Episode #23: Extreme Performance Training, Boozy Cupcakes and Kicking Life in the Dick with Brooke Siem

Episode Summary

Brooke Siem talks about her work as an Extreme Performance Training (XPT) certified coach and explains the theory and practice behind the XPT workshop she conducted in New York City the day before the recording, in which Matt participated. She discusses the value of sitting in 3-minute ice baths to practice calming your body down through breath work in high intensity situations, a technique that is subsequently transferrable to handling high stress situations in business, travel and life. She then explains how she works remotely as a “breath coach” with private clients that include professional poker players, and shares her tips for the most important steps to developing a meaningful breath practice. She also shares her personal back story of her professional ballet dancing career getting unexpectedly derailed and how she then pivoted and pursued a culinary career—becoming a chef, opening the Prohibition Bakery in Manhattan to sell “boozy cupcakes”, authoring a cookbook, and competing (and winning) on the Food Network TV show “Chopped”. Brooke also opens up about her personal struggles with eating disorders, suicidal tendencies and living half her life on a cocktail of anti-depressant and anti-anxiety drugs. She shares her life changing decision at age 30 to get off all prescription drugs, became a digital nomad, and join the Remote Year program to travel the world with a community of 50 people for a year. Brooke explains how her discovery of non-traditional “self-compassion’ therapy helped her heal past traumas, overcome her eating disorders, and begin a process of self-renewal. She also shares how the Remote Year experience and subsequent world travel helped enable her to re-discover herself and re-take control over her life and her future.

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About the Guest

Brooke Siem

Brooke Siem is an entrepreneur, chef, author, public speaker, world-traveler and Extreme Performance Training Coach. After her path to being a professional ballet dancer was unexpectedly dashed, Brooke became a chef and spent eight years in the New York City food and wine industry, which included co-founded Prohibition Bakery, and authoring the cookbook by the same name. Brooke was named one of Zagat’s 30 Under 30 and became a champion on the Food Network’s TV show “Chopped”. But Brooke’s “successful” Manhattan life also fueled a lifelong battle with depression. Prescribed antidepressant and anti-anxiety drugs at 15 years old after her father’s sudden death, she realized at age 30 that she had been heavily medicated for half of her life and decided to make a massive change. In 2016 she became a digital nomad, signed up for the Remote Year program to travel the world with a community of 50 people for the year, and immediately got off all the prescription drugs en route to meet the group in Kuala Lumpur. Today in 2019, and 32 countries later, Brooke remains off all prescription drugs, considers herself cured of clinical depression, and her primary focus now is on advocating for mental health and wellness without the use of antidepressants and anti-anxiety drugs. Though she believes that these sorts of drugs can have their place on the road to healing, Brooke’s goal is to show that it is possible to live a joyful, centered life without the use of antidepressants. She is currently delivering keynote addresses on this topic, writing her memoir and working on an international culinary project called “Cooking with Grandmas”. In 2017 she sold her half of Prohibition Bakery and turned her focus to coaching students in breath-work and XPT, or Extreme Performance Training. XPT teaches cutting-edge fitness through a “Breathe, Move, Recover” curriculum designed to stimulate growth in all aspects of human performance through exposure to a variety of natural elements and environments. By teaching XPT’s “train, adapt and perform” approach Brooke empowers her students to strengthen and elevate the quality of their everyday life.

What You'll Learn

Understanding Extreme Performance Training (XPT) techniques and how to develop a breath practice that can help reduce stress in everyday life
How to practice self-compassion to heal trauma and overcome adversity
Why world travel is so conducive to personal growth, healing and honestly confronting our own problems.

Links From the Episode

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BOTTLE OF WINE SHARED DURING THE INTERVIEW

Sancerre (Loire Valley, France)

WORK-TRAVEL PROGRAM THAT BROOKE AND MATT DID TOGETHER

Remote Year (Get $100 discount using our link)

BROOKE’S COOKBOOK

Prohibition Bakery

BROOKE’S TV EPISODE

Chopped “Chocolate Obsession”

BOOK BROOKE RECOMMENDS

The Power of Now

RESOURCES MENTIONED

PERSON BROOKE WOULD MOST LIKE TO HAVE DINNER WITH

Tim Ferriss

LOCATION WHERE THE EPISODE WAS RECORDED

New York City

BROOKE’S TOP 3 FAVORITE TRAVEL DESTINATIONS

BROOKE’S TOP 3 BUCKET LIST TRAVEL DESTINATIONS

OTHER DESTINATIONS MENTIONED

Check Flight Prices to Any of These Destinations

CONTACT BROOKE

Time Stamped Show Notes

[05:31] EXTREME PERFORMANCE TRAINING (XPT)

Matt’s First Ice Bath (Outdoors in New York City’s Union Square in January!)
Brook’s Extreme Performance Training (XPT) Workshop in New York City that Matt Attended

[11:11] HOW BREATH WORK CAN REDUCE STRESS AND IMPROVE EVERYDAY LIFE

How the same breath work required to calm down during an ice bath can be applied to stressful situations in life.
The evolution of Brooke’s breath practice from childhood through professional dancing through XPT today.
Explaining inhale holds, exhale holds, and the mechanics of developing a breath practice
Brook’s work as a breath coach and how she works with remote clients
Brooke recommends the first steps for beginners to start improving their breath work.
Brooke explains the breathing protocol she implements immediately when she experiences a stress spike in her life.

[34:30] BROOKE’S PERSONAL JOURNEY AND HER LIFELONG STRUGGLE WITH DEPRESSION

Growing up and Studying Ballet
Her father’s unexpected passing when she was 15 years old
Getting onto a heavy cocktail of anti-depressants and anti-anxiety drugs for 15 years.
Her decision to make a massive life change at age 30 and immediately stop all drugs
Her experience with detox and withdrawal
Getting accepted to travel the world with the Remote Year program

[43:37] MATT AND BROOKE’S EXPERIENCE ON THE REMOTE YEAR PROGRAM

Traveling the world for a year with 50+ strangers
Brooke’s introduction of herself to the Remote Year group
Her philosophy on “Kicking Life in the Dick” ☺
The intensity of her drug withdrawal symptoms at the start of Remote Year
How Matt and Brooke connected over a bottle of wine on the beach in Thailand
Brooke’s most moving and touching moment on Remote Year

[01:09:48] BROOKE’S PATH TO BECOMING A CHEF AND OPENING A MANHATTAN BAKERY

Why Brooke originally began cooking food for other people
How her ballet career got derailed and why she pivoted into the restaurant industry
Her experiences with wine making, catering and working in food kitchens.
Her decision to make “Boozy Cupcakes” and open the Prohibition Bakery in New York
The publishing of Brooke’s Prohibition Bakery cookbook

[1:17:14] WINNING THE FOOD NETWORK’S COOKING COMPETITION SHOW “CHOPPED”

The application process for “Chopped” and preparing for the show
Behind the Scenes filming “Chopped” and eventually winning
How you can watch the episode

[1:23:47] HEALING THROUGH SELF-COMPASSION THERAPY

How Brooke discovered “self-compassion therapy” and why It works for her
The value Brooke finds in remote counseling over phone or video
Sending compassion to physical parts of your body where duress is manifesting
How Brooke overcame her eating disorders using self-compassion therapy
Brooke’s personal practice of self-compassion that she uses today

[1:34:37] PERSONAL GROWTH THROUGH WORLD TRAVEL

How isolating yourself from “regular life” forces you to deal with your own problems
Getting into her first relationship un-medicated
Becoming aware of real world dangers
How travel helps us reflect on our own lives and identify where we need to heal or grow

[1:40:11] THE LIGHTNING ROUND