Mental Gladiators
Spartacus and Downhill Vagus AF
Journey Within
In the early 2010s, a bunch of folks in a JPMorgan Bogotá conference room watched in stunned horror as the Indian gringo went from stuttering into a non-verbal meltdown.
Someone fetched tea.
Let’s de-stigmatize: I’ve experienced an unwelcome surrender of the unconscious mind to unprocessed emotions.
It’s not fun.
As I held the cup, I remember the sound of the saucer rattling. Everyone in the Colombia office was very kind.
My team was surprised: I’d successfully delivered this presentation before!
Because my cupeth over-flowed at work, the experience made me more conscious of mental health relative to the professional (or academic) environment.
I had to unpack something about myself.
In elementary school, I once faked being sick. I successfully got out of going on stage for a spelling bee. And I knew how to spell all the words.
There was work to do.
Work Speak
I became self-aware of triggers which resulted in a rising heart rate, parched mouth, and racing thoughts while public speaking.
I needed “professional help” to process my issues (using air quotes purposefully).
So, I became one of the founding members and was the VP of Public Relations for a Toastmasters Club at AIG!
My objective was to learn about dealing with anxiety, tying it to breathing, within a stimulated and controlled environment.
I learned even Robert DeNiro gets stage fright.
User Journey
My 2022 new year’s resolution resulted in a very intellectual, philosophical, and mostly-sedentary exercise that generated conversational “content”.
My takeaway: the world’s been living with acute unprocessed, unacknowledged grief and now a pervasive and persistent lack of psychological safety. Yay!
My anxiety attack in Bogotá demonstrated to me that unprocessed subconscious issues can manifest themselves in quirky and unexpected ways.
Gray rhinos are highly impactful and highly likely, and we’re unprepared for them. We had a year to prepare and I witnessed stoicism, peace, strength, and loss-related psychological pain in my family and myself over the past year.
Speaking of death, TWTR 0.00%↑ caused a migration of professional relationships across networks, and about six months ago, social signals from Melinda Byerley of
led me to Andy Johns of.I decided my 2023 resolution would connect mind-body health and combined specific elements:
The Spartacus workout (one of the most popular in Men's Health history)
Weekly Peloton rides
The Mental app with Jason Kyle & Stephen Drum
Mind Mend
Yoga is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines that originated in ancient India and aim to control (yoke) and still the mind.
“Mindfulness of breathing" means paying attention to the breath. It is the quintessential form of Buddhist meditation.
I’ve never been able to get into it. The sound of butchered, accented Sanskrit by professional yoga instructors distracts me. My attention wanders.
As a former VP of Public Relations for Toastmasters, the target addressable market for the Mental app is practically most men:
open to “professional help” from experts
seeking self-discipline without judgment
aware that feelings are a thing
As a user, the Mental app combines a set of exercises, protocols, and stressors.
In terms of annual cost, the juice is worth the squeeze.
Exposure-Response
Every day - after either a Spartacus workout or a Peloton ride - the guys from Mental are my digital-first mental trainers. While naked, vulnerable, cold, and alone in the shower. For me, it feels like the inverse of yoga with similar mental health benefits.
From a product journey perspective, the user is exposed to 3 stimuli to provoke a thinking response and then a feeling reaction.
The user chooses how long the warm shower will last: a minimum of 2 minutes, up to 8 minutes.
Jason is a humanitarian comedian who groks corporate bro-speak and does joyfully curse like a character in Scorsese films.
Daily Deuce
Jason's voice sets the tone with a thought-provoking, contemplative, and encouraging pre-shower thought stream for approx. 2 minutes.
Daily Do
A 1-2 minute writing exercise responding to a related writing prompt (which now leverages AI to generate a useful response).
Cold Shower
Retired Navy SEAL Master Chief Drum provides voiceover and coaching during the timed cold shower. He has the perspective of sailors in San Diego who’ve seen some stuff, and shares tried-and-true breathing, mental, and physical exercises to train under stress.
Users choose how long to be under the cold water: a minimum of 90 seconds and up to 6 minutes.
Unlock Wellness
Researchers show that at least 11 minutes of cold showers a week have positive effects on core body metabolism.
There’s a sequence and theme to each daily cold shower protocol. The brain is funny: I achieved sudden alignment on the days of the week in alphabetical order while listening to Eye of the Tiger. I wasn’t even in the shower.
I apply breathing techniques and exercises from Mental during the Spartacus workout cool-down periods and downhill on Peloton.
I also learned my breathing was awful. De-stigmatizing mental health can unlock physical and mental benefits.
I’m not the first person to suggest embracing exercises in 2023 America. I’ve tried to leverage mindfulness techniques with my children to mitigate future cupeth overflowing.
It's never too late to start a New Year's Resolution, why not try out your mental gladiator with the bros from Mental?
For Mental Health Awareness Health Month, please share your life hacks for doing the work!