because your friends were so excited and they wanted to spend time with you. I get that. It’s, and it is also,

I think in whitewater kayaking culture important to or any adventure sport to allow folks to be where they are and be pumped for that without having to put a label on it’s only exciting or okay if you do this level. Whereas yeah, if your friends are wanting to do a different level, then if you really want to spend time with them, you can go with them and…

be pumped for them and give them space to just be where they’re at and get curious about that. Be like, I hear you, what’s going on? How can we support you? That kind of thing. Again, what happened is what happened and we always gain experience and knowledge from that.

Adam Spillman
Exactly.

Anna Levesque
And one of the reasons I started this podcast is to actually just give voice to different strategies, different ways of approaching mindset, mental agility, and so that we can all realize that no matter like who you are, how good you are, or you have a different life experience that everyone has something to offer and that everyone has like a different take on that and different approaches that can work.

Adam Spillman
Definitely.

Anna Levesque
Yeah. you, have you taken like formal training, like formal Wim Hof training, or is it something that, you know, you’ve just practiced and it works for you and then you can, you work with your, your folks on what works?

Adam Spillman
Yeah, I’ve taken, I’ve taken quite a bit of formal training. I haven’t actually dove into the Wim Hof method at all. Honestly, I kind of went, I went a few other routes. I’ve worked, I worked with, I’m not going to, I can’t say their names, but I was in a group of free divers and big wave surfers that

Some of them actually learned from WIM directly, but they also had, you know, experience with yoga and experience with other things. And it was a really, that was probably one of my most foundational courses or experiences. And then, yeah, I’ve worked with so many other people as far as learning, but then.

About a year and a half ago, I had a sports psychologist who works with a lot of soccer players in the UK and Europe. And she is really big into the world of MMA. That’s her main focus of athletes or special forces soldiers. She kind of took me under her wing and kind of added depth to the other side of breath work and kind of exploring the psychological landscape of it.

And so that’s where a lot of my training has come. And then I also have a few mentors in the world of yoga who are really close to me and they’ve kind of guided me through it. And as far as the breath work goes, I’ve definitely taken some really good courses, but.

When I really think about breath and the power of breath, it’s more of the like anchor to the doorway of where breath will lead you on your journey to self discovery is how I view the breath. You know, it’s a really great tool for, you know, regulating your nervous system, but it definitely can go beyond that. And I think when you get into that world, there’s definitely a lot of science around it, but depending upon who you talk to and who you learn from, a lot of it can sound woo woo or

kind of more esoteric, but in all reality, that journey of self-discovery, that journey of becoming a better human, like that’s what’s gonna make you a better parent, that’s what’s gonna make you a better business owner, a better athlete, is like refining the human, and when you refine the human, that’s what you’re taking with you into the sport, so.

Yeah, I’ve had a, I’ve had a lot of training and unfortunately I just haven’t found my way into the Wim Hof world yet, but I’ve been, I’m pretty well versed in the information and the knowledge that he has to offer. And I think he’s, you know, honestly, if it wasn’t for him, I don’t even know if I would even, you know, be doing what it is that I do or my friends that knew of Wim as well. So, you know, it’s a.

It is a full circle thing and I think his stuff’s great, but yeah, I just never kind of went that route.

Anna Levesque
Yeah, well, the only reason I asked is because you mentioned him and then mentioned BreathWorks. So yeah, think, so it’s so cool because you think like, so a couple of things. You can get so much out of like reading a book or a friend’s suggestion if you follow through and get curious again, I guess the word curiosity is coming up again and look into these things. there’s like the gratitude for people who put their work out there, who have the courage to do that. And then on the other side of that, when you have something to share with folks, that benefits you and I love refining the human or refining kayaking. I think it all goes hand in hand, as you said.

to have the courage to put it out because you don’t know who could benefit. And that someone who comes across like, for instance, a podcast episode or a blog post or a book, they don’t even have to work with you one-on-one to benefit from what you put out into the world. And so I just think that that is really…

really cool that you brought that up. Because sometimes as someone who puts work out into the world, sometimes I can get into my own head of, well, does this really matter? does anyone really, is this really going to make a difference for anyone? And it’s like, you just put it out there because you never know. You never know. And then it puts someone on a path. They might go to someone else who they work with one-on-one and it’s not you.

Adam Spillman
Exactly.

Anna Levesque
great because that seed, like you said, there’s that seed that was planted and then it put them on a path of their own self-discovery, which is so, so powerful. I know I’ve had those experiences as well. So thanks for sharing that. think anyone listening, sharing is one of the most powerful things that we can do to make an impact.

for people that I’m not saying giving unsolicited advice, by the way, that’s not what I’m talking about. Because that can have the opposite effect. I’ve been guilty of that too, you know, over the years. But I’m just talking about putting your work out there like publishing a blog post or if you’re in a conversation and something comes up for you that you really feel called to share, but you think you might look stupid, like share it and see what happens.

Yeah, I just got fired up with that. That was a good one.

Adam Spillman
love it. It’s so it’s, it’s, it’s very true, though, it is. And I’m somebody who, like, I love to be in the background. I don’t really, I don’t really like being the center of attention, you know, I don’t really like any of that. And it’s just like speaking about discomfort for me to like, put myself out there. I mean, there’s a heavy amount of discomfort that comes from that. But it is true, you know, it’s I read I heard something yesterday, actually, on this

subject in particular and it’s like the person who does things without the desire for recognition for the outcome or the recognition of anything probably gets more and gets more done than the person who’s looking for recognition.

And, know, you just kind of, got to do it for you. And the way I see it is, is I made a rule with myself because I never wanted to be a coach. I never saw myself as being a coach. And I was like, okay, I’m going to do this. And my rule has just been, you know what, if one person finds benefit from it, then I’m just going to keep doing it. And all the time I have to remind myself, I have to remind myself, especially now living in a day and age where, you know, social media is such a thing and it’s great. We can connect, but it’s also kind of this thing of comparing ourselves to others and it’s made that even more easier. I think you know touching on that topic again it’s like it’s yeah be yourself you’re unique and you never know who you’re going to impact by just being you and putting yourself out there so that was beautiful.

Anna Levesque
Yeah. Yeah. And also when you’re talking about, yeah, one person, you know, that’s, I like to work one-on-one and in the past I’d be like, I need to have lots of people at my clinics to show that it’s popular and the work is, you know, important. And, and yes, you know, I have an event in June that there’s like a hundred women plus show up. That’s great. And I’ve actually started to, make my groups that I work with smaller so that I can go a little deeper and give more personal attention and make a, you know, or provide a space for growth to happen in a smaller setting and give up the like, if it doesn’t have so many people, it’s whatever, not successful or something, which is just a story.

You know, and like what, you know, what is the most helpful with like the people you’re actually with? Yeah. Yeah. And I don’t mind making a big impact too. I just want to put that out in the universe. Like, I don’t mind having big groups. I just think that rather than making it about like this group size means this, but this, this other one means this. Again, that’s all story. And I talk a lot about fact versus story, which you also mentioned earlier in our conversation, you said it a different way. I you were talking about, know, when you notice that your stress response starts to go to like get out of your head so that it’s not like the stories in your head running the show, focus on what’s actually at hand is what I heard you say.

Yeah. with, can you say more about refining? You talked about breath work as an opportunity to refine the human, I think is how you said it. Can you say more about that and maybe, you know, how you see that working?

Adam Spillman
Yeah, definitely. You know, when I think like refining the human, it’s so oftentimes we want to start a goal, but we never finish the goal. We want to show up for things, but we…

never fully show up for them or we allow ourselves to take on so many tasks that we ultimately become overwhelmed and burnt out. And where I think of like refining the human, think first off just starting is like, you know, what do you really want? Why do you want it? And like, what are you willing to sacrifice to get it? And I think once you get really clear on that, you can really start to eliminate all of the chatter that comes in life because

The more open you are, the more curious you are. There’s always options, you know, especially if you, if you have a lot of friends or if you’re in a big community, there’s always, you know, I could go do this. I could go do this. I could go do this. And then you start to lose track of what it is that you really want. And you find yourself needing to be places. You find yourself maybe feeling overwhelmed or experiencing that thing we call FOMO, just the fear of missing out on an opportunity. And.

Then the goals that you set out to achieve, you start to say, well, you know, I didn’t go for that health goal. I didn’t go for that physical goal. I didn’t do that, but it’s because I’m always so busy. And I think when you start to get to the why and what it is that you really want out of this life, like what you really truly desire, then you’re starting to bring love into your life. You’re starting to bring love and action. And by love and action, I just mean,

You know, if you have a health issue going on that requires you to stop drinking alcohol, then you get out with your friends and your friends are like, no, you could have one beer, you can have one alcoholic beverage.

Anna Levesque
I could do small, medium, and blue, and then medium, and large, and so on.

Adam Spillman
If you’re not in love with your goal, if you’re not in love with who you are, with your health, you’re going to have a very hard time saying no to that situation. And it’s just something that I’ve noticed personally for myself and for others. And it doesn’t just stick with, you know, alcohol or a health issue, but it also just sticks with what do you want out of this life? you know, I think getting to just knowing what you want is a huge part of it, but then also understanding like, what are your controllables?

in this life? Like what is it that you actually do control? And I think so much of us look for control in our external world and we’re constantly forgetting about our internal world. And I’ve kind of broken things down into you can control your nervous system, you can control your attentional system, like where you put your attention and then ultimately the context of your mind, which is one of the harder ones to work on. But when you get the first two dialed in, you can really start to work with and play with

The third one, is controlling how you think about situations, your perspectives, and so on and so forth. So I think once you really start to dive into the world of figuring out what you want, which is deep, it’s very, very deep. It’s almost a trip back to childhood even for a lot of people that I’ve worked with, including myself, and observing in the background of watching sports psychology happen, it takes place there too.

I look at health as like a wheelhouse. So I look at my health as having very many different spokes. And let’s just say kayaking is what I want to do with my life right now. Back as a kayaker, it’s like, you know, if I’m going to show up to a river and it’s consequential and it’s pushing my abilities and it’s a big day and I want to be there.

I’m going to show up better and I’m going to access my athletic abilities. I’m going to be able to access the mental state that I want to be in for that if I have my whole wheelhouse of health in order. And that goes from, are your relationships healthy? If you have a wife, is your relationship healthy with her? Is your relationship healthy with your friends and your family? Is your nutrition intake, are you taking care of yourself on that level? Are you getting enough sleep, enough rest?

and so on and so forth. And it’s like, if one of those spokes on that wheel, isn’t being taken care of, then you’re going to have a wobbly wheel. And I noticed this in the sports that I partake in myself is, you know, if my wife and I have like an argument or something before I go out, I generally am not in the mindset that I want to be in, in order to fall into that state of mind that I want to be in while I’m out on the water. It’s.

It, you know, I think it’s a whole holistic approach to, you know, who you are as the human being, cause that’s what you’re showing up as, you know, it’s like the athlete is not who I am. You know, it’s like, that’s something that I had to learn when I had cancer. It’s like, you know, and I struggled with identity issues after cancer. It’s because I didn’t, kayaking wasn’t fulfilling me anymore. And I live in an area where there’s

Everyone is on the charge here. Everyone, even if you’re a class three paddler, everyone is on the charge here. Like it’s go, go, go, go, go. It’s like, I live at the put in and the takeout of a class three section as well as the class five section. And everyone’s diehard here. They love it. And for me, it was having to just deal with that as well. And finally coming to, you know, the realization that I no longer want kayaking anymore.

I no longer want to pursue it in the way that I was pursuing it. And it took me so long to set the kayak down. And when I did do that, I finally slowed down. And when I slowed down, that allowed me to actually heal from the cancer, the emotional pain of it. But it also allowed me to open up and realize that, I actually do like being a coach.

You know, and there’s nothing wrong with it being sunny outside and my friends want me to go kayak or they want me to go paddleboard. And you know, I really want to read this book today. Like I don’t need to go do that. And I was fighting that for so long. And that’s kind of what I mean by refining the human is like refining who you are. Cause I think we kind of get lost.

in who we are and there’s a lot of input into who we should be rather than a lot of input into discovering who it is that we really are and who it is that we really want to be. And those things that should influence us to say, Hey, I’m going to look for how that could work for me on my path. We almost think like, Hey, I need to be on that path. And that’s kind of what I mean by kind of refining the human and like kind of a more surface level approach. You could definitely dive in and go down some rabbit holes with it.

Anna Levesque
Yeah.

Yeah, I just want to show you something that, hold on.

So, cause you’re talking about the wheel. So, and I know folks who are listening can’t see this, but it’s on my website. This is my mental agility mastery wheel. And this is how I coach paddlers as well. Anyway, so I’m totally on board with the wheel. Yeah. it’s totally real. Like I taught same thing. Like you’ve got to have your spokes just like you talked about. If all of the spokes,

Adam Spillman
I love it.

Yeah, see, it’s amazing.

Anna Levesque
are a little wobbly, your wheel doesn’t roll. like you said, and self-awareness is one of the spokes on the wheel, which, you know, this is what we’re talking about, right? Is building body awareness, self-awareness, so important. yeah, so yeah, that’s, I was just smiling big because I was like, yeah, the wheel, I love it.

Adam Spillman
I love it. I love it. It’s real. It’s real.

Anna Levesque
Yeah. So how does breath work specifically? Like totally, like everything you said so well said, like amazing. Thank you for sharing. And how does breath work help with all of that? And I guess I’m speaking of, I’m really focusing on the breath work part because I’ve had like meditation teachers and yoga teachers on and that, you know, it’s all connected.

Adam Spillman
That’s amazing.

Anna Levesque
And I don’t know that we’ve really had, I’ve had someone talk more specifically about breath work. So just want to dive into that if you’re up for it.

Adam Spillman
Definitely.

100%. So, you know, I think where, where we are and where we feel maybe collectively as a whole is what I’ve experienced is, you know, a lot about life right now and a lot about how you attain success is go, go, go, go, go, always go, go, go, go. It’s like, rest is the opposite. It’s like, it almost feels like rest is the enemy of success and

To me, rest is one of the biggest pieces to the formula of success. Like it’s not, it’s not something that you add into the process. is 100 % a part of the process. And where breath work comes into play, you know, we can talk about it simply as the breath is a great way.

It’s almost one of the best ways to regulate your nervous system. And your nervous system houses both your rest and your digest as well as your stress mechanism. And I think so often times in society, there’s so many stressors, we carry one around with us every single day, our cell phones. And we never give ourselves time to drop into the rest side of our nervous system. when most people hear the word rest and digest, they kind of think of like laying around, not being inactive, but then also your food digest. But there’s so much more that happens in that state of rest and digest. I mean, this is where you digest and process emotions. This is also where you also build and create connections from the skills and the learning that you’ve been doing. And so if you’re always constantly in stress, you’re not very optimal with with what you just learned or a skill you’re trying to absorb and bring into your technique. So that is one of the first places where breath work really can help is balancing and regulating the nervous system. And that could be very simple. just, you know, very simple breathing exercises, you know, kind of extending your exhale longer than your inhale.

But then also your breath acts as an anchor for your mind or your attention, your focus or your energy, if you will. So if you can combine both of those, now you have control over your attention and your focus. So where are you gonna put that focus? Where are you gonna put that attention? And both of those can be simple as that. And when you control your mind, you control your focus, now you’re also starting to control where your thoughts and your thinking are taking place.

And this is where I like to think of mantras or meditations on love, compassion, all of that. When you have a calm mind and you can just repetitively tell you’re something, say you’re somebody who struggles with self-worth. It’s like when you get into that state, you can just repeat over and over, I love you, Adam, I love you, Adam, I love you, Adam. And something as simple as that can have a big effect.

And then where I really like what I really love and passionate about in breath work is some of the more intense. I don’t they don’t need to necessarily be intense, but some of the more exploratory practices, you know, they’ll be I teach a class every Wednesday here in the gorge. And it’s a 30 minute class. It’s a one hour class. And it’s a breathing and meditation class. And, know, meditation, just being the act of becoming familiar with and you know, the breath is our focal point. And so the whole, for a whole hour, you are focused on your body, how your body’s feeling, but you’re, focused on your breath, moving your breath, controlling your breath. And in that space, that’s where I find a lot of benefits to the self discovery to the who you are, to the what it is that you want in this life. Because what happens in that hour is you’re focused only on your breath. And when you’re doing certain breathing patterns that are very repetitive or cyclical, it’s starting to take up space in the frontal lobe, know, where most of us spend our time thinking. So it’s taking up that space. And towards the end of the session, when you’ve done about 50 minutes to an hour of this, you’re now

Anna Levesque
You should, yeah, it’s a total cumulative mix. So you could get like, really simple, and then you just.

Adam Spillman
in this space where the thoughts have really dulled themselves. And, you know, a lot of times people say they feel clear, they feel open, they feel expanded. And what we’re really experiencing is like the state, a state of neuroplasticity. So everything is in the perfect spot for you to start really feeling the thoughts that are now starting to arise. And those thoughts that are starting to arise, you’re going to really start to know like,

Hmm, know what? Hey, that is what I want and I desire out of this life and or you know If you’re somebody who’s struggling with self-worth, that’s the time to start bringing in some joy start bringing in some gratitude start shifting the state that you’re in and You know, that’s kind of maybe speaking for someone who? Is really looking to kind of start the self-discovery journey and kind of stay on it

But then also, you know, I work with athletes who they know what they want. They’re on that path. And then, you know, that same breathing pattern, that same, you know, maybe we add a little bit more intensity to it. Maybe we add some longer breath holds. We create this more, you know, robust experience. You know, the feedback I’ve gotten from those people who are so embodied already is, is they start to notice better range of motion. They start to notice that they’re mechanical skills are, you know, I worked with some golfers and they were blown away just by the sensations that they could feel in their hands, the connections that they could feel in their toes. And they’re already tuned into that. And they were like, wow, this gave me that extra like one or 2 % like I can feel more than also they didn’t feel as cloudy. They didn’t feel as they didn’t feel as like nervous about the day or how am going to start the day or

You know, they’re not so stuck to their routine. Maybe their routine is going to look a little bit different when they get to the golf course. Maybe it’s, you know, maybe where I was going to go chip and work on putting, I’m going to go work on driving because that’s just how I feel right now. so I, I honestly think breath work is a tool that when you understand it foundationally, it can, it can definitely fix some health issues, some metabolic issues, but then there’s.

You can really take it deep and you can really start to explore, you know, how can I control my inner world with this? You know, how can I be a more embodied human? How can I get out of thinking less and doing and feeling more? And I really look at an hour of breathing that if people who come to my class, I look at it as not only did you do an hour of breathing, but you did an hour of active meditation.

You know, the entire time your mind has wanted to wander and you’ve just spent it going back to your breath, going back to your breath. And we just live in such a fast paced world that it’s really hard to calm the mind nowadays. mean, five minutes of silence is scary for people. It’s like, I bring that up all the time, know, sit in room quiet for five to 10 minutes and…

Anna Levesque
Yeah. Or even paddling a… Yes, it does. Or even paddling like a tough rapid. They’d rather paddle the rapid that scares the crap out of them than sit in a room for five minutes in silence. Yeah. No, thank you. Yeah. Thank you for sharing all that, Adam. Yeah. Breathwork is, in my life as well, has been super powerful. So, well, thank you for going through that. Do you teach any online classes?

Adam Spillman
Honestly, I think people are more scared of that than even speaking in front of a group of people. which is already it seems to be a really big fear for people. yeah, I hope that answered your question. No, exactly, exactly.

Exactly, exactly.

I did teach some online classes and I have done stuff and then things have just, I don’t know, it seemed like more people were starting to get interested in the, I want to be in community, I want to be in person and stuff. So I’ve drifted off, but it’s really interesting because lately I would say probably the last like month or so I’ve had a lot of people reach out like, you going to start doing online stuff again? And I definitely have been considering it. So I definitely have a few like online workshops.

Anna Levesque
Sure, I get that. Yeah. What’s your Instagram handle just so people can check in just in case, you know.

Adam Spillman
coming up in the future that will be happening. But as far as like a weekly online class, it was like sort of successful. And then the feedback that I was getting where people were just, yeah, I really want to be in person and that. So I kind of went that way, but yeah, definitely.

Anna Levesque
Great. Thank you for sharing that. Yeah, I’ve been, have you heard of Joe Dispenza?

Yeah, I read his book, Becoming Supernatural, and I had been resisting it. And like three people, same thing, it kept coming up and I was like, okay, I’m going to read this book. I don’t know why, but I was resisting it, but I was. so I read the book and I was like, oh, this is awesome. I’m so into this. And then he happened to have an online course available like right when I discovered his work.

Adam Spillman
You can look, yeah, you can look me up at breathworkwithadam. So that’s my handle on Instagram.

Adam Spillman
Yep.

Anna Levesque
And so I’ve been taking the online course and doing the online meditations. And it really is like, I’ve gotten a lot out of them. And I can, yeah, it’s made a difference in my life in terms of creating, know, getting aligned with what I want, with what I want and what my purpose is, just more refinement, like you’re saying actually, and man, is it showing up in my life. And You know, just, yeah, I think again, putting stuff out there, it doesn’t always have to be in person to be very, very powerful.

Okay then, are you ready for rapid fire questions? Okay. Let me just, I had them pulled up and now I can’t find them. And I just want to make sure, interesting. Let’s see. So these are designed to be answered in,

Adam Spillman
Yeah, let’s do it. Let’s do it.

Anna Levesque
like a word or a sentence. All right, so here we go. The first one is, what is a morning ritual that sets you up for success?

Adam Spillman
of most mornings it’s a run followed by asana or what most people know as yoga and then meditation. I generally try to fit that in every morning.

Anna
Awesome. What’s a non-negotiable self-care practice?

Adam Spillman
Heat and ice contrast therapy

Anna Levesque
I love that too. I just have to say I love, yeah, hot, cold, relax. It is the best. You know, I grew up in Canada and there’s the whole Scandinavian hydrotherapy has been there. I feel like for, or I just didn’t see it here in the States as much as I would see it there, but it’s powerful.

Adam Spillman
the best.

Anna Levesque
Favorite motivational or inspirational book, talk or song?

Adam Spillman
Amazing. I have to go with, it’s a book and it is called The Art of Resilience by Ross Edgley. It’s a really good book. Really, really good book.

Anna Levesque
Hmm, okay, great. Yeah, I’m gonna put that on my list, thank you. What do people get wrong about you?

Adam Spillman
I think some people look at me and think I’m a tough guy to talk to, but really I’m a really nice and kind guy.

Anna Levesque
Nice. Awesome. Okay. Throughout the course of your life, have you felt like the underdog or the favored to win?

Adam Spillman
Underdog.

Anna Levesque
Okay. Hard moves in easy water or flooding?

Adam Spillman (53:41.925)
Mmm, flooding.

Anna Levesque
Okay. What’s one word that describes your comfort zone?

Adam Spillman
Relaxed.

Anna Levesque
Nice. Okay, freedom through discipline or I do what I want.

Adam Spillman
Ooh, I’m going to say freedom through discipline, but I kind of feel like you could combine them both.

Anna Levesque
yeah, I agree. I agree. You can do what you want when you have discipline. Kind of like what you were saying. When you know what you want, then you tune out the noise. So then you do create more space and more freedom to do what you want. Yeah. I’m there with you. Okay. In one word, what do you hope your legacy will be?

Adam Spillman
Exactly, exactly.
mind.

Anna Levesque
Nice. Is there anything else you want to tell our listeners, Adam?

Adam Spillman
Yeah, don’t be afraid to be you. You’re special, you’re unique individual and there’s a reason that you’re here and as easy it is to doubt yourself, it’s also easy to be courageous and go for it. So don’t be afraid to be you. We need you to be you.

Anna Levesque
Well said, yes. Thanks so much for taking the time to be here. I really appreciate you.

Adam Spillman
Thank you for having me. I appreciate you for having me. This is a wonderful conversation.