Today we’d like to introduce you to Tyler Baxley.
Hi Tyler, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
Before RFI, Tyler was experimenting with sauna and cold exposure while working as a Performance Consultant at Fort Knox, Kentucky. While in Kentucky, we instructed soldiers on a number of breathwork protocols to help contend with stress, energy and focus. (Tyler) became familiar with this practice after interviewing big-wave surfing legend Laird Hamilton (May 2017) for graduate school research project as part of earning my Master’s Degree in Sport & Performance Psychology. Laird had created XPT Life, combining movement, sauna, cold exposure and breathwork. Prior to interviewing him, I was able to participate in a free breathwork session with a group and the experience stuck with me.
RFI unofficially began in August 2020 as a backyard hangout in Visalia, CA. Tyler had shifted careers and moved back to his hometown after working in San Luis Obispo. He (I) bought a cattle trough and invited friends over each weekend. The buy-in was two X 20 lb. bags of ice. We kept at it each week, rotating the trough to different backyards. The group expanded. We kept at it on and off for about two years. In May 2022, I (Tyler) bought a small, 4-person sauna for the backyard. It was then that we integrated sauna with ice. People posted on Instagram. More people showed up. A year and a half later, we outgrew the backyard.
My younger brother Brit (a Cal Poly graduate) had recently moved back to Visalia with his family in July 2023. It was then that we decided to move RFI from the backyard into a brick-and-mortar. Two brothers with a ton of passion, a broad vision starting on an adventure into the unknown. We secured an empty industrial shop and spent months converting it into a dopamine factory. We officially opened in Visalia in January 2024.
We spent months looking for location number two. Fast Forward to April 2025 and we found a spot in San Luis Obispo’s Duncan Alley. We signed the lease in September and secured the necessary approvals. RFI SLO officially opened in March 2026. Jacob Bilvado, a friend of ours, is the face of the Duncan Alley location. He joined our team after a Scandinanavian sauna trip last winter. He is an Air Force Academy graduate, a former Division I long-distance running athlete and extremely passionate and knowledgable about all-things sauna and cold exposure. We are stoked to have him on the team!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Like most small businesses, we have learned a ton since starting in 2024 and continue to learn every day. Initial struggles were explaining to people who we were. We are not a gym. We are not a country club. We are not another exclusive wellness spa. We offer heat and cold (with thoroughly rinsing in-between, of course). Essentially, RFI is like going to the bar without the alcohol. Strangers quickly become friends. Since one common denominator is that RFI regulars voluntarily pursue discomfort, it’s easy to connect with people and in an authentic way.
One of the other struggles we have had to work through is using an app for bookings. It doesn’t always work perfectly but it’s the best system we have found that fits what we do. Lastly, would be the continued maintenance on the ice baths and saunas. We do everything within our power to ensure that the tubs and cold, the saunas stay hot and that both are clean. This requires monitoring the water, cleaning / changing filters, scrubbing, fixing ozone filtration and a bunch of other maintenance-related work that we do behind-the-scenes. It’s not as much plug-and-play as we thought it would be, but we love it.
We’ve been impressed with Respire, Fire & Ice, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Respire, Fire & Ice is a small business that offers cold water exposure and sauna. My background is in Sport Psychology / Teaching and I have been an active participant in endurance sports for 15-ish years, so RFI has felt like a byproduct of all of the things I have studied, taught and been interested in. Our mission: “To Revitalize the Human Spirit through community the vigorous pursuit of presence”. What we are known for is community. That’s how this whole idea started. A couple friends showing up to the backyard followed up by them inviting their friends. Word spread and more friends showed up. There was no master business strategy when I (Tyler) first bought a cattle trough in 2020. This was just something I enjoyed doing because I loved how it made me feel. I figured others would feel similarly about it. They just had to try it once.
Brand-wise, what I am most proud of is the community that this has attracted. It happened organically which has made the past few years incredibly special. Without them, none of this would be possible. Our services can be found on the “Respire, Fire & Ice” app.
Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
I think risk-taking leads to living a good story. I can only speak for myself, but some of the best experiences I have had in life were a result of risk: buying a one-way ticket to New Zealand for work / travel without a job secured, running my first 100-mile race (Pine to Palm, 20215), moving to Kentucky for work without ever having been there, interviewing Laird Hamilton without any prior interviewing experience, sleeping in my car in many a Wal-Mart parking lot, skydiving, and bungee jumping. Those experiences have all made for fun stories, but starting RFI was a huge risk because I walked away from a secure job as a teacher to partner with my brother on a venture that neither of us had any reference point for starting. It’s one of the the most meaningful risks we have taken because of the relationships we have forged through thousands of hours of sweating and freezing with strangers who became our friends.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.respirefireice.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/respire_fire_and_ice
