From Special Forces to Spiritual Awakening – Tim Thomas on Breath, Survival, and Sovereignty

Brad Minus: Welcome back to another episode of Life-Changing Challengers, everybody. You are going to be totally amazed today and this is going to be an episode that you probably have never even thought that I would bring to you, so I have with me Tim Thomas. He is an ex-member of the Australian Special Forces.

So when you wanna talk about rough, tough, and hard to bluff, this is the guy Tim Thomas, and he has a platform called Breathwork in Bed that we're gonna get deep into a little bit later and the absolute advantages to breath work itself and then his approach to it, which is called Breath Work in Bed, as I've already stated.

So let's bring him in. Tim, how you doing today, 

Tim Thomas: It is so good to be here. Good energy being sent from down under. 

Brad Minus: Yeah, I love it. Absolutely. Right now for me it's May 20th for you, it's May 21st. 

Tim Thomas: That's right. I'm gonna send you the lotto numbers. 

Brad Minus: Perfect.

I like that. I would really like that. I like talking to the future. It's cool. So anyway, Tim, Hey. Can you tell us a little bit about your childhood? Like, like what was the compliment of your family? What, where were you, where'd you grow up, and what was it like to be Tim as a kid? 

Tim Thomas: So I grew up in a very remote, isolated and insulated area of Australia, and it was, back in the seventies and eighties.

I'm over 50 right now and it's very hard to put into words how different the culture was back then. So, I've seen some of your movies where, you know, the Mississippi South, you know, where there's lots of racial divide. That's kind of what it was like. And my father worked in the church for, in the Aboriginal community.

So we were sort of stuck in these two strange worlds. One where, you know, a lot of the sort of white people didn't like us and the, and the aboriginals, they didn't dislike us, but they didn't trust us. But that all changed at about the three or four year mark of being there, where they realized, you know, dad's a good dude, you know, and then when you get accepted into that culture.

There's no half measures, like you are part of them forever. Right. So I still go back as a 50-year-old and go hunting with these guys. I'm going back there next month, you know, and so growing up I ate most everything that crawled or ran on the ground. So, a lot of, you know, lizards, snakes, grubs, all that sort of stuff.

Grew up very sort of conservative Christian. My father worked in the church. So that was an interesting way to grow up, as a young person. It was this really simple but comforting world that you're in. But then, you know, as you grow out of, you know, not grow out of the connection to, the divine, but grow, I grew out of someone else's concept of what it should look like.

You know, I still have a very deep connection to the divine. In fact, probably 40 minutes ago I was on my roof doing breath work to the sunrise. And that was my morning sort of ritual of gratitude and praise. And that space has been put in me from when I was a child where very physical. We, we, I feel blessed to be one of the last generations to grow up without technology.

So we didn't have phones. We learned how to be bored. And outta that boredom came all this fantastic creativity, you know? No, just thing is when I was on my roof this morning.

I sent out, like I felt so overwhelmed with this good energy. I sent out a bunch of just texts, really simple texts, like, good morning mate. You know, and or a, or a little video message and, and, and then just the energy that comes back. 'cause people are like, oh, this feels so good to have someone that actually thought of me this morning.

You know? And so, so being blessed to have no tech growing up and being very connected to my body, that set me up for the rest of my life. Now, within that space, there was a disconnect from my mind to my hand. I would say. So. So, I was dyslexic, but back in the seventies, the technical term for dyslexia was, you're stupid.

Okay? And, you know, you, you tell a kid that enough, he starts believing it. So I'm, I'm like, okay, the sky's blue. My name's Tim and I'm stupid. I might as well have some fun, you know? So I was that kid that always, always created mischief was always, and back in then you could hit kids, you know? So I was always getting hit.

But I was the type of kid that could get hit and not take it personally. My brother, if you sort of gave him a tap, he would like freak out, you know? So time and a place. And it wasn't until I was in my twenties when I started and because this belief system of, you know, Tim's stupid that was in the background and that was kinda running the show, right?

Yeah. And I didn't know it. So all my decisions was based on, oh, Tim, you're stupid. You can only get at, if you try your hardest, you'll only get 11 outta 20. You know, that's, that was what my, your conditioning school was telling me. You know? I kind of, you know, there's, I kind of see school like. You get a thousand kids, you throw out a thousand blankets over them, you cut out a thousand holes.

And if they don't measure up inside those holes, then you are not just not good at that area. You are no good everywhere. You know? And that's, that's what I took on from schooling. I felt like I, I was no good anywhere. And it wasn't until I was in my twenties when I started doing these IQ tests and I'm getting pretty good scores.

Like if, if I wanted to, I could join Menza, right? It was over 135. But, and, and, and it's funny just hearing those words coming outta my mouth, but it was so shocking to me the words like, maybe I'm not as stupid as everyone thinks or says that I am, you know, and, and, but, but being dyslexic, Brad, I, my pattern recognition is in the top percentile.

And the pattern I kept on seeing was that that energy is like money in the way that how you invest it is how you get it back. Everyone's got a unique energy signature and, and a unique thing that they invest into that they get a big return from. Okay. Because someone might look at your spectacular career and go, oh, wow, look at all the endurance work he's done.

Okay. But what they probably didn't see is, yes, those endurance events cost him a thousand dollars worth of energy, but it gave him back 10 million. Would I be right in saying that? 

Brad Minus: Agreed. No, no, no, no. Coming across the finish line after months and months of training is depleting energy then to get it back, just the accomplishment itself to sit there and go, I did that.

And what's interesting, it keeps giving back. So I continue to do these endurance events and what I tell my clients, they're like, oh my God, I'm nervous about doing the race and blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, good. Keep that. Because the minute that you lose it is time to hang it up.

After 40 marathons and five full Ironmans and 30, 70 point threes, I still get nervous and I have a room. My gym has got my medals and stuff in there. And how I get rid of my nerves is not really get rid of them, but it calms me down is to go in there and go, look how many times you've already done this.

You can do it again. We just wanna do it a little bit better. So everybody else, they tell me, oh no, no, no, no. I put 'em in a box and I put 'em away and I'm like, no, no, no, no. They're over there and they're in a room that nobody goes in. It's just me.

It's my meditation, my gym, my everything room. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I go in there and when I'm nervous about something, even, even something that's not physical, if I'm going to work and I've got a big presentation or something, I just gotta go in there and I go look. You've done five Ironmans, you've done so many 70 point threes, you've covered hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of miles.

Why can't you get up and stand in front of, you know, some CEOs and give a presentation? There's no reason for it. And it keeps giving back. And that's basically what I wanted to get out from that, from my, this big giant blabbering. I just did. 

Tim Thomas: I wanna add momentum to that blabbering, as you say.

Yeah. To even make that more powerful. So, this is the thing that plagued me for years. Like, I know I can do this, so why the hell am I so nervous? And then my pattern recognition kicked in. Okay. Think of your mind like a garden, whatever your water grows. Okay? And there's parts of my mind that is disempowered, okay?

It knows about its own existence. If I take steps to become truly powerful it gets kicked out. So think of it like, before you go to the gym, there's a part of you saying, no, I don't wanna do it. Let's do this later.

That's the disempowered parts of us knowing that you're about to become powerful and it's aware that it's about to get kicked out. So it screams the absolute loudest when it's about to get kicked out. So let's reinterpret those nerves as the clearest indication of something super powerful is about to happen, 

Brad Minus: Yeah. 

Tim Thomas: That's like an enemy telling you like, this is the part of us that wants to be disempowered. And while we're in this form, you know, there'll be parts of us that are disempowered, okay? There's parts of us opposing becoming powerful. And if you can reinterpret those signals, like, oh, don't do this. Like, oh, if my enemy told me to go south, I'm going north.

So you see the switch up. That is the clearest indication that I'm about to do something that's gonna become super powerful and, and kick out those things that, that were there. But I didn't know. Luckily, you know, you make a powerful choice to do a marathon and all those disempowered parts, you get pushed to the surface.

They were always there. They were always there. But when you choose to do something powerful, all those disempowered parts go, oh, hang on. No, we don't want you doing that. So you get a chance to, it's not just more energy from doing the action of whatever it is you're doing. It's the energy that you are not wasting on the disempowered parts of you, if that makes sense.

Brad Minus: No, it makes absolute sense. And it's interesting because those disempowered parts is the monkey in your brain. That's being the control, that is your fight or flight mechanism. It's your brain trying to protect you. One of my favorite authors, podcaster, influencer, whatever you wanna call it, David Goggins, right?

The one guy that has actually overpowered his own brain to bring his body to the absolute edge. That's what he talks about. He's got the difference between Goggins and David. David controls. He's the guy that keeps everything in check and is the fight or flight and will more times be flight than fight?

Goggins is the one that strips it away and says, no, no, no. We we're gonna disempower all that, using your terms that we're gonna disempower them and we're just gonna keep going. So that's exactly it. I use that same terminology. I just call it the monkey.

Are you gonna let the monkey win or are you gonna win? But it's interesting. But I love the pack, but I'm gonna use that and when I'm steal it, I'm not gonna steal it. I'm going to learn it. Please do. Look, this, we're increasing the album. Our mission 

Tim Thomas: Yeah, 

Brad Minus: yeah. 

Tim Thomas: Thumb game. So please use it.

Brad Minus: But I think I'm using both. I'm gonna be like, Hey, are you gonna empower the monkey or you gonna empower your heart? 

Tim Thomas: Well, that monkey does not want you to connect to your heart because when you connect to your heart, that's gone and it knows, it's been sucking out your energy,

and it doesn't wanna be kicked out. 

Brad Minus: Exactly. So, let's get back to you a little bit. I, you know, obviously if, if you're watching this on YouTube, for those of you actually watching, you'll see Tim Tim's fricking buff man. He's huge. You know, when you think of special forces, you think, you know, you look in the dictionary, that's Tim's picture right there.

So if you're listening, that's what he looks like now, you know. Tell me about, high, is it high school in Australia? Secondary school? 

Tim Thomas: Yeah. We have high school. So it's, it's called high school. 

Brad Minus: Yeah. So you said you weren't a great student, but 

did you, I mean, I'm, are you, were you in any sports?

Tim Thomas: Oh, no, no. I, I, I, this is what I noticed. Even though I was like academically challenged, I noticed that when I applied myself physically, I just felt smarter and more confident. So I literally had to ignore what everyone else said and go, I'm just gonna do the things that make me feel good. Like this breadcrumb trail that felt good, more please.

That felt good. More please. Mm-hmm. And now the data's out. So when I'm working with high school students now, I will explain to them what was explained to me. That if you just do 20 minutes of exercise in the morning, you create a bunch of glucose, oxygen and something called BDNF brain derive neurotropic factor that cross your blood brain barrier.

Yep. Yep. And you become 25% more productive throughout the day. And again, with high school students, I'm like, what would you use that extra 25% to do? You know, you could use it to get better grades. You could use it to get, a better outcome in a problem that you are trying to resolve. You know, like this is

the power we get when we look inside. You know, like all the, without sounding corny, I mean the keys are on the inside. Yeah. You lose a key inside the house. And if you're running around outside your house trying to find it, you're never gonna find it. You know, we're looking in the wrong place.

So that's what I was unconsciously doing. And I noticed that I would lose power every time I started listening to someone else and their well-intentioned advice saying, oh, this really works for me. You should do this. I lost so many years 'cause if someone says, no, no, you're wrong, Tim.

I would listen to them and believe them and I go, oh, maybe I've gotta do it like this. And it was like a fish trying to learn how to climb a tree, you know? It was through the physical path that all of a sudden stuff started rebuilding. And then the more energy I had, I noticed the more options I had.

Brad Minus: So it's interesting that you were talking about that is I coach cross country and because I live in Florida.

I live in Tampa. Cross country is fall, which obviously crosses through summer. You know, we start with summer, go into fall and it gets very hot here. So I hold all of my practices in the morning. And isn't it interesting that all my kids are honor roll kids, like top of the line? They call it the nerd squad, but they all get good grades.

And even some of the ones that aren't necessarily, there's like four different honor rolls in the school that I coach at. And I've got a lot of them that are in the top two honor rolls. But even the ones that were not in the lowest honor roll, which is the 3.5 and above, they got there.

It's interesting, I never thought of it that because they were getting that exercise in the morning and they were actually crossing that, that that blood brainin barrier. Increasing their energy level, that they might be getting good grades because they're working out in the morning versus all the other sports that are working out in the afternoon and they're expending their energy that they could be doing when they're doing their homework.

Tim Thomas: No, you're absolutely right. Your kids, everybody. And this is what I, when I'm working with high school students, I say the same thing. You know, your mind's like a garden and whatever you, water will grow, okay? And if you are watering that brain, you can have the same brain, same IQ levels, okay?

So imagine just two people, same IQ levels. One is watering their brain, nourishing it, creating good soil, and the other one just as intelligent. But they're not watering the seeds in their mind. They're not creating the good soil. You know, these things only get unlocked at the right energetic level. And this is something that's not taught by academia, right?

Brad Minus: That's interesting too 'cause even me, I always work out in the morning, matter of fact, I have problems working out in the evening. It's gotta be something special for me to work out in the evening, but I get more done. And I never thought that that was the reason why I would feel better, mentally.

Like I always felt better physically. I felt like charged up, ready to go, but I never made the connection that I actually felt better mentally and I felt more focused, till just now you talk to me about this blood, the crossing the blood-brain barrier and bringing that energy level up. That's super interesting.

However, I didn't get an answer to the question, so I'm gonna go back and I'm gonna ask the question again now, because you said that you wanna remain physical. Are you telling me that you did your 20 minutes of exercise and that's what you did for high school? Or are you telling me that you did not do any extra sports or anything while you were in extracurricular activities?

Tim Thomas: So yes. I was very physically active. I was on. All the major sporting teams. There we go. We have Australian rules football here. So think, you know, physical, like grid iron. But there's no padding. It's just a pretty much what I'm wearing right now.

You know, rugby a jersey in your, you're running around the place. I, I liked, boxing, cricket. But then at the end of year 12, everyone's saying, oh, you've gotta fill out all this paperwork and do more study if you ever want a job. And even though everything else was saying, you're gonna be a complete failure, if you don't do more study, you'll never get a job, you'll never be employed there.

At the deepest part of me, I'm like, you know what f this, you know, I've had enough of their crap, you know, I've just gotta go and do my thing, whatever that is. And I kind of just went. To a very far away place, called the Northern Territory where nobody knew me and I worked as a, you'd call it a cowboy, but in Australia we call it a ringer or a jackaroo.

And I just got into this work and started, I had to use the term finding myself, but I just knew what I didn't want. And what I didn't want was more stuff that made me feel frustrated and unsatisfied. And that's what the academic space was doing for me. And I just noticed the more I lent into my physical body, the more life opened up to me.

You know? And it was literally a 24 hour thing, like one day life could be, you know, no energy, no options the next day. Lots of energy, lots of options. And it took me a while to see the connection between. How the universe changed when this energetic level was raised.

And within that conversation, I really encourage people to find out your unique energy signature. 'cause that's what my journey has been finding out my unique energy signature. When you are made, you are made with a unique energy signature. And what that looks like in real life is that everyone's got something that it might take a bit of energy to invest, you know, into, but that unique thing to you gives you so much back.

Like some people can play guitar, a hundred dollars worth of energy into that. They get a thousand dollars back. That's their energy signature. Me, I could never do that. But doesn't stop me enjoying the fruit of the other person's labor. And you know, Brad, when you invest in your energy to, you know, come across that finishing line, you said, I feel so good.

I would change that to, we feel so good. Yeah. 'cause I know you and I know, and, and you've, you've achieved that. So I get to, to win as well. And that's, that's when it gets super, super cool. 'cause it's not just me, you know, on my own, working out, going for a run. Every single step I take, everyone in my life is getting better and stronger and better and stronger.

If all I had to do to get everything I wanted, just create a more energetic state to serve the people I love better. And to have them having a better day is just take another step, another step, another step. Then all of a sudden you start becoming super powerful. 'cause you start seeing the connection between it all.

Brad Minus: That is, that's profound. I never thought about that way because then Well that's super interesting 'cause you and I are, we both work with other people. Not only do I, I coach. Cross country for high. For high school. I coach, and I coach track and field, and I have a private practice where I coach.

I coach adults into, you know, endurance sports. Then we give energy, they give energy, and then they come across the finish line. And I've always said, well, Evan always said, when I first started coaching, I always said that coaching someone and watching 'em come across the finish line is only second to me doing it myself.

And that morphed into saying that no, actually watching them come across the finish line is much more rewarding than me coming across myself. So I put energy into them. They put energy into themselves, which then enter, which then gives energy to the rest of their peers back to me. By far, I get much more rewarded back when they, when they complete something.

So, so there's a crossing of all these different energy, energy signatures, which I would, I would argue or maybe not argue, I would say it's kind of like we all streaming our signatures together, right? I write Brad minus, you immediately pick up with Tim Thomas our thing, blah, blah, blah, blah.

And you give this big, giant long signature that can double back on itself and repeat that energy signal, allowing for a repetitive, infinite amount of energy to bring into the world. Thanks. 

Tim Thomas: Well, you are blessed, Brad. You are so blessed. 'cause you get to see, you know, when you're coaching somebody, the progress they've made, the energy you've invested and, you can see it, right?

But this is what faith is to me. Faith isn't knowing where, whether God exists or not, but my, average everyday life is having a powerful and permanent impact on those around me. Most of the time we don't get to see the impacts of our lives onto others. So just a, I had a near death experience where it was a classic one life flashing before my eyes, the whole thing.

Right. It was a shark attack, but the point of the story is that afterwards someone asked me, do you think that experience while the shark was biting you was a spiritual experience? And I said no, because it was unique in the way that I had that near death. Everything flashing before my eyes, like all the events all at once.

But it was just my life, from my perspective, from my own eyes, just as I've seen it. There was nothing new in that experience. If that was a truly spiritual experience, Brad, I wouldn't just see my own actions.

I would see how that action impacted others. Right. And then others. Okay. You know, you are blessed 'cause you've got a job that you can pour energy into somebody and see how that impacts others. What you don't see is how that empowered person then impacts others beyond our timeline. Maybe some of the good stuff we're experiencing now is energy paid forward to people that have been before us. My faith, Brad, is when I get to the other side, you know, divine spirit's gonna say, Hey Tim, here's your life as you saw it from your own eyes.

Here's your life as you didn't see it. All the stuff happening from your events impacting others. This is what faith is, knowing that what we do has this incredible effect. And our guiding compass for the most impact is the things that truly are aligned with our own unique energy signature endurance, you know, athlete or playing guitar, whatever that is.

When you get in touch with a source, we could, it's very natural to be generous when we're in touch with a source. 'cause, 'cause we're giving of our abundance. Okay? For many years I was giving of myself, I wasn't giving of my abundance. I was still very effective in what I did, but what nobody knew behind closed doors is every six or seven weeks I'd have to write myself off for about three days with alcohol, because I was giving of myself, I wasn't giving of my abundance.

Okay? So before I got on here and interacted with you, I was connecting to my energy signature, sunrise breath work, energizing my physical body so that when I interact with somebody, I can be naturally generous. And it's not force. And also knowing that, you know, let's say you said Tim gets stuffed, I never wanna see you again.

Okay. That's okay. Because I'm in touch with something so much more powerful than what can be taken. And the problem most people get into Brad, is they get taken from, they class it as pain and they say, I never wanna do that again. And then our mind goes, okay, let's live a life that we never get hurt again.

Right. And that's a bit like saying, okay, I've lost someone took 50 cents. I'm gonna spend the rest of my life trying to get that 50 cents back and forgetting the whole time that we can make another million dollars the next day. So my vision for my clients is to become energetic millionaires.

Okay? Because, you know, you've got a shares portfolio and you've got things that are, returning. Use your energy like a shares portfolio. There's something that you do that gives you a massive return. And if you had something that you put $10 in, you've got a hundred dollars back.

Like that just makes sense, right? Let's do that more. Push that button more. Okay. And this is what we're here to figure out. This is what our free will is. You know, some people like yourself, they're blessed to figure out their energetic signature and master it. Endurance stuff. And then it comes a point of mastery where generosity becomes quite natural.

When you are connecting to the source, life occurs very differently because we all get taken from, and you can get stuck there. You can block yourself off from the source in the best intentions. But this is where, you know, doing the work on yourself is you removing those blockages, you know, given up that 50 cents so you can then become, that energetic millionaire 

Brad Minus: Quoting a mutual.

Acquaintance of ours. I love that.

So anyway, no, that's, that is absolutely fantastic. But again, I gotta keep reeling this back here because I wanna know more. I'm sorry, I'm Dan. No, no. I think it's, no, this is what we want, right? This is what my, what, what life changing Challenges is all about is giving these nuggets to people that will help them increase their potential and all that stuff is great, great information, but I mean, you have lived, you have, you have given so much of yourself, and received and received so much back that we've got to know more so we can provide people with more, more, I don't wanna say content, but give them more information.

So, well, alright, I wanna know, so you were a ringer. And you or a cowboy in my case, right? All of you that have watched Yellowstone, you know what that is. But you, at some point you decided to go into the Australian, an Australian, is it, was it Army that went to special forces or was it just special forces or is it the Royal Army, or how does that work?

Tim Thomas: That's the unique thing about my service. The first time in Australia, they trialed a scheme because essentially the government knew war was coming and the most economical way to do that was with special forces. They had a budget, but they didn't have bums in seats. So they started this scheme called the DRSF scheme.

Military loves their acronyms, direct recruiting into special forces, DRSF. And so they took a bunch of civilians, you know, screened the crap out of them. Physical testing, mental testing, aptitude testing, psychological testing, and then I was told that between five and 10,000 people applied, and of that 70 were taken up on the initial intake.

I was fortunate enough to get in on the initial intake, and at 30 I was the oldest. That was the oldest allowable age to get in. Everyone was saying, you know, Tim, you're too old. You're too old. But then I'm like, this is my dyslexia kicked in. I'm like, okay, what's the pattern here? The pattern, the thing that's obvious is this is the first time I'd aged.

Guess what? I'd never actually aged before. So shouldn't it be me saying what I can and can't do at this particular age? You know? So, so with a dusting of fu in my, attitude. I took it on and there was plenty of guys younger, fitter, faster, stronger than me.

I. But I think there was something about growing up in the seventies and, you know, getting beaten up every day at school was just, it was just Tuesday, you know, nothing personal. I might beat 'em up tomorrow, but, you know, it was just what happens. Right? Right. So I was tactilely I was quite tough and, and I was a professional fighter, before I joined the military.

So this was back in the nineties where it was not particularly legal in Australia. It was kind of held in these underground biker bars, but we were paid and it wasn't much, but it was also in pubs where you could smoke back then. Right. Okay. So you are walking up to the ring, coughing up half a lung.

So that, that was kind of the, the origin story that got me into the sf because I'd, I'd reached 30 and I was wanting to start a family, and I had all these physical abilities that the mainstream world didn't see a, see as a, a skills asset, not something you could put on your resume, but special forces was another matter altogether.

Oh yeah. So of the 70 that applied the army was highly resistant to this scheme, Brad. In fact, they fricking hated us. And they made no, of course, didn't hide it because up until that point, Brad, you had to spend two years in a regular infantry battalion before you could even apply.

So here we are coming off the street. We were considered, q jumping civilians. Okay? And they, they're two words that are very dirty words in the military as you probably know, right? He's a goddamn Q jumper. He jumped the Q2 years ago. Don't talk to that guy. So the advantage I had was that I was a free diver, okay?

And as much as these guys who are younger fit are faster, stronger than me, I understood that the body has a ranking structure with blood. And there's parts of your body that's more important than other parts. Like your brain pulls rank on pretty much everything. So if your brain doesn't get enough blood, it'll send a signal to the rest of your body going, Hey, I'm more important than the rest of you guys.

Now what I knew and what gave me the, competitive advantage was that your lungs are really important. And it amazes me how many professional athletes don't condition their lungs. It's getting more popular these days, but still, what I knew was that if the lungs get fatigued, they're not like your brain.

This is a massive muscle group, and that can take up to one third of your total blood volume. Okay? So. If you've got, I'm just say, nine liters of blood in your body, your lungs get fatigued, then that's one third, you've only got six liters left for your arms and legs. I noticed the younger guys, they'd come a point where you could hear 'em going and you knew it was close to the end, but they called me old man tomo.

I didn't like the name, but that's what they called me. I never stopped because I was always working long breaths and my blood were in my arms and legs. I wasn't as strong as those guys, but my, my blood was where it was supposed to be. It wasn't being wasted in a fatigue diaphragm. 

Brad Minus: I'm sorry.

'cause we call that endurance in my language. No, that's, and then definitely, and I could see where you, free diving, definitely prepared you for that. And it's the same thing. You've got people like in, in our sport, we have, there's four different lengths, major lengths.

You've got a sprint triathlon, Olympic triathlon, a half Ironman, or 70.3, and then a full right. There's a sprint, which is 400 meters swim, 10 mile bike, which is 16 kilometers. And then, a 5K.

People love that distance. And then there's the Olympic 1500 meter swim, 25 mile bike, 10 K run. 

Tim Thomas: You measure it in Ks, not miles. 

Brad Minus: Sometimes it's, I mean, you're talking about, it's a global sport, so, okay. No, I get it. If I go north to Canada, it's all in.

Right. 

Tim Thomas: So the world doesn't rotate around America? 

Brad Minus: No. It goes into Ks and you know, if we go Southern, it goes into caves. If we go to the east, it goes into ca. We're the only ones. But yeah, so. Those people understand that, right? They understand where their breath, where their blood can go at that point.

It's the same thing when I train people that are going the long distance whether it be marathons, ultra marathons, is that blood distribution, right? You have a certain blood distribution for your breath work, you've got a certain distribution for arms when you're swimming, sprinting for your legs.

But when you get into the longer stuff and you've actually have to replenish nutrition, what we call fuel, you've gotta now take into effect the distribution that has to go to your digestive system to digest those calories. So now you've gotta know. How your energy works in that way as well, so that you're not eating too much or too little, that you're not getting enough nutrition, too much too fast.

Where now all of a sudden the blood has to go to your digestive system. The biggest thing in a lot of endurance sports is people that have GI issues. And most of the time it's because they're either putting in too much or not putting in enough. And that's a very delicate balance. And I think it's, it, it's just same way with what you were talking about.

You have learned to control the blood going into your lungs by, technique. And those guys that, that walked into that didn't. So same thing for here. You know, like you said, all those guys that were in the Army, and it's two years before they can even jump into this, to the Q course, which we call it the same thing, it's the Q course.

Because in order for them to go to the Q course, they've already gotta go to Airborne and Air Assault School, so by the time they get past basic, get into their unit, get a slot into Airborne, then get a slot into air assault, it's two years.

Yeah. By the time that they can go to the Q course and even just qualify to go to Special Forces or to rangers. Same thing with, now there is a program in our naval, where they can go, depending on how well they do in their basic course, they can go to Buds or they can go to what we would call the Q course.

They're like indoctrination course, the course that tells them that. It gives them the ability to go to buds, basic underwater demolition school. So anyway, that's, that's where, how, how that goes. But you were able to go into this special thing where they, because we had a, we had a war coming. And by the way, I'm, I'm Gen X too, so I'm right, I'm right there with you.

I grew up in the seventies, eighties, so yeah. So I, I'm, I'm right there with you and all that stuff. I grew up without technology, just like you did. I did have a, I was working in a such an area going through school that I needed a cell phone, and it was a big bag phone. That you like would put around your thing and then it would pick it up.

It looked like a regular phone. It didn't look like, yeah. It was anything else. I remember, yeah. Not having a technology, but you're absolutely right. Pen to paper, typewriters, carbon paper, in order to copy stuff. Yeah. So, yes, it definitely lent more to creativity as well. So, how was actual training?

So you went to the Q course, then you actually go into special forces training, is that correct? 

Tim Thomas: So you do your, what we call bootcamp basic stuff. Mm-hmm. You do your infantry stuff that then there's an eight, there was an eight to 12 week advance infantry course, basically just to, to weed out anyone that wasn't supposed to be there.

And then you get to do selection, which is, in Australia about 29 days of hell. And, and then if you get one insertion course after that, whether it's a, you know, airborne, amphibious, whatever, then you get what's called bere qualified. Now the, the interesting thing, that was sort of hanging over my head was that in the first week of basic bootcamp, I get a letter, a letter from my, my then wife and I call it my then wife, not my ex-wife.

'cause I stand for a positive future. And, we're, I'm blessed to have a very good relationship with her still. I was literally around there yesterday. I was looking after their dog for a bit and I dropped it back. But getting back to, my first week, my lovely then wife sent me this letter saying, Hey, I'm pregnant.

You know, I'm like, happy days. But then I'm doing the math and I'm like, he's gonna be born on selection. So I am working my ass off to get to this selection, knowing that, you know, there's gonna have to be a decision made somewhere. Do you wanna see your kid born or, do selection.

And before selection, they told me, look, you got, I know we know you got a kid coming, but here's your choice. This is a special force of selection. You can either see your kid born or you can do selection. You can't do both. And you know, Brad, I tell you, I had to remove myself from that situation. I said, if I'm, who am I concerned about here?

I'm concerned about, I'm concerned about the kid, right? So from his perspective, what does that kid need now? Does he need me physically there at his birth or does he need a dad with a job? And I said to my then wife. We're gonna get you all the support you need. I'll fly in your, your system. My mom.

Okay. But for me to provide, above like a minimum wage, I've gotta do this. 'cause the downside is if I didn't do that course that I've been working my absolute ass off for, for nine months, I'd have to wait another 18 months before I could get on again. Okay. And that's a long time in Army speak.

Brad Minus: Wow. So they would've made, you, an Army soldier 

at that point? I would've For 18 

months. Or would they have sent you home and said, try again?

Tim Thomas: Well, what happened to people that left the Special Forces entry path?

They got treated with absolute disdain in every other unit they called 'em, SF Rejects, you know, looking at the choice. It was, it was difficult, but it was the right one. But they did let me have a phone on selection. It was one of these old Nokia, you know, you could break glass with it if you needed.

Escape a vehicle. The block, the blo the brick phone. Yeah. Yeah. Not as, not as Bricky as the one that you would've had. Right, right. You know, back in the day. But, they let me have a Nokia phone, and I got this text from my then wife saying, oh look, water's broken. It's all happening. And this was, I mean, every day's hard, but this one was particularly brutal.

This one was the fire and movement day. And they crawled us through this cactus. There's just cactus scattered everywhere. Right. And these things had barbs like a couple inches long, and they would go through your boot. And so at the end of every run, we'd have to get our bayonets out, which is like a long knife.

Mm-hmm. And help your buddy remove the prickly pears and shit outta their, self. Right? Oh my God. You had to be careful because if you flicked it out, it would flick out and hit maybe another part of Youer or someone else, you know? So, so, so, and, and at the end of this, I mean, you're a soldier, you're training for it.

You're like, okay, this is just it. Right? But then you get the message, water's broken, it's all happening, the child's being born. And I remember looking up at the trees, Brad going, man, I'm gonna regret this day the rest of my life. This sucks. And then, that evening I'm laying out the claim all lines for Evening Harbor.

Night Harbor, and, this officer turns up, you know. Typical officer, you know? Oh, he, he hadn't done too much sort of work in the field, so he had lots of energy. Oh, how you doing Tim? I'm like, yeah, no worries. And, he met my then wife. He says, oh, how's she going? And I'm like, nah, she's good. Got the message, the baby's coming.

And then he says, oh, do you want to go see your kid born? And I immediately put my right foot back and put my right hand behind my back. And I had a clenched fist. And why I did that was because I was about to knock this guy out, because this, what they do on selection is they'll say, oh, you wanna get on the truck?

Go towards the truck. You get to the truck, the truck drives off. Oh, you want some water? Go towards the water. They tip the water out in front of you. Okay. So all these psychological games and I'm like, okay, you know, I'm gonna prison tonight. I'm gonna knock this officer out. 'Cause I'm not gonna be messed with on this subject.

And. He could sort of sense like, what's going? He says, no, no, Tim, I'm serious. Do you want to go see her? And when I'm like, this guy for real, I'm like, yeah, I wanna see her. And then, you know, the good thing about the army is when an officer gets on the phone and starts swearing, things start happening really quick.

So, you know, a truck came and grabbed my, you know, all my bombs and bullets. Another truck came and grabbed me. There's a picture of me with campaign all over me looking like I've been beaten up by my, you know, then wife's bed, there for the birth. 

Brad Minus: Wow. Oh my God, that's amazing.

Tim Thomas: So where we were was in a place in Australia called Sydney. Yeah. And about an hour outside of Sydney is this bush land where they were running the selection.

Brad Minus: That makes me feel happy, because I may tell you when you first started telling that story, and I'm like, he had a choose selection over watching his kid being born.

Oh my God. My heart was just like killing me inside. And I was like, and this, that makes me feel much better. You've brought my energy back. 'cause I, man, I was feeling it for you. I'm like, not being able to see my kid being born. Oh my God. I'm so happy that you got a chance to do that.

So obviously you finished up and did you immediately get deployed or were you hanging out? Were you doing drills and, continued 

Tim Thomas: training for a while or, no. No. So very soon after, you know, a few people came through the scheme, surprise, surprise, Afghanistan kicks off. Mm-hmm. But because it, it had been so long since there's been a, an active deployment to a war zone, people were jumping over their mother's graves to get on this trip.

So the first few trips, the guys on the in crowd got deployed. Like if you got along, and I, and I, and I have to be honest about this, I struggled with army culture. I really did. You know, I wasn't one of the, the boys that went out drinking. I had a family and I was just sort of, I went home to look after them.

Right. So I wasn't in the, in crowd. And it didn't help that I was one of the guys that it was kinda obvious that I didn't fit in around base, like some of the stuff I just struggled with, right? And it wasn't until we went on deployment to Afghanistan where a lot of guys, came up to me afterwards and actually apologized.

They said, Tim, we actually thought, you know, we believed it when people said this, this, this. You couldn't, you couldn't do this, you couldn't do that. But after we see you in action, we, you know, we're sorry. We believe the bullshit. And that meant so much to me to have a team around me like that, I had a similar 

Brad Minus: experience 'cause I was the computer nerd.

When I went over, I was on humanitarian. I was on humanitarian missions, but still ended up with, experiences, let's call it that. And it was, it's kind of the same thing, you know, I got, I got the same, almost the same treatment 'cause hey, it's the computer nerd that knows how to wire this stuff and, and is there to, you know, 'cause I was there to basically post offices, new offices, new, new, political offices, new schools, you know, 'cause I don't, I don't know how they've done it in Australia, in in America.

If we blow it up, we rebuild it. Reparations. And so we've been doing that since Vietnam. You know, we basically we're, we're responsible for rebuilding Hiroshima back up, to where it is today. If we blew it up, we would build it. We would rebuild it. So my job was to come in and then we turned it into 21st century.

I would lay cable. I, my team would lay cable, build up computer farms the whole bit, you know, but you'd like chopper in, take a convoy out with all the equipment, do what we needed to do, get out, leave. So I understand. I understand. I don't understand what you did.

I saw it, but I wasn't a part of it. Let's put it that way. So you were much more into the s than I was. What was that experience like for you? 

Tim Thomas: Deployment was everything just made sense for me really. Like, I struggled in on base, right?

But then when the sporting field's on, they just excel. So in the field. Everything just kicked into gear for me. And I lost my fear of death. And I did it in two ways. So, and one of which strangely happened on the roof this morning. And it's so weird. We're having this conversation so freaking weird.

Right? So remember how I said I grew up in a very conservative Christian space. Mm-hmm. Okay. And in Afghanistan, you know, I thought, well, there was only one time when Jesus was afraid, and that was in the Garden of Gethsemane. And I don't think he was afraid of the physical dramas he was about to endure.

He was afraid that for the first time in all of time, he was gonna be, if you believe in what the Bible said, technically speaking, Jesus was, you know, God's son as the Bible says. And he was always connected to. His father. Okay. But when he was on that cross bearing everyone's sins, he was separated from the father.

So he wasn't scared about being on the cross. He was scared that he was gonna be all alone for the first time since forever. You know, if you just put 'em off on the side of the road and drive off, there's no harm being done, but there's a separation there.

So in that sort of paradigm of that biblical faith, I saw that Jesus' fear was related to his disconnection from the spirit. And I thought, well, because he endured that I will never have to, it doesn't matter if I live or die. I'm never gonna be separated from the divine spirit. I'm like, that makes sense.

And so I had so much fun over there that people saying, Tommo, you're not supposed to have so much fun. You know? 'cause I'd literally genuinely dropped all my fear. But here's the funny thing. On the last job we had to do, it wasn't a particularly high rate job, but I discovered why people fear. We fear for the things that we could potentially lose, the things that we're trying to hang onto.

So on that last job that we had, I made my, peace with my death, when I'm like on the last job, I'm like, oh, I might survive this. I'm really looking forward to getting home, doing this, seeing that hanging out with the kids. And that's when the fear hit me. The second there was something in my life I was wanting to hang onto.

The fear hit me. 'cause that was fear of loss, right? I'm like, that is so interesting. I literally, my, my nervous system shifted completely from fearless to frightful because I was trying to hang on to something. And if you look at it from the perspective of, okay, what is gonna get me killed quicker?

Being filled with fear or being clear-minded and fearless. I could create a self-fulfilling prophecy, but with my best intentions of, oh, I'm really wanting this thing to happen in my future. And I would sabotage that because I'm hanging onto it so tight, I'm not actually in the moment. 

Brad Minus: Yeah.

Tim Thomas: And, and to, to dovetail that, my, my faith has changed somewhat to more of a interactive, it's still biblical principle, but I've got a lot from the WOOWOO space. They're really good at actually finding where in the body certain energies are stuck. To me, our power is relative to connection.

How we connected to we are is how powerful we are as humans, we accumulate blockages and the woowoo space has been really good at finding out exactly where in the body these things are blocked, clearing it, and then you get your vertical connection to God.

We were having a good time. So probably more than an hour ago, I was on my roof and I realized, holy shit, this body is not me. This body is a radio. Okay? I am the signal going through the radio and I get my best energetic returns when I tune into my signal. And there's all sorts of energy levels the body can create.

You know, courage, love higher, you know, hate unforgiveness, lower the highest energy they've registered, coming outta the human body is authentic, authenticness and genuineness. When you're genuinely dialed into who the hell you are. You know, and that's when you, you have your body tuned into that radio station and not, you're not hearing the static anymore.

It's clear, it's crystal, it is loud and you know exactly what it is, but there's pushback from the mainstream world because they're so used to having a crackly radio station that is probably someone else's station. You know? So to to tune into your own and to realize that, you know, this is just a radio, I'm the signal.

And the more I tune into that, which is my energetic signature, that's the thing where I get my abundance, my power, my connection, my love, my purpose, my generosity. 

Brad Minus: That is pro. Another thing that's, I think is completely profound. The relation to the radio, that makes so much sense.

Well, and more to you and me than to these millennials and Gen Zs and gen gen alphas because we know what it's like to turn the dial. You know, we remember what it's like to have the, the orange fricking, you know, thing where you're like, yeah, you're just, and you, you get to that point where you're like, you can hear it.

There's a little crackle in the background, and you're just like, you can still hear it, and you can still dance to it. It's good enough. But there's nothing like hitting a signal that's so strong that you hit it and then all of a sudden the base comes out, the treble and everything around you, and it's coming through those speakers and you're just like, everything is there.

That's exactly what I think is what you're saying is that, so for me, I remember, and I remember that, so I was training for my very first marathon, and I had to go out of town on business. I had to go to DC and my whole crew, which we had, we had 12 people and we'd all ran together.

We all did our, all our long runs together. So we would talk. So you would kind of, you could detach from the running by having this conversation? Well, I had to go, it was my first 18 mile run and I started, and within two miles I couldn't tell you what happened. I had no idea what was going on. At that point, I got to mile nine and if it wasn't for the fact, was it nine or 10?

Anyway, I gotten to that point and if it wasn't for the fact that I started to cramp a little bit and I got a little thirsty. My legs started to feel it because I was so in tune what was going on, and that radio was so on the money. That I totally forgot about taking in fuel, making sure that I had enough hydration,

I totally forgot about it 'cause I was just in it. I walked for a little bit. I took some hydration, I got some salt. I took a couple of, fuel packets, just started to jog a little bit. Got going. And I can't tell you what happened until I saw my car at the end because it was an out and back.

So I went out and I came back and when I left, like I said, within two miles, I couldn't tell you what happened until that 10th mile when my body told me that, Hey, you need something, and then took me another mile or so, and then I couldn't tell you what happened until I saw my car at the other end.

And that is what I am taking from you, is being in that perfect signal. And that was me. Right? 

Tim Thomas: At that time, whoa. You are so blessed to experience what I term totality. Most people only ever experience that in extreme fight or flight situations. Kids under the car, you lift the car, right?

We've got incredible power here. The other way I sort of bracket this to help people understand what totality is, is that, you know, if you were to look at me, how heavy do you think I am? Two 18. Okay, well if I convert that back, that's about right. So that's a measurement of mass.

My body contains mass, right? You own a body. I own a body. They all look different. They all weigh different things, but they all contain mass. Our bodies contain mass. They're stuck in this moment. Now there's something else we both own that's just as important. We both own a mind. Now, if I was to put my mind on the scales, you can't measure it because our mind doesn't contain any mass. Now, that's an obvious but important statement because with our minds not containing mass, they're not stuck in this moment of time.

So I can send my mind into the past, I can send my mind into the future. Now, our minds aren't omnipotent. They have a processing power. So I call it, say you've got a hundred percent of processing power, and let's say that there's something in my past I'm not happy with. My body's stuck at, you know, nine in the morning, but my mind will go 30 years ago.

Still be ruminating on something and that'll take up a certain percentage of processing power. So let's say it takes up 30% of processing power. So what's a hundred? Take 30, 70. So I'm down to 70% in this current moment. 9:00 AM in my body. Let's say there's something in my future that I'm concerned about and we all have something, you know, in our future that we can be concerned about, right?

And that might be taking up another 30%. So what 70% Take 30%, 40%. So I'm down in this moment without me even knowing it down to 40%. And I'm wondering why life is so fricking hard Because life is hard when I'm at 40%. But if we get to a hundred percent, it's not a goddamn thing we can't do. And you got to experience totality where your mind that contains no mass connected to your mass.

This is one method I show people how to live like an energetic millionaire. Not so much that you get more energy. Yes, there's things we can do with our body, but you could create a bunch more energy. But if you're still diverting 30% to the past and 30% to the future, you're still gonna be in deficit here.

So it's a simple case of getting back that power, 

Brad Minus: living in the moment, stopping anchoring what's going on, anchoring that master 

Tim Thomas: mind in this moment, all of a sudden, life occurs very differently. And it is a hell of a world to live in when you're a hundred percent in that moment.

Brad Minus: I, I, yes. No, a hundred percent. I've, I've experienced it more than once. And I'm always trying to get there. Some people call it flow state. Some people call it being, you know, totality. But it's all that same feeling and when you get there, you don't wanna leave. It's interesting that, and I never thought of reducing the percentage of my mind by thinking about the past or thinking of the future.

Interesting enough. The other thing that you talked about was the energy and then how our bodies are, what did you call it? I think was a shell. You called it something else. What did you call it? Radio? No, just what your body is versus your mind. 

Tim Thomas: Every body contains mass, but the mass 

Brad Minus: versus the energy that is your mind.

When you talk about, and this is my segue into your near death experience, is the fact that. Our brain or our bodies is a shell. Our brain is energy. Our soul, our everything that we are as people. If you detach mind from brain, 

So saying that, you know, so that energy level, so what I was saying was the, so the body, the mind, but we are energy, right?

So when our body dies, we still have energy. Now we know from science, the fact is, is that energy cannot be created nor destroyed. So that energy's gotta go somewhere. Right. And that's where Buddhist belief is reincarnation. So you actually might end up back into another cycle of life. Some feel like your soul rises to heaven or to hell, depending on, but that's where the energy is going.

And that never lives or dies. It lives in infinity. Infinity. So dialing in to your, our radio station, that perfect radio station where we have it all together, I think is the closest state of being to where you'll get when you finally leave your body. And the only thing you've got left is energy. Now, I know prior to this that you and I had talked about that you had a shark incident that less into a near death experience, which is why I was segueing into this.

So we can talk about it and how that felt. Why don't you tell us a little bit about the story and then lead us into, what happened in that event. 

Tim Thomas: Okay. Well, I love spearfishing, love free diving, love the ocean, you know? And in Australia we have a lot of sharks. Now, the one that took me wasn't a big one.

It was maybe, maybe a bit over two meters long. But I tell you, Brad, I've been hit plenty of times. The biggest hit I probably got was when I was jumping out of the, you know, when they throw you outta the plane and you gotta hit the ground in less than a thousand foot. Like, that's the hardest I've ever been hit.

Right? But this shark underwater, it had me by the leg. I've never felt my body get rag doll, like a, like a dog with a little toy. It was like, I literally, my body felt like that, it was so, I'm like this, it wasn't big, big. I'd hate to have a big one on me, but this one shook the hell outta me.

And then that, and what it was doing and wasn't eating me. I mean, he was trying to, but it was drowning me. 'cause I was, it was tangling me up in my lines and I'm, I'm going down. But, you know, I'm, I'm composed. I'm like, okay, I'm, I'm gonna get rid of this thing. I pull my knife out and I'm stabbing this thing and I'm stabbing it in the eye and this thing ain't letting go.

So if anyone tells me, Hey, a shark came in and I, I punched it and I went away, he wasn't interested in you. Like I said, and it's actually really difficult when you're spinning around the place to get a knife underwater and stab something. The only thing I had in my favor, I had two things in my favor.

One was I had a, a fellow, commando in the water with me. And the special forces have a very special kind of personality to them. They're the kind of people that they're hard to be around. They're a little abrasive, but when shit goes down, they're the guys you want in your corner and you're glad they're kind of a bit abrasive 'cause they can handle stuff.

Right. So I had my mate Jimmy, okay, he was a kind of a hard dude to be around, but I'm like, I'm so glad you know he's with me right now. 'cause, 'cause as I'm, as I'm about to, as I'm drowning, right? Jimmy comes down and I gotta tell you, Brad, this was the moment when I realized just how much or how potent trust is in another human.

Okay? So there I am about to die and Jimmy's got this look in his eyes, he's got, Tim, I've got this and I've got you brother. And I just felt this wave of relaxation and peace come through me. In a completely terrible situation, this wave of peace. And I'm like, okay, you got me. I could see he had his spear gun there 'cause he was gonna take a shot on the shark.

I turned my body so he could shoot this thing takes a shot, hits the shark, you know, but spears aren't bullets, they just poke holes in things. Right. And sharks are pretty tough. So it kind of, it didn't really help, it just pissed the shark off more. And now I've got another thing pulling on me.

I've got, I'm tangled up in my own line, but I'm now getting tangled up in Jimmy's line, right? And the only thing I had in my favor was that I had a thing, an electrical device called a shark Shield on now a shark shield, creates this pulse that repels sharks, but dumb old Tim here, I didn't have it turned on.

It only works if you turn it on. Okay. And guess this is the funny part, the I ironic part. The on switch was right where it was biting. So it was biting and in the corner of its mouth. Okay. It was actually the, the, the blessing in this was, it was biting me exactly where the Shark Shield was. Okay.

And this is a prototype Shark Shield. It was almost like, you know, the mobile phones in the eighties, it was like a big brick. Okay. That was sitting on my leg and this shark was biting that. Okay. And the on switch was right where its mouth was and it was biting down on it.

And then I'm like, you know what? I'm about to drown, so it doesn't matter if I lose a couple of fingers. So I've probably got a few goes at giving it a go, to try and find this, on switch. So I reach down, I reach inside its mouth, I'm feeling around inside its mouth for this on switch.

I find it, I flick it, and then boom, this thing just lets go. And then I'm like, shit, I might live, you know? I get to the surface and I'm like, it was like the sweetest breath of air I've ever had. Oh my gosh. 

Brad Minus: Oh my God. I can't even imagine what that felt like.

Thank God for your buddy. For, you know what, we have got battle buddies for a reason. Right? 

Tim Thomas: What I realized is, you know, as humans, we think we need more stuff. But what we actually need, what gives us peace and power is trust.

'Cause we've often trusted people and we've had that portrayed, you know, and there's, there's a bit of a saying, you know, there's a special layer in hell for portrayals. Because trust is something that is super sacred.

And often when you get burnt in that space, it's hard to, to go there again. But, so I like to sort of live a life where I can't, if someone is trustworthy, they will present. But I can't control that. But what I can control is be a person that can be trusted. And that doesn't happen, without an amount of effort too.

Like, I have to ask myself, how much do I need? How much physical stimulation, how much mental stimulation, how much connection to, animals? And when I feel connected, then I'm Integris inside myself. When I've asked myself what exactly do I need? And I can feel complete, and I can feel abundant, then I can interact with people.

Sincerely, to me, sincerity comes on the back of completeness. If I'm not feeling complete, I'm not sincere. I'm always trying to control the outcome to get a benefit. If I feel like I don't have enough money, I'll be trying to control the outcome with people. So I get money. Unfortunately people pick up on that, you know?

So to me, sincerity is powerful. Trust is powerful, but it's on the back of completeness and it's our job to get that completeness within ourselves. And here's the thing, when you tune into your integral radio station, when you tune into the thing that makes you, you, things get really easy, really quick.

Because you are the one giving to you. You're not looking for anything outside of yourself. You literally become a sovereign nation. A sovereign nation can feed itself, you know, structure itself, you know, build itself up. It's the deception we tell ourselves of, oh, I'm dependent on something outside of me to do something for me inside.

Which, led me to discovering, well, it led me to seeing that this world has an economy based on us not being sovereign. Okay. What does that look like in real life? I can't sleep. Okay. So I go to the doctor and I tell him I can't sleep. And I lost six years of my life to pills. They threw a pharmacy at me and I just took pills.

'cause I thought it was the right thing to do. I didn't know that. I didn't, no one told me the massive cost. Taking these pills and no one told me how hard it is to get off them. 'cause, I didn't know that breath work was something that could help me get to sleep. There was an economy based on me not knowing my own power.

And so I can't get those six years back. But this is where, you know, as God as my witness, I don't want anyone else to go through life and not connect to their own sovereign power. 

Brad Minus: That's, I get it. And, you know, no one gets it more than Americans do. Just for the fact that that's the way our healthcare works.

You're on a one payer system, right. Basically you're paying, through sales tax and VAT taxes and stuff like that. So you go to the hospital, you don't pay a bill, right? 

Tim Thomas: No, largely, no.

Brad Minus: So that to no one knows more about economy based, you know, in sovereign nation or in sovereign ourselves than than us. We we're dependent on it. So yeah, but I get that. But, but so, so you didn't know about breath work. You lost six years. So what, finally, when did you discover breast work? 

Tim Thomas: Well, I'd been dabbling in it, but I never knew its real power until I came up against something that, nearly destroyed me.

And we all have these moments where, you can be a villain or you can be the hero. And my moment of, because I was aware of breath work, I'd even run breath work sessions. But it wasn't until, I'd gotten divorced, lost house, home, regular access to kids. I'm sleeping on the couch of my parents' house.

2:00 AM I got a war zone worse in Afghanistan, going off in my head. I'm not sleeping and I am so close to doing self-harm. Drugs, alcohol, suicide. 'cause what's the fucking point, right? Mm-hmm.

And do you remember how I said your mind's like a garden? Whatever your water grows. I was watering the weeds of stress and they were freaking loving it. Even though I was a breath work coach and I knew breath work would actually bring me peace, I couldn't do it because these stress weeds had taken over the garden.

These stress weeds, they grew to a certain point where eyeballs pop out of 'em and they become sentient. They become aware of the things that you do that feed them. They become aware of the things that you do that starve them, and they've got no interest in you becoming peaceful and powerful because they knew if you, if I did breath work, it would kick them out.

So it's, even though I knew what I was supposed to do, it's like I couldn't, and I'm, I'm getting up, I'm about to do self-harm, right? But then I look at my, I, my look at my left thumb, right? This is about four or five years ago, and Brad, I go, Tim. You can take one breath, take one fucking breath, and I drove it into my chest.

I'm like, whoa, this works. Take two. And I drove two fingers in my chest. Okay, this is working. This is working. Take three. And I drove three fingers in my chest, get to five, get to 10 finger after finger, breath after breath. And it somewhere between breath 15 and 25, those stress weeds got kicked out.

And the rest of my brain was like, Tim, thank fuck you kicked them out. This is working, keep doing this. And it was in that moment of absolute shit state that I discovered the power of breath work. But I also discovered that it wasn't something we naturally do. It does need to be something you listen to so you can be.

Guided. So I started making these little guided, you know, my own voice making these recordings and it would actually work, breathe in, you know, Holt, breathe out. I'm like, yeah, this is actually working. It kind of overruled the crap that was in my head. And then I just started disseminating them out. And then I started not just going to sleep with them, but getting outta bed with them.

And I started sharing around all these people going, this is amazing. You know, my business partner, he was an insomniac. This is a true story. Chris, my business partner, insomniac for 38 years, I prescribed him breath work and he just thought it was normal like a lot of people do. So unfortunately in our world right now, Brad, everyone thinks poor sleep isn't normal.

There's nothing you can do about it. And heaven help yourself if you tell a doctor that you can't sleep, 'cause you'll lose years of your life to pills. Okay? So I prescribed my business partner, Chris, a particular kind of breath work. I said, you do this and I'll check back in in eight days. After eight days, I checked in, he says, Tim, over the last eight nights I've slept solidly for seven.

The only time I got up was when the dog barked. But then I got back to sleep and I said, Chris, how long have you been not sleeping for? He said 38 years. So this natural remedy had an immediate effect. He goes, yes. I'm like, Chris, we owe it to the world to share this with people, to put it in a way where people can just grab it, you know?

And that's where breath work in bed was born from that state of divorce where I could have easily been an alcoholic or dead right now, but in the reality and where right now there was a version of me that stuck his thumb into his chest and breathed and then realized that this stuff works no matter how hard it gets.

Brad Minus: That's an incredible story. Now you've mentioned a lot of stuff over this episode. You've talked about your time in special forces. You've talked about your time with the Ari, growing up with, the Aboriginals, Aboriginal, say that word for me?

Aboriginal Aboriginals. 

Tim Thomas: Oh, go on. 

Brad Minus: Yeah. First Nations. You talked about, you know, near death experience. You, I mean, all this stuff that is probably the most, and the, the connection and everything that you've talked about has really climaxed right here with you talking about being at the lowest spot of one of the lowest points in your life and connecting to something that you've been doing as an external.

And then finally being able to turn it internal and then giving it to them, giving it to the, to, to the world. Yeah, so. Sleep is huge. And it's the one thing right, that we have, it's almost an epidemic right now. I, a couple episodes ago we had Bill Joy John, who's a, who's literally a MD that focuses on sleep.

And if you listen to that episode, you'll be able to hear all the ups and downs of why we sleep, what happens while we sleep, and all the medical side of it. We could talk about the energy levels and what breath work can do to help you sleep without pills, without Xanax, without all of these other, external things that don't belong in our body.

Tim Thomas: Yeah. Unfortunately, ignorance of your own sovereign resources does not get you out of the, impact from buying a solution outside of you. Okay? Because I didn't know what my body can do. I didn't know breath work could help me sleep. I paid someone money for a solution, which cost me six years of my life, and I don't remember a lot of that time.

I remember coming outta the Special Forces, I did have PTSD and I'd go to all these talks and they'd talk about PSD. And I'm like, man, I know this stuff. I live with it. How about you just gimme a fricking solution? Okay? I'm like, what can I take home right now?

And the commitment I make is that right now there is no shortage of people talking about the impacts of poor sleep. In the special forces. We used to weaponize it 'cause we would deliberately target our enemy's sleep. We knew nothing of the science of sleep, but we knew if we denied them sleep for three nights, it would mess 'em up better than a bullet.

So there's a lot of people talking about sleep. There's a lot of hacks out there. But I wanted to be a person that could give them something immediately. Now I would love to give some people some, my little party trick is I can show you how to completely relax your body in, in three breaths.

Okay. But I've also noticed that I only do new habits that are easy and effortless. So that's why we made breathwork in bed. The app on your phone, you just tell it when you wanna sleep, when you wanna wake up and we take care of the rest. It just falls outta your phone. 'cause most people are busy enough.

You don't wanna try and remember a hack, but if you've got that little button on your phone where you just tap and press play and it tells you to breathe in, breathe out. And then this point in time comes, you're like, oh my gosh, this, this stuff really works.

All right. So having, giving people talking about, it's one thing I've always been the guy that wanted to give people immediate access to what we're talking about. That's why I thought, well, I don't like phones, but everyone's got one. And if I can put a little app on there that gives people that opportunity to connect with their breath, going to sleep, connect with their breath, getting outta bed, there's not a more powerful micro habit you can have.

'Cause I'll tell you now, if, if someone wants to destroy you, they'll destroy your sleep and you'll destroy yourself. But if someone really cares for you, they will care about your sleep. As your sleep improves. It's the universal lever. It's the soil from which everything grows. And this is where people get stuck.

Sleep is kind of unseen, you know, it's, we are very visual. You've gotta look a certain way, okay. And do things in conscious waking hours. But my specialty is in the unconscious and the unseen. Just like, if you can improve the soil from which someone lives, they get the fruit in the lives that they want.

To me, if I was to ask myself what's the best thing I could do for somebody and I would say make them a sovereign person. Make them see just how wonderful their, the resources they have in their body. And the quickest way I've found and the most accessible way is through breath work.

Brad Minus: Couldn't have said it better myself. That is amazing. So. Listen, everybody, you've just heard it from the Breathwork in Bed Guru himself. If you go to breathwork in bed.com au, you can check out all of this stuff, including his app and testimonials, and he's got some really cool products in there that's got his logo on it and some really soft pajamas and some t-shirts and stuff that look like they're very comfortable.

The app is both on the App store and on Google Play, so you've got no excuse not to give it a shot. Take one night. Half an hour before you go to bed, shut off all your screens. This is coming just from Dr.

Bill jojo. Make sure all your screens are off. If you're gonna read something, have it be a real book. I know some of you don't know what that is. Look it up. Real book or even a magazine, you know what I mean? Turn on your app.

Do the program. Go to sleep, see how you feel. Give it a shot for a couple of nights, see what happens. And then I'm gonna tell you, you're just gonna keep coming back. Keep coming back. So definitely check that out. Again, breathwork in bed.com au. And he is also on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook.

So, we will have those linked in the show notes for you along with his direct URL, Mr. Tim Thomas. Enjoy yourself. Enjoy the sovereign self, and connect with that energy. Get that radio dialed in to what you want to do, to what you are born to do. And if you don't know what that is now, you'll find it, you will find it.

Tim Thomas: Energy has an intelligence all of its own. Exactly. You know, once you raise your energy level, it's like the compass just switches on automatically. And, and, and yeah. Just like, you know, water, it naturally rolls downhill. But if you add energy to that water and it boils, it naturally, easily, and effortlessly goes up.

That's what our bodies are like. There comes a certain point where some people just get really good at flicking water up the hill. No, you've gotta create an energetic state, and the only way to get there is through your unique energy signature.

And no one's gonna see that except you. You know, no one's gonna see the returns you you're getting because they do start small. Now, when you master it and it gets a critical mass, you can be a guy like Brad that's done so many achievements within his athletic career. But before that happened, there was just Brad with 2 cents worth of energy, and he invested that into something that was passionate to him, and he got 4 cents back.

No one saw it. No one knew it. But Brad just kept investing 4 cents, 8 cents, 16, you know, and it multiplied out to, it gets this critical mass and the mastery, someone like Brad has.

Allows you to connect with what he's connected to in far less time. And that's why you pay a coach, because it took him decades to get mastery over this powerful connection. And he will save you so much time in one conversation. And this is why you pay your money. 'cause that's a human superpower.

If one conversation with Brad can save you 10 years, then how much would you pay? You know? So it, it starts unseen, but we have to see it ourselves and just pay attention. Oh, I just got a really good return and then mastering that. 

Brad Minus: Yeah. Perfect. Couldn't have said it better. And again, so like you said, a co you know, hiring a coach and he also, you know, Tim also coaches.

But that sleep is. It's detrimental. It, it, it, a good, a good habit of sleep will change your life. So he went through six years of it. He's gonna give it to you just by going to, just by going to the Apple Store or to Google Play Store, downloading the app and giving it a shot. You know, there's nothing, nothing to lose and everything to gain.

So give that a shot. And, you know, take what he's taken decades to learn and connect with and, find your power. You know, basically find your power and live your authentic self. So, hey. Thank you, Tim. For those of you listening or watching on YouTube, please go ahead and leave a comment and hit the subscribe and the notification bell so you always know when we're dropping a new episode.

If you're listening on Apple or Spotify, hey, drop us a review. And you know that I don't care if it's even a bad review. It could be a bad review because all I'm gonna do is take that and evolve the podcast to make it that much better, that much more authentic. And now, Spotify is actually using comments too, so drop a comment there too.

That'd be great. Love to hear from you. So, and let us know how you're sleeping, you know, after you've downloaded the app. So, again, Tim. This has been amazing, and I think there's a few more conversations between you and I that we could probably have. 

Tim Thomas: Oh, we just skimmed a rock over a very 

Brad Minus: Yeah, pretty much. And we've mentioned, a couple times, a mutual acquaintance between the two of us. So you can always download, or check out, Manders Mindset or Breathwork Magic, and you can give those a shot and listen to Tim on there too.

There's probably, even more information that he spews on that. So, on those two podcasts, give those a shot too. We'll link those in the description as well. But for Tim and myself, thank you so much for listening and we'll see you in the next one.