SuperLife with Darin Olien

What if the water coming out of your kitchen faucet contains chemicals specifically engineered not to break down, and the protections designed to remove them are now being rolled back?
In this Fatal Conveniences episode, Darin dives into PFAS, the so-called "forever chemicals" used for decades in nonstick cookware, waterproof clothing, food packaging, firefighting foam, and countless everyday products. Their incredibly strong carbon-fluorine bonds make them extraordinarily useful, but also allow them to persist in the environment and human body for years.
Darin breaks down the regulatory battle surrounding America's first legally enforceable federal drinking-water standards for several PFAS chemicals. He walks through the original 2024 EPA rule, subsequent efforts to delay or rescind portions of those protections, the court battle surrounding those changes, and why he believes the story represents something much larger than bureaucratic policy.
He then traces the history back decades, discussing internal industry documents, early toxicology findings, allegations that companies withheld troubling information, and a 2018 controversy involving a federal PFAS health assessment. For Darin, it's another example of a familiar pattern: dangerous information emerging slowly while the public continues to be exposed.
But this episode isn't about becoming afraid of your faucet. It's about understanding the problem so you can take action. Darin's message is simple: don't wait for corporations, regulators, or politicians to protect your health. Understand your exposure, learn what the science says, and take practical steps to protect yourself and your family.
What You'll Learn
What PFAS "forever chemicals" are and why they persist for so long
How PFAS became embedded in everyday products and the environment
Why the carbon-fluorine bond makes these chemicals so difficult to break down
How PFAS can accumulate in the human body over time
What the EPA's original 2024 drinking-water standards attempted to regulate
Why parts of those federal PFAS protections became the subject of a regulatory and legal battle
How proposed changes could delay compliance and eliminate several PFAS limits
What historical internal documents revealed about early industry knowledge of PFAS toxicity
Why Darin sees today's regulatory battle as part of a decades-long pattern
Why understanding your own exposure and taking action matters regardless of what happens in Washington
Chapters
00:00:03 – Welcome to SuperLife
00:00:34 – Sponsor: Bite
00:02:49 – Forever chemicals may already be in your blood
00:03:13 – The federal PFAS drinking-water rule and what happened next
00:03:44 – Why this episode isn't about being afraid of your faucet
00:04:07 – Stop waiting for someone else to protect your health
00:04:30 – PFAS as the ultimate Fatal Convenience
00:05:22 – The nearly unbreakable chemistry behind forever chemicals
00:05:57 – How PFAS entered everyday life
00:06:27 – Why your body struggles to eliminate these chemicals
00:06:57 – How long PFAS can remain in the body
00:07:20 – We built a civilization around a molecule with no exit plan
00:07:46 – PFAS contamination in America's drinking water
00:08:15 – The EPA's historic 2024 drinking-water standards
00:08:48 – How little PFAS it takes to trigger regulatory concern
00:09:56 – The original deadline for water utilities to comply
00:10:54 – Sponsor: Manna Vitality
00:12:49 – The PFAS rollback and what happened behind the scenes
00:13:16 – The attempt to erase standards through the courts
00:13:42 – The Safe Drinking Water Act's anti-backsliding protection
00:14:18 – The court refuses the EPA's request
00:14:49 – The 2026 proposed PFAS rule changes
00:15:33 – Why delaying compliance could affect millions of Americans
00:15:59 – The bigger story behind the PFAS rollback
00:16:35 – What internal DuPont documents revealed
00:17:12 – Toxicity findings, birth defects, and what the public was told
00:17:49 – The historic EPA penalty against DuPont
00:18:24 – The 2018 federal PFAS report controversy
00:19:03 – Why Darin believes the same pattern continues today
00:19:53 – The 60-year history of PFAS exposure
00:20:18 – What are forever chemicals actually doing to your body?
00:20:26 – Cancer risk, immune suppression, and the science coming next
00:20:36 – Can PFAS exposure happen through your shower?
00:20:44 – How to filter your home and protect your family
00:20:50 – Why Darin says we can't wait for government action
00:20:58 – Continue the full PFAS investigation on Patreon
00:21:19 – Take back control of your health
Thank You to Our Sponsors
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Join now for only $7.49/month at https://patreon.com/darinolien
Find More from Darin Olien:
Website: darinolien.com

Instagram: @darinolien

Book: Fatal Conveniences

Platform & Products: superlife.com

New Show: Roadmap to Happiness

Key Takeaway
"We built an entire civilization around chemicals designed to never break down, and now they're in our water, our environment, and our bodies. But the answer isn't fear. It's awareness followed by action. We cannot control what a chemical company knew decades ago, what regulators decide tomorrow, or how quickly government moves. We can control what we bring into our homes, what we put into our bodies, how we filter our water, and how seriously we take our own health. Don't wait for someone else to save you. Learn what's happening, find the solutions available to you, and take your health back into your own hands."
Bibliography/Sources:
The 2024 Rule and the Rollback
E&E News / POLITICO. (2026, May). EPA to roll back PFAS limits for drinking water .

https://www.eenews.net/articles/epa-to-roll-back-pfas-limits-for-drinking-water/

Harvard Law School Environmental & Energy Law Program. (n.d.). EPA issued first national drinking water standard to protect against PFAS exposure .

https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/tracker/epa-issued-first-national-drinking-water-standard-to-protect-against-pfas-exposure/

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (2024, April 10). Biden-Harris administration finalizes first-ever national drinking water standard to protect 100M people from PFAS pollution [Press release] .

https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/biden-harris-administration-finalizes-first-ever-national-drinking-water-standard

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (2025, May 14). EPA announces it will keep maximum contaminant levels for PFOA, PFOS [Press release] .

https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-announces-it-will-keep-maximum-contaminant-levels-pfoa-pfos

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (2026, May). Proposed PFAS rescission rule .

https://www.epa.gov/sdwa/proposed-pfas-rescission-rule

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (2026, May). Proposed PFOA and PFOS compliance extension rule .

https://www.epa.gov/sdwa/proposed-pfoa-and-pfos-compliance-extension-rule

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (2026, May 11). Pre-publication Federal Register notice, PFAS rescission NPRM .

https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2026-05/for-prepub-web-12843-01-ow_pfas-rescission_nprm_frn_20260511_admin.pdf

The Court Fight
Association of State Drinking Water Administrators. (2026, January 22). DC court denies EPA's motion to vacate hazard index PFAS from drinking water rule .

https://www.asdwa.org/2026/01/22/dc-court-denies-epas-motion-to-vacate-hazard-index-pfas-from-drinking-water-rule/

Fox Rothschild. (2026, March). Court denies EPA's motion to sever and stay challenges to MCLs for four index PFAS. Fox Rothschild PFAS Blog .

https://pfas.foxrothschild.com/2026/03/court-denies-epas-motion-to-sever-and-stay-challenges-to-mcls-for-four-index-pfas/

National Law Review. (2026). PFAS drinking water rule case lingers in DC circuit for 18 months .

https://natlawreview.com/article/pfas-drinking-water-rule-not-vacated-yet

Natural Resources Defense Council. (n.d.). American Water Works Association et al. v. EPA ('Forever Chemicals' in tap water) .

https://www.nrdc.org/court-battles/american-water-works-association-et-v-epa-forever-chemicals-tap-water

Natural Resources Defense Council. (n.d.). What to expect in key EPA cases on PFAS and lead in drinking water .

https://www.nrdc.org/media/what-expect-key-epa-cases-pfas-and-lead-drinking-water

Opposition, Exposure Estimates, and Process Criticism
Arizona Attorney General. (2026). Attorney General Mayes opposes EPA's rollback of PFAS limits in drinking water .

https://www.azag.gov/press-release/attorney-general-mayes-opposes-epas-rollback-pfas-limits-drinking-water

Earthjustice. (2025). EPA seeks to eliminate critical PFAS drinking water protections .

https://earthjustice.org/press/2025/epa-seeks-to-roll-back-pfas-drinking-water-rules-keeping-millions-exposed-to-toxic-forever-chemicals-in-tap-water

Environmental Protection Network. (2025, December). EPA moves to roll back PFAS drinking water protections .

https://www.environmentalprotectionnetwork.org/20251209_pfas-rollback/

Environmental Protection Network. (2026, May 18). EPA's PFAS promises undermined by safeguard delays & rollbacks, along with weakened scientific capacity .

https://www.environmentalprotectionnetwork.org/20260518_epa-pfas-announcement_release/

Environmental Working Group. (2026, March). New data shows 176M exposed to 'forever chemicals' as Trump EPA rolls back drinking water limits .

https://www.ewg.org/news-insights/news-release/2026/03/new-data-shows-176m-exposed-forever-chemicals-trump-epa-rolls

Environmental Working Group. (2026, May). Trump EPA guts landmark PFAS tap water protections, leaving millions at risk of harm .

https://www.ewg.org/news-insights/news-release/2026/05/trump-epa-guts-landmark-pfas-tap-water-protections-leaving

Office of Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison. (2026, July 21). Attorney General Ellison opposes Trump rollback of PFAS limits in drinking water .

https://www.ag.state.mn.us/Office/Communications/2026/07/21_Drinking-Water.asp

The New Lede. (2026, August). The EPA says they want 'PFAS out.' Their policies are allowing more of them in .

https://www.thenewlede.org/2026/08/the-epa-says-they-want-pfas-out-their-policies-are-allowing-more-of-them-in/

The History of Suppression
EcoWatch. (2018, May 15). Trump admin. blocked toxic chemicals study fearing 'public relations nightmare' .

https://www.ecowatch.com/toxic-chemicals-study-blocked-2569008321.html

Gaber, N., Bero, L., & Woodruff, T. J. (2023). The devil they knew: Chemical documents analysis of industry influence on PFAS science. Annals of Global Health, 89(1), 37 .

https://annalsofglobalhealth.org/articles/10.5334/aogh.4013

Union of Concerned Scientists. (2018). Bipartisan outrage as EPA, White House try to cover up chemical health assessment .

https://blog.ucs.org/michael-halpern/bipartisan-outrage-as-epa-white-house-try-to-cover-up-chemical-health-assessment/

Union of Concerned Scientists. (n.d.). How the chemical industry deployed the disinformation playbook on PFAS .

https://blog.ucs.org/genna-reed/how-the-chemical-industry-deployed-the-disinformation-playbook-on-pfas/

University of California, San Francisco. (2023, May 31). Makers of PFAS 'forever chemicals' covered up the dangers .

https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2023/05/425451/makers-pfas-forever-chemicals-covered-dangers

Health Science
IARC Monographs Working Group. (2023, November 30). Carcinogenicity of perfluorooctanoic acid and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid. The Lancet Oncology .

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanonc/article/PIIS1470-2045(23)00622-8/abstract

International Agency for Research on Cancer. (2023, December 1). IARC Monographs evaluate the carcinogenicity of PFOA and PFOS .

https://www.iarc.who.int/news-events/iarc-monographs-evaluate-the-carcinogenicity-of-perfluorooctanoic-acid-pfoa-and-perfluorooctanesulfonic-acid-pfos

Ragnarsdóttir, O., Abdallah, M. A.-E., & Harrad, S. (2024). Dermal bioavailability of perfluoroalkyl substances using in vitro 3D human skin equivalent models. Environment International .

https://research.birmingham.ac.uk/en/publications/dermal-bioavailability-of-perfluoroalkyl-substances-using-in-vitr/

University of Birmingham. (2024, June). New study confirms forever chemicals are absorbed through human skin .

https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/2024/new-study-confirms-forever-chemicals-are-absorbed-through-human-skin-1

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (2024, April). PFAS national primary drinking water regulation — Questions and answers .

https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2024-04/pfas-npdwr_qa_general_4.9.24v1.pdf

Home Filtration Evidence and How-to
Duke University. (2020, February 5). Not all in-home drinking water filters completely remove toxic PFAS [Press release]. EurekAlert .

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/694230

Environmental Working Group. (2025, September). PFAS in drinking water: What you need to know .

https://www.ewg.org/news-insights/news/2025/09/pfas-drinking-water-what-you-need-know

Herkert, N. J., Merrill, J., Peters, C., et al. (2020). Assessing the effectiveness of point-of-use residential drinking water filters for perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs). Environmental Science & Technology Letters, 7(3), 178–184 .

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.estlett.0c00004

Tap Score. (n.d.). Quick guide to NSF certified filters for PFAS .

https://mytapscore.com/blogs/tips-for-taps/quick-guide-to-certified-filters-for-pfas

State Action
Ballard Spahr. (2026, June). EPA rolls back PFAS regulations, states fill the gap .

https://www.ballardspahr.com/insights/alerts-and-articles/2026/06/epa-rolls-back-pfas-regulations-states-fill-the-gap

Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner. (n.d.). PFAS drinking water standards: State-by-state regulations .

https://www.bclplaw.com/en-US/events-insights-news/pfas-drinking-water-standards-state-by-state-regulations.html

What happens when the two things you love most seem to demand completely different versions of you?
In this deeply personal conversation, Darin sits down with his longtime friend, musician and father of four Brandon Jenner to explore the tension between showing up fully for your family and honoring the creative part of yourself that still needs space to exist. After years in which fatherhood became the centerpiece of his life, Brandon recently carved out three intense months to record a ten-song album in his home studio.
Brandon opens up about the reality of raising four children, including twin boys, and the constant feeling that there are more balls in the air than any parent can possibly catch. He shares how becoming a father forced him to confront parts of his own childhood, including the emotions that surfaced when his sons reached the age he was when his own father stopped being consistently present.
The conversation expands into creativity, vulnerability, regret, family relationships, and legacy. Darin shares the powerful story of discovering unmarked cassette tapes of his late father singing while cleaning out his mother's home after her death. That discovery creates a new perspective for Brandon: the music he makes isn't taking something away from his children. It's also leaving them a piece of their father they may carry for the rest of their lives.
Together, Darin and Brandon explore what it means to stop filtering yourself through other people's opinions, repair relationships before it's too late, transform regret into wisdom, and give the people you love permission to see who you really are.
What You'll Learn
How Brandon balances being a father of four with the need to create
Why he recorded an entire ten-song album in only three months
How becoming a parent brought unresolved parts of Brandon's childhood back to the surface
Why boredom, silence, and daydreaming can be essential ingredients for creativity
How songwriting became a deeply therapeutic form of emotional expression
Why vulnerability is at the center of the music Brandon wants to create
How the art you make can become part of the legacy your children inherit
Why Darin believes unresolved tension in relationships should be addressed immediately
How Brandon thinks about regret and his past marijuana use
Why authentic self-expression matters more than filtering yourself through other people's opinions
Chapters
00:00:02 – Welcome to SuperLife
00:00:32 – Sponsor: Fatty15
00:04:12 – Introducing Brandon Jenner
00:05:47 – Inside the studio where Brandon created his new album
00:06:36 – Making a ten-song record in only three months
00:07:12 – The tension between fatherhood and being an artist
00:08:19 – The moment Brandon decided it was finally time to create
00:09:01 – How not wanting to let people down has shaped Brandon's life
00:09:37 – Why parenthood has defined the last decade
00:10:28 – Four kids and constantly feeling like you're dropping a ball
00:11:09 – Why creativity requires boredom, silence, and space
00:12:36 – Finding joy through service to others
00:13:06 – There is never a perfect time to create
00:14:35 – Why your children also need to see you pursue what you love
00:15:14 – When Brandon's sons reached the age he stopped seeing his father
00:16:14 – Daydreaming as a creative superpower
00:17:38 – Asking his wife for the space to disappear creatively
00:18:37 – Sponsor: Shakeology
00:20:24 – Making an album is like going out to sea
00:21:05 – Why albums still matter in an eight-second-attention world
00:22:16 – Songwriting as therapy
00:23:05 – Creating from feeling instead of analysis
00:24:13 – The story hidden behind every lyric
00:25:37 – Music as a transmission of emotion
00:26:33 – How songs help us process experiences we can't explain
00:27:21 – Why vulnerability makes music powerful
00:28:20 – The unique energetic fingerprint of every artist
00:29:27 – Darin discovers recordings of his late father
00:30:19 – Hearing his father's voice after losing his mother
00:31:14 – Grief, music, memory, and emotional release
00:32:26 – Why Brandon may have needed to make this album now
00:33:30 – Creativity as something Brandon did for himself
00:33:57 – Entering the creative flow state
00:35:27 – The moments that become permanently etched into our lives
00:36:18 – How music transcended Darin's parents' difficult history
00:36:57 – Sharing his father's voice with siblings who barely knew him
00:38:23 – The art you create becomes part of your children's inheritance
00:39:32 – Music, vulnerability, and legacy
00:40:27 – What Brandon's children will remember about making this album
00:41:37 – What Darin wishes he'd done differently before losing his mom
00:42:56 – The conversations that changed Darin's family before his mother's death
00:44:26 – Don't wait to repair the relationships that matter
00:45:08 – Take off the masks and tell people how you really feel
00:46:14 – How tiny unresolved conflicts become separation
00:47:13 – Breaking the roles we unconsciously play inside our families
00:48:12 – Why honesty is often hardest with the people closest to us
00:49:58 – Grief, siblings, and preparing relationships before loss
00:51:22 – Parenthood goes faster than you think
00:52:01 – What will actually matter when you look back?
00:53:32 – The truth about regret
00:54:31 – Turning past choices into awareness
00:55:32 – Darin on continuing to feel his parents after their deaths
00:56:21 – Looking back at the roads you didn't take
00:58:08 – Brandon's regret about smoking marijuana when he was young
00:59:17 – Turning regret into something useful
01:00:18 – Quitting marijuana and what Brandon wants his children to learn
01:00:42 – How people can hear Brandon's new music
01:01:08 – What happened to the traditional music business
01:02:18 – Why streaming changed the economics of being an artist
01:03:10 – Technology made music more democratic
01:04:04 – Why artists no longer need permission from the industry
01:04:51 – Social media's enormous influence on music today
01:05:35 – Adapting instead of complaining about a changing industry
01:05:59 – Brandon's strategy for sharing the meaning behind his songs
01:06:47 – Stop filtering yourself through other people's opinions
01:07:27 – The courage to say what you actually mean
01:08:06 – Teaching his children that creativity is a safe space
01:08:46 – Why music gives us permission to be completely vulnerable
01:09:38 – Teaching children to express what they're really feeling
01:10:26 – Brandon reflects on Darin's discipline and commitment
01:11:27 – Friendship, support, and walking the walk
01:12:25 – The beautiful insanity of raising twin boys
01:13:11 – Brandon's album, fatherhood, and final thoughts
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Find More from Brandon Jenner:
Stream the New Album: Full Circle

Instagram: @brandonjenner

Youtube: @BrandonJenner

Find More From Darin Olien:
Website: darinolien.com

Instagram: @darinolien

Book: Fatal Conveniences

Platform & Products: superlife.com

New Show: Roadmap to Happiness

Key Takeaway
"Showing up for the people you love doesn't require erasing the parts of yourself that make you who you are. Your children don't only need your time. They need to see your passion, your creativity, your vulnerability, and your willingness to express what is inside you. The art you make today may become part of what they carry when you're no longer here. So have the difficult conversation. Clear the resentment. Tell people you love them. Make the thing you're called to make. Stop filtering yourself through everyone else's opinions, because the most personal expression of who you are may ultimately become the greatest legacy you leave behind."

What if spending time in nature isn't simply good for you, but something your brain is biologically designed to need?
In this solo episode, Darin explores the sensory neuroscience of nature and the growing research suggesting that our increasingly indoor lives may be fundamentally mismatched with the environments our brains and nervous systems evolved to experience. From walls and screens to fluorescent lights, traffic, right angles, and constant notifications, modern environments bombard us with sensory inputs our ancestors never encountered at this scale.
The numbers put that mismatch into perspective. Darin highlights research suggesting the average American spends roughly 87% of life indoors and another 6% inside vehicles. In other words, we've effectively become an indoor species living inside outdoor-evolved bodies, brains, eyes, and nervous systems.
Darin breaks down why this isn't merely another reminder to "go outside." He explores how modern environments place continuous demands on executive attention, why sustained attention can eventually give way to rumination and mental chatter, and what more than 100 brain-imaging studies may reveal about what happens when we finally return our brains to natural environments.
This episode ultimately asks a surprisingly important question: What if nature isn't a luxury or lifestyle preference, but a biological input we've slowly removed from our lives?
What You'll Learn
Why your brain evolved for branches, coastlines, clouds, mountains, and irregular natural geometry instead of straight lines
How much of the average American's life is now spent indoors or inside vehicles
Why Darin describes modern life as an evolutionary mismatch for the nervous system
How artificial environments continually demand processing from your executive attention system
Why sustained directed attention can eventually lead to fatigue, rumination, and mental chatter
How light, sound, movement, visual patterns, and circadian cues shaped the human nervous system
Why simply telling people to "go outside more" may underestimate what's happening neurologically
What researchers mean by high-load visual and auditory environments
What a review of more than 100 brain-imaging studies investigated about nature exposure
What the brain scans reveal about nature, fractal patterns, rumination, and neural restoration in the second half of the episode
Chapters
00:00:03 – Welcome to SuperLife
00:00:34 – Sponsor: Alkemis
00:03:25 – When was the last time you stopped seeing straight lines?
00:03:49 – Your brain wasn't designed for the geometry of modern life
00:04:44 – The sensory neuroscience of nature
00:05:14 – Why your nervous system may be starving indoors
00:05:49 – Darin records the episode outside
00:06:04 – How much of our lives do we actually spend indoors?
00:06:48 – Outdoor-evolved humans have become an indoor species
00:07:47 – Why "go outside" is more than feel-good advice
00:08:22 – The evolutionary mismatch affecting your nervous system
00:09:33 – Ancient biological hardware in a radically modern environment
00:09:49 – How indoor environments overload your attention system
00:10:47 – Sponsor: Manna Vitality
00:12:42 – Your attention system wasn't built for infinite stimulation
00:13:00 – Rumination, looping thoughts, and mental chatter
00:13:24 – The fatal convenience of modern civilization
00:13:58 – What we've removed from the human sensory environment
00:14:19 – The neuroscience deep dive begins
00:14:40 – More than 100 brain-imaging studies on nature exposure
00:15:18 – The question researchers wanted to answer
00:15:19 – Why the rest of the neuroscience matters
00:15:34 – What do brain scans actually show when you enter nature?
00:15:49 – Continue the full episode on Patreon
00:15:52 – The four-stage neurological cascade coming next
00:16:02 – Fractal fluency and the hidden geometry of nature
00:16:07 – Nature, the brain, and depressive rumination
00:16:18 – How much nature does your brain actually need?
00:16:31 – Final thoughts and Patreon continuation
Thank You to Our Sponsors
Alkemis: Go to https://alkemispaint.com/ and use code DARIN10 for 10% off your order.

Manna Vitality: Go to mannavitality.com/ and use code DARIN12 for 12% off your order.

Join the SuperLife Patreon:
This is where Darin now shares the deeper work:
- weekly voice notes
- ingredient trackers
- wellness challenges
- extended conversations
- community accountability
- sovereignty practices
Join now for only $7.49/month at https://patreon.com/darinolien
Find More from Darin Olien:
Website: darinolien.com

Instagram: @darinolien

Book: Fatal Conveniences

Platform & Products: superlife.com

New Show: Roadmap to Happiness

Key Takeaway
"We've become an indoor species living inside outdoor-evolved bodies and brains. Your nervous system developed over hundreds of thousands of years surrounded by sunlight, wind, trees, irregular sounds, natural rhythms, and complex patterns, yet we've replaced much of that environment with walls, screens, fluorescent lights, traffic, notifications, and straight lines. Going outside isn't simply a nice thing to do when you have extra time. Nature may be one of the fundamental sensory inputs your brain has been waiting for you to put back into your life."
Bibliography/Sources:
Primary Neuroscience & Brain Imaging
Bratman, G. N., Hamilton, J. P., Hahn, K. S., Daily, G. C., & Gross, J. J. (2015). Nature experience reduces rumination and subgenual prefrontal cortex activation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 112(28), 8567–8572 .

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1510459112

Estarellas, M., et al. (2026). Your brain on nature: A scoping review of the neuroscience of nature exposure. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews .

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0149763426000205

Environmental Psychology & Physiological Stress
Antonelli, M., Barbieri, G., & Donelli, D. (2019). Effects of forest bathing (shinrin-yoku) on levels of cortisol as a stress biomarker: A systematic review and meta-analysis. International Journal of Biometeorology, 63(8), 1117–1134 .

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31001682/

Kaplan, S. (1995). The restorative benefits of nature: Toward an integrative framework. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 15(3), 169–182 .

Klepeis, N. E., et al. (2001). The National Human Activity Pattern Survey (NHAPS): A resource for assessing exposure to environmental pollutants. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory / U.S. EPA .

Lee, M. S., Lee, J., Park, B. J., & Miyazaki, Y. (2015). Interaction with indoor plants may reduce psychological and physiological stress by suppressing autonomic nervous system activity in young adults: A randomized crossover study. Journal of Physiological Anthropology, 34, Article 21 .

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s40101-015-0060-8

Ulrich, R. S. (1984). View through a window may influence recovery from surgery. Science, 224(4647), 420–421 .

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.6143402

News Coverage & Summaries
BuildingGreen. (n.d.). We spend 90% of our time indoors. Says who? .

https://www.buildinggreen.com/blog/we-spend-90-our-time-indoors-says-who

McGill Newsroom. (n.d.). How stepping into nature affects the brain .

https://www.mcgill.ca/newsroom/channels/news/how-stepping-nature-affects-brain-371263

Nolan, K. (n.d.). Fractal patterns in nature and art are aesthetically pleasing and stress-reducing. Smithsonian Magazine .

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/fractal-patterns-nature-and-art-are-aesthetically-pleasing-and-stress-reducing-180962738/

What if the biggest thing standing between you and the life you want isn't your circumstances, your past, or your limitations, but the identity you've been programmed to believe is you?
In this powerful conversation, Darin sits down with health entrepreneur, coach, and author Jim Curtis to explore what it really takes to release the past, reclaim personal responsibility, and consciously become a new version of yourself. After developing a spinal cord lesion at just 19 that eventually left him unable to walk, Jim spent years searching everywhere from major medical institutions to shamans, healers, hypnosis, and spiritual teachers for someone who could fix him. Eventually, his search brought him back to himself.
Jim shares the framework behind his new book, The Book of Possibility: Release, Align, Become. Together, he and Darin unpack how childhood programming becomes adult identity, why awareness is the first step toward freedom, how resentment keeps us attached to old versions of ourselves, and why changing your life often requires having the courage to become someone your current identity doesn't yet recognize.
They also explore the dangers of outsourcing your spiritual growth, psychedelics as tools rather than destinations, radical responsibility, forgiveness, purpose, human connection, and why the coming age of AI and automation may make genuine face-to-face connection more important than ever.
Ultimately, this is a conversation about possibility: not waiting for someone to save you, but realizing that you are the possibility you've been searching for.
What You'll Learn
Why Jim believes you need to become your own guru instead of constantly searching for someone to fix you
How a spinal cord lesion at 19 completely changed the trajectory of Jim's life
Why pain and suffering can become gateways to transformation
How childhood experiences and subconscious programming shape adult identity
Jim's Release, Align, Become framework for creating lasting change
Why forgiveness can free you without requiring reconciliation
How radical responsibility breaks the victim-villain dynamic
Why changing your identity can feel terrifying even when your current life is making you miserable
The difference between using psychedelics as transformational tools and using them to escape
Why human connection, purpose, curiosity, and presence may become increasingly valuable in an automated world
Chapters
00:00:03 – Welcome to SuperLife
00:00:34 – Sponsor: MycoDog
00:02:01 – Meet Jim Curtis and The Book of Possibility
00:04:00 – What if you are the possibility?
00:05:17 – Why people stop themselves from dreaming
00:05:50 – Stop outsourcing your spiritual growth
00:07:05 – No one is coming to save you
00:08:28 – Ego, shadow work, and creating space to choose
00:09:10 – Why you should question the guru
00:10:11 – Ram Dass and the reality of being human
00:11:15 – Darin's first experience with ayahuasca
00:12:17 – Psychedelics can open the door, but then what?
00:13:02 – Sponsor: Manna Vitality
00:14:57 – Psychedelics, ibogaine, and bringing the lessons back to life
00:16:48 – Powerful tools aren't meant to become an escape
00:17:13 – Hypno-meditation and changing yourself from within
00:18:23 – Why Jim wouldn't take away your pain
00:19:09 – Jim's beliefs about trauma, illness, and healing
00:20:05 – The spinal cord lesion that changed Jim's life
00:20:55 – Losing his ability to walk and searching the world for healing
00:21:44 – Discovering hypnosis, meditation, and altered states
00:22:39 – Meeting Dr. Brian Weiss and experiencing past-life regression
00:23:11 – Wall Street, WebMD, and walking away from the wrong identity
00:24:10 – Jim's health collapses again
00:25:25 – The wake-up call that completely changed his future
00:26:02 – How radically changing your identity changes your life
00:27:31 – The Release, Align, Become method
00:28:12 – How childhood programming becomes adult identity
00:29:01 – You have to see the cage before you can escape it
00:29:24 – Forgiveness as a tool for releasing the past
00:30:02 – Escaping the cage of resentment
00:30:57 – Are adults still reacting from their eight-year-old selves?
00:31:25 – You are not your thoughts, emotions, or identity
00:32:05 – Why becoming someone new feels terrifying
00:33:24 – On the other side of pain is possibility
00:35:10 – Darin takes responsibility for the end of his marriage
00:37:14 – Breaking the villain-victim dynamic
00:38:01 – The small conversations that create enormous change
00:39:12 – Releasing the old self
00:39:44 – Aligning with what you actually want
00:40:30 – Who must you become to create that life?
00:41:15 – Creating and embodying a new identity
00:41:54 – Why healthy choices become acts of self-honor
00:42:37 – Building health into your identity instead of obsessing over it
00:44:07 – Expanding your consciousness and seeing new possibilities
00:45:26 – Reprogramming the brain through Jim's book and hypno-meditations
00:46:10 – What happens when possibilities start opening
00:46:51 – The possibility isn't outside you. It's you.
00:47:52 – Breaking your personal Matrix
00:48:39 – Your mind finds what you're looking for
00:49:23 – Why giving more can create greater fulfillment
00:49:51 – AI, social media, and the return to human connection
00:51:26 – Loneliness and our need to reconnect
00:52:17 – How one interaction with a stranger can change your day
00:53:26 – The simple human connection challenge
00:55:38 – What automation takes away from everyday life
00:56:04 – Alec Baldwin, celebrity, trauma, and humanity
00:58:00 – The hilarious Jim Curtis mistaken-identity story
00:59:15 – Staying kind when notoriety arrives
01:00:14 – Purpose is the only thing that lasts
01:00:34 – Darin on losing his first docuseries and part of his identity
01:01:25 – Turning loss into a new mission
01:03:08 – The Book of Possibility and taking control of your life
01:03:38 – Creating something from love instead of outcomes
01:04:06 – Final thoughts
Thank You to Our Sponsors:
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Join for $7.49/month → https://patreon.com/darinolien
Find More from Jim Curtis:
Website: jimcurtiscoaching.com

Instagram: @jimcurtis1

Buy His New Book: The Book of Possibility

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Website: darinolien.com

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Book: Fatal Conveniences

Platform & Products: superlife.com

New Show: Roadmap to Happiness


Key Takeaway
"There are unlimited possibilities, but the possibility is you. You don't have to spend your entire life searching for the next guru, healer, relationship, achievement, or external thing that will finally make you whole. Become aware of the programming you absorbed, release the identity that no longer serves you, align with what you actually want, and start becoming the person capable of living it. The moment you stop waiting to be saved and recognize that you are the source, possibility stops being something somewhere in the future. It becomes who you are."

What if one of the most powerful tools for improving your cardiovascular resilience was already built into your body—and completely free?
In this science-forward solo episode, Darin dives into the fascinating physiology of breath holding and the mammalian dive response, an ancient survival mechanism humans share with seals, whales, and dolphins. Simply holding your breath triggers an extraordinary cascade inside the body: your heart rate slows, blood vessels constrict to preserve oxygen for vital organs, and your spleen contracts to release oxygen-rich red blood cells into circulation.
Darin explores research on elite freedivers, Southeast Asian sea nomads, cardiac hypoxic resistance, and the remarkable ways the human body can adapt to repeated breath-hold training. But he also separates the evidence from the hype, explaining why breath holding alone isn't a miracle intervention and why some of the most promising benefits appear when hypoxic stress is combined with movement and resistance exercise.
This episode is a reminder that some of the most extraordinary tools for improving human performance aren't expensive supplements or complicated technologies—they're capacities your body has possessed all along.
What You'll Learn
What happens inside your body the moment you hold your breath
How the mammalian dive response slows your heart rate and redirects blood flow
Why your spleen acts like a biological reservoir for oxygen-rich red blood cells
How humans share this ancient survival mechanism with marine mammals
Why Southeast Asian sea nomads developed remarkable adaptations for freediving
How breath-hold training can amplify the body's natural dive response
What researchers discovered when elite divers reached extraordinarily low blood oxygen levels
How repeated training may create greater hypoxic resilience in the heart
Why the long-term benefits of breath-hold training in everyday people are still being studied
Why combining hypoxic stress with movement may be more powerful than breath holding alone
Chapters
00:00:03 – Welcome to SuperLife
00:00:34 – Sponsor: Alkemis
00:03:26 – The incredible thing happening when you hold your breath
00:03:57 – The ancient survival program you share with dolphins and whales
00:04:31 – The hidden cardiovascular tool almost nobody trains
00:05:03 – A free physiological capacity already built into your body
00:05:38 – What the science actually says about breath-hold training
00:06:09 – Understanding the mammalian dive response
00:06:37 – Your heart, blood vessels, and spleen react within seconds
00:07:11 – Your spleen is a biological oxygen reservoir
00:08:05 – Sponsor: Manna Vitality
00:09:59 – Why cold water amplifies the dive response
00:10:07 – The extraordinary physiology of Southeast Asian sea nomads
00:10:39 – Humans performing underwater like marine mammals
00:11:14 – The mammalian dive response is trainable
00:11:54 – What happened when elite divers reached extremely low blood oxygen
00:12:30 – How the heart adapts during extreme breath holds
00:13:08 – Cardiac hypoxic resistance and a stronger trained heart
00:13:55 – The important limitations of the current research
00:14:41 – Why breath holding alone isn't a miracle
00:15:09 – Combining hypoxic stress with resistance exercise
00:15:42 – Breath holding as a multiplier, not a replacement
00:16:33 – Practical takeaways for training the dive response
00:17:48 – Final thoughts and closing
Thank You to Our Sponsors
Alkemis: Go to https://alkemispaint.com/ and use code DARIN10 for 10% off your order.

Manna Vitality: Go to mannavitality.com/ and use code DARIN12 for 12% off your order.

Join the SuperLife Patreon:
This is where Darin now shares the deeper work:
- weekly voice notes
- ingredient trackers
- wellness challenges
- extended conversations
- community accountability
- sovereignty practices
Join now for only $7.49/month at https://patreon.com/darinolien
Find More from Darin Olien:
Website: darinolien.com

Instagram: @darinolien

Book: Fatal Conveniences

Platform & Products: superlife.com

New Show: Roadmap to Happiness



Key Takeaway
"You already have an ancient cardiovascular survival mechanism built into your body. Breath holding can trigger measurable changes in heart rate, blood flow, oxygen availability, and the body's response to hypoxic stress—and with training, that response appears capable of adapting. The goal isn't to treat breath holding like a miracle hack. It's to recognize it as another powerful physiological tool that may become even more effective when intelligently combined with movement and training.
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Hypoxic Training & Cardiovascular Adaptation
Bosco, G., et al. (2021). Effect of apnea-induced hypoxia on cardiovascular adaptation and circulating biomarkers of oxidative stress in elite breath-hold divers. Frontiers in Physiology .

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8458773/

Combined training in hypoxic environments improves cardiometabolic health in older adults: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. (2025). Frontiers in Medicine .

https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/medicine/articles/10.3389/fmed.2025.1728637/full

Costalat, G., et al. (2021). Physiology, pathophysiology and (mal)adaptations to chronic apnoeic training: A state-of-the-art review. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 121, 2669–2685 .

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00421-021-04664-x

Palada, I., Bakovic, D., Valic, Z., et al. (2007). Cardiovascular regulation during apnea in elite divers. Hypertension, 50(2) .

https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/hypertensionaha.108.127530

Patrizio, I., et al. (2021). Cardiac hypoxic resistance and decreasing lactate during maximum apnea in elite breath-hold divers. Scientific Reports, 11, 3676 .

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-81797-1

The Mammalian Dive Reflex & Genetic Adaptations
Ilardo, M. A., Moltke, I., Korneliussen, T. S., et al. (2018). Physiological and genetic adaptations to diving in sea nomads. Cell, 173(3), 569–580 .

https://news.berkeley.edu/2018/04/19/enlarged-spleen-key-to-diving-endurance-of-sea-nomads/

Schagatay, E. (2000). Studies on trained apnea divers' amplification of the diving response. Mid Sweden University .

https://freedivecafe.com/2019/06/04/42-transcript-erika-schagatay-the-science-of-freediving/

Speck, D. F., & Bruce, D. S. (1978). Effects of varying thermal and apneic conditions on the human diving reflex. Undersea Biomedical Research .

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/breath-holding-dive-reflex-extends/

Inspiratory Muscle Strength Training (IMST)
Craighead, D. H., Heinbockel, T. C., Freeberg, K. A., et al. (2021). Time-efficient inspiratory muscle strength training lowers blood pressure and improves endothelial function, NO bioavailability, and oxidative stress in midlife/older adults with above-normal blood pressure. Journal of the American Heart Association, 10(13) .

https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/JAHA.121.022203