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Exploring Life & Business with Nolan Kim of Power Coaching

Today we’d like to introduce you to Nolan Kim.

Hi Nolan, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Imagine someone tells you that a couple simple and not time-consuming changes to your every day could change your life? Sounds too good to be true right? That’s what I thought five years ago too. Five years ago, in my early 30s, I decided to start doing Crossfit. I was the healthiest I had been in a long time. One day after a workout, I had a cardiac arrest, my heart stopped. When the paramedics arrived and defibrillated me, my heart started right up, but I didn’t regain consciousness. At the hospital, the cardiologist decided to put me in an induced coma and cool my body temperature with chilled water to preserve brain function. Three days later, I woke up without any deficits. My wife and I now joke that I was born to do ice baths because it saved my life.

This life-changing incident sent me on a quest to be the healthiest version of myself. I met a Dutch man named Wim Hof at a Tony Robbins event. He lead us through some breathing and told us about exposure to cold showers and my life was never the same. My stress and anxiety were gone and I was feeling amazing!

I was training for a triathlon around the same time and I ran into XPT, a performance lifestyle that incorporates breath work, sauna and ice baths created by Laird Hamilton & Gabby Reece. I immediately bought a sauna and converted a freezer to be an ice bath. I started doing it and inviting friends and neighbors to do it with me. It was just a hobby. I started feeling better, I was running faster and off most of my medications. My friends doing this with me, we’re also seeing changes. I had a friend that was depressed and on meds, and he was feeling great and off his meds after a short time. I decided I wanted to learn more about all this, so I got certified by XPT, Oxygen Advantage, and Wim Hof; who’s pretty well known from being on Goop Lab, some documentaries, and an upcoming movie.

During Covid, my entertainment company that does balloon animals and professional magic was out of work. I took the time to start a new company out of this hobby of mine because I love it, love sharing it with people, and am exhilarated by seeing lives changed. My life had changed, my friend’s lives had changed and my mission is to share this with as many people as possible, so I built a sauna on a trailer! This makes my business unique because I get to bring this service to people. I formed the business end of 2020 and started my first workshops January 2021.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
This field is so new, so there is no clear road. Because of this, it can feel lonely and challenging to figure out where to go next.

Another challenge has been enrolling people into trying out these health practices. Most people have no idea the benefits of breathing exercises and recovery with sauna and ice baths, so it takes educating people. Changing the way you breathe will change your life AND it’s a tough sell to people that don’t know anything about the science of breathing. People think, “I’ve been breathing my whole life. Why do I need to learn how to breathe?” Many people hear about an ice bath and say to themselves, “I would never do that.” Which is a major reason of why we do it! Where else in their lives do they say that? And learning to overcome that here will translate to their everyday lives. The ice bath is a metaphor for other stressors in our lives.

As you know, we’re big fans of Power Coaching LLC. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
I’m a performance coach, my wife is a psychologist. We coach people’s physical, mental & emotional health to reach their goals. What makes us unique is that we utilize breath work, fitness, emotional coaching and recovery with sauna and ice baths. Changing the way you breathe will change your life. It sounds so simple and too good to be true. Medical research supports it, I have experienced it and seen it time and time again with clients.

By changing people’s breathing, we can decrease stress and anxiety, improve their health, improve athletic performance, improve sleep & creativity, to name a few benefits. The sauna and ice baths have many physiological benefits such as: hormone balance, immune system boost, decrease blood pressure, improved heart and brain health and mental resilience. Learning to adapt to the stress of these in a short time with our breathing will translate to the metaphorical ice baths of life.

We use these physical stressors to disrupt people’s comfort zones in order to make them stronger and more resilient physically & mentally. And they are things we already do, breathe & take a shower. We just give some attention and intention to them. These stressors are windows into people’s lives of how they handle other stressors in their lives, which leads to real conversations and coaching on what really matters. It’s actually creating new neural pathways in the brain! Stress in small safe doses will make us stronger. Chronic stress will make us sick. These practices allow people to be in the same chaos of their normal lives and experience it completely differently. Regularly, we get calls a week or two after someone has participated in a workshop, and they tell us they have done something they have been avoided. They conquered that presentation, had a difficult conversation with a family member, or asked for a promotion.

We train elite athletes, corporate executives, and the everyday person. Our training supports people in reaching optimal performance, whatever that looks like for them, whether that’s an elite athlete, killing it in a business meeting or having more energy for your spouse and kids at the end of the day.

With a mobile sauna and ice bath setup, we come and train at many different locations in CA. We do group workshops, open to the public at different gyms & locations, Wim Hof workshops through the Wim Hof site, corporate events & private training. In a typical session, we cover some of the science and benefits of breathing exercises, optimal breathing mechanics, a 20-minute exploratory breathing session, a short lecture and an experience of the sauna and ice bath. After, we support people as they process about their experience. What makes us unique is that we are intentional to create a safe place for people to try new things and have the opportunity to learn that they are more capable and powerful than they thought.

This coming year we will be starting offsite retreats in El Salvador, Montana & Idaho. We are also breaking ground on our first brick and mortar location at a retreat center called ElesEl in Polluck, ID, working with well known performance coach Tareq Azim.

Who else deserves credit in your story?
Laird Hamilton, Gabby Reece, Wim Hof, Patrick McKeown & Dr. Belisa are the people I’ve learned from and certified me.

My wife Amanda has been my champion and encourager the whole way, I couldn’t do this without her.

My colleagues, who I continually learn from and we come up with new ideas: Rob, Lindsey, Phil, Jen, Keaton & Marcus.

My many friends and neighbors that were with me at the start and hopped in a freezer of cold water with me. Thank you for joining me on this journey, giving me feedback, and trusting me with the many iterations and repetitions.

Contact Info:

Image Credits
John Carluccio Sage Nigh Newport Harbor HS Girls Field Hockey Vanguard University Women’s Volleyball

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