A friend recommended some kind of mountain bike pedals that have two points that clip instead of the SPD three-point on my current shoes and pedals. He says you can get out of them in both directions.
It's a little confusing. Shimano refers to their road pedals as SPD-SL (3 point) and their "mountain" pedals as just SPD (two point).
I suppose they're both technically SPD pedals but most everyone is referring to the two point variety when discussing SPDs. There is a particular type of SPD cleat called "multi-release" which is what I'm guessing your friend is talking about. Not all SPD cleats are multi-release.