How to Find Your Inner Light with Matt Maruca

Show Notes Matt Maruca is the founder of RaOptics, who make, I think it's fair to say objectively, the world's best blue-blocking glasses — but more importantly, he is in my view a radical citizen scientist, self-experimenter, and articulate communicator — and what's more he's only 24 years old. Which, given his depth of knowledge and wisdom, is somewhat mind-blowing for someone of his age. This conversation didn't go the way that I had expected. I'd been reading journal papers and studies on photobiology, mitochondrial health, and how to optimize our light environment...  but fairly quickly it became clear that this wasn't the direction that the conversation wanted to go. I think a former version of me would have wanted to stick to the script — but instead we veered off into a fascinating tangent into Matt's explorations into spirituality and what he describes as surrendering to life. In this conversation, you can expect to learn: 👹  The effects of repressing anger on depression and health 🔆  The benefits of light therapy and being in tune with your circadian rhythm ⚡  Why Matt believes that humans are beings of energy and electromagnetism 🌱  The important distinction between vitalistic and mechanistic perspectives for personal growth 🙇‍♂️  The power of surrendering to life or how he stopped acting like he was a victim to life. Timestamps [00:01:36] Matt's curiosity about health and wellness led them to explore various aspects of their own well-being, including diet, nutrition, supplementation, and eventually light therapy. He discovered that cellular dysfunction, particularly in mitochondria, plays a significant role in disease and that environmental factors and lifestyle choices can impact health. [00:09:04] Challenges led to self-reflection and a shift in mindset. Learning from Dr. Joe Dispenza's teachings, joy is found by opening oneself and surrendering limited beliefs and emotions. Change starts from within. [00:20:28] Matt discusses their background in studying light and electromagnetic energy in relation to health. They criticize the mechanistic approach of Western medicine and promote the idea of tapping into the body's natural healing power. They express skepticism towards the carnivore diet's claims of healing and share personal experiences. [00:43:54] Matt discusses their journey towards understanding health, wellness, and spirituality, emphasizing the importance of changing one's perception to create a better external experience. [01:05:32] The idea of being greater than we think and considering limitless possibilities. [01:13:12] The writer's goal is twofold: personal growth and creating an ethical company. They want to awaken people to the importance of inner light and bridge the gap between their products and spirituality. They believe that cultivating inner light is crucial for human evolution. [01:18:33] Jesus is seen as a profound and humorous figure in personal spiritual development. Official Links 😎 Ra Optics (affiliate link) — http://www.raoptics.com/nsmastery 👋 Follow Matt on Instagram + Youtube —  @TheLightDiet 💡 Buy Warm Edison Bulbs on Amazon — https://a.co/d/aAV3tqb Connect + Follow Jonny: 🐦  Follow on Twitter @jonnym1ller 💌  Subscribe to the Curious Humans Newsletter 🫁  Learn more about Nervous System Mastery 🙋‍♂️  Join Five to Thrive — a zero-cost educational email series. Episode Sponsors 🩸 Inside Tracker — One of the things I've changed my mind on in the past year is the value of getting blood panels taken prophylactically (ideally every six months, according to Dr. Peter Attia) rather than waiting until you have a health issue. Inside Tracker recently added hormone testing alongside a bunch of other important biomarkers that aren't included in traditional blood panels (ApoB, for example). Despite generally feeling great, my most recent set of results showed that I have some work to do to reduce levels of inflammation, and I'll be following some of their dietary + supplement recommendations to address this asap. So I highly recommend making this something you make time for at least once or twice yearly. ​Save 20% here 🥶 The Cold Plunge — I reached out to the founder of the plunge, Ryan after hearing his powerful ​story on the Danny Miranda podcast. I've shared how getting in icy cold water every day helped me to move through intense grief, and taught me what it meant to surrender. These days I use their plunge every, single, day. It's like a high-stakes meditation—a mirror into my own internal state. The Plunge team have done a phenomenal job architecting what I consider as the world's best cold plunge (it doesn't get grimy like the converted chest freezers that I used to use). For optimal health benefits, I recommend deliberate cold exposure for 11 minutes per week total. Save $150 with the code CURIOUS. ​Learn more​. 🫁 Nervous System Mastery — this is my flagship 5-week boot camp designed to equip you with evidence-backed protocols to cultivate calm and emotional regulation. Our fifth cohort will run in April 2024 ~ and applications are currently open. My sense is that if this conversation resonates with you, then you'd likely be a great fit for our upcoming cohort. This curriculum represents my attempt to distill everything that I've learned in recent years about how to create the conditions for our nervous system's flourishing.  It's run in an intensive cohort-based way since this is, in my experience, the most efficient way to embody and practice the protocols. Previous students have shared how partaking not only improved their sleep and quality of relationships but also tapped into deeper states of joy, clarity, and confidence in their lives. We've had over 750 students have completed this training, and many have said that it has been the most impactful thing they've ever done for their personal growth — so if you're intrigued at all, you can find more details and apply to join this year's cohort over at nsmastery.com ~~ Further Ways to Support the Podcast: 🎙️  I use Riverside to record all of my podcast conversations (it's so much better than zoom for podcasting!) 🎧  I also use Transistor to host this podcast, it's fricking awesome, and I would highly recommend. 😎  RaOptics make the world's best Blue Blockers – I wear these anytime I'm out of the house after dark, and it makes a huge difference! 🤖  I use AI wizardry from Castmagic to help with each episode show-notes + timestamps 📹  Want to create a Hollywood-quality home studio? 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