Survival Insights Into The Mind

SPEAKER_00 0:05

Some of the deepest insights about the human mind have not come from clinics or universities. They have come from the people who survived conditions that should have broken them and poetly worked out kept them sane with nothing on the outside was on the side. Today's guest is here to talk exactly that kind of insight and what we can borrow from it in our ordinary lives. Welcome to Healthy Mind, Healthy Life. I am Rasmeet and today my guest is Serge Putle, who is here to talk about what he calls gulag therapy, the kind of mental resilience that gets built when life strips away every comfort and asks you to keep your soul intact anyway. Sergei, welcome.

SPEAKER_01 0:50

Thank you very much. Swase, thank you for having me.

Daily Habits That Keep You Steady

SPEAKER_00 0:54

Yeah. So before we go in, uh tell me what does an ordinary day uh look like for you? Like the small habits, the moment you protect, or you know the parts of your routine that you would have not given up even on a difficult morning.

SPEAKER_01 1:15

Working out, of course. I like to work out around, lift a lot of weights. I try to eat healthy, I drink lots of protein, I have lots of boar soup, I I uh listen to great Russian folk music. I things like this keep me uh going all the time.

Connection Over Screens And Isolation

SPEAKER_00 1:32

So uh I want to start with a misconception that I think you know most modern wellness conversations carry. There is that assumption, you know, that healing happens in soft conditions, uh like in retreat centers, in safe rooms, and that heart conditions only damage people. But the way you talk about uh Gulag therapy points to something the wellness world really admits. So tell me, Aselgi, what is the part most people get wrong about heart conditions and the human mind? Like, what can actually be built on the hardest places that comfort could never produce?

SPEAKER_01 2:09

Well, it's a good question. I uh I just hang out with my friends, you know. We drink vodka, we hang out, we we wrestle, we have uh a good time, you know. Try not to take life so seriously, because you know, at the end of the day, you're going to die. So enjoy the moment. But uh, it's nice to have good comrades, good friends, you know, that you you suffered with and uh, you know, have your back, you know.

SPEAKER_00 2:32

Yeah, that's so true. To have good friends, it's really very important. And when you say that out loud, what is the part people resist hearing?

SPEAKER_01 2:43

The resisted hearing. Oh, I don't know. Some people just want to uh sit in front of TV, sit on social media, you know, they don't want to uh have human connection anymore, you know. They just want to be plugged into some device. I think uh people don't want to expose themselves emotionally to other people, sometimes, you know, very uh selfish in silver society, you know, but you need to have group, comrades, you know, friends, family, connection, you know. Yes, yes, we're not meant to be alone.

SPEAKER_00 3:18

Right. I uh truly agree.

The Inner Architecture Of Resilience

SPEAKER_00 3:20

People are getting more and more alienated these days. So, uh Say, let's go underneath. So when someone survives the kind of conditions that you are describing, the resilience that holds them in not the kind you can fake or read about, it is built out of something much more older and deeper, you know. So, what are the patterns underneath that you have come to believe actually carry a person through the inner architecture that you know holds when every external comfort is gone?

SPEAKER_01 3:51

Oh, yeah, a lot of a uh meditation, I would say. I it you know what uh I you know the uh martial arts, it really uh is good. It uh, you know, this when you when you're occupied on something, you know, like fight for flight, you know, when you're uh when you're uh doing uh uh wrestling, you know, stuff like that, uh jujitsu, stuff like that, you know, you don't think too much about outside things, you think moment, you know. So definitely physical exercise. Of course, it's so easy to drink so much alcohol, drink paint juice or whatever, but that's not good to do too much, you know. Um mountain climbing is nice, you know, spending time with animals. I these are things that I do to uh occupy my mind.

SPEAKER_00 4:37

And uh when did you first realize what was actually doing the work inside you?

SPEAKER_01 4:42

I think um first what went to work. I think when I uh leave, you know, uh when I managed to get out of Russia and uh almost get killed, I think I had sort of epiphany that um you know what everything here is bonus, so my head sort of switched into a positive way.

SPEAKER_00 5:01

Right. And

Translating Extreme Lessons To Modern Life

SPEAKER_00 5:03

I want to bring this into the uh texture of more uh ordinary modern life where you know the conditions are not extreme, but the inner pressure is so the hard email or the family that does not understand or the slow erosion of meaning at work, where do you see the lessons of Gulag therapy actually translate into the small modern moments? Or what does the same resilience look like when nothing dramatic is happening on the outside?

SPEAKER_01 5:32

Um I think it's just good to be there for each other, maybe. Yeah, uh talk about, you know, it's just like I said, with with uh friends, you know, comrades, people to have your ear for the to bend. Uh uh, you know, family is hard. Family, my family don't understand me sometimes, you know. They uh I think I'm a bit crazy, but uh you see, you know, you can choose your own family sometimes. Not everybody's going to get you. Uh try not to take things so personally. Um, I don't know. It's a good one. Everyone different.

SPEAKER_00 6:08

Hmm, so true. And you know that reframes something for me, honestly, because the modern version of hardship is really dramatic these days. It is sometimes slow, sometimes quite ambient, and it really asks the same in our muscles that extreme version asks, you know.

Practical Tools Like Ice Baths

SPEAKER_00 6:26

So um let's now just get into the practical side. Uh, people listening uh are not in a gulag, but they are in their own version of a season that is asking more of them than they have. So, what is the practice you would hand a person who is that kind of who is in the that season right now of himself or herself?

SPEAKER_01 6:47

I like, you know what makes me clear my head ice bath. Jump in the ocean, ice bath, clear your head, you know, you get your it just shocks your system. I think this is very healthy to do. Um being out with nature is good. I would say anytime you could be with nature if you want to get away from people, your brain gets in good, good way. Uh rock climbing is great, you know. Uh be one with nature if you're uh if you're a bit uh a loner guy, a loner person.

SPEAKER_00 7:18

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 7:19

Nature, everything.

SPEAKER_00 7:21

Right. Uh now the last question, because even the strongest in our structure

Handling Bad Weeks Without Shame

SPEAKER_00 7:27

has bad days. So there are weeks where the resilience you build quietly cracks, you know, when you find yourself reactive or hollow in the ways that surprise you yourself, even. So how do you handle those weeks or those days without um, you know, turning into shame about having them? Or how will you come back to your practice when the practice itself has gone quite for a while?

SPEAKER_01 7:54

Oh, I don't know if I have much shame. I I try to be uh uh but usually it is bad. I would drink so much vodka, you know, but uh it's not a good habit to do. I think you just need to uh look in the mirror and say you're gonna be okay. Uh lift weights, you know. Uh but um I it it is it is difficult. Uh I read is good, you know. I read uh Dostoevsky, he's a very uh distinguished Russian author, you know. He's dark but he's moody, but it uh it puts things into context. You know, life is not so bad when you read his book.

SPEAKER_00 8:30

Yes, right.

Perspective Shifts When Life Hurts

SPEAKER_00 8:32

So if someone listening right now is in the kind of situation where every external comfort has been stripped away and they are just trying to hold their soul intact. So what do you want them to hear slowly?

SPEAKER_01 8:47

Or it could be worse. You could be on front lines in uh, you know, war, you could have terrible disease, you know, you could uh have nuclear radiation, poisoning, meltdown near you. Uh so I think life is about perspective, you know. I think uh especially in the West, there's you know, you could uh try to click your mind in uh, you know, every day's gift, because uh, you know, it's uh but it is hard to do, I understand. It's nice to find comfortable women.

SPEAKER_00 9:17

Hmm, true that. And if someone listening uh feels like life has landed them more than they, you know, have the capacity for and they are not sure how to keep going, what is the one thing you want them to walk away with today from this podcast?

SPEAKER_01 9:33

If life is does not give them everything they want?

SPEAKER_00 9:36

Yes, right. If Dinah is giving Yes, or if life is giving them much more Yeah, uh or I said if life is giving them something more than they have the capacity to, you know, uh keep them going.

Volunteering As A Reset Button

SPEAKER_01 9:54

Oh Dina it is it is uh hard to do, you know. It um I would say again, you know, just uh try to volunteer. That help. Volunteer people less fortunate, volunteer people amputies, people terrible illness, and then you say, you know what, I it is okay, but it's nice, you need to see sometimes people that suffer more than you, it can be depressing, but then you know, you uh know yet you're doing okay comparatively, or you know, try to spend time with people opposite that are doing very well and they could uh be a cheerleader for you.

Closing Takeaway On Ordinary Practice

SPEAKER_00 10:32

Right. So thank you so much, Sergi, to everyone listening. The practice you build in your auditory days are the architect you will rest in when the days stop being ordinary. We'll see you in the next episode of Healthy Life, Healthy Mind. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 10:48

Thank you.