How to Befriend Stress, Build Resilience & Thrive
APRIL 23RD, 2025
EPISODE 89: How to Befriend Stress, Build Resilience & Thrive with Jeff Krasno
What if the key to better health, deeper connections, and a more fulfilling life is actually doing hard things? In this enlightening and often humorous conversation, Dr. Scott Lyons sits down with Jeff Krasno, founder of Commune and Wanderlust, who transformed his health and life by embracing discomfort rather than avoiding it. Five years ago, Jeff was 65-70 pounds heavier and facing a diabetes diagnosis when he discovered the power of "good stress" - the kind that makes you stronger, more resilient, and more connected to others.
Jeff shares his remarkable journey from being a "chubby kid" constantly relocating (11-12 times before age seven) to becoming what Scott calls "the fascia of community" - a super connector who brings people together. His childhood struggles to fit in across different countries and languages eventually became his superpower, leading him to create spaces where others could belong. Through his personal health transformation and spiritual awakening, Jeff discovered that chronic dis-ease is often the result of chronic ease - and that leaning into discomfort might be exactly what we need.
From cold plunges and fasting to facilitating difficult conversations between Israeli and Palestinian students, Jeff reveals how embracing "good stress" can transform not just our physical health but our relationships and spiritual lives. As he beautifully puts it: "The true wonderful ease that we're looking for requires a degree of inconvenience."
Topics We Break Down:
How chronic ease leads to chronic disease
The concept of "good stress" and hormetic stressors (cold, heat, fasting)
Jeff's protocol that helped him lose 65 pounds and reverse diabetes
Building a "psychological immune system" through difficult conversations
The spiritual dimensions of practices like fasting and cold exposure
Finding the space between stimulus and response as the key to personal freedom
Why true ease comes from meaningful connection, not comfort
Show Notes
Episode Links:
Discount Codes:
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Special Guest
JEFF KRASNO
Jeff Krasno is the co-founder and CEO of Commune, a masterclass platform for personal and societal well-being, and co-creator of Wanderlust, a global series of wellness events. He hosts the Commune podcast, interviewing a wide variety of luminaries from Deepak Chopra and Marianne Williamson to Matthew McConaughey and Gabor Maté.
His latest venture expands Jeff’s personal story and protocols into a book, Good Stress: The Benefits of Doing Hard Things(Hay House, March 2025). The book dives deeper into the concepts from the course, distilling insights from over 400 podcast conversations Jeff has conducted, along with his personal experiences applying these ideas to transform his own health. It explores deliberate, self-imposed behaviors that promote social, psychological, and physical well-being, offering both a philosophical exploration of true wellness and practical steps to achieve it.
Your Host
DR. SCOTT LYONS
Dr. Scott Lyons is a licensed holistic psychologist, educator and author of the book Addicted to Drama: Healing Dependency on Crisis and Chaos in Yourself and Others, with Hachette publishing. Scott is also the host of The Gently Used Human Podcast, a delightfully depthful and often hilarious exploration of what it is to be human, to have lived life, and come out gently used.
As a renowned body-based trauma expert, Doctor of Osteopathy (Spain) and Mind-Body Medicine specialist, Scott helps people to break free from cycles of pain, limited beliefs, and trauma. Scott is an innovator in transformative wellness and trauma therapy, teaching over half a million people internationally over the past twenty years how to relieve stress and restore vitality. Scott has worked with many of the country’s top leaders and CEOs as an executive coach and wellness consultant.
Scott is the creator of The Embody Lab—the largest online learning platform for body-based trauma therapies—and developer of Somatic Stress Release™, a holistic process of restoring biological resilience, taught in over 20 countries. Scott is also the founder and progressive designer of Omala, a wellness brand dedicated to creating sustainably sourced tools for transformation.
About the Podcast
THE GENTLY USED HUMAN
Dr. Scott Lyons and his world renowned guests take us into the delightfully depthful and often hilarious exploration of what it is to be human, to have lived life, and come out gently used. From passion to pain, glory to defeat, comedy to drama to tragedy, we’ve all been through it. This show unpacks the psychology and humor needed to keep you thriving on the roller coaster of being human.
