From British entrepreneur and podcaster Steven Bartlett (of Diary of a CEO fame), to famed biohacker Dave Asprey and Rapid Transformational Therapy trainer Marisa Peer, the Future Human summit by Mindvalley in Dubai was teeming with wellness experts. Each offered invaluable – and customisable – tips and tricks on how to maximise your own journey of health, fitness and mental balance.
Here are six takeaways from the talks at Dubai Expo City.
Cut workouts to five minutes with AI
Longevity – or the pursuit of prolonging life and health span – is having a moment. At the summit, Asprey (often referred to as the father of biohacking) talked through his newer findings. These include doubling down on eating steak after years as a vegan, shunning raspberries and kale in favour of blueberries and romaine lettuce, and lessening the intake of oxalates among other tangible tips.
What's perhaps more digestible (especially for those overwhelmed by what to eat in 2025 according to science) is how AI can cut weekly cardio workouts down to just a few minutes a week, supposedly with the same efficiency.
“All of exercise in history has been running away from tigers,” Asprey told a captivated audience. Tracked on a chart, this would show a single spike of exertion, and a fall-to-the-ground to recover drop. Hinting at AI, the Upgrade Labs founder went on to explain that not enough exercise today pushes us in that way, and we're not looking at how quickly we recover as a marker of our overall fitness. Explaining his own workout regime, he revealed he does five minutes of cardio, three times a week.
Speaking to The National after his talk, Asprey expands his point. “We now have enough data on the human condition. We have heart rate and heart rate variability, resistance data for millions of people across the planet, and lab testing that is amazing. In combination with AI, we can now say: ‘Here's all my data, AI. Help me know what's going to work in the least amount of time.’
“The real investment you're making at the gym is time and effort. So if you can reduce the amount of time and effort, and actually get results, you save four to five hours a week exercising, which instead goes into parenting, meditating or your career.”
While Asprey teased expanding his clinic in the region, current longevity clinics such as Formation in Dubai Marina offer 15-minute cycling sessions.
Lie to yourself everyday for biggest mindset shift
After some audience participation and positive affirmations echoing in unison during her session, famed therapist Marisa Peer received a standing ovation. As such, it’s safe to say her message had an immediate impact.
“When they stand up, I know they got it. That's always nice,” Peer tells The National after her talk. By “it”, she means the power of positive self-talk when it comes to rewiring your mind.
“Everything is mindset. It's the little things that take the least time that have the most powerful effect, like saying 'I'm enough' every day.”
This comes after Peer told the crowd to “lie, cheat and steal!”, adding: “Lie to your mind, cheat fear and steal back your born state of enoughness.”
She also addressed the “emptiness” many seek to fill, from food to followers. These, she says, stem from unmet childhood needs, adding that if our childhood is the bow, it is up to us to be the arrow and keep moving forward.
It is little wonder that rather than fixate on childhood, Peer's main focus this year is working with children. “Any good therapist should want to put themselves out of business,” she says, explaining why she now does so much work teaching the power of a positive mindset to future generations.
Mind-body connection is easy to practise
Stand up. Put your hands in front of you, fists clenched. Now, flex the thumb of your left hand. Point with the index finger of your right hand. Now switch – right thumb up and left index pointed. And switch again. Now switch with your eyes closed.
If you struggled, you'd be in good company, as was evident in Allaoua Gaham’s session, where the yoga teacher and wellness consultant led the auditorium through a 10-minute workshop on tuning into the mind-body connection, with attendees stretching in their seats.
Gaham also discussed where emotions are stored in the body, pushing through discomfort to benefit from a stretch, and how mind-body connection can keep you in tune with your intuition.
While an express desk stretch isn't always doable, the quick finger-thumb trick to wake up your mind-body connection is one to keep in your back pocket.
Utilise ChatGPT for personalised diet and fitness plans
If Asprey is about biohacks, Mindvalley founder and chief executive Vishen Lakhiani is all about time-saving life hacks.
For Lakhiani, a meditation retreat is a waste of time. We now have the knowledge, teachings and technology to achieve similar results in 15 minutes, he says.
Complex workouts are also not as efficient as structural specialist Lorenzo Delano's 6 x Alpa workout routine.
Stem cell therapy (which he has undertaken) could be the greatest life hack of all, with new research in Japanese labs moving towards curing chronic pain and conditions.
The biggest takeaway for most people in the room? How they can use ChatGPT to personalise diet and fitness instructions. By putting in your morning meal along with you metric and dietary goal, the AI technology can tell you exactly what to eat for the rest of the day, for instance.
This example was just the beginning, as Lakhiani demonstrated how he constructs his entire meal and workout plan using the technology.
It's worth remembering, however, to speak to a medical professional before drastically altering your diet or fitness routine.
Try a fast for a doom-scrolling reset
“When you go through a fast, you realise that the mind works in a different way. Even though you're not eating or drinking water, there is a bit of more clarity,” noted health coach Ronan Diego de Oliveira.
Delivering a talk titled How to Fast for Physical and Mental Transformation, Oliveira discussed many of the now-popular intermittent fasting methods and the benefits they can have on our physiology.
Oliveira, who first discovered the benefits of a practice during fasting for Ramadan, also stressed its mental benefits.
“I have lost joy in activities I used to love. I feel bored more often lately. I wanted to do creative things with my free time, but I often get started scrolling on social media or watching TV instead,” he said, reeling off the common complaints listed during his session. “All of those are signals of low dopamine receptors.
“One thing that happens when you go through a 36-hour fast, 12-hour pause, 36-hour fast, is that your brain resets,” he says, referring to a type of fast practised by some Tibetan monks when they seek clarity.
“All of a sudden, not only is your body changing, but impulsive behaviour also starts to decrease. Now you have the motivation. The brain is changing.”
Saying yes-yes to the power of forgiveness
Life coach, author and motivational speaker Lisa Nichols knows how to get the crowd going. She opened her 45-minute slot telling the crowd to chant “yes, yes” whenever they resonated with a story she told or point she made. And they obliged.
Nichols’ talk on Future Human was how to step into our future selves. For her, the answer is forgiveness.
“I'm not assuming it's easy,” she said. “I'm just reminding us that it's our birthright. When I look at forgiveness, it's not pardoning someone's behaviours, not excusing something that's happened to you, but forgiveness if about making sure … my soul has everything it needs to step into greatness.”
She went on to recall her own story of a childhood experience on racism in the playground that stayed with her for 18 years before she learnt the power of forgiveness, especially self-forgiveness.
When it comes to stepping into the future you, then, for Nichol that means forgiving your past and getting back up again when life knocks you down. “You got to be willing to give yourself a thousand second chances.”
