00:00:06 Shreya: We spend so much time trying to control the outside world. I should use our environments, other people's reactions. But what if the most powerful form of stability isn't external at all? What if it's an internal sanctuary, one you can return to no matter what's happening around you? Welcome to the Wellness Reimagined, where we explore wellbeing in ways that feel human,

00:00:33 Shreya: integrated and real. I'm your host, Shreya, and today I'm joined by Jason Yun, founder of Improvement Warrior Fitness, who works at the intersection of circadian biology, behavior change and practical habit design. We are talking about how to create an internal safe space, a sanctuary that supports energy, mood and resilience in daily life, and how this is not just emotional, but deeply, deeply physiological. Welcome, Jason. I'm honored to have you on my show.

00:01:08 Jason Yun: Well, thank you very much for having me, Shira. I appreciate being on.

00:01:12 Shreya: Thank you so much, Jason. Before we go anywhere, like technical, what does the phrase internal safe space personally mean to you? Beyond the buzzwords.

00:01:25 Jason Yun: Well, it means that your insides are more important than your outsides. So what's going on on your outside? Um, it means that if if you have problems on your outside, it means something internally is going on that needs to be addressed. And hopefully we can get into many, many of the details about what, uh, what those could be.

00:01:55 Shreya: Yes. I think that that grounding sense of safety being something you cultivate and not something you wait for, it's really feels like a powerful reframe. And like, I'm, I'm I'm really curious. What is one of the biggest misconception people have about feeling safe internally? And where do we tend to get this wrong?

00:02:20 Jason Yun: well, one of the the big things that most people don't realize is that we are basically run by clocks. So we are controlled by our circadian biology or circadian rhythm. So everybody knows that there's a twenty four hour cycle that goes twelve a m to eleven fifty nine p m every single day. And if those clocks become Since then, certain things are not going to work properly in us. The timing in us, which is absolutely crucial to our mitochondria, our cells communicating with each other, they're going to be off. Our nervous system is going to be off. So it's always going to be we're usually going to be in a fight or flight state, which is a stress state. Um, so we're always going to think there's a bear around the corner or a tiger trying to eat us or something like that. Um, so, uh, fixing the clocks is probably the first thing, because I don't believe that somebody can really get in touch with their spirit, in touch with their soul. Um, if there's, um, a circadian clock disruption or a major one. So our, our master clock is known as our suprachiasmatic nucleus, which sits inside of our right behind our retina. Sen for short. And Literally that clock needs to run faster than all the other clocks. So instead we have a peripheral clock in front of each organ in front of each gene. Literally tens of thousands of other clocks. And if they go bad and other diseases will be presented, and then eventually you'll just be going downhill. Downhill. Um, we'll be searching for, um, different ways, um, that are not natural. So we'll search for, like, modern man ways to fix things. Sometimes we'll just turn to our phone to numb the pain. Scroll. Keep scrolling, keep scrolling. Sometimes we'll turn on Netflix. Sometimes we'll go to the doctor, get the prescription, and then that just leads to more and more pain. But the first step is fixing those clocks so that we can get in touch with our spirit and touch with our soul. We can fix our nervous system so we can get back into that parasympathetic state. So we are relaxed and we're not stressed all the time.

00:04:56 Shreya: Yeah. Like so. Instead of safety being a mental decision, it's actually a lived embodied state that shifts how we approach it entirely.

00:05:09 Jason Yun: Absolutely.

00:05:11 Shreya: And also like from your work with circadian biology and behavior, what are the deeper patterns that disrupt our sense of internal safety without us realizing it?

00:05:27 Jason Yun: The things that interrupt the internal safety. Mhm. Okay. Um, well, the big circadian disruptions, um, the two major ones that are pretty much involved in every single disease known to man is, uh, artificial light and non-native EMF. So most people know artificial light. So if you turn on your phone and you haven't changed any of the settings, that's known as blue light, um, overhead lights, LEDs is what most are now. Um, but if you go into like a office space or a grocery store or something like that. Usually they have like those two fluorescent lights, which are horrible. Um, you've got street lights, headlights, you've got iPads, you've got computers, you've got television. All of these emit a certain light frequency. Um, but the thing is, from the moment you turn those light frequencies on, they have the same frequency throughout. So regardless, if you turn it on at six a m, nine a m, twelve p m, three p m, nine p m, it doesn't matter. The frequency stays the same. Meanwhile, the sun changes basically every single nanosecond. Um, literally, the number is too big to even fathom. Um, I believe the number of frequencies from two hundred and sixty NM to seven hundred nanometers is eight to the thirty fourth power. So it's a eight, followed by thirty four numbers. Um, so quite a huge number. Um, but meanwhile that that light that you turn on, you turn it on, it's got a color temperature. And the color temperature is associated with a certain time. So we're back to time again. So circadian rhythm keeps us in tune with our time our timing timing mechanism. Um, but when you turn that, that artificial light on, it's got a color temperature, usually between five thousand five hundred to six thousand five hundred Kelvin, which is going to equate to like twelve to one p m. So that's why artificial light, especially at night, is especially damaging to us. Um, because if you're watching TV at eight pm, nine pm, ten pm or later, your brain is getting the signal. It's twelve o'clock. And that's not a time to be winding down to go to sleep. That's a time to be productive and get stuff. Get stuff done. So what that's doing is it's destroying our melatonin. So melatonin is, um, so cortisol and melatonin play a very intricate role. They're supposed to play a vice versa role. So when one is high the other one's supposed to be low. Cortisol is supposed to rise naturally in the morning to help wake us up, um, and make us productive and whatnot. Okay. And then melatonin is supposed to be low. And as the day goes on, different things can spike cortisol when any time we eat. So most people know cortisol is the stress hormone. It responds to stress. Um, but the thing is, when you are in a sympathetic state, your cortisol is going to be elevated pretty much throughout the day. Um, but anytime we eat, we're going to spike cortisol and whatnot. But at night, melatonin is supposed to be high. Cortisol is supposed to be basically non-existent. But if we're looking at artificial light, then melatonin is going to be knocked down. Cortisol is going to be brought back up. And then when you do go to sleep, you're not actually getting the proper sleep. So you're not getting sleep. You're not getting into stage four sleep which is REM sleep and deep sleep. So those are the sleep stages that actually recover you. So when you wake up, you don't need coffee. You don't need, uh, simple, simple carbohydrates that will give you a quick energy boost. But eventually you'll just you'll just crash in the afternoon or the mid-morning? But later morning. Um, so artificial light and then non-native emf. So, um, EMF is electromagnetic fields. So things like, um, your phone is going to emit that as well. Um, which is why putting it on the head, keeping it in your pocket, not on airplane mode. Very, very dangerous. Um, wearing AirPods eight to twelve hours a day. Uh, Wi-Fi. All these things have. So our cells, our mitochondria, they communicate via oscillations, frequencies or vibrations. And when you bring something non-native, uh, that has a frequency of vibration or oscillation, it's going to interfere with that. So basically it's not going to let the mitochondria and the cells communicate properly. So to it basically needs to know the next step to turn on this or turn this off. Um, it would basically be like this podcast if I, if you if you only understood every other third or fourth word that I'm speaking, it would be a very good podcast and people would turn it off really fast because they wouldn't get the message. Um, so that's, um, other sources of non-native enough. You've got, uh, microwaves, um, you've got the cell towers, you've got the power lines, um, anything, anything basically with electricity. So electricity, um, anything that plugs in, if you're not using it, make sure you're plugging that or unplugging that. Um, yeah. So not enough blue light. Those are the things that are going to just totally disrupt, um, the inner and outer, um, processes that we have.

00:11:29 Shreya: Yes. I think it's really fascinating how light and, like, light, sleep and Rhythm quietly shape our nervous system, and I think often more than our thoughts do.

00:11:43 Jason Yun: Yes, absolutely.

00:11:45 Shreya: And also like, how does the absence of an internal sanctuary usually show up day to day? Like, what do people experience before they even know what's missing?

00:11:58 Jason Yun: Uh, well, the first thing that always gets, um, taken down or in us is our energy. So, um, Einstein said life is energy. Energy is life. And if you don't have that energy, then, um, you're going to you're going to be searching for usually artificial ways to get it back. So, um, most people, uh, over here in America, we are coffee addicts. Caffeine addicts. So coffee, Red bull monster, um, Coke, Pepsi, doctor Pepper, all that stuff. Um, and caffeine is actually one of the worst things for you because it dehydrates you. And when you're dehydrated, your mitochondria is not going to work. The the cellular communication that I talked about earlier, that's going to be basically turned off or it's not going to be complete. You're not going to hear the whole message. Um, so yeah, the when we say energy, it's, it's I mean, energy can neither be created or destroyed. It's just transmuted somewhere else. So everybody has the proper amount of energy in you. Um, but it's just the signals are muddled. It's not there. Um, and you need to make it clear in order to get that energy back. Um, but all the stuff that we're addicted to, the the artificial light that we think that we need, um, The non-native EMF that we the technology, all that stuff that we think we need. Um, it's just interfering. And when you're when energy goes down, you can't do the proper things that you need to do. So you're more likely to fall prey of like, uh, social media scrolling, um, looking on TikTok, looking on Instagram, all that stuff. We're more likely to not, um, take care of yourself so you're more likely to fall into the habits of disease rather than the habits of health. And so, I mean, that's what that's what these corporations who are creating these, these artificial light, the creating the technology, Apple, Google, all that stuff. They want you there. Because what when you do lose energy, you're losing dopamine. So you're more likely to, um, you see an ad, you're more likely to do an impulse buy on this. just something that you don't actually need. But because your energy is low, your dopamine is low, you're more likely to invest yourself into that kind of behavior. So what I call disease or habits of disease. And once we can once we can build the habits of health back up, we can push the habits of disease down. Um, obviously nobody is perfect. Um, you're still going to have your vices and whatnot, but it's being able to recognize that this is a vice in my life, and I'm going to I'm going to engage in it. But as soon as I'm done, I'm going to get right back on the, the, the horse and carriage and, uh, continue to plow forward with my, my good habits and, and whatnot. So.

00:15:25 Shreya: Yes, I think that constant age, like low, low level stress, uh, irritability, mental fog. I think it becomes so normal that we forget it's not our baseline. And also, like, if someone wanted to start creating their, uh, like, creating that inner sanctuary today. Not perfectly, just practically. What tends to be the most effective first shift?

00:15:56 Jason Yun: well, in terms of your circadian biology, it I always say sunrise is the most important thing for your health. Um, so you want to see the sunrise? Um, here, where I live in Ohio, it was it was two degrees Fahrenheit outside this morning. Um, so if you can't get outside, make sure you just look at it through open window. And when you do look at it, know you want naked eyes. So no sunglasses, no contacts. If you do wear glasses, you pull them down on the bridge of the nose or you just take them completely off because we want that, that sunlight getting into the eye. So even if it's cloudy, if it's snowy, that sun is still there. So just look in the direction where the sun should be and you'll get that benefit. So what what the sunrise is doing is it's basically it's going to um, it's basically like a wake up. It's like it's our natural coffee. So it's the coffee we're supposed to get. It's going to wake you up naturally. It's going to raise your cortisol. Naturally, it's going to turn on the production of the right hormones. So the first thing you do is you reach over, which I used to do, reach over to your nightstand, you grab your phone and you just swipe to your phone. You're staring at a blue lit screen that's telling you it's twelve o'clock, one o'clock already, and it's five a m, six a m, seven a m whatever. Um, that's going to give you the wrong signal. It's going to turn on the wrong hormones. Um, so basically, it's Sunrise. It's like the. It's like the warm up for, um, for the rest of the day. Um, and I know a lot of people probably they work in office buildings and whatnot. Um, but you probably have office workers who are smokers, and they take smoke breaks. They obviously don't smoke inside. Um, so just like them, instead of a smoke break, you're going to take a sun break, and you do that periodically throughout the day. So, um, but that that sunrise is, is is key. And also, uh, learning to control your breathing. So proper breathing. So I have my own, uh, podcast called Improvement Warrior Podcast. Um, I've put my, uh, breath webinar on there. So breathing is absolutely vital because if you get all these circadian principles correct and other principles correct, but your mouth breathing and your breathing through your chest and your shoulders and whatnot, It's not going to it's not really going to work, because that type of breathing is going to put you into a stressed state, which we do not want. So, um, more nasal breathing. Mouth is closed. Um, the tongue should be in the tongue spot, which is just right behind the front teeth. Um, you're not talking when you're not eating. Um, yeah. Proper alignment. So that phone is going to take you into a lot of people have bad posture because they're doing text neck. They're down, their shoulders are rounded forward, um, which is going to cause pain and ears, uh, it'll add like it'll cause pain throughout the body. So we're now seeing kyphosis in, like, teenagers and people in their twenties when we used to see it, like in people who were sixty, seventy, eighty and beyond. Um, so yeah, sunrise and sunrise and breathing are two big tips that I can give you right now, I'm starting to change that.

00:19:29 Shreya: I love how accessible that is. I think small environmental and behavioral cues that I think tells our body that you are safe now. It's really, really beautiful. And like, also, uh, for someone who's listening and who feels constantly on guard, what is one gentle question they could ask themselves tonight to begin reconnecting with safety?

00:19:56 Jason Yun: Well, just connecting on who they are. Um, I would say a question to ask is, why am I here? Um, I mean, I, I know we didn't get into my story, but in my mid twenties, um, I suffered through depression, anxiety and thoughts of suicide. But, um, my mid twenties was where I really dealt with it, but I mean, it started early on and it just builds up and builds up and builds up. Um, because, I mean, nobody gets heart disease overnight. I mean, it's a process of decades. So it's asking the question of why am I here? What am I here to do? Um, I was working I was working jobs I didn't like or jobs I absolutely hated. Um, and I had no no direction. I didn't know what I wanted to do. So finding your purpose, setting goals. Um, because if you don't have your purpose, that's. That's fine. Um. Because once you. I believe once you get healthy, you can start finding your purpose and finding what you want to do, and you can start seeing more issues. Um, about you can see, um, that people need help. And you are fixing yourself and you can help those people more. But setting goals is a good way to get started by asking that question why am I here? Um, because more than likely it's not to wake up and work forty fifty hours for somebody else and make them rich, and you just struggle getting by month after month. No.

00:21:47 Shreya: Yes. That is really amazing. Thank you for sharing this with our audience. And I think an internal safe space is not created by force. I think it's built through rhythms, environments and choices that constantly signal safety to the body. And this is truly a very, very powerful conversation with you. I think you have shared so much helpful insights, knowledge, your experiences that just made this conversation so much powerful, so incredibly helpful. And if after this, my listeners want to connect with you, then what's the best way?

00:22:23 Jason Yun: well, I have a, free seventeen step guide that goes into some of the things we talked about today and some other stuff. Um, it's my mitochondria improvement warrior guide. So it's at Improvement Warrior Fitness slash mitochondria. And other than that, people can find me on social media. So Facebook and Instagram I am son Jason and Twitter and YouTube. I am at training. So I put a lot of videos, put a lot of posts, um, going over the stuff that I'm researching and other stuff. So, um, you can learn a lot from me on, on social media.

00:23:03 Shreya: Yes. And I will make sure to attach all these details and links below so that the listeners can find them easily and get in touch with you. And for my listeners, thank you for spending this time with us on the Wellness reimagined. As you move through the rest of your day or night, see if you can notice one small way to make your inner world feel just a little more safe. We'll meet again very soon, and do not forget to hit the follow button. Subscribe and feel free to share your thoughts because your ears deserve premium content. Thank you.