How do elite athletes use body, mind, joy, and meaning to push beyond physical limits?

Dr Brennan Spiegel (physician, gastroenterologist, and author of Pull) and Dr Lachlan Kent (cognitive scientist and founder of Mental Gravity) explore theOlympics as humanity’s greatest laboratory for defying gravity.

With the Winter Olympics approaching, they examine elite athletes as “physics-fighting engines”—bodies and minds trained to resist, redirect, and sometimes seemingly escape gravity. Through stories of Cathy Freeman, Quincy Hall, Alex Honnold, and modern superstars like Steph Curry and Luka Dončić, they show how peak performance is not just physical—it is mental gravity management.

They introduce Olympic training as a real-world expression of biogravitational medicine, where strength, balance, imagery, joy, poise, team culture, and meaning all shape how far humans can push their relationship with gravity.

1. Why the Olympics Matter to Mental Gravity

The Olympics showcase humanity at the edge of physical limits

Elite sport = everyday gravity management taken to extremes
Athletes model what it means to fight gravity physically and mentally
Peak performance = synchronization of body, brain, and meaning

Athletes as Anti-Gravity Prototypes

Cathy Freeman (Sydney 2000)
“Floating” to gold in the 400m
Home crowd as acceleration, not pressure
Up, light, fast = opposite of depression

Quincy Hall (Paris 400m Final)
Turning failure into flight
Last-minute mental reversal → physical transcendence

Basketball, Ski Jumping, SkatingLeaping, flying, spinning, managing G-forcesAngular momentum and rotational control as gravity mastery

Mental Gravity in Elite Performance

Performance depends on mental poise, not just muscle
Stillness before action
Pressure as fuel, not burden
Crowds as acceleration, not oppression
Joy as a performance amplifier

Examples:
Steph Curry — joy + precision
Luka Dončić — playfulness under pressure
Ash Barty — recovery from “the yips” through joy

Imagery, Rehearsal, and Gravity

Mental imagery as bodily rehearsal
Kyrie Irving visualizing free throws
Alex Honnold mentally climbing El Capitan before climbing it

Mental gravity = using body as template for thought and emotion

Up = energized
Down = heavy
Calm = balanced

Fear, Falling, and Mastery

Fear of falling = gravitational anxiety
Elite athletes train to feel secure within gravity
Butterflies in the belly = falling sensations
Great athletes use fear to prime—not paralyze—the nervous system

Timecodes

00:00 — Welcome & why the Olympics matter
01:00 — Peak athleticism as defying gravity
02:00 — Cathy Freeman & floating to gold
03:30 — Winter sports & G-forces
04:30 — Quincy Hall’s last-minute flight
06:00 — Mental vs physical performance
07:30 — Stillness, pressure & acceleration
09:00 — Joy as a performance tool
10:30 — The yips, anxiety & recovery
12:00 — Mental imagery in sport
13:30 — Kyrie Irving & visualization
14:45 — Alex Honnold & fear mastery
16:15 — Fear, falling & butterflies
17:45 — Biogravitational training stacks
19:00 — Team culture & social gravity
20:30 — VR, the Proteus Effect & training
22:00 — Dead hangs & gravity endurance
24:00 — Olympics as humanity’s gravity experiment
25:00 — Closing reflections

Resources

The Gravity Doctors: https://thegravitydoctors.com
Dr Brennan Spiegel: https://brennanspiegelmd.com
Dr Lachlan Kent: https://lachlankent.au
Book — Pull: How Gravity Shapes Your Body, Steadies the Mind, and Guides Our Health

Dr Brennan Spiegel (physician, gastroenterologist, and author of Pull) and Dr Lachlan Kent (cognitive scientist and founder of Mental Gravity) explore serotonin as a gravity-management molecule, reframing it not simply as a “happiness chemical,” but as a fundamental biological system that allows life to stand up, move fluids, regulate balance, and remain psychologically buoyant in a gravitational field.

Together, Brennan and Lachlan unpack new research on serotonin’s role across the gut, cardiovascular system, lymphatics, vestibular system, reproduction, and mood—showing how 95% of serotonin is produced in the gut, in symbiosis with the microbiome. They trace serotonin’s evolutionary origins from ocean life to land, altitude, and even space, and discuss practical implications for diet, exercise, sunlight, microbiome care, and mental health.

1. What Is Serotonin?

A whole-body gravity resilience molecule, not just a brainneurotransmitter

Exists in two largely separate compartments: brain and gut
Central to movement, circulation, balance, mood, and vitality
Evolutionarily conserved across plants, animals, and humans

Serotonin as a Gravity-Management System

Gut & DigestionMotility against gravity in any body orientation

Pumps & Tubes
Blood pressure regulation, cardiac contractility, lymphatic return

Balance& OrientationVestibular function; dizziness during SSRI withdrawal

Reproduction
Retrograde uterine contractions that move sperm upward against gravity

Mood &Energy
Mental elevation, vitality, resilience, and time perception

The Microbiome–Serotonin Alliance

Trillionsof microbes are required to trigger serotonin production
The gut as a “dark, sulfurous, hydrothermal” evolutionary niche
A symbiotic bargain: microbes get mobility; humans get serotonin
Changes in altitude, microgravity, and spaceflight rapidly alter serotoninbiology

STACK TEN: The Anti-Gravity Diet (introduced)

A practical framework from Pull for supporting serotonin production via tryptophan-rich foods.

Core principles:Tryptophan as substrateMicrobiome diversityDietary balance rather than supplementation alone

Therapeutic & Self-Care Implications

Dietary modification (tryptophan-rich foods, microbiome-supportive diets)Exercise and movementSunlight and time outdoorsWorking with dietitians for GI and mood conditions (e.g., low-FODMAP when indicated)Understanding limits and side effects of SSRIsNaturally supporting serotonin across body and mind

Metaphor & Meaning

The gutmicrobiome as the “spice factory” of human biologySerotonin as the true “spice of life”—powerful, regulating, and double-edgedGravity as the organizing principle linking biology, psychology, and medicine

Timecodes

00:00 —Welcome & why serotonin matters
01:10 — Serotonin beyond the “happiness chemical”
02:20 — Gut vs brain serotonin compartments
03:20 — Pumps, tubes & whole-body effects
04:25 — Lymphatics, reproduction & balance
06:20 — Evolutionary origins & gravitation
08:10 — Microbiome symbiosis metaphor
10:15 — Altitude, spaceflight & serotonin disruption
11:30 — STACK TEN diet introduced
12:45 — Diet, microbiome & mood disorders
13:50 — Dune, spice & serotonin metaphor
15:45 — SSRIs: benefits, limits & side effects
17:00 — Natural serotonin support & integration
17:45 — Closing reflections & next steps

Resources

The Gravity Doctors website: https://thegravitydoctors.com
Dr Brennan Spiegel: https://brennanspiegelmd.com
Dr Lachlan Kent: https://lachlankent.au
Book — Pull: How Gravity Shapes Your Body, Steadies the Mind, and Guides Our Health

Dr Brennan Spiegel (physician, gastroenterologist, and author of Pull) and Dr Lachlan Kent (cognitive scientist and founder of Mental Gravity) explore how diet, microbiome diversity, and serotonin production shape your capacity to stand up to gravity—physically and mentally.

They introduce the Anti-Gravity Diet and Brennan’s STACK TEN framework, a simple, evidence-informed way to support the gut’s serotonin “factories” and improve whole-body gravity resilience. Along the way, they unpack how food, fibre, omega-3s, polyphenols, vagus-nerve activation, and mindful rest all participate in the body–mind system that keeps us upright and energised.

Together, Brennan and Lachlan discuss babies as “gravity novices,” leaky gut, the gut–brain axis, evolutionary embodiment, time dilation in depression, and why serotonin—serum tone—is essential for managing the constant downward pull of Earth’s gravity.

• A holistic framework for supporting natural serotonin production—the body’s anti-gravity molecule.
  Grounded in gastrointestinal physiology, microbiome science, and biogravitational medicine.
• Not a restrictive diet — a practical, everyday toolkit for gravity resilience.

A memory device for foods that supply the raw material (tryptophan) for serotonin production:

Salmon
Turkey
Avocado
Chickpeas
Kidney beans
Tofu/Tempeh
Eggs
Nuts

Paired with:

• Fibre → feeds microbes that create short-chain fatty acids

• Omega-3s → shift the microbiome toward serotonin-supporting species

• Polyphenols → found in berries, cocoa, turmeric, and green tea

00:00 — Welcome & overview of the Anti-Gravity Diet
01:20 — Serotonin as the body’s anti-gravity molecule
04:20 — Microbiome diversity & the gut barrier
06:30 — Babies, serotonin & early gravity resilience
09:40 — Tryptophan, fibre & short-chain fatty acids
11:00 — Leaky gut, inflammation & decoherence
13:00 — Food–mood science & depression
16:40 — What to eat: introducing STACK TEN
17:00 — The ten tryptophan-rich foods
18:50 — Polyphenols, omega-3s & microbiome tuning
19:50 — Beyond diet: exercise, nature, sunlight
21:20 — Balancing sympathetic vs parasympathetic tone
23:00 — Vagus-nerve stimulation & rest-and-digest
24:30 — Gravity as the integrator across biological levels
26:00 — Life as a system for managing gravity
27:20 — Closing reflections & future topics

The Gravity Doctors website: ⁠https://thegravitydoctors.com⁠
Gravitype Quiz: virtualmedicine.org/pull
Dr Brennan Spiegel: brennanspiegelmd.com
Dr Lachlan Kent: lachlankent.au
Book — Pull: How Gravity Shapes Your Body, Steadies the Mind, and Guides Our Health