Episode 172 - Sisterly Catch Up: Sharing Our Sleep Struggles, Binge-Worthy Shows, Fave Workouts, And More (Full Transcript)

This is a full transcript of the Nirvana Sisters podcast Episode 172.

Editor’s Note: Please know that this podcast transcript is automatically generated and may contain minor errors such as typos and word switches. For more information, be sure to listen to the podcast here.

SPEAKER_00:

Welcome to Nirvana Sisters podcast, where we take the intimidation out of well-being and beauty to help you achieve your highest state, your nirvana. We are sisters-in-law and your hosts.

SPEAKER_01:

I'm Amy Sherman. And I'm Katie Chandler. So let's get into some real conversation. I'm so tired.

SPEAKER_00:

You want to kick it off? Oh, I'm. Yeah. Do you notice? I just I don't know if you have this with Adam, but I do this to all the time. Like if he says I'm tired, I'm like, oh, my God, I'm so tired. It's like a competition. Yes. So when you just said I'm so tired, I'm like, yeah, me too. I got like no sleep last night. So let's start off with that. So Nirvana Sisters family, Kate and I decided we just needed to catch up. And speaking of sleep, my sleep has been horrible, which is so unusual for me. First of all, I have a cold, so that's probably why. But I think I have a cold because I've been sleeping like not great the last few weeks, probably from stress. But I don't know if it's time of year. I don't know what it is. Have you been feeling that way?

SPEAKER_01:

I have been sleeping fine, but I'm having a really hard time falling asleep. Mm hmm. I'm waking up so tired. I don't. So my like one of my superpowers is I either a wake up before the alarm or B, I wake up with the alarm and I shut it off and I get right up and start my day with no problem. I had that hasn't been me though for a while and it's driving me crazy because like the first half of my day I'm in a sleepy fog like I am right now. Story of my life, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

At night I'm like wired. This is me. This is what's been happening to me lately. It's driving me crazy. And then you get in this pattern of like being a night owl. So last night, for example, this is terrible. I was up late. I was like tired, but then I got wired. So I ended up watching the season finale of Tell Me Lies at like, I don't know, one in the morning. Probably didn't fall asleep till two. I just couldn't fall asleep. And then I was watching that show, of course. And, you know, it was amazing. If anyone's not watching Tell Me Lies, it's such a good like, you know, binger of a show. But anyway, same thing.

SPEAKER_01:

It's driving me insane. I don't I. First of all, if I stayed up that late, I wouldn't be here right now, so I don't even know how you're doing it.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I know. I'm like running on empty right now.

SPEAKER_01:

Late for me is like 11, but you know, I always go to bed early.

SPEAKER_00:

So, I don't know. What's a good time of sleep for you to go to bed? Is it like 9 or 10?

SPEAKER_01:

My most ideal time to fall asleep is between 10 and 10.30, if I wake up earlier, great. But you know, I'm usually up at like 5. So yeah, if I was two and got up at five, I'd be dead meat.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, so my ideal time to fall asleep is between 10.30 and 11, and then get up around seven, which is usually my routine. But I'm finding I'm having a hard time to stick to that routine right now, because I think what's happening, I was explaining this to Stu too, and I don't know if you feel this way, I'm sure you do. I feel like I'm so busy during the day, and then by the time you finish dinner and do the things you have to do, it's like then you have no downtime to yourself, and I feel like my only downtime is nine or 10 o'clock at night. 100%. And then it's like I don't have a wind down routine and it's like you really need to start the wind down routine at like eight o'clock, but we're still doing stuff at eight o'clock at night. So I got to like redo our whole schedule.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, that's 100% without a doubt part of our problem. And I kind of think a little bit has to do with back to school and like getting the girls back into the back to school routine. Yeah. Madeline also is now getting to the age where she wants to stay up later. So not getting into I used to put the girls to bed and be in bed, like turning my TV on ready to have my me time by like 805. Yeah, forget it. It's not happening till like 9 or 9.30.

SPEAKER_00:

Right. I mean, I don't even really. I mean, Jules is in ninth grade, Jackson's in 12, so it's not like I put them to bed anymore. But like I also was traveling to L.A. last weekend and it was a great trip, but it was like Friday to Sunday, which was totally fine in the moment. But then I think it's taken me like a week to catch up just from like traveling and like a long flight and the jet lag and whatever. hence why I have a cold and yada yada but yeah I think it's a hectic time of year and I'm glad I'm talking to you and you feel the same way because we all just need to take a step back and breathe because I just feel like I'm it's also I'm stressed because it's Jackson's senior year and there's like all this college stuff and like there's a thousand things going on so I'm just having a hard time balancing it so I'm trying to go back to all the things that we talked about like I'm trying to do my breathing I'm trying to like really hone in on it, but I think the sleep, if I can, to your point, get it organized where I can wind down earlier and get in bed by 10.30 or so, then at least I feel like if I get my sleep schedule back, then everything else will fall into place. I also have eight sleep, which I don't know if we've talked about before. Did we talk about eight sleep?

SPEAKER_01:

I don't know if we've covered it yet.

SPEAKER_00:

Do you know what it is?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, you've told me about it.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Just for our audience, if you don't know what eight sleep is, it's changed the game. Well, obviously, the last two weeks, I haven't been sleeping well. So taking that aside before that changed the game on sleeping.

SPEAKER_01:

You get into eight sleep. Yeah. I can't help but think like, as the season's changing part of it, and just like, Oh, and everything can't be alone, right?

SPEAKER_00:

Now, I'm sure our listeners and other people are feeling the same way because I feel like all my friends feel the same way right now, too. It's just like that time of year where it's very hectic. And I always feel like that, too, when the seasons change. It's like, I don't know, your body just feels different sometimes.

SPEAKER_01:

those things off. Okay, so Eight Sleep, yeah, you told me so many.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, yeah, Eight Sleep is amazing. I won't go super in depth, I'll talk about it on a Product Junkies episode, but it's basically this mattress cover that you can put on top of your mattress and it heats and cools and you can program it. And not only does it do that, it captures all your biometrics. So I can see last night, where's my phone? I can see, well, I don't even wanna tell you my sleep scores, they're probably horrible. but you can get your sleep scores. Actually, my sleep score wasn't terrible. For some reason, it says my sleep quality was 90%. which isn't bad, because I thought I didn't sleep so good. But anyway, it gives you your sleep fitness score, tells you the quality of your sleep, it tells you how much REM sleep versus deep sleep. So it gives you all of the data, and it also auto-optimizes the temperature based on how you're sleeping. It also captures your snoring, it captures how long it took you to fall asleep, it captures your heart rate variability, all that kind of stuff. So it's really cool for data nerds, which I know you are, but the best thing about it is just You know, you can get in if you like a warm bed at night or a cold bed, you can schedule the temperature and it just turns on and you get into bed and it's like nice and warm or nice and cold. And then it also, you can change it throughout the night. So if you want it to be cool all night, you can make it cool all night. And then in the morning, you can set it so it gets warmer because you naturally will wake up with like a warmer temperature. You can naturally wake up with a warmer temperature. So like it helps you to wake up. And then my favorite part is the thermal alarm. The bed wakes you up with like a gentle vibration, like a tap. It's almost like someone's tapping you to wake up. Game changer. So you don't wake up with like an alarm sound. I mean, it takes the sunrise alarm clock to the next level because it's not even it's just like a light little tap. But anyway, that's been like my favorite sleep hack or sleep tool. Just not lately. So I got to get my routine back in check.

SPEAKER_01:

Does it have two zones for the temperature? Yes. Your partner wants a different temperature.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. So Stu always sleeps hot. And now he's literally not hot when he sleeps anymore. He puts the cold down and it goes down to like minus 10 or plus 10. And I think he only puts it on like minus two and it's cold enough, which is crazy. It's very it's an it's an incredible. Product anyway. OK, so sleep, we're not doing good, but we need to do better, so.

SPEAKER_01:

I feel like my diet has been pretty on point. I've been focusing a lot on whole foods lately. In the summertime, I think my diet flies off a little bit because there's just so much celebratory Like it's just so it's like a time where you're on vacation. Yeah. We're entertaining a lot. So I've been trying to hone that in and get more into just like really, really focusing on on eating whole foods, which I think is always such an easy hack to get your diet tuned in. You know, it's like I'm not calorie counting. I'm not. Yeah. Not like restricting anything except for really like processed crap. Right. And focusing on whole foods like 80, 20, 90, 10, maybe. Yeah. So I'm like, if I can get my sleep dialed in, then I think I'll be feeling really, really good. What about you? Have you tried anything new lately? Any new good? I'm trying to think if I've had any good... What's one of the best snacks that are like healthy snacks?

SPEAKER_00:

I know. I'm like crazy with snacks. I feel like I always have good snacks. I do have like some good, I mean... Like I like my chickpea snacks. I got these really good. I don't well, they're gluten-free and These somewhat healthy a little like snacks from a Costco these like organic little yogurt covered fruit things which are good. I Feel like we have good snacks. I feel like my my eating has been healthy ish, but like not full meals, which is always my problem. It's like I'll graze all day on healthy things, but like I'll have carrots and hummus and then I'll have like, I don't know, one of my protein bagels and then I'll have this. Like I'm not lately. I'm not sitting down to eat like to your point, a full meal with like whole foods where there's, you know, a carb, a protein and a vegetable. Like, do you know what I mean? Like, I'm not.

SPEAKER_01:

It's because you haven't been as hungry. You're just like too busy.

SPEAKER_00:

I think it's both and like lazy. I just want like things made. Like my go-to is always like hard boiled eggs or tuna or like, it's just like one thing. It's not like a full meal. So do you know what I mean? Like, or even if I make dinner at night, I'm always like, okay, I'll make chicken. And then I'm like, wait, I need something else with it, like rounding it out. So I always need like inspo. But like, I look at some of the people that we follow, like Katkin Cook, and I get ideas, but it's like, I, I'm not organized enough to get stuff in advance. So like, sometimes I'll do that, but I've just been inconsistent.

SPEAKER_01:

You know what I feel like is the best hack for that is, is adding sweet potatoes. It's because sweet, they're so good for you and they are filled with fiber and they are just really, they're like, I love sweet potatoes and you can literally, I mean, it's not the best thing, but if you're in a time crunch, pop it in the microwave and it's done in like minutes.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I also have the sweet potatoes that just reminds me in the freezer, like those ones that are like already cuts. You can put them in like in the toaster. I forgot about those. My kids don't eat sweet potatoes, though. Stu and I do. Do your kids eat sweet potatoes?

SPEAKER_01:

Maddie does. Reese, I mean, I don't even know how Reese exists.

SPEAKER_00:

Is she still just eating pasta or what is she eating?

SPEAKER_01:

No, she eats at least at like the best I can get in her is like nuts and seeds, seaweed, sugar snap peas, cucumbers. But then asides from that, all she wants is like pasta, rice, or processed crap.

SPEAKER_00:

That's it. Yeah, it's just in that phase.

SPEAKER_01:

I can't get her to eat protein. Don't get me wrong, she'll eat some McDonald's chicken nuggets if I give them to her. Right. I mean, it's like, it's brutal. And the thing that's scary is it's not totally a phase. It's been this way since she started.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. It's hard. So what do you do? Just keep trying? I just keep trying. Exactly. But at least she's getting in some of those healthy snacks.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, she does. And she'll, you know, she'll eat like good granola and she'll eat a protein bar, which isn't the best, but that's like, that's practically the only way I can get protein in her, a smoothie.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Smoothie is good. I have to get back on my smoothie game. I feel like I go through phases with smoothies. Like I do love smoothies, but then, and I get in a phase of making them all the time and then I got out of it. So that's always like a good go-to. I feel like I have to remember that.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, sometimes if I'm really tired when I get home from work, I'll just make a smoothie with like some good protein powder in it.

SPEAKER_00:

I know. I feel like that too. Lately for dinner, I don't, I'm not craving a big dinner, but obviously living in a house of boys, like they want like a big dinner. And I'm always like, I could have a smoothie or I could have cereal. Like I just don't crave a big dinner, but they're all like ravenous. So I have to figure out like what to make or what to get them. And we've also been like getting a lot of like takeout, not bad takeout, like kava and things like that. But you know, it's just,

SPEAKER_01:

Did I say on Stories recently, you shared something like when my 15-year-old's $3 hamburger gets delivered and it's a fail? Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, yeah. It's like they're out of control with the DoorDash. It's crazy. Okay, switching topics because we didn't talk about this and I think you watched Nobody Wants This, right, on Netflix? So good. So amazing. Well, first of all, it was so cute because of the podcast Sister. So I was like, yeah. And you know, it's based on Erin and Sarah Foster from World's First podcast.

SPEAKER_01:

I didn't actually know that. Yeah. And so somebody told me that after I watched it.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, it's it's based on a true story. It's exaggerated. I heard her talking about it. Like, Erin Foster, who's the creator of the show, married a Jewish guy and converted, not a rabbi, but it's like loosely based on that. And that's where the idea came from. And they have their podcast and whatever. So I loved it. It was so good. We watched it in like a day.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I watched it like the last two weeks. And it's really, I mean, Kristen Bell is so cute. So cute. Adam Brody, adorable. Adam Brody. Yeah, he's so cute. That's a great show. I totally recommend it. Remember The O.C. ? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Was he? Was it the OC or? He was on one of those shows.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Yeah, no, you're right.

SPEAKER_00:

You're right. Yeah. Like back in the day.

SPEAKER_01:

What is Tell Me Lies? Because Adam came into the room last night. He was driving home from the airport and he's like, I talked to my mom and dad for an hour and they told me about this show that I should watch, but I definitely shouldn't watch with them.

SPEAKER_00:

Wait, who told him to watch this? Your parents. Oh, I know. This is the most great show. Watch the show. Oh, you can't watch it with the kids. It's so yeah. So first of all, that is hilarious because my parents I forgot my parents told me they were watching that. Like I watched Tell Me Lies season one. um whenever it came out right and like never even talked to my parents about it because i would never think that they would watch that and then the other day they're like oh yeah we're what we're catching up on tell me lies i'm like are you joking like i cannot believe they like it because it's about like college kids and it's so there's so much sex and craziness but like hilarious i thought it was about like affairs it's not about it no well it's basically about a toxic relationship between these two main characters and but it's based like in 90s college. It's so good. I'm so jealous you haven't watched it because you can watch all of season one and now binge all of season two. It's so good. But it's like one of those where it's like, it's bad but good. You know what I mean? But it really depicts sort of this toxic relationship.

SPEAKER_01:

Like it's like a guilty pleasure kind of watching.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, exactly. But it does cover like topics and different things for sure. But yeah, just watch it.

SPEAKER_01:

And then Adam would get into it because he, you know, he never watches anything with me.

SPEAKER_00:

I don't know. He doesn't really watch TV, does he?

SPEAKER_01:

Except the news. All we ever watch together is Curb Your Enthusiasm. And then we watch Schitt's Creek for a while. That's like, yeah, I mean,

SPEAKER_00:

I don't know what kind of shows he likes. I mean, Stu, I feel like watched it maybe with me in the beginning, but then was sort of like whatever. But I love all those shows with like school, college, high school, like any of that stuff. And apparently my parents do too. So I feel like he might have watched it, but then like wasn't as into it as I. Adam might like it. I mean, everyone's like good looking and it's like college and it's like fun and it's like sex and it's crazy. You know, it's it's so good. So, yeah, season two came out. I watched all that. Watched the last episode last night. It was the I guess I'm pretty sure it was the season finale for season two. So put that on your list because like if you have anywhere to go, just like download a bunch of shows and watch it. You'll love it. But you yeah, you cannot watch it around the girls. It is like It's too graphic. It's too graphic. Not every scene, but there's definitely like, you can't, no way.

SPEAKER_01:

I just got into, so I don't know why, when, or where it happened, but I have turned into the biggest history geek. I have just all of a sudden become obsessed with history and with war. History and what? History and war. Oh, okay. Yeah. It's so, so random. So I'm reading one book about the fall of the Ottoman Empire. So random. This other show, this show that I just started watching two days ago, it's insanely good. It's called 1883. It's on Amazon Prime. Have you heard of it?

SPEAKER_00:

No, but Stu probably has because he loves all that stuff.

SPEAKER_01:

It's so good. First of all, the main characters are Tim McGraw and Faith Hill. So they're married in real life and they're married in the show. Oh, okay. And then Sam Elliott, which you would know who he is as soon as you see him. Oh yeah, I know who he is. He's great. Amazing. And then there's these crazy cameos, like Tom Hanks makes a cameo, Billy Bob Thornton.

SPEAKER_00:

Is it new? What's it called? 1883?

SPEAKER_01:

I don't know when it came out, but it's about early settlers in the West, and it really depicts what the Wild West was like. Oh, that's cool. In that era. But it's just really well done with the characters and the acting and the actors and everything. Every episode there's another cameo of some insane actor. So it's really good. I'm only on episode four. That's interesting. Did you watch Game of Thrones? I did. I never finished it, though.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, OK. Because there's another show, which I think is in the second season. I forget what it's called. The House of Dragons. Yeah, it's the prequel. We've been catching up on that. But it's funny because we loved Game of Thrones and we liked this show when it first came out. And now we're on season, I guess it's season two. But it's never like our first choice because it's like you have to be like ready to watch it. Like I'm finding that I just like these tell me lies and like nobody wants it's just like these easy So you're not like thinking too much. You're just like zoning out.

SPEAKER_01:

That's a little bit, I feel like 1883 is kind of an in-between of that. So I was into these really, really heavy shows. And I'm trying to think of what I just finished that was so good, but it was heavy. It was called The Lioness, and it was about the Middle East. Before that, I watched We Were the Lucky Ones, which, have you seen that? I've never heard of that. It's a true story. I could cry thinking about it. It follows a family that survived the Holocaust. And I didn't know that it was Come like a completely true story until the very end. Oh my god So you pictures of the family and of the people and they tell you where they're gonna have chills? Yes, I was I'm not kidding. I was sobbing I was sobbing crying when they when I realized that it was a true story. Oh my god I mean, it's I it's a definite recommend, but it's heavy obviously.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, you got to be prepared. What channels that is that prime also?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah was I think hulu

SPEAKER_00:

OK, I just wrote it down. I want to watch that. So you have to be prepared. Yeah. I watched this other speaking of true stories and again, speaking of my parents, because they're the one who told me about this show called Under the Bridge. Oh yeah, I've heard of it. Yeah, that's on, I want to say Hulu as well. And that's a true story, not as heavy as like, well, it's heavy because it's about, it's about someone who dies and I didn't.

SPEAKER_01:

Is that the great actress from Handmaid's Tale? The same woman?

SPEAKER_00:

No, it's, I'm trying to think who's in it that you would know. You know the main, this is so random, the main star in it is the woman from, did you watch Daisy and the Six? Yes. The main character? She's totally different in this show, but she's one of the main characters in this.

SPEAKER_01:

By the way, that's Elvis Presley's granddaughter. It is? Yeah. That's Lisa Marie Presley's daughter.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh my God. I had no idea.

SPEAKER_01:

Daisy and the Six?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Yeah. It's her name.

SPEAKER_01:

I don't even know her name, but I just read that recently. It's Elvis Presley's granddaughter. Isn't that cool?

SPEAKER_00:

Wow. That's really cool. I did not know that. So she's one of the main characters in this Tommy in this under the bridge show. And it's sad. It's about this like group of girls in high school. One of the girls dies. And it's a true story. But that was also good, but like heavy, dark, but but good. And my parents randomly told me about that one, too.

SPEAKER_01:

Let's talk a little bit about exercise because you've got a tonal.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, so I know I haven't talked about this. I mean, you know it, but I haven't really mentioned it. So I got a tonal, was it back in the spring? I want to say maybe April-ish and I've been using it ever since and like you've talked about it obviously on the show and it's great and I love it and it's definitely like Between that and Melissa Health, I found my groove, although the last few weeks since I've been stressed and busy and feeling under the weather, I haven't been working out as much, so I need to get back to it. I mean, I've done a workout or two a week, but nothing. hardcore, but the tonal is amazing. I think it's such incredible technology because what I find is like when I use the weights there, like if you were just to use free weights, you would just use the same weights all the time. You would never change them up or maybe you would, but there's no like formula. And I just like that you don't have to think about it. You can press the button and it automatically just like optimizes it and like you can beat your personal records and like it just does it. So there's no thought. You just do the class. But It's funny, now it's like, I feel like, and I don't know if you got to this phase with tonal, because I've been doing it a lot. First of all, I feel much better, I feel stronger, I'm starting to see more definition, which I love, but I'm getting to a point now where it's getting hard, it's getting heavier, and it's like I worked out last week and the weight was heavy, so I was really sore the next day for a few days. Is that what happens?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I mean, that's what happens because it's during progressive overload, which to your point is exactly what's so amazing about it. But that's the only way that you gain strength. Yeah, I get it. Because then it makes the workouts like a little less exciting a little harder. Yeah. like grit to get up and go and do it. I totally get what you're saying. But you can also, if it's too much, you can also manually change it.

SPEAKER_00:

Right, scale it back just depending on how you're feeling. One of the things I was going to ask you, I think I mentioned this before, I'm also finding, this is so weird, but like with the tonal, since, you know, it's like the handles, I find that like when it's heavy, it's not that I can't do it, but sometimes my hands and my wrists are like weak. Like they're not strong enough to almost pull up the weight, but like my, body is strong enough. Does that make sense? It's like heavy in my hands and then it like hurts my wrists.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, but that's also just literally... It's your grip strength.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. I need to work on that. I used to have like a grip like little thingy at my desk and I lost it. I want to get another one of those because I'm realizing I'm like, I feel like my grip strength is really weak.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. I mean, just working out on the tunnel will improve your grip strength.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I would do that for sure. Yeah. So I've just really been doing tonal, Melissa Wood Health and walks. That's pretty much it. What about you?

SPEAKER_01:

Tonal, I do the weightlifting, of course. And then I also will do the occasional yoga program on there if I don't just want to do my own flow. I actually got with the bird of paradise the other day, which was kind of crazy. You start with your body and a lunge and you bind your arm under your thigh and around your back and then from being down you then stand up and you've got like your leg is like wrapped in your arm and you're bound up.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh my god, I don't know how you did that.

SPEAKER_01:

I did it. It was very cool. And then I got the Nice Day Stair Stepper that was all over TikTok. Oh, right. We bought that, too, because you had it. Yeah, I love it. I'm obsessed with it. It's such a good cardio workout for me. And it is lifting my glutes, which I need. I love it.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, we have to post this. How much was it? $40? $50? I think $60. Oh, $60? Yeah. It's literally like a tiny little stair stepper. And Katie brought it over the summer when we were together to the beach. Well, actually, I tried it at your house and then you brought it to the beach. And it's like, it's so good. I forget about that because you know what? We bought it and then Stu put it in his office because he uses it all the time. Good. He uses it more than I do. And then I like forgot about it because it's I don't see it when I go downstairs. But it's great. I know I need to use that more. I find myself like wanting to do like tonal workouts more than that because it's like cardio. And I'm like, I don't feel like doing cardio. But to your point, like if you literally just go on that and watch Tell Me Lies, you're like, that's exactly what I do.

SPEAKER_01:

I'll get on there and I'll put on something like Usually if I'm working out, it's it's during the day, so I won't get into anything heavy. I'll put on something stupid like something sunset and I'll just like pump away for 30 minutes. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

I need to, that's a good one. We'll, we'll, we'll put that up on our feed because that's like an easy thing that you could just like travel with or just put in your office, whatever. And the other thing I wanted to share with you, which I didn't share with you is shout out to my friend Victoria. She gave me, or she told me about this product. It's the TheraBody Face Smart Goggles. Have you seen these? They're these goggles you put on, you know, Therabody, like they have all these face products now, like different things. It's literally these goggles you put on and you charge them and you press a button and they're like, they like massage your temples and your face. So you told me about it. Oh, did I? It's amazing for headaches. It's amazing for like if you've been looking at the computer screen all day. So back to the sleep deal, I've been trying to just use that at night as a way to like It's like a really good way to wind down. So my friend Victoria told me about it and I bought it and it's really, it's great.

SPEAKER_01:

Really helps with headaches. Another great way to wind down. I think I'm going to do it tonight. Take an Epsom salt bath before you go. It definitely helps get you into sleeping mode faster.

SPEAKER_00:

I need to just do that. Also, we have the sauna and that helps too. I think the outcome is we need to start our wind down routine earlier.

SPEAKER_01:

and just get back into the groove. I have to go because I'm going to go get IV therapy. I'm hoping it's going to perk me up. Good.

SPEAKER_00:

All right. Well, I hope you all have enjoyed this episode of our chit-chatting and catching up, and we'll see you next week. Thanks for listening to Nirvana Sisters. For more information on this episode, check out the show notes, please subscribe and leave us a review. Also find us on Instagram at Nirvana Sisters. If you loved what you just listened to or know someone that would, please share it and tag us. Tune in next week for a fresh new episode of Nirvana Sisters. We'll continue to watch out for all things wellness so you don't have to. Bye.

Episode 142 - Taking Big Bites with Kat Ashmore (@katcancook) - Easy Week Night Recipes, Her Full Skincare Routine, Life, And All The Things (Full Transcript)

This is a full transcript of the Nirvana Sisters podcast Episode 142, Taking Big Bites with Kat Ashmore (@katcancook) - Easy Week Night Recipes, Her Full Skincare Routine, Life, And All The Things Write Out The Title.

Amy Sherman 0:06

Welcome to Nirvana sisters podcast where we take the intimidation out of well being and beauty to help you achieve your highest state your nirvana. We are sisters in law and your hosts. I'm Amy Sherman.

Katie Chandler 0:18

And I'm Katie Chandler. So let's get into some real conversation

Amy Sherman 0:27

Welcome back to the show Nirvana sisters family. It's Amy and Katie and we're so excited to have Kat Ashmore back with us. Yay. It's been years. So just for the history. So cat came on our show a couple of years ago, I looked back it was episode 38. Now we're like on 150 or something which is crazy. You were not just starting but like somewhat new to the space now you've obviously evolved and we're so excited to catch up with you and hear more but let me give our listeners because we have so many more listeners. Now. The scoop on cat Ashmore aka cat can cook so, cat Ashmore is the chef recipe developer and digital creator behind cat Ken cook graduated from the award winning Institute of Culinary Education in New York and went on to work for Martha Stewart developing retail recipes and producing cooking segment segments. On the eight time Emmy award winning the Martha Stewart show Kat lives in Fairfield County, Connecticut with her husband Michael and their family. Welcome back to the show. We are so excited to have you here. We've been following you are so proud of everything you've done. We can't wait to hear everything. So welcome. Welcome. Oh,

Kat Ashmore 1:30

so so great to be here. I can't believe it was it was what, two years ago?

Amy Sherman 1:35

Yeah, it was like 2022 I looked back. I can't remember what month but yeah, I was looking back and I'm like God, Episode 38. That's crazy.

Kat Ashmore 1:42

So Oh, wow. So long ago. I know. Time is such a funny thing. I don't even know half the time like what was last month what was five years ago. It's I know it all together. Now. It's so it's so great to be back here with you. Yeah, thanks. So good to be here.

Katie Chandler 2:01

We start with our nirvana. Before we get into it. We're so excited

Amy Sherman 2:04

to catch up. And let's let's start off with we haven't done this in a while. Katie,

Katie Chandler 2:08

I know what was your Nirvana this week, baby? Did you?

Amy Sherman 2:12

I did. So Katie knows I love I get crazy sometimes with organizing. And so I went to the container service like my favorite place. And I got these like new closet organizers for all my sweaters. Because all my sweaters and how like they pile up. And I've been trying to figure out for years, like, how do I do my sweaters needs they don't fall over. So anyway, I got these like, closet organizers for my sweater. And now they're all like neat and organized. So when I walk in, I feel so good. So I did that organizing. And then I also did organizing, like all my makeup and skincare. So I move stuff that stuff out of my bathroom and put it like I have like a little vanity, which I never used. And I'm like actually using it and I organized it and everything's like has a home. And it just feels clean and organized and lovely. And I just love that feeling. And I don't do it enough. But sometimes I get crazy and I start organizing and then I don't do it for like months, but it just feels good to have that organization. Does my Nirvana this week. What about you, Katie? I

Katie Chandler 3:10

would say mine was I found my favorite game that I used to play. It sounds so nerdy, but I use my friends and I used to play this game until like, midnight all the time on like Friday nights. Instead of going to the club. We would play rummy cube. And I first got it all these years. I forgot about that game. Yeah. Oh, fun. My My kids are old enough to play now. So I found the game. And we've been playing it after some weekends. So we did it a couple times this weekend was it's fun. I love it. I'm obsessed. That's so fun. That was mind blowing. What about your cat?

Kat Ashmore 3:43

My Nirvana was probably. So we recently moved into a new home and we have a hot tub. And we've been going in the hot tub, like every couple of nights, I would say. And we had a big snow here in Connecticut. We're not big. But it was our first one of the seasons, which is always really pretty, right? Because it's not gray. And yeah, it's all just really white and beautiful. And there was one night where it was snowing and we were out in the hot tub and I was with the kids who are five and seven now. So even my seven year old and I wasn't expecting this but he's he doesn't want to be with me as much. You know, he's got like, the video games and these things that I'm not really a part of. So when we have an opportunity to just all get on the same level and just enjoy something together and there's no distractions and we're like catching snowflakes on our tongue. And it was one of those moments, you know, where you kind of like hover above your life and you're like, This is joy. Like these are the good old days, like snapshot. Yeah, it was very powerful, you know? And then I was like, Yeah, Looking at them, like 30 minutes. Right? It was pure bliss. And I just think it's so important to recognize those moments of like, this is happiness. This is happiness. tuck it away somewhere, you know, tuck it away and take this

Katie Chandler 5:17

opportunity. And I feel like as they get older, a gray.

Amy Sherman 5:22

Yeah, that's so good. And it's crazy, because last time you were here, your kids were like really? Little, little little. Yeah,

Kat Ashmore 5:27

yeah. While Okay,

Katie Chandler 5:29

that's when you had just gotten back to work. So that's yes. Certainly back to your work you when we talk to you, you just kind of been in was it maybe a few months that you had done the transition into Captain Cook and really diving into to your tick tock following and everything. And now here we are huge fans, tell

Amy Sherman 5:47

us tell us all things tell us.

Kat Ashmore 5:51

I mean, everything's, everything's great. It's like, everything's good. Everything is really great. Yeah, it'll be four years this summer, since I started creating on, cat can cook. But really, you know, I would say 2021 is, I mean, that's the first year that I was able to monetize it all. It was the first year you know, I switched my website over from Squarespace to WordPress, like I could started to, like, actually make it a real business. Yeah. And so it hasn't been a long time. But so much has happened. And I feel like when you put when you place yourself in the right position, sometimes the universe just kind of like, does works really quickly. And it's like, okay, she's, she's here. She's ready. Like, yeah, let's go. Yeah, it's

Amy Sherman 6:45

amazing. And it's so fun to just have watched you grow over these last few years. And like, tada, hello, cookbook. I mean, amazing. Congratulations. You I remember, because it was so impactful. I remember when you filmed yourself, getting the call about doing the book, or like the deal had closed, or whatever it was that it was like so much. No, I remember that. And now it's like, it's here. And you have this beautiful, incredible book. As I just said, like just going through the last few days, I'm obsessed. Thank

Kat Ashmore 7:25

you. It, it feels to me like the book I would want to have. Yeah, the book that, you know, I waited a while to do a cookbook, having been in the industry, having gone to culinary school and working for Martha and I have had a couple of opportunities to do cookbooks in the past. But it didn't feel like I needed to do a cookbook until until now. All right, until it felt right, because it's out of immense respect, and appreciation for the cookbook industry, that I just didn't want to do a book unless it was going to be something really different. And it was really adding to the conversation, changing the conversation. And it feels like this book is that it

Amy Sherman 8:13

really is I mean, I am not a good cook by any stretch Katie's much better than me. And I'm always looking for like really simple, easy. And I was going through this and I have like a few cookbooks that I sometimes like out but like, this is just so user friendly. When I was I was saying to Katie, what I really enjoyed is that in the beginning of the book, you have the pantry staples, which I think it's so helpful. So for our listeners, there's like little section on salt and pepper and oils and what kind of milk and gluten free and just all these staples so that way when you go to the recipes, it's all like you have all the answers you need. And then when I was looking at these recipes, I was like, Oh, this recipe is three steps. This just these four steps. Perfect. So that's that's like amazing for someone like me who really doesn't cook a lot but like I just told my son, my younger one who's now in eighth grade, but he's like in the phase where he is eating non stop. I can't keep up with him. And I wish I'm always like I wish he was like a good cook so I could just make all this stuff so he would just have stuff so I told him I was like go through the book I just got this weekend, pick out recipes that you want me to make for you and I'll have these ready to go but like I don't know exactly what you like your your tastes are changing all the time. So like pick some recipes, so he's been

Kat Ashmore 9:27

phenomenal. If he likes if he likes meatballs, the chimichurri meatballs are a great one because you can you can form them and freeze them or you can just make like a double or triple batch and then freeze them and they're just ready to go. You put them on green bowls, you tuck them into Pietas you you know just eat with your fingers, which is usually what I do. Yeah, so that kind of thing. But these recipes are really it's what I make at home. Yeah, like I don't make multiple meals for dinner idea. I know people are like, how do you do that? It doesn't mean that my kids eat every single thing on the plate, I make sure that there's a safe food on the plate that I know they're going to eat, or to usually that I know that they're going to eat. Sometimes they'll take a little bite and be like, No, but like the turkey feta burgers that I just made them a few days ago, and my kids ate them two nights in a row. And it's like, they have kale in them. I mean, they wouldn't eat kale on its own, but they will eat them. Now, they wouldn't eat them last year, but things change. Those kinds of recipes, I think are just so helpful. And it's really familiar concepts, right? It's just taken in a modern kind of unique direction, like the meatloaf, for instance. You know, like, everybody knows Mila, but like, this is just the amazing meatloaf with caramelized onions and horseradish, and it just like keeps up the flavor. And it's familiar, but it's different at the same time. It's not intimidating at all. Which is why I like it. I find most cookbooks just like out of my reach. Like they're just too complicated or just feels too like, yeah,

Amy Sherman 11:11

it's very approachable. Very, like I said before, like very user friendly, not intimidating. Like it's, it's fabulous. So what is your I mean, there's like, how many recipes in here over 100? I think, like whichever one? Well, I have like two questions on this. Like, what's your favorite one? And then like, give our listeners three. easy and quick weekdays like weekday meals, you can make them every week?

Kat Ashmore 11:31

Week? Yeah. Yep. And so look, so the first recipe that always comes to mind when people ask about this is the most complicated recipe in the book. Now, when I say that, it's not complicated. It was very complicated for me to develop it because it took me three years, but it's the three year gluten free bread. And it literally took me three years to perfect this recipe, okay, 1000s of hours of iterations. By the end, I was like asking my husband like, what do you think about the crust on this? And he was just like, I don't know, like, always the same thing, you know? So my new but I'm obsessive. And this is a bread that it's gluten free. So yes, you buy some of the ingredients that maybe you don't have on hand, but like you buy them, you have them. You can mix the dough, you can bake it, and you can eat it in the same day. There's no overnight rest. So if you wake up on a Sunday, I make it every single Sunday, wake up on a Sunday morning, you're like I want fresh bread for dinner. You can have that. So that is a recipe that I'm really, really proud of. And people have been chomping at the bit to get this recipe and it was the one recipe I knew I had to save. Yes. Yeah. Well, I was like, this has to be in the cookbook. The beaks good. All of the baked good recipes are fantastic. It's like my husband is often like, I don't know why people are so crazy about your salads, like it's your baked goods. They're like crazy good and a lot of them are gluten and dairy free or just have less sugar. I'm always looking at how to make how to keep the integrity of a recipe. So that it tastes like you know it is a brownie it is a piece of cake it is those things. It's just like how much can I cut back on the sugar without it affecting the integrity of the recipe and how can I be importing flavor another way? What is the role that this ingredient so I a lot of things go into account. But the New York style Crumb Cake is fantastic. And it basically mimics those, like big squares of crumb cake that every New York corner store sells in cellophane that like vanilla cake with like the bolder size crumb topping. Yeah. Yeah. looks phenomenal.

Katie Chandler 14:02

That's for sure. Yeah.

Kat Ashmore 14:04

I mean, it's just phenomenal. But I really think as you said that dinner is really the Achilles heel for a lot of people. A lot of kills me, right? It's just like, and it's often not very fun to make dinner with your family. I mean, even for me, and I love to cook but usually it's just like I have to cook something because I'm their parent, and that's part of the deal and like, supposed to feed them. I wish they would intermittent fast, but I haven't been successful with that yet. So when it comes to dinner recipes, so I've got two different chapters. There's the Sunday suppers, and then there's the weeknights, chapter. And one of the most popular recipes with my kids aside from the chimichurri meatballs, that kill and betta turkey burgers, like they love the miso teriyaki pork tenderloin, Wine. And it's a really quick thing to make because pork tenderloin, it's, you know, it's lean, it's not expensive, it is quick to make. And you just have this beautiful miso teriyaki glaze that is literally I mean how many ingredients the I think it's five ingredients, and it's fantastic. So stuff like that, where you're able to all enjoy the same protein, maybe your kids won't eat the vegetable or you know, something like that. But at least you're not making completely separate meals all the time. Yeah,

Katie Chandler 15:35

that's what I feel like I'm doing with my youngest and she's my oldest has come around and she'll eat just about anything. I've been in front of her. But your tip, you told us this when you're on the first time of having a safe food that they you know, without a doubt, they're both going to eat. I've been using that ever since and it really does work. But you know, then I end up cooking like an extra protein just to get that in her as well. But I feel like the weeknight thing. It's the time crunch, right? That's why ball so it's not super fun to cook when your bedtime routine is in half an hour. They have to get up early. So blah, blah, blah. You know, it's a totally different story when it's on the weekend. Coming

Amy Sherman 16:13

up with what you're gonna make it That's the worst part. Like every night, like, what are we going to eat? I mean, yesterday. Yeah, when I think about it, like yesterday, I marinated chicken and I did like slip over all day, just throw it in there. And I like forgot I did it. And then at five o'clock, I was like, Ah,

Kat Ashmore 16:27

I forgot I already put that in. So like that was like I don't think about it every day. But like the thinking about it is the worst part, right? You're like, oh, like, plastic problem, right? And everyone says the same thing about it. It's nice to think about it in the morning. Yes. When you're sharper. Ideally, plan out your meals on a Sunday, that's when I like to do it. I do my grocery shop on the weekend. And then I plan out my meals on a Sunday where I'm rested, because nobody's going to be innovative or creative or, you know, even that mindful when they're in a rush, right? Make it enjoyable. But even in the morning, okay, even in the morning, get up out your protein, take a quick look at it, it'll take you five minutes, just like wrap your head around. This is what's happening, even if you do nothing with it, right? It's, it's the mental shift of like, Oh, now I have to think about this. Yeah, in the morning, when you've got the most motivation, the most energy. So

Katie Chandler 17:30

true. Well, and that's what I love about in your book that you hear at Staples, because if everyone has these in their pantry at all times, and you know when they're running low, that's an easy thing to add to the grocery list. And then you pick out a couple of things to add to the grocery list the proteins, vegetables in your set. I mean, sometimes the meal planning through the week, what I need to make those meals happen is overwhelming. So to be able to have something to have your book where it's it's people don't use cookbooks as much as I feel like they used to. And it's all like Google and searching online and Pinterest. It's there's something so refreshing about having a book in my hand, I can open it up and I can say oh, I need 12345 ingredients. And I've got my pantry staples. It's it just simplifies the whole thing. I really thought What is one of your favorite meals to cook when you have like all the time, and you're on it?

Kat Ashmore 18:21

Yeah, when I have all the time. I mean, that's more project cooking. So I love to do things that are just like slow cooked that can kind of like bubble away. I love soups and stews because there's so many different directions you can take them in. They're all about building flavor, which is something I'm really big on. Like the whole soups and stews chapter is. I mean, I hope it's obvious that they're like knock out of the park. Good. But one of the things that my kids actually love are these slow cooked indoor ribs because and they could not when I tell you they are the one of the easiest recipes in the entire book really they cook they literally cook themselves. Okay, so you are doing a combination. I've got spices here I add a little bit of dark brown sugar, you've got paprika, oregano, garlic, onion, coriander, but you can use whatever spice blend you want to. You don't need you I'm not dogmatic about what spices you use. And then the key is just cooking them low and slow. We're talking like 250 degrees for like three and a half to four hours and just forget about them. You take off the tinfoil you Yeah, yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, just so simple. So on a Sunday and the nice thing about that is that when you've got something that you can just forget about, you've got mental energy and physical energy and time to maybe be a little bit more creative and make your own salad dressing. You know, pair it with something else. instead of like, I just have to like steam up some broccoli because I'm supposed to have a vegetable, right?

Amy Sherman 20:06

recipe actually, like doesn't look intimidating at all like this looks like oh, wait, I could make this. Maybe I'll make

Kat Ashmore 20:12

your hiring imitating Yeah, it's not intimidating at all. I

Katie Chandler 20:17

feel I feel like all of your recipes are really approachable. I mean, as I'm flipping through, they're like, five steps, six steps, right, again, five steps.

Amy Sherman 20:27

I mean, it's really figuring out how long

Katie Chandler 20:29

you could do it.

Kat Ashmore 20:30

I think kids. Yeah, that is, that is a huge, a huge part of the recipe development process for me is that much like Coco Chanel says, like, a woman should accessorize and then take one thing off before leaving the house. I am. A lot of my editing is removing things, removing ingredients, removing steps, like how much does this really needs to be done in two bowls? Can it be done in one bowl? Like, maybe I'll add the baking soda at this stage instead. So it activates more. So a lot goes into a recipe being simple, and spirit

Amy Sherman 21:05

thoughtful, almost like harder to make it simple. I would think hard enough to iterate constantly to get it.

Kat Ashmore 21:11

They're harder. I wanted the recipes to almost all be on one page. I I'm always eliminating steps like how much does this really need to chill on the refrigerator? Like, can I get away with it? Maybe I need to replace it with a different ingredient. So I'm always looking at how can I make this? easier, less time consuming? And really just take up less mental energy, you know, and love? Yeah, one

Katie Chandler 21:37

of many reasons why you have three plus million followers on? Is that right? 3 million plus?

Kat Ashmore 21:46

It's not quite it's, I mean, between Instagram and Tiktok on like just under 3 million. Yeah, yeah.

Amy Sherman 21:56

And speaking of the 3,000,001 of the big things that made you go viral was your hungry lady salads, which I know we talked about last time, which we're still obsessed with. And for our listeners, there's a huge section in the cookbook with all the hungry lady salad recipes, which is incredible. Because to have all that in one place. They're so good. If they

Kat Ashmore 22:16

are just chapter, it's the largest chapter in the book. And it's not actually all of the hungry lady salads. Oh, it's just like, your favorite. I mean, I have like 46

Amy Sherman 22:28

Oh my god seven.

Kat Ashmore 22:30

Second book, like just salad. I mean, there are gonna need to be factored in I did actually just redid just signed to do book to Oh, my

Amy Sherman 22:39

God, hey.

Kat Ashmore 22:41

Yeah, that's actually just fine to do both two and three of my

Amy Sherman 22:46

gosh.

Kat Ashmore 22:49

Oh, it's good. I mean, yes, the orders have been so strong. And the enthusiasm has been so strong that it's the way that the community has shown up. It's really our book. And I always say that, like, I am the voice. But you all are the microphone, I don't exist with that. I mean, you get the message out, you get excited about it. Or else I would just be like sitting in my kitchen, like dancing to my food without anybody there. So like that's not quite as effective. But yes, so the hungry lady salad section. So the entire book is about 90% new new recipes. And then 10% fan favorite recipes. Great hungry lady salad section is 18 recipes. So 14 of them are brand new, and four of them are fan favorite. Amazing.

Amy Sherman 23:37

Great. Yeah. Those salads, like I know, we talked about this last time, like you can make them and just have them for like how like a couple of days for the mom with your

Kat Ashmore 23:46

daughter and have them for a long time, even up to a week. I mean, it's yeah, that's I mean, that's what I'm always I'm always wanting to give back that gift of time. You know, one of the things we just never have enough of so taking advantage of when you have some time, make this salad have it in the fridge so that like you have something to look forward to for lunch every day. You know, it doesn't just get the job done. It's like and then you have more mental energy to think about dinner like it's all this all plays into each other. Like I don't want you waking up being like, what am I going to have for breakfast? What am I going to have for lunch? What am I going to have for dinner? You're not going to you're not going to do your best work that way.

Amy Sherman 24:28

It's, it's all laid out. Okay, so this book is truly gorgeous and stunning, like just the photos and the layout and all that stuff. What was your favorite part of like putting this together? I imagine it's such a creative and fun process and I'm sure very, very grueling as well but like what was your favorite part of the whole experience?

Kat Ashmore 24:48

I think my favorite part of the experience was crafting the story around the book. I'm very much a storyteller at heart that is at like the core of All of the content I do, and it has been the most common thread through my whole career, whether it was you know, telling stories on television with Martha or then on corporate side, or as a gourmet foods buyer telling the story on a retail level, and I love to write. So really creating the recipes. I mean, if I had my way I would be in my kitchen, listening to music, just creating recipes, writing recipes, editing recipes, from morning to night, that yeah, like it, there's nothing I love more. And I look at every recipe, like a story, like there are different characters that you need that round out the story. And they bring out certain things in each other. And it creates this like holistic, rich story. So creating the recipes. And then also just like writing the head notes about each recipe because it my communication style is very personal. I want people to feel like they are at home with me cooking with me. And I always love to read that in a cookbook. I want that. That personal element, you know, because it's in there are my favorite stories to read even even now. Yeah,

Amy Sherman 26:15

it's so true.

Katie Chandler 26:16

You do an excellent job with that. Feeling like someone is in in the kitchen cooking with you and

Amy Sherman 26:22

like a friend. Yeah,

Katie Chandler 26:23

it's definitely a piece of huge factor of your fan following and everything you just make. It's like you talk you're talking to your girlfriends or your friends about how to make something or, and that reminds me, we were speaking about it earlier, before we got on that you are fans that your followers are constantly asking you other questions about your life, not just about the food, because they feel like they know you so well. Right? I mean, you guys are very connected. So we were just talking about absolutely stunning your skin is so what skin is scanning all the things that are that's, you know, other things going on in your life like that gorgeous, glowing skin. How are you getting at? What are you doing?

Kat Ashmore 27:03

Thank you. You know, it's still so I'm so grateful and humbled by it. And I really receive all the compliments that I get around my skin now, because I wasn't historically someone that was complimented on their skin like not that it was like horrific at certain points. It just like wasn't that, you know, it wasn't notable. And so it's really amazing. I do work at it. I mean, there's a lot that I do, right? So some people are kind of like, Oh, that's too much. And it might be I mean, for me, I really

Amy Sherman 27:40

we need to hear the whole breakdown because we love this. We need to

Kat Ashmore 27:44

be entire everybody listening? Yes, I mean, take notes. So there's the topical stuff that I use the products and then there's the stuff that I use that I use and just lifestyle choices that help right like, I don't drink alcohol anymore. That helps. Yeah, that absolutely helps. Okay, so I'm just more hydrated on a regular basis, I eat a lot of whole foods that helps I drink a lot of water, that helps I do a cold blast at the end of my shower for 60 seconds. So like as cold as I can stand it. That helps, right? Like I do Transcendental Meditation every day. That helps, right like stress is all of it is reflected in your skin and in the way that you look and the way that you feel is also reflected right. So all of those lifestyle things matter. And then as far as like my skin routine, on a daily basis, how much like into the weeds Do you want me to go we want the weeds like the weeds. Amazing. Okay, so yeah, because it's like a non negotiable for me to do these things. So in the morning, I do my first skincare related thing I do is I do guasha every morning with a base oil. I am very like regimented with my mornings I wake up very early, usually around 434 45 I do like my workout in the mornings. I first thing I have is three two ounces of warm water with lemon and salt. Like those types of things. I do my guasha that's the first skincare related thing. And then I go upstairs before I get in the shower. And literally thinking of everything I did this morning. Before I get in the shower. I love it. I use an oil based cleanser. So I've been using is it better skin for better skin. I think that that's the name of it. Just some kind of an oil based cleanser. Yep. So I will just put that on. I hop in the shower, rinse it off. Like especially in the winter time I'm doing a lot of stuff that is hydrating even when it's cleansing. Yeah. So I will use that. I get out the net First thing I do is I put my toner on, I just like tap it all over my face my Declan Tay, my neck, my hands and then I will put on my red light therapy mask. Which do you guys use a red light therapy mask? Yeah,

Katie Chandler 30:14

fun. Yeah, I don't use it religiously. But I have one anytime you

Amy Sherman 30:17

have the Dr. Dennis gross one er, which one do you have?

Kat Ashmore 30:20

No, I have the current body one. Okay. And I have used it every day for four months. And it's made a really big difference in the, like, tone of my skin. I see brown spots have faded. That's like the biggest difference that I wow. That's how long do you wear it for? 10 minutes. Okay, so what I always do is I put on my robe, I put on the neck one and the face one. And then I do stuff like I pack the kids lunches. I'm never just like sitting hanging out, right? Like I'm always doing multiple things at once. So then I do that. I take that off. And then I use a serum I usually use so my friend Jenna launched a company called bios. And so I don't know if you see it and B Y O F stands for free. You have to look it up. It's like a pink. It's like a pink container. And it's basically like vitamin C and bakuchiol Is it bakuchiol gradient tavas li butchering it, but it's fantastic. It's, it's kind of touted as like a retinol alternative. I still use tret every few days at night, but it's just you know, I use some kind of serum. So I do my serum. And then after that I will do my moisturizer. So I've been loving the Dermalogica moisturizer lately. Fantastic. And then I spray the like a tanning spray. You know Santro PE spray. Oh yeah. So that gives you a really nice glow. And that's my morning is that like a crazy lot and then I take liquid collagen like when I go downstairs which is like completely changed my skin. But that has mostly just changed the skin from like, it's almost like a balloon was blown up in my skin. Yeah, when you plump? Very much so. Okay, it's time at

Amy Sherman 32:27

the gym because I want to shoot. Okay, so what's the nighttime routine?

Kat Ashmore 32:30

nighttime routine is I will do so I take off my makeup with either LMS or again, like an oil base. And I've been using the Dermalogica precleanse lately that I love. I love Dermalogica products, they sent me a bunch of stuff to try. And so I've been using the pre cleanse and I absolutely love it. It's really light. So I take that off. And then I do a second cleanse with just like a set of fill or something like gentle but like a proper cleanse, right? A double cleanse. Yep, yep, yep. And then every I switch it up a little bit where every few days I will use the P 50. By biology reshare shorts is like, great. It's strong. Yeah, I do that. Why is that? Yeah, every few nights, I would say I don't use that if I'm using Tretton Now when that night. I do try it like every third night as well. But one of the things that I swear by is it's called aisle lucette. And it's a French name.

Katie Chandler 33:30

I just ordered it. What is that? I

Kat Ashmore 33:34

use it every single night. It's unbelievable. Do you know how to use it? No.

Katie Chandler 33:37

I was gonna do my research before I came. I ordered it like yesterday.

Kat Ashmore 33:42

Yeah, it is very potent ironic acid cream. Okay, the treatment so it, it won't like burn your skin or anything. I mean, it's like a very nourishing treatment. But you basically put it on damp skin. So I will do that. Like right after I have the toner, I'll just put a little bit of water on my skin. Take like a good sized amount. It's not expensive, which is part of why I like it, because sometimes they'd be like, if something's too expensive. I don't want to use a lot of it. So it's like you can use a good amount. And I just put it all over my face to the point where it looks pretty white still. And then I will just take a little bit of a thick moisturizer like Egyptian magic or something like that. And then I just like Pat, I kind of slug it in in that sense. And you wake up with the most moisturized glowy Oh, yeah. So now I have like French pharmacy

Amy Sherman 34:44

same caterers just talking about that. Yeah, I need to order that. It sounds amazing. So do you do that when you put retinol on because I use Trent known as well. Like is it that you do that on top of the Trent Nolan?

Kat Ashmore 34:54

I do. Okay, some people say not to me You know, you hear different things, whatever. I think you have to be your own physician to play with your cover. What? Yes, exactly. I, I do I find it very, very nourishing. And I'll do a face mask like, maybe once a week. Yeah. Nothing crazy. But that. Yeah, that's one of my favorite products. And that's

Katie Chandler 35:22

what I read about that product is that it pulls moisture into your skin from wherever you're adding the moisture. So like you said, Your face has to be damp before and then you're putting on like a heavy slugging cream afterwards. It's really helping that moisture seep into your skin. So if you read if you use it while your face is dry, and then you don't follow up with a moisturizer, it will actually dehydrate your skin because it'll pull the moisture out.

Kat Ashmore 35:48

And that makes sense. Yeah, so a lot of sense. I like to know the why behind things. So I Yeah, hearing that, because I wasn't aware of that. I just knew you needed to use it on damp skin. Yeah, it's really, it's really fantastic. And then I use that canopy humidifier. Yeah, yeah. So I use that every night. And so I love that you just gave us the whole like, nitty gritty detail because we Yeah, I love that I am like the opposite of a gatekeeper like I want, I will share everything I know it

Amy Sherman 36:24

or not. So I ordered the college and because I had seen you talk about it so many times. And I was like, I need to order this and obviously your skin looks amazing. So I just started at like, I haven't been super disciplined. But lately I have been but I got it maybe like a month ago, so I don't Okay. You know, I know you said it has to you have to do for like a few months for you to like start here for a month. Yeah, we'd

Kat Ashmore 36:43

say yeah, I mean, it worked for me quickly. It was like within the first five weeks, I would say Okay, everybody started commenting on it to me. Wow. My followers like I wasn't planning on even sharing it for three months. Yeah, people are like, what are you you know, asking all these questions and now

Amy Sherman 37:03

you do like the two teaspoons in the morning or two tables table. Every morning.

Kat Ashmore 37:07

My husband takes it now my mom takes a deep dive on me. It's been this it's Modere Okay, and if you see like my the before and afters my college and highlight it's like comical.

Amy Sherman 37:22

No, I watch I was like, before I bought it, I watched it. I'm like, this is incredible. I mean, it's what year the plane was like, I got the one that you recommended, like the plane one it kind of tastes like here. It's like a Yeah, like part. Oh, yes. It's not bad. But there's also flavored ones. Do they kind of work the same? Yes.

Kat Ashmore 37:41

So they're all the same amount of collagen? Yeah. But like it also has hyaluronic acid in it too. Right? So it's like you see a lot of these same ingredients. It's just like I mean, the college is expensive but you can you get what you pay for like I use less Botox now. And I don't use any like eyelash serum anymore.

Amy Sherman 38:03

Oh, really? So it's affecting like your hair grow?

Kat Ashmore 38:06

Yes.

Amy Sherman 38:07

Wow.

Katie Chandler 38:08

What a good for nails also right like the

Kat Ashmore 38:10

the strain our joints? If you I mean, I have been takes it because of his joints. Like he has no shoulder pain for the first time in like 15 years. Wow. It's great. Yeah, it's really good. I mean, I know I get offers. I get like brand deal offers from different supplement companies and stuff like that constantly. You know, I'm going to be very selective with who I work with. Because I don't want to be doing a million different things. Like I want to be doing stuff that works.

Amy Sherman 38:40

And we trust you. I also bought the walking desk, like not the walking desk, the treadmill from you. And it's so funny, because you just I had been researching for a while and then I like forgot about it. And then I saw yours. I'm like, I'm just getting on and she recommends because I know it's good. And that's been so nice. Just not be sitting all day and just like walking during the day. So that's great, because I've noticed, like, obviously, you have so much content around cooking, but now you have a lot of like great lifestyle content. Like I'm wondering, I'm like staring at your sweater slash sweatshirt. I'm like, is that an Amazon or is it here? You

Kat Ashmore 39:13

get it? Like I love it isn't deadly, Steven? Okay. Yeah, it's, you know, it's the kind of thing where I think very much like Martha in a way, like she started out in catering. You know, she became a firebrand. And I just, I've always operated in the sense where I am going to listen to what people want from me. And I'm not going to I'm not going to sit here and think I know what people should want to see from me. I'm going to talk about I mean, like, I am a like, I'm very passionate about the things that I believe in and like creating a life that I'm excited to wake up to every morning. So I talk about it all. I love it and

Katie Chandler 39:56

it's working for you obviously.

Kat Ashmore 39:58

There are so Many food creators and there's so many websites Food Network New York Times cookie, if you just want recipes, go there like, yeah, the only thing that's really different about what I do is that I'm doing it. So I my content is very personality forward like, people better than me, people are taking better photos than me people are putting together better outfits than me. But like, I'm the only unique thing about my brand.

Amy Sherman 40:28

That's right. That's right. And you know what, I always like to follow people like you that have a specialty, right? But then you start seeing their lifestyle, and you get to know them more personally, because that's when you like, can really connect and start trusting and like it just it makes just for better overall content and like, whatever. So we love it all. And you are going on a book tour. I'm read so let's hear about that. Like where where's it starting? Because I was just saying to Katie, I think you're like your first stop is near her. I was like, Katie, you gotta go. Yes.

Kat Ashmore 41:02

So the first event is going to be the 23rd in Madison at RJ Giulia And then third, okay. And then it rolls out where I'm going to be in Danbury of Barnes and Noble there, I'm going to be at the Del Mar in Greenwich for a really fun event. And the kitchen Atlas scowl is going to be making a few of my recipes for the appetizers from the book. So it's really fun. And then I'll be traveling a bit where I'll be in, you know, I'll be in Rhode Island at the William Sonoma in New York at Columbus Circle Boston, Dallas, Texas, I'm going to be hosting an event with my friend Alex from the Define dish. And we're going to be hosting an event together and then Houston and more stops may be added. But I have the full list on both my website and my Instagram. Okay, yeah, you need to come. I know, I'm actually surprised that we haven't prioritized DC yet. I mean, a lot of it is just based on analytics. Right. And we're on the ground. shoveler Yeah, most people are, but I know that I've got we've got a lot of people in DC for sure. Because if you can let me know, as well. Yeah, no, definitely.

Amy Sherman 42:21

I can interview live, we could do an ironic live q&a from the audience. You see what I'm saying? I got it. I got. Um, one other thing I wanted to mention, I know we talked about it last time, and you mentioned it reasonably somewhere. But and I again, always think of you about this, like, what can I add to my plate like that philosophy? So like, if I'm making a salad or I'm making like yogurt in the morning, I think to myself, like, what can I add? That's like healthy that's gonna see shaped me. Like, can I add that? Can I add whatever and like, that has stuck with me. I think it's such a good tip. Yeah, I'm

Kat Ashmore 42:51

so glad it's been huge. For me. It's really been huge for me, because I don't snack that often. Now, and I don't even realize that I don't really snack until people are like, knows that. Like, it's crazy to some people, but my meals are really satiating. So I just, I don't snack that much. And

Amy Sherman 43:12

I need to make I saw in the cookbook, and then I noticed it on your feed when I looked because I totally missed this one over the holidays. Like I love peppermint cookies or anything like peppermint around the holidays. And I saw those peppermint cookies. I was like, You know what I really need to make that they look

Kat Ashmore 43:26

No, they're so good. Yeah, my seven year old said that those are the best cookies he's had in his life so far. Like, well, I mean, that is the ultimate review. Yeah, absolutely. Like, you'll note that there's granulated sugar, and there's butter. Yeah, there. Yeah, I am not afraid of classic baking ingredients and not afraid of any ingredients. I want. A cookie tastes like a really good cookie. So

Amy Sherman 43:57

if you're gonna have it, you might as well. Yeah, we're just

Kat Ashmore 44:00

like, how much do we actually need? And by cutting back on this, what changes do I need to make so that we still get the texture we want? We still get the Browning we want. You know all of that. That's just that's my way. But

Katie Chandler 44:14

we're still letting a cookie be a cookie. Yeah,

Kat Ashmore 44:16

very much. And again, that way you aren't feeling like, Oh, I'm going to this place. Do I need to make like, healthy cookies that I'm going to want to eat? Or do I need to make like totally indulgent cookies that I can't eat but other people will enjoy? It's like, No, you can you can do both.

Amy Sherman 44:33

You can do both. Okay, like we could literally talk to you all day. We love you. We love like so fun. I just like and we need to meet in person. So Katie, and I need your book tours like this is

Kat Ashmore 44:45

great. We have to make that happen. Email me and we'll we'll chat about

Amy Sherman 44:49

that. Well, we'll figure out something. So let's get into our little rap session. I know we did this last time but I'm sure well, we basically like the first question what's your favorite wellness or beauty hack? I feel like we went through your whole routine. So we Love it. But just give us one thing like your favorite hack.

Kat Ashmore 45:02

Yeah, I'm okay. My favorite wellness hack, I will say because this is a mental wellness and we haven't talked about it but yeah complimenting a stranger a day. I do it every day. Oh, I love

Katie Chandler 45:13

that. I think I saw that on your content at some point. Did you talk about it at some point?

Kat Ashmore 45:17

Yeah, I have I've talked about until that's why I compliment one stranger a day. And I will also like, anytime I go to the grocery store, I get an extra bouquet of flowers, and then I will give it to someone in the parking lot. Sometimes they have to, like be a little bit creepy and like, follow people to their car. Because there aren't a lot of people here today. But I do it for myself. I love that when I'm having a bad day. It's this storyline of like, I'm not any good. I'm not enough. That's usually what is at the heart of it. So like, the best way for me to get back in touch with my goodness is by doing a good deed. And so instantly, I feel like I'm a good person. So it's not completely all altruistic. And

Amy Sherman 46:05

yeah, it makes you feel good. And it makes make someone's day.

Kat Ashmore 46:09

That's completely. Yeah, I swear by.

Katie Chandler 46:14

It shuts down those automatic negative thoughts that we all have. Right. It's like,

Kat Ashmore 46:19

quiet outside yourself. Yeah. That's great.

Katie Chandler 46:24

All right. So you gave us the play by play of the routine. What's the five minute flow? How you get out the door quickly? Uber's right around the corner.

Kat Ashmore 46:34

That was this morning for me literally before I had to jump on to something. So the one so I have I've been under painting, which I swear by doing, you know, the contour or bronzer and the blush, whatever underneath, whatever kind of foundation you're wearing. Or tinted sunscreen, but I have been using this slip tent by

Amy Sherman 46:59

Oh, I use that. So good. I'm obsessed with

Kat Ashmore 47:03

that. So I'm obsessed with it. I love the Ilia Skin Tint too, but like this is my newest obsession. And this concealer by Natasha de Nonna. Oh, I've heard of Yeah, I've heard of Taylor I've ever used really filler of every list. Yes. Yes. You can like bring it down. If you're not wearing anything else. You can bring it down a bit and just spot treat and treat that as like you're on vacation. Yeah, so that is like, huge. And then I will be like very much like a multiuse person where if I'm putting a little bit on my lip, I'll just like that, you know, dab it on making you and then Thrive mascara is my jam. I use that with a CoverGirl primer. Perfect. I don't know. Yeah. Just quick out the door. Yeah, but you know what it is? Don't Don't you feel like it's the high maintenance to be low maintenance thing, because I do so much with my skincare. I don't 100% do that much.

Amy Sherman 48:04

I don't need to do that. Yeah, I also find and Katie, and I've talked about this before, like the older you get, the less makeup, you need to if you're taking care of your skin like yeah, makeup doesn't look as good as like because your texture is different. So like, the less you can wear the better. But to your point, you got to do a lot of stuff to make it where your skin looks dead. So you don't really have to wear much, but just like a little thing here or there.

Katie Chandler 48:25

That's right. Yeah. Yeah, too much makeup. The older you get. I feel like is ages,

Amy Sherman 48:30

people who didn't do it totally does it totally. The

Katie Chandler 48:33

base has to be in shape. The skins got to be Yeah, on point. All right. So I know what your how you maintain your daily nirvana. Remember what you said last time? I'm curious what it is this time if it's same or not? How do you maintain that?

Kat Ashmore 48:48

Meditation is huge for me. That's like, oh, that's one of the big I mean, it's a non negotiable, it has totally changed my life where I'm just so much less reactive to external circumstances. It grounds me in something really solid. So that's huge. And also daily movement exercises. Like some kind of daily movement, whether it's, you know, walking, doing an incline walk in the morning, going to a, you know, a bar class, just like working my body out.

Amy Sherman 49:20

It just like something. You got it. Yeah.

Katie Chandler 49:23

You've been practicing Transcendental Meditation for years, right?

Kat Ashmore 49:26

I have. Yeah.

Amy Sherman 49:27

Anyway, you're doing that at some point. You inspired

Katie Chandler 49:30

me to find the Westport or the, you know, the Fairfield County representative here and I started working with her. Like a year ago, I hung up with her for a while I've fallen off I need to go to one of them. You know, like, refresher.

Kat Ashmore 49:45

Yeah. Just to get you back then. Yeah, yeah, of course. And, you know, meditation is one of those things where people always feel like I'm not good at it. And it's just like, nobody's good at it. Right? Right. was against everything in us as a human to like, it's hard, or water.

Amy Sherman 50:05

I appreciate it when I do it. I really don't do it a lot. But when I do it, I appreciate it so much. And I have to I feel like at least for me, because I'm not I don't do TM or anything like that I'll just do like a, Melissa would help like just someone guiding me and that helps. But I really need to force myself to do it more because you're right, like every time I do it, I feel so much more grounded. I just like don't worry, you know, put it in your calendar. If you do that's the way that I implement a new habit is I put it Yeah, calendar I put it in my phone. Repeat every day. Well, I have my I put this on our Instagram, but I have my like, my yearly mood board on my screensaver as my phone and it literally the best tip like we're kidding are building your year to doing this. It takes two seconds you like do it on your Well, this one, I think I made this one make a mood board. You basically you could do it a super easy way. Or you could make it more complicated. But the super easy way to do it is you take nine photos from your phone like you could just find inspo anywhere like, quote on Instagram, it's something from patients wherever you just take those last nine photos in your phone, you screenshot it and you put it as a screensaver. It's like the easiest thing. This I think I made in like Canva, which took me two seconds. But I just took a bunch of things. I literally downloaded it and now it's on my screen. And so it's like my reminders of are my things that I want to do that. I'm ready to go fast. Because I've been every year I always have these things. And it's like I write it down. And then I never look at it. And this was like, I started doing the nine photos. But then I was like We don't want to add more things. So then I of course like wanted to make a fun collage. But the easiest way is just like take a screenshot of this last name photos, or 12 manifest

Kat Ashmore 51:51

whatever it is. I just wrote it down. Yeah.

Amy Sherman 51:53

I love that. Yeah, we want to hear. So it's been it's fabulous. Yeah, I I love it. And I actually there's this quote on here that I had last year and I carried it over to the shirt. And my husband was like, will you sent me that quote, which was so cute. And the quote is, and it's by this person, Judy Haller, who's actually just like, she's like a keynote speaker. I've just been following her for years. And the quote is, assume the best will happen. Which I love. Because how many times are we always like, oh, like you always think negative. You're like, Oh, what if this happens? What if my husband's like, very skeptical about everything? So like, he saw that quote, and he was like, Oh, can I have that? And I was like, Yeah, I mean,

Kat Ashmore 52:34

that too.

Amy Sherman 52:36

I mean, yeah, that's so it's like, such a good thing to think about, because there's so many times right, where you're like, thinking through something, and then sometimes I'll just change my mindset will be like, but what if this happens instead? You know, even even with my kids like, a basketball game, well, what if I do that or whatever? But what if you don't? What if this happens, right? Like, right, he might spend

Kat Ashmore 52:58

time projecting the future you might as well do it positively.

Katie Chandler 53:01

Or just for what you want. Yeah, I

Kat Ashmore 53:05

love that. Yeah.

Amy Sherman 53:06

Anyway, well, like I said, we could talk all day, but this is nice. Thank you for your time was so good. Everybody, check out cash, Moore's book, big bites, and of course, she's on Instagram and Tiktok and all the things. We love it. We love you. Thank you so much for coming back. Congratulations on everything and we will chat soon. Can't wait. Thank

Kat Ashmore 53:27

you so much for having me.

Amy Sherman 53:30

Thanks for listening to Nirvana sisters. For more information on this episode, check out the show notes. Please subscribe and leave us a review. also find us on Instagram at Nirvana sisters. If you loved what you just listened to or know someone that would please share it and tag us. Tune in next week for a fresh new episode of Nirvana sisters will continue to watch out for all things wellness so you don't have to buy

Editor’s Note: Please know that this podcast transcript is automatically generated and may contain minor errors such as typos and word switches. For more information, be sure to listen to the podcast here or view our podcast episode guide.

Episode 140 - Refine Your Year: We Dive Into 10ish Wellness Trends In and Out for 2024. (Full Transcript)

This is a full transcript of the Nirvana Sisters podcast Episode 140.

Editor’s Note: Please know that this podcast transcript is automatically generated and may contain minor errors such as typos and word switches. For more information, be sure to listen to the podcast here.

Speaker A: Welcome to Nirvana Sisters podcast, where we take the intimidation out of well being and beauty to help you achieve your highest state, your nirvana. We are sisters in law and your hosts. I'm Amy Sherman.

Speaker B: And I'm Katie Chandler. So let's get into some real conversation.

Speaker A: You welcome back to the show Nirvana Sisters fam. It's Amy and Katie. And we are back. I was thinking, Katie, this is the third year in a row that we are doing our 20, our wellness trends. So this year is 2024. But it's crazy that we're in our third year of doing this. And it's funny because I feel like a lot of the things that we talk about in these wellness episodes end up that we start seeing that through the year or we've already interviewed someone about it. And so every year when I'm researching this, it's so fun to me.

Speaker B: 100%. I totally agree. And beauty trends also, not just wellness fun, forecasting it and then seeing the buz on it and everything. So it's exciting. I love it.

Speaker A: Yeah. Okay, so I'll kick it to you. We're just going to bang through these really quickly and high level it for you all.

Speaker B: Yeah. I think a big trend that we are going to see, that we've started to see. And it's really, I feel like just scratching the tip of the iceberg. Is that a saying? Scratching the tip of the iceberg?

Speaker A: I know what you mean. Scratching the surface.

Speaker B: Surface is the more exposure and more open conversation to women's health. Circling menopause and perimenopause. There's a lot of celebrities that have started brands or products targeted towards menopause. There is more discussion about it. It's becoming less taboo, as we have discussed over the last couple of years, we've had many guests about, I think, you know, pop culturally, seeing a lot of celebs like Naomi Watts, she started her brand stripes. That's a women's products for dry skin and vaginal dryness and things like that. And then ever now, telehealth medicine for menopause is a company that is getting started by Drew Barrymore and going to be, it's supposed to be online menopause treatment and personalized care based on real science. That's what it says on their website. And it's telehealth that is going to be widely available. And then Judy Greer. Yeah, it's very cool. Judy Greer, she's the founder of wild supplements and those are menopause and perimenopause supplements. So I think it's just a matter of time before this thing that has always been kind of like hush hush. It's definitely getting more and more out there. I think it's going to be even more so. And we're going to see a lot of that in 2024, which is great.

Speaker A: That's a great, yeah.

Speaker B: Speaking of, I had, like, full blown perry yesterday, like vertigo, like you. And I was thinking I needed to text you, but I was having a migraine. I couldn't even look at my phone.

Speaker A: Oh, my God.

Speaker B: Thank God for all of this stuff.

Speaker A: I know. I'm really happy to see there's more visibility because I think, again, it used to be like a dirty word. Nobody wanted to talk about it. And you're seeing more and more people starting to talk about it to normalize it, because to your point, perimenopause can go on for ten years. People just don't like, they don't realize what it is. So I think the more education, more awareness, the better.

Speaker B: So what is your first trend? What's your buz. That you've been hearing?

Speaker A: So when I was doing some research, I saw something that caught my attention from forbes, and it was vagus nerve stimulation, which I know we've talked about many times, which is amazing, but to actually see it written in, like, a mainstream magazine, and basically there was a woman interviewed and she said, I'm seeing a huge increase in interest from the wellness community in the vagus nerve, and how simple stimulation of this cranial nerve can counteract the fight or flight response in our body. And we have a few episodes regarding the vagus nerve, but I think, again, that is like a term we probably didn't even think about, hear of a couple of years ago, a year ago, and now I think that's becoming more into the forefront. So whether that vagus nerve stimulation is through deep breathing, mindfulness, and then it was funny because I read that it also said, even humming or laughing has been shown to calm the body after the flight or flight response is triggered. And so I know when we spoke with Steph Magenta, and we recently did that replay, she was talking about humming. And I've noticed that I've been adding that in, like, when I'm feeling a little anxious, just doing a little hum, for some reason, that helps. So anyway, that whole idea of vagus nerve stimulation and different tools you can do, whether that's like, through an external tool or just using something in your body to calm yourself, is in the forefront. And I think it's really important. And a great tool for our listeners.

Speaker B: I saw that article, and that was on my list for today because I. It's really interesting. It's so becoming so prevalent that in that article, it said the vagus nerve stimulation has been viewed over 55 million times on TikTok. Oh, wow. So there is definitely something to be said for people are taking notice. And you have a friend that had a tool that was a Vegas nerve stimulator that we used, and it was so cool after we used it, we were really relaxed and mellow. Do you remember that?

Speaker A: Yes. It was like a tool that you put on your neck, and it makes your lip kind of move a little bit.

Speaker B: Yeah. And it stimulates your vagus nerve.

Speaker A: Yeah, I forgot what it's called. Like, true Vega or something like that.

Speaker B: Yeah. We need to find out and we'll put it in the show notes because it really is very cool. I want to get one and then just one other vague stimulator that is so easy to do is sighing. Did you know that?

Speaker A: No.

Speaker B: You think about it. You do it when you're stressed. People sigh when they're tired or stressed. If you're stressed, like, that's so true.

Speaker A: I feel like when I get in the car, I just do that. I'm so funny. You know another thing that Steph Magenta told us, which I do all the time now and again, I don't know if this is Vegas nerve or what it is, but a breathing technique is just, like, in for four and out for, like, I feel like I was always doing the breathing in, but the breathing out for four helps because then it's, like, balance instead of just breathing in and then just shortly breathing out. Just that long breath. Do that a couple of times is really helpful.

Speaker B: Yeah. All right, fake nerve.

Speaker A: What do you have next?

Speaker B: So my next one is a beauty trend that I think we're going to see a lot of hearing a lot about the 90s makeup coming back. So to be, like, a little bit more specific, I think we're going to see less of the laminated, thick eyebrows and more of the natural, maybe even too thin, which I don't love eyebrows coming in, and then less of the super dramatic mascaras and lashes. A little bit more natural there. But this was one that I'm really excited to try is lipsticks that have kind of, like, a brown undertone to them. Yeah. Elf has come out with a few. Nyx has come out. Merit dior, like, really beautiful brown, burgundy ish, pretty colors.

Speaker A: There was this one brown lipstick I wore in the course I can't remember the name of it. I'll have to think of it. But you know what I'm talking about. There was like two lipsticks that everyone wore. There was one kind of frosted pink one.

Speaker B: Yes.

Speaker A: Do you know what I'm talking about? Of course. I can't remember the name. It was like maybelline lean or something. And then there was a brown one like that, too. I have to research and try to figure out those.

Speaker B: You should try to find, you know.

Speaker A: What I'm talking about, though.

Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, colors in my head, I.

Speaker A: Remember that frosty pink and I remember that brown. It was like a late color. I can't remember, but I've got to look it up.

Speaker B: Latte brown. It's pretty.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: I remember there was ones that smelled like lattes and things like that. They're still like lip gloss like that. So the 90s makeup. Yeah, I've heard as well. Blue, which I'm not really into, like blue eyeshadows and things like that frosted look. So we'll see which way that goes.

Speaker A: Yes. Well, on the note of blue. Well, I'll tell you my next one, then I'll go back to blue because I had some other fun things about blue. But I have something very funny, which you probably read it, because I have a feeling we're looking at the same sources, but we're always talking about our favorite category of self care, which is bedrotting. I found a new name for it. Okay, you ready, everybody? It's called, and I will probably butcher this name, but Dolce Farniente, a wellness trend we're seeing and certainly encouraging in 2024, is what we Italians call Dolce Farniente, or the sweetness of doing nothing, said Andrea Quadro Carizo, co founder of QG Spa of Wonders, which offers twelve destination spas and seven wellness resorts around the world. As a society, we're overstressed, over scheduled and overtired, leaving little room for joy and wonder or open ended self care. But we've begun seeing the pendulum swing in the other direction. We now aspire to achieve work life balance that Italians are famous for and practicing doing nothing, clearing your brain and schedule, is the first step on the road to true wonder in relaxation. So, of course, this resonated with me immediately. And then I laughed because I was like, I can't wait to talk about this with Katie, because that one just sounds very much more, I don't know what I'm saying. Much more.

Speaker B: It's way more glamorous than glamour. That's rotting. Yeah.

Speaker A: Dolce farniente.

Speaker B: Dolce Farnie and day.

Speaker A: That's going to be doing all year long. It's literally when I go to my calendar on a Saturday and I have no plans. It's the best day ever for me. I could do nothing or I could do something. It's up to me.

Speaker B: Exactly.

Speaker A: Anyway, we'll see more of that this year, which I'm very happy to see.

Speaker B: Dolce Fernie and day. Did I say it right?

Speaker A: I think so. I don't know.

Speaker B: All right, perfect.

Speaker A: We need someone italian to tell us.

Speaker B: Yeah, we do. We need Italian. All right, my next one is called skin streaming. And I saw this, inStyle.com, it's their big forecast, 2024 trends skin streaming, which is essentially just streamlining one's skincare. People are going away from the ten step process with all of the different things and trying to streamline and get more of your actives and hydrators and everything into maybe three or four products instead of ten. And just to simplify so that they can have more dolce foundiente.

Speaker A: Nice. I like the tie back.

Speaker B: I am for sure in that camp because I have gotten down to, like, I think, two or three products, and I'm pretty pleased with it. Right now. There's only one product that I want to get into my skincare routine, and once I do, I'm going to be set.

Speaker A: So is that morning and night you only have a few products.

Speaker B: Morning I have two products. Night I have three products. And I would like to add in. I need an active. I need a vitamin C. So I'm going to throw a vitamin C into my morning and then I feel like I'm going to be solid. I'm good.

Speaker A: Well, it's funny that you say that. So I've noticed that, too, with products. And I think we talked with this at one point of just like brands now, instead of just like having a niacinamide and having all these separate ingredients, they're combining more. So to your point about vitamin C, you might want to try the one that I've reviewed before, the wise beauty. Vitamin C, because it has vitamin C, niacinamide and hyaluronic acid, I believe, and maybe some, and maybe some ceramides. I can't remember exactly what's in it, but it's a couple of things. So when you're using it, it's not like you have to use four different things. It's all together and it's really nice. So that might be a good one for you. To try and it's not irritating. You want a good vitamin.

Speaker B: Exactly. I need to try it because that's like the point, right? Get your actives and your peptides into one, right?

Speaker A: You don't need like ten different individual products? No, I like that idea a lot.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: Okay, my next one still on the Forbes article. And it's funny because I've heard this term a few times lately, and I didn't know what it was literally until yesterday because I was listening to another podcast that was talking about this as part of a different subject, but rucking. R-U-T-K-I-N-G. Not to be confused with the other word, but that would be good too.

Speaker B: That's good too.

Speaker A: But rucking is literally walking with a weighted backpack. So I guess this was something that a lot of, like, I don't know if it was bodybuilders or weightlifters type.

Speaker B: People did, but military also.

Speaker A: Oh, is that what it is? That's probably what it's from. I think it's like a nod to back in the hunter gatherer days when people would carry their materials and food and using your body to carry weights, especially for women, as you grow older and your muscle gets weaker. This other podcast I was listening to was talking about how you should obviously be lifting weights, but rucking is a really good way to kind of do that when you're walking. So I have not tried this yet, but it says that it will be a top wellness trend in 2024 as people look to build endurance, improve heart health, burn calories, and strengthen bones. And it does say to. We're saying. While rucking has traditionally been seen as a high intensity and suitable only for the uber fit, new fitness brands will make wrecking more accessible and mainstream with weighted packs designed with different bodies in mind and a load starting at a lower, more accessible weight. So I'm hoping that some of these cute brands, like Bala or something, comes up with cute weighted backpacks. So it's just like ten pounds or five pounds instead of like these crazy ones. Anyway, I thought that was cool because you go on a walk anyway, you might as well throw something on your back and try it out.

Speaker B: Yeah, in the military, they call it your rucksack. Rucksack.

Speaker A: Okay.

Speaker B: I think it's literally like they're carrying their backpack with all of their things that are going to get them through whatever the job is for the day. So it's weighted. It's heavy, right? Yeah.

Speaker A: That's like what backpackers. I mean, when I was in college and I backpacked around Europe, like, you had your backpack on your back. I mean, that's how you're getting around. So it's a kind of, like, old school practice, but more visibility on it.

Speaker B: Yeah, I like that.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: Nice. All right, well, my next one, and this is really my next few, are things that we saw a lot of in 2023 that I don't think are going anywhere that we're going to see a lot more of. And cold plunge, for sure. Cold plunge, sauna, red light, that category, that's a trifecta. The three of those people. I mean, of course, it's people that are a little bit more well to do. They're able to have these things in their home. It's not the most accessible thing, but there are a lot of people that are getting saunas and cold plunges and red light therapies, and then there's great places that you can go to, like restore hyper wellness and other med spas that are offering all of these things. And I think it's just going to be more and more popular. There's so much science behind how beneficial.

Speaker A: There's also accessible, like the higher dose blanket that I've been seeing that's much more accessible. There's red lights just that you could put on your desktop again, that are much more accessible. And then for cold plunge, I just. At the end of my shower, when I'm feeling brave, I don't know, maybe most of the week, I do like, or I try to do a minute of cold, it probably ends up being ten to 15 seconds, but it does help wake me up. I didn't do it today. I forgot. But, yeah, see, there you go.

Speaker B: You just broke it down. Totally accessible ways to do it.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: Or jump in a lake.

Speaker A: Jump in a lake.

Speaker B: Exactly where it's cold.

Speaker A: Jump in the east river. I'm just kidding. So back to the blue. Aquamarine makeup is back and bolder than ever. 2024. Gen Z and millennials will find new ways to incorporate this 60s staple into their modern beauty routines. And I agree, like, the little much to do the whole eyeshadow thing. But Michaela, who's massive makeup artist on TikTok, she just came out. She had created a line with P. Louise that it's all, like, blue and beautiful. So she must have known that this blue eyeshadow is coming or just maybe predicted it. But I have a couple stats, which I thought were fun. So blue eyeshadow aesthetic was that. This is. According to Pinterest predicts, blue eyeshadow aesthetic was up 65% last year, fun blue nails were up 260%, light blue prom makeup up 70%.

Speaker B: Oh, my.

Speaker A: Aqua makeup look up 100%. And blue quince or blue quince makeup up 85%. I don't know what that is, but the only one that resonated with me was fun blue nails, because I do tend to get blue nails occasionally, and I have seen some really cute. Mine are, like, kind of greenish right now, but I have seen some really cute, bright, kind of, like, royal blues, which I would definitely try. That's fun cute.

Speaker B: What's quince? Kensey Quince.

Speaker A: I don't know why I wrote it. Kense. Q-U-I-N-C-E-I don't know what it means. I'll look it up while you're telling me your next trend.

Speaker B: Yeah, that's interesting. The blue prom. That's so funny.

Speaker A: I know. How funny is that?

Speaker B: I'm literally seeing pictures of my mom when she went to prom.

Speaker A: I know. I do love that 60s blue eye. Not for me, but I do love that look.

Speaker B: That would look. So the next trend that I am reading a lot about are bracket sports, and pickleball was all the rage in 2023. Right. I knew people that were all of a sudden playing pickleball like crazy, and I thought it was for, like, I don't know, 80 year olds.

Speaker A: I know.

Speaker B: It's a very fun sport. People are really getting into it, which I think is great. It's a less intense version of tennis or racquetball, and it's supposed to be a very social sport. Have you played pickleball?

Speaker A: I have played a few times, yeah. I've played with the boys.

Speaker B: It's fun.

Speaker A: Yeah. I don't know all the rules, but it's fun.

Speaker B: So pickleball was big in 2023. Badminton is on the rise for 2024. Dr. Daniel. Amen. I was listening to a podcast with him, and he is a leading neuroscientist. He was saying that people that do racket sports, they have, like, brain longevity. So badminton is a racket sport played using rackets to hit a shuttlecock across a net. Although it may be played with larger items, the most common forms of the game are singles and doubles, and it's the one that has the white thing that looks.

Speaker A: It has, like, a ball on the end and then.

Speaker B: Yeah, exactly.

Speaker A: Waffley thing.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: There's also something called, I want to say not pickleball, but paddleball, and I don't know what that is either.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: But apparently that's a big thing, too.

Speaker B: That paddleball racquetball, tennis, badminton, even ping pong. Those are all considered racket sports that are really good for your brain health, apparently. So I don't know if that's why it's on the rise or it's just a new social activity, but.

Speaker A: New social activity, yeah. And it's maybe more. It's your point. Like, pickleball is a little bit easier than tennis because you're not, like, running across the big thing. But pickleball can be intense if you watch people play. And I also. Who was it? I feel like I saw or read or heard somewhere that there's been so many more cases of knee injuries in the last few years because of pickleball, because so many people play and will stop short and hurt their knee, which makes sense. I could see that. So just be careful. But I like that. And I think that is a good way to. I mean, think about ping pong, right? When you're playing, you're like, yeah, it's so fast. It's so fast. So I can see that that's a good brain exercise. Okay, next one I have is in the beauty realm. Sticking with that. By the way, I looked up kinsei makeup while you were talking, and I'm not sure, but I think it might have to do with, like, quinceignera.

Speaker B: Oh, okay.

Speaker A: Something like that.

Speaker B: That's what I very initially thought when you.

Speaker A: Okay, next one. Head to glow. So body care will have a major moment in 2024. Boomers and Gen Z will double down on luxury lotions and in home spa experiences. So a couple fun search deaths. So sunscreen was up 75% last year. Body lotion aesthetic was up 245%. Spa aesthetic, I guess, to design your home, was up 60%. Body skincare routine up 1025%. And body care was up 845%. So it's interesting, what we're seeing now is people, like, they've got their skincare routines down. They're, like, in a rhythm, but now they're like, wait, what about the rest of my body? What's a good routine for that? So I think that was a good one. We don't really talk about that too much.

Speaker B: No, it's true. And I was just teaching Madeline this, by the way. Sidebar. Maddie asked me to teach her how to shave her legs, my ten year old. So we did that with a real razor or electric. With a real razor.

Speaker A: Oh, wow.

Speaker B: Yeah. Went through the whole thing. But that reminds me, because I am trying to get her to understand that she should put lotion on her body every day. And I don't know what point in my life I started doing it, but I've been doing it for decades. And it's something that unless someone, I think, tells you to do it as you're growing up, it's not like first nature to just put lotion all over your body. Right.

Speaker A: When you have a baby, you're doing every night, you do your bath time routine and you put your lotion on and everything.

Speaker B: Exactly. So I like it. Body care, body lotion.

Speaker A: Good one. I'm still using my body oil that I've been using for a long time that I think I've talked about several times on the show. And now I just do it like, I keep it in my shower now. So I just tell off of my shower and do it there. And it's so good because it just stays on better. It keeps my skin moisturized.

Speaker B: I love it. Yeah, I need to get some of that. I want to try it. But it is true.

Speaker A: If you think about just really quickly, like how you're exfoliating your face, how often are we exfoliating our body? Right. And things like that.

Speaker B: Yeah, I just bought a great. When we were in Montreal. It's kind of like a mitt that is an exfoliant. It's really thin, but it's really, really nice. I got it from this beautiful store. I should reference it because her store was gorgeous, but I use that from time to time, and it's just my skin feels, like, so good afterwards.

Speaker A: Yeah, that's nice.

Speaker B: Nice. All right, well, my last one is a continuation of seeing adaptogens and nootropics. Mushrooms. I mean, when we had Julia Marar on the show a few years ago, talking about psilocybin and mushrooms, having psychedelic experience as therapy, I feel like that was so early in this revolution of what's happening with psilocybin and mushrooms. That's the one extreme. And then the adaptogens and the nootropics and things like that is the other. And you're just seeing it more and more like you're seeing lion's mane in gorilla and mushroom coffee and adaptogens everywhere. So I think it's great. More products are readily available with these things where I go to get my coffee in the morning before I hop on the train. They make the most amazing overnight oats. Dairy free overnight oats. And she makes her own granola that has lion's mane and reishi in it and a few other things. And it is so good. I love it. I'm obsessed that's good. Yeah.

Speaker A: I have a coffee that think it's. I think the brand's four sigmatic. We'll put the link up, and it also has mushrooms in it, in the beans, and it's supposed to help you focus more and yada, yada. So I love it. Okay, well, I have two more, and they're kind of related. They're still both in beauty. So the first one, which is not surprising, is just like hair longevity. So basically, talking about not only trying to, how a lot of people were losing hair during the pandemic, and it's become like a bigger challenge with women losing their hair. So there's that piece which we've talked about a lot, or it's becoming more visible, but there's also just, like, the skin, scalp health, and being proactive about your scalp. So the fun fact that I found was the skin on your scalp ages faster than the skin anywhere else on your body, and the effects are written all over your strands. So while multistep skincare routines prioritize longevity by smoothing, brightening, and tightening, such as, sorry, such a focus hasn't extended to the hair on our head. So in 2024, this was an article in well and good. It was saying, prepare to rethink your hair care routine with longevity in mind. And there's tons of new product launches that help with that. I see a lot now about, like, hair oiling and just different things for the scalp. And it's funny because we talked about this a few years ago with Eris, the founder of Scene and CEO or founder of the company. And she was really into the scalp health because she's a dermatologist. And so she obviously got this before it became a little bit more mainstream. But we're going to see a lot of products that helps to address that. I thought that was relevant because I started, I'm trying to be better with taking care of my hair, with doing some sort of weekly oil massage and deep mass conditioner on my ends or something like that. So when I do my big wash, I do that before. I've been trying to do that just to get my hair in a better place, because I just feel like it's been frizzy and not as healthy. So, yeah, more products coming out about hair longevity.

Speaker B: Love that. Yeah.

Speaker A: And then the last one that is sort of similar but not really, is skin barrier health, which I also saw popping on well and good, and basically, like, strength training, your skin, it says, will become the most single most important part of your beauty routine in 24 and it's basically saying that a strong skin barrier is crucial for overall skin health, protecting against external elements and retaining moisture. So everyday habits like improper use of actives can compromise the skin barrier, leading to dryness, irritation, acne. It's also talked about how niacinamide, which we've talked about a million times, has gained popularity for its gentle yet effective properties in brightening skin and addressing various concerns without irritation. And then traditional barrier building ingredients like ceramides, glycerin, fatty acids, often complemented by calming ingredients like, I've never heard of this, Cantella Asiatica and colodial oatmeal, which is funny because I just talked about that oatmeal serum. And then it also said that body care is following the trend with barrier friendly products from different brands that help with the barrier of your actual skin, not just your face. So it says there's drugstore luxury brands all introducing products for severe barrier concerns. I know when Natasha B. Was on our show, she recommended a couple face moisturizers that were good for barrier, but for skin barrier. But this was saying there's a few brands for body care called Marie Veronica Spyclart, which I haven't heard of, Ren and Pericone, MD, which have barrier friendly skin products. I thought that was interesting.

Speaker B: Yeah, I like that. And it's funny as we're going through, like, I'm noticing a trend within our trends, and I feel like this is something that we're seeing a lot of is longevity. Longevity in every category, instead of products and activities and things that are like, instant gratification. I do feel like there's a little bit more of a focus on what can I do now to just keep this going and improve and longevity, long lasting.

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker B: I think it's great. Brain health, skin, hair.

Speaker A: Right. What can I do now? The proactive things, not trying to react to like, oh, I'm losing hair, but to prevent it from happening in the first place. Just like you eat clean because you want to have healthy gut and all of that. It's catching up to all of these things. To your point, the rucking that helps to build strong muscles so you don't.

Speaker B: Lose muscle mass. Exactly. Longevity. All right, 2024, here we come. Longevity.

Speaker A: And the year of Dolce Farniente.

Speaker B: Dolce Farniente.

Speaker A: I love it. Hope you all enjoyed this, and I'm sure we'll be talking about many of these trends in future episodes as well. And see you next week. Bye bye. Thanks for listening to Nirvana sisters. For more information on this episode, check out the show notes. Please subscribe and leave us a review. Also, find us on Instagram at Nirvana Sisters if you loved what you just listened to or know someone that would, please share it and tag us. Tune in next week for a fresh new episode of Nirvana Sisters. We'll continue to watch out for all things wellness so you don't have to. Bye.

Episode 102 - Lymphatic Bliss: The Ultimate Detoxifying Massage With Erika Tempro & Mimi Ge (Full Transcript)

This is a full transcript of the Nirvana Sisters podcast Episode 102.

Editor’s Note: Please know that this podcast transcript is automatically generated and may contain minor errors such as typos and word switches. For more information, be sure to listen to the podcast here.

Amy: 0:06

Welcome to Nirvana sisters podcast where we take the intimidation out of well being and beauty to help you achieve your highest state your nirvana. We are sisters in law and your hosts. I'm Amy Sherman.

Unknown: 0:18

And I'm Katie Chandler. So let's get into some real conversation

Amy: 0:28

Welcome back to the show Nirvana sisters family. It's Amy and Katie and we are thrilled to be here with two amazing people. We're here with Erica tiempo who is a practitioner of holistic medicine who has been practicing massage since 2007. After a successful career career sorry, after a successful career working in both clinics and spa setting, she opened detox massage right here near me in North Bethesda, Maryland. And I've been to Erica as well as her associate and amazing practitioner Mimi, many times, highly recommends and I've been begging her to come on the show to talk all about lymphatic massage because I think it's so incredible. And I think a lot of people have been sort of hear the word but they don't exactly know what it means and how it can benefit them. I know I've been telling Katie next time she comes here she's got to see either Erica or Mimi, because it's so healing. So anyway, welcome to the show. Erica, we're so excited to have you here. For our listeners, Erica has a wealth of knowledge about the body through her experience and studies from her bachelor degree in physical therapy she obtained in Brazil, she does all types of different massages, but specializes in lymphatics. So welcome to the show, Erica. And welcome to the show. Mimi, we're so glad to have you both here chatting with us all about massage, one of our favorite topics.

Unknown: 1:50

Thank you for having me on. And maybe it's a pleasure to share some of our knowledge about emphatic drainage, we love what we do. And it's truly a pleasure for us to to share, right. And I mean when we do and having clients every day learning about this feeling better and healthier. But love seeing results. Yes.

Amy: 2:14

Amazing. So before we start, what we'd like to do in the beginning of the show, is to do a, what we call our nirvana of the week was just something that brought us joy this week could be something big or small, but something that put a little smile on your face. So I'm going to kick it to Katy to tell us what her Nirvana the week was.

Unknown: 2:35

Thank you, Amy. I'm sitting here racking my brain.

Amy: 2:39

I know it's been it's been a week. It has been

Unknown: 2:41

an absolute week. You know, there's I mean, don't get me wrong. There's been many Nirvana's this week. But sometimes they kind of just like slip into the back of their brain on a late Friday afternoon. I I think I actually just had a really nice little Nirvana and nice moment with the lovely woman who's now become like part of our family that helps me with our children. She's are up here and she's she's become part of the family. And I've noticed that she's kind of struggling this week, like the rest of us for some reason. That seems like a weird week, all around. And we just had a heart to heart and I just kind of wanted to tap into like a she Okay, and what's going on and you know, just sitting down with her and making sure that everything is fine. And that she's it. It's just like a bonding moment, I guess when you know, which is a little Nirvana, especially for someone that is new to your family. She has been in our family for just a few months now. And we have a great relationship. So I think I think that was a nice moment that I just had, it was literally in the last half an hour. It was again at the sweet it's nice.

Amy: 3:44

Yeah, to have a connection moment. Okay, so mine is kind of funny. So my little son, my little he's 13 My younger my youngest son, Jules key. My my husband and I had an event at my son's school the other night and we were out for like an hour we came home and we came home at like eight o'clock. It was early, but I walked into Jones's room and he was like, sound asleep. Like he just was so tired. I guess he had sports that day, whatever it was, he was tired. And he was asleep. And I was like, okay, whatever. He ended up sleeping all night long. So he probably slept, I don't know, like 13 or 15 hours or whatever it was, and he woke up in the morning. He's like, a slept so much. Last night. I feel amazing. And I'm like, See, I told you when you sleep good, you feel good. And then your whole day is better. And he just like clicked for him. Because you know, teenagers, they never sleep. They're doing their thing. And like, he'd like all of a sudden realize the value of having a good night's sleep, which I always tell my boys all the time. So it's just like a funny, cute moment between him and I. So that's one of my Nirvana's from this week. What about you Erica and Mimi, we'd love to hear what brought you joy this week?

Unknown: 4:53

Oh, wow. I have two daughters. One it's 15 and one, two and a half. So this week was truly special. You know, like it's a little thing, but my little one, she just decided to do her on potty training. Who's doing great is a Mama Mama and each Oh, where she was going to the toilet. So it's a truly special moment. Wow. Yeah. What about you Mimi, I was just telling Erica that yesterday actually last night, my mom was complaining about stomach ache. And I live with her and I take care of her she's a bit outwardly. And I use lymphatic drainage technique on her and help her with stomach

Amy: 5:43

healing. Okay, so let's get into it. Tell us about lymphatic drainage massage, what it is, why it's beneficial, all of all of that stuff,

Unknown: 5:53

of course. So lymphatic drainage massage is a type of modality by the work that helps to eliminate waste toxins of the body, and also stimulate the lymphatic system. So during the massage, we use the strokes we push the fluid towards the lymph nodes, lymph nodes, we have our movement, the body, but we have major groups located over the neck, armpit, barely groin area, and behind the knee. So our the strokes we send to those directions. So occasionally out that fluid, after the drainage crosses the filtration process, it goes back to the main circulation. So one of the functions of the lymph nodes is to drain, remove out the toxins whenever they leave for LIFO notes that tax let's say best selves, but she is Viers cancer cells, they work for us, fine for us, and helps with the immune system. So regulates the amount of fluid we have in our body and also works with the immunologic system. So each time we're under inflammation infection, the sciatic system is helping us to eliminate all those bed cells.

Amy: 7:26

And what Yeah, it does make sense. And I've done it and I know the benefits just because of the way that I feel afterwards. It's very different than like, what you would think about a regular massage. It's very light and relaxing, but it's just it's a different sensation. So why, like how often should someone get this done? Should they do it instead of regular massages? Should it be in combination with regular massage?

Unknown: 7:50

So let's say sometimes you do combine techniques. Let's say someone who likes to get deep tissue works, sometimes going straight to the muscle, which so deep is not the best thing to do. We like to drink first. And then we work more in deep layers of the muscles. So we drain and then by layers, we start to release that tension. So how often should it get on? I have clients we do have clients, they come here every week, sometimes every other week, but I would say at least once a month, why they come here on weekly basis. Sometimes they have chronic conditions such as lymphedema. Lymphedema, it's a condition that helps a lot after breast cancer. So as they remove the lymph nodes, like say the armpit it compromised the paddock system. So it creates buildup of fluids. So men really we find another route to send that fluid. Let's say one side is compromised what we do, we push the fluids towards the health side. So we do have clients that come as you know, once a week, and it all depends of your needs goals, target budget, I'm so fascinated by the lymphatic system, I have a chronic autoimmune disease and I have noticed that just recently, showers always make me feel better. And I know it sounds kind of silly, but I think it has something to do with my limp because I'll be going about my day and I'm kind of achy and my body feels very fatigued. And then I do my dry brushing and I get in the shower and I can be like a completely different person afterwards. I mean, it can really like turn my day, right side up. So it's just kind of amazing to me is that is that just the body holding inflammation in my lymph system is maybe not flushing it out to the best of its abilities. Without a little nudge, it does sound like that. Yes. So let's say the lymphatic system works properly. As we move, the more we move, the more you'll emphatic system will work properly. So let's say, shower, no, during this show do yourself, if I finish, you just thought certain areas of your body's going to release that tension. As we release that tension, you get more blood flow, more likely, you're going to eliminate some of the inflammation, and you get more blood flow more oxygen in your tissue gets healthier, better. So there are like I said, we do have those all over the body. But if you work in those major groups, you know that we mentioned here, let's say over your neck, behind your ears, okay, on your armpit. And sometimes we do that during the shower, like you mentioned. So you're not thinking about you doing that. So naturally, you're stimulating those lymph nodes. Maybe that's why you feel way better afterwards. Yeah.

Amy: 11:16

What about the dry brush? Katie was mentioning, she uses that. And I've used that before. Is that the same idea? Like how does that help? Because I know it always kind of feels like a bit energizing. But what does that specifically do?

Unknown: 11:28

Oh, my gosh, it's great is going to stimulate the lymphatic system, it's going to be very superficial. Okay, we highly recommend you to do yourself. Lymphatic Drainage torching those areas prior there, Dr. prosze. So first, you know, because the river runs to the ocean, imagine how the fluid of your body going upwards going towards your heart. So the final destination of all this fluid comes to above your collarbone. So we suggest everybody to start from here. So as you as you clear, your chest, those areas is going to be way easier to receive everything. So we start right here doing yourself lymphatic drainage above your wallet, Vaughn can below and then you go behind your ears, it doesn't matter if you go clockwise or counterclockwise. As long as you move in those areas, that's what we want is like a very like stretch. So and then you go to your armpit and just move in there, get close to the breast, just show both sides, open up your chest, you feel working for long hours in front of your test, make sure you open up and you stretch your chest, one of the really good technique is that there's a muscle right here, if you just kind of tuck your finger in and kind of grab on it and just move it around. That's a really good tight, very, very effect and loosen up the muscle and the fascia. And that really helps with the drainage. You do that

Amy: 13:17

first you do those, like that's the sorry, that series first and then you would dry brush because that kind of opens you up you're saying

Unknown: 13:26

absolutely. And also besides the dry brush, you can use a washer, a body washes, so this way you can it does help to bring the fluid towards those areas. Let's say you and your leg, you bring everything to the wind. You're going to work on your arm, you bring every change everything to armpit, so but it's the first just open up channels. I have a valid question. Excuse me, it's like this big and it's wooded and it has all of these interesting shapes. And I've used it a few times. I'm more I favor the dry brushing. I don't know why I think it just feels good. And it's fast and it's easy. But and also I did see that like tapping those certain spots is helpful as well like the collarbone, the armpits, behind the knees and the ankles that I saw before I started driving. Yes, you can use your fingers. You can use even any type of brush, you can use it face guasha out those things you can use to stimulate those areas. Okay, as long as we don't put too much pressure. Okay, so that's, that's, that's an important piece. So you do it gently and it does speed matter fast or slow. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter as long as you apply a lot of pressure. Don't hurt yourself. Okay, and it doesn't matter if you go to the lecture the mic just hanging for a few minutes if you feel a little bit tender. Just hanging there in a All children minutes it goes away.

Amy: 15:02

Okay, interesting. And so Mimi, you were just mentioning about helping your mom who had a stomach ache. And I know that I've read or heard that lymphatic drainage also helps a lot with digestion and bloating. And I just know from being in there, every time I come in, I'm bloated and I leave and I'm not bloated. So can you talk about the like, how it helps and what you can expect from a digestion standpoint,

Unknown: 15:25

stomach area gets really tight, because what do we do we sit a lot. And so there is a stagnation. That's why, you know, a lot of people experience slow digestion bloating. So by applying pressure to certain areas, you loosen up the tension, move with a colon to its shape. So you're you're moving toxins, you're you're improving the circulation of blood flow more blood flow more, and if there's more blood flow, the person will move faster. Yeah, that makes sense. I need to try to do what's more in my stomach, because I feel like I'm always bloated.

Amy: 16:07

Yeah, no, it would be so good for you, Katie.

Unknown: 16:12

What is the difference between modeling massage and lymphatic massage, I like to start with drainage. We always start with the drainage, we eliminate the water retention, the toxins or the waste. And after that ingestion becomes more soft. If the tissue not it's easier to mold. So I usually combine a few modalities in order to control someone's body. So the different types of strokes but we always start with the drainage, that's the first thing gets the priority. getting healthier first and being let's say, beautiful, skinnier. The main, the main reason the main function of lymphatic drainage is to be healthier. Yeah, so you can actually you use modeling to kind of like slim down, I guess. And does it help us cellulite? Yes, you can lose after three to four inches in one session, it then can serve the person how much water retention have a lot of people they love to get it down for photo shoot before red carpet. Okay, later, you're not feeling the best. So it's, it's a quick fix. So we highly recommend people to hydrate have lots of water before and afterwards. And in order to maintain the results. Reduce the amount of South Korean processed food, sugar, sugar, and you know, put in makes everybody more inflamed, more bloated. So those are things it's a no, no, if you want to keep up with your results. Yes. And more female have reaction towards wheat than male. That's another thing that I noticed. I think it's really interesting. Yeah, it's, it's interesting that you say that because I was literally just thinking in the last couple of days that I'm going to start eating more wheat again. I've been off of gluten for so long, because and I'm just like, oh, maybe I can introduce it back. But probably not the best idea. You know, we see the reaction disease gluten intolerant, but the same client goes to Europe, and they can eat bread. They can stuff up with their and have no problem. So the way that GMO in this country really? It really mess with our system. Yeah, I have clients, they they cannot have yogurt here. They travel to Italy, they eat it there they are fine. So there is something going on here the way they process the food.

Amy: 19:03

It's so true. Katie, and I talk about that all the time. Because yeah, when you're in Italy, and you have pasta and wine and bread, you feel fine. And you're not bloated. I mean, it's unbelievable. And then here it's like yeah, all of our food is process. It's a problem. Well, this is so interesting. I mean, we could go on and on. But let's get to our rap session. Just to give you guys some fun questions on this. This Friday night. Prior to cocktails, Katie's already drinking her Rosae so let's do it. What is your favorite wellness or beauty hack besides lymphatic drainage, the sash

Unknown: 19:39

I always carry my bag, a little bit of almond oil and the little guasha for my face and a few essentially, I love peppermint and lavender. So I always like to have a few drops in my almond oil. into myself, massage relieves the tension of my shoulders, my neck, and my scalp is something that I have all the time with me.

Amy: 20:09

That sounds nice. Good little pick me,

Unknown: 20:12

me, me. Since I'm a much more physical person, I like to stretch. I feel like ah, after I stretch, I feel better, like the helps with my fluid retention, you know, helps me feel better more than ever. So I kind of, I'm gonna tell me a secret. I went to the massages who with me a long time ago, and that she loves baking soda and vinegar she uses for a lot of things, right? Maybe I do I do. I use those cleaning. You know, they the very natural clean. If you put them together, they bubble up and then makes the scrubbing much easier. And I wash my hair with baking soda. And I condition my hair with apple cider vinegar. Oh, wow. To balance it to Yeah. So so it works. I have quite in the hands, you know, feels clean, soft. It's great. Wow, I feel cool, because it has a chemical that pulls more oil out of your scalp. I don't know if you heard it that. But that's the gimmick. That's the thing that they do. So you buy more shampoo. Shampoo all the time. Oh, wow. Yeah. But you dilute it, you don't use the template, of course, you put in the container. And then you know, you add water, stir it up, and then you pour. So it's very, very simple. For me, probably breathing exercises. If I if I try to do breathing exercises, I feel better, more more nirvana. Well, for me really long line. I create a space here that I really enjoyed in here and every day when I have clients coming back to see me and they talk about how they failed after the treatment is for me. It's a moment of joy. Well, that's wonderful. I'm sure you're helping so many people and let please let our listeners know where they can find you and come to see you both for lymphatic drainage massage, modeling, yeah, modeling massage, and all

Amy: 22:31

of it. Yeah, give us your website, your Instagram all the things

Unknown: 22:35

okay do not with as the Marilyn, we have natural far from Washington, just see, our website is www detox massage that CEO, you can easily find us on Instagram, which is detox massage. And the easiest way to call and talk as is through email. You go to the website and just send us an email. And it's truly you know, we really feel thankful blessed to be here and assist all this beautiful patients we have oh, we forgot to mention about the postdoc treatments that we offer. Oh, it's a big thing that we do here right? The full stop you Yes, yeah. So let's say someone gets liposuction or Mommy made overweight some Money Makeover it's a surgery that you know take care of the breast and the belly. So when they go back home they're not feeling the best in a good way to speed the recovery process is getting euphotic Trent edge immediately. When they get here we are able to assist during this process reducing the pain bruises swollen it's a it's a 90 day process the just leave walking way much better.

Amy: 24:03

So thank you so much Erica and Mimi for joining us today and teaching us all about lymphatic we got a little bit of a one on one and I think our listeners are really going to enjoy it and probably, you know check you out on Instagram and read all about you and lymphatic drainage and your content and then, you know go get a massage, get a lymphatic massage and try something new. So thank you so much for joining us. We're really happy to have had you on the show. We appreciate your time.

Unknown: 24:28

Thank you so much, Amy. Thank you Amy.

Amy: 24:32

Thanks for listening to Nirvana sisters. For more information on this episode, check out the show notes please subscribe and leave us a review. also find us on Instagram at Nirvana sisters. If you loved what you just listened to or know someone that would please share it and tag us. Tune in next week for a fresh new episode of Nirvana sisters will continue to watch out for all things wellness so you don't have to buy

Episode 101 - From Pain To Zen: The Art Of Acupuncture With Dr. Jenelle Kim (Full Transcript)

This is a full transcript of the Nirvana Sisters podcast Episode 101.

Amy: 0:06

Welcome to Nirvana sisters podcast where we take the intimidation out of well being and beauty to help you achieve your highest state your nirvana. We are sisters in law and your hosts. I'm Amy Sherman.

Unknown: 0:18

And I'm Katie Chandler. So let's get into some real conversation Welcome back to the show Nirvana sisters family. Today we are welcoming back the fabulous Dr. Jenelle. Kim. Dr. Kim. She was with us sometime last year, episode number 62. She came in and we chatted all about traditional Chinese medicine and her book my Jung Sung, the Korean art of living meditation, which I have heard is doing very well and we'll get into all of that. But just to give you a little insight. Dr. Janelle Kim is a prolifically cited wellness expert that has been featured in Forbes allure, meditation magazine time GMA and more. She is devoted to integrating the philosophy, ancient medical wisdom and expertise of East Asia, with the advancements of modern life and medicine of the West to touch and positively affect the lives of others. Dr. Kim is a doctor of acupuncture, which is what we are going to get into today. She's nationally board certified or biology and our biology, oriental medicine and acupuncture. Dr. Kim completed her extensive training in East Asia and are some of the most respected doctors in the field of oriental medicine, and is the custodian of her lineage proprietary by bung formulas. So much could go on and on and on with your accolades and your accomplishments and everything. But we are so excited we our last conversation, we talked all about traditional Chinese medicine and, and your book and everything. And we were just really excited to get into acupuncture with you. So welcome back. And that's what we're going to do today. Thank

Dr. Janelle Kim: 1:58

you so much for having me back. I also really enjoyed my time last time, and I know we ran out of time. So it's awesome to have a chance to extend our conversation. So thank you for that.

Amy: 2:08

Good to see you. We've seen your quoted recently, Katie found the article, I think it was in Forbes and the New York Times and I think it was about your book. So we'd love to hear how the book is and what you're seeing.

Dr. Janelle Kim: 2:20

Yes. So grateful. It's been a little over a year now it launched January 11 2020 2am. I getting all these numbers straight. And that is I believe soon after is when I spoke to you both and it has it's done very well it is in 10 different countries and different languages right now, which is really, really special. That really meant a lot to me to know that so many people around the world are resonating with these principles don't pass down my lineage for so very long principles of the Dow and mindfulness for all of those who may not be familiar. And last week, yes, it was number one on Amazon, for mental health and spirituality. So it just means so much. One of my greatest wish, in short, is that these principles can be applied right away. You know, it is about I call it living meditation, as we talked about last time, so I don't think we have to get so far into it unless we wish. But you know, we hear so much about meditation now, which is amazing. 20 years ago, if you talk about meditation, people would look at you, you know, kind of blank stare. And now it's the best thing and I'm so grateful for that. But these principles, the medicine, the movement, I call them, the three pillars are things that have been passed down by our ancient sages masters from these ancient practices, and they all hold a similar principle. So whether it's from India or Korea, you know, the it's the cultures and the people who have been in existence for so very long, and the ways with which we can incorporate tools that can help us everyday no matter what's going on. And I call them the three M's. So acupuncture fits in that as well, or Balaji. It's the medicine pillar, movement. And meditation, which is a living meditation. Meditation is every moment of your day. It's not just when you sit down to meditate or, you know, do certain practices, it extends truly that kind of thinking it's a training. I've started to call it actually a training, not just we train our bodies, I moved on to start to really embrace that we of course, train our minds. But furthermore, I believe, very strongly, we also train our spirit, not that we are able to train our spirit, something I've been thinking about a lot because it feels that was very active and dynamic. And that is what living meditation mean, Jung Sung, the book and the principles are all about as we have to constantly it's a constant. And if anyone thinks it's not, you know, I have news for you, whether you like it or not it we have to constantly be a part of that. And so when I say train your spirit, your spirit is there, you know, and that can be a whole other conversation. But we have to train ourselves to connect to that, you know, that's when we start to feel disconnected from ourselves, Mind Body Spirit, disconnected from each other, disconnected from the universe, nature around us. So that's kind of why I believe it has started to spread These principles in such a way I know how much they helped my life and what I've seen my entire life. And yes, I'm really grateful in the last year that people are finding it helpful. The best thing I hear is when people come to me and say Dr. Kim, Janelle, that just made sense. It made sense. And it's helping. That makes me happy.

Unknown: 5:17

That's amazing. I'm so happy for you with all this success. And I saw that you're doing a lot of retreats and you're and you're teaching us and you just did something with the Diane Von Furstenberg with her Was it her daughter that

Dr. Janelle Kim: 5:30

granddaughters? So I mean, it's so amazing. She is such an icon, Diane Von Furstenberg, someone I've always looked up to just such an inspiring woman and really cares. And she started this platform, if you will, this community called in charge, and it's really neat. So you'll have to check it out. And it was the very first wellness day. And we opened with young son moving meditation, which is one of the three pillars that movement, but it incorporates the principles, the philosophy and the movements based in Chi Gong, right. And so similar to the understanding of acupuncture, Qi, Gong, martial arts, even yoga, they may speak of it a little bit differently. It all, how can I say it all, as a way to make flow through your meridian? Right? Your body to make everything function properly. And that's the ultimate secret to everything, right? Youth health, life. And so those movements such a neat thing, actually, I just was in New York, and was part of the international aesthetic spa and cosmetic conference, I ECSC. It's one that I went through 20 years ago, when I first started in the beauty business, right? For those of you who do not know, I formulate products, you know, based on the herbal medicine that's been passed down. But it was so excited, citing because it was one of the first places I ever spoke 20 years ago on formulation and medicine. And this time when I was in New York, it was just last week, I believe, maybe two weeks ago, I can't even keep track, I presented the movement as part of beauty and wellness. So it's just such an amazing thing to see, that are part of the world, the Western culture and society are really starting to embrace this. And I know it's going to make a huge difference in people's lives at a time where I think we all agree it's very needed. So absolutely.

Amy: 7:08

Yeah, absolutely. And I also really liked how you said in the beginning, that it is something you need to train, and it's not something you just do one time in your day. It's like an intentional practice. And I think it's hard to do. And I think it's good to remember that you're like constantly training muscle. To think in that more, I guess, intentional way. With all that being said, I know last time we touched very, very briefly on your acupuncture background. And we want to hear all about that, because we haven't done a show yet really to break down acupuncture and what it is how it's helpful. And it's you know, I've done it personally before and I think it's really helped me but I think for our audience, they'd love to understand more about acupuncture just generally speaking from like a really basic,

Dr. Janelle Kim: 7:56

absolutely. Well, I love that, that that you say the basic standpoint, because it can get very complex. And that's all good. And for certain of us that's very important to know our whole lives. We study this and you could spend lifetimes, right? But to me, those basic ways of understanding are the principles. That word I probably think about the most in my entire life and that but that's so important, because that's the way to understand our bodies. So yes, let's talk about acupuncture, how it works. But I encourage everyone while hearing this, well, however, I'm going to explain it right now. Whatever comes naturally and feels like it's resonating, but to also apply that in knowing our bodies every single moment because that it's the same thing, right? So one of the ways that my teachers taught me that I thought was a beautiful way to explain because you can kind of break it down and Eastern medicine. There's even when you get like I am nationally board certified in oriental medicine, it's funny you can you can do just acupuncture, you can do just herbal medicine, then you can do Oriental medicine, I think it's still this way and spend some time but when I studied and got my license however many years ago now that's the way it is. And so it's important to kind of understand that because I come from a lineage of apologists, and there is something in Eastern medicine, I say Eastern or Oriental medicine, it's all kind of interchangeable. It's all rooted in Chinese medicine. It came from China, but then even herbal medicine and acupuncture went to Korea, for example, Japan, and those practitioners, those ancient doctors, many of them very well known, such as Hojun in the Korean, you know, medical history of Eastern medicine, they took herbal medicine and advanced it, they took acupuncture and for example, Korean medicine is known for hand acupuncture, which is something I practice when I practice acupuncture, right? Japanese have a different kind of acupuncture, but it all is rooted from China. Okay, so I think that's important for some people to know what is the difference, but it all stems from the same principles. So when you go to East Asia, there's kind of this may be spoken about maybe not that there's acupuncture and herbal or biology, right. So you have the herbalists and you have the acupuncturist, in our society. I have noticed it's very it's more mixed, you still see that A lot of acupuncturists practice acupuncture and have some herbs and the herb ologists. It's seen in our society as well. But I like to kind of look at it that way, because both are very important, right? And then the way to understand acupuncture, in comparison to or in synergy with herbal medicine, is that herbal medicine is like the gas if you're a car, it's the gas, right? You need herbs, you need supplements, including food, to nourish ourselves to supplement we have to have qi and blood, right? It all comes down to this. Everything comes down to I'm pretty certain we talked about it last time, whether it's the medicine, the movement, the philosophy, everything in our life comes down to the yin and yang. And we could have a whole week of sessions, podcasts on that. But to break it down, First comes the Dow, the universe, right then is yin and yang, night and day. Yin and Yang is shown throughout every aspect of our life. That is the training, if you will, if you think about it this way as well, constantly balancing we use that word all the time. But what does that mean? So I'm gonna go into how that how that relates to acupuncture. But to start kind of from square one, there's even young, like I said, night and day, feminine, masculine, loud and soft. So you see young is also chi, right? So Young is movement, it's more, it's bright, it's light, it's loud, where Yin is your blood, your body fluids, for example, it is feminine energy, it is more quiet, you know, it's more complex. That's the truth in many ways. And so just as we see that in the nature around us, we start to see that in our own bodies. And what I love the most about Eastern medicine and acupuncture and herbal medicine, is that when you when I first started learning, one of the things I loved so much, that was a very special teacher, Alex to bear, he was very well known in the eastern medical community. He was amazing. And I remember him very much saying what resonated with my teacher growing up my father, that 1000s of years ago, they didn't have books. They couldn't study that way, how these ancient doctors, neurobiologist and practitioners understood the human body as they looked outside, you know, to some extent, right. So I'm very much simplifying this, but they saw the way that the trees grew the way the rivers would have flow. And they started to think I wonder if our bodies work in the same manner as what I'm seeing around me. And that's exactly the best way to think of it. And it's my favorite way to think about it. So that is what I like to share. So if we think of yin and yang, and our bodies are made of all of our internal organ systems, our muscles, our joints, you know, circulatory system, nervous hormonal, all of the systems within our body, as I just said, the Yin aspect of the yin and yang duality are the body fluids, the blood, especially for women, we're blood beings. And in general, men are more cheap. It's by nature, you know. And so it is very important to have enough right to supplement ourselves, and then flow properly throughout these meridian systems. And acupuncture uses meridian systems in our body to manipulate the flow of Qi, to make sure that our organ systems are fed to make sure that our muscle joints are working properly. And so if you start to picture to some extent, we all can picture the circulatory system, we have an idea that our veins or arteries run throughout our body in specific ways. Well, the same thing happens with meridians, you can sometimes hear them as channels, right? The acupressure acupuncture channels or meridian system, there's 12, primary eight extraordinary, I'm telling you a little bit more than maybe some may want to know. But that's important to know, I'll tell you why in a second. So you have 12 meridians that run through your body that connect to all of your organ systems. And your organ systems are also once again, going back to that yin and yang separated into yin and yang categories, there's ones that kind of very simply put, create chi, and there's ones that break them down. For example, in the the your the way your digestion, your middle functions, which in my humble opinion, and many in western Eastern medicine, your digestion is everything your gut is everything. You have your stomach and your spleen and Eastern medicine and they work together. Same in western, but an Eastern literally the spleen is yen and the stomach is young. And the stomach is in charge of, for example, breaking things down. Okay, that's the young, the actual load, the active, and the spleen is Yin. And that is in charge of taking all of the good chi, all of the good energy from the things you eat the air you breathe. So that's a simple way to maybe visualize how this works. So then you have meridian systems that connect, you have a meridian system for your spleen, you have a meridian system for your stomach, your liver, your lungs, and they all connect. So maybe some of you have even seen or it might be interesting, you don't have to study it or anything but one day just Google, you know, meridian system and see how how it runs throughout your body. And so it becomes that much more of a clearer understanding, I hope of how acupuncture and herbs and movement and the way you eat and the way you think start to affect the systems of your body. So the meridians run from your fingers all throughout your body, your head, your toes, I brought up the extraordinary channels. We don't have to go into all of them. But there's two that are so important, right and it's important because we can be aware of this in our daily life, one of them the Ren, the Yin vessel, the Yin channel runs down from the top of our head all the way down in the front, right? Okay, and do goes down in the back. And so one is the yen channel one is the Yang Channel. And on those channels, they're so special. There's literally points that connect to every one of the organ systems, right. And so you can see this a bit in other meridian systems, but it's very important, particularly in these channels, you start to even see chakras, right? For those of us who understand more of either Vedic or yoga, and how there's different chakra as well, that also starts to make that much more sense when you start to understand certain channels of energy of chi that run throughout your body. So I should have mentioned, chi is a huge concept that again, 20 years ago, I brought this up, people would be like, okay, Janelle, let's not get weird here. And now, everybody wants to talk about chi, thank goodness, because it's a part of our life. She is vital energy. If I did not have chi, I wouldn't be able to sit here and talk to you right now. I'd be like a blob just sitting on this chair. Well, that's one way of looking at it's the action, right? And so going back, so we have these meridians systems. And if we think of it as river systems, just like we see a nature that run throughout our body, we will have to make sure that there's constantly flow. So what do you need to have that proper flow so that everything is fed and nourished properly, a you have to have chi, you have to have blood, so a supplement health, vitality, and that comes once again, from thinking properly from eating properly from taking the proper supplements, herbal medicine, proper formulas that I talked about a lot, not just anything, because you heard it on tick tock, many great things that come from that, but you know, know the difference or educate ourselves. And so we have these meridian systems, we have to have enough gas in our car. That's why I was going back to so to kind of switch back to that for a second. My teacher once taught me that acupuncture and herbal medicine, herbs are like the gas in your car. And acupuncture is like the starting system, right. So it's like it starts your cart pushes things through, it helps to activate different acupoints. So now if you picture you have meridians in your body, you can imagine that by putting a needle or even pressure right or even movement, or now you know something that's not so much that I'm as familiar and expertise with is Reiki or different energy healings, many people are becoming more aware of you can stimulate going back to acupuncture, acupressure, certain points along these meridians systems, where, you know, this point is known for headaches. And so people will come with horrible headaches. And they will press large intestine for and you can feel it, it's kind of right between your thumb and your point your finger and right in between that web. And oftentimes when especially when you start to feel points, and she'll feel a little hole sometimes where you feel something catch. And if you start to feel even if you take that hole, Pat and start to just rub it, it's a little sore, right? Usually for most of us, well that directly that's a huge point. It's like a door, if you will both sides and on your particular when you start to touch it and people have horrible headaches, they it's like magic, like all of a sudden, oh my gosh, my headache is gone. Or when you have trouble breathing, one of my favorite points is right on the chest, right. So if you take two fingers right on your sternum, kind of right in the center, not two fingers, let's use all of them, makes you make sure to hit the point. And you press there and then kind of with a downward motion, because now we're thinking of chi. So for example, when we get heavy in the chest and can't breathe or anxious, and you start to feel that energy build, you know, you can catch yourself before you get there by feeling chi. That's why I love to talk about these things, you have to feel it yourself first. So even in those moments, you breathe in through your nose out through your mouth, and you press kind of downward on your sternum, that can also be a really sore point. But there is no one I have met who does not like that point being touched and that that basically supports and directly connects to your heart. They call your pericardium and Eastern medicine, your upper, your upper Zhao, and so it helps to direct chi. So these are the ways in which you can see that different points along these meridians systems start to affect the flow, right. So again, if we're river system, and the ultimate goal is to now have qi and blood flow through these systems properly through our circulatory system as blood chi through the meridian system, when we start to get sick from aging, normal process, when we get hurt, right from from a virus bacteria or we fall and we hurt something what happens is, if you picture these river systems, literally you've just you've just damaged that meridian system, right damage might be a strong word, but you've affected and so what can happen is whether it like I said, whether it's just normal process of aging, whether you have a stomach condition, whatever that looks like, here's your meridian, and now all of a sudden, over time, the sticks from the river, the dirt, the sediment, maybe some trash that has gotten into the river system starts to build up and you start to have blockages and so when things can't flow, it becomes stagnant. Stagnant is the number one bad thing in our life. In very simple terms, stagnation in our thinking stagnate You know, in our life, you have to have that flow. And so what happens is when you start to have blockages anywhere throughout your body, it's going to start to affect you. And you may not feel it right away, right, that's when someone has sprains their ankle, and they work through it. And they don't do acupuncture, they don't use certain formulas to help the body heal, for example, certain movements, and they let it be, and they believe that it is that much better. And 10 years later, now, for some odd reason, not so odd when you understand that this way, now their ankle, either having really bad arthritis, or you know, it's giving out a lot or they're losing strength. Well, it's because that area was never healed. It's that simple, right. So everything has to just constantly have that flow. So in conclusion, one of the best ways that we can do so is through herbal medicine to to fill ourselves up to nourish ourselves, but the herbs also have so many functions, of nourishing of breaking things down of detoxifying all those things. And acupuncture can do the same through different acupressure points through different systems of acupuncture study, and understanding. A practitioner can use needles on any one of these points in the way that they know that they're going to affect your body in a positive way. And it starts to open things up. And in the end, when people always ask, you know, Dr. Kim, what is the secret to youth to beauty to health to wellness, I always say it comes down to two main things, which is function and flow, everything has to function properly. And when we feed it properly, with all the things I just mentioned, so we're nourished as beings, that makes everything function properly, our body is miraculous. And if we give it what it needs, it knows what to do most of the time, right. And then you have to have flow, so everything's functioning, and everything's flowing, then you do not have sagging skin, you have a lot less wrinkles on your face, because you're nourished, you know, you don't have as much pain throughout your body. And that's, that's the way of understanding it very simply put. So

Amy: 21:55

it's so interesting, is so cool. I never thought about the meridians, and like the flow piece in that way. So that's a really good visual for for people to understand it. And when you were talking about the blockages, is that also related, you know, you hear so much about inflammation. So like, does that lead to inflammation, when you have blockages, labs,

Dr. Janelle Kim: 22:17

your inflammation and one way of understanding is just your body's way of telling your brain I have a problem, like Come quick. If you look at it that way. That's right formation is right. And so it's your it's certainly an imbalance in your body that's looking for help. So

Unknown: 22:32

I love that you gave us a few small acupressure points or things that someone can do for themselves at home. I mean, I understand the importance of, you know, if you if there's a problem, you should really seek the help of an acupuncturist and everything. But something as simple as being able to relieve a headache with that is is amazing. And it would benefit someone to, to maybe if they're if they're struggling with headaches or something like that, just to maybe Google the meridian system and kind of understand where these acupressure points are just as maybe if they wanted to get their toes wet, and then and then dive deeper and go into acupuncture. So it we just covered that it can affect every system in the body, and can then be beneficial for any and every condition. Acupuncture. Sure, if

Dr. Janelle Kim: 23:22

you look at it, that acupuncture can balance imbalances. Absolutely, it can. Absolutely it can, you know, obviously there's more extreme conditions. But also part of the goal with really understanding our body in this way is to hopefully be able to catch before something bigger happens, you know, a lot of times these things, sometimes it happens and it's just, you know, it's just part of what you have to walk through in this life for a very simple way of putting it. But there are so many times where if you looked a little bit deeper, or you were a little bit more aware of your body, you could have caught something a bit sooner. And we do hear that very often on a very positive note, I felt like something was wrong. I went to this expert, they didn't see it, but I knew it how many times we hear the story. So I kept going, that's an awareness that's knowing your own body. And there's very empowering, you know, and very important to be aware.

Unknown: 24:09

Yeah, and also, you know, something to really consider if you are struggling with something and going through a journey and seeing Western doctors and you're in the process of trying to find a diagnosis or whatever it may be or you just have this concern, it can be a really great time to just go ahead and like you said, try to get ahead of it and start start with acupuncture. And also it's it works equally as well for things like anxiety and depression and

Dr. Janelle Kim: 24:34

everything very much. So herbs and acupuncture can make a huge difference in this. Especially after we all just kind of visualize this together of how everything connects in that way. You know, we because we are again we say these things a lot and one of my favorite things living meditation is to stop and think about what we're saying. Sometimes we all we often say Mind, Body Spirit, we're all aware of what that is right? But when you really think about mind, body spirit, it's that connect it like we are those three things. And so when mentally, spiritually, we feel an imbalance, especially when it's things that are a little bit harder to understand sometimes like anxiety, like panic, right, like depression, you know, I'm saying a lot of conditions right now. But we get the understanding, right? When we feel off that way, we have to remember that we can also affect those things physically, particularly with movement. That's one of the reasons why, you know, quite frankly, I didn't think I'd start teaching movement, this soon, I thought, okay, medicine, then the book will come out and later down the road. But guess what, it's catching on very quickly. And I know that the reason is that even through proper movements, particularly stemming from the internal art of yoga, of Qigong, which is what I very much resonate with, and start to teach. It also, as I said, before, starts to work with your meridian systems. So when you're feeling just like I said, You are aware enough to feel oh, wait a second, I'm starting to feel anxious. There are very quick ways sometimes the quickest is through movement, you know, through movement and breath, I really, really mean that, especially with, with feelings of anxiety, and feelings of grief, or fear, or any of the our emotions that can kind of overwhelm us to be honest, we really do have control over whether we feel like we do at times or not, we can learn to have tools to help us with those things. You know, so it's very empowering. Um, oh, go ahead.

Amy: 26:22

So I have a question that people may be wondering. So when I first went to the acupuncturist they looked at, or actually he did this, like every time I came in, yes, looked at my tongue. So what is that? What is your tongue tell you? Like? Why is that so it seems like that's a standard practice

Dr. Janelle Kim: 26:39

that a lot of the main thing is when you walk in to talk to an acupuncturist, or a bolus for that matter that they should look at, that they usually will look at as your tongue and your pulse. Right. So that's kind of a known thing. And Eastern medicine. So your tongue and your pulse, which shows all the different kind of levels of every organ system in your body, and there's different, so many pulses, to understand what's happening, but your tongue reflects what's happening internally, inside, right. And so different different, like, for example, this is one that people might find interesting, you go, and you look at your tongue, and you you can kind of know certain things yourself as well. So a lot of us will have if you if you look in the mirror, a red tip on the edge of our tongue, and that represents now understand this is different than Western medicine. But in Eastern medicine, we call it Hearthfire. Hearthfire, stems a lot from right, that or can lead to rather is the root of anxiety, you know, feeling of panic, feeling overwhelmed. And that is an imbalance, which, particularly in our society, I have a feeling a lot of us may have. And so, yes, you're, you can map out the organ systems on your tongue. That's what I'm trying to say you there's, there's a map, if you will, a system to feeling the pulse and the different organs. So it basically is a way for the practitioner, the doctor to see and not everyone, you know, everyone's at different places in their in their practice and their experience in treating patients. And that's very, very important. But basically, you can see the internal condition through the tongue and through the pulse. And quite frankly, one of my favorite ways that I was taught since I was I don't know, as far back as I can remember, and just part of natural life. But, you know, without I say, it's funny, I don't notice either in some way, but when you walk in front of me, you also look at everything in that person, their eyes, how that looks, their skin tone, and I'm not talking Oh, you look really, you don't you look, you look really tired note, it's deeper than that you can tell from someone's even their face, what's going on inside. And so it's kind of this hole. So I say if you stand in front of me, I just naturally, accidentally will always close you. And so it's not a conscious thing. But if you ask me, I'm like, Oh, yes, I already know. And it's, it's a really important practice, actually, when you do start to just pay attention. That's the thing that's so beautiful as a practitioner is our responsibility to know that I take that very seriously. But even as human beings, you know, take the time to sometimes sit, quiet yourself, calm yourself and, and really start to study in some way. Not necessarily from a peer trying to figure someone out, but really from just their presence, their feeling, you know, the eyes, show the soul and your spirit. And so a lot of times you'll see when someone you know is not having the best day or is not in a great spot. Something is amiss. That's a very interesting

Amy: 29:26

yeah, I think we noticed that because I mean, I think we observe ourselves in that way. But I think it's almost easier to observe other helplessly like if your kid Yeah, feeling ill, right because they look a little pale or they're like just you could just tell love

Dr. Janelle Kim: 29:40

that actually, yes, particularly in our kids. And and let that be a reminder of how intuitive and how much we really do know these things. You know, we can't guess there's also let me be very clear, because I think there's a lot happening in the world right now where a lot of people are sharing things that although I'm very happy, didn't know we were I was going to go here with all of us today, but let's just do it. I'm very happy that people are sharing more in this world is opening, but also let it be known, there might be a lot of information out there that is not correct and not proper. And that does exist, you know. So I'm a huge supporter of people, it's important to know where it comes from. Right? So the acupuncturist, where did they go to school? How long have they been studying, just because they haven't been there forever does not mean that they're not have a certain gift or care or are very much experts in who they are. But there's something that comes with time and experience or who is your teacher and Eastern medicine, philosophy, martial arts, yoga, any of the ancient practices, people want to know who your teacher is. And that's something that in Western society, I have a feeling we're going to start to understand a little bit more, it's going to be important, and a time where everyone is an expert, it feels our code, right? I don't mean that respectfully, but we're talking now we're working with other people use their lives, like you don't mess around with that. Not that anyone even means to, but it's very important to know who you're going to what products you're buying, who formulated them, why did they what did they know? Even your skincare? You know? So I'd say that that is a huge thing that I think is important for people to be aware of.

Unknown: 31:08

Is that so? So those are great tips for helping someone find an acupuncturist locally because it is very readily available now, which is fantastic. I mean, we have multiple acupuncturist and in my little town, so what would you say are? Do you just suggest they just write up find out ask, you know, the questions you just mentioned, how does someone know that they're going to a trusted person? Yes. And

Dr. Janelle Kim: 31:35

it is? That is yes, I love this question. I would, I think it's very important. I wish there was a perfect equation and there is not but thing is that, like I said, there are some people who are gifted, there are some people who even young have connected to a certain teacher or master. acupuncturists are of all ages. So I would start there, where did you learn from? You know, are you accredited? That's very important. I think nowadays, you don't have as much of that as you did. But at the same time, I want to remind us, you know, if you go to the mountains of China, I don't think they're going to show you some beautiful diploma, you know, and so let that be in the backyard seriously, you know, or sometimes even, you know, sharing and educating about herbs. I, I'm a huge proponent of studies and understanding and science, but also something being around for 1000s of years makes a difference. And if you go and try to ask the Korean farmer and the ginseng, you know, a mountain of Korea who's growing ginseng, and he's trying to find it, you ask him, if it's organic, he's gonna think there's something he has no clue what you're even talking about. Remember these things, but going to what you're saying, right? I mean, we have the perspective, it's the most important thing, right? But But ultimately, it is very important is going back to what you were saying, Katie, that you have to find someone who knows what they're doing, period, end of story. And you can find that out? Where did you go to school? How long have you been practicing? Do you have a certain Do you have a teacher? Do you have a route? I think that's really important. You know, it's one way doesn't mean they have to, but if they do have these things, there's a good chance that they're going to very be able to help you in a very wonderful way. You know, the beautiful thing about acupuncture. I feel comfortable saying I check myself of course. But, you know, in general, it's not as hard to hurt someone, you certainly you can don't get me wrong, it's nice to know at least that if you go and try it, you know, it's not, you know, something, if you take too much of a medication, and it's not proper for you, guess what, you're in a lot of trouble. And so someone better not terribly envy, yes, it's not terribly invasive, they can you can feel a little difference with your chi, which is not so great and fun. But you know, it's not the end of the world. So it's worth it to try and also see what people's specialties are. A lot of times, there will be certain people as as it very well should and can be that specialize in certain things specialize in helping with hormonal imbalance helping with orthopedic type of issues and imbalances, digestion, you will find people who just tend more towards a certain condition, if you will, doesn't have to be but but that's always a neat thing, mostly because they have so much experience in that. So that was the next thing. So where did they go to school? What are their their credentials? Right? Very important always. Also, how long have you been practicing? Usually, in general, it's the wisdom of things, right? If someone has been practicing for a long time, it means they've seen a lot of people. And there's something that comes with that. I don't mind that at all, you know, and then you try it, and then you're aware of your own body. So let me tell you, if you go to an acupuncture treatment, it is fine to be relaxed, calm. In fact, that's what you look for. But if you are feeling particularly drained a little off, you know, doesn't mean you go and get mad at acupuncturists per se, but just know okay, maybe that wasn't the most balanced and then also don't give up. Go and try just like you get a second opinion or go go somewhere else. Hopefully you don't even have to get there. But just know that we're all people. We all come from different stages. I'm pretty certain anyone you go to is going to care. I can't. I might be a little naive, but I can't imagine that someone would ever put themselves in that position without caring. And so you know, those are the things you can look got four. So

Unknown: 35:02

and it should yeah, go ahead. I was just, I was just gonna say really quickly that it should be noted, I've experienced acupuncture and I know Amy, you have as well for someone that never has. It's not painful. It's, you know, it can be a very relaxing, calming experience. And, Amy, after you ask your question, I'd love to, at one point get into just some of the benefits that someone should expect. But what are you going to say me?

Amy: 35:26

Oh, I was just going to make a comment. It's important about asking those questions, because which is really good. So at this point, acupuncture is very readily available on campus is wonderful. And it seems like now it's out, there's a lot of, you know, private practices, the person I went to is like a traditional Chinese medicine person. But then there's also these wellness centers, or people that do like chiropractic and physical therapy that have acupuncture. So there, which is like, great, I think, because it's integrating that practice into more maybe traditional ways of healing. But those backgrounds might be a bit different, right, than like the TCM CCed methods. And does that matter? Or is it more just like asking the questions and making sure that they're

Dr. Janelle Kim: 36:14

absolutely, I appreciate you bringing this up, because there is a difference. And let me just put it this way. My master's, I finished everything a bit quick, quickly. But you have to have a bachelor's, first of all, if I remember correctly, don't mark my words, it's been 20 years, and we have to have undergrad school, and then you go to study acupuncture. And when you get your Masters, I'm pretty certain gosh, I should have thought about this first, but it's at least three years, three to four years of schooling. And then on top of that to your doctorate is so I did not finish school until I was what 35 I mean, let's be clear here. Some of the other practitioners out there who want to incorporate acupuncture into their clinic does not mean maybe there's someone who is just naturally gifted and connects with it, maybe they have a certain teacher, and they're not necessarily an acupuncturist. But a lot of people can go to school right now, and spend X number of hours, like a couple of days and have some kind of acupuncture certificate, you know, forgive me, I don't I'm not as into acupuncture oil in this way. But I think you're onto my drift here, that there's a big difference between going and having a couple of seminars, versus this getting two years of study of acupuncture, and that's your, your focus. And that does exist. And that does occur.

Amy: 37:27

And I think that's a really good watch out for our listeners, because you really want to look at their background. So you're comfortable that this person has been studying it for years, and they're not taking like a weekend course and learning how to do because you're right, that probably does happen with places that want to just integrate that in. So it's a, it's something

Dr. Janelle Kim: 37:46

and many of them might have, this is the beautiful thing about acupuncture, going back to that understanding of how our bodies work, you know, it could just be that you stimulate a few points and all of a sudden it makes the flow happen and open to the dam, and you feel so much better. So it's not that it won't necessarily help you. But there's a difference.

Unknown: 38:04

That's it's interesting. And so the some of the benefits, I'm just curious, aside from let's say, you go to an acupuncturist for hormonal imbalance, and they help you with that. Does does acupuncture has a whole bullet? Will it do other things? Will it help with other systems just naturally start to balance all of those meridians? Or is it so targeted?

Dr. Janelle Kim: 38:28

No, I would actually it's it helps to the way I treat, right. So I at this point, I was focused more on herbal medicine as comes from my lineage. But in in clinic, when I did treat what I do find moments to treat now and again, and most of the teachers and very, very well known acupuncturist that I am aware of you treat root, right? So that's the whole point of Eastern medicine, you always look at the root. So one thing I wanted to say before is when you walk into clinic, there might be other things that occur and that diagnosis section of your time with with whatever acupuncturist or practitioner, they will feel your pulse, they will look at your tongue, they may do other things. But then there's a series of questions that they go through, that are really important to pay attention to these are things that you as a human being should be paying attention to all of the time. How are you sleeping? What is your sleep light? If you wake up? When do you wake up? Is it you have trouble falling asleep? Or do you wake up in the middle of night? All these things mean something? How you use the restroom? How many times a day? You know what I mean? What does that look like? I mean, it actually gets very specific and I speak no out now more as a doctor, but those things are really important to understand and to keep track of yourself. So that's one way I want to answer your question Katie is it is very much it's all stepped because you look at the root of the issue. Right? And so it very much can treat symptoms as well but different than, you know modern medicine and that it just treats the symptoms and does not always get to the root to try to balance that to begin with. And so when you think of it that way, that particularly a lot of the practice or cuz I know myself included, that you may come with something that you might be so specific. And I'm going to you know, you have you have a rash on your face, right? And I'll start to treat your digestive system. Right, I'll start to treat your middle. Because while you have and with, with the formulas I created as well, that's exactly what happens. You come to me you say there's a certain thing, where is it on your body? I see it for a minute, I can tell what kind of properties is it? You know, is it more internal? Is it something that kind of aggravated you externally all those things matter, for example, but there's a very good chance I will be treating your entire condition, because that is what's going to actually make it rebalance itself, if that makes sense. So when you think of it that way, I would go so far as to say I can't think of one condition that acupuncture and herbal medicine cannot in some way positively affect not one, you know, there are certain things and also I'm a huge proponent, let it be known, this might shock some people. I'm a huge proponent of Western medicine as well, but know when to use it. That's the thing, we can point all the fingers, we want, you know, but at the end of the day, your point one, three are pointing back at you, one of my favorite thing is like you have to know what you're doing. You cannot just go to your experts, they they should have a responsibility. And really hold that very, as a very important thing in life. However, you have to know your own body, like always goes back to that. So there's a time for Western medicine. When you need antibiotics, you go get antibiotics, when an incredible thing that modern medicine we have today. But don't just take antibiotics, because you know, you have a cough. I mean, even modern medicine would tell you now go home and people get mad like, No, that's a beautiful thing that they're teaching you right now. So it's just that balance. But yes, in the long run, pretty much you can treat anything, treat the wrong word, it can help to rebalance anything.

Amy: 41:48

Yeah. So I have a question. For the average person who wants to go to to acupuncture, let's just do a few scenarios. So like I was going for, for quite a long time as it was part of the pandemic, and then everything, you know, I couldn't go in session, but because I have similar migraines, and I found that it really helps with just like balancing out. So every time I'd go, I'd be like, this is bothering This is bothering me, or nothing's bothering it was more for maintenance, which I thought was really helpful, um, added a habit and they issue back however, for that for for someone who maybe has an autoimmune or like chronic condition, is it? Is it a good idea to go to acupuncture is like maintenance? And it's what does that look like? Is it once a month? Is it once a week? And then for other people that maybe just have like shoulder pain or something very specific? Like, what does that look like? Because I know some people could go to acupuncture once and be like, Oh, it did, right? Which is ridiculous. Because they have to you need to go at times in order for it to take effect. So if you could just talk our listeners through that a little bit, I think

Dr. Janelle Kim: 42:46

absolutely. So first of all, what you said I love, I love reminding people, including myself, our bodies took this much time to get to have this imbalance, you have to give it a little bit of time to rebalance itself, right. And so. So I think that's a very important thing to acknowledge. And to know, sometimes you can go to an acupuncturist, and within the first time you feel huge difference, and it's lasting. So let's put that out there as well. But yes, it can take a little bit of time, it really depends on every single person, and every single imbalance or condition that you have, you know, and that's, it seems like so redundant, but that's because it's just the truth. You know, so you are with issues with sleep, you may go with, you know, mental emotional type of imbalances, your anxiety, your, you know, you may go with shoulder pain, and it just truly depends on how your body is able to rebalance itself, how open you are to how much how many years you've had this, those things do make a difference. And so there isn't just one way. So it just the mere nature of being human means that no matter what we do, we can eat the very best we can have the perfect sleeping schedule, whatever that is, you can make a point here we can we can live a you know, relatively calm life and all these things will make a huge difference. But the nature of being human means we are getting young, it means we will always have good, but we will always have bad, you know, period if you look if you really break it down. So it's very important for us to take care and maintain. So even if we say preventative medicine, okay, I totally agree with that. But maybe it is just a maintenance of making sure we're constantly nourished and supplemented, and whether that is through acupuncture herbs, because remember, they kind of they, they can do similar things different, same, same but different. But we're so for example, for myself, I incorporate a lot of herbal medicine into my life. I'm a fairly healthy person, I'm very aware and very conscious of how I live, eat all the things. One of the most important I was actually just speaking to a girlfriend yesterday, which I say that you know, with love, and I highlight that because sometimes it's the people closest to you that you don't really have these conversations because it's just the nature of humanity and how we relate to each other. But we gotten to this conversation and I mentioned to her I think maybe the most important thing, one of the most important things in life is eating properly. And it's Simple, it doesn't have to be so extreme. Yes, don't eat a lot of greasy fatty foods, you know, don't eat a lot of fried foods, for example, eat a balanced diet. But one of the most important thing is in our health, I'm sorry, I know I'm going off a little bit, but here's our time together, is you have to eat consistently. You know, that's one of the most important thing isn't Eastern medicine to eat consistently, I enjoy two meals a day, it works for my body, if I wake up, and I'm really, really hungry, guess what, I'm going to eat something, you know, and then that's how we have to look at things. But eating is so important. Then on top of that, like for maintenance of our health, our youth, our beauty, all the things are Mind, Body Spirit. So and then maybe, maybe seasonally, seasonally is a great way, if you're feeling really great, how do I incorporate these things when seasonally is always a good, good time to do it? Right. So when the seasons change, maybe you go and you get acupuncture, you know, maybe you take a regimen or herbal formulations, internal, you know, even the skincare that I formulate for companies, you know, around the world, ultimately, a lot of those body lotions will have certain herbs that detoxify you throughout the day. So it's incorporating things into your life that will help you now if you have an actual condition, go and then depending on that practitioner and how they're going to treat you, they should give you an idea of how many treatments you're going to need. Usually in the beginning, you'll have a lot more, maybe you'll come multiple times in one week, maybe you'll come two times for a couple of weeks. And then it'll start to taper off a bit where it's more of a maintenance. Right. And so that's kind of what that looks like. As far as acupuncture.

Unknown: 46:30

Yeah, I love the idea of adding for those that that are just, you know, in kind of like a maintenance phase of adding acupuncture in seasons. As things shift and change, I might try that because it's true, this season changes always kind of just messily as

Amy: 46:45

as they do affect your body. Absolutely. Yeah,

Dr. Janelle Kim: 46:48

maybe it's a strange way of saying it, but as it should, meaning it's part of nature, you know, these things happen, it's part of time, and I feel like even when it comes to hormonal imbalance, something else I was talking to someone recently, you know, and going through menopause, I feel like we make it such a horrible thing. I'm just gonna say it for all of us. Oh, no menopause. So like, by the time even get there, your body's already so heightened and afraid and everything's off balance, you probably manifested a million more symptoms than you even need it because you were so scared. We all understand this. Let's just say it for all of us. But if we start to even start at certain points in Herbalife to realize you know it, it is part of nature, for a moment in time, I might feel a few things and it is going to be okay. And I'm going to be aware of my body, I'm going to know that by taking certain supplements, by eating properly, especially during that time, by giving myself a little bit more nourishment and awareness, I can kind of go with that flow doesn't mean it's always going to be you know, the most enjoyable experience. But just you can just feel right now coming into it a little differently, how much that's going to help because remember our hormones and our brain, they're very connected. Right, and she you can look at it that way too. And so it's just that it can be so powerful in and of itself. So

Amy: 48:05

yeah, I was also gonna say, just for for people listening, just so you know, or at least my insurance and a lot of people that I've spoken to insurance covers acupuncture, which a lot of people don't know, which I think is amazing, because it does show the value in it, and you're not paying out of pocket for all of this. So I know many insurance companies cover acupuncture, which I think is fabulous. And one other just slight anecdote, which I probably told Katie before, but and I'm sure those who are listening to this podcast already are believers in a lot of these things. But for people who are like a little bit like, Oh, that's too Whoo, that doesn't work, like whatever. I wanted to acupuncture once. And I was like, my period was late. I'm so bloated. I just felt like, just bloated and like full. And I knew my period is coming, but it like was late or stagnant. So I said to my eyes, were just stagnant. Exactly. So he's like, Oh, I just feel like balloon and like, whatever. So he forgot even where he did it next day. So I was like, okay, there you go. Like that, to me was such a turning point. Not that I didn't like I was an introvert before, but that was like very, it was very specific. And so I've told a lot of people that because like, that was clearly because he treated Yes, absolutely. You know, it was pretty direct way

Dr. Janelle Kim: 49:20

of saying, you know, you make things flow. I mean, I don't mean to but like, yeah, it wasn't like a

Amy: 49:25

situation. It was like one day Yeah. And the next day, I'll get

Dr. Janelle Kim: 49:28

great examples to that time a month for women to understand the feeling of stagnation. And then when things start to flow, and then what happens I mean, that is actually really a very good example to be aware of that. That is that is how it works with our body and all the systems not just you know that particular time, but in our life, all of it, but you can feel it. You know, PMS is a time of stagnation period.

Amy: 49:53

You know, yeah, yeah. I mean, it's fascinating. We could talk about this forever, but I you know, you have limited time. And we appreciate all the time you've spent with us. And we asked you, we went through a rough session last night. So I'll just ask you one question from our obsession, because this could always be changing. So what is your latest favorite wellness or beauty?

Dr. Janelle Kim: 50:11

My latest favorite wellness or beauty hack? Oh, gosh,

Amy: 50:14

I can't remember last time remember either you said it was okay. Right now

Dr. Janelle Kim: 50:19

in my life, like right this moment? What comes to mind because I am practicing it is my movement that goes back to that right now that is very, very important in my life, because like I said, It directly affects when no matter what, if I wake up in the morning, I have 15 minutes of movement that I will start to share more on my platform. I know I say this, and then everyone's like, Well, where do I go, you know, and it can be striking I write there's a specific sequence, one of which I do have up on my website, I promise I will make more soon. But they're quick. They're quick, very proper movements that have been passed down for centuries, because they can quickly affect your body. And so that, to me, is a beauty activity. Because when you're stressed, when you are tired, your chi goes off balance all the things we just talked about. And as simple Chi Gong type of movements can make you feel like a totally different person in five to 10 minutes. I mean, are breathing it has a lot to do very least just sit down I just posted something on my social where just stop and breathe for a second that is so important. You know, even that noise is really funny. I was thinking about this last night because I what do I want to share because there's something people really resonated and loved the breathing exercise. And something that can be really important. Maybe the people around you are not going to love it that I'm sharing this with you. But that stagnation. I were like ready to leave and I'm opening up a hole I promise I'll be quick. But stagnation, no Ilana whenever the best quickest ways to kind of diffuse stagnation in our body which causes liver Qi stagnation livers are general and so you can tell when someone comes in, you're like, oh geez, here we go. Very liberties that person is you can sigh like, it sounds funny, but that directly affects your body. Right? So that's why he's physically with our breath, we can totally adjust our body and when everything's flowing and we're a little less stressed, then it directly affects how we look or beauty or wellness or health. And then of course I have to say I mean the formulas that I create I'm so very grateful for my own career and job that I do because my my bathroom looks like my lab and I'm constantly using different herbal formulations and ingredients. So that will always be so I love right now I'm loving a serum I think a serum is very important in our beauty regimen. So there you go some Chi Gong young son moving meditation and

Unknown: 52:43

love. Well, Dr. Kim, thank you so much for your time it was such a pleasure to see you you always bring us so much positive energy and so many great tips and so much loaded with so much advice and knowledge so we really appreciate your time and I know our listeners will love learning about acupuncture is a topic we have not touched at all. So it's a lot of fun to get into. It's

Dr. Janelle Kim: 53:04

I love that it's my absolute pleasure. I'm so so happy to spend time with you both and to share all that I can

Amy: 53:11

love it. Thank you so much stopping recording. Thanks for listening to Nirvana sisters. For more information on this episode, check out the show notes please subscribe and leave us a review. also find us on Instagram at Nirvana sisters. If you loved what you just listened to or know someone that would please share it and tag us. Tune in next week for a fresh new episode of Nirvana sisters will continue to watch out for all things wellness so you don't have to buy

Editor’s Note: Please know that this podcast transcript is automatically generated and may contain minor errors such as typos and word switches. For more information, be sure to listen to the podcast here or view our podcast episode guide.

Episode 100 - 100 Episodes! What We Have Learned + Exciting Announcements! (Full Transcript)

This is a full transcript of the Nirvana Sisters podcast Episode 100.

[00:07] Amy: Welcome to Nirvana Sisters podcast, where we take the intimidation out of well being and beauty to help you achieve your highest state, your nirvana. We are Sisters in law and your hosts. I'm Amy Sherman.

[00:18] Katie: And I'm Katie Chandler. So let's get into some real conversation.

[00:24] Amy: You um, hello and welcome back to the show Nirvana Sisters Family. This is a very, very special episode. We are celebrating 100 episodes today. I cannot believe it, Katie. I'm literally in disbelief. I know, but we're here.

[00:43] Katie: Congrats. Woohoo.

[00:46] Amy: Congrats to you too. I just cannot believe how far we've come. This was a nugget of an idea, what, two years ago? Two ish two and a half years ago, and we've done 100 episodes. So first and foremost, I just want to thank you for being my partner in crime, my sister in law, one of my best friends. I just think so much has changed over the last couple of years for us, and I think we've gotten so much closer because of this podcast, because we're connecting on things more often. We're talking all the time. We're business partners. We've become closer friends. It's just like the whole thing has been so amazing. It's just like thinking about it. We're always so rushed. We were just talking before we started this recording. We're so rushed, we don't really get a chance to reflect. So my first thank you is to you.

[01:36] Katie: That's really sweet. Yeah, I feel the same way. I'm in shock and disbelief that we're at 100 episodes, but at the same time, we've done everything souped to nuts for this thing. So it's also like kind of when you think about the weight of all the work that we've done, you can feel that as well. And it feels like a huge accomplishment. And I want to thank you too. I love you so much. And this was your idea. This is like your little you called me one day. I remember when you said this to me. I was sitting on the corner of my bathtub in my old house, looking out the window, thinking, she's insane. How are we going to do a podcast? Look, here we are. And it has it's been great. Here we are.

[02:16] Amy: Yeah, I know. It's just crazy how if you put your mind to something, you can have a nugget of an idea and you put your mind to something and do it and keep doing it and keep doing it over and over again, and it grows and more people know about it. And all of our listeners have been so incredible. So thank you to everyone listening. Thank you for all your support, all your comments, all your feedback. It's just been so encouraging to hear from you and to hear about what you want to hear about when you like something, when you don't like something. And so, yeah, we're just going to spend the next few minutes just kind of talking through the last 100 episodes and some of the highlights. And we also have some exciting announcements we're going to talk about at the end. So, yeah, just thank you to everyone who has supported and listened to us over the last few years. We're just so excited we've reached this really huge milestone and can't wait for more. So, Katie, what's your takeaway from these last 100 episodes, if you have one?

[03:11] Katie: Oh, my gosh. I mean, it's hard to just have one other than I've learned so much. And a massive thank you to all of our unbelievably talented and intelligent and powerful guests that we've had. We've spoken to some of the most amazing entrepreneurs, some of the most amazing doctors. I've learned so much. I think I could touch on a few of probably the most powerful ones that have resonated with me the most. The most recent one would be Dr. Angela Holiday Bell on sleep hygiene. She just like, tapping into she really helped me kind of understand what I need to be doing to kind of reel my sleep in. And that literally has kind of changed my life. The thing as simple as wearing blue lights when you watch TV before you go to bed helped me fall asleep faster and helping me understand why I need more time to wind down because I have a harder time producing melatonin, like does all of that. And then Jessica McGuire. Remember Jessica McGuire from the Vagus Nerve talking about the nervous system? The Vagus Nerve, I think that was the single most powerful episode out of all of our 100 episodes for me personally, the window of tolerance, understanding what it means to have a dysregulated nervous system, recognizing someone's dysregulated nervous system, and then learning how to co regulate. It's helped me. It's helped my husband, it's helped my kids. That episode was really profound for me. And, I mean, I could say that about so many of them. Natasha Brinkman. It's like a master class on skincare, right?

[04:58] Amy: Oh my God, that was amazing.

[05:00] Katie: Obsessed. What about you? What are some of yours?

[05:05] Amy: Honestly, I'm like sitting here scrolling through all of these 100 episodes, and I think for me, there were pieces of information that I've gotten from every single episode that I've applied to my life. I mean, to your point. Like The Vagus Nerve episode and breathing from Erica Brunozer and talking about parenting tips and how to talk to your kids, that one was really helpful for me. Also, shout out to Zoe Feldman. I was just looking. She was our first official guest on Nirvana Sisters in episode six. So we love Zoe, and so many of our kind of like, people that we knew, friends of friends of Friends kind of started out with us in the beginning and then we sort of grew from there. And I think I've just taken bits and pieces, like whether it be from Cat Can Cook and The Hungry Lady salad to, like you said, skincare with Natasha or hormone stuff with Michelle Aspinwall. Also, of course, one of my favorites was talking to Ellie Webb, which was definitely a dream come true for me, and talking to Brittany Driscoll and talking to some of these business leaders, just getting advice on entrepreneurial stuff and how to balance motherhood and working and all of these things. So I don't know, it's so hard to pick a favorite. I think for me, it's just taking bits and pieces of all of these things and using the ones that work for me. And I think from a listener standpoint, too, it seems like people listen to the episodes that they're interested in and then they take pieces from that. And it's like everyone that we have on is an expert in something, but it doesn't mean that what they're saying works for everyone. And so I think that using some of these bits and pieces across all the episodes helps you in whatever way you want. I also thought I'm just kind of scrolling through and looking like episode 50, the psychedelic therapy with Julia Mirror was just so fascinating. Like, it's so out of our ether and something we don't really talk about and think about, but just learning about that. And I also find now that I'm talking to people or a subject comes up and it's related to any one of our episodes, whether it was chiropractics or psychedelics or vagus nerve or chromal wellness, even, I find that I have this information somehow stuck in the back of my head and I just regurgitate it, not even realizing that I knew it. Yeah, because we're just picking up pieces of information as we go. It's just kind of like sinking in and then you do something differently and you're like, oh, yeah, I learned that in this Chroma episode. Or I learned this from Janelle Kim when we talked to her about traditional Chinese medicine. And I think we've made so many great connections with other women, which I really like, too. When we think about someone like Rachel Johnson, who we did the episode on, it was episode 63 when we talked about Green's Water Move Repeat and her whole company, AMI Health. It's just been great to meet these other women who were doing similar things to us, and we're all sort of this family and everyone supports each other, which I think is so nice about the podcasting world. There's so many podcasts, but in a good way, right? Like, everyone encourages each other and everybody wants to help, and it's just like one big podcast family, I feel like. And when we meet all these women that are in wellness or View Your Skincare, everyone's excited for everyone and everyone celebrates one another. And I really like that about this space.

[08:27] Katie: Yeah, it's incredibly supportive. I think you're exactly right. We've had a few amazing male guests also, that we've learned a lot from I think it's funny, when we first started, we didn't know if we were going to necessarily lean more female centric and it's just kind of been a natural gravitation. But it's all part of that support system and I'm really proud of it, actually. I think it's great. And it's also when you were talking about things that you learned and I was also just thinking about a way that this has kind of shaped me as a person. Doing this with you for the last two years is it's just made me more confident. When I meet new people, I almost find them. Like, I'm like and I'm not interviewing them, but I just have such an easier time meeting new people now because it's what we do. We talk to new people and we interview them pretty much weekly. And then a lot of these people are stuck in my head. They live rent free in my head with some of their amazing quotes like Andrea Marcellus, I just hear her say, like, your afternoon snack should be protein and a healthy fat. And then I hear Dr. Janelle Kim saying things like, stop being drunk on your own thoughts. Or Rachel, you just said Rachel and me greens, water, move, repeat. I can't tell you how many times these things just pop in my head. I'm like, oh yeah, that'll help my day get better. Just follow that. Follow that. So it's amazing. We're really fortunate and grateful to have come across the people that we have and had them on the show.

[09:56] Amy: Yeah, and I also it's funny because I feel like we've done episodes that we aired a long time ago and some of those topics are coming up now, like Fascia or Guaca and all of these things we sort of talked about a couple of years ago that are now coming into the world. And it's just I love learning about things that we see are sort of bubbling up and trending and then all of a sudden you hear them all the time as people's regular vernacular. So I think that's interesting. We also can't forget about our product junkie episodes because I think those have grown and we've gotten a lot of really positive feedback about those. And those are definitely one of my favorites because they're just us talking and chitchatting about what products we like, which we do all the time anyway, which was part of the reason we started this podcast. Like, let's just record our phone conversations and talk about, oh, I tried this, I tried this. So just like, doing all that has been super fun and tapped into the passion that we both had for products and just trying new things and talking about those new things. But I agree with you. When I meet with people, too, I definitely feel more confident and have kind of like, more ways to communicate because I don't think sometimes I'm the best communicator and I think this podcast has helped me to slow down, try and work on not saying as much. I also think it's helped with my public speaking. So from my corporate job, just being confident to go up in front of a room of people and talk, it's like one of those things that everyone's always nervous about no matter how many times you've done it. It's like a scary thing. But I think being able to talk every week on the mic and have it being recorded kind of gives you a lot of practice. So it helps just in general with communication and active listening.

[11:38] Katie: Yeah. Also I've had some just like fun favorite moments. Like nothing is funnier to me than when we're doing product junkies and I hold up a product and you're like, yes, I have that one too. I was going to review it this week. Or how fun is I know, we're like same brain. Exactly. And then seeing our guests in the wild. How wild was that, that you ran into Brittany Driscoll in La a little while ago and then seeing Meredith Quill running into her? Well, we didn't run into her, but going to her event in Westport and those little connections are really special. So yeah, it's all just been a lot of fun.

[12:18] Amy: Yeah, I love it. And it's actually really funny too, because then you start seeing people that we've interviewed connect. Who was it? I think Brittany Driscoll and Katie Whelan, who we just had on recently, talked about all the peptide stuff. They both live in Nashville and I saw that they were on some panel together.

[12:34] Katie: Oh, nice.

[12:34] Amy: And I was just like, oh my God, that's so weird that they happen to be on the same panel. We've had them both on the show, like they're in the same space, so it's just like all these crazy worlds colliding. But I think it's just this was definitely born out of a passion project. It still is. And I wanted to also talk a little bit about the blood, sweat and tears that this has been for us because again, we're busy and running and everyone says to me, and I'm sure they say to you too, like, how are you doing at all? And the answer is, I have no idea. But I think when you have a passion and you enjoy something, it doesn't matter and you just kind of figure out a way to do it. Nothing is perfect. Of course. It's like we always say, we could be doing more, we could be doing this, we could be doing that. But at the end of the day, we make **** happen. And I think it's really hard to do being like having another full time job, being a mom, doing this. We do this on the nights, we do this on the weekends, we do it when we can squeeze it in, but it's ours and we can kind of figure it out as we go. And I think for you, Katie, a lot has evolved in your world, too, from where you were to where you are now. So I kind of want to get your thoughts on how you're balancing it and how you're feeling because I think we don't spend enough time reflecting on that part.

[13:38] Katie: Yeah, no, I think that's really true. It's funny, I have been thinking recently about how happy I am with the balance in my life right now, because when we first started, I was a stay at home mom and I was wanting something more, so we did this. But then there was moments where it was so overwhelming because I hadn't worked in a decade. And then I have just gone back to my other job recently. And while there's a lot going on, I just feel like every box is being ticked right now. Like, I have my family time, I have my passion project, my passion job, which is this that's like, fun and so exciting. I have my work, which is also great, and I'm making my own money. So while the balance of it can be a struggle at times, it's very fulfilling and well rounded. And I've had moments where I thought, how are we going to keep doing this? But I think that happens when there's unnecessary pressure applied. And I think we've both been really smart about making sure we're just continuously enjoying it and not putting so much pressure on ourselves. And as long as we keep doing that, then we just keep plugging away and trucking away. And now we're doing everything that we do. It's like we could do it in our sleep.

[15:04] Amy: Exactly. I mean, looking back when we first started editing a podcast, we were like, wait, how do you do this? And how do you do this? And now we literally do everything, soup to nuts. And it's time consuming, but we know how to do it and we've become experts in it, which is so cool. I just love learning and to be able to learn a new craft and to be able to produce a podcast. And for people who don't do it, it's really hard to envision what goes into it. But there's probably like, I don't know, 250 steps from like A to Z right, to get it launched on a weekly basis. And it's a lot. And I think just being able to learn another skill set as you're moving along your life is so important. We're learning every week. Every time we talk to someone, we're learning new information. I think we're both learners and we love to learn, especially when it comes to something that we're personally passionate about. But just learning a new skill is so rewarding. I mean, just like, this is so technical and so different than what I do in my marketing role of big ideas and all this strategy work. And this is so technical editing and producing, but I really love it, like, getting into the nitty gritty. It's actually like I love producing the episodes and launching sometimes more than other things. I don't know why. And I know for you, Katie, you didn't know much about social media before, and you've learned how to use that tool really well. And I just think it's so cool.

[16:29] Katie: Yeah, I think so, too. I'm incredibly proud of us, and also we keep each other accountable and we keep each other in the game. And if there's a time where you're feeling stressed and crazy and you're not in it, then I try to reel you back in and vice versa. And there's also times where we're perfectly guilty of like, oh, I didn't get that done this week. But it's like we don't beat each other up either. It's like we get the critical stuff done and we keep moving forward. And as we've always said, progress over perfection. And I think that has gotten us very far.

[17:06] Amy: Yeah. And I think especially in the beginning, I think the first probably, I don't know, 2030 episodes were the most challenging because I think you and I struggled a lot and had open communication. Remember, we had some not blowouts, but we definitely had some tough conversations of like, well, who's doing this? And are we doing this every week? And DA DA DA. And, like, until we got our flow, it was like a little, like, tense, right? Like, there were definitely some tense times, looking back, but now I just feel like we're in the flow. And I think, too, I was going to go back to what I was saying about you going back to work. I've actually seen a huge difference because for you, I feel like you're more in a flow than you were before because I feel like it's because you're more structured, right. And, you know, you have to be certain places at certain times. Not that you didn't before, but it's just different. So you almost are more organized and more in the flow. Yeah, I see that. I don't know if you feel that.

[18:03] Katie: But I've definitely noticed that there has been a shift, for sure. And I think also just like, having something else, having my other job, it's released some of the pressure of this and allowed me to enjoy this for what it's always been. It's been our passion and it's fun, and we love doing it together. So I think that has a lot.

[18:27] Amy: To do with it. Yeah, I think you're right. You're totally right. I also think it's given us both more perspective. Like, now that you're back at work, you have a perspective of like, oh, now you sort of know. I know what you go through and you know what I go through when we have other responsibilities that are not just family. Right. And it's like, oh, my God, I have this deadline, or I'm working all day. I'm out and I'm like, okay, I'll do this or you'll do that. I think we bounce off each other really well. So anyway, I'm just trying to think about more fun stories. I think there's like so many random things that have happened throughout the last few years. I mean, I think, again, our guests have been amazing. I think people have been so generous with their time. People have given us so much time and so much of their expertise, and it's just been really gratifying. And again, just want to shout out to all the guests that have been on our show and even some guests more than once.

[19:22] Katie: Yeah, just how generous they have been with sharing their time with not their time, but sharing our podcast with their people and kind of just giving us more exposure and being excited about being on the podcast with us too. I mean, we've had some guests that have a million followers, we've had guests that have 500,000 followers and everything below and in between and above. So we've just been very fortunate. So thank you to all of our amazing guests. And we have amazing guests lined up and more to come, so it's all super exciting.

[20:00] Amy: Yeah, lots more to come. So with that being said, a couple really exciting announcements that Katie and I wanted to share with our amazing listeners. And thank you to our listeners for loving this as much as we do. We love doing it and we do it for you. We do it for us because we love it, but we do it for you more, so because we know you love it too. And you love to get in all the minutiae of the details of health, wellness, beauty like we do. So thank you again.

[20:28] Katie: Yeah, that's exactly what I was just thinking. We have always done this to share with you all because we want you to learn and have access and to have the ability to achieve anything and everything you want for your health and wellness journey. Whether that is just making sure you get in eight cups of water a day or the fact that you do Reiki healing and you work with crystals and you go and do face yoga. Whatever your journey may be, we are just really grateful that we can be a part of it and that we can help you along with it. So thank you.

[21:06] Amy: Yes, good point. And one last thank you before we get to our exciting announcements. Wanted to thank my husband Stu, who really is sort of been my partner in crime behind the scenes in this. He was the one who really gave me the motivation to do this because he knew that I'm an entrepreneur and at heart he knew I love all this stuff. And he's like, you got to do something with it because, yes, you have your other job, but you need to put all this effort into something else. Too, for you. And he kind of gave me a lot of motivation to really even start the idea. And he also came up with the word Nirvana because Katie and I had a list of 50 different titles, which are hilarious, which we should post about one day, but he actually came up with the word Nirvana and he really captured what we were trying to get at, like, what is your Nirvana? What's going to make you feel joyful? So shout out to Stew.

[22:04] Katie: Yeah, thank you still. And thank you to my husband, too. He's been incredibly supportive. Shout out to Adam.

[22:09] Amy: Yes, they've both been super supportive. Okay, a couple big updates.

[22:15] Katie: Big announcements.

[22:16] Amy: Big, I know. So, a few announcements as we close out this episode. So, I don't know if you all know, but we have a website, Nirvanasisters.com, which we've launched kind of in a soft way a couple of months ago. Don't know if any of you have seen it yet, but we've been linking out all of our show notes there and we wanted to just call it out because it's really exciting. We've been working on it behind the scenes for a long time and we're continuing to add to it. And so if you go onto the website now, you'll see every single podcast episode that we've had out, you'll see all the show notes, you'll see all the BIOS, you'll see all the product links. It's all there in the blog. And so we wanted to have a place where you all could go and reference just more content around all of our episodes. So that's really exciting. So we wanted to make sure you checked out Nirvanasisters.com when you get a chance. And Katie. What's next? What else do we have to announce?

[23:02] Katie: Also equally as exciting, the other thing you're going to find on our website is we now have Nirvana Sisters Merch yay. We have great swags, I mean, great sweatshirts and t shirts and tumblers and a hat that I'm obsessed with. Amy has a hat on.

[23:20] Amy: I'm showing everyone the hat. Kind of 1 second. I'm going to do this.

[23:25] Katie: Yeah, the hat's. Super cute.

[23:27] Amy: Everyone check out the hat.

[23:29] Katie: Love the hat. And then check out the sweatshirt and our new logo. My tea. Keep glowing. Nirvana Sisters. Tea. So there's a lot in there and we would love you to just go on there and get whatever you want. You can order it straight from the website. It's so fun. Come straight to your house. Yeah.

[23:47] Amy: That is going to be launching the day that this launches. So our shop will be launching Thursday, April 6, in conjunction with this episode. And like Katie said, there's sweatshirts, hats. We've got a coffee tumbler or coffee mug that says Daily Nirvana. We have a water bottle that says Nirvana in a bottle.

[24:07] Katie: We have a hoodie, a few great hoodies.

[24:11] Amy: Yeah, we've got a really awesome hoodie. We've got shirts that say a few different quotes like keep glowing and hustle and doses and different quotes from a lot of our episodes. And we're going to be continuing to add new products over the next few months. So tell us what you like and we'll keep working on it. We also have our new logo. We're really excited to share with you all, so please check out our website, check out our new store with all of our new merch support us. We are so excited. We've been working in the background on the design of all of our merch. It's really elevated and we're so excited for you all to check it out and let us know what you think. And we'll post some of these products on social throughout the week so you can get a little sneak peek of the shop.

[24:51] Katie: Yeah, exciting. All right. And then here's the last news, and it's very exciting. Amy, do you want to share?

[24:59] Amy: Sure. So we are now joined with Podcast Nation, which is a podcast network, and we are so excited to announce this news. So we're really excited to join the team at Podcast Nation. We started chatting with them a few months ago and they're an incredible group of women. There's about, I think, like 20 or 30 podcasts that are part of this network. And what that means for you is the show is growing, so we'll be connected to more people, more amazing podcasters, we'll have more access to guests. We'll probably be on some more podcasts, and we'll be on the Podcast Nation channel, on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, et cetera. And that's going to be happening over the next couple of weeks. But as of today, we've joined their network and we are super excited to be joining the Podcast Nation family. So thank you to that team for welcoming us with open arms as we start this journey with them. So more to come there, but wanted to make sure we shared all of our exciting updates. And again, thank you all for the last 100 episodes. Looking forward to hundreds more with my partner in crime, Katie. Anything else, Katie, before we close out?

[26:10] Katie: No, other than thank you. Thank you, thank you. We are so grateful. We are filled with gratitude for our listeners and our supporters and our guests. And this 100th episode is my Nirvana of the Week, I think of the year. So I don't know about you.

[26:27] Amy: Yeah, agreed, agreed. Huge milestone, Nirvana of the Day in the week, along with our other launches. It's all good stuff and more to come. So. Thank you. Nirvana Sisters family.

[26:37] Katie: Bye.

[26:38] Amy: Have a good week. Thanks for listening to Nirvana Sisters. For more information on this episode, check out the show notes. Please subscribe and leave us a review. Also, find us on Instagram at Nirvana Sisters. If you loved what you just listened to or know someone that would, please share it and tag us, tune in next. Week for a fresh new episode of Nirvana Sisters. We'll continue to watch out for all things wellness so you don't have to bye.

[27:04] Katie: You know.

Editor’s Note: Please know that this podcast transcript is automatically generated and may contain minor errors such as typos and word switches. For more information, be sure to listen to the podcast here or view our podcast episode guide.

Episode 99 - Wait!? Bread, Butter & Wine With Dinner? Portion Control, Exercise Tips, and Why Heavy Weights with Andrea Marcellus, PART 2 (Full Transcript)

This is a full transcript of the Nirvana Sisters podcast Episode 99

Editor’s Note: Please know that this podcast transcript is automatically generated and may contain minor errors such as typos and word switches. For more information, be sure to listen to the podcast here.

[00:07] Amy Sherman: Welcome to Nirvana Sisters podcast, where we take the intimidation out of well being and beauty to help you achieve your highest state, your nirvana. We are Sisters in law and your hosts. I'm Amy Sherman.

[00:18] Katie Chandler: And I'm Katie Chandler. So let's get into some real conversation.

[00:24] Andrea Marcellus: You. Um.

[00:27] Amy Sherman: Welcome back to the show. Nirvana Sisters Family. We are back with Andrea Marcellus for part two. If you didn't listen to last week's episode, make sure you listen to part one. It was really helpful. This week. We go through many different things, but one of the things we talk about are tips and strategies for eating, especially eating out, eating during the holidays. Andrea has some great techniques that she shared with us. We also talk about why accountability is key and a lot of exercising is a mental game. We talk about different tips for exercising for your age group, and we also get into what heavy weight means. I know for me, I hear lifting with heavy weights all the time, but I don't necessarily know what that means. So she gets into that as well, as well as a few other quick weight routines. Enjoy the episode and thanks for listening.

[01:18] Katie Chandler: I love that.

[01:19] Amy Sherman: Yeah, that's very freeing.

[01:20] Katie Chandler: Yeah, absolutely. So I want to know some quick and easy you've mentioned strategy. Strategy, strategy. And I know you have so many great little tips and strategies and things to use when you're dining out, and maybe just hit us with a couple of your favorites that tend to be really helpful for people.

[01:44] Andrea Marcellus: Well, I can give you dining out. Strategy and holiday strategy are sort of the same thing. I measure food in hand portions because we're getting away from calorie counting or anything like that, and we figure out what's an energy appropriate portion of food for you. So when you approach holidays or you approach, just say, eating out, just try to think in terms of the total portion. How many hands are you going to try to eat at this meal? Like, probably two, three hands. Something in there, right? So I think of it that way. So I definitely sit down, I order a glass of wine. I get bread and butter because I love bread and butter. Oh, my God, wine and bread. I know. I'm everybody's best people. Like, my clients would be like, the first time I would go out to eat with a client for it and everybody's trying to eat right in front of me. I'm like, oh, my God, I'm ordering the pizza.

[02:44] Amy Sherman: Oh, my God, I love it.

[02:46] Andrea Marcellus: I know, but I didn't. I came from the other place. But anyway, so then you start to think about especially if you've been horse and controlling for a while, your stomach's smaller, so you have to think about it. So if, like, appetizers come out, I go, okay, I'm going to have three bites because there's other things I want. If a salad comes, I'm going to eat half the salad because I'm saving room for dinner and dessert. Dinners that come at a restaurant are always at least two food, maybe three. And you can go, okay, and this is my lunch for tomorrow. Like, I'm having this and then you know, I'm going to have this awesome, delicious lunch. That's amazing. And then you have some bites of dessert. But by thinking of it beforehand in terms of, okay, how many hands of food am I going to eat rather than like, trying to I didn't mention at all what I was eating except for bread and butter. Right. It doesn't matter what you eat. If you're portion controlling your social meals, it truly doesn't matter. And if you're optimizing the meals you don't share to be highly nutritious, boy, are you living a good life and you're setting yourself up for great health. Yeah. You're not skip the broccoli and eat all the things you can't get except for that holiday. Just portion control.

[04:04] Amy Sherman: It so about portion control and about the hand idea, I love that I guess it's dependent on the person, but generally speaking, right. How many hands should you have? Because I think we've completely like as a society have no idea because the portions in America are so big that we're all overeating because it's just there, right? Yeah. So what's a good maybe thing to think about?

[04:30] Andrea Marcellus: So in my app I have a chart that's a starter chart. And please keep in mind I literally made this up from a vision. This is literally just a guidepost. I've been doing this particular thing with people for over 15 years and it's literally just a guide to help you figure out what's best for you. And the goal is to be satisfied and have energy to take you just from meal to meal. Nobody here is a farmer. Basically, like, we don't have to eat a big breakfast so that we can get on with the day. And I already established that eating to maintain a workout lifestyle is only going to work if you are a professional athlete or if you are somebody with a very specific physical goal. You're training for an event or you're a bodybuilder. So if you're any of those people, don't listen to me right now. For the rest of us who are just busy working people and want to be able to go out and drink wine and eat bread, start with a breakfast within an hour of waking up or trying to eat one hand of food, or maybe two if you're one of those people. And then that's when the clock starts the day and you eat every two to 4 hours and you're trying to eat for snacks or small meals, you're eating one hand. For lunch or dinner, you're eating two hands. And see how that does for you. And notice I'm not telling you what a hand means. You figure it out for yourself. And I mean, I help people through this, obviously, this is what I do, but that's a guideline I could give you to kind of try to start yourself. The key is with all of these things is accountability. So we all have best intentions. And this is why I'm very happy to offer out my habits or my strategies, because I've been doing this a really long time. The missing piece of all this is when people are making a shift in life and they realize they need to make a change. Accountability helps so much. And there was one study I read where accountability increases your chance of success by 85%.

[06:45] Amy Sherman: Wow.

[06:46] Andrea Marcellus: 85%. And so it's really important to either have the help of a coach or to do things with someone else or in a group or whatever. I can't encourage that enough. And this is coming from someone who never asks for help. I just don't I'm just learning to do that. I think last year, so maybe at 49, I'm getting better. I'm 50 now. I've been doing it for about a year and a half. No, but asking for help changes your life and two, doing things in groups. I've been this lone wolf my whole life in so many ways, and only in the last little bit do I have some groups of like I have a CEO group, I have mentors, I have my bestie girlfriends that I've had forever. But sometimes I'll just get bogged down at work and not rely on that so much. Or I don't want to waste the time telling them stuff that's wrong. Well, I've learned that, wow, groups help, and I can't encourage that enough. So if you decide, look, I'm ready to make a change in my life and I want it to be a real one and a lasting one, you got to go slow and steady. You have to respect yourself and really define who you are before you even start. And then you get help. You get people to keep you accountable, you get people to keep you positive, and you make sure you tell those people your purpose. Motivation comes from purpose. And when you say your purpose out loud to people, it ends up being like in stone. And you can change your purpose, but it really, really helps. It's like dropping a flag, implanting a flag of, this is who I am and this is where I'm headed, and everybody just watch me and please cheer me on.

[08:37] Katie Chandler: I love that. That's great. That is so true. Especially the accountability piece. I mean, I think Amy and I can speak for that just because we've doing this. We have been each other's accountability partner, and I think we're like, approaching 100 episodes, so it says a lot about having somebody to cheer you on and to help you out.

[08:59] Amy Sherman: Yeah, it's so true because there's so many times and also just like, just what you were talking about for exercise groups. Like, I have friends in the neighborhood, and we'll make a plan to do a walk on the weekend. And sometimes you're like, I don't feel like going. But then you're accountable. You're like, you know what? I'm not going to bail on this person. And then you go and you feel so much better. But if you had not made that plan, you would never do it yourself because it's just too hard to motivate yourself sometimes 100%.

[09:23] Andrea Marcellus: It's a mental game. Again, a mental game. I put a feature in my app, literally, just because of this. I made up this thing where so these custom workouts, you can dial up like, you know, I have regular classes, but it's another feature, like, and you can dial up like, there's, I don't know, 30 options in there. You can even say, like, I don't want to mess up my hair. I'm at my desk. I don't want to mess up my hair. I got to zoom. I have ten minutes. Let's do something. But what's cool is you can invite other people to do the workout, live with you on your phone. It's a silent feature. So this was like I was thinking about, why do people come to me? It's to have someone to talk to or to have an appointment time. We're going to do this so you could make up a workout and then text it to your friend and be like, hey, let's meet and do this. And it's really cool, and it's a way of creating that accountability around workouts so that you actually show up for them, because you are more likely to show up for yourself when it involves someone else. Just look at your to do list today. When you look at what actually got to done, it's the things that involved somebody else, and the stuff that was just for you is like, kicked down the list, and maybe you'll get a couple of those things done, but everything for somebody else got done first.

[10:40] Amy Sherman: So true.

[10:41] Katie Chandler: Well, speaking of exercise, a couple of tips to get some exercise in. And also I saw on your TikTok page recently you were suggesting low intensity steady state for a certain age group and high intensity interval training for a different age group. Walk us through that because I'm just so curious as to why.

[11:04] Andrea Marcellus: Okay, that's a great question. All right, so both of them will burn fat and burn calories. People want to say that high intensity intervals burn way more fat or calories. Like, well, no. A recent study showed for all things kept equal, this one group lost three and a half pounds, where the other group lost two and a half pounds. Doing steady state, like, it's not a massive amount, so everybody take a breath. But here's the difference. Steady state, the low intensity steady state workouts, they are gentler, they're easier. People get into them. You kind of zone out for some people that's easier to stay consistent with. They train your stamina and especially if you're younger exercise. What we want to be training in life is stamina at that point, right? And they increase Vo two max. The volume of oxygen your lungs can push out to your heart with every single breath. The amount of oxygen your heart can push out with every single beat to get your muscles going. So that's important. The thing is that they have to be longer workouts and you risk overuse injuries. So that is something people that hang out on the treadmill all day, it's like imagine it's repetitive motion activities or runners, things like that. So just a couple of considerations there high intensity interval are really important, particularly for perimenopausal or menopausal women, for two reasons. Because they increase insulin sensitivity, your body's ability to respond well to smaller and smaller amounts of insulin. So as opposed to insulin resistance, which packs pounds on your body, okay? And we already have more Cortisol floating around your body at that time. We already have a hormonal disadvantage going on. So we definitely want to improve our insulin sensitivity. And the other thing about it is that you get this thing called epoch. It's post exercise oxygen consumption. So what happens during hip workouts are two things. One, you have stored glycogen in your muscle, that's your muscle sugar. And hip workouts are so demanding that they use up those glycogen stores very quickly. You feel that you can't go very long. They also deplete the oxygen you have available. So your body is rushing to kind of restore those glycogen stores. And in that process it requires insulin. So your body gets very responsive to insulin again, it improves that if it was not happening for you. And at that stage of life, we get a little insulin resistant. Also, when your body is restoring the oxygen levels to where they need to be, that takes hours. And so that's where after hit workouts, you get this increased metabolism, this increased fat burn for hours. And in perimenopausal and menopausal, women, there is a tendency to put on belly fat and for the body to be depositing fat. So anything that keeps us in a state where our metabolism is lifted a bit for a while is going to be helpful. So that's what that's about. They're good for everybody all the time. But a particular recommendation for, say, my age group and I talk about this all the time. I love hanging out on my Stairclimber and I do travel reservations and my text and I answer people, all the people that message me on TikTok, I'm probably on an elliptical machine or something messaging you back. But actually it works against me at this point and can increase stress. So I actually have to dial it down myself right now.

[14:56] Katie Chandler: So there is a really important piece, though, that you mentioned on the piece of content that I saw about doing hit and how some people are doing it wrong because they're not actually bringing the heart rate all the way back down. And so when you don't bring it all the way back down, I imagine that's when it starts to raise cortisol levels and become a little bit more problematic. So is that the key? You get the heart rate up and.

[15:20] Andrea Marcellus: Then yeah, it's huge. I'm so glad you brought this up because, boy, if I want to give anybody a tip, it's like, gosh, this is taught improperly everywhere, all the time. More is not more. So when you're in the Spinning class, you're doing your Peloton, you're doing your Orange Theory, you're doing whatever, like the entire concept of Orange Theory where it's like this leaderboard and it's about calorie burn. It's like, oh, my goodness gracious, those people on that board have nothing to do with you. And by the way, if you're tired, your heart's going to be faster. If you're dehydrated again, remember, I said whole humanity. These things are so arbitrary and artificial. So what they do is they're pushing people to push themselves, but not with a purpose, not with a goal. The goal isn't who can burn the most calories. The goal isn't how high can you keep your heart rate up for so long? The benefit to your body comes in the zero to 60, right? It's in the acceleration. Stay in there for a second and bring it back down. Those are the intervals. That's where it happens. So if you don't bring it all the way back down to what I call a four out of ten, then you are not getting the full benefit of that, and you are just burning out muscle sugar. And then what happens there is you feel funky afterwards. And then what do you do? You start going to eat things or drink things to try to feel normal again. And guess what? You ingested more calories than you even burned during that workout. And I know this personally. This is what happened to me over exercising as an instructor and for myself, and I'm a Spinning instructor as well. I'm telling you, when I started to really understand the science of what was going on and I changed, and it's to being gentler, where you come all the way down, then you go back up again. For us, it feels like you're slacking. It feels like and it's like, no, that's the way to do it. It's so funny. Less is a great reminder.

[17:34] Amy Sherman: That is a good reminder because I haven't done a hit workout in a while. I've been doing more low impacts, but I don't even know in my hip workouts, if I get to a point where I'm a four out of ten, I feel like they're exhausting. It's probably why I haven't done them in a while. I'm going to remember that super demotivating.

[17:50] Andrea Marcellus: But here's the thing I like to say like you're asking me for tips. I'm big on desk workouts. I don't think anybody has more. I do plain clothes desk workouts all the time. And what's awesome is you can do a hit workout between a zoom. You can sit there and it can be 90 seconds of squats, anything. And boy, not only are you going to give yourself a little metabolism boost and you're going to reframe your brain, you're oxygenating your entire body. Most importantly, you're oxygenating your brain. You're going to be able to focus on whatever's coming next in your day. And the best part, just do that for 90 seconds and tell me that you want, like, chocolate or potato chips. You don't. All you want is water. So if you're having these snack cravings in the afternoon, just doing any 60 to 90 seconds of any exercise, you know, that gets your heart rate up, boom. You're not going to want anything. It's going to get you through that moment.

[18:45] Amy Sherman: That's so great. I wanted to ask you two things. Firstly, if hit, let's say, is recommended for someone who's Perry, right? Mid 40s, mid 50s, right. Does that mean you should only do that or does that mean you should do it a certain amount a week? Or can you combine it with lower? Like, what do you recommend there?

[19:06] Andrea Marcellus: Fantastic question. No, we definitely don't want to do hits two days in a row. You have to give your body rest. And again, we are always trying not to have stress and we certainly don't want to increase stress on the body. So you want to keep these sessions shorter? I don't do it ever for more than 20 minutes or so. It's always part of something. And the workout bar in general keeps shorter and just activate your life. More of a standing and walking. You'll be doing much better, but definitely skipping a day, so maybe three days a week or something like that. And yeah, the same with your heavy weight workouts. You want to be very careful about that. Like, you have to have rest. That is one of the biggest mistakes people make. They're pushing, they want results fast. And it's hard to believe that just strategized and gentle is going to get you there.

[20:01] Amy Sherman: Let me ask you, you just said about the heavyweight workouts, and that's what I really wanted to hone in on because I don't really know what that means. What is a heavy weight? Is it £10, is it £20? And how much of that you should be doing? I used to have a trainer years ago and I did a lot of weights and it was good, but it was a little too intense. And now I'm like, I really need to get back into this strength training. Katie has been really into it lately, but it just feels like I don't know where to start. I don't know how long, et cetera, et cetera. If you could give our audience some little tips and strategies there. We'd love it.

[20:37] Andrea Marcellus: Sure. It doesn't have to be super long. It has to exhaust you and just muscle, exhaustion of the muscle you're trying to work. So that amount of time is going to be different for every person. So what you need to do is make sure that you're lifting heavy enough so that your form starts to suffer at the 9th or 10th repetition. That's kind of what the definition of a heavy weight. So whatever the exercise is, that's where you want to be. I tend to, on heavy weight days, go with a we're doing them, what, three days a week, something like that, because you're leaving a day in between. And then I might do lighter weights on other days and all sorts of things and body weight workouts. But what you really kind of want to stick to a more traditional weight training protocol for the best results with your heavy weights because also your joints are going to be aligned properly so that you avoid injury. So that's not a great place for choreography. As much as I love it, you want to kind of just really watch your form and three sets of ten. It's a good way to go. And the best thing is that it's a no brainer. Put the weights at your desk, do your three sets of ten.

[21:59] Amy Sherman: Sorry to be like so specific, but is it just three sets of ten of something or is it like several exercises? Three sets of.

[22:09] Andrea Marcellus: But I can't make you a workout here on a podcast.

[22:13] Amy Sherman: Why not?

[22:16] Andrea Marcellus: But I mean, if we wanted to break it down to the least, like your body has to work in opposites. If you're doing a bicep curl, you must do a tricep. If you're doing your shoulders I would say for the people listening here, if we wanted to really no brainer this, you're going to do a bicep curl, you're going to go a tricep kickback, you're going to do some kind of overhead press and you can call it a day. If you're really a good super achiever, you're going to do some desk push ups or some regular push ups. I'm a fan of regular push ups and getting yourself to be able to do those. And I have a great video on how to work yourself up to plank push ups, which you change as a person mentally once you can start doing those. And then you would do some bent over rows and then you would go chest back, bicep, tricep, deltoid, bam, back on my I love it.

[23:11] Amy Sherman: What's funny, you have a piece of content that I haven't bookmarked and I use it all the time. It was like for busy people, it was like the arm one where you're like, do you have this lab or whatever? I've literally done that video so many times. And it's great because you said earlier where you stand on 1ft and you do the breathing. But in this one, it was standing on 1ft and putting the foot behind and doing I think it was like bicep curls or something like that. And I love that video for our listeners on her TikTok. She's got all these fun. It's your point of like, you have five minutes in between a call. Just go on a TikTok, watch one of your videos, do one of those things, and there you go. There's like one set down for the day. I have a feeling it's really great.

[23:51] Katie Chandler: All of this is on your app probably, as well. You probably have so many resources on your app as well.

[23:57] Amy Sherman: Yeah.

[24:00] Andrea Marcellus: Like this, too. I mean, yeah, there's regular workouts, but there are workouts where I literally wore plain clothes to shoot them. I wore what I wear to work so that it's clear you are not required to change your clothes to think about fitness. And I think that's my big thing. I'm trying to change the way America thinks about fitness and fitting it into your life. Not that it's like this separate piece you have to make time for nobody. We can't do that, but we absolutely can show up for ourselves in small bites. And the fact is, the results are better. And there was just a study, again, about this that just came I love it when there's a study that comes out that kind of validates the way I've been doing things with people that I just find actually works for them, for their lifestyle. But a study just came out this week that the benefits for your heart of working out between eleven and five are higher than if you work out in the morning or the evening. So these little bits I'm telling people to do during the day. I guess your heart likes it.

[25:12] Katie Chandler: Great. It's very interesting.

[25:14] Amy Sherman: Before we get into our wrap session, where can everybody find you? Because I know everyone's going to be clamoring for all these. Your content and your app and your website. Give us all the deets to do.

[25:25] Andrea Marcellus: Is go to andlife.com and like, Andrea lifelikeyourlifeandlife.com. And you can see my one on one program. You can see group programs if you want me to come to your company. And then you can also see my app, my book. There's so many tools to help people. I really have tried to make it so that it is not about cost, that it doesn't matter what your budget is, it doesn't matter what's going on in your life, that I have some way to help you show up for yourself and feel better now. And that's really what it is.

[26:05] Katie Chandler: That's fantastic.

[26:06] Andrea Marcellus: And then, of course, I'm on Instagram at Andrew Marcellus. I'm on TikTok. I think it's Andrew Marcellus. Official. I'm on YouTube. I'm like, I have stuff everywhere.

[26:15] Amy Sherman: And you do virtual coaching. If anyone's interested in doing one on one, that's what I do.

[26:20] Andrea Marcellus: My programs are all and we have really clever ways that I fit into your busy life. And it's pretty cool. The results are insane when you sign up for a call with me because I have to do a call with people and really understand where you're coming from, make sure it's a fit because nobody fails. And I go all in on people. Nobody fails. It's pretty cool. And you get sent a thing with just videos of real people going, oh, my goodness, it's so easy. It's so much easier than what people thought. So I'm just so proud and happy of what we've been able to accomplish and just watching people level up when they've just been struggling with this for so long. And making this a non conversation so that our lives can be about more important, more exciting, more fun things and helping people bring joy and a great relationship with food, which connects us to each other. It's so gratifying. Really cool.

[27:17] Katie Chandler: Yeah, it's really wonderful. We absolutely love what you're doing. All right, so let's get into our.

[27:22] Andrea Marcellus: I'm So Glad wrap session.

[27:24] Katie Chandler: Our first question is for you, Andrea. What is your favorite wellness or beauty hack?

[27:29] Andrea Marcellus: Oh, my gosh. Well, my favorite wellness hack in general is my brain reframe I do when I'm making my courage coffee. I talk to people about strategizing, like making rituals in your day. And it's one place where I just practice focus, and I know it takes about 90 seconds for my courage to make it. So I don't allow myself to do anything but focus on the sounds of that and that's activating brain centers that would shut off the amygdala. That's my stress reframe in the day. So that's one of my favorite wellness hacks. Like that you find a little thing you already do. I also plant whatever it is, but you just give yourself something and it becomes your ritual. And then as soon as you go to do that thing every day and if you just focus on it, your brain starts to know that's a safe harbor for you and immediately goes into that state of relaxation. It's pretty rad. And then my beauty hack is anastasia has this thing called Italian Summer, and it's a palette, a contouring palette and a blush, whatever. This is all I use because you can use it for your eyes or your face. I have no time. I am all about what is the easiest one product I can use, and I have to say I'm a huge fan.

[28:47] Amy Sherman: Oh, I haven't heard of that. I got to check that out. Very cool.

[28:51] Andrea Marcellus: Yeah. A contour, a blush, a highlighter. Perfect my eyes.

[28:56] Amy Sherman: And how do you maintain your daily nirvana?

[29:01] Andrea Marcellus: Oh, my gosh. This is such a good question. How do I maintain? I live according to a code, and I have built just a little life of little habits that are easy to maintain and where. I end up showing up for myself in small ways throughout the day, every day. And so it doesn't matter what comes flying at me in a day. I always have something that I'm doing that lifts me up, and literally, it shoots out dopamine. And I know that, but that's what I try to help people do, is create for themselves. I call it a self care scaffolding, but that's how I maintain my nirvana. I love what I do. It doesn't mean it's all always going right, but boy, do I love what I do. And I have ways that I lift myself all day long. I love it. I know.

[29:57] Katie Chandler: It is inspiring. It's very inspiring. All right, well, Andrea, thank you so much for being with us today. We were so excited to talk to you. And like we said earlier, we both feel like we know you because we watch everything you do on TikTok, but.

[30:12] Andrea Marcellus: You I love it. That's so amazing.

[30:15] Katie Chandler: For sure. I want to thank you all over.

[30:19] Andrea Marcellus: Your work is helping people. This is a wonderful, wonderful space you've created. And the conversations you're having are important and vital and really meaningful. And so I'm honored to be here and I appreciate it so much. I'm so glad.

[30:32] Katie Chandler: Thank you.

[30:33] Amy Sherman: Thanks for listening to Nirvana Sisters. For more information on this episode, check out the show notes. Please subscribe and leave us a review. Also, find us on Instagram at Nirvana Sisters. If you loved what you just listened to or know someone that would, please share it and tag us. Tune in next week for a fresh new episode of Nirvana Sisters. We'll continue to watch out for all things wellness so you don't have to. Bye.

Episode 98 - What To Do When Your Busy Life Is Sabotaging Your Wellness Success With Fitness Expert Andrea Marcellus - Part 1 (Full Transcript)

This is a full transcript of the Nirvana Sisters podcast Episode 98

Editor’s Note: Please know that this podcast transcript is automatically generated and may contain minor errors such as typos and word switches. For more information, be sure to listen to the podcast here.

Unknown: 0:06

Welcome to Nirvana sisters podcast where we take the intimidation out of well being and beauty to help you achieve your highest state your nirvana. We are sisters in law and your hosts. I'm Amy Sherman. And I'm Katie Chandler. So let's get into some real conversation Welcome back to the show Nirvana sisters family. We are sitting down today with Andrea Marcellus, a Los Angeles based fitness expert and life strategist for over 30 years Andrea is the founder and CEO of and life it's a life maximization brand with a mission to help busy people prioritize their physical and mental well being with minimal effort and sacrifice. We all need that offering unique. So she offers uniquely engaging solutions to both individual consumers and large scale organizations. And life is scaling Andrea's personalized, proven wellness methods via its proven shape up body and mind program. Live and online events. The enlive total fitness lifestyle up and connect workday, wellbeing video library. Andrea is also the author of the top rated book the way in five winning strategies to lose weight, get strong and lift your life. So we have so many questions for Andrea she Aye. Aye. Well, both of us came across Andrea on Tik Tok. And she has the most amazing content and gives such great tips and strategies and those little brief tick tock snippets. So we're so excited to have you here. Welcome to the show, Andrea. Thank you. It's an absolute pleasure to be here. Before we get started. Let's go ahead and kick it with a nirvana of the week. Amy, do you want to do you want to start? Yes. So So I guess there's been a few Nirvana's this week, but I'll say one, okay, so my Nirvana this week was an exciting one. And it's actually something Katie and I can't really talk about yet, but it's coming soon. We just signed a contract on something really exciting that we will unveil soon, but that was definitely one of my Nirvana's this week. So super excited to share all with our Nevada sisters family soon. Yeah, agreed. What about one of my Nirvana's as well, it can't wait till we can spread that news. It's very exciting. The secret secret secret nirvana? Yeah, so that was a highlight. But I had another Nirvana this this morning. We're having a some friends over for dinner tomorrow. And for the first time in I don't know how many years. I cooked for hours without a child at my feet without my husband saying I need this without having to like multitask or be somewhere I made. The time. I think that was the key why it was so enjoyable and relaxing. Because I said, I'm all I'm doing on Friday morning is cooking might be Forgan Yan for Saturday night. That's what I did. It was very relaxing. And I enjoyed it. That's amazing. So that was mine. What about you, Andrea? Oh, nice. I love that. I have a couple one, my son got 100 on this math test that he had taken twice and yay. Even though we do it, and it's like, you know, when you're a parent, and you're trying to help your kid, you know, achieve something that's hard for them. It's it was pretty cool. So that was one. And the other is I and we are having friends over tonight to play dominoes. I love playing games. I love fun. And I can't I can't tell you when the last time we've had friends, like without realizing it. It's just been a very busy time. And then, you know, sometimes you just don't make plans. So we made some plans and I've been excited about it all week. Yeah, that's so fun games like game night. That's great. I haven't done that in years. And it really is a such a great time. So yeah, that's, that's exciting. It'd be a fun Friday night. It sure will. Alright, well, let's kick it off. It's funny that you say that just really quickly because I have been hearing about this lately. But my son, I have two boys, Andrea 13 and 16. And my 13 year old is going to a party tonight. And it's like a murder mystery whodunit party, and they all get dressed up and like it's this little thing and a friend of mine at Worlds same thing. She did something like that a few weeks ago, and I was like, I love these fun interactive parties. Yeah. That's very Yeah, it's a great thing. Well, you know, it gets you out of your head. That's the whole thing like these and we'll talk a lot about stress relief today. But like that's, that's part of it. Like just even knowing oh my gosh, all I need to focus on right now is Mexican train. That's amazing. You know if you can fully focus, the good. That's really fun if you're like alright, well let's get into it because we have a lot to ask you. And first thing that that we are trying Amiens You're trying to understand. So you're a fitness expert. But it's not just fitness as an exercise and working out and going to the gym, you encompass the whole thing, the the mind, the body, the nutrition, the health, all of that, how did that start? And just tell us a little bit about about that. Yeah, because fitness is actually more about your mind than your body. That is what I've come to understand. That's the, you know, the spoiler alert moment of this whole thing I started in exercise. And you know, that's, I would say, that's truly my gift. People love working out with me. And that's what people would come for. Because I don't know, if you came and worked out with me today, I would come up with stuff I have never done before watching you move, and we would just make up things, and I'd see what your body is good at. And I'd also see where there are areas of challenge, I can just see it and I can make things up really fast. And on the fly. And that's like my gift. So that's what I love. But what I came to understand, starting out just as a trainer, essentially in a class instructor was wow, this is only a very small part of the equation. And really, it's our relationship with food. And, you know, I really the interesting thing is I spent the first 16 years of it's going to be 31 year career in in July 1 16 years doing everything you and everybody else thinks they need to do to you know, be fit. And I was an actress, I wasn't even supposed to be doing this. I went to NYU for acting, I was supposed to be a star. So this was just an artist. Thanks so much. It was just so different than what I thought. But it's awesome. You know, and it's, it's interesting. I, I was trying so hard to be super fit and back. Now this is 30 years ago. So that was like the Kate Moss era, you weren't even allowed to be like a normal human. And the harder and harder. I tried to be lean, the more weight I gained. And part of it was stress. And part of it was a really bad training strategy, which was overtraining and workout lifestyle, I call it and not really developing a really good relationship with food. I mean, it was terrible. And at a certain point, I didn't even gain 25 pounds. It was like muscle, I didn't need a layer of flab that would never go trying to maintain that workout lifestyle. A lot of people get into this rut and it was somewhere in my early 30s It was about 33 I had a celebrity client coming in. And I remember staring at the wall and going you know, I was putting together the calories in calories out equation thinking what we're going to do with this guy and I remember going this doesn't work. Like honest to goodness, this doesn't work. It's it. I mean, I'm to where I'm at, which is not even to my personal goal white knuckling it. All my clients are white knuckling it, like and it's it's just there's got to be a better way. And so what I did was start guinea pigging myself with a kinder gentler approach to the entire thing and developing a really great friendship with food. Through that very much a less is more process. And then I started introducing it to my clients who would be game for going a different route. I mean, nobody was talking about this short workouts, workouts interspersed between the day and eating all the foods, not eliminating anything unless you have a medical reason, and really working on bringing joy into your life. And the people that would do that they shrunk pretty quickly too. And before I knew it, I was starting to write a book and I was starting to codify it into a methodology and then that's become what what I do now, that's really amazing because I can see how it's all stress related. Like you were saying you're overtraining and huge stress on the body. You're overly focused on calories, that's a stress on you mentally and emotionally. You're you know, you're like people starve themselves. You're thinking about food and you have that mental stress. Right? So I get why I use the you know, it's stress, it's directly related to stress. What would you say because I've seen some of your your tips and and also some of the some of the like the little things that you talk about like food soothing and things like that. Let's talk let's talk about that. Food soothing. Yeah. So I mean and this is the really interesting thing and why I talked about my program is called the shape of body and mind program and it really I would almost call it mind and body because it comes it starts with your brain. So when we think about food, soothing, and I you know, and I just want to say right from the get go. The only reason I know anything about all of this is because I personally We know it, I've done everything. I mean, I done all this like and I, How did I manage to get myself to stop? It wasn't from some, you know, diet plan or meal plan or willpower certainly wasn't. It was behavioral changes. And you have to understand like, Well, where are those behaviors coming from? So in terms of food soothing, you have your vagus nerve, and it you know, runs from your brain, it connects. Basically, think of it this way, in layman's terms, there's your jaw, your lungs, your gut, so you have a gut feeling about something that's for real. When your body you're like, out of nowhere, you are kind of stressed out and you just go, you take a big deep breath. That's your vagus nerve, like showing up for you trying to get you to drop a notch trying to help your central nervous system, you know, take you down a notch because you're you're too keyed up and your jaw. Think about this when we were babies, you know, what did we have we had a pacifier there, that nerve in your jaw, it will help to soothe you. So now as adults, what do we do? We sit in front of Netflix, and we chew and chew and chew. So it's like, well, if these are our soothing mechanisms, like well, how can we use them to our advantage? Or how can we, you know, stay away from this mechanism of using our jaw to chew and use something else, because we're not going to stop the stressors from coming into our life, we have to get better at how we respond to them. So what I do is, I help people develop one in the moment stress management strategies where we take anxious energy, worried energy triggered energy, anger, and we shift that it's just energy energy is energy, right? So you can take that energy. And if you have some tools and some practice, you can quickly shift it into positive energy and energy that goes towards a positive purpose in your life, it's pretty cool. So you can always think of something that's triggering you is actually an opportunity to go get something done. And then we work on teaching your brain not to over respond to stress so much in the first place. And then that keeps you at a hormonal advantage. So not only is it easier to lose weight, if you need to do that, but then to maintain it very, very important. So it's, this is where calories in calories out fails, that that whole or macro count take or that whole approach, they fail because they don't take into account your humanity. The fact is, everything is running from your brain, and your brain is operating off of feelings. And you know, feelings aren't a math equation, you're not a math equation. And you know, those approaches do not take into account, you know, even more basic things like hydration, sleep, if you're in laws or in town, if your dog if you just want a prize, you know, like if you're at your wedding, and even if celebrations you see what I mean. So you've got to take your whole humanity into account and how that's impacting on your brain. And then how the brain is responding hormonally to that. I love that whole philosophy. Can you give us an example of like you were saying, if you're stressed strategies to you know, turn that around, like, give us examples of what that looks like, Oh, I'd love to, here's one of my best that I give people quickly all the time that anybody could do. So your brain, your attention and your brain, you it operates like a flashlight, right? So you have different brain centers, and you can only have certain things on or else the flashlight goes in the other direction. So think of it that way. When you're triggered, you have this amygdala in your brain, it is only triggered by one of two things threat or scarcity. So in our modern times fear city is I'm not going to have enough time energy or funds. And threat is I'm going to look stupid, or I'm unlovable it every you know, I'm going to I'm whittling this down to just I'm gonna look bad, right you get it's an ego thing. So when something like that happens, that amygdala starts pumping out adrenaline and cortisol, the cortisol, we all know that's going to create a problem with insulin that we all that's been talked about a lot everybody listening to this gets the concept of why that's not awesome. But the adrenaline becomes the issue the adrenaline, when you don't have a lion to run from our burning building, you know, and you have all this adrenaline and makes you snappy, it makes you moody and makes you make quick decisions that will soothe you in the short term immediately, but they often go against your long term goals. So the key is to short circuit, this amygdala, that when when you're triggered, and it's starting to send out what are designed to be protective hormones. This is designed to protect you to help you survive, you know, but you can teach your brain I got it, I got it. One of the simplest ways is to combine a balanced move with breath in some sort of coordination. So I literally just have people stand on one foot and just lift your heel towards your tush and then put it back down and And then just lifted up and put it back down and your hands are in front of your desk, your abdominals are deep, your shoulder blades are sliding down your back, you have the best posture, you can and you're just lifting your leg up and down, lift the heel up and down. And then we add the breath into it, and you'll take it, two counts up, and four counts down, two counts up, four counts down. That's all we're doing. So what's happening here, we're activating the hippocampus, the cerebellum and the prefrontal cortex. When those things are active, and the flashlight is in that direction, guess what has no light on it whatsoever, the amygdala, the brain cannot multitask. So in that little moment, what it takes your brain to accomplish, just lifting your heel towards your tush and putting it back on the floor with a coordinated breath means you can't be worrying, the body cannot be shooting out adrenaline and cortisol, it's busy doing something else. And in those short moments, we give ourselves enough that we can actually break away from that feeling. Now we're down a notch, you can restart your day, you know, from a different place. And over time, and with practice, we train our brain not to overstate but rover respond to stress so much in the first place. So that is one of the simplest ways that's fascinating. Yeah, I'm gonna be trying that later. For sure. Yeah, and then you said something before, which caught my attention, which was, because we're all guilty of this, but I definitely am of like, this food soothing, and like, you know, watching a show, or even like, you know, just that the habit of you know, when we used to which no one goes to movies anymore, but go to the movies and get popcorn, you know, it's just like that habit? What is a good strategy to get your mind off of like, those cravings? Are those like, oh, I need to have something sweeter? Oh, I need it. Or I need to eat while I'm watching TV. And you're not even hungry. But it just makes you feel better for some reason. Like, do you have any good tips there? Sure do. That's the whole method I teach. Because you can't, you can't, you can't get your mind not to do something. Things don't exist in the negative they only exist in the positive. So what do you do? What you do is you teach yourself and this is what I do with people individually, it's very individual. But what is the schedule of eating that is best for your body in the energy appropriate portions, these portions of the key? Figuring out what kind of amount of beneficial fats and proteins you need throughout the day and where I'm headed with this. And especially because it's usually night food, soothing, you know, we all everything like air quotes, good during the day, and then I lose it. Or on the weekends, what you have to do is make it so it is not a matter of willpower, that literally your stomach is full, that literally you can't eat another bite. And it's hard to trust because what people do is they go, Well, I'm going to eat a lot tonight. So I don't eat all day. Well, this is actually the opposite strategy of what you need to be doing. We need to be eating regularly throughout the day. High quality foods you need to give yourself social foods at night is what I call them, they might be less beneficial, but they feed our soul. And the afternoon snack is the absolute key if your afternoon snack includes a protein and or a beneficial fat. And it's just it can be very small, but it's something in that afternoon, so you do not go into dinner hungry, then the dinner won't open the floodgates for you and you will have been satisfied all day. And if you do this day after day, it only takes about three days or so you will find that at night when you sit in front of TV or something. You're actually like, wow, I'm good. Like you can have a little something, you have to be a little bit mindful for half a second. But what what actually happens is, is if you do this, you know day after day, and then a week or two goes by it actually becomes physically uncomfortable to just graze grazing is the enemy. And but you can't just go I'm not going to graze that's white knuckling it again, we have to practices in place where that is not your preference anymore. And the best way I know is making it so that the way you live is that if my stomach is too full, if I graze I become overfall it is actually physically uncomfortable. And I stop you you were in my head this past week with your afternoon snack being a protein and a good fat and I've been doing it all week and I did I do notice a difference. And the other thing also at what was I didn't see that one. Oh the on tick tock. Yeah, what was the protein that I was going to ask? Like, what are good, like, examples of what are your favorites? Yes, yeah. What are the good fats that you're gonna have with some protein? Oh my gosh, there's so many right. But here's here's a easy way to do it. I think what did you have for dinner last night? Generally people have like some I don't know there's soy protein and some vegetables. Just eat a little of that. If you don't have it if it's too hard to put something together but like, you know, a quarter of an avocado was something avocado is one of the best foods in the whole world. I have a recipe on my and Life app called chia seed pudding. This is a life changer for most people. Like, I can't wait to go to Starbucks and tell them you need to sell this. Yeah, sorry, I literally just came up with this one day, like, you know, and like, it's the one everybody loves, because you can make so many variations of it. But you're getting your omega three fatty acids. And you're, you know, it's just absolutely delicious, just a few bites of that. But truly, it could be anything, often, I will just throw an egg in a pan with some olive oil and some spinach and the eggs on one side, that spinach on the other side, it takes what 94 seconds to make that. And that's my afternoon snack, you got to think real food. And if it's coming in a package walk away, there is something fresh in your refrigerator that is going to take you less like no time. And again, you know, if real food is the key, real food is the path, not only to, you know, if you have to lose weight, you know, and to be well and to, you know, to feel lean and strong. But it's the path to longevity, we're getting nutrition, we're relying on these bars, or a protein powder or something. And I mean, I'm 50. So you know, collagen powder might, you know, into your life at a certain point when your protein meats go higher. But this is not what we want to rely on. You want to like every opportunity you can to get something from nature in your body that's going to nutritionally level you up, that's what you want to do. Yeah, that's a really good reminder. Because I definitely fall in the camp sometimes, like get in the phase of like, I need protein, I'll have a bar that has 20 grams of protein, or I'll make a shake with protein powder just because I feel like I need protein. But it's yes, it's much better to eat real food. It's just I think, like us, you know, and I love your content too, because it's for busy. Women like all of us and like just having these small ideas of what you could make like the egg and spinach or avocado and something else just to have those like ideas in your head almost makes like, it's just like the thinking about what you're going to eat is worse than the actually like doing it. It's just sometimes you're like, wait, what should I have for my snack 100%. So that's like, literally in my program, what I no brainer for people is okay, let's come up with a go to foods list for you of things. And you know, and then like on munchie days, one of the best things to do is like if you like coconut, get the unsweetened coconut flakes, and put them in a small ramekin in the front. And I put some blueberries there and I put some of that and now I'm not a grazer, I'm not a fan of grazing. But sometimes you open the fridge and some you grab something and we don't want to be doing this. But if you those things take long that takes a long time to chew, you put them together. Wow, we just got like a ton of antioxidants, anti inflammatories, beneficial fats, and we're actually satisfied for a while walk away. You know, like, that's, it's just trying to strategize. So that's what you have to do for yourself. Like that's one that works for me. But the important thing is not what Andrew Marcellus eats, the important thing is for you to figure out, what do I like. And then you'll stick with it. This is a really interesting thing. If I can just make one big long run on sentence paragraph. There's a great study in my book The Way in about, about how your brain has to like your food. Another reason diets do not work. There's this great study called the milkshake study. And this woman at I think it was Johns Hopkins, she tested these folks they came in and basically they tested the ghrelin in their stomach. Ghrelin is the hormone in your stomach that tells you I'm hungry, go find food. And when you start to eat, then leptin comes out in your brain. And leptin is the hormone your portion controlling hormone. That's the one that's like, hey, yeah, that's enough. Okay, walk away. So we want a really good relationship between these two hormones. We want a very, very loud conversation happening where they can hear each other really well. And this is one of the reasons not for grazing because that messes all that up. But in this study was incredible. She brought people in, she tested the grill and level she gave them a shake, one chocolate shake, that was about 600 calories, it said on the label and it was called decadence or something and she tested the ghrelin level in their stomach. And then they she tested it again after they after they had some and then two weeks later, they came back. And she did the same thing, trust the grill in their stomach, gave them a shake. And this one was called like since ABA or something like that. I'm saying it wrong, but it was like a diet meal replacement chocolate shake, you know, and it was like, I don't know 150 200 calories. So they think they're, they're having a diet shake and teach test the grill and level in their stomach. I'm gonna get this number a little bit wrong, but the point where we made it was either the Gremlin dropped either three times more or six times more with That decadent chocolate shake, then the shake, that was the diet shake, right? And when ghrelin drops, that means leptin shooting out telling you to stop eating. It's really important. So now here's the thing. They were the same exact shake. So what wow, people thought of the show, oh, that's a tournament when they were satisfied. And this is why I insist people like their food. And if you're dieting, it's not going to work. If you're doing what you should be doing, instead of what's bringing you joy, then it's just not going to work. And that's why it's crucial that everything like people ask me, Do you have a meal plan? No, I have to meet you. Or, you know, my app tries to help you figure it out for yourself. But you know, it's like, No, we got to find out what works for you. It's so true. So I saw this on your content as well, earlier in the week. And you're in my head. This was, I want to say Tuesday night, we had a snow day. So our kids were at home. And just it was a long day, we ordered pizza, never ordered pizza, but we ordered pizza. Kids love it. I am lactose intolerant, so I don't really eat it. And if I do eat it, I enjoy it. And I do it maybe like once a year. And you were in my head. And I thought, You know what, just have a slice of pizza with your salad, your salad with the grilled chicken. That's what I would normally eat. And I had a slice of pizza. And I was so satisfied. And I was so happy. And I was cool. Like that was that that was all I needed afterwards, I was good. Normally, if I had, you know, just a grilled chicken salad, I might want to go an hour later. And like I'm digging in the cabinets for something to satisfy that itch. I guess that's exactly what happens. And see, and we all experienced that you're talking about something we've all experienced. And so, you know, when I was coming up with this methodology, I was like, I'm just gonna give it what would happen. If I just had what I know it sounds so like, I mean, that's the holy grail to be able to do that. And I think I mean, I definitely have problems with grazing, I'm more of a grazer than like a meat eater. So like, I've been trying not to do that. But it's really difficult. Like, yeah, and that's the thing, not that I'm against therapy or people thinking about their stuff. But I find practices, best practices that walk us into better behaviors, and that just solve the problem, or kind of better way to go than wasting too much time delving into your why? How about, fix it, you know, and I think a lot of us get bogged down in the intellectual trying to understand ourselves. And I know personally, for me, just diving into solutions. And actually, you know, when you talk about stress management, you talk about chronic stress, and you talk about things like that. And I mean, I've tried all sorts of solutions in my life, but I find things that combine breath and movement, and this is actually studied to be far more effective than say, Talk therapy. at helping you overcome these moments, and I'm interested in people, you know, I'm interested in less cortisol, I'm interested in hormonal balance for what people come to me for, but you can kind of apply this to anything where, you know, you're having, you know, I, in my program, I even go into dispute resolution with your partner, your roommates, like things like that, you know, like you have to strategize this stuff. And it's like, well, how do you get to the solution faster? How do we get to faster solutions, and just being solution oriented in general, and mostly, you know, all of this is about embracing who we are rather than, like always keeping this carrot stick out there and who we want to be like, how does your life actually operate? Let's like, let's, you know, talk about food and exercise in terms of how your life actually operates. And I bet we'll get a better solution not be wishing that you were like somebody else, you know, and I think I think that's really important to always come back to, you know, who are you and maybe stop overthinking it. Maybe just try the solution on first Yeah, and then go back and and then go back and look at your stuff. I'm not saying don't look at your stuff, but I'm saying why not look at your stuff from a place where you feel better and more confident to begin with. I love that. Thanks for listening to Nirvana sisters. For more information on this episode, check out the show notes please subscribe and leave us a review. also find us on Instagram at Nirvana sisters. If you loved what you just listened to or know someone that would please share it and tag us. Tune in next week for a fresh new episode of Nirvana sisters will continue to watch out for all things wellness so you don't have to. Bye.

Episode 92 - Our Top Wellness Apps To Support And Elevate Your Routine (Full Transcript)

This is a full transcript of the Nirvana Sisters podcast Episode 92.

Editor’s Note: Please know that this podcast transcript is automatically generated and may contain minor errors such as typos and word switches. For more information, be sure to listen to the podcast here.

Amy: 0:06

Welcome to Nirvana sisters podcast where we take the intimidation out of well being and beauty to help you achieve your highest state your nirvana. We are sisters in law and your hosts. I'm Amy Sherman.

Unknown: 0:18

And I'm Katie Chandler. So let's get into some real conversation

Amy: 0:28

Welcome back to the show. It's Amy and Katie Nirvana's sisters family. And today we are doing a quickie episode where we are discussing our favorite wellness apps for the daily meaning ones we use all the time, or go to ones that we're really excited about. And I we have some good ones to share with you. So I'm excited. Katie, do you want to start? You want me to start? Because I've got a good one that I'm so excited to share?

Unknown: 0:49

Yeah, I can start I'll start with Oh, no, you're super excited to share with them and then dive right into that. Go

Amy: 0:54

ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead.

Unknown: 0:55

This is a tried and true app that I have been using for years and years and years, it's pretty common. I think a lot of people know about it. But what I like about it is it's super efficient, and very easy to use, and it's my fitness pal, I don't always track what I'm eating. But I do from time to time, especially when I'm going through like a specific phase. Like right now I'm trying really hard to go through a body recomposition phase where I gain more muscle mass, and they get rid of some of the fat mass. And so I'm tracking, especially like my protein and things like that. And it's a great app. Because a there's multiple versions of it, the free version is just as easy to use as the one that costs money, the premium, you can easily plug in any food item, and it will come up with a gazillion options. It's been used for so many years, I think by so many people that it has all the brands, a lot of restaurant options. Yeah, it has everything. It's it's in there. So you plug it in what you ate and brings up all the macros and then you can track it. And it's just a really easy diary to use. And then in addition to that, they have great recipes. They have a section where you can plug in your own recipes, and it'll calculate the macro and micronutrients for your recipes. You can it helps you create your own custom macros and your goals and everything that you should be getting because of your bodyweight, and etc, so on and so on. So I highly recommend it for that. There's a lot of them out there. I've tried the other ones. I've tried like macro stacks, I've tried a couple others. My Fitness Pal is my go to always I was helping your parents with it last weekend.

Amy: 2:22

Yeah, it's a good one I haven't used in a while but I have it on my phone was funny. I was gonna I was gonna talk about that today as an option. Because I do really like that app. And I haven't used it in a while. But remind me what's the difference? If you pay for it or for it's free? Like what do you get? If you pay for it? You can just like customize more things?

Unknown: 2:37

Great question. So the premium has a really nice barcode scanning option. So you don't even have to like take the two seconds to write in that I just had turkey bacon from Trader Joe's and then you scan and it pops right up. So that's nice. And I'm sure there's some other options. I think there I think it gets more targeted and more specific and how you want to customize your macros and how you see it on, like the face of your diary. So it can just get a little bit more targeted and specific and a little bit more user friendly. But the free version is super user friendly. And it has it really has everything you need. My I mean, your friends, my in laws who are in their 70s are using it. I taught them how to use it. And it's like it's easy. So, I mean, it's definitely yeah, I

Amy: 3:22

hope my dad's been using and I told him he can't rely on my mom to track off his macros. Yeah, you have to do it yourself. So you can learn.

Unknown: 3:29

Yeah, yeah, she was doing his all weekend. It's like God for him healing them, like how many more grams of carbs he's allowed to eat. And so I was trying to,

Amy: 3:39

ya know, he like, wants someone to tell him what to do all the time now yelled at him the other day when I yell at him, but I was like, you have to do it so you can learn what to eat, what not to eat. So like if you're out, you can make a good decision for yourself. Yeah, so hopefully they're doing that. That's, that's great. I am real quick sidebar. What are you doing to you were just saying Re? Yeah, your body compositions? Are you focusing more on protein, like lifting weights? Like what's the I'm focusing

Unknown: 4:06

on, I saw, you have to eat higher protein, you still have to eat a sufficient amount of carbohydrates to fuel your body. And then the other two apps that I'm going to talk about today are helping me do it as well. So it's like, we'd love to hear about that. Yeah, it's a few its metrics and other things that help you get to that. What's your super exciting when

Amy: 4:26

I found out about this app earlier this week, is I've been using it every day. I'm obsessed, and I've gone down the rabbit hole and it's almost dangerous. But when I tell you about it, and when our listeners learned about it, you will be the same way it is called. I don't know how to pronounce it. Yucca yuk. Have you heard of this app? No. It is an immediate download what it does, okay. So you know when you think you're eating healthy and you're just like, Okay, you eat a healthy diet, you pretty much know the right decisions to make. This app tells you everything that you are putting in your body and it tracks your food and your beauty products. So all you do is you scan. So I'm going to show you this at lunchtime to show you on the screen, but you scan whatever you have. And immediately it comes up with. I'll give you an example. Let me find a good one. For example, I scanned my almond butter yesterday, it's the Barney brand and it got a 78 out of 100, which counts is excellent and it gives you the positive. So the reason why that rating it says no additives. So it has no hazardous substances in it. protein, fiber, like excellent amount of fiber, low sugar, no sodium, saturated fat, but low impact and then the negatives are just the calories but it still gives you a 78 out of 100 which is an excellent option. The reason why I did it is because I wanted to see what additives are in things like a lot of the other things you sort of know just by looking at the additives are like impossible to know. So a lot of the things that you think may be good or not. So let me give you an example of one that I was like, bummed out about a poor rating. And this is the organic Italian Romano vinaigrette from Whole Foods. It got a 49 out of 100. Okay, the reason why it says is because it has a lot of sodium, it says it's too salty soy immediately puts it in the poor category. And then it gives you the positives of organic protein, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So the cool thing is a few things. First of all, if they put something in the poor category, they give you recommendations as to what you should eat instead, like so for example, this organic Italian Romain of Vinagrette. By the way, you can also make your own decision of whether you think that's poor if it's too salty, and you're like okay, it's fine. I'll have a little salt eat it. But the reason why I like it is because it had a lot of things that I didn't know that had additives, which I'll explain in a second. But anyway, this gave me like a couple recommendations. So instead of having that I could have this raspberry dressing and merit marinade from Lighthouse or this organic vinegar dressing from brag. So it is so helpful because not only is it telling you what's good and bad, but it's telling you what to eat instead. So it did some beauty products. The thing with the beauty products is it has to have the UPC to scan it so sometimes the boxes have that and the beauty products doesn't have that but you can go to the store and scan it which of course I'd started doing with food when I was at the store. So here's another one which I which I eat a lot okay, you know this super creamer. Have you seen this before in the store? This Yeah, yeah, okay. They sell it at Whole Foods. To creamer, right. Yeah, key to vanilla protein and MCT oil, super Cooper scan that the other day 39 out of 100 Poor. Here's why. It has two additives. Okay. One of them is called e 340. It's a potassium phosphate and it comes up as hazardous. Okay, so they rank the additives between like no risk, moderate risk, low risk, and hazardous. So this one came up as hazardous e 340. Potassium phosphate, and then you can click on it and learn why it's hazardous. It says it's a antioxidant, and it says it slows down the oxidation reaction of food. And then this one says phosphates contain phosphorus a chemical element that's essential to the body However, according to a n CES, our phosphorus intake is now two or three times greater than needed. excess phosphorus may increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases disrupt calcium metabolism and bone mineralization and negatively affect the kidneys, you know, right? Yeah, it's crazy. So I've been learning all about these different foods. And again, you can make your choices like like I put in randomly like mustard, right? And it came up as negative because it had too much sodium. And like this specific one was an organic honey mustard said it has a little bit too much sugar, but it just helps inform your decisions better even if you're eating healthy. I want so Aqua for my favorite thing ever comes up as bad 12 out of 100 because and I've read this before it ranks petrolatum as hazardous which is the Petrolia like Vaseline, Vaseline is simply a petrolatum derivative and belongs to the family of mineral oil. So like it says it's prohibited and food products mineral oils are allowed in cosmetics. These oils contain problematic residues such as mo as in motion. So anyway, it goes all into it. And then it gives you all the sources that the Sian list the FSA, like it's it's the company that creates this, all the information that it's coming from is from public health sources, CEC etc. So it's not like they're making it up. So all the sources, it's almost like crowdfunded in a way because it's a free app. But if you upgrade, you can start like you can't search for products unless you upgrade you can scan all your products. But if you want to search for like, oh, I want to get this, let me see what it has. You can't do that. But if you upgrade you can however, when you upgrade, you can donate as much money as you want. You could donate $1 You could donate $10 And you get the upgrade which is really cool. So it's so incredibly helpful. So like aquifer had this hazardous because of the petrolatum which I know is controversial but whatever but it gives you recommendations of doing. You could do Palmer's natural Vitamin E concentrated cream instead. And that's an excellent product at six out of 100. So the petrolatum or

Unknown: 10:03

petroleum, or is it? Are they the same thing? petrolatum and jelly like kind of like the same thing?

Amy: 10:10

Yeah, whatever's in Vaseline, it's, it's the same thing. So I've known that that's been controversial. I've heard about it, but to actually like, see it, a lot of the things I've noticed too, like, for example, I, I scanned, I had a native deodorant laying around, which I don't really use anymore. But that came back as poor because it has something called ozokerite. It shows us a moderate risk. So you know, take that with however you want it, but it says, you know, it's a mineral oil produced by the oil refining process. It's sort of similar to like this thing that I was saying before with the petrolatum. But it's not hazardous. It says memoirs, it has memoirs, which can act as a genotoxic carcinogen. So anyway, it's very interesting. A lot of things with scents came back really bad, I'm sure. Which was interesting. Um, just to do some of the things that I scanned,

Unknown: 11:00

does it do it? So it does food products and beauty products? Does it do like, like house? Cleaning products or anything like that?

Amy: 11:07

No. Okay, that'd be about doing it doesn't know that yet. But hope? Yeah.

Unknown: 11:13

That's a really Yeah. Especially if you're suddenly like somebody sorry to interrupt you, but to, to not know how to read labels, and a lot of people don't. And then also, just like you said, there was one one of the what the E two, three, whatever it was in that coffee creamer. They put they give like these fancy cover up names for things that we have heard more of that we would recognize. So you look at it, and you have no idea what what it is. So it's I love that, especially the beauty products, too. There's so many things in our food. And in our products that we're using that are endocrine disruptors, it can mess with your hormones and everything when you use them in excess, especially like sense like what you were saying.

Amy: 11:55

Yeah, like I scanned this son VM, three in one leaving hair conditioner, which my kids use, sometimes they just like spray it on their hair, again, you're putting it in your hair and putting it on your body. But hair stuff is a little bit different. Like when I skipped a lot of hair stuff, there was some tricky things in there. And it came back with like 1234, like six ingredients that were flagged, but they're all low risk to moderate risk. But like, again, the least you're informed, the things that I've been looking for a lot of things have like low and moderate risk. Unfortunately, a lot of things come back as excellent, which is great. And then the things that come back as hazardous like that coffee creamer is an example is like I'm not buying that again, because it comes back as hazardous. Like those were the things that scared me and some of the things I was trying to find an example. But I have so many things scan, I can't find it right now. But one of the things that came back, some some of the things I scan came back as hazardous. And it'll say like this has been banned in Europe, you know, by the EU. So you know, you hear about things like that. So, so interesting. So it really does the guests, it really does the guesswork for you because we all eat healthy. But still, there's certain preservatives that are in there that can impact what you're eating. And like at least you should be aware of it.

Unknown: 13:06

I just saw recently, the EU banned like six different types of sparkling water, one of which I use a lot because it has stuff in it that like this product would tell me exactly that. And you don't think something like sparkling water. Water is going to be problematic ever.

Amy: 13:24

Yeah, the I scan Lacroix. And that was great. It was like, Oh, good. Yeah, that's my top one, which was good. So And what was interesting too, is I scan some I was at work the other day and I liked wanted yogurt for lunch, and I grabbed like a trovati, which I normally wouldn't like and and if I want that, but scan is excellent. Like because it says it has protein. It has no additives, no saturated fat, you know. So it's interesting, because some of the brands that you don't always think about are actually good. So it's been very eye opening. The problem is it's dangerous because I've been a psycho all week, like literally scanning everything. Everyone's making fun of me. It's so funny, but it's so educational. I find it so educational and eye opening. And the last thing I'll say the thing that I thought was really interesting as I was showing my kids because they're always like making fun of me because I keep telling them not to eat like the junky cereal and the ramen and whatever. So we scanned all their crap that they eat and it was horrible. Like, yeah, we scanned ROM and it was like zero out of 100 like it came up as bad. literally zero out of 100 it has 12 additives of which three are hazardous. Like so much sodium, yada yada yada, so, and Jackson's like rolling his eyes, but he's like, Oh, let me see that and he starts scanning all his stuff. So like I felt like I got it a little bit into them that like no it's not that you can't have this bad food. It's just look what's inside of it. And then we scan this like fruit bar like this organic fruit bar that the kids like, and that came up as good. Yeah, they were I was like, Okay, eat as much as you want those gogo squeezes. Those came up is really good too. I think they were like 100 out of 100 So then I felt better that because my kids like pound those they've like Five of them at a time because they're crazy. But I was like, Alright, fine, eat them at least they don't have like bad chemicals, which is like my biggest concern. So all this cauliflower snacks that we eat, you know, I scan a lot of those and they all come back as good. The only reason they're flagged as negative is calories and sodium. So that's always interesting and a good flag. But anyway, yeah.

Unknown: 15:19

And that's something that you can you can determine whether or not Matt like you might need salt that day, you know?

Amy: 15:25

Yeah, exactly. And then at the end, it has the history. So it saves everything that you've scanned, and then it like grades, like all the stuff and it has it all broken out. And then you can go into your list and like, look at all the bads as an example. And then it gives you all the recommendations like what to do instead. All right, yeah, I'm getting it What's up, so you go, you're gonna go insane with this thing. It's crazy.

Unknown: 15:45

Good. I went alright, anyway, I'm excited. Check it out. Alright, so my next one, you were asking how I'm doing this, like body composition thing. And I have two more apps that will help you understand that. But the next one I am kind of obsessed with it's more than just an app. It's a scale that comes that that has all of these biometrics that that is also you have to have the app to use the scale properly. Because the scale tracks 17 metrics. And it tells you what you're obviously what your weight is, what your weight without fat, what your weight control is, what your weight control is, like where you should be for your age and your height and things like that. Your your contents of body water, and like how hydrated you are, tells you what your bone mass is, what your fat mass is your body fat percentage, forget all that your visceral fat, all of these things, your muscle mass, your muscle rate, your protein rate, your your basal metabolic rate, and then your metabolic age. Amongst more, there's other metrics as well. And it's from it's like biomechanics. I mean, it's science. I can't really totally explain it. But I've done a lot of research into what's

Amy: 16:56

the brand of the scales.

Unknown: 16:59

It is called Fit track. It's the Fit track scale, it's a little pricey, I got it on sale, I want to say like, I think maybe without the sale, it was like $90. But it's it's super cool. Because it tells you things that you can't just get from standing on a scale or measuring yourself like typically, you would have to go and get a DEXA scan to to learn like how much muscle mass you have. And it's it's a big process. I step on this thing every single day. And it tells you your fluctuations, it tells me if I'm dehydrated, it tells me if I need to drink more water, if my body waters low, I'm standing on the scale, I'm standing on a scale. I mean, listen, it's 2023. Wow, the science behind these things is amazing. So it is Bluetooth connected to the app. And as soon as you step on the scale, the app picks up all of the readings when you first get it, it you have to answer just a couple questions like your age and, and male or female and et cetera. And, and then it picks all of it up. And the app also offers other things like you can do. You can like track your your calories and all that as well. But like I said, I like my fitness pal for that. So how this has helped me get into my body recomposition goals is it has given me the metrics that I need to calculate my macronutrients how much protein I should be eating, how much carbs I should be eating to that day that well, yeah, I mean, it's not like I'm fluctuating that much. And that's the goal when you do body recomp. I'm not trying to lose weight, especially for my work. I can't lose weight. I'm just trying to recomp it. I'm trying to be more muscular, less soft, fatty tissue. Yeah. Do you know what I mean? Yeah, so yeah. And that's really hard. For me, I've tried to do this before. And it was so hard to tell if I was doing it, right. Because you're not like the scale doesn't tell you anything. Like it's you know, it's just whether or not it's starting to work is hard to kind of gauge. So having these metrics and applying them to my, like macros, calculators and everything that are teaching me how to how to get all those numbers that I need is really effective. And it's an it's working. I can I can tell like, I'm definitely I am a I have the energy to do really intense weightlifting workouts, because I'm eating the right amount of foods. b I'm recovering faster. And see I can I feel more toned. I feel tighter. And the scale is not really changing, which is a good thing for me right now. Yeah, yeah. So it's called

Amy: 19:29

it's the you look at the metrics, essentially. And then it kind of like helps you know what to eat, and then does it you have to tell you anything about your,

Unknown: 19:36

you have to use like macronutrient calculators that you can Google, there's all kinds of resources for that. Yeah. But I know because I have these metric numbers that I know are accurate that I can plug in, then I know that the numbers on the calculator that are coming back are gonna work.

Amy: 19:50

Does it tell you you're like BMI and stuff like that? Yeah. All of that. And you're trying to change that. Is that like, how do you measure this body

Unknown: 19:58

result? I'm trying to get It the it says that it says the BMI is an estimate of someone's health by measuring their body weight against their height and sex taken in isolation, BMI can be misleading, it's important to look at your other metrics alongside. So what I'm actually trying to get down is my body fat percentage, your body fat percentage is the percent of your total body weight that is made up of fat. Your rating is your fat mass relative to your total weight compared to your benchmarks based on your age, sex and height. So it's great because when you click on these things, it gives you all of this explanation. visceral fat index, so your visceral fat is the is like the the deadly fat, the fat that surrounds your organs, people that have like beer bellies, like the their tummies are loaded with several fat like that's what causes heart attacks and things like that. And I have hyperlipidemia it runs in my family. So keeping my visceral fat low is really important to me, so and then it also tells you your muscle mass. So like my muscle mass is 96.3 pounds. And it says muscle mass consists of three types of muscle, your skeletal, smooth and cardiac, your muscle mass value, it includes the total weight of all these muscle types combined. And then it goes into further. So I'm trying to get my muscle mass up my body fat percentage down. Very cool. Yeah. And so it's I am obsessed. It's a variable,

Amy: 21:16

peaceful Tactus brand, obviously, with all these other apps in the show notes. I want to check that out. That's, that's very cool. Yeah. Okay, obsessed. Next. My next app is a bit more of a fitness app, a friend told me about this, and I downloaded it over the summer, and it's called all trails. Okay, I know if you've heard of it all trails. And it's great because it has hikes near you or wherever you are. So a lot of times when I travel, I like to go on a hike somewhere, but you don't know where you are. This will tell you so like right now I open the app, and it gives you the top trails nearby. So it's telling me trails that are near my house, which exes some of them I didn't even know because sometimes you don't even know what's around you. And it'll tell you how far it is from you. And how long estimated the trail will take. So I'm looking at this one trail near my house. And it's it's like three miles away. But it says the estimated take, it'll take you about an hour and 15 minutes to complete. And it gives you like a little bit of description of the route like this one says, you know, generally considered an easy route, it takes an average of an hour and 15 minutes to complete, very popular for hiking, mountain biking and running. It's open your rounds, and dogs are welcome. So it's a really great way to get outdoors. I mean, now it's freezing out. But you know, once the weather gets a little bit warmer, it's really nice. And then here's this other trail that I found that seven miles from me, if I want to go to that one, and this trail is really long, it's 7.3 miles. But again, it's like an easier route a lot of people to walk and run on it open year round. Dogs are welcome things like that. So it's really great because I do like to do a lot of walks. And it's just makes it less intimidating, because you kind of know what to expect. Because I think sometimes you go on a walk somewhere and you're like how long as it like, When should I turn around? So and it gives you like, can you turn around or where it ends up and things like that. So it's really great for your own area. But I also think it's amazing for when you're traveling. Yeah. And when you're want to go on a hike or you want to go on a walk around the neighborhood that you're in, it just gives you a little bit of a estimate and know what to expect type situation. So I love it. I think it's really, really helpful.

Unknown: 23:21

Yeah, I like that you're a big hiker. I'm not so much of a hiker. I'd like to go on walks but like you would hike up massive hills and mountains and thing Yeah,

Amy: 23:30

but I mean a lot of the a lot of this is walking trails, like there's this trail near me that I'm seeing is in here, which is a walking trail. So not only is it like, you can search by like hard hikes, easy hikes. And when they say hikes. I mean, the easy ones are like walkable, nice trails, basically Nice. So yeah, it's a really, really great app, and it has like navigation and all these different things on it. So when you're on the hike, you can actually do you navigation,

Unknown: 23:54

anything like a safety score, anything like that.

Amy: 23:57

There probably is some sort of safety score or like it'll tell you, you know if it's crowded, or if people like this one talks about like, here's a moderately challenging Route near me, takes about 45 minutes to complete, popular trail for birding, hiking, walking, best times to visit March through October dogs welcome must be on leash, and it has tags that you can search by or, but I bet you it has like comments about that. It's all look around. But anyway, if

Unknown: 24:24

something's kid friendly, or stroller friendly, that also kind of helps you understand. I would

Amy: 24:28

write and it'll tell you if the likes are populated. So if it's like a crowded trail, you would know it's popular. So anyway, it's a great resource for anytime you want to take a walk

Unknown: 24:36

nice. I love that. Yeah. All right. Well, this is I have two more but this last one is the final piece to how I'm doing this whole body composition thing. And it's more than an app again, it's a massive piece of tech but I have to talk about it because it's insane. It's tonal, so we we got to tonal a few weeks ago, it's for listeners that you don't know it is basically like this giant thing that you attach to your wall that is all AI, and it has arms that come out of it that are weight controlled. And it this screen is programs like weightlifting programs and trainers. And it offers a massive variety of programs of classes, etc. When it comes to the bench and all these things and the weight on the arms can go all the way up to hundreds and hundreds of pounds. I don't know how it works, because it's just literally on your wall. But I it's the coolest thing. Because part of gaining muscle mass you have to do. It's called progressive overload. It's when you lift weights, but you have to constantly, like make it heavier or make your reps higher, you're basically from from exercise to exercise, you have to put more work on those muscles than you did the last time in order to actually gain the muscle mass. It's so complicated, it's really hard to do a lot of people can just like, sit down, take the time make their own schedule, like write out how many weights they should do, how many reps they should do this day, so on and so on. I don't have time for that. And I've been trying to do this for years total does it for me. It's it's connected to the total app. And you put in you know, it asks you the standard questions in the beginning. And then it also has you do this like introduction program where it tests your your strength, so it knows you and knows what you're capable of. And it's constantly adjusting that. And then they have different programs for if you wanted to lose weight if you wanted to gain muscle if you wanted to do a body recap. So right now I'm doing a four week body recon. And it's just because it knows me and it's artificial intelligence. It's really it knows when to put more muscle load on and it

Amy: 26:46

wow, it's it's really takes the thinking out of it

Unknown: 26:49

takes all of the thinking out of it. And it's a trainer. So she's like keeping you excited and keeping you

Amy: 26:54

so it's a class it's a classic kind of like a is that the one I get that the tunnel confused with mirror where like a person shows up? Like, like a virtual person.

Unknown: 27:04

Yeah, it's similar to mirror but I don't know if mir has the weight capacity? I'm not sure. But no, I

Amy: 27:10

think mirrors just classes. Right?

Unknown: 27:12

This is the there's a person in there showing you exactly how to do the movement on a tonal and they're walking you through everything. And yeah, I mean, it's there's a lot of different programs out I'm starting a different program than I'm doing.

Amy: 27:27

Yeah, it's so cool. Our neighbors, they rave about

Unknown: 27:30

it. I'm Yeah, yeah. And it's i It's accessible. Because it's is like a monthly you can pay like a monthly membership. It's not like you have to buy this thing for like $5,000 It's, it's something that you can so I think that they're starting to like like peloton subtotals. And all these things are starting to try to make more so you buy

Amy: 27:48

mass allotment, how much is the actual equipment?

Unknown: 27:50

I have to ask Adam but it wasn't it wasn't as crazy as I thought it was going to be because you pay you pay, you pay more monthly. It's like paying a monthly gym membership. And that's not got to like have access to the programs that's like to have the thing in your house, essentially. Oh, I

Amy: 28:05

say Oh, cool. And do they come and install it? Yeah. Yeah. That's funny. We we have like a more of a wait like an all in one kind of wait machine in the basement. That's stupid a couple summers ago, because the boys especially Jackson was starting to work out we thought about getting the tonal because our neighbors have it and they love it. But we were worried like the kids don't really like they won't. And it's just like different than just like lifting a weight. You have to kind of I don't know, we just weren't sure if like, I like it.

Unknown: 28:37

I think they would like it. Because it's it's it's like hardcore weightlifting. I mean, yeah, I'm like, I'm doing deadlifts with 50 pounds in each hand. And oh, my God, and like, I need

Amy: 28:48

to try this. I think it's so cool. Yeah, I really, I think that would Yeah, I'm curious to see like your journey with this and like, how it changes your body and like with the weights, because I've been trying to do different weight things too. But I really don't know what I'm doing. I'm just lifting weights, but I don't have any sort of guidance. And to your point, like you kind of lift the same thing all the time, you don't have a good understanding of what you should be doing next. So it sounds like this is such a good trainer and takes all the like guesswork, you just do it instead of having to think through like what am I going to do now? And yeah,

Unknown: 29:18

I mean, when you're doing I've been I've tried everything for years and years and years and don't get me wrong. Like I'm I'm in great shape, and I'm strong and everything, but I'm not achieving these results that I've wanted to achieve. And I know how you have to do it. And it's really complicated if you just do it like freehand or you have to pay to write help you do it. And this machine is helping me do it, which is amazing that I help you with the form to Oh yeah, 100% and even the machine will tell you, it senses if your form is cool, and it tells you like wow, like one step away from tonal. Like it's really it's really an impressive piece of equipment. I could not recommend it more. And it also tells me like on my rest days, it gives me active rest workouts as well. If I don't want to do my one day of my four week program, I go in and it pops up. Well, you should do this today instead.

Amy: 30:11

Sounds amazing. I need to I need to test it out for sure. i That sounds really great. I love it. Okay, so while we're on the exercise routes, I always have to give a plug to em who, Melissa what how my daily go to for all things. Love her so much love the app. I know. She recently upgraded the app. And I don't know if you've seen but like now she's got all these other people that are part of her community that are also teaching. I haven't taken any other classes because I'm biased to Melissa but I will. But she's got all these other people that do pilates and different things. But Melissa is just my go to like five minutes. 10 minutes, 20 minutes, whatever I have time for I love our and always have to talk about that. Because that's one I use on the daily.

Unknown: 30:52

Yeah, for sure. Love him. Wh Alright, well, my last one is a pretty fast one. It's something that I have been using for years I start well, I really started when like the pandemic crazy. It's when I first started to get into meditation. It's Insight Timer, which we've talked about before. And yeah, I have a TM practice that I do. But when I'm not doing my TM practice, I still use Insight Timer. And back in the day, when I first started it, I would use the guided meditations. But now I just I love they have a timer, and they have all of these different sounds that you can put in. It's what I use when I meditate with the girls in the morning. It's just like a very easy free app, you can upgrade it and get more and detailed stuff.

Amy: 31:32

But if you may have quick meditations to write Oh, yeah, yeah,

Unknown: 31:36

they have quick meditations, two minute meditations, 15 minute meditations, 30 minute meditations and everything. Or you could just use the timer, which is what I do. So if you're new to meditating, you don't really know where to start, it is an excellent resource for that. That's how I got into meditating. And then I'm sure people, you know, advanced, people are using it regularly as well. So highly recommend.

Amy: 31:56

Awesome. Okay, well, the last one that I have, since we're talking about all these different things to exercise is for the brain, it's called elevate. And this is a really, really good app for, like cognitive function. And so I have brain fog, like a lot of us do. And I use this tool to help kind of like, keep me sharp. So every day, it has a different brain workout. So it tests or not tests, but it gives you exercises in these different categories writing, speaking, reading, math, memory. And so every day will give you different exercises to do. And like today, I opened it up and it said your workouts ready, I'm just going to press start just so you can get an understanding. So like, the first exercise that it has, for me is a writing exercise. And if I play this game, it comes up and tells you the game. And it'll do like tell you how to do it. And like this one, for example, is called rounds. And so I'm tapping it to continue I'm doing it like it'll this one is it times you like see how this says lesson you put in the s. And so see how this timer goes down. So it's all timed. And it's like how quickly you can do things. So this is just like a simple spelling test where like this has the word for example, Odyssey and the S is left out and you put in the s so you know different little exercises, it has math ones, which are always challenging for me has memory ones. And then so I think it has like, I don't know, three or four exercises a day, it takes like a few minutes, it doesn't take long at all. And you get through it and it scores you and then you know at the end of the week, or whenever you can just go in and check your score. So it's actually a really great way to just exercise your brain on the daily, I haven't been using it, this reminded me I need to start using it and then it'll give you your performance. So like I haven't done it in a while. But for example, like my writing is at the top, I have the most points going into like the advanced stage for writing. So you can see all my bars there. Mine goes writing, then speaking then reading then math and memory. So my memory is like at the novice level. So then it gives you more exercises for that. So it's really good. I think it's good for older people to like I told my parents about it. And it told them they should do it everyday. It's kind of like my grandfather, he used to go downstairs every day and do like a crossword puzzle. Same idea, right? Like just keeping your brain sharp. So it's a really good way to get your brain. You know, like sharpening in the morning. Like if you're drinking your coffee, just do a little brain game. And yeah, highly recommend really good tool.

Unknown: 34:19

It's so like, for idle time, instead of just like sitting and scrolling and consuming and having like, tick tock, someone talk to us and tell us things. It's so much better for you like for your eye. I'm going to download it. I could do it when I'm taking the train when I'm commuting things like that. That's great.

Amy: 34:34

Yeah, and it gives you an A Yeah, and I think it's good too, because it's just a couple quick fun games and some of them are fun, you know, and yeah, it's a good way to pass the time. It's not too long. And I whenever I do this in the morning, I do feel sharper. Like I feel like it's a good way to start the day because it kind of gets your brain like firing and smart

Unknown: 34:52

startup. Yeah, highly

Amy: 34:53

recommend. Nice. Yeah,

Unknown: 34:55

this was fun. I'm glad we did this because i mean i i Adam is like Mr. techie tech. And so I feel like I'm starting to get into his realm of all the apps and all the tech and everything. And I mean, you're pretty techie too. So it's all Yeah,

Amy: 35:11

remedies things. Even, you know, I think some of the things we talked about are really cool, because they have the technology, the deep technology piece, but I think a lot of these apps are just like simple apps that our listeners can use everyday like this Yukka app, right? It's like you just scan your stuff just to get a better sense of how healthy your food is. Or like, if you want to go on a walk, I mean, these are simple apps that you can use on a weekly basis that are really helpful. And then yeah, if you want to go deeper into tech, you get the scales and all these other things. But there's just so many helpful apps out there that are free and so we wanted to make sure we were sharing it with our Nirvana sisters family. So hope everyone has a great week and we'll talk to you soon Bye. Thanks for listening to Nirvana sisters. For more information on this episode, check out the show notes please subscribe and leave us a review. also find us on Instagram at Nirvana sisters. If you loved what you just listened to or know someone that would please share it and tag us. Tune in next week for a fresh new episode of Nirvana sisters will continue to watch out for all things wellness so you don't have to. Bye.

Episode 88 - Our Top Wellness + Beauty Trends To Buzz About In 2023 (Full Transcript)

This is a full transcript of the Nirvana Sisters podcast Episode 88

Editor’s Note: Please know that this podcast transcript is automatically generated and may contain minor errors such as typos and word switches. For more information, be sure to listen to the podcast here or view our podcast episode guide.

Amy: 0:06

Welcome to Nirvana sisters podcast where we take the intimidation out of well being and beauty to help you achieve your highest state your nirvana. We are sisters in law and your hosts. I'm Amy Sherman.

Katie Chandler: 0:18

And I'm Katie Chandler. So let's get into some real conversation.

Amy: 0:27

Have you new here, it has been a couple of weeks since Katie and I have been on the mic together. And we're so excited to start the year together and with you all, and we're going to talk today mostly about things that are trending in 2023 in the beauty, wellness, self care space that we're seeing that are happening that are new and exciting, and also a little bit of ketchup because Katie, it's just been a while I haven't seen you while we did go to Israel together, which we haven't even talked about. So let's tell our listeners about that.

Katie Chandler: 0:59

Happy New Year, because we really haven't seen or talked to each other in weeks. I feel like since before you went to Mexico.

Amy: 1:06

Yeah, it's I know, I miss Hill.

Katie Chandler: 1:10

Israel was amazing. We were there. As listeners know, for me, son, Jules is Bar Mitzvah and it was just such an epic trip. And when people asked me about an AMI that like, where did you go, and I say we saw the whole country. Basically, that's what it felt like we did so much. And Amy did the most phenomenal job planning it we were in type Varius, which is in the north and on the Sea of Galilee, and then we went to Jerusalem, and that's where the bar mitzvah was and and it's just such a beautiful old city there. It's gorgeous. We saw the Dead Sea. We went to Tel Aviv it was just one epic thing after the other like, what was your favorite part of it? Excluding jewels Bar Mitzvah moment, because obviously, that's what it was all about.

Amy: 1:55

I know I was thinking about this the other day, because I feel like there were favorite parts of each area we went to I mean, obviously, the bar mitzvah was my favorite part. But outside of that, I think it was just there. Well, I loved Masada, because it was just so beautiful. But I honestly it was just so fun to be together. 14 of us is like one family all together, traveling together. I mean, it was definitely a lot and could be, you know, crazy and hectic. But it was just so fun. Especially all the kids being together and seeing them together. So happy. And so join us and it was just so great to spend time with everybody because like when do you ever get, you know, 10 days of spending time with your parents, your grandparents, your children, your you know, niece and nephew, your sister in law brother in law. I mean, that was probably the best part for me from a family perspective. And yeah, I did love Masada and I loved just Tel Aviv is such a cool city. Yeah. What about you?

Katie Chandler: 2:48

I mean, various similar things. Masada was my favorite moment aside from Joseph's Bar Mitzvah, there was something about that that was just so peaceful and just felt incredibly unique and one of a kind and the surroundings where you are just it's like nothing I've ever seen before. And yeah, and the exact fact that there's so much history in the ruins and everything. And then I agree, like,

Amy: 3:12

I also like those grotto was really beautiful in

Katie Chandler: 3:14

Yeah. It's hard. It's surely Schroer. Lanco hunka hunka I have no idea.

Amy: 3:21

Railroad neagra. But I don't remember where that was in the

Katie Chandler: 3:25

north. It's on the Mediterranean. It was stunning. And yeah, the family being together seeing the kids they were so happy. I was relieved because I was concerned taking you know, recent Maddie abroad for the first time at young ages, how they would do and they did like such a great job.

Amy: 3:41

They were rock stars. I couldn't believe they were hanging in like they did not have any meltdowns. Yeah. So I think it's

Katie Chandler: 3:46

because they were with their cousins and having like the best time you know what I mean? If it was just like me and Adam, they would get bored with us and want to bail. But all of it. The whole thing was epic. So yeah, that was great.

Amy: 3:59

Yeah, exactly. Well, onto 23, and all the fun stuff for this year. So Katie and I have just been researching some trends that we wanted to share with you all that we think are things that are going to be focus areas in this space this year. And you know, some of these, at least in my research are things we've already covered, which is cool. Some of these are things we probably want to cover. So without further ado, Katie, you want to get you want to talk about the first trend that yeah,

Katie Chandler: 4:26

we're probably going to have some that are the same. But I'm gonna I'm gonna start with skin cycling. Have you heard of skin cycling? Yeah. Yeah, it's like I think it's definitely it's not anything new. But it's for sure, trending and becoming more like the rage and people are also taking it very seriously. I know someone that has an Excel spreadsheet for her skin cycling program. So oh my god, it's hard. But basically skin cycling is when you exfoliate one night you do your retinal program that night. Next night, and then you have a rest night. And then which is you don't put any retinoids or anything is the rest night like as many days as you feel like your skin needs, it's it's just like unique and you have for me I don't do well with retinoids every day. So I was doing my retinoids only once a week, but I wasn't really seeing results. So I'm going to start to do this and probably take like two to two rest days. I would think maybe, and give this a try.

Amy: 5:25

Yeah, I am. We posted. We posted a tic tac video last year about skin cycling. I can't remember the doctor will put it in the show notes. That's the one who invented like the name skin cycling, but she is the best one to follow because she talks about this protocol. And it's worked really well for people. I tried it last year, but I wasn't like I wasn't disciplined and I need to be more disciplined. But yeah, I heard it's really I haven't been using retinol for a while. So I need to get back into it and do that. Because I did hear I mean, you see.

Katie Chandler: 5:54

Yeah. And I want to have you try to try now. And that's the one that I want to try.

Amy: 5:58

Yes, I've tried Trent Nolan. I've been I probably have been using it on and off for the last year or so I used a company called cure ology, C U R, o l o g y. And you can because it's prescription so you can just order it online. And I use them for a while I still have a lot of bottles and I have to get back to using that because that I think was pretty good. And it's a little bit stronger than just retinol. But it also had some other ingredients. So it wasn't really that harsh. So yeah, that's a good reminder to start doing the skin cycling with the Trenton Nolan or retinol and see how it goes. I also like haven't been doing a lot of stuff on my face because I was telling. I was telling you Katie I got like this, this rash. just side note, this is so random. But when we're in Israel, some of the days I had like a cold I had a sore throat. I checked medication, you know, whatever Advil and stuff and it was fine. But then a couple of weeks later, which I didn't even realize was linked to it. I got this like it's called gut tait psoriasis, which I didn't know what it was. But it's not. It's not psoriasis, that like comes back like the autoimmune it's just specifically related to a virus that is in your throat like a strep or some sort of viral infection in your throat. The the dermatologist told me that every time he's seen got to eats rice, it's it's linked to some sort of strep throat infection. So I've never seen anything like it. I had these, I still have them, they're still healing. And you can see these red dots. But I had like, these red, almost like tear shaped drops, arms, legs, chest, stomach, couple of my face, everywhere. And so it wasn't really uncomfortable is a little itchy, but not bad. But it was just like crazy looking. And I was like I thought it was just going to go and go away. I just thought it was like, I don't know, dry skin from the winter. I had no idea that it was related to that. And I was so glad I went to the dermatologist because he was like, no, it's actually probably, I mean, related to what you had a month ago or whatever it was. So he actually put me on amoxicillin for 10 days and like a prescribes like cream, which I've been putting on. So I'm still finishing out the amoxicillin and agreement is helping but it's still not gone. So hopefully it will go in the next that's crazy. But anyway, yeah, I wrote that. So once that's all done with I'm gonna start my skins.

Katie Chandler: 8:09

Again. Nice. Okay. All right. What's your day?

Amy: 8:13

Yeah, my next trend that I read about or and know about is scalp and crown care. So this has been, you know, all over over the last year. But one of the things that I read from Pinterest predicts they said that Gen X and boomers will prioritize scarification which is a focus on the scalp and crown of your hair. Which I've seen a lot of stuff around this and I know last year we interviewed or was it gosh, I think it was like 2001 I looked back it was episode 21. We interviewed Dr. Reese Rubin, who was the founder of seen scalp care. So we are ahead of the crowd I still use I still use it to it's incredible and yeah, she obviously saw this was emerging and now it's like such a big priority for people because again, according to printers predicts things like scalp massage techniques, clean scalp, scalp treatment for dry scalp, natural hair mask for growth, clean scalp build have been up in search volume over the last, you know, year or so. So that will be a big focus for people and also kind of related to this is reducing that stigma of hair loss because again, there's been a lot of conversation around hair loss, hair shedding. One study showed that 22% of people hospitalized from COVID experienced hair loss, while many less severe cases also reported increased shedding. So like that's been a big topic. So I think again, there'll be this focus on really taking care of your scalp and products that are going to be there already invented but even more products coming out to address hair loss and thinning hair and all that kind of stuff. So

Katie Chandler: 9:55

that also just happens to women naturally like especially after a pregnant Disease and then as we get older with hormones shifting and everything as well, hair loss is a major factor. So that's Yeah, that's very interesting. Yeah,

Amy: 10:07

I've seen a lot of TiC TOCs recently of people showing their scalp routine where they like oil their hair, and they massage it and they do like a, like an exfoliator on their scalp once a week. And that's like a whole routine. So I don't do that. It sounds

Katie Chandler: 10:21

like you'd be relaxing also.

Amy: 10:23

I know exactly.

Katie Chandler: 10:24

My next one is the little nail trend that I'm seeing a lot of I'm seeing it all over tick tock and I'm starting to see it around town. Glazed nails, I'm sure you've seen it. Have you seen the glazed now? A little bit like a like a doughnut? And look, it's big on like, I think I want to say Haley Bieber probably started the trend, but now I'm really seeing it, you know, like locally, so I feel like when it's off of the celebrity, that's when you know that the trend is starting to spread around.

Amy: 10:55

And is it like the nude nail or it can be any color, but it's just has like

Katie Chandler: 11:00

a glazed look. But I'm seeing a lot of like, white or silver or gold with the glazed look. It's pretty. I don't know how to ask for it. I don't know where

Amy: 11:12

I now I was just gonna say what do you ask for? Because I actually need to get a manicure. I'm like, well, maybe I should try that out. I don't really know

Katie Chandler: 11:17

her, I guess Yeah, she'll send a picture. And I'm pretty sure it's called the glazed donut now, so we'll we'll confirm that. We'll put it in our show notes so that you know where to go. How to ask for it at your nail salon.

Amy: 11:28

That's fun. Yeah, I was reading something about not specifically that but just nails in general and trends of people having shorter nails.

Katie Chandler: 11:37

I saw that on the shorter nail, which thank God because I can't grow my nails to save my life. I know they break soon as they say like the centimeter on them. Right? What do you have next?

Amy: 11:47

Okay, so what I have next is something I read in well, and good, which is mobility workouts are going mainstream. Meaning searches for mobility exercises, mobility training, increased 50% on YouTube and Google in the past year. And I guess there was this video, which I missed. But again, we'll post it in the show notes of this doctor who shared a video of three simple moves that you can do before bed, and it got like 10 million views and went viral. And it's really just kind of like they're saying it's part of your well rounded fitness routine. So like strength training, cardio and flexibility. And then this mobility piece. So like, it's actually defined as a joint ability to move actively through a range of motion. Mobility has long been part of modalities like yoga and pilates. So it's kind of like if you think of the mobility involved in like, cat cow or thread the needle on yoga, things like that just becoming more to the forefront because I think people you know, we're sitting a lot, and they want these exercises to really get that flexibility and mobility back. Sorry. That's that's Vinnie

Katie Chandler: 12:52

is I wonder also, if that's similar to like, fashion movement, like what Lauren? Lauren Roxboro does. And I've also seen Shelly Marshall do it where yeah, like, you're literally just kind of swaying around almost like you're dancing as well. And like moving your hips around, like in rotation and everything. That's right, and I started doing that and you can really feel it kind of loosen up your body, and it feels good. I mean, and also you you end up moving your bodies, your body in ways that maybe you don't with exercise. I think that's like the cat cow is not something you would never really do in exercise aside from when you're doing Cat Cat. Right. So

Amy: 13:32

and when you do it, it feels so good. But yeah, you're right. Lauren has tons of videos on her feed about mobility exercises. So yeah, good call. What do you

Katie Chandler: 13:41

have the next one is an I would be shocked if this is not on your list is peptides, the use of peptides.

Amy: 13:51

It's not on my list because I feel like well, Nirvana Sisters, we do have an episode coming out. I think it's going to be the week after this airs on peptides. And I cannot wait for you to hear that. But I feel like we talked about it. Did we talk about it last time? Or do we not I know it's coming I

Katie Chandler: 14:07

haven't talked about it. And for those of you that don't know. Alright, so there's a lot of science behind it. And it's very hard for me to articulate it. So it's a great thing that we've got this new episode coming out but it's it's different forms of amino acids and all of these natural occurring peptides that are in your body that doctors can now give to someone to help with things like inflammation and weight loss and muscle recovery and immunity and so on. And the episode we have coming up to discuss it is super interesting. And then I also did a consult with with joy wellness, who is who we are going to be airing our episode with soon. And I think you did AMI as well and we need to bring the doctor on to talk about the science behind it because it's very, very interesting. So I Think we're gonna have probably two episodes about peptides. But if you have been following the Kardashians, which it feels like, literally, unless you're under a rock and a cave, in the middle of, I don't know, Syria, you can't not follow the Kardashians. And they part of what they're doing is to, you know, like Kim Kardashian, like she's lost a lot of weight recently. And I kind of think she's going a little overboard.

Amy: 15:28

Was that how she Yeah, I

Katie Chandler: 15:29

kind of think she's going overboard, don't you like she's getting a little too thin. But it's like celebrity thing. And so of course, as I said earlier, when the celebs start doing it, people start wondering what the heck is going on. And it becomes a trend. And the cool thing, though, is that there are more of these wellness, functional medicine doctors that are making this readily available. It's not cheap, it is expensive, but it's accessible. And I think we're probably going to start to see a lot more of it.

Amy: 15:58

Yeah, there's a lot, a lot of virtual companies doing it. And I think, yeah, to your point, I mean, hopefully, insurance will start covering some of these things, too, because they really do help with a lot of things. We Yes, like Katie said, we'll have this episode coming up. But we'll also have our own journeys on peptides, because I'm going to start doing something soon. And we'll talk about it on the show this year. So excited about that. Okay, my next one, which we've talked about a little bit on the show, but not too much is hot and cold therapy. So I'm reading and hearing and seeing that hot and cold therapy is about to be accessible to the masses. So like, there's a lot that goes into hot and cold therapy, and I don't pretend to obviously be an expert in the philosophy of it. But it really does help with reducing stress, it like speeds up your metabolism. And so actually, it's funny because I had been reading a lot about hot and cold therapy. And I've been at the end of my shower. I don't know for the last couple months, doing like a cold shot like a freezing cold water, which is brutal, but like I've been trying to beat my record, which I really can't get past 30 seconds. And you're supposed to do it probably for like a minute or two. But it does increase my energy for the day. Like I feel like a burst when I get out of the shower. So that's just like one small way to do it. That's free. But there's so many different things, you know, there's ice rollers, there's, you know, these infrared spas, but then there's companies I forget the company name that a higher dose, like they have those infrared blankets that you can get much more affordable than obviously getting a big infrared sauna for your house. But there's just a lot more devices that are coming out that helped that help with you know, eliminating toxins and reducing inflammation and boosting your immunity and all of those sorts of things. So it's, it's, um, you know, practice to utilize as part of your routine and was funny, I was reading an article, I think it was in mind body green, and someone had mentioned, the editor favorite, which was the solo wave one, which is funny because Laura and Roxburgh. Roxburgh talked about it when she was on our show the solar wave, and I ended up buying it, they actually had this deal on the holidays, it was like buy one, get one. So I bought one for me, and I bought one for my husband to use. So I haven't used it too much. But it's that red light therapy, one that you put on your face, so it like kind of gets warm and you put it over your face. So I haven't used it enough to have an opinion on it. So maybe it'll be in a future product junkies. But anyway, I just thought it was funny that that that came up because we just talked about it with Lauren shoes. It's like part of her five minute flow, she does that one too. So more to come on a hot and cold therapy and how you can implement also,

Katie Chandler: 18:35

cryo therapy is which you know, places like restore hyper wellness offer cryo, right, and they're a really simple and affordable way to do it. It's probably a one time investment as people are doing punch baths in their backyard. And like, you know, you fill up a big it's, it's an outdoor bath, it's probably copper or something. Yeah, he literally fill it with ice water and people go outside and just plunge and come out. So it's I couldn't ever do that in a million years. But I know a little bit of the science behind dynamics and why it lowers your stress levels is because when you're actually in the moment of the cold therapy, it piques your stress response. And so what ends up happening is you build a tolerance to stress. So in just essentially levels up your body's ability, your physiological response to handle stress period, like any kind of stress, which is the really amazing thing about it. So that's that That much I know about the cold therapy, it's great for inflammation in many things.

Amy: 19:38

Yeah. And according I know, I had listened to a whole episode and again, we'll put it in the show notes with neuroscientist Andrew Huberman. And he talks it's like I think he does two episodes on hot and cold exposure. I listened to it a while ago and he suggests doing deliberate cold exposure for at least 11 minutes per hour total. Each session should be between one and five minutes in length. So yeah, good luck. But that's like his recommendation. And he also said, What did he say here that I wrote? He said, Yes, he said, you can achieve the benefits of cold exposure and the water should by doing that, and the water should be uncomfortably cold yet safe. So, and he's got a whole philosophy on the hot stuff too. Like he his morning routine. It was like, you know, he does the cold plunge and then he does the infrared sauna. Like he goes back and forth a

Katie Chandler: 20:26

couple times. Yeah. It's interesting that at a spa once before it was, yeah, me too. I

Amy: 20:31

did it over vacation this winter. They had like a hydrotherapy like session, and I did it. And it was incredible. All right.

Katie Chandler: 20:37

All right. My next one is from Forbes magazine. And this is part of their to the 2023 Wellness trends. And that we've heard this from a few people now, micro workouts, which is great, because like, I always do a micro workout. It's like 1520 minute hit here or there, whether it's low impact, whether it is high impact, just trying to squeeze in throughout your day, what you can to get your movement in, and maybe that's 15 minutes in the morning, and then 10 minutes in the afternoon, or maybe all you're doing that day is 20 minutes. But to quote Adrian Richardson, he's the Senior Content Strategist for Fitbit, Google says these short takes on fitness add up to big results, and are a delightful and fun way to get moving. And I mean, if you think about it, it's just so much easier to make happen with our busy schedules and our busy lives. So also, we were talking about that, again, with Lauren Roxboro. About the you just kind of like fit in what you can throughout your day. And next thing you know, you've done like a 40 minute workout if you add it all up together. So I love the idea of micro workouts. It's it's I think the days of like, feeling like you've to go in and crush it in the gym for an hour or two hours, just you know, walk out of there. Like you can't know, you know, legs shaking and can't walk. But those days are gone. At least for me. They are so

Amy: 21:57

Yeah, exactly. No, I read a lot about that too. And I think we've talked about Melissa health a lot on the show. But that's like a great way to do these micro movements. Because you'll have like a five minute arm workout. And so if you're at your desk, and you do some stretches and do that for five minutes here, and then you meet going to walk later. And then yeah, it all adds up. And I think that's a great way to get all your movement in. I love that I read about that, too. Okay, my next trend, which I had heard recently, on a podcast, and I've also read a bit about it, but workouts that align with your menstrual cycle, which is really funny because I feel like probably you and I do this intuitively. But it's really like this. There's been an increase in all of these like period tracking apps. And basically it's, you know, doing the type of exercise that your body needs during whatever, whatever what is it called the luteal cycle that you're in for your, for your menstruation. So sometimes that could be cardio, sometimes that could be a walk. Yeah. And I had I had read that like working out the same way every day isn't exactly conducive to someone's menstrual cycle. So again, it's just like, recognizing that you're always fluctuating and then adapting your body to what your body needs at that at that point. So as an example, I had read about someone who had said she was doing high intensity workouts the first week after her period, and then she's winding down and doing something else the following week. So just an interesting trend that I keep hearing about. And, and another trend, I'll say that's part of working out and sort of part of these Well, I wouldn't say it's a micro workout, but it's kind of in the same vein that I'll mention because we posted about it last year was the incline incline walking challenge, which is the 313 for 30. So it's you're on a treadmill, you're going three miles per hour, you're doing it for 30 minutes at 12. Sorry, did I say 313 30 or 313 12. But essentially, it's this idea where I mean I've been doing it so you're on a 12 incline so it feels like you're doing a hike and you're doing it at you know three and you're doing it for 30 minutes. So when I saw that on tick tock and posted on Instagram last year, I started doing it and so now I've incorporated it, I tried to do it once a week, it's really hard, but it feels really good. And I also like it because it's like set it forget it you just put the put the tripping on 12 And you just walk in like I'll watch the Kardashians or just like do or listen to a podcast while I'm doing it at least I don't have to think and I just kind of like do it and it's a really good way to get sweaty but like also feel really good but you're not running where you kind of get so winded it's a really good way to get a bit more of a high intensity workout. So I just thought that was cool that I saw that incline walking challenge listed as one of the I

Katie Chandler: 24:37

think I have been seeing a lot about this exercise cycling as well. And it's you're right like it's kind of just if you're intuitive with your exercise I feel like that's what as women what we're doing when our bodies can't you know sometimes I'm like really revved up and I need an intense workout and sometimes I it's I'm dragging to do something so I just do like a nice slow yoga Though and it's it has a lot to do with hormones so to sync it up is really smart and also when you're overdoing it in the gym like you're messing with your cortisol and everything. So that has a lot to do with like, like you said, the micro workouts and just kind of taking it down a notch and not killing ourselves in the gym anymore ticket results. We don't have to, you can get results.

Amy: 25:19

I know I want you to try the 12 drive the 330 12 and I want to see what I need to try out though. I really like it. The first five minutes for me are always the hardest. I'm like dying and then after that, it's it gets easier. But yeah, I want to know what you think about that. And you tune around a sister's family. Let us know if we want to if you try that. Yeah,

Katie Chandler: 25:36

agreed. Or yes is my next one. I think we're gonna start to see a lot behind sleep hygiene. And when I say sleep hygiene, like oh, yeah, people are definitely paying more attention to their sleep to how they fall asleep, how they stay asleep. There's a according to Forbes, there is a big trend called Sleep sinking. And that's when you adjust your sleep cycle to the rhythms of nature, like the sun and the moon and tuning it into your circadian rhythm. And you know, we saw that you were one of the first people I know with the what is called hatch the sunrise timer. And that's when you it's a it's an alarm clock that literally like lights up like the sunrises for when you set it so you slowly wake up. Have you been using that? Do you use it all the time? Oh, is it every day? Yeah. And the other you know, mouth taping people. So this is like a whole thing, right?

Amy: 26:33

I've heard Lauren Bostick on the skinny confidential, she always talks about this because she now tapes while she's meditating. But so you literally just put this tape on your mouth and intentionally breathe through your nose, which is probably really hard to do. I feel like it'd be like,

Katie Chandler: 26:46

I know, I haven't read it. It's also for your teeth as well. It's good for your teeth, like mouth breathing, it breaks down the degradation of your teeth. Yeah, which is interesting that so, you know, tape up the old mouth. And then the other one is I feel like people are becoming more aware of sleep apnea. And this is not just for necessarily like older people, very overweight people, there's obstructive airway sleep apnea, which I found out I have, but the reason why I think this is going to be more of a trend to just pay attention to it within the sleep hygiene is because now you can do at home sleep apnea test. Now they have small little like, portable, easy sleep apnea devices, all of these things, right. So my father's had sleep apnea for a long time. He is like he looks like an elephant with this giant thing sticking. It's a mask that he would put on at night that's connected to this whole concoction. It's horrible, uncomfortable, miserable. But if you have really bad sleep apnea, you have to use it because otherwise, you're it's bad for your heart. It's cardiovascular wise, Sleep Apnea is like one of the worst things for your heart. So now that they've made advances, I think it's just going to tie into the sleep hygiene, focus and people really paying attention more and putting an importance on what we can do to sleep better. Sleep is everything.

Amy: 28:09

Yeah, I always hear about sleep apnea, but I don't really know what it is like other than like snoring. But do

Katie Chandler: 28:15

you stop. So I tell you exactly what it is you stop breathing because your airway is obstructed. And when you stop breathing part, why is it obstructed but people that are instructors are like little overweight, because the weight like literally can push into it. So I found out that I have a very small airway. So my I use those Invisalign mouth guards. And they were how it changed. My bite ended up actually making my airway smaller. So that's why it's become a bigger thing for that. Yeah. So when you stopped breathing at night, a it may or may not wake you up, but what it always does is it raises your cortisol because you're obviously not breathing. You cannot breathe for seconds at a time. And that over time, these are constant like shots of raising your cortisol affecting you physiologically starts to affect your heart. And for some people, they they stopped breathing like 200 times a night. It's insanity. Yeah. Oh

Amy: 29:15

my god,

Katie Chandler: 29:16

I did my test. I don't know maybe in the spring and I think it was like, like, at times that I stopped breathing or something. And you just ignore it. Yeah. So you end up never being rested and you don't really know why because you don't always totally wake up. So it's kind of wild. I mean, there's it's definitely a good thing for people to be aware of and that there is something you can do about it.

Amy: 29:37

Yeah, I read a lot about sleep to being a very hot topic, sleep hygiene, sleep, wellness, all that stuff. And I think too, there's a lot of now devices to track your sleep like there's one. What's that? Where that trend is really also or? Right So yeah, that's that's, that's a big one and I think we'll continue over the next few arrows as people are really paying attention to that, Deb and I, okay, so the last one I have, I just thought was kind of funny and I can very much relate to it. And Katie, you probably can do as reading and pure, round article about some trends. And one of the things they said it was coined by this workout place, I guess, in New York called the NES, but they call it the AARP special. So it's, it refers to people of all ages, eating dinner earlier at times previously only preferred by preferred by older people. So I was laughing when I read this, but like they were saying that this person was saying that we're already seeing a shift to earlier dinner reservations across the hospitality industry and the additional information people can get from wearables, people are more informed of the effects that late dinner has on their sleep readiness and recovery. So they said expect to be seeing a lot of wellness gurus eating early with plenty of time to digest and set themselves up for a successful sleep routine. So I can totally relate to this. I love to eat dinner. Yeah. So I just thought that was so funny. And the tagline I

Katie Chandler: 31:06

could literally eat dinner at five o'clock every night. And we did a couples dinner a few weeks back with a friend of mine. She's fairly new friend. And it was with the kids. And I said what time let's do an early dinner because we have the kids. I'm thinking she's gonna come back with Okay, how's 534 30 I was like, You were Beth, we are now.

Amy: 31:26

You're like, you're my girl.

Katie Chandler: 31:28

We literally went to dinner. 430 It was fantastic.

Amy: 31:31

Yeah, that's amazing. Well, they say that you're not supposed to eat. I think it's like two or three hours before bed. I was also listening to something the other day where they were saying, You should stop eating when the sun goes down. So I do I mean, it's just it's obvious when you stop eating, and then you go to bed and your stomach isn't full. Like you feel so much better in the morning. Like how many times have you been to like a late dinner where you're eating this heavy meal and then you can't sleep? It's horrible. Yeah, loving.

Katie Chandler: 31:55

My last one is definitely in line with this month because it is dry January, but I think we are going to start to see a big trend of sober curious, and more and more products for those that are super curious, but what it feels like we're having a mocktail, or even there's now products that have like nootropics and adaptogens and Botanics in them that are supposed to kind of give you a relaxing feeling or even sometimes lift you up. It's a big trend with again, these celebrities making these brands you have Katy Perry has destroy Luna de la sobs has photos a lake lively has Betty buzz and Bella Hadid has Kenny forks, which I have tried. And I like can you Forex, Adam loves it. It's a little pricey. It's $57 for a pack of 12. Yeah, that's kind of absurd. But I think the point is, is that we're just gonna see it more readily available. And a lot of people are just kind of like, not so interested in drinking as much alcohol, which I think is great. I, you know, it's like Gone are the days of I think the social society, the pressure of always feeling like you need to have when you're out at a party or something. So I think it's a good thing. It's definitely a wellness trend. All right, well, this is a good, awesome little 2023 forecast. And I would say that we will definitely be featuring a lot of what we just talked about in our upcoming episodes this year. So we'll get more into the nitty gritty of all of it.

Amy: 33:26

And if you all have seen trends, let us know, DMS, tell us what you've seen. And we'd love to look out for all these trends and keep you guys updated. So yeah, hope you enjoyed this show. Lots of new fun stuff coming up in 23. We are excited to start the new year with you all. So I have one little exercise that I did not exercise but thing that I did. We posted it on Instagram the other day, and I thought it was super interesting. So I don't know about you all but planning for the new year and goals and vision boards. I used to, you know, have a journal where I'd write things down. And I haven't done that for like a year or so because I just find it like mentally draining sometimes. And I know like people do these vision boards and it looks like so elaborate and fun. But I put this on the other day because I saw this tictac are saying this and I actually thought it was really genius. It was like, Okay, here's like a quick way to put together a vision board just like go on your phone, find 12 images that you like put them all kind of like on your phone together and then take a screenshot of it and put it on your homescreen on yourself. It's

Katie Chandler: 34:32

a good idea.

Amy: 34:32

So that's what I did. I don't know Katie if you can see this Yes, because you're constantly referencing it. So let me get my notifications off my screen to show you my screen. So I tried it well you'll see my notifications but see how I have like a vision board.

Katie Chandler: 34:47

So you screenshotted different things and then you put them all together. Yeah,

Amy: 34:51

well I Yeah. So I basically like if you if you kind of like favorite photos and then like duplicate them or just copy them and put them All in like an album, basically, if you want, there's a couple of different ways to do it. Will reshare the will reshare, the the Tiktok that I'm talking about. But yeah, and you literally just put it on your home screen, because I used to have a different, you know, more kind of serene home screen. So when I first put this on, I was like, I don't know if I want this on my home screen, because I feel like it's annoying. And it's giving me to dues, but then I changed my mindset around it. And I'm like, No, actually, it's a really good reminder of the things I want to focus on this year, whether it'd be like movement, or you know, any beauty things or, you know, focus I have like a little thing about protein, because I wanna focus on eating more protein, stuff like that. So it's actually like a really good reminder. And you pick up your phone a million times a day, I just thought it was such a good idea. Instead of doing you know, journaling it this was just kind of like a super quick way to do it. It took me like two seconds, and I just found some photos that I liked on my phone. This person said she just wanted to like her Instagram and looked at things that she liked or that she saved. And like just save them down and put it on her phone. And I just kind of went through my phone and my Instagram and see kind of the things that I had looked out over the last year and did it so anyway, I chose I love that. Not a trend but a 2023 exercise for everyone. Yeah, I

Katie Chandler: 36:12

have to say I was I've been working on a mood board and it's taking me forever because I'm not buying a lot of magazines and the clippings and the whole thing like I don't you know not a movie but a vision board. So yeah, that's great, and I'm going to do it. Alright, well I love it. Thanks for listening Nirvana sisters family and we are excited for this year ahead with you so happy happy new year.

Amy: 36:34

Thanks for listening to Nirvana sisters. For more information on this episode, check out the show notes please subscribe and leave us a review. also find us on Instagram at Nirvana sisters. If you loved what you just listened to or know someone that would please share it and tag us. Tune in next week for a fresh new episode of Nirvana sisters will continue to watch out for all things wellness so you don't have to. Bye.

Episode 82: Fascia Health And Kinesthetic Intelligence- Revolutionizing Your Wellness Routine With Lauren Roxburgh (Full Transcript)

This is a full transcript of the Nirvana Sisters podcast Episode 82.

Editor’s Note: Please know that this podcast transcript is automatically generated and may contain minor errors such as typos and word switches. For more information, be sure to listen to the podcast here or view our podcast episode guide.

Amy: 0:00

We are so excited for you to dive into this episode with Lauren Roxborough learning all about fascia. Make sure you listen until the end where we are going to be talking about a giveaway we're doing with Lauren. Enjoy the episode and stay tuned till the end Welcome to Nirvana sisters podcast where we take the intimidation out of well being and beauty to help you achieve your highest state your nirvana. We are sisters in law and your hosts. I'm Amy Sherman.

Katie Chandler: 0:33

And I'm Katie Chandler. So let's get into some real conversation

Amy: 0:43

Welcome back to the show Nirvana sisters family. It's Amy and Katie and we are here with Lauren rocks Bora, who's dubbed the body whisperer. She is a world renowned board certified Structural Integration bodywork practitioner, you've probably seen her on Instagram, doing all of her amazing fascia workouts which we're here to you're all about. She is a Pilates Pro and author and educator specializing in fascia health and mind body alignment. Lowe is the co founder of aligned life studio, which is a virtual platform that offers a new paradigm in health and fitness, which we're super excited to hear about. And she has a unique focus on fascial wellness designed to help people align and strengthen their bodies shed physical and emotional weight while enhancing resilience and confidence. So welcome to the show. Lauren, we're so excited to talk to you.

Unknown: 1:33

Oh my gosh, you guys, Amy. And Katie, thank you so much for having me. It's so fun to do this kind of thing. So I'm excited to dive in.

Amy: 1:41

As to before we start off, we just want to do a Nirvana moment around the week and talk about something that brought us joy this week. So I'll kick it to Katy to talk about your Nirvana this week. All right.

Katie Chandler: 1:53

Thanks, Amy. What Yes, Lauren, we're so excited to talk to you. I have so many great questions for you. But before we do, I think mine Irvine, I was kind of going back and forth on whether or not I wanted to share this because it's personal. And it's probably a little too early to share it. But I thought it was a really special moment. So I'm going back to work as a model, which I once was many years ago. And I signed with my agency the other day. So that was exciting. That was a fun moment. So yeah, that's it.

Amy: 2:22

That's super exciting. You scared me for a second when you said I haven't taught and when I say you're pregnant.

Unknown: 2:28

That's so exciting, though. Wow.

Katie Chandler: 2:32

Thank you. And the reason why I'm like, kind of keeping it close to the chest is because like, who knows how it's gonna pan out. We'll see if the work starts rolling in. But you know, I'm gonna go back and give it a go. It's a science experiment. And it'll be fun. Beautiful. That's

Amy: 2:47

amazing. So proudly, so

Katie Chandler: 2:48

what about you?

Amy: 2:49

So well, my younger so I have two boys, Lauren, and my younger son just turned 13. And he had his bar mitzvah this weekend, this past weekend. So it was an incredible weekend with family and friends. He did so good. I was so proud of him. It's so hard, I think to get up there and like, read through, you know, read the Torah and talk about what your Bar Mitzvah means to you. It's just, you know, it's it's a big challenge. And I think it's really given him a lot of confidence to get through it. And just He did such a great job. And we had such a fun party for him. And just, it was just really, really special. And then we're taking him to Israel as a part to which cage is joining us for doing a big family trip and a couple of weeks. So future nirvana. But um, yeah, so it was just a really fun time and wonderful, amazing. We can sell oh my god go on this week. Yeah. And that's a transition in life. That's beautiful. Big one. Yeah. What about you, Lauren?

Unknown: 3:49

would be it's actually that we're you know, living in the South Island of New Zealand and Spring has sprung and it is just absolutely stunning. Here. The sun is shining. The grass is green. The flowers are blooming we planted our veggie garden and so it's starting to really blossom like we can already eat from the garden. And to me that's Nirvana at its greatest, lifeforce energy, connecting with mother nature and being present and watching the growth happen every day and putting love into it and doing my sound bowls over it. And you know, watching the sun, just open it up. So it's really beautiful to see nature in action for me. I love that. Yeah,

Katie Chandler: 4:30

that's amazing. And we should say, Lauren is coming into coming to us all the way from New Zealand and she is in the coolest space right now. What did you call it? What did you say this space was before? Give a name for it.

Unknown: 4:41

This is a geodesic dome. It's my healing dome where I do all of my programming, record all my videos and webinars and podcasts. So it's a great little sanctuary for me away from the noise of like home and kids and all of that so it's my little escape hatch.

Katie Chandler: 4:59

Yeah.

Amy: 5:00

Looks like oh, is it like, is it? Is it like near your house? Or is it somewhere you go.

Unknown: 5:05

So it's uh, we're on about an acre of land. And so it's like a I don't know, maybe about a 20 step from our deck to, like, gosh, garden and I can see the lake in the mountains and everything. So it's,

Amy: 5:18

it's very nice.

Unknown: 5:19

It's pretty awesome. didn't ever think we'd be living here, but we're making the most of it. So

Amy: 5:25

yeah, it's beautiful for our listeners will, will, will, will show some pictures of Lauren's amazing, beautiful space your your aligned life. mini studio over there.

Katie Chandler: 5:35

Exactly. All right. So that's okay. Do we have any questions to ask? And Lauren, you I know. You cover so many amazing things in regards to health and wellness and alignment and balance and but we are super interested in your very interesting perspective. And like, it's nothing I've ever really heard of before. It's like a very specialized thing. And that's fascia. And I would love for you to just help us better understand help our listeners, some of our listeners have probably never even heard the word. What is fascia? Why is it important? Why are we why should we be taking care of it? Why do you specialize on it?

Unknown: 6:24

Great questions. So it's really an interesting one, I never really thought I would just, you know, stumble upon this system of the body. But when I was it was about in 2008, I was going through a really tough time in my life. And I discovered the work of Ida Rolf, which is called Structural Integration. And it's the thing that I'm board certified in and essentially what it is is Ida Rolf discovered fascia in the 1960s. I mean, the ancient wisdoms like iron beta and Chinese medicine have known about it for ages. But it was the first time kind of Western medicine was acknowledging the system in the body. And she was actually in the 1960s. Either off was a rocket scientists studying the human body and gravity. And she was really curious. And she studied osteopathy. She looked into all the ancient wisdoms and yoga and all kinds of different like Reiki and healing modalities. And she decided to create a system, a systematic approach to bring the body into better structural alignment. So her whole idea was that when your body is functioning well, and relating to gravity, well, then the healing energy within you will just basically pulse through you and kind of fix and cure everything. So I found it in 2009. And I started getting really curious about it, I had a session myself with my teacher. And I just got off the table. And I felt like I had had 10 years of talk therapy and 10 years of physical therapy in 190 minute session. So how to learn this, like I and I was going through so much I was going through divorce from my ex husband, my mother was very sick with cancer, I was going through a traumatic thing in my work life, I was being embezzled, all of these things were happening, I call it my perfect storm. But I found this work. And I did the work. And I signed up and I did the two year program. And it just like I found my purpose. So I realized that when I was younger, in high school, I was never really that great at school, like writing and all of those things and math, but what I figured out is that I had something else called kinesthetic intelligence. And so that means basically, that you're really good at feeling, feeling through your hands or feeling through your heart or feeling on all of those levels. And so what's exciting to me about fascia is that it is now being called the sixth sense. So if you think about like the nose is to smelling, the ears are to hearing the skin is to touch the tongue is to taste the eyes are to sight the fascia is to feeling and so I stumbled upon this amazing system in the body. And I realized that it was my way of really learning about the body through like learning about the anatomy, learning about energy learning about structural imbalances, when people have, you know, issues within the body like compensations, postural problems, trauma, tension, all these things that layer up into the body, they create this buildup within the fascial system. So it's really an interesting question, because it's quite a large answer. And it's sort of very comprehensive. So I had to kind of do the work myself, go through my own, you know, turning my own pain into purpose, and then realizing that this was actually my gift and I found my gift through are going through the mud, you know, like the lotus flower rising through the mud. And so now I feel super lucky and blessed to be able to share this with more and more people on the planet because now especially we've had so much more trauma, collective trauma in our world and every human on the planet have had some sort of extreme trauma in the last few years, with all of the grief of everything we've felt from the world, and also all the transitions and transformations we've all had to go through. So right now, there's never been a better time to get to know your fascia, which is considered the sensory organ. So as we know, we think of when we can feel feeling is healing. So feeling is the beginning to creating the shift within which helps create the shift on the planet. So it's a really powerful part of the body that science in the last few years has just recently create had been had the chance to use new technology, new cameras, to see fascia in a living body. So for years, we always thought, oh, yeah, fascia, it's a scaffold teen it's holding you up and gravity, some people would call it the organ of shape and form. It's this webbing, you know, structure are holding you up. It's Think of it like, you know, the white part on chicken. So that's like the fascia. But what we didn't realize until the last few years is that it's not just holding us up. It's actually enabling cell communication. It's touching every single cell of your entire body. It's like a living tapestry intertwining every system of the body, all 12 systems. So the lymphatic system, the nervous system, the endocrine system, the organs, all of it, it's, it's just absolutely incredible. So it's so exciting to me, and even when you're looking at it in the spiritual world, it's also the way consciousness is transmitted through us. So it's how we move energy. So it's how the brain talks to the gut, the heart talks to the brain is through the fascia, the connective tissue, and what it's made out of is collagen and elastin. And it also has a water shell around it. And the water is what creates the electricity in the body. So how cool is that? A bash shell, like cytoskeleton, like a soft skeleton, but it also transmits energy and information. It's the biological fabric that keeps us elastic, but also helps the energy and the information and the nutrients pulls through us. So cool.

Katie Chandler: 12:40

I never know that it was that complex. I always, of course, I had no idea but I always just thought it was it was something that was related to your muscles. And it was that sound. So I thought so it Yeah. Is it? Does it live? course through your

Unknown: 12:55

muscles? No, no, no, that's great. Actually, this is what I always thought too. And this is how I wrote about it for years, because I didn't know the next, you know, kind of evolution of what we're able to see now under the microscope and through science and case studies. So I always thought like, oh, yeah, it's just it's superficial fascia. So it lives right underneath your skin, and it wraps around your muscles individually and also wraps around the joints. But there's what we're realizing now and what we've found is that it does that but it also weaves deeper into this into the deeper they call it deep fascia. So their superficial fascia that lives underneath the skin, that's the one we want to have plump, and hydrated. That gives us that radiance and flow and juiciness on the skin. Because when we have good healthy collagen, full fascia that's, you know, that's moving and juicing itself and staying hydrated, then our skin gets plumped up. But then we have it weaving through, it's inside the lining of our guts. It's also around each individual organ, the heart, the lungs, the bladder, the kidneys, the adrenals, it's everywhere. And it's it's even in the scalp and the face. So it's wrapped around our whole body as like a kind of an Saran wrapping. Under The Skin. Some people call it the second skin but also goes deeper into that kind of weaving that tapestry and through the entire body, touching every cell and every system. It's fascinating.

Amy: 14:24

So it is fascinating. And I'm sure there could be like a whole discussion about this. But to break it down for the listeners in terms of like what they can do at home, like do you go to get a treatment done? Or can you do it yourself with tools? Like how does one start like I want to start work? I don't know what the word is working out my fashion tomorrow, like what do I do? Where do

Unknown: 14:46

we start? I know I would say, well, fashion is my love language and it's called me communicating with you. You know this, it's the origin of sense and feeling. So it's always talking to you. It's speaking to You through sensations it speaking to you through your phone, the pulse of your heart, the speed of your breath, butterflies in your belly, the weight of the world on the shoulders, pain, gut feelings, intuition, all of the sensations, maybe even like arousal, contraction, expansion. All of those things are messages from your fascia from your sensory organ. And so how do we start working with it, we have to, we have to listen to it. So we need to not numb we need to realize that pain is a message. Reframing the relationship to pain as a way to understand our body, learn the language and master the language of our body. That's I mean the language of our body the secret language of our body is coming from our fascia. So when we do that, we have the opportunity to really heal and to transform on so many levels. So the things that I recommend it's funny being here in New Zealand, I had these total epiphanies because I used to go and have the bodywork done that I was also learned and coming here There isn't anyone that does it because there's only 3000 people in the world that are actually trained in this type of bodywork. So if you're in big cities usually can find someone we're in a very small town village and I so I thought well, okay, I guess I'm gonna have to be my own body worker. So I'm I have designed these self bodywork tools for people to like, open their diaphragm open their lower back there QL their feet, their jaw, the cranium, all the different areas. So I'm actually creating a whole program around this to do the self bodywork. But for people to get started, it's very easy. You lay on a foam roller, you're addressing your fascia right away. What I love that is it's helping you drop into the parasympathetic state of the nervous system, which is about rest, digest and heal. Everyone's talking about this right now. But when we get on the roller, we're addressing the fascial system, which is helping our body go into healing mode. So rolling, rebounding breathwork going in an infrared sauna is phenomenal for your fascia, going and doing earthing getting natural sunlight in the morning is one of my big rituals. It's like it's my one minute morning ritual, get my coffee, walk out on the grass stand on the grass barefoot or some kind of dirt barefoot, let the natural light come into my eyes and just fill me up with you know, my my, my body with light and actually thinking of the fascia, the you know, the the webbing the collagen network, and then the water that's wrapped around it. So the sun is coming in to kind of turn on the electricity in the fascia. So recharging your body battery, and then the earth energy is doing the same. So those are phenomenal. And then just getting up and doing some really, they're called like, whole body stretches. So moving your body in different directions of like multi plane work. So twisting, inverting, walking, any kind of deep. I don't necessarily think of yoga as fascia opening, of course it is addressing it. But we have a different way to do it, where it's more like you're thinking of stretching all the way from your foot to the back of your head. Because there's 12 planes of fascia. It turns out that those planes of fascia, so I'll give you an example of one, the backplane goes from the bottom of your feet up through the back of your legs up through your back and that to the top of your head. So that's the back line. It turns out that these fascial planes relate and correlate to the 12 acupuncture meridians. So we're addressing our meridians and our chi, when we're doing stuff with the fascia. So thinking of the body, not as spot treating it, but thinking of it more holistically and systematically. So if I do anything to my feet, I know I'm addressing my head and neck and jaw, and vice versa. So those kinds of things are very powerful ways. It's like looking at it with x ray vision. And, you know, working your body in the different planes of movement, getting yourself upside down doing inversions, any kind of twisting, even if it's just going for a walk and channeling your inner Giselle with more transverse motion breathwork, self bodywork rolling, all of those things are phenomenal ways. Everything is in the Align life studio where I put all of everything that I've learned, I just experiment things that have actually worked for me and my friends in my community and my clients. I put in the in the line life studio, like for instance using that squishy ball. And like I haven't, it's back there in the frame. But it's a squishy ball and you use it to roll your belly out and you roll your organs out and that is addressing the vagus nerve, it's flushing the lymph in the belly in the gut, then you have more access to your core when you're doing like stuff to actually strengthen. So my whole perspective of like fitness has evolved because what I now know is that it's not about doing a million reps or Are you spending an entire hour in the gym or in the studio? It's actually about how do you use your body throughout your day. It's like how we use our body throughout our day is how our body will be shaped. So if we're hunched over the whole time, and we never kind of undo that, then we're going to be shaped like that. You see people walking down the street looking like that. That's the fascia gluing itself, becoming thick, dehydrated and brittle. So it's fine. If we need to hunch and be on our computers and tax and all of that. That's cool. It's like that's not going away. But we need to undo it on the daily and bring that juice back in and that hydration and that suppleness. So just like even turning on some music and doing some somatic dance or jumping around on the grass, or the sand or the beach, getting fresh air, all of these things are addressing the fascia, and

Amy: 20:49

how I see them many rebounder behind you. So that's a good way to loosen things up. So absolutely.

Unknown: 20:58

Movement medicine.

Amy: 21:00

Yes. You know, it's funny that you're saying this, I just My older son, who's 15 has been having back pain for like, like, all year, he wrestles, and we went to like an orthopedic guy. And he was like, Yeah, you need some physical therapy to stretch out and stretch out those areas. And he did it. But then he wasn't doing it at home. Of course, like he's, you know, teenagers not like doing his stretches. But we just went back last week, because his back still hurts. Did an x ray, everything's fine, thank God, but he's like, your hamstrings are so tight. You need to do these stretches. And I'm sure the stretches address the fascia and everything else. But he's like, you have to do these stretches like twice a day to loosen up your hamstrings, which is why your back is sore up. So it was like my husband and for him to hear that from some I've been telling him that but it was good for him to hear that from somebody else. Yeah. But you know, it's all it's all connected. Do you

Unknown: 21:57

really is

Katie Chandler: 22:00

why I was just gonna ask why is it so painful when I get on the foam roller? And I do my legs? Like, is it something that if the more I do it, the easier it gets?

Unknown: 22:11

Yes. So it usually has to do with the firmness of the roller as well. I prefer a more softer like it's a medium density roller because you can use it just to work out and do the Pilates moves and use it for rolling. But what we're now finding is a lot more of the research in Germany and through the really through the anatomy world is that we shouldn't be doing aggressive hard rolling because it's especially because what we're doing when we're rolling is addressing the superficial fascia. So we want to make sure that we're not digging into the bone but we're actually trying to get into that matrix that lays underneath the skin and above the muscle. So great question. The more you do it the less it hurts 100% So start and just go really slow. Use your breath you can also warm up sometimes I recommend warming up with like dry brushing to get the limp going before you do your rolling and then finishing with a five or 10 minute bounce on the rebounder to really flush so your dry rushing gets the limbs going the rolling gets the fascial matrix clearing kind of like flushing the congestion or the the scar tissue or the what it was like calling it the other day that Grizzle the gristle in the tissue and then you're bouncing which will help your body again flush everything out like really get that lymph going and then your body will flush whatever has been broken down from the toxins in the tissues as well because a lot of times we don't realize it but within that scar tissue is is a pool of congestion or toxic buildup. So when we when we flush that through then your body has to eliminate it so you want to support it through that and I recommend also doing the sauna too as part of that sequence of people are going to it sounds like a lot and if you can't if you don't have a sauna although the higher dose sauna blankets are pretty amazing now and making it more accessible for people and more affordable. My like protocol with our community is dry brush Foam Roll Bounce and then finish with a sweat and it sounds like a lot you only need to do each of them for like five or 10 minutes and then you've got this amazing holistic healing protocol.

Amy: 24:18

I love to do that.

Katie Chandler: 24:20

You do it every day.

Unknown: 24:22

I do I really do. And I'm a big fan of 8020 rule like be and I'm all about like detox to retox like I'm really about balance I don't I don't like to over drink or anything but I do like have a glass of wine in the evening and have my coffee in the morning and then I do that and I feel so clear. And so vibrant. And so kind of like it takes this film away like it fully is the the clutter of the mind and it flushes the clutter of the body. It's like an inner exfoliation if you want to think about it like that. Like we always exfoliate our face and we floss our teeth. Doing that to ourselves. In our tissues from the inside out, that's what our bodies need more than ever speaking of the immune system, that's another system that's addressed. Whenever we work with our fascia, we're boosting our immunity, because we're getting the white blood cells pumping through our body better so phenomenal for preventing getting sick. I need

Katie Chandler: 25:18

to get some of your tools because I have like the foam roller from hell and I, I've just started dry brushing daily, I'm, yeah, it's too firm, I need to get some of as Lauren for the listener, she she has an entire array of her of her own tools that she sells. And I also saw that you're you are rolling out your fascia with a small ball as well, not just the large foam rollers. So there's a variety of tools that people can use, right.

Unknown: 25:47

Yeah, and the reason I did that I originally came out with my first book taller, slimmer, younger, which was about the big 36 inch roller because it was the one I was using with all my pro athletes and my celebrities. And then I you know, I was doing the bodywork with them and the workouts and I realized like there's this the deeper layers of the fascia as well. So the the bigger roller is good for the superficial fascia. The deeper I mean, the smaller tools are better for the deeper fascia. Like I was saying earlier, you can get into the belly and really flush the gut out lymphatic Lee but also from a tissue perspective. And then the Infinity roller, which is like two little nodules, kind of like two tennis balls and a sock, which is what you know, if you've ever been to physical therapy, you know that they use that for like your shoulder blades or your feet. So I just thought you know what I was over the whole thing slipping away. So I created a tool, it's a little bit softer than tennis balls. And then you use that for your feet. For a lot of places where the muscles attach to the joints that you can't get to with the bigger the bigger roller. So that's why I have multiple tools based on the two books that I wrote. And one was about superficial and the other one was about going a little bit deeper.

Amy: 26:54

Yeah, I was gonna say I am I have those balls that I would like if my back gets tight on like put it in a sock and like rub it against the wall. But yeah, it goes all over the place. You can't like exactly get it but it's very hard. Yeah, speaking to your point about like, is something like that those athletic ones too hard.

Unknown: 27:12

You know, this isn't what you're seeing question and I'm happy you brought it up. Because I with all the new research, it's quite important to be saying out loud right now that the aggression with the fascia is not where we're going. We do not like shoving and you know, I won't use the word but like we we want to give the fascia love, we want to think of it like sending your body like these love notes, through working with the fascia and tuning in and listening aggression with fascia will just build up more scar tissue in the long run and will also make your nervous system go into fight or flight, which is the exact opposite of what we're trying to do. Which is why I think my method or philosophy is so much more of a feminine energy thing. That doesn't mean it's just for women, it means it's just more nurturing, more loving, more supportive. Those harder balls in the new science is saying no, we do not want to be doing that we want to go slow, we want to breathe, we want to feel like almost like a memory foam is kind of cradling the tissue and then wringing it out, you know, you see a lot of them attic stuff, it's quite light. So you know we're working with the limp, but then we're going to deeper layer as well with the fascia so softer and more present, really feeling into it and listening and figuring out where the blockages are. So it's not about getting on a roller or doing body rolling. fascial work is not about like rushing through anything. It's about really tuning in words and feeling again, it's really

Amy: 28:45

and then on your website do you have sort of like you're saying this like sessions on if I wanted to do a 10 minute whatever in the morning to like, loosen out just the whole body like you have things like that

Unknown: 28:58

got like the rise and shine on the roller. We've got all kinds of like seven minute fascia flows now because we're finding those that New York Times article based on a lot of great research that people were getting insane benefits from working out for like seven minutes a day. I know I remember something about Mary when they were like seven minute ABS or seconds. I'm like that reminded right. I love that movie. I love her. But anyway, so it's just one of those things where we realize like, also people only have so much time. So my thing is now not overwhelm people with like an hour of content at one time. Put it in the morning, if you can do one seven minute thing in the morning, and then do like a five minute thing before bed you will sleep better and deeper or you'll go into rest and digest and heal more efficiently. You know, you can tap into that vagus nerve and those kinds of things. So, spending and also thinking of your body throughout the day listening to the sensations and remember you take 26,000 breaths a day, you know, I mean, it's like every breath you take is an opportunity Unity to create shift or release or metabolize stress better as well. And every step we take, we take 10,000 steps a day without even going for like a long walk, every step we take is an opportunity to kind of move and strengthen your body I think people forget also that just sitting burns calories, you know, moving throughout your day, your your body is working really hard, you don't have to go and like burn 600 calories on the treadmill. That's an old belief system that actually doesn't make sense. So how can we make our bodies more efficient? How can we support all of our systems, metabolism, digestion, you know, endocrine system, the hormones, why not this fascia is touching all of those systems. So use it for enhancing every part of you.

Katie Chandler: 30:50

It's really revolutionising a way of self care. I feel like because you're saying that, for so many years, it's been all about like, work harder, you know, push through, you have to sweat, you have to do these massive workouts to get the type of body that you want. And what you're saying is, if you slow everything down, and you do it in a nurturing way, and you're taking care of your body, and you're releasing the stress that we all put on ourselves, that things will start to, hopefully, potentially work in which they should, right and heal themselves, which will give us results.

Unknown: 31:26

That's it. Yeah, you're rebooting, you're resetting. Everyone has the same muscle musculature underneath all of the layers of stress and armor and fear and unworthiness. We all have it under there. So a lot of times we put excess weight on as padding to protect us from the outside world, whether that's from trauma, toxins, tension, fears, whatever it is. So if we can realize that all of those messages are there to help us learn and grow and evolve the weight, whether it's physical or emotional weight, will, it will actually melt away and I know it sounds like magic. But when you work with the fascial, you people realize it's not the fat, it's the fascia. I mean, it's the weakened connective tissue, and it's the congestion that happens that builds up the kind of areas that we end up holding extra weight, or even thickness or density in that armor. It's really powerful. It is a whole different. It's a new paradigm, new paradigm shift.

Katie Chandler: 32:27

It sounds like it. It's very exciting. Now I would be remissed. And I think some of my, some of our listeners wouldn't be too pleased if we didn't ask about cellulite. Because I know we have all you know, we've anytime I've heard of fascia, I've thought that it had to do with rolling that out. So I don't know if that is true or not or what's up with that?

Unknown: 32:48

You know what, I love this question too. And there's quite a bit of information out in the world now about fascia and fascia blasting for cellulite. And thing is every woman is going to have some sort of cellulite and maybe there's like 2% of the world of women that don't naturally and that's probably has to do with hormones or genetics. So we all are going to have a version of it. But what it is, is it's essentially weakened connective tissue so that means that the collagen has broken down the elastin has broken down. So the best things we can do to regenerate our connective tissue and you know, reduce cellulite are getting the lymphatic system going so flushing the toxins through but also strengthening the actual webbing of the tissue. So creating more of that collagen and that's why I created a whole thing called fascia foods. We have recipes on this. There's specific things like color, I mean, like a bone broth and vitamin C, all kinds of you know, you need zinc and copper, vitamin C like certain minerals, magnesium that will help regenerate and strengthen the collagen. So also supplementing with collagen. If you have the right collagen can help as well. But drybrushing the same sequence that I recommended as well you know, the sweating and getting that moving, but also you can do something called body wash WA, which is a little bit different than the way I see fascia blasting, which I know I mean the Kardashians got fascia blasting on the map, which is good because that puts fascia in the mainstream media which I'm happy about. But I feel like again, it's more about using a tool to be more soothing and smoothing and loving rather than blasting. So I recommend using a body guasha tool, there's one that I'm actually coming out with it's like a mushroom I call it combing out the tangles of your tissues. So after the shower with the body oil I created this called the body elixir and so you put the oil on after you're hot and then you scrub yourself or you you know you basically comb out the tangles of your tissues. That is phenomenal for even crepey skin it can really help reduce crepey skin like that we start to see in the arms as we get older, around the hips. In inner thighs in the stomach, especially after having babies and your your tissue has, you know, expanded so much, or C sections where you have scar tissue. All of those things are really helpful in helping regenerate the collagen. So whenever we're working with the fascia, I think it's just really important to think of like, don't go against it, but go with it. And it's similar to dry brushing, you want to go in the direction of your heart, you may have certain areas where you take that body wash while and you scrub a little bit, but then you're always flushing it toward the heart to flush you know the toxins out and regenerate the tissue. But the other really important piece for cellulite is obviously hydration, and building musculature and tone. And that's where my method is a little different than other foam rolling methods out there. Because we do a lot of this opening and creating the space and the hydration. But we're also building strength from my Pilates background. So we're building that sustainable, elongated balance strength. That's what gives you that beautiful, graceful physique that everybody loves.

Katie Chandler: 36:05

I love Pilates. Oh

Amy: 36:06

is the guasha and the dry brush. Do they serve similar purposes or is the dry brush more like external and the guasha gets a little bit deeper.

Unknown: 36:13

You got it. You nailed it. Yeah, so the and the dry brush you want to do when you're dry before you shower. And then you write a warm and you can do some stretches in the shower and open things up. And then you slather yourself with this amazing oil that's super clean and has an olive oil base has Arnica in it and hemp seed oil, all of these in beautiful scent. And then you kind of can do affirmations while you do the body wash wha so you're really making it a ritual, it only takes like maybe two or three minutes. I mean, like all we're all so busy, like but if I can find like two or three minutes throughout the day, these little pockets or Windows, then at the end of the day, I've done an hour because I've done like two minutes here and five minutes there and a little bit of breath work and maybe a little sweat, you know, then I've actually done accumulation of an hour, but it didn't feel like it. And I've enjoyed every moment of it too.

Amy: 37:02

Yeah. And do you think? Is it better to do the foam roll part in the morning or at night? Or does it not matter?

Unknown: 37:08

I mean, I prefer if you have to choose doing it in the morning, because when you get on the roller, you're turning on something called proprioception. And that's awakening your body's relationship to the environment to gravity to balance all of those things. So if you have that on for the rest of your day, you're gonna also be able to be strengthening your muscles just throughout your day in a better way. So people not a lot, when should I roll before I work out? Or should I do it after you always want to roll it out before you work it out? Because you're you're bringing in the hydration, the blood circulation, the awareness, the proprioception, so all of those things are very helpful, not just in your workout, but in your life. So when you're waking up things and rolling out, you can do it before you go for a hike or a run, you will have more flexibility, more range of motion where you'll prevent injuries. So beautiful way to start the day. Yeah,

Amy: 38:05

yeah, I used to, I had a trainer for a few years. And we always foam roll in the beginning for like 510 minutes. And it made a huge difference. And she introduced me to those ball things. And she had this other thing it was sort of like, I don't know, it was like the same material as the small balls would have like a stick with two kind of wheels at the end. And I would do my feet on that I'd never done anything like that before it was crazy. Because my body would like shift, she'd be like, Oh, you're right, shoulders higher. And then I would she would like to help me do it on my feet. And then I all of a sudden would be like my heart felt flat or to the ground. It was amazing. So that's

Unknown: 38:41

what you're what you're feeling is that that's the sensory organs. So whenever people do one side of the body, and then you get them to walk up, walk around and feel the difference, like whoa, I feel lighter, you're actually you are feeling lighter, because you're you've actually like literally like scrubbed away whatever was in the way so you you do your legs feel lighter. Like let's say you're gonna go do pilates and you're like, Oh, my hamstrings are really tight. I'm gonna try to do my, you know, inverted core work or whatever stomach series and Pilates. If your tissues really tight like you were saying your son, his tissue is really tight, his legs will actually feel heavier. So by freeing up density and releasing the tension in the tissue, but also in the joints, and really lubricating yourself and feeling that sense of lightness, you'll be able to hold your legs up more efficiently. You won't have to use your lower back or your hip flexors, you'll actually be using your core. So it makes your body way more functionally, like biomechanically more efficient as well. That's why the athletes love it.

Amy: 39:41

Yeah, it makes sense. I was in a really good cadence with it and I got I got away from it and every time I feel more, I always feel better. So I gotta you remind me I gotta get back into it every time I workout because it really does make a huge difference. I know I need

Unknown: 39:52

to add it into my routine, more benefits from whatever you're going to do next, but used for you know,

Katie Chandler: 39:59

that It's motivational. Yeah, that's very motivating. Well, before we get into our rap session with you, I would love to hear, let's hear about your community and the aligned life studios and everything that you have created where our listeners can find you most importantly,

Unknown: 40:14

yeah, so for the last few years, I guess it was in 2021, it really took off when everyone had to stay home, you know, for COVID, we had already ramped up and started the membership program. And so my commitment to the community is to basically go and it's like, I'm possessed by learning about fascia and, and body alignment and building graceful strength. And so I it's my mission, I and it's so fun, I get to serve with joy and love, it's so great. So I go out, and I learn and I study and I research and I bring it into the studio, and we film, you know, multiple times a year, depending on how inspired I'm feeling. And then I put everything that I love. And that really works into the aligned life studio membership community. And every month we give the community a new drop, we call it with new flows and sequences. And so we have, we actually have bar in there, now we have yoga, these are all, you know, with the through line of fascia, all the people that we brought in, have the education background and have the fashion world in there as well. And then we also have fashion foods, the meal plans and meal guides. It's a whole web app, which we'll be ramping up a lot more, because people always like, Well, okay, I'll do the fashion flows workouts, but how do I eat to support that. So we have all the different tools that you see behind me here, the rollers, and the rebounder, and the fascial flows just on the mat, too. And so I continue to keep putting stuff in there. And then we also have our free community called the aligned life collective. And that's where I go in and I do webinars, so that I like to say that that's where I go and educate and inspire. It's kind of like our Facebook, but off of actual, it's not on Facebook, it's like you know, people at Facebook groups, we've actually decided to get away from Facebook, because of all the drama, we wanted to do something where it's more focused, you're not getting ads sent to you. So it's very specific, anyone can join there, it's just called the Lyne life collective.com. And then the Align life studio is sort of my Netflix of wellness, it's where we put all of these great flows and sequences, and we're continuing to evolve and expand it, and I'm coming out with my certification next year as well, which is very exciting, it's I think

Amy: 42:27

we're gonna is exciting grit.

Unknown: 42:29

And it's going to be a very basic certification so that people don't necessarily need to teach it. But if they want to learn and go deeper and really embody this work, at a deeper level, they'll learn about the emotional components and the physical components. And it's really, it's going to be very exciting. So I'm excited for that.

Amy: 42:49

That's great. And we can't forget about your Instagram, because I'm always looking at your Instagram, it's so inspiring and relaxing. And I like see some of the exercises you do. So that's also a good resource for people to check out.

Unknown: 43:03

I love I've actually using going that one. I know in the beginning, I was like, oh, Instagram, it feels so intimidating. And now I'm actually loving it. So it's fun. It's a fun process.

Katie Chandler: 43:12

That's nice, congratulations, or it's all very

Amy: 43:15

bite size pieces of fascia work we can all get during the day. Well, that's awesome. Um, we're definitely going to be checking that out. And I love that there's a whole like, it sounds like library of content. So you can do the fascial work, but then you can do flows that are aligned to that. So you feel like it's all kind of Yeah, connected, which is nice.

Unknown: 43:34

And you can pick things like if you need lower back love, or you know, you're having issues with your feet, or you want to connect to your deeper core or your bloating or you're feeling like your gut is off or whatever. There's so many different ways to target different areas of the body, but then you can do total body ones as well. So I want to share with your community also that we're going to give you guys a code so that you guys can join a go and get 30% off so we'll be sharing that

Katie Chandler: 44:00

soon. That's amazing. It's so generous. Thank you.

Amy: 44:02

Oh god, that's so exciting. Yes, yeah, I think our listeners will love that and report back on all the things they're learning Yeah, about fashion as well if they feel Yes, all of us will be. Okay, so let's get into our rap session. So what is your favorite wellness or beauty hack besides fascia work?

Unknown: 44:22

Oh, I have been loving the using red light therapy for the face. So those led masks and there's a little one that I've been using as well called the solar wave and I love it in the morning after you know you sleep on your face and you're all squished and you have those sleep lines. And you take that red light and you can kind of do fascial work with it but also the red light the red light stimulates the collagen and it just it feels so good and it kind of wakes you up for the day. And I also think it really helps with the beauty aspect to

Amy: 44:53

it for the Naskh Do you have a good recommendation? I've been looking at those and there's so many of them.

Unknown: 44:58

I did a ton of free Search and I found the Dr. Grossman one. Yeah, three minutes. So you and it has there. Wow. And then the red and the blue light that you can combine together. So the red lights College and the blue lights for like antibacterial or breakouts, it's great for the teenagers that they're getting breakouts. But it's three minutes. So anyone can do this what was saying

Amy: 45:19

like and it's a mask, so you could walk and you could actually walk around you could film or all while you're wearing your mask.

Unknown: 45:25

Laundry, do your tax scrape.

Katie Chandler: 45:28

Alright, that next one, we call it our five minute flow. You just got out of the shower and dry it off. And Uber has pinged you they're five minutes away. What are you gonna do to pull together and get in that Uber on time your holy grails your go? twos?

Unknown: 45:41

Whoo. Okay. Definitely, I probably wouldn't have time to do my body wash while in five minutes. So probably be mostly focused on the face. So I would put my vitamin C serum on because I'm obsessed with the vitamin C first than I do high colonic acid next. And then I do face oil, which I use my body lyxor as my face oil and so concealer that has you know, Hyrule onic acid and some cheeks and lips and mascara and brow and then I'm out.

Amy: 46:13

Good routine. Yeah. streamlined. Okay, and how do you maintain your daily nirvana?

Unknown: 46:19

Hmm, I think all the things I've shared with you guys just Well, I think the big one is also perspective. So really shifting perspective on everything that's happening instead of to us, for us. So it's there to go through it, to learn from it to realize that even if it's collectively or you know, personally, or in our family, there's always a reason and sort of embracing that. And, and then I think getting better at metabolizing. The stress that comes, you know, comes from that experience too. So working with their fascia is the way personally for me and because I'm a kinesthetic learner and a feeler. That's how I move through things and let them go. So with compound with love,

Katie Chandler: 47:07

that's really beautifully said, I, we always wrap with a like a mantra or an affirmation. And there's one that I saw all over your Instagram page and on your site that and I'm gonna butcher it. So I'm hoping you, you know exactly what I'm talking about.

Unknown: 47:23

It's not just about feeling better. It's about getting better at feeling. Feeling better. It's about getting better at feeling. Yes. So that one is on a couple of times. You're right. So it's really about not only Yeah, not only trying to just feel your best all the time, but just feel all of it, feel the pain, feel the discomfort because those are messages to create a shift or a change and listening and tuning in. And the other affirmation though is every little cell in my body is well, I use that one with my kids a lot to want anything like that.

Katie Chandler: 48:01

That's fantastic. All right. Well, thank you so much. For your work. Yeah, I'm

Unknown: 48:07

always doing like the era polls with them or like, the cranial stuff or the feet stuff. They love it. It's cute. That's great.

Katie Chandler: 48:15

That's $1 how to do it.

Amy: 48:16

Well, thank you so much for joining us today. This is such an invigorating conversation. I'm getting very motivated to get back into into the routine. So saying, This was awesome. Thank you so much.

Unknown: 48:27

Oh, it's my absolute pleasure. Thank you guys for having me. And I look forward to doing more in the future.

Amy: 48:35

Happy Holidays Nirvana sister's family. So I hope you enjoyed that episode with Lauren all about the fascia and you can incorporate some new routines as we mentioned, we have an exciting giveaway with Lauren we are going to be giving away three annual memberships to the Align life studio, as well as the travel roller all you need to do is follow Lauren Roxboro on Instagram, follow Nirvana sisters at Instagram and comment on our last post. You can tell us what you liked about the episode you could put an emoji anything really but that will enter you into our giveaway. We are so excited for you to enjoy the lion life happy holidays. Thanks for listening to Nirvana sisters. For more information on this episode, check out the show notes please subscribe and leave us a review. also find us on Instagram at Nirvana sisters. If you loved what you just listened to or know someone that would please share it and tag us. Tune in next week for a fresh new episode of Nirvana sisters. We'll continue to watch out for all things wellness so you don't have to. Bye.

Episode 78 - Stop Glorifying The Hustle With Ella Lucas-Averett (Full Transcript)

This is a full transcript of the Nirvana Sisters podcast Episode 78

Editor’s Note: Please know that this podcast transcript is automatically generated and may contain minor errors such as typos and word switches. For more information, be sure to listen to the podcast here or view our podcast episode guide.

Amy: 0:06

Welcome to Nirvana sisters podcast where we take the intimidation out of well being and beauty to help you achieve your highest state your nirvana. We are sisters in law and your hosts. I'm Amy Sherman.

Ella Lucas Averett: 0:18

And I'm Katie Chandler. So let's get into some real conversation

Amy: 0:27

Welcome back to the show Nirvana's sisters family. It is Amy and I'm solo today Katie cannot join us and we miss her. But I am here with a fabulous Ella Lucas Everett.

Ella Lucas Averett: 0:40

Did I pronounce Yeah, rhymes with favorite.

Amy: 0:43

Oh, Averitt favorite. I love that. Okay, so she is a businesswoman. She is a part time triathlete, which is amazing, a keynote speaker and host of the On Air with Ella podcast, which we'll probably do a pod swap with in the future. And that is a show for anyone looking to live better, feel better and have some fun along the way. Ella claims her greatest superpower is trial by error, we can totally relate to that. And she loves to bring her audience along with her in the pursuit of living our very best life one step at a time starting now. And this really resonated with Katie and I went when we got connected Ella because like your mission is very similar to ours, which is why we were so excited to talk to you or we are so excited to talk to you. And it's just so great meeting other women, other like minded women that are in this, you know, sort of self care well being balanced worlds in that realistic down to earth way, which is just like kind of what we're about to so for the audience, Ella and I connected through chief which is a network for senior executive women. I had Denise Guerra on the show a few weeks ago who was also from Chief so I'm loving all of these fantastic women that I'm meeting through this network. Without further ado, welcome to the show.

Ella Lucas Averett: 2:01

Amy, thank you so much. And thank you to your listeners for letting me sit in today. I appreciate it.

Amy: 2:06

Yes, of course, everyone will be so excited to hear from you. So give us a little bit of your story and kind of your podcast has been around for a long time and your business and all of these things. So kind of tell us about your point of view on well being and what you're working on?

Ella Lucas Averett: 2:20

Yeah, well, it has to be said that I started my podcast got in 2015 before everybody in their actual uncle had one. We love it. But it was a different world back then. And I started it because I listened to a podcast or two and I was super inspired to bring health and wellness to not not to bring it to the masses, so to speak. But to make it more accessible because I had this belief that wellness could be should be in would be more accessible than profitable. And if we kept it simple, and if I could bring experts who actually knew what they were talking about to others, you know, that's really what motivated me, Amy, I am not a health guru. I'm not a trainer, I'm not any of those things. I'm a businesswoman. As you said, I make my living in corporate consulting. Yeah, not the same world. But for me, I was at that time just turning 40. And it was more important to me than ever to kind of stay on my game. And I had really like, I had been a triathlete for about 10 years at that point. And so I was super, honestly, probably the fittest I've ever been in my life and feeling really good and frankly, feeling like it was easy, even. And it motivated me to want to bring sort of the secrets and the biohacking and wellness tips to my community and create a community about that funny twist about that. It's not always easy. Sometimes you go through ups and downs, sometimes it's about more than what you look like sometimes it needs to be way more about your mental health, or how you're feeling or what your energy is like and, and I learned all these lessons along the way, Amy over the past seven or eight years now. And my community has come along with me. So that is a long way of saying that it started out as kind of health and wellness as a lifestyle, but it was sort of code for fat loss, if you will, a little bit a little bit and now much more into a much more robust definition of what wellness means for women. Many, many, many more issues that we care about to live our richest, fullest lives. And that's about way more than our gene size.

Amy: 4:43

Yes, I 100% agree and it's so much it's so much how Katie and I think as well because this whole point of being accessible and realistic. But before we do this, I realized I forgot to do on nirvana of the week because It is it is Friday, and I think both of us are running 1000 miles per hour. So we need to take a step back and talk about something that brought us joy this week, Sunday that kinda put a smile on our face bigger smile, whatever that may be. Let's just ground us before we continue in the conversation because I feel like we need to do that. So I can start. So my Nirvana was actually this morning. I've been running a million miles an hour, it's just that season, right? Where it's like, kind of headed towards the end of the year, and everything's crazy. And I have like, 1000 things going on, just like everybody else. And I was talking to my husband, and he's like, You know what, we actually recently bought an infrared sauna, which is amazing. But I haven't even used it. And I'm the one who wanted it. And he's used it every day. And he's feeling really good. And he's like, what, why don't use infrared sauna. Like, chill out, like, go in there and relax. And I was like, No, I need to, like, get into a routine. I need to do it at night. And he's like, just go out and just warm it up and go and I'm like, okay, so I worked out I wanted to the sauna. And I was like, Okay, I'll go in for quick 20 minutes. Like, I don't have time. I went in, I ended up staying in at 40 minutes. And I felt so good. afterwards. My body was like, thank you. It was like, it was such a shift in my mindset in my body. And I was like, this feels amazing. And I need to do it more. And I walked downstairs, my husband, I'm like, Thank you for encouraging me, encouraging me to do that this morning, because I feel 1000 times better. So that brought me joy this morning. What about you, Ella?

Ella Lucas Averett: 6:23

Oh, if only the listener could see my face because Amy, mine was okay. Sit down, sit down to them. Last night, I could duplicate the beginning of what you just said been running around like a maniac and not in a way that I think I deserve a prize. Like I actually have learned that that is not how I want to live, but it's a season that I'm in. So here we are. Yeah, and I got home from a business trip late last night. And Amy, I got into my infrared sauna and that was gonna be it's gonna be

Amy: 7:00

this is insane. By the way, I've never had the same Nirvana someone and that's okay, this is synchronicity. So many things happening. This is like, I haven't felt like

Ella Lucas Averett: 7:08

results in three weeks. And by the way, anyone who's gagging right now, because they're like, must be nice. I have a story about my infrared sauna. But first of all, I am dying, because that is absurd and hilarious.

Amy: 7:20

That's really, really crazy. kind of freaking out.

Ella Lucas Averett: 7:24

I haven't been able to exercise, I like to move my body every single day. And I just came out of three days of complete sedentary living, like bad road food. I mean, just everything I don't want in my life for the past three days. And I walked in and I walked into a home where my husband happened to be and I kind of dig him. So that made me super happy. And then I went downstairs and I baked in my infrared sauna. And I felt like a completely restored person. And I felt so grateful I was just drowning in sweat and gratitude. And funny story about that though. I just want anyone right now who's just rolling their eyes at the fact that we both are lucky enough to have infrared saunas in our homes. When I moved, I actually live quite close to Amy in the DC area. And when I moved here, we bought our infrared sauna flatpacked brand new from somebody off of Facebook marketplace who bought it and never used it. So I just want you know, that I man Oh, you want and we'll have a manifestation for you as well and check Facebook marketplace because that's where I

Amy: 8:28

got my and there's, that's actually a really good idea. And there's also so many places now that are starting to pop up that offer so many of those services. So I had tried it at a lot of those, like there's a place near me called um, I think it's restore hyper wellness or one of those and they have sessions. And they also have a new seen it online, they have the ones where you can like they're like portable ones, you can just like, sit in bed and put it on your body. And, you know, obviously much less, much more reasonable option. But yeah, anyway, that is hilarious. I don't even know what to say about that. Yeah, I mean, that's crazy. We're totally linked. I love the whole thing. And that's why I see St see mindset here. This is why I'm so glad we have you on the show. So we were kind of talking prior to the show start starting about what wellness means in this world. And you're sort of alluding to before and it just reminded me like, or you were saying you were on a trip for three days and sedentary and I know that feeling of going on a business trip and it's like the food and you're just sitting down and whatever. And I've also like incorporated wellness. I mean, I've been doing this for years without even like actually realizing it of when I have a business trip or when I have something I'll go a day early. And make sure that like I'm hydrated and I've worked out or I've gotten a treatment or something. So when I start those three day of meetings, I'm like grounded because I've noticed that when I don't do that I'm a hot mess and I don't feel good, you know, or like I'll leave early. If everyone's going out that night and I could take a flight home I'll go home because I'm like you know what I just Do I need that downtime, and I never realized it till I got older that like, I actually need quiet time and downtime, whether it's work, whether it's going to see friends, whatever that may be. And it's so important. And I think when you're younger, you're running, running, running, and then all of a sudden, like, for me, I migraines or Katie, you know, it's so important to take that time, but anyway, went off on it. Yeah, well,

Ella Lucas Averett: 10:23

I think there's a larger issue at play here. For a lot of people there, at least I'll speak for myself anyway. And that is that for many, many years now, I've owned a consultant companies since 2003. That's a really long time. Okay, so I've had lots of my own iterations in that experience. And let me tell you, for the first, I don't know, 10 years, it was all hustle. And one of the deeper issues here is that I think that many of us and certainly I'm sure some of those listening AMI tie, this, I'm just jumping right in, but tie our worth and our perception of our worth to our productivity. So I, I absolutely have a hypothesis that, you know, if we do nothing more than untie our worth, our perceived worth, untie it from productivity and our appearance, we live a lot happier, a lot faster. And frankly, that's behind a great deal of the work that I do. So I the reason I said, you know, super busy week, but I'm no hero is because frankly, some part of me felt, you know, quite noble in the hustle for years and years and years. And it wasn't until my body about gave up on me somewhere midway and I started losing my health and my vibrancy and my energy. And my body was all of a sudden the body of a stranger and I didn't recognize it anymore. And I started, I revisited a disordered relationship with food. And like everything was just completely out of whack for me. And I had to do that work, Amy to start really pulling apart how I saw myself, you know, what value add what what youth Am I to the world? If I'm not producing 18 hours a day, if I, again, I've gone on, but I think there's so much to be done here. When we are accustomed to be rewarded for our achievement, or our appearance. Some people both yeah, there's a lot to undo there. And the sooner and faster we can untie those elements of that equation, the happier we are. So yeah, there's no bizarre and it took me a little while to understand that.

Amy: 12:40

And I totally agree. And we've actually touched on this a couple times in our show with with different guests. Because this hustle culture, I can't stand similar to you. And I like to say hustle on doses where like, you know, you do stuff for a little bit, but then you come back and you put your foot on the gas, and then you break. I mean, you need that. And I think the more it's talked about specially in the corporate environment, the better because we all know people I know many, many people that are still in that mindset of like, oh, I have to work 18 hours a day to be seen to be promoted to have my boss. And there's a lot of like old school, you know, traditional thinkers that think that's the way to success, when in fact, it's quite the opposite. So it's a really good conversation. And it's something that we should continue to like, spread around, because I think those who can balance this and who can do this in doses and are not like killing himself are the ones that are ultimately going to be the most successful, the most happy, the most healthy, the most vibrant, the most in their Nirvana, right? That

Ella Lucas Averett: 13:40

is so important. And one thing that women can do for one another is have these conversations out loud, because I think a lot of the times we go in sort of three phases. One is hustle, hustle, hustle, you know, sacrifices seven days a week, you're on your you're on, you're on call. If you get an email on a Saturday, you're replying to that email on a Saturday, for example. And then the next phase might be that you tone it down a little bit that you check in with yourself a little bit, but Yang talking about it. So you're not you know, making a show of it, you're just trying to achieve some kind of balance. I'm in the third phase, I want to talk about it. I want to encourage other women, you know, one of the women I was working with this week is in her 30s. And I said to her I actually I don't want to be super specific. But let me let me change the names and the context. But I basically said, you know, you just said yes to something that you didn't need to say yes to and forgive me for overstepping. But consider this, this and this, and you don't have to show up at every dancer invited to and, and I could see her shock and all that I said those words out loud. But you know what, you don't have to go to every party you're invited to. And what I think we should do as women further into our careers is start having these conversations, because it's one thing To stop glorifying the hustle behind your closed doors, and it's quite another to kind of muster up the courage or the transparency and say, You know what? Let's have these conversations out loud. And let's have them more often. And let's have them with the women who are

Amy: 15:17

and let's have boundaries, and it's okay and support each other doing that, like, I mean, I stopped answering email, you know, on the weekends, years ago, because of like, I'm not doing that anymore. I stopped while I still email at night, but I try not to, you know, but you start to set these boundaries with yourself, and then others realize, Oh, I'm not going to bother her, because I know that she doesn't answer emails on the weekend. Or you could do the opposite, which is just like, consistently go and never and never say no, and someone trying to think there was this quote, I heard or listened to, or maybe it was even on my show. I can't remember, someone had said, about saying no to things. And it was like, if you don't want to do that right now, say no to it, because you're not gonna want to do it in two weeks leave commit to a dinner, you're like, Oh, great. And then intuition. I don't want to go with these, like 10 girls that have small talk or whatever. If you know, right now, you're not gonna want to do it do not commit. And it's been such a guiding principle for me, because there's so many things I used to say yes to that. I'm like, No, thank you. I'm busy.

Ella Lucas Averett: 16:18

I think the best thing we can do is lead by example, and keep having conversations like this

Amy: 16:24

100%. Okay, so you have you have over, I don't know, 500 episodes, a bazillion episodes. And you've talked to a lot of self care, wellness, productivity type people, what is like your favorite, I guess? I guess the few things like, it's probably hard to answer this. But what are a few takeaways that you've learned throughout the years? Because like you, you know, I'm not an expert, Katie and I are experts. But we talk to a lot of people that give us information. And then we use that for, you know, our own lives. So we're, you know, practitioners, if you will, so what have you learned that has really helped you over the years since you've had your

Ella Lucas Averett: 16:57

show? Great question, I'm going to answer it from two different ways. One on a very base level, like, it is super fun to try people's products, to read people's books to talk to me. So you know, you get sent stacks and stacks of books sometimes and to be able to consume that type of content, and then have conversations with the researchers and the authors. And the the people who did the work. Like that part's fascinating, but also just learning about different types of products. So like, I have, I do red light therapy, because I have a red light hanging in my house. I didn't know about red light therapy until I started my podcast. I didn't know about Infrared Saunas until I started my podcast. So that type of thing is super fun for wellness geeks. But love it the thing that really, on a more meta level, the thing that has been my largest takeaway really is a bit of a twist. It is I wish I knew when I was in my early 20s, that nobody had any idea what the hell they were doing a lot of the time. Right. Amy, I have interviewed a Olympic gold medalists. And they talk about their failures. And they talk about how they didn't know what they were doing. And I talked to people who have started, I talked to a woman who founded health aide kombucha, and some people don't know what that is, and other people might be addicted to it like I am. And she died. Her name is Dinah and she started this in her kitchen. And I think it's valued at $500 million, just like 10 years later. So a moderate success story. And she had no idea what she was doing, literally, she'll be the first person to tell you that. So I'll be honest with you my largest takeaway, and the thing I love to get to with my guests, who have had raging success and very obvious success to the world, is to really break down that there is no magic formula. And when I speak this is this is oftentimes what I speak about. And that is that, truly, it's not sexy, and it might not sell books. But taking the smallest step toward the life you're trying to create is the secret to success. Because if you did that every day, instead of being overwhelmed by the large steps, or the big leaps are waiting for motivation to land on you like lightning. If you took the smallest step every day, by degrees, your life is completely different six months, 12 months, three years from now, that's been the greatest life lesson for me.

Amy: 19:31

I love that. I love that. And it's so true. We've seen that too. And a lot of the entrepreneurs and founders we've met with, yeah, no one knows what they're doing until they do it. And then they give guidance because they've been through it, but no one knows what they're doing. And like everyone's figuring it out and that makes you feel better and also less intimidated when you meet certain people because no one really has it together. They're all figuring it out too. That's a great lesson. I

Ella Lucas Averett: 19:55

used to think when you were younger, or maybe it's just me, just that like the super successful People are the people you admired. Like they kind of they probably were born with something that you weren't or they had something, some natural gift, yet some natural gift that you felt like you had to kind of find. And it obviously came naturally to them or they were just smarter or savvy or something earlier than you. And it turns out, no, they just did the thing.

Amy: 20:20

So that they've gotten coaching. They've done this, they've done that you

Ella Lucas Averett: 20:24

could talk to 20 year old yep, I could talk to 20 year old me, I would say go do the thing, like do the thing. You want to do risk failure, and do the thing that you want to do, because nobody knows what they're doing.

Amy: 20:36

Yeah, yeah, this is like a random story. But it's one that I remember. And it's so minor. But speaking to the point of like, when you're younger, and you're seeing all these people, and you're like, oh, they all have it together and they know everything not realizing that they've gotten coaching and this and that to get to where they've gotten to. I was in someone's office when I was younger, a leader of mine, who was so put together so chic, like, you never see this person fell, right. She's just like, amazing. But I was having meeting with her. We're, you know, chit chatting. And I noticed like one of her nails was like chipped in wasn't done perfectly. And I was like, it was like, for some reason, it always stuck out to me. I'm like, You know what? She doesn't have it all together, either. Because her nail was humanized her. There you go. Yes. 100%. So I always think about that. I don't know why she's

Ella Lucas Averett: 21:22

like, it's a metaphor. It's

Amy: 21:23

a metaphor. You're right. Also, let's talk about how you balance because you know, I'm in a similar boat and Katie, too, with with stuff she does outside of the podcasts, like, how do you balance the podcast? And I know how much work it is, it's insane. You know, building that building your business, being a good wife, like all of these things, what is your I mean, no one has a secret, as you said, but like, how do you figure it all out?

Ella Lucas Averett: 21:50

I don't, I do a couple of things that give me so much more peace than I used to have. Okay, and the first thing I do is I give myself a little bit more grace than I used to. And that is probably because of some of the tools I'm about to share with you now. And one of those is to realize it for some reason, you know, sometimes just super simple concepts stick in your brain and just really hit you at the right time. Well, I learned to look at my life in seasons, everything I'm trying to accomplish, and or wherever I'm falling short. So it's really important for me to move my body every single day. That's important to me. Now, does that mean I do it every single day? No, but it is my default. So you know, maybe it's five days a week. But that's because for me, it's not a decision that I wrestle with every day. It's a given. And so it happens more often than not, right? So so when I go through a period where I have three or four days where that does not happen, I used to just beat myself up. And I think that if shame were an effective strategy, we would all know by now that he did. So self flagellation, we're weirdly did not improve my life in any way. So there, I was still not moving, but now beating myself up over it. So when I learned how to think of my life in seasons, that word I really connected with, and it changed everything for me, and I'll tell you what, I mean, some times I go through a season where I have to really gun it out, like get it out rather, and I'm working my tail off for 10 days, you know, these these Sprint's these spurts, and I'm not taking optimal care of myself. And instead of painting the rest of my life with that brush, I take a deep breath. And I'm like, this is a very short season, like you got this. You know, I you and I have tried to connect before and I just came out of a three week season that was a real Bender for me, and not a lot of fun. And again, years ago, I would have panicked, I would have self flagellating, which would have led to bad behaviors to cope, you know, whether it was numbing out with food, everyone has the thing they numb out with and again, mine used to be food and like a disordered relationship there. And I would go to all these mechanisms rather than like just allowing the discomfort. And so when I connected with the word seasons, I'm like, this is a season of intense sprint work for me, and it will be over. And then sometimes I'm in a season where I can ride my bike three days a week, which is outstanding. And sometimes I'm in a season where my husband and I are so connected and we're able, you know, we have quality time together and quantity time together. And then there are other seasons, which we happen to be in right now where we are just running at 800 miles an hour in two totally different directions. But instead of again, painting our life with that brush, we're saying we use the terminology. We say, Oh, we knew this season was going to be like this. It's over. We know when it's when it's over. It's over two weeks from now. Yeah. Yeah. And we talk about it and we plan accordingly. So there's a lot in there because it requires an A awareness, it requires intention. And it requires a mindset. And what I used to do is just go go go beat myself up, and then go go go some more. Oh and cope.

Amy: 25:12

Right now that's so true. And then it's like once the season is over having the tools to then step back from the season. And I think you and I are very similar in that when we're younger, we didn't have the tools. So you just keep going. And then you burn out versus now you're like, Okay, to my point earlier, you can hustle on doses. But then you take the tools out of your toolbox that work for you. And then and you know, you're going to have that at the end of that two weeks season or whatever it may be, which is the which is, which is like, I feel like you start realizing that when you're older, and then learn more and then these things,

Ella Lucas Averett: 25:46

trial and error or baby, it's my specialty. Yeah, I've just had

Amy: 25:50

Katie calls herself the human science, science. Yeah,

Ella Lucas Averett: 25:53

I just have failed on air for seven years. But you know, and then sharing those and then we iterate again, and we iterate again, Amy, but okay, do you remember the actress Jenna Elfman, I shouldn't say Do you remember, because I think she's gonna show now that I think she's on The Walking Dead or something that I don't want. Yeah, she was dharma. She was dharma. And so I was interviewing her. And she said to me, she had this great analogy, since she said, I look at my life as a mixing board. So just picture like a DJ Studio, you guys have seen it like in behind the scenes when someone's recording a song. And she said, I Picture My Life, like that mixing board that you see in the studios, and she's like, sometimes the bass is turned really high, and the treble is really low. And she said, you can't have all the dials at 10 all the time, you know, Something's gotta give. So sometimes the bass is quite high, and the treble is low. And sometimes you're able to pull the treble up, and the bass comes back a bit. And I thought, what, what a grace to give ourselves to realize, and I have a model now that I work with that is the life wheel. And I just like to take an audit every once awhile, and I look at different areas of my life. So my career, my personal finances, my spiritual life, my relationship with my husband, my social relationships, and I kind of I sort of rate myself I know, this sounds so silly, on my on my wheel, and I use this with my community as well. And sometimes you're really high in some areas, and it's never not at a cost of some other area. You're never attended anywhere. The goal is right. Balance over time, I used to think it was balanced in a moment, there's a huge difference,

Amy: 27:31

right? So true. I was also reading that you do retreats, and I think you just got off a one. So what is that? What is that? What does that

Ella Lucas Averett: 27:39

Oh, those are super great. This is bringing my podcast community together. And when we had a few chiefs in this retreat, as well, which was lovely, but bringing, bringing my community together, women only no offense, we love a man, but I love. I love to create space for witness the best. And the first one I did change my life because I had never invested in I had never invested so heavily in deep, meaningful relationships with women, because I've been burned a few times. And so when I had my first retreat, it was you know, let's say, let's say 45 people. And we spent three days together that changed my life, it was as impactful for me if not more so than it was for them. And then I was addicted. And it was such a wonderful community. It was fun. I laughed my face off. And we did some fun wellness stuff. And we did some personal development. And it was just like, the best Slumber Party you've ever been to for three days. And you walked out with tools and tips. And I was like, okay, more of this place. And so I've just done one, you know, obviously there was a little a little global pandemic setback. But he was able to hold my most recent one in Miami, and it was smaller and more intimate and absolutely lovely and so much fun. And there's just something so powerful when women very age and background diverse. But when you are like minded in the sense that you all want to be living your best life and I don't care how cheesy that sounds, because I'll own it. But if that's why you're all together, the conversations that you have and the moments that you have in the learning that can happen between one another absolutely fantastic, totally addictive, highly recommend.

Amy: 29:23

Katie and I have been talking about this. We've mentioned it a few times on the show that we want to start doing your rawness sisters retreats in the future. So I'm glad to hear how impactful it has been for you. I will we are going to have you as a special guests. We've already talked to someone else that we've had on the show that we want to also join so stay tuned for that. So before we get into our rap session, Ella, I wanted to pick your brain on what are your favorite podcasts knowing that you have your own I'm sure you listen to a lot what are your favorite ones lately?

Ella Lucas Averett: 29:50

Bored? Oh, I wasn't prepared.

Amy: 29:52

Oh, sorry. I you know, what's impromptu questions that you don't have to answer if you if it's too much on the spot. As she's looking through her Apple podcasts or Spotify,

Ella Lucas Averett: 30:02

this is so funny. I don't want to disappoint anybody. I love to recommend other people's podcasts and I love to amplify. I love to amplify smaller creators like independent podcasts because like I said, now it's just it's obviously a very crowded marketplace. But I'm I also have this weird quirk where I will listen to 1000 different podcasts because I'm listening as a podcaster. So I listened to topics I disagree with, I listen to subjects I'm not interested in because I'm listening for other reasons and or I'm researching a specific guest. So I'm going to use this as an opportunity to amplify a super fun podcast created by two women. I think they're in their early 30s. And they have created this thing together and it's like a little pop culture he gossipy but wickedly smart, and it is called celebrity memoir book club. Okay. Oh, I

Amy: 30:55

haven't heard any lips die laughing if

Ella Lucas Averett: 30:58

they knew that I was recommending them because I am not their target market. I don't think we're gonna attack now. Okay, celebrity memoirs. And they read celebrity memoirs. Okay. And they are, they're both comedians and extremely intelligent women. And so then breaking down the knee. So their English literature is hilarious to me. And they're very witty and very intelligent. And they added depth to these rather silly books a lot of the time with with an insightful point of view, but it's a lot of fun, and it's an easy list. So

Amy: 31:33

check that out. I'm definitely going to check that out. Okay, so let's get into our rap session. You're ready. Okay, what is your favorite wellness or beauty hack? Okay, so,

Ella Lucas Averett: 31:42

we've mentioned the infrared sauna, but I bought you a pot a prop. So everybody I know has like the 13 step facial routine. Yeah, and I just use this stuff called best skin ever. And it's a completely natural oil and I use it at night on my face and it's my I have that and I love it. Yeah, living libations I love to pump them up. I've interviewed the founder a couple times. I have zero affiliation with the company. I've been using it at night exclusively for a decade. Love it can't get enough. Don't

Amy: 32:10

you find that oil cleansing has changed your scan? It's changed mine.

Ella Lucas Averett: 32:15

addicted. It's like liquid gold and I leave it on as a moisturizer after my face is cold. Do you believe in it?

Amy: 32:22

Yeah, okay, I'm gonna try that because I usually put it on and then wipe it off but

Ella Lucas Averett: 32:27

it's liquid gold.

Amy: 32:29

Amazing. I do use it at night or in the morning just mostly

Ella Lucas Averett: 32:33

at night. Every once a while in the morning if I'm going to work out or something and it doesn't matter. Yeah, tiny but at night. It's best. Yeah.

Amy: 32:39

Okay, five minute flow. You just got out of the shower. And dry it off. Your Uber is five minutes away. They just pinged you what is your quick beauty routine? Like what do you put on? What are your go twos or holy grails to get downstairs and get in the car?

Ella Lucas Averett: 32:52

I mean, Amy, it takes me seven minutes to get ready on a normal day. So this is not

Amy: 32:57

God. That's amazing.

Ella Lucas Averett: 33:01

Because I don't know like people do contouring. I don't know what that is. I don't know how to do anything. So honestly, it's my every day, which is moisturizer. Slick ponytail. So I need this is what I need in my life. I need lipbalm then I need a lip gloss. I need a really solid hair tie. And I mean silver hoops on Golden. I'm there.

Amy: 33:25

And are you like a uniform girl? Like if you're going out? Like do you have specific things you wear like jeans and a T shirt or whatever or you were different. In fact,

Ella Lucas Averett: 33:32

I wear I wear different things every day I let my clothes tell me what they want to be just like my hair, my hair is in charge of itself. And honestly, I do this weird thing. I get intuitively dressed. It's so funny. I don't ever spend any time picking out my outfit. I walk in the closet and I like I asked my intuition. What are we wearing today? And then I just do what I know

Amy: 33:52

I do the same thing. I do the same thing, which makes it hard to pack for trips because I'm like, I don't know, I'll be on like, exactly. I don't know, I'm gonna feel so funny. Okay, and how do you maintain your daily nirvana?

Ella Lucas Averett: 34:04

Okay, again, I give my self grace for not always maintaining nirvana. And two things I am learning to do more intentionally is breathe. And you think that sounds simple. Okay, then drop your shoulders wherever you are right now. And take a breath all the way into your diaphragm, which is below your ribcage. And tell me how often you are intentionally doing that because it sounds so simple. But are we are we doing it? Yeah, so honestly, that alone, I didn't realize I was taking shallow breaths. You know, for 15 years. I had no idea. So I'm trying to be much more intentional about that. And I'm trying to be more intentional about what I consume, to make to maintain my daily Nirvana and I'm not talking about food. I am talking about what I watched and what I listened to. So there's a lot of things that are no longer in my feed, whether it's fits Oh, or other people's bodies in my feed, and or just like junk, just you know that total garbage that is, you know, kind of all over the TV and all that stuff. So I'm very, very conscious of what I consume because it changes my chi. Big time.

Amy: 35:17

Yes, I feel you on that one. Okay, and before we close with a quote slash mantra, where can everybody find Oh, you're

Ella Lucas Averett: 35:24

so sweet. I'll keep this short on air with Ella. So on Instagram, you see a lot of behind the scenes stuff going on and on air with Ella and then as the On Air with Ella podcast.

Amy: 35:34

Amazing. Okay. So Ella is going to bless us. She has a quote, slash mantra to end the show. And I'm excited to hear I

Ella Lucas Averett: 35:42

live by this. And I didn't say at first, Arthur Ashe, famous tennis player from Virginia said at first. And he said, in order to achieve greatness, start where you are, use what you have, and do what you can. And I would just add, start now.

Amy: 36:01

Yeah, so good. Such a good one. Thank you so much for joining us. This has been great. Like, I feel like there's so much more to talk about. But thank you for being here. We really, really appreciate it. And I'm so excited that we connected because this has been such a great conversation. And I feel like there's so many things that are alike between us. So I love that I can just feel the energy through the through the virtual studio here. So thank you again. My

Ella Lucas Averett: 36:25

pleasure. Amy, thank you so much.

Amy: 36:28

Thanks for listening to Nirvana sisters. For more information on this episode, check out the show notes please subscribe and leave us a review. also find us on Instagram at Nirvana sisters. If you loved what you just listened to or know someone that would please share it and tag us. Tune in next week for a fresh new episode of Nirvana sisters will continue to watch out for all things wellness so you don't have to. Bye.

Episode 71 - Breaking Down Ayurvedic With Justine Lemos, Phd - Do You Know What Dosha You Are? (Full Transcript)

This is a full transcript of the Nirvana Sisters podcast Episode 71 - Breaking Down Ayurvedic With Justine Lemos, Phd - Do You Know What Dosha You Are?

Editor’s Note: Please know that this podcast transcript is automatically generated and may contain minor errors such as typos and word switches. For more information, be sure to listen to the podcast here or view our podcast episode guide.

Amy: 0:06

Welcome to Nirvana sisters podcast where we take the intimidation out of well being and beauty to help you achieve your highest state your nirvana. We are sisters in law and your hosts. I'm Amy Sherman,

Katie: 0:18

and I'm Katie Chandler. So let's get into some real conversation Welcome to the show Nirvana sisters. We are sitting down today with Justine Lemos, Justine is an IU VEDA practitioner, PhD and founder of Shakti path. Today, Justine is going to help us better understand IU beta practices and all that it entails, we're going to touch on a few other really interesting topics like Tantra and Kundalini and so much more. But we want to get into the nitty gritty of what IU beta is, and Justine, what you do for your clients and how it helps people improve their wellness, their health and their well being. So thank you for coming to the show.

Justine: 1:10

I'm so excited to be here. Thank you so much for having me. Yes. And I really appreciate it. Yeah,

Katie: 1:16

we're gonna take a step back really quickly, because we like to start our show with a nirvana of the week or of the day, whatever your Nirvana may be. So I'm just going to kick it to me first. What was your Nirvana Ami?

Amy: 1:28

Oh, let's see. Well, I think my Nirvana from today was Katy and I had a really great meeting this morning with someone that we just totally vibed with, to talk about some future stuff for Nirvana sisters and retreats. And just, it's always nice to meet someone that's in your space and who's like minded and it just kind of like rejuvenates all your ideas and creativity. So it's just like really nice to meet her. So that was my nirvana of the day. Just connecting. What about

Katie: 1:56

that? Yeah, I love that. That was a great moment. I think mine was just right before we got on, as you can tell, I have my bathing suit on which is not super professional, but I just did like 10 laps in my pool. And it was my exercise for the day and I felt really great afterwards. It was just kind of invigorating woke me up. So it was good. I don't I don't do laps. Often, though. It's hard. It's really, really hard. But I know it's such a great workout. So it was good. It was very nice. What about you just seeing what was yours?

Unknown: 2:25

I got up really early like as the sun was just rising and just had this really beautiful glowing meditation like in the early early Amrit nectar hours of this morning. So that was just really nice.

Amy: 2:39

Wow, that sounds lovely. And for our listeners, we were just talking before we got on Justine lives in Northern California near the redwoods. So we were just listening to her the dreamy landscape that she's around. So super, super cool. Okay, so let's get into it because I've heard this word and I've heard people talk about it, but I really don't know what it means and what it entails. So kind of give us the one on one tell us about the world of IR VEDA if I'm even saying it right and what it all means.

Unknown: 3:07

So I You're a why you are i you it means life. And Veda means knowledge, or teaching or science we could even say science. So I or Veda is the science of life. It's the knowledge of how to live life with the most joy and bliss and radiance possible. And joy and bliss and radiance and health in iron VEDA from an Ayurvedic perspective, is really a state of equanimity, a state of balance, but also a state of deep engagement. It's not like we achieve some ivory tower that then we're like crystallized and we don't do anything. No, it's the science of being alive and how to live well. Really, how do you live well from birth until death, like having the most juicy and wonderful life possible. So this is what I Aveda is it's a science of wellness but more than just the science of wellness. It's not just a philosophy of how to live but practice of how to live and it's sister sciences are yoga, and Jyotish Vedic Astrology, also Tantra. And so, in that knowledge of how to live under that umbrella, it's inclusive of lifestyle, daily lifestyle routines, and tips and things that we do to move throughout the day things that we do to move throughout a week. Things that we do through to move throughout a month, a lunar cycle, things that we do to move throughout a season or a time in life. We're very different when we're children. We need different care when we're children, and we do when we're in middle age than we would do when we You're old. And so under that vast umbrella, it includes nutrition. It includes herbal remedies, it includes essential oils, it includes cleansing, it includes all ways to process emotion. It includes all of these things because it really examines the person as a whole. So it has under its rubric, forms of psychology as well as forms of nutrition. And, as I Aveda has come into the West, mostly via yoga and Yoga Journal, unfortunate unfortunately, it has been, like categorized as just another diet system, like the Paleo like some people like I'm paleo or I do keto, or I do this or that and instead it's like, oh, no, I eat pie or basically, well, that's great. I'm glad if you eat from an Ayurvedic perspective that is wonderful for your health and wellness. But I Aveda is not just that it's a whole science of being alive.

Amy: 6:02

And is it's kind of a lifestyle that one would practice which would include all different types of elements.

Unknown: 6:09

Um, it can be yes, it can be a lifestyle, it can also be used to remedy you know, as a practitioner of Ayurveda, I'll have people that will come to me because you know, they have eczema or they have hot flashes, or they have difficult menstrual cycle or whatever it is. And then we can use it to remedy imbalances in the body, much as you would use Chinese medicine or another, so called alternative practice of health and wellness. But then once things are in their balance, then yes, we live an eye or Vedic lifestyle to maintain balance and wellness and radiance in the body. Yeah, in the body and in the mind,

Katie: 6:57

where does it originate from?

Unknown: 6:59

So the origins of Ayurveda are in ancient India, it's a system that has been around for about 5000 years of experimentation and trial and error. And we pull that knowledge through from about 5000 years to the modern day era.

Katie: 7:18

Okay, is there any connection, I recently started doing Transcendental Meditation and there's a connection there because it's the TM is basic is that, if

Unknown: 7:27

so, like, all of the sciences, that have their origins in ancient India, are all intertwined. They're all intertwined, like the, like the branches of a tree. And so Maharishi Mahesh Yogi who brought Transcendental Meditation, TM to the west, was also very involved as a vida as an Ayurvedic practitioner. And he actually has a whole school of Ayurveda, and a whole product line that I think is a very, very good product line called Maharishi Ayurveda products International. One reason why I think that that product line is so, so great is because they tripled, test their herbs for heavy metals, which is not frequently done. And sometimes people can get into like taking ashwagandha. And it might not be the most pure, even if it says organic because of how testing is done. And that company has the formulas that were created by some very great either Vedic by just AI or Vedic knowledge holders, or Vedic doctors, if you will, it's more than just a doctor, and they sell those particular format formulas rebranded. And so yes, there's absolutely an overlap between TM and Ayurveda. That said, just because we're practicing TM doesn't mean we're practicing IR Veda and just because we're practicing IRB doesn't mean we're necessarily a TM practitioner like that. Yeah.

Katie: 8:59

Yeah, that makes sense. Okay. All right. So it's very vast and broad, as you said, and I, I want to think of the best way to kind of tackle it to bring to our listener to help them understand how they could use ionic practices for themselves, where do you think is a good place for someone to start?

Unknown: 9:23

So, thank you for asking. One of the wisdoms that we have inherited from Ayurveda is the wisdom of the doshas, and this will probably you may have heard of or your listeners may have heard of that, Ayurveda talks about three universal intelligences, that manifest in the universe that manifests through us that manifest in all of reality. And these three universal intelligences are Vata, Pitta and Kapha. And so, this is becoming more and more frequently found term analogy. Now, what are these doshas? How do they manifest? How do we figure out which dosha we are because we all carry a predominant dosha something that is like our cardinal blueprint. And if we can learn to live well in that blueprint, then we then our body, and our mind does really well. So Vata dosha is like air and ether. It's like air and ether, it's very rough and light and dry and movable and changeable. And people who have more Vata dosha in their constitution, tend to be very thin ectomorphic Very wiry, very creative. But because air is always moving around, they tend towards anxiety, they tend towards dryness in the body, they can tend towards constipation, they can tend towards disrupted sleep, all these types of things are typical kinds of vata, dosha, aggravation, pitta, dosha, people are like fire and a little bit of water, the really intense, they're really penetrating, these are the type A personalities like you find them in the boardroom, you find them as the, like intense athletes, you find them doing extreme sports, and they tend towards problems of too much heat, like hot flashes, like rashes, like anger, like irritation, like frustration, all these things are pitta, dosha, typical imbalance, and then they're Kapha dosha people, I'll empathize with people that are like muscular, they're athletic, you know, they're like the strong gymnasts, etc. Ca for those who people are like earth and water. So this is very steady, very slow, very sweet energy. And these people tend to have larger bodies and tend towards, towards the laziness, like, they just want to relax and enjoy. And they're the sweetest people to be around, they don't put any pressure on you, and they give you like the best hugs, like we all have a Kapha dosha Fred, and we're like, oh, that person and they're just so nice to us, right. But Kapha dosha people can tend towards weight gain, it's like very hard for them to lose weight, they can tend towards like hoarding and greediness and real emotional repression and these types of things. And so, how these three doshas interplay in each of us, and how one is more dominant for each of us, and knowing which one is most dominant for each of us, gives us a clue for how to live our life. Because, like increases, like, like increases like this means, and like, I have a lot of Vata dosha. Go for a Vata dosha. Person travel is really Vata dosha. aggravating because it's more movement, or being at elevation is really aggravating or cold weather is really aggravating. So like the worst thing a Vata dosha person can do to keep them is to go up to a mountaintop in the winter and try to run a marathon, like that's a no go. And if that person does it, when they finish that marathon, they're going to be all depleted, and they're going to be out of balance, and they're not going to feel good, right? They need to be like covered in warm blankets and eating warm soup and oiling their body so that they don't get all dried out. So at the at the most simple level, which is just working with opposites and like opposites and similarities to create balance in the body and in the mind. And at the soul level.

Katie: 13:53

It's It's interesting as you're I was thinking of all the people that I know, that are each thing, right, weren't you, Amy? Were you doing the same thing?

Amy: 14:03

Yeah. And then I was thinking, what am I and that's, that was my, my next question was going to be so there's the three what are they called, again? dosha shares? So does everybody have all three? Or is it just like there's one that's more dominant? Because I was thinking like, I'm probably a combination of a lot of Yes, yeah. So how does one like kind of figure out what one's more prominent or

Unknown: 14:27

so we all have all three. If we didn't, we'd be dead. Okay, the Kapha dosha is our immunity and our strength and our stability, Pitta. dosha, is how we transform things, how we digest things, how we digest food, and Vata dosha is our nervous system. It's how we communicate, it's how we move, but it's like, you know, one of those like graphs, were like one of those bar graphs where you've got a lot of one and less of the others. Yeah, and so most of us have one or two that's like, really pumped up, and one that is just less in All right, so you probably have a lot of Pitta and some vata and maybe less Kapha. Like that. I'm just if I had to guess just looking at you because we can look at certain things in the body and the face and the eyes that give us a clue. As to those doshas, right now, we can do like a quiz online, I have a quiz, there's like these different ways, the best way is to go to a practitioner, because they're really going to be able to tell you, we can do some self analysis, like, really, if we look at our bone structure, our body shape, like there's stuff like if your finger overlaps around your wrist, like how it, you know, that will give us some clue, like, if you're very small boned, you probably have more Vata dosha. Like, I'm a very small person, but that but I'm not completely Vata dosha I definitely have some Pitta dosha I definitely have like muscular strength and like I'm slightly athletic. And truly, truly Vata dosha people can appear like emaciated. It's like the Twiggy model, you know what I mean? Like those people who are just like, Oh my God, you're like bone sticking everywhere, not because of an eating disorder. That's just who they are and how they are. We can also feel it in like the handshake of a person like, like if the hands are very cold and kind of a limp handshake. That's a Vata dosha person like very strong warm handshake that the Pitta dosha person, like a warm, soft pillow, or just a soft pillow around your hand, that's going to be a more Kapha dosha person. The other thing I like to say, which is probably not PC, but it's okay, I'm gonna say it anyhow. Is that like, but shape is a really clear indication of dosha and this is not about shaming at all. Let's hear this right. Vata dosha people like have no but like just disappears they've got no booty, like they can't shake it.

Amy: 16:58

Okay, that's not back there. Right? That's

Unknown: 17:01

the the Pitta dosha person there but like sticks out at you. Like they've got a really nice shelf spot, right? It's like, like that, you know, that like in its in its exalted form, it's like a really great gymnast but that perky and like it's not right, no, I do have pitta, dosha, you're probably pitta, dosha and the Cappadocia, but tends to go wide, like Kapha dosha, butts can be like this very beautiful round,

Amy: 17:30

that's me.

Unknown: 17:32

Know, maybe it could have picked us up kapha, right, you definitely have something to dosha that's there in the Constitution. But there are these ways of determining. And so then, like, you think about that, that bar graph, right, that's like, I have a lot of vata and I have some pitha and I have less cough up, but then we can get imbalanced. So we can be a Vata dosha person, but we can have an extreme pitta, dosha, balance, imbalance, rather, who are Vata dosha person, but all of a sudden, we've got a huge Pitta dosha imbalance, like because we're eating tons of garlic, and tons of chili, and we're sunbathing all day long. And we're just doing all these things. And we're angry, we're angry about our job that is looking into a computer screen, which is really fiery to the senses. And then all of a sudden, we get imbalance, we get hot flashes, or we get rashes, or we get anger, or we get irritability. So you can be a constitutional type and have an imbalance that is from a different dosha.

Amy: 18:34

Yeah, it's funny that we were saying that, because I was thinking like, my wrists are really small. And then I've seen my butt's on, like, it's not the shelf. But so it's like, it's interesting that you're saying that so essentially, is it like, you have maybe two dominant one not as dominant, dominant, and then you, you basically work, you do practices to make sure that you're staying in that balance. And then if it gets off balance, there are things you can do to get it back in that balance.

Unknown: 19:00

That's precisely the right back in that balance for you. Right, not for somebody else. And that's the magic of the whole system is like, you know, if we go to the Western doctor, the Western doctor gives the 250 pound man the same bed that they give to me as like, extremely small woman, right? Yeah. And that that's like, I mean, maybe they'll reduce the dosage but it's essentially the same medication, I Aveda says no, like, you are different. You are unique. You need the medicine that is right for you. And that meant and that everything in the world can be medicine. It's very beautiful.

Amy: 19:38

Yes, that is beautiful. And you were talking about hormonal balance and hot flashes and things like that. And so that also leads me to believe that based on what type of woman you are, yeah, treat those types of things differently, which is so interesting, because I was talking to a friend the other day, and she's 50 and she was talking to me about she's like, well, I don't have any like Nana plus symptoms, but other people that are my age that are doing this and they're gonna happen. She's like, I don't know if any of that and so right that just made me think that they're doshas are different. Yes.

Unknown: 20:10

Does she more Kapha dosha in her body?

Amy: 20:14

Which one is that? The third one? You

Unknown: 20:15

mentioned that the third? Yes, yes and water and more grounded and a bit heavier in the body. Yeah, because she doesn't have that heat pumping through, and she has more grounding. And she has more what we call adjusts, which is like this beautiful life energy, which can also go sour and become toxic. But because she has that grounding, and actually, that fat layer creates a buffer to some of the hormonal imbalances that women who are more vata, more really skinny, more pitha more athletic and really intense, tend to get so there's this really, yes, you're exactly right. That's so exhausting. Now you now you've got it, you've got the whole thing.

Katie: 20:59

If you're, if you're imbalanced, what are some things that you can do to balance?

Unknown: 21:04

Yeah. So it really depends upon that particular person, what their imbalances, how much capacity they have for change. And one thing that I'm always looking to do in my practice, and in my courses is like, I could give you a list of like, 25, things to do, and things to eat and not eat and like, but if you don't do any of them, that's not going to work well. So instead, I want to give you like three things that will create massive shift for you. And then you'll feel so successful, and you'll feel better, and then you can take more change and make more shift, right smart, and, and so thank you. So it's really unique to what that imbalance is, and who that person is, right? We always have to be matching the the remedies to that person's constitution and to what the imbalance is, and looking for. This is the difference between a clinical practitioner which I am and like, a kind of lifestyle consultant or something, like I'm looking for how did this imbalance come to be? What are the deep roots of this imbalance? Like, is this an imbalance that you've been working on for 25 years? Is this an imbalance that actually has its origin in the relationship to your mother? Like, where did this come from? And go to the source of that and create like, deep profound change at the source of that?

Katie: 22:37

And do you have a lot of patients or clients that come to you that are dealing with things like autoimmune disease, or Lyme disease, like you know, these all of these different afflictions? Do you see a lot of that,

Unknown: 22:50

um, I do see some autoimmune, I do see a lot of hormone imbalance, how hormones shift like, that's a time when women are suddenly like, it can be a really a crisis time for women. And so, I see a lot of that. I also do a lot of work with sexuality, and, like sexual radiance, really, for women who are like, Wait, my hormones are shifting, I don't want to have sex or I have vaginal dryness or I have like, like, all these things going on. How do I how do I move through this? Like, what is this new pattern of being? So that's some somewhere that I really work with a lot to

Katie: 23:36

know. Does that touch on Tantra? Is that?

Unknown: 23:40

Oh, yeah.

Katie: 23:44

So tell us Yeah. All right. My only knowledge of it is hearing about sting and his beautiful wife practicing tantric sex. That's really all I've ever heard.

Unknown: 23:57

So, so, so Bali, oh my god, I love it so much. I forgot about that. Okay. So Tantra means to weave it means to weave together and Tantra is that we have to talk about Neo Tantra which is like kind of like westernized soulful sex, which is cool and great and why not like great up level your sex life. Go there with some incense friends, have a lot of fun. And then we can talk about some fat as a, as a philosophic current from ancient India. That presupposes that every aspect of the manifest world is divine, and is a pathway towards experiencing divinity and bliss. very radical, like everything, the trash dump pathway to divinity and bliss, like every single thing is a conduit. And therefore that contrast do teach us that sex and sexuality is one such pathway. And that it is fundamentally intertwined with our health well being and our radiance our vitality. And so that's what I'm gonna say about that.

Katie: 25:24

That's it. That's all you're gonna give us. Give us more. The GSC What do you want? Yeah. I mean, I, okay, so what I took from that was that your sexual desire, how much of a sexual being you feel how radiant and feminine you feel, is all part of your wellness, and to be able to tap into that, you know, for if a woman is struggling and going through hormonal imbalances, and has no sex drive. And then you just start to feel like you don't feel feminine anymore. And you start to feel like you're losing a softness to you and that it is a desire and a passion. That's all part of it. So you're saying Tantra, that's part of, of well being that's part of life. And that's the focus.

Unknown: 26:16

Exactly right. And then we I mean, in, we can talk about, I mean, there are advanced rituals and practices and all sorts of all sorts of voodoo Juju that we can, that we can talk about a little bit, and a lot of it is, is secret. That said, working with vital winds and energies in the body and in the mind is and working with energetic alchemise, right, to transform and transmute energetic states in the body and in the mind and to not be contained in this mundane reality is all part of the teaching. They probably teach

Amy: 27:03

differently again, based on what type of what's the name, Miguel take the doshas. Yeah, totally. You are so yeah, right. Interesting. So

Unknown: 27:16

we're gonna have a friend of mine, a dear colleague and a friend, we're gonna actually teach a course on contra for women suit that's like, involves many of the so called Secret practices, etc. That's on like, the chakra system. You guys know the chakra system, right? Yeah, blah, blah, blah. It's on the chakra system and sex. It's on like Jade egg rituals. From a Taoist perspective. It's on like, bliss drop practices in the energetic body where you're moving inner winds and channels to experience like deep, overwhelming bliss in the present moment when you're not having sex. Right. And then you're like driving through the pickup line trying to pick up your kid and you're like, Oh, my God, I'm having an orgasm right now. School. Never happened. Never happens. It doesn't happen, right?

Amy: 28:05

Oh my god. That's hilarious. That's great. I want to go back to what you were saying just before you were saying about how you, you know, you prescribe like three things, let's say or give someone three things to do based on their what they're struggling with or whatever. Are those two things like? Is it food related? Is it like, like a

Unknown: 28:26

are slowly person to person? It totally depends, like, person to person. And we haven't talked about Vedic Astrology. I'll talk about it a little bit. Yeah, I want to hear about. Yeah, I want to talk about it in just a second. But it depends, like, what level needs the remedy. Like if if it's something that's actually in your mind, but the problem is originating from I can give you and this happens with weight loss all the time. I have to just be straight with you guys. I'm pretty straight with you guys. I've already talked about orgasms in the pickup line. So we're like, really good. That is, right. It's like in your mind now. I'm sorry. We're just we've gone. They're really great friends. So what the heck was I talking about?

Amy: 29:11

You were talking? Yeah,

Unknown: 29:13

weight loss, weight loss. It's my least favorite thing. In my practice, I pretty much don't do it anymore. If somebody comes and says, I want to lose weight, I'm like, why is that because nine times out of 10 I can put them on any diet in the world. They won't lose weight, because it is something in their mind and it's a deep seated fear. And it's like all of this pent up emotion and like all of this stuff, that unless they address that what is keeping it in place, then the diet doesn't work right. So it depends like What remedies we need depends upon like, where where you are and which level of the self we are addressing. Is it just the physical body? Is it the mind? Is it the energetic body like we're just how Talking about the chakras, maybe your heart chakra needs to be really opened. Now we can do that through some rose essential oil, or we can do it with like specific sexual positions, if that's where you want to go, right? Or you're open to, or you know that we, there's all these different remedies depending upon that person and what they need. And it's my job to like, see that person? Yeah, to see that person and then then understand that remedy, which will bring them to a layer of awakening to themselves, right

Katie: 30:34

to where it all starts to work, and then start things start falling into place, you would appreciate this. And I wonder if you've heard of it, if it's related at all, but I just recently signed up for a 30 day course, a hip opener course, because I have had a lot of hip pain lately. And I was reading that you hold trauma in your hips. And yeah, I thought I'm gonna give this a try. So right, so yeah, just yeah, I'm gonna start it tomorrow. But is that is that? Yeah, totally

Unknown: 31:03

second, second chakra Sacral Chakra is is the water element. And it absolutely relates to emotions and emotional flow, and how we contain and hold emotion and how we process emotion. And so hip openers are great.

Katie: 31:20

Very cool.

Amy: 31:20

I have a question. Because this might be something that's on a lot of people's mind, just like over the last few years, there's been so much anxiety, you know, all over the place. And so and when you were saying before, if something's more in the mind, it's not physical, but it's like anxiety or things like that. How can I mean, I know, this is so broad, and it depends on person, what type they are. But is there something someone could do in their daily life to like, ease anxiety? I'm just trying to think of something that a lot of people Yeah,

Unknown: 31:52

absolutely. You know, there's so many different things. But the most, the easiest remedy for that is to walk slower. Like when you are going to your car, you know, we get into that like, Okay, I'm going out of the grocery store, and I'm getting into the car, and I'm just filling in, I'm checking my phone, and I'm in like the radios on and like all of this, just walk slowly, between point A and point B. And that's it. Like even like, feel like you're a gorilla. Like what? Because get back into your body. Because anxiety is when we are in the future or the past. And if we can come back right now. Like into any mindful state, then it dissipates. Right. So that's one like totally simple remedy. Just walk.

Amy: 32:50

That's great. That's good for kids. When kids get all crazy about something, yeah, but for

Unknown: 32:55

kids, like, I'll do this with my kid, I'll be like, okay, Name five things that are present right now. They'll be like, Hey, I know. They'll be like, No Name five things and they'll be like, I see my shoe. They see the picture on the wall. And by the time they've done five, they're done. Right because they're back they've like they've like Soul retrieved with some crystals and like recite

Amy: 33:17

Yeah, yeah. Right now.

Katie: 33:22

All right. I was great. I want to hear about it was the Vedic Astrology. Yeah, yeah, that's, yeah, we can't we can't miss that. So help us better understand.

Unknown: 33:35

Okay, so it's another one of these huge sciences that has its origins in ancient India. And I use Vedic Astrology as an Ayurvedic practitioner. Most many Ayurvedic practitioners do not practice Jyotish, which is another name for Vedic Astrology. It's the science of light. So it's how light manifests in the universe through you. And so, Vedic Astrology is accurate to what is actually happening in the sky right now. Whereas Western Astrology is accurate to what was happening in the sky 2000 years ago. Oops. I Western astrology really triggers me. So I'm just gonna put it aside right now. Because it's not accurate. That's why it's like

Amy: 34:20

horoscopes and like that kind of stuff.

Unknown: 34:22

And it's not accurate. Like, like, oh, the moon is in cancer. If you look up Astro logic astronomically at the sky. The moon is not in cancer. Right now. It's actually we just had a New Moon in Gemini, right? It's just not right. So that's a problem for me. Yeah. Anyhow, people love it. So I'll let them do their thing. I'll do my thing. Okay. So it's accurate to what is actually happening in the sky and how we, it shows us the blueprint of the karma, that that soul has come into this lifetime to work on So really big stuff, really big stuff like Have I come into this lifetime? To learn how to be better at relationship? Have I come into this lifetime to learn about addiction? Like that's pretty heavy karma, right? Have I come into this lifetime to learn about cancer? That's some pretty heavy karma, right? Or have I come into this lifetime to learn about money? Like, think of these things as good or bad, they aren't good or bad. It's like, What has my soul chosen, or be been propelled in this lifetime to learn to learn about? Wow. And so when we look at that, then that gives me a picture. That's where I usually start when I'm working with a one on one client, because, you know, why is one child born perfect, and another child is born with a deformed arm, right? That has no reason? There's no reason except for if we look at these bigger karmic pictures, so why have you manifested in this particular way, this particular slice of light coming into the universe, right? And those karmic lessons that we're learning, it's like, we go to a climbing gym, and like the first time we climb the wall, we're like, Oh, my God, that's so hard. All of my muscles are like jello, and I'm exhausted. But then we go back again, and we climb it again. And it feels better. But we're still learning about this new territory. And similarly, this is what we do over and over and over and over in our lifetimes, right? We know this, we like this guy who's an asshole. We dated this guy who is not very nice. And and then we're like, okay, thank you. I didn't know what kind of podcasts are on. There. But so we did this guy, and he's unavailable, right? unavailable, man like that karma, right? And then we're like, I'm not going to do that. So then we did another guy, guess who do we date? Another unavailable guy, right? Because we, it's like these things that we're getting a PhD on in this lifetime. It's not that, like, we just get better and better and better and better at this thing. But when we look at the chart, we can provide, we can provide the wisdom, it's so helpful to be seen in this way to be like, Oh, that's who you are. I see what you are working on.

Katie: 37:14

Like, it helps you understand the why. Yes, there's how it gives you the why.

Amy: 37:19

So how do you? How do you do it? Like, what is it? Like? How does one?

Unknown: 37:24

Yeah, yeah, so we need the birth date, time and place. And then there are charts within charts within charts. And like, I use a software that that pulls up the chart so that you can see all of these. I mean, it's a system of signs and symbols, and then it's it's our job to interpret those. So you do

Katie: 37:47

their meetings. Yeah.

Amy: 37:49

And then that then informs that person, kind of what their

Unknown: 37:54

Yeah, so if I'm, if I'm doing just like an IRB, I don't mean just but if I'm doing a health console, I'll look at it and just be like, Okay, this is the picture. And this is this will tell me a great information. And then I leave that and then we're going into like, what are you eating every day? And when do you go to sleep? And how much alcohol are you drinking? And like, what are these other factors, but then if I'm just doing a chart reading, we'll spend an hour and a half or two hours just looking at like, what are the what are you working on in this lifetime?

Amy: 38:23

And then what is suitable sorry, then what are people I'm just trying to, like? For lack of a better word, like dumb it down for myself, like, what did people like you read there? You do a reading for them, like based on their birthday or all that, then like, they learn kind of what they're here for. Then what do they do with that doomsaying?

Unknown: 38:48

Yeah, yeah, no, I do. We do have remedies for when there are difficulties in the chart. And then there's also the fact that like, there's the time that you were born, and that's like your blueprint, and then there's stuff that's happening right now. Right that overlays that the end so we can see when times are going to be difficult for you. And that's really helpful to know, like, wow, that's gonna be a really hard time for me, right? I'm going by I'm gonna lose my job and my boyfriend is gonna break up with me, whatever it is, right? That's gonna be a hard time and just knowing that is like, okay, yeah, it's not the end of the world. This is what is happening right now. And it's also a framework for understanding reality, understanding reality, that is incredibly potent.

Katie: 39:40

It also seems like it would be you know, so many people say they're searching for their why and like, why are they here? What is their what are they supposed to be doing on this planet? And if this is giving your karma then I'm kind of telling you that exactly what that insight. Yes. And then you can do something with it.

Unknown: 40:00

That's exactly right. It's like that knowledge and then you

Katie: 40:03

just say I'm gonna get a reading. It sounds very cool.

Amy: 40:06

It doesn't cool.

Katie: 40:07

Yeah. Amazing. It's, it's all very like, it's, I mean, it's much more vast. Like we talked about it

Amy: 40:16

all. Yeah, I know. I was gonna say that too. Yeah. It would be so interesting to just have like deep dives on each one of these things. Because we just start like scratching the surface. It sounds like there's just so much underneath to, to learn about. So. Yeah, we'll have to like, have you back to talk.

Unknown: 40:36

Come back. I like you guys.

Amy: 40:37

Maybe we do a section on Tantra. And we do a section on,

Unknown: 40:42

like on the pickup line at school.

Amy: 40:45

Yeah, exactly. Like there's just so much to get into. And I feel like we could do a whole session on Vedic Astrology. Yeah. Which is super interesting. Yeah. Okay, awesome. Well, we're gonna want to

Katie: 40:59

hear but yeah, go ahead. So you do some you do retreats as well. Right. Justine, tell us about your summer. Last

Unknown: 41:08

summer, I do a summertime retreat, and I do a winter time retreat. Summertime bliss retreats coming up here in July. It's in California, near Nevada City, which is like this super, spiritual, yummy place. And we do a five day retreat. And we dive deep into all of these things. And into practice. And it's I don't know, if you have you ever been on a retreat, like a spiritual or yoga retreat before?

Amy: 41:38

I know. I have, but not like, not that, like more.

Unknown: 41:45

So it's so relaxing, because you don't even have to think about what you're going to eat. You know, like, even if you're on vacation, you have to be like, Okay, that's your restaurant, whatever. It's like, that's one of the most relaxing things about retreat is like your food is like this amazing organic food and it appears before you. And so it just like takes away all of this pressure. And we just we do yoga and alchemical practices and fire rituals and water healings and Slike. Really? Amazing. Yeah, super fun. Yeah. So my summertime retreat is there in Nevada City, I think I have one space left. And then in the wintertime, generally I do like a kind of invite only retreat, which means like, if you're if you if you contact me, and you're cool, you can come by summertime.

Amy: 42:37

just from looking at someone where they fit

Unknown: 42:41

out and then I read their mind and use my psychic skills. So wintertime retreat is going to be a women's Tantra retreat this winter. I'm super working on the details of it. Very cool.

Katie: 42:54

My husband would buy me a ticket tomorrow.

Unknown: 42:57

All right, let's do it. I'm sending you I want you to comment, it's gonna be so much fun. Very cool.

Amy: 43:05

Love it. Okay,

Unknown: 43:06

I know I was like this upcoming Tantra course that I that I'm going to do in the fall. It's a six week course for women about tantric sex and sexuality. We'll touch on some of the Neo Tantra stocks, but it's very much from this kind of rooted position and place. I was talking to my friend who does marketing and I was like, Can I just mark it towards men? And like get them to buy it for their wives? Like he was like, Yeah, you can probably do that. He was like, you might pick up a few.

Katie: 43:34

Yeah, sounds very Yeah, it sounds like the way to go. Alright. So where can our listeners find you if they want to reach out and work with you and your retreats?

Unknown: 43:46

I'm just in limos.com is my website and I'm on Instagram, Justine Lemos, Ph. D. And you can find me there you can reach out you can send me a DM I'm super responsive. They're like, I also really enjoy like that. I also have a UI I also run a mighty network which is like free social media the the base level is free. And I mean, they're like everyday that's the bliss the dash bliss.mn.to You guys I think, Oh yeah, I'm on Gaia TV. I've 12 shows on Gaia and actually a big course coming out through Sofia yoga International. But the best way is like on Instagram or on my website, send me a message. I love personal contact with my students and clients and like people like if you message me you're gonna really get me like not another person.

Katie: 44:43

Nice. Yeah, well, this was a lot of fun. This is something we should get. Yeah, we should get into our rap session because I'm really curious to hear some of your answers. is what is your favorite wellness or beauty hack?

Unknown: 45:00

So it's what we call a younga, which is a complete body oil creation that I do almost daily.

Katie: 45:08

What does that entails more? Yeah,

Unknown: 45:10

so you get warm oil, it has to be warm and you warm it up. And it can be like verbalized oil or oil for specific reasons. Or for specific purposes and you oil your entire body, you can do your hair. You don't have to and then usually you're taking a warm shower afterwards and like rubbing the oil into your body. It's this wonderful, amazing self care ritual.

Amy: 45:33

Sounds lovely.

Katie: 45:34

Are you doing this at like a certain time of day? Is this a morning ritual in

Unknown: 45:38

the morning? Or night? I usually do it at night. Yeah,

Amy: 45:42

yeah, I was like a wind down. That sounds so relaxing.

Unknown: 45:45

Yeah. Jazz gets oil everywhere. I'm fine with it. Yeah.

Amy: 45:49

Yeah. Love that. Okay, so the next one we call our five minute flow. So you just got out of the shower, you dry it off. Uber or your friend whatever alerted you. They're five minutes away. They're picking you up. What is your quick beauty routine? Like what are your go to Holy girls had to get ready and get out the door on time? I mean, ideally, it wouldn't be five minutes because we want to slow down but if you have Right, right, totally,

Unknown: 46:13

but like I like I if I've oily ated like I'm ready. Like I'm ready to go. I'm like no frills, like, Yeah, I mean, make sure my architecture shaved spray on some deodorant. Like, if it's a fancy, I might have some like, mascara on. Yeah,

Amy: 46:34

but other than that oily ated and good to go.

Unknown: 46:38

That's right. I'm ready to walk out the door. Love it. Yep.

Katie: 46:42

Amazing. All right. And the last one is, how do you maintain your daily nirvana?

Unknown: 46:50

Well, I think we've talked about most of it, like, you know, I practice physical yoga daily. I practice meditation daily, I do all of these Ayurvedic rituals and internal and external alchemy. So that's good, fun. Love it.

Katie: 47:10

Justin, I feel like you probably have some really cool mantras. We'd like to close our show with a mantra. Do you have any that come to mind? And I know that's I know that term. We use that term very loosely here. Obviously, we're not using it as Sanskrit mantras, not necessarily speaking to that. But more just like something we like to end, on a note, a reminder, an affirmation, something along those lines. So if you don't have anything, no pressure, but I just thought I'd ask right.

Unknown: 47:40

And of course, like to me, I'm like, oh, all of the Sanskrit mantras come directly out. I'm like, oh, yeah, Mantra. We can.

Katie: 47:49

Yeah, please. I would love a Sanskrit mantra. I just didn't want to put the pressure on. Oh, there is

Unknown: 47:55

no pressure. So first, I'm gonna chant a Gayatri mantra that invites in seven forms of light, like into us. So it's like an invocation of luminosity. Where we're like pouring sunlight down through us and then like, emanating sun out through our pores, like so. This is the globe on track. This is the like, track Okay, yeah,

Amy: 48:23

ready

Unknown: 48:29

for move us VA server tour. Training knee bar go live. Yes. Yeah, daddy nahi the you're not proud to die.

Amy: 48:54

Can you know that was your voice is gorgeous. It's like went through me.

Katie: 49:02

It's very grounding and relaxing. That was beautiful. Thank you so

Amy: 49:07

much. That was so special.

Katie: 49:10

That we appreciate so grateful for your time.

Unknown: 49:13

I had super fun hanging out with you guys. You too.

Amy: 49:16

Thanks so much. Thanks for listening to Nirvana sisters. For more information on this episode, check out the show notes. Please subscribe and leave us a review. also find us on Instagram at Nirvana sisters. If you loved what you just listened to or know someone that would please share it and tag us. Tune in next week for a fresh new episode of Nirvana sisters will continue to watch out for all things wellness so you don't have to. Bye.

Episode 63 - Greens, Water, Move, Repeat With Ahmi Health Founder, Rachel Johnson (Full Transcript)

This is a full transcript of the Nirvana Sisters podcast Episode 63 - Greens, Water, Move, Repeat With Ahmi Health Founder, Rachel Johnson.

Editor’s Note: Please know that this podcast transcript is automatically generated and may contain minor errors such as typos and word switches. For more information, be sure to listen to the podcast here or view our podcast episode guide.

Amy: 0:06

Welcome to Nirvana sisters podcast where we take the intimidation out of well being and beauty to help you achieve your highest state your nirvana. We are sisters in law and your hosts. I'm Amy Sherman.

Katie: 0:18

And I'm Katie Chandler. So let's get into some real conversation

Amy: 0:28

Welcome back to the show Nirvana sisters family. It's Amy and Katie. And we're so excited to be here with Rachel Johnson, who's the founder of Ahmi health. She is a corporate lawyer by day and an entrepreneur by night. So I can definitely relate to that. And we are super excited to hear about her growing business and hear about the community of women that are figuring out the healthy life together. So welcome to the show, Rachel.

Rachel: 0:51

Thank you. I'm so excited to be here. Actually, on my morning walk this morning. I was listening to Lisa, the founder of Kroma wellness episode you guys just did because a lot of our members have been doing her five day cleanse and like trying all her products. So it's like so curious.

Amy: 1:07

Oh, that's awesome. But what is their feedback? Ben, we love it.

Rachel: 1:10

You love it. They I think, you know some of them have done at prolong, which is like, Oh, you're one which is really rough. I can just enter my friend. I've done it bombers with me. And she's like, I'm so frickin pissed. I drink her all day. I've lost like less than one pound. But she was yeah, it's

Amy: 1:29

horrible. I've done it a few times. Yeah. From us, like, a million times better and healthier. Yes.

Rachel: 1:35

And the people that are doing Kroma just like they're like we're eating like they have like almond butter or whatever that cookie butter is. And so I think it's really great. I really want to do it. I am trying to have a third kid so I'm like I shouldn't really do a write always. I love experimenting with that stuff. You know, I was a girl like 10 years ago that was doing a juice cleanse like just with my friends because I feel like I was the one person that would actually commit with them. Yeah, we're doing it like five days.

Amy: 2:03

That's awesome. Well, we're so happy to get all into it. But before we get into it, let's do our nirvana of the week and kind of take a step back and talk about what brought us joy this week or today or anything little we're big at why don't you start so funny.

Katie: 2:17

Thank you Amy. It's so funny that I'm so my, my my nirvana of the week was going to be that my inlaws are here. We're here but as Amy knows, Amy's parents, my parents, they just tested positive for COVID last night so are on their way home.

Amy: 2:36

They're okay though. Yes,

Katie: 2:37

they are. Their bodies are handling it very, very well that so they're doing I think they're going to be just fine. But we did have like some great little Nirvana moments with them this week with the kids and everything and just relaxing having dinners together. It's nice. I was loved having them here. So it's a shame it got cut short, but that was my What about you, Amy?

Amy: 2:57

It's so cute. Yeah, my my dad was telling me that they went to see the Michael Jackson show in on Broadway in New York City like a couple of nights ago and Katie's daughter Maddie went and it sounded like she was in heaven thought it was amazing. And I heard the I heard the guy Wait, or when they were young and she Yeah, she I

Katie: 3:15

mean, she goes on never be the same after.

Amy: 3:20

Yeah, my dad said she waves back and I was like, okay, she's gonna be that the rest of her life. That was actually one of my Nirvana's I was gonna say because that was like the cutest thing because I can remember being that little and something like that happens even now you're like, Oh my God. That is really funny that you said that. Totally.

Rachel: 3:35

I remember catching Justin Timberlake, Timberlake. glowstick at a Encino remember it and I saved the glow stick was like on my shelf for so long.

Amy: 3:45

So funny. Yeah, that's a sweet. So I would say I've used versions of this before, but I've been like, I feel like in a little bit of a funk lately with like, I mean, I'm always working out. But just like in you know, you get into the routine. And so this week, I've been just doing a lot more walking outside because it's been beautiful out. So it is just amazing how much it changes your mood. Because, you know, sometimes you're like, you get up and you're like, you don't feel like getting your bed you get like a little lazy, especially today. It's like, you know, before a long holiday weekend, and I was just like, and then I forced myself to get out of bed. I took a half an hour walk with my dog and like, I felt so much better coming in and I was just like, um, it's just, it's just amazing how much like fresh air and the sun in your eyes and like a good walk and sweat can do for you and change your perspective. And I wasn't even like running. I ran a little bit but mostly just walking and I just felt so good afterwards. But um, so that was my Nirvana, love. Okay, what about you, Rachel?

Rachel: 4:40

Um, so my nirvana is probably the opposite of health and wellness. But I was in the Bahamas this past weekend. And I think minder, Ivana was just being at this like really grungy dive bar with a group of two other couples. We went to the Bahamas with and we were like taking shots at tequila and see like free fall and winter. So fun, grungy all these like, posters were in there and I was just like this like reminds you of like the good old days and I really I mean it's terrible but like I feel like alive and I remember like this is heaven. This is like, you know that happiness. I love that feeling yeah fun and actually went with two couples that are dating there. All four of them were recently divorced. And it's something that you know, I usually go with like married couples or others but these people were down to like YOLO have so much fun. Second Leisha life and it was like so fun and really fun for me and my husband did just like get that renewed energy from that. That's so

Katie: 5:39

great. I love that. Yeah, that's Nirvana's can be wild and crazy and fun. And that's a great things for you to like, it's so important, right? The balance I think tonight I'm gonna probably be having a couple spicy margaritas. And that will be when nirvana for tomorrow.

Amy: 5:54

Exactly. Alright, well, let's get into it. So tell us all about AMI health and how to get started and kind of like what the name represents.

Rachel: 6:05

Yeah, so AMI is a play on the French word for friend. Because that's really how it started. I had had my second baby, I always kind of let it go. When I'm pregnant. I like order bloomin onion from Outback Pizza Hut. Like I live it up. And I've never been into like health and wellness. I've always like been interested in what other people are doing. And like doing juice cleanses here and there. But nothing like I've never looked at nutrition labels or ever really feel like I could live a healthy life. And after my second baby, I had about 60 to 70 pounds to lose. And I was like shoot like I need to do something and I need to like join something. And there really wasn't a company out there that I felt like spoke my language when it came to getting healthy. There was a new Weight Watchers which are great. But I just wanted something like fresh, elevated sharing all the healthy products. And I realized like what motivated me was seeing other busy women doing it like seeing somebody that's similar to me, maybe she's like the head of Burger King or something going for a run at 6am. I'm like shit if she can do it. I know she's getting on a flight somewhere. I can do it too. So I got a group of six of my girlfriends together. And you know, we'd all get together. We're like, Oh, I gotta get healthy. And like none. Nobody ever done anything. And I was like, Guys, we're committing for three months, we're going to like eat really simple recipes, share them with each other, and just work out three days a week, because like three days a week, you can do even when you're having a shit show week and like, let's start there. And we did it really stuck to it. Like most times you would be like alright guys, I'm like going on vacation. Good luck with your like little healthy thing. Let people do that with you. I know you're sticking to it. Because you can still like, do three days a week on vacation like, yes, you're right, eating the healthiest, but you can still do something. So they we really stuck with and we all saw huge changes. Like I lost 25 pounds. My single friends were happy again, they were like back on the dating apps. Like we were just all different. And so great work, you know, and everybody started asking us like, What the heck are you guys doing? Because naturally when you start looking and feeling good people want to ask you and it's like, what the hell and they want you to say it's $1,000 Shake that they can do to. And it's just like, we didn't have a magic to it. And so people were like, well, I want to do it too. Or like I have a group of girls like we want to do it. And I was like there's nothing to do you like just get together and do it. And I finally then there were like strangers coming to me. And they were like, I don't have a group of friends to do it with but I really want to do it. And so I started setting up these groups on WhatsApp, some were like already groups of friends, but some were just complete strangers, and I like matched together. And they ended up having 16 different groups, like almost 100 Women on WhatsApp doing this together. And it was like there's definitely something here. Like I feel like the people want this they want something to start and they don't necessarily want it to end like there's a reason why Weight Watchers has lifetime members. Like you need that constant reminder to be healthy. And if you could do it in a way where like sharing healthy products like Chroma and like all the cool you know collagen stuff that's out and what do you like to use? Like that's what we all like to know anyway. And like it's kind of different than just having like a newsletter or content where you're seeing it and not really seeing people use this or talk about it in their everyday life. So about a year ago, I started that so that was like three years ago the WhatsApp group I was like holy shit like going to a coffee shop. I have a full time job being a corporate lawyer and managing partner of a law firm. And I was going to a coffee shop on Sunday setting up these WhatsApp groups. I two little kids my husband's like you are freaking insane. Yeah, like, what are you doing? I just loved it. And I was like, I feel, I was like, glad I feel like there's something here. And he's like, okay, like, I trust you, because you always like, somehow figure it out. And so about a year ago, we I finally saw, like, there was a need, and there was a market fit for what we were doing. And so I transferred to a Slack community. And now anybody can join anytime. But we do have like three big launches throughout the year, where a lot of new members joined together. So it's a community of, you know, mostly busy women, whether working or not working, just trying to figure out how to, like consistently live that healthy life together. And we do little like challenges throughout the time, we have a registered dietician that like helped us create AMI, and now we're partnering with other registered dieticians. But we have you know, a lot of content like a one week reset menu that you know, probably is like a $90 grocery store run that can really reset you for the week, and make a lot of really cool content to keep you motivated. So when you log on, you get like a member dashboard, you get access to our community. And we have a lot of like exclusive interviews to have, like people we want to talk to you and know things about and our members who have had really big changes.

Katie: 11:20

That's amazing. It's so smart, because it's all about the accountability and motivating each other and the experience and sharing it with someone and just as you were talking about, it reminded me so much of like, our journey together, Amy and I, you know, it sounds very similar to what we do with each other, and why we want to share it with people and everything. And I love that you make it very accessible. And that's part of it, all of it. Right? It's like it's accessible. It's for anyone that wants to get started on their wellness journey. They don't have to be a marathon runner. They don't have you know, it's it's easy, right?

Rachel: 11:53

Yes, yeah, we like we're very big, like, we have total newbies, but we also have like, health and wellness freaks that like just want to be out of this because they like to like, be in the know. And they and honestly everybody needs motivation. Whether you're like, I've been doing this for years. Yeah, I'm up. So and it's really nice, because some of the newbies are like, See, I need people like this, my friends are not motivated. I need people more healthy than me showing me what the hell to do. And like it's true, you kind of need in your life, people that like are a little more motivated than you. So like you told us back, like if everybody it's so true, whatever you're gonna be like, alright, well, let's just not go on a walk today on vacation. Right?

Amy: 12:35

Right now i That's so true. Because I know like years ago, you know, before Katie and I started the same thing. Like, she would motivate me because she's like, Oh, I just made this amazing salad. And I like literally I still have it like in my notes, you know, where then I'll be like, Oh, I found this cool. Whatever. Katie got me like really eyes open to a lot of healthy eating stuff. And I have another friend who lives in LA and Janine, I don't know if you're listening Janine, but she's super healthy and always has been. And I feel like she's always telling me what's new, and what good workouts to do. And just like different things. So I think it is really motivating to have people that are around you that can give you all the tips and trips and your tricks. You're right, that is true. And you're on vacation, because you can be on vacation and not have to be so gluttonous, you can have your drinks, but you can also get up early and go on a hike or, you know, make your vacation active as well. Because then you come back and you feel horrible for like, totally not paying attention. So it's like, it's all about that balance. And I also love how it's very real. Like, I know you're speaking to that just like it's like a group with your friends, which is so nice, because you just it's a little bit more casual and loose. It's not so regimented, like some of these programs can be

Rachel: 13:40

yes. And I think it's good because you are seeing like other real women, like I said, I think a lot of us are seeing on social and Instagram, like people whose 24/7 job is health and wellness. And it feels very intimidating sometimes. And for me, I just would always like write it off. I'm like that shit is impossible for me. Like I could never make a collagen latte in the morning. Like that's not my life and now I forget to do it. Or you get to college and you know, and I think you just have to like, be like wait, no, I can freakin do this I can work out you know every day and move my body I just have to figure out what works for me. And I think that's the thing like that intimidation factor of you know, I can't do it or if I do it I have to do some like 30 Day sprint and make it be everything that you know our goal is like to stick with this life forever. Our motto is greens water move, repeat. And that is what I stuck to like especially in the beginning. I'm like did I have one cup of greens today whether it's in like a side child with dinner in a smoothie? Did I drink 90 ounces of water because like before I was living dehydrated I honestly don't even know how I'm alive or like got through law school being so dehydrated And then move, let's just move your body like you said, even a morning walk on a vacation with an iced latte filled with almond milk or sugar, who cares? Like enjoy your walk, but at least go on a walk on vacation in the morning and move your body. And I think focusing on like, the simplicity of that kind of makes it feel easy, rather than the counting, and then this and then that. And obviously people have to do what works for them. And I think food tracking counting is like so important for some of our members. But I think they're like overarching, they're still having that like greens water move, repeat in the back of there.

Katie: 15:37

Yeah, I love it. It's simply like that. And then you have tell us what your nutritionist what role she plays. So or he or she I'm sorry, what?

Rachel: 15:46

So we actually, our plan is to partner with a lot of nutritionist. So we do feel like nutrition is that one thing when I talk to people? It is like the personalized aspect of it like yes, we can all be in this group together. But I do think having one on one personalized nutrition is so important. Like everybody's different, how often are you going to the bathroom, maybe you're not having a fiber. So we are now starting to partner with registered dieticians, who you know, our community has like discounts and perks with it, offer that one on one personalized nutrition to our members. And I'm working with one now who is amazing. And I have never worked with a registered dietician. Even in my three years of having on me, I always was like, my mentality, which I feel like it's a lot of people was like, I know what, like eating healthy is like I just need like work. I make excuses. And I just can't stick with it. And after even just two sessions with this registered dietician, I'm just like, I'm like, I needed to know that education behind it. What was missing, you know, a lot of us are under eating and like we're so ravenous and open all the pantries at 6pm. Because we skipped like that crucial 3pm snack that can't just be like the bar, it has to be like the bar an apple and like you really have to be scientific about filling yourself up. So it's been I'm like really excited for that next chapter of on me of really bringing like one on one personalized nutrition. And then we can all share with each other. I'm like, Oh, my dietician told me to get these like bestie crackers on Amazon. And I never heard of those. And I'm like, Oh, I actually just ordered them this morning. Yeah, but

Amy: 17:28

have you heard, we've interviewed Jen Silverman on our show twice. Jen Silverman nutrition. She's amazing. And she's given us a lot of like, good hacks and snacks and recipes. So you should listen to her. But we should also connect you with her because she'd be really valuable for your group. She has great, great, great recipes and recommendations. But yeah, it's so important to and I agree, it's like it's all about your your body and like how your body reacts to things versus just like this general plan. And I love that. You have this group and you're all sharing it. So it's not like this, like, oh, well, this is I'm not going to tell you like oh no, get this snack or get this to this

Rachel: 18:02

cool. It's like some people join. It's like, I have five pounds to lose. And like somebody else is joining. I'm like, I've 45 pounds, or somebody's joining. And they're just like, I'm freaking depressed. And my therapist told me that I need to get healthy. And so I found on me, and I feel like it is true. And you guys I know I'm probably like preaching to the choir. But like once I really started getting healthy, I feel like work got better. Like I wasn't so agitated on like, having all this stuff to do, because I had the energy of feeling good. And I feel like for me that was like, so my day is like most people I'm at my computer from like 9am to 6pm. So I need like the same energy is probably like 80% of America that are in, you know, jobs where email is your life. Yeah.

Amy: 18:54

It's so true. It's so true. And I do. You were saying this before, but just wanted to comment on it. I love that you're making this so accessible, like he was mentioning too, because that's where we're all about to like taking the intimidation out of well being because you're right, you see these people on Instagram and you're like, oh my god, that's so unattainable. It just doesn't feel relatable. And it's demotivating in a way. So we have that same ethos around this is like the real 101 And like, these are little things that you can incorporate and not to make it intimidate anybody can. It can totally be that way. Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

Rachel: 19:30

It's hard, right? Like, I feel like everybody's like with Jennifer Lopez has like, you know, multi million dollars and these people aren't millions of dollars, but like she's frickin working. It's hard. Like she's being very regimented.

Katie: 19:44

Ya know, it's available to everybody. It just depends on like, what level you want, what your what's accessible. Like, what it's easy for you. What are some of the challenges that you you said you have challenges within the club, the health club, what are some of the challenges that you guys do? I

Rachel: 20:01

think the Oh, like different groups, just so we now starting to partner with like trainers. So we just had a trainer do a four week strength training challenge because I could I also like hear the chatter of the community like, that's where I go to find out what people want. And people kept talking about weights and using heavier weights can be like a really good bang for your buck, because you could do 20 minutes of like, heavier weights, and really feel a difference if you're consistent. So we found a trainer that did a four week strength training program in June, for a group of our members. You know, it's like, not everybody choice chooses to do everyone. But we had about 20 of our members do it. And it just finished, it's finishing on Sunday. But like, if it wasn't for the group, I honestly, probably I would have signed up for that thing. But I would have like, probably trickled out after two.

Amy: 20:56

Do they like, and everyone keeps each other accountable?

Rachel: 20:59

Yeah, yes. And me like, I think this is like the most on a scale I've weighed. But even being in the Bahamas on a bathing suit, like, I was told I had abs I was just, and that was from the weights. Like I did not look like that before. And so I think like, all these little experiments are so good to be like shit, I really need to be incorporating heavier weights, if I want to feel tone,

Katie: 21:22

and also just like playing around with what works for your body. And this is, it sounds like a forum where your people are gonna be introduced to different things, different methods, they can figure out what feels good for them and what works for them as well. But yeah, it's so true. You see, like all over social media lift, heavy lift, heavy, lift heavy. Right?

Rachel: 21:39

Right. And you're like, Yeah, it's like, can we actually like, do it because they have these five pound weights. But are they talking about like eight or 10 pound weights? Right?

Amy: 21:47

It's so true. And I used to have a trainer Katie, and I do yeah. And she was amazing. And I did so much weightlifting. But like, I didn't really love the way it looks. I felt like it made me thicker, but not necessarily like, like, like long and lean.

Katie: 22:02

Like it didn't work for you. It doesn't work for me either.

Amy: 22:05

It didn't really. And I liked it because I felt good. But then I was like, to your point. Well, I have to come into the community. So I can see like, what can I do with like lower weights, but more reps? So maybe like a little bit? Yeah,

Rachel: 22:15

so this group of members are doing Melissa would help summer school. Yeah. Oh, yeah. We do that now. I think yesterday with a new she's switching up her monthly challenges, which again, I've never been able to stick to her freaking calendar. I'm like, I want those long, lean lines. I know a lot of work. But we all are doing her summer sculpt calendar for for

Amy: 22:40

her I didn't know that released. I look at that.

Rachel: 22:43

She switched it up a little. And we each put in like our small group on the Slack channel. What our personal goals are for from for me, I'm not going to do something every day. But I could commit to her for like five days a week and I'll mix in like a bunch of walks and like five days a week of really being consistent with her workouts. I feel like I'm gonna feel like I for sure

Amy: 23:03

it makes a difference. Like I mean, what I can do now compared to what I could do when I first started doing her workouts is unbelievable. Like I never thought I could do like the challenging ones. And now I'm like doing that I'm like, oh and like if you're consistent with most of what health like it really does. That's like the one thing that has made like I feel like the biggest difference I'm gonna check out the strength training I know she was doing

Rachel: 23:23

about the summer sculpt and ABS I think some are booty and abs.

Katie: 23:29

And then so are you introducing essentially this is in the club and so there's there's members that are in the club that maybe have never heard of MW health and now they have and you're exposing them and it's like this great new world, right? That's also very cool. Amy,

Rachel: 23:45

Amy. Yeah, somebody was like I thought she was like your local friend in Boca and I looked her up and she's like a male. She's not my friend. I just thought we talked to her like,

Amy: 23:57

I know everyone thinks everyone's like friends with her because she's so like, sweet. You feel like you know we're that resistant

Rachel: 24:02

to her because right she is like, she looks like a supermodel and she's big are coming in and trying her workouts and like Okay, those are always frickin talking about her. I'll try it for 999 a month and do this thing with rib eyes and hope convert, because I feel like she is so zen and peaceful that even my mom who's in her 70s and part of our me we do have like very a lot of age, right age.

Amy: 24:25

Yeah. Get our moms involved in that. That's so good. Like moms

Rachel: 24:29

need like my mom needs something like she thinks she's healthy but she then eats so much. And so much wine and like this has really helped her and having she's like one of our members that actually like does every menu to a tee dramatic Rachel you forgot the blackberries on page number two. You're the only one like paying as close attention. But she loves Melissa would help. She's like she does like a 4550 minute one. Oh my god. It just really Help. So

Amy: 25:00

I'm like 20 minutes

Rachel: 25:02

shortest one today. That's, that's easy.

Katie: 25:06

Let's talk about your members then what? What's the like age range? And what do you find is your demographic.

Rachel: 25:12

So I think so we are pretty much like I would say we're 30s, mid 30s To like, however, won't be a 50s 60s 70s doing it. And I think the one common denominator is like most people are really busy, whether that's being home with the kids and just not being able to get like a moment for themselves, or like wanting that community of people that are living a healthy life so that they can feel motivation, or it's really a lot of busy professionals, we have a lot. My law firm is in the startup like venture space. And so I just through my network have connections with a lot of people in this space. So it's a lot of like women working on startups that are super busy. And you know, I think everybody that's in it kind of likes to know the new healthy things like I love the idea of brand partnerships. We just did a big partnership to third love the bra company. Yeah, all of our members, their new like active wear slacks kit, so I'm hoping to do more partnerships like that, which basically gets our members free stuff from, like, all our favorite brands, and like helps these brands amplify themselves in a way that it's not just going to influencers but going to like

Amy: 26:26

real, right. It's like a real community of women. Yeah.

Rachel: 26:30

Social, you know, they just they don't have the hundreds of 1000s of followers but yeah, but we'll still get the word out

Katie: 26:37

and love it after picturing a clever with maybe a Nirvana sisters army retreat somewhere. I think that's

Rachel: 26:45

literally that Katie totally do that. Because while the Mesa on your guys's podcast I wrote down that reset plays Yeah. She says it's dying. And I'm like, wait, I feel like I need well, I need to figure out like how frickin expensive is it is

Amy: 27:00

it's expensive. And I was like, I was like, maybe we can get, maybe we can bring a whole group. If they're listening and breathe flat. We could bring a whole group of people and maybe they

Rachel: 27:11

are on social that everybody needs to go here with their friends or their husband to get a reset. Let's work on and we

Amy: 27:17

could invite some of our guests that are kind of reoccurring guests that always give us all the good nuggets like agenda man and whoever else, Kate, how cool. Oh,

Katie: 27:26

absolutely. Yeah, no,

Amy: 27:28

yeah. All right, listeners, whoever is listening. Please DM us and let us know if you want this to happen. And we can do a collab that will fit we'll start planning. I'm all about it and

Rachel: 27:38

do it. I was literally on my list. So look into it.

Katie: 27:40

That's amazing.

Amy: 27:41

Yeah, absolutely. So what are the things that you're seeing across your community? It sounds like you know, ranges broad age range, which is amazing. Is there like one thing you're seeing that everyone struggles with? Is it the motivation to exercise not knowing what to eat? Is there like a shared challenge that everyone's facing?

Rachel: 27:58

The biggest thing? And even like before me, I didn't know this was possible is the consistency like yeah, my friends are like, how the hell have you been doing this for three years? Like, I've just been consistently healthy, because like, life gets in the way you get sidetracked, you go on a vacation and forget about everything else when you come back. And like the biggest thing is getting back in the saddle. And like, you'll see our chat on Monday. Everybody's like, so back in and you always have to get back in it. You can't like I just don't let myself get into those two to three month funks that I used that used to be my life. Like I would be really healthy for a month and Ambiga busy life socks,

Amy: 28:42

but then you break the seal. Like

Rachel: 28:44

yeah, that's and I just, I feel like not doing that is so important. I also think food is like so intimidating, especially if you're not a cook or don't like cooking. And we all know and a total like people that asked me this too. I'm like, for me the biggest thing was food because like no matter what I have to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner. And like if you're busy and working like you got to get something and so instead of like ordering delivery dudes Chick fil A spicy chicken sandwich which like I want and love every single day, I'm just like walking down stairs and go to get a salad or I really try and bring leftovers. And so as part of our health club, we have over 100 easy simple recipes that are six main ingredients or less that are like curated by our community when somebody like when your friends share a recipe and they go I put this together we actually turn it into a Nami official recipe and have it on our site we have you know it's not like a long blog post of how to make the right what to get what to do and like some tips and that's really it until a lot of our community make that we also have like a recipe shares channel on slack so like you guys said like when somebody makes you saw healthy recipe you want to make people LIKE share their favorite recipes from the New York Times and from Divine dish everybody loves. Yeah, go twos, even Melissa wood and her recipes are so great. So

Amy: 30:12

it's so funny. It's so true. Because I do that with my girlfriends. I have like this chat with my high school girlfriends that we've had forever. And we all talk about a million things. And we always do that with recipes. Like I'm like, I'm making salmon tonight, like, give me the easiest way to do it. And someone's like, oh, just put it you know, and if two steps I'm like, great, and then I write it down because then I'm like, Okay, here's so I have like a note like I should I'll come into the community and just dump the note in but it's literally like recipes from Katie recipe for my friends that are easy, because I don't I'm not a good cook. So it's so straightforward. And it's real people giving it to you that are busy, so you know where you're

Rachel: 30:45

coming from and be like, Why the fuck did I choose to make

Amy: 30:49

wine later?

Rachel: 30:51

All like, you know, you can have a crazy day and still make our recipes. And I feel like that's what I needed. Because I also have never knew like you said if I was going to make a recipe is going to be like, a two hour thing or can this be like an 18 minute thing? Yeah, bringing glass of wine.

Katie: 31:06

Does your community get together? Like do you have groups that are local that you do things with? And do you find like you have different pockets of people that get together?

Rachel: 31:15

Yes, we have people all over from like Oregon, California, New York, down in South Florida. So really like everyone is welcome. We are just starting obviously with COVID Like it was interesting because I was like oh well I started this before ko read and then COVID hit I was like Oh this is nice. We like have this community that is just a virtual even though it happened by chance. And now we're starting little pockets we'll get together. We just this week on Tuesday did like a tacos and Margarita. We all just met for happy hour so far. And we shared all this healthy stuff. And now we're doing the recap it's gonna go to our whole community of like the vibrator from goop everybody swears by like this The are a girl in our community that did prolong this past week and wants to share like that she's now going to do the one week on me reset menu because you like that stuff that just like that sharing. I feel like it's so important. But yes, I would love to continue to do more like in person events. Also like collabing with other brands and maybe going to a yoga class and then to lunch. I want events that like I want to go to I feel like my work that you wanted to Yeah, my work is like very, like long dinners and all that. So like my Avi me event I want to be like okay, APM like we're all going to bed, like first meet up just to be like we all go get our beauty rise when you have a five year yeah,

Katie: 32:46

that's so funny. That's I'm learning because it just sounds like such a great place to hit. First of all, it's like you're with like minded people that you can, you know, Riff ideas back and forth with and then learn so much as well and gain motivation and gained a sense of community. It's, it's a really great idea. And I have to tell you, I'm kind of a Francophile. So I love the little French spin on it then blue health club. Very cute.

Rachel: 33:13

So, um, but yeah, what is something that people would also be proud to wear, we always have like, a summer on me hat. And I want people to just be like, that just means I'm like, really healthy, and like take care of myself or like, at least try. Like it doesn't have something.

Amy: 33:29

It's so great. So how do people so people are gonna listening to Thursday are definitely going to want to be interested in joining. So what happens like what's the

Rachel: 33:37

night you can join, I can send you guys after a code so that trainers can join with a little discount, and you just get into the community and then three times a year you we do launches. Our next launch is our plant based fall reset, where we really try and be plant based for a month. Obviously, like you can still eat meat just majority plans, and share all healthy recipes. We'll do interviews with really healthy people that are plant based. And it's just to really try and get into that mindset. So that we have a fall plant base, we have a super clean January, that's always like our really big one which is no booze, and people put their spin on it. I'm like no booze during the week or whatever their lives on the no booze, but it makes it really fun because you always want to like do something come January 1, and then we just finished our summer of strength which is a month really focus on movement. So those are our big launches but you can join any time because like our big thing is like when you're ready your frickin ready and like you want to go now you don't want to wait for like that next program to come out. Like get all our stuff you can get our one week reset menu which I show serious results if you really stick with it. It is like insane what people see from Justice one week of clean eating and it was prepared by everyone Just your dietitian. So like I'm really big on that. Like, I'm not going to prepare your menu. But I will test it out and I will tell you if I forget. Yeah,

Amy: 35:10

yeah. What? What are your what are some favorite brands that you're seeing? Like the community likes right now? Like, do you have any good favorites?

Rachel: 35:17

I was just gonna when I heard about your salmon, there's just one kind of, um, some Oh M SLM. It's like, seasoning blends. That's really cool and trendy and people are really loving that. People we have like a product RX channel where people share like, all product X people are really liking this Ithaca hummus. Yes. Have you guys know, recess? CBD drinks? I

Katie: 35:44

saw I almost bought them the other day? Yeah.

Rachel: 35:48

Careful, because I had one. Because like, Oh, I'll have one. I was like a Friday. And you can feel that. Oh, really? Really? And I was like, yeah, definitely. I was just thinking I was gonna be like, chill, and I was like, I definitely felt like fuzzy but Zen and like a good way. And so stuff like that. We also have a Trader Joe finds channel. Oh, that shares like all the best things from Trader Joe's because you know, it can be a little overwhelming just seeing everything. But a lot of members share like their favorite salad. There's like this superfood burrito that's filled with quinoa and sweet potatoes. It's in like their pre made section that somebody recently tried and loved so many.

Katie: 36:32

It's so funny. I feel like our brands are so aligned. Right, don't you, Amy.

Amy: 36:38

And Rachel reached out to us, Katie, I was like, I literally looked on your website and read all about me. And I was like, this is like such a amazing union. I don't remember Rachel, I wrote you back. And I'm like, your brand ethos is so similar to ours. I love it. And it's so it's just so nice meeting, someone that's like, has the same shared mindset, which I'm sure your whole community is like, and it's just, you know, it's just been Katie and I and like our friends. And we started this really because we were telling each other same thing, the exact same kind of things. And we're like, and other people want to know about it. So we're just gonna talk about it and like, do reviews? And do you know,

Rachel: 37:14

doing less? Yeah, I think this is my like, natural conversation. Even when a me I'm like, How are you doing it? Like, how are you working out like that? How are you eating like that? Like, I was always so curious. Because that's how I would get motivated. So like, it's natural, like, now I have on me, and people are like, how do you do on me and have your law firm?

Amy: 37:37

That's what I was going to ask you. Because being that I also have like a full time, you know, executive role to big brand, which I love. Also doing this is I mean, it's a lot. It's just a lot of work. And again, same as you like, I love it. This is my natural conversation. And this is like what Katie and I are super passionate about. So it's not it's not a job, but it's still like, you know, a lot of time

Rachel: 38:00

and like yourself, like do taxes and pay invoices. And like, it's not just talking about health and wellness like 20. Exactly, there would be like, millions of them, right, like, yeah, so a business and I think that's a lot of my friends, like, want to start something. I'm always the biggest encourager, but then they're like, damn, this shit is hard. And I'm like, I know. Right, right. Like not that many.

Amy: 38:22

It's not a it's an What's that phrase? It's not a sprint. It's a marathon. It's

Katie: 38:27

not a sprint. It's a marathon.

Amy: 38:30

Yeah, whatever that is. That's

Rachel: 38:31

my goal is like really slow and steady. Like I don't. If I'm going to start any business, of course, I want it to be successful. And I want it to be big and like, I want it to make an impact. So I'm not like, you know, playing small here. But I'm also just being realistic that this isn't my full time job. I love it. It's like feeding this passion of mine. Like I don't want it to go away. Because there's definitely been days and I'm like, should I not do this? Like should I kind of like I don't need to Should I just like close it down. And I'm like, but I like it really fills up My Cup. Yeah, we happy and I feel like, it's so different than my day job. That it's like refreshing in a way. Whereas I love my day job. I love working with founders, I love being a lawyer like I'm so Intuit and get fired up by it. And we have a team of 20 and it's just, you know, I love it. And this is just different. And if I need for a week to just put the brakes on on me, I can put the brakes on me. I can't You can't do that with your full time job. You're in it right in it. But find something that's a low lift to find something you're passionate about. I always you know, people are always asking me about side hustles and I'm like, it truly has to be a side hustle passion like,

Amy: 39:53

right it's like a side passion more than because I like I used to Yeah, yeah, like I just it's so funny when You say hustle like the hustle culture. Because I think like, a few years ago, I was definitely like hustle like, and now it's like that word bothers me so much. Because it's like that idea of like hustling where like you never rest, like, to me, it means like, you're grinding and you're getting burned out versus like, a side passion where it fills your cup to your point. So then it's like, easy to do. And yeah, you might not have all the time in the world for it. I mean, we don't but but you can and

Katie: 40:29

yeah, and slow and steady wins the race. And it's just like the consistency like keep going and and keep motivating each other. And yeah, for sure. I love it. Congratulations on on all of your success. It's really It's such a really fun, great idea. And I just think it's going to be I mean, you guys are already huge. It's going to it's going to be really massive. So that's, it's really exciting. And I kind of

Rachel: 40:54

have an impact and create a brand that like shows people what is possible to be healthy. Yeah. Because at the end of the day, that's all I want. I want to share with my friends, but I also want to share it with strangers too.

Katie: 41:05

That's amazing. And love it.

Amy: 41:07

Love that a bit. Alright, let's get into our rap session. What is your favorite wellness or beauty hack?

Rachel: Waking up at 5: 41:14

30am I know I feel like if I did this is just like a three week ago, Revelation, I have actually interviewed one of our members who would always talk on the community about waking up early. And I'm like, Okay, I gotta like talk to you about this, because I just can't imagine it. And now it has been a complete game changer and like all sometimes just wake up and go on a walk. And I took little kids and I want to be there for getting them ready and like I liked that morning of getting them ready and being there. So like, if I can be done with like, my working out and you know, moving

my body by 6: 41:53

30am that's ideal for me.

Katie: 41:56

Yeah, I completely get that right. And really quickly to and I just wanted to mention this because Amy, you said earlier your Nirvana was getting up and going for a walk this morning. And also Rachel you just said you do that as well. There is science behind like when you get up in the morning, the very first thing you do is get out in the sun it sets your internal clock and it gets your body like everything physiologically working in the way that it's supposed to naturally to be like optimized for the day so there's a lot of science behind that. There's a reason why you feel so great when you do that. So listeners go walking in the morning sun. Alright, so the next one we call it your five minute flow you just got out of the shower and dried off and Uber pinged you they're five minutes away. What are you going to do to get into that Uber as quickly as you can what are your holy grails your go to to get out the door?

Rachel: 42:45

So I'm going to use I don't know if you guys have heard of GE beauty but they are a beauty shop they have shops in Miami and Canada and they have a primer that is amazing. I use it every day. So I would use it my G beauty primer I would put on mascara and I would put on workout clothes with a jean jacket this is a new Zara crop it's So Jackie it's

Amy: 43:09

really what I was looking at it going like

Rachel: 43:13

I have so many jean jackets it is like my go to and I like some conference calls. I kind of just like put them over you can't even see I'm in workout but yeah for sure. draped over my shoulders with a big hoops like I always wear like big hoops or something so I have so many jean jackets were like scams on Instagram, by them favorite daughter that foster sisters have a really good one too. But that's kind of my five minute jam and I'm out the door. Love it.

Amy: 43:46

Love it. And how do you maintain your daily nirvana?

Rachel: 43:51

I think by like following my greens, water move, repeat. I know it's back to me. But that really I know that is what makes me feel good. And if I feel good, I am like a rock star at work. I am happy with my husband. And like I want to play with my kids when I get home and like be with them and not be irritated.

Katie: 44:13

Yeah, I need to do I love

Amy: 44:15

that. Well you can tell it's working because your energy is amazing and like you just seem like you just feel really good. And

Katie: 44:22

I want to start to I have to add the greens I do the the water and the move out the greens every day. I need to remember that.

Amy: 44:29

It's okay, I have a recommendation for you that I'm going to talk about and then the next time we record product jump

Rachel: 44:38

because a lot of us even before I was like two to three salads a week I was like every day like I thought it was being held. Right. But like it makes a difference. Yeah,

Amy: 44:47

it really does. Okay, well thank you so much, Rachel for being on the show. We love talking to you. We can't wait to join AMI health ASAP and we're going to close out with a mantra from Katie this mantra

Katie: 44:59

for For this episode I think is just kind of, it's relevant because we're talking about people starting a journey with me and, you know, trying new things. And so anyway, I'll just say it. Trust the weight. Embrace the uncertainty. Enjoy the beauty of becoming. So. Oh,

Amy: 45:22

that's so nice.

Katie: 45:23

And then also I feel like Rachel's mantra greens water move repeat. Is that it? Yeah.

Amy: 45:33

That's gonna be my mind now. I

Katie: 45:34

love thank you so much Rachel says great.

Amy: 45:36

Thanks for listening to Nirvana sisters. For more information on this episode, check out the show notes. Please subscribe and leave us a review. also find us on Instagram at Nirvana sisters. If you loved what you just listened to or know someone that would please share it and tag us. Tune in next week for a fresh new episode of Nirvana sisters will continue to watch out for all things wellness so you don't have to. Bye.

Episode 62 - Do You Know What Chi Means? We Didn’t Either. Breaking Down Traditional Chinese Medicine With Dr. Jenelle Kim (Full Transcript)

This is a full transcript of the Nirvana Sisters podcast Episode 62 - Do You Know What Chi Means? We Didn’t Either. Breaking Down Traditional Chinese Medicine With Dr. Jenelle Kim.

Editor’s Note: Please know that this podcast transcript is automatically generated and may contain minor errors such as typos and word switches. For more information, be sure to listen to the podcast here or view our podcast episode guide.

Amy: 0:06

Welcome to Nirvana sisters podcast where we take the intimidation out of well being and beauty to help you achieve your highest state your nirvana. We are sisters in law and your hosts. I'm Amy Sherman.

Katie: 0:18

And I'm Katie Chandler. So let's get into some real conversation Welcome to the show Nirvana sisters family. Today we are sitting down with Dr. Janelle Kim. She's a doctor of acupuncture and Chinese medicine, a ninth generation doctor and herb ologists, which is very cool. We're excited to hear what that means. And the founder and chief formulator at J. B. K wellness labs, Janelle helps her patients incorporate Eastern philosophies into western lifestyle for optimal health. So I can't wait to dive in and hear what all of that means. So thank you for for coming to

Dr. Janelle Kim: 1:05

having me. I honored to be here. And so excited for our conversation.

Katie: 1:09

Well, we'd like to start off with our nirvana of the week, just a little something that brought you joy today or this week. Just a little highlight. And I'm gonna go ahead and ask Amy, what was your Nirvana that start with you him?

Amy: 1:22

Well, let's see. Um, well, I would say so my kids go to summer camp. And it's been like a while June just with the end of school and getting them ready to go to camp and all the stress and anxiety and just craziness but they left for camp over the weekend. And it was definitely bittersweet. And it's definitely quiet in the house. But I would say my Nirvana was just getting those first pictures of them enjoying and having fun. And I could like exhale and be like, okay, they're doing, they're doing good. They're in their nirvana. They're running around. They're outside and super happy. So that was definitely my highlight and nirvana of the week. What about you, Katie?

Katie: 2:05

That's really sweet. Because I feel the pressure and the stress of like saying goodbye to them on the plane, I'm sure for you. And this isn't the first year so it's probably getting a little bit easier. But to see them happy is I'm sure such a nice relief. So mine is camp related as well. The girls that for the first year are going to day camp and we dropped them off on Monday. They're there all day nine to four, which maybe isn't like the longest day for my eight year old but it is probably for research is for But picking them up. That was my Nirvana the first day and then hopping in the car like smiling ear to ear so happy. had the best time felt great about it couldn't wait to go back tomorrow. It's just like a sigh of relief. We're doing the right thing. They're good. So that's, that's nice. What about you to know, we're

Dr. Janelle Kim: 2:48

certainly all on the same page. Because right when you said that the first thing came to my mind was also my two young boys. And there is something about picking them up. I every single day, I get butterflies in my stomach. It sounds interesting or funny to some, but I have a feeling you both totally understand what I'm saying. And just see their little faces, especially the little one, you know, because he still hugs me and gives me you know, a huge embrace and tells me how much he loves me. And it's funny, because now my nine year old is kind of similar, but in totally different way. And it's so interesting to watch them, you know, at different stages, and it's definitely something I'm so grateful. It's very grounding in pretty much brings me into the very present moment, no matter what's happening in the day. So I would completely agree that that's my

Amy: 3:30

sweet.

Dr. Janelle Kim: 3:31

You have a night always nine and five. So yes.

Amy: 3:35

Nice. Yes. Awesome. I know. I love that. I have two boys as well. Yeah, they are 12 and 14, so are no more than 15. Sorry.

Dr. Janelle Kim: 3:44

No, tell me about it. I just turned nine and five. April and May so fast. It flies.

Amy: 3:52

It really does.

Katie: 3:54

Alright, so let's get into it. I'm excited to hear about this because I don't know about you AMI D I don't know a lot about Chinese medicine. And I definitely don't know a lot about our biology. Am I saying I'm saying that correctly? Right or biology or about to be in our biologist. So Dr. Ken, would you prefer us to call you Dr. Kim or Janelle or Dr. Janelle. But Janelle? Absolutely. So Janelle, help us understand, like, what are the cornerstones of Chinese medicine? And what does it mean to be an apologist? So

Dr. Janelle Kim: 4:28

those are definitely big questions, and I love them. So the cornerstone of Chinese medicine and understanding the body, the way I would describe it is understanding how everything functions and flows as one whole body right? So mentally, physically, Eastern medicine actually even gets into spiritually not so much like the outer realms of spirit necessarily, but that we connect in many different ways with our body. And it's how we, the way I like to explain it and when I speak around the world, is how we can make our body function at its optimal and flow. And that's how I would break down Eastern So it might not be exactly how everyone else does, but especially to the outside world who doesn't know so much about Eastern medicine. I love that explanation. And so then it utilizes herbal medicine, and acupuncture other modalities as well. We hear about cupping, and guasha, and all these different techniques that are now coming into the Western understanding. But it's using all of these modalities, these ancient practices that have existed for 1000s of years, again, how to make our function, how to make them our body functions, optimum and flow properly, because I always say, if everything functions and flows, even your skin cells, to your organs, to your muscles, and joints, then you have longevity, and that to myself, in my humble opinion, should be all of our goals. So I love that.

Amy: 5:44

I love that. So is it sort of like, and we're I think we're seeing we've actually interviewed a lot of people on many of those subjects. And so is this sort of like this Mind, Body Spirit, holistic Well, being when you hear the word, Chinese medicine or Eastern medicine, I think that's

Dr. Janelle Kim: 5:58

very inaccurate. I do every single aspect of it, because everything comes from, you know, Chief, everything comes from the universe. And we're a macro, we are microcosm of the universe, and the universe is a macrocosm of us. And so yes, when you kind of look at it that way, you start to break everything down. And it is very holistic in that manner. So that's where I said, you should go ahead, I think you're taking the risk.

Katie: 6:22

What is, yeah, help us understand what she is, I've heard the word. But what was amazing,

Dr. Janelle Kim: 6:28

because 20 years ago, when I started in the beauty and wellness industry here in the United States, if I said she people would look at me and wonder what in the world is she talking about? Right? So she, again, exists everywhere around us and within us, from the Dow or the universe, for those that resonate with this understanding, right from the universe came Qi first. And that's how everything breaks down, then we're speaking of the universe, and our bodies. One other principle, you're here that you'll you will hear about is yin and yang, right. And so I don't want to go too far into detail. But a greater kind of a bigger perspective way of understanding is that from chi, then came that symbol of yin and yang. And that is the dichotomy, that duality of everything in our entire world. And it's really important to understand that duality, that dichotomy of the two when understanding our human body as well. So what I mean by that is, we have our universe, for example, a very simple principle to understand, Yin and Yang is like day and night, right? Yin and Yang is loud and soft, even youngest, feminine and masculine. And within each is the other is they're constantly changing. And that's why if you are familiar, most people are nowadays, with that symbol, it almost looks like two fish, and on one side is black, and one side is white. And then they have two little eyes almost. And that literally symbolizes what I just said that there is constant duality all the time. And so now looking at the human body, we have that in our bodies as well, we have those components of yin and yang. And what I mean by that is, Yin is more substance, right? It's like our body fluids is our blood. Yong is activity. That's our chi. And so when you kind of think of it this way, you could almost imagine that, of course, the Western way of understanding, we have circulation, and we have our arteries and our veins and our pumps. And that's everything keeps moving. There's so much more of course to it. But we have that understanding, then Eastern medicine, one way to understand it is that chi is exactly what makes blood flow. That's why I'm talking to you right now. Right? So and when it comes to movement, which is one of the three kinds of EMS are the three pillars I talked about medicine, meditation, and movement, through movement, especially through chi gong, people can actually feel cheap. So it's not really something so, you know, it actually can be tangible. It's not something you necessarily see. But every single thing on this desk at tree, you know, you and I, we all have CI, and so I hope that's a easy way to understand she is. Yeah,

Katie: 8:48

I kind of took it as it's the balance of the energy and the physicality that we have within ourselves. And that's all around us. Is that absolutely kind of

Dr. Janelle Kim: 8:59

defined as vital energy, you'll see that a lot. So, so Exactly, right. Okay.

Amy: 9:05

So interesting. I never that that symbol, the black and white symbol, I think you just said it means chi, the US that yeah, the Yeah, I never realized that. I guess I've just seen that symbol in the context of yoga or meditation and sort of knew what it meant. But the way that you just described it totally makes sense with like, the, the black and the white. And it was very

Dr. Janelle Kim: 9:27

interesting. My favorite thing is to, you know, have things make sense. That's my favorite thing as well. And that's actually one of the reasons I love Eastern medicine and Eastern philosophy. It can be a little different sometimes from the ways in the western world about what we understand. But it always goes down to principle. You know, we're all human. We all are born into this world, no matter what our beliefs, what our ethnicity, what are age, all of that we all it all comes down to principles. And so I find that when I share those principles just as much as I enjoy, and it just resonates make sense. I see that No matter where I go in the world, so I'm so glad that you see that as well as well.

Katie: 10:04

Yeah. And what are the three M's that's part of your philosophy and your practice, right.

Dr. Janelle Kim: 10:10

So the three M's are basically like the pillars that hold up the whole house, right? And they are medicine, meditation and movement. And so medicine to me, is ultimately the formulation, my lab, everything that I've devoted my life to on the herb ology end, right. Meditation is actually the book I just put out, for example, it's the philosophy, it's the way of life, I call it living meditation. Right? So I'm sure we can go into that I won't go too far. But just as we sit down and practice different meditative techniques, or want to be in that certain mindset, living meditation, there principles that have been passed down my lineage for centuries upon centuries, of course, not just my lineage, but they exist, right for 1000s of years. And it's ways to look at every single moment with a certain kind of mindset, knowing that you will always have a choice, right. And so that's kind of the philosophy of life. And finally, it's movement, right ways to truly move our body, it can be any kind of exercise, but particularly movement, again, that's kind of been passed down by our ancient sages for centuries, as ways to really not just exercise externally look good, have strong muscles have a sleek body, but also to really exercise your internal organs and strengthen that chi. And so what I say are those three atoms, medicine, meditation and movement, if we incorporate those into our daily life, constantly, because that's the way it really is, then we can achieve longevity, happiness, health, balance, no matter what is happening in our life, doesn't mean we don't have down days or hard moments. But we realize that through that we can get ourselves out of it. Right? So

Amy: 11:45

I love those three pillars, because they're easy to remember. And it's something you can always think about, if you're just kind of like your Yeah, she is off or you're feeling, you know, just different, you could kind of go back to that which which I like. One of the things I was reading about when I was reading about you was that your father was a Korean monk, and raised this remote mountain raised in a remote mountain tempo, which is incredible. So I want to hear about that. But then there was something else that I thought was so interesting, where you said he taught you about, I don't know if I'm saying Right, right, but don't cheat or drunk on your thoughts. And I'd love to hear one

Dr. Janelle Kim: 12:22

of my favorite principles. So in the book, I break down kind of the practice or the way of life, the living meditation, it's my young son, just to be clear, the Korean art of living meditation, and young son translates as meditation. But to me at that living meditation, that's why I keep discussing that, right. And so the way I break down the book is into chapters, of course, but I call them keys. And there are eight keys. And those are the keys that we can practice in our daily life to achieve that constant state of loving meditation. Right. And so key number three, is absolutely one of my favorites, which is what you just said, Amy, it is stop being drunk on your own thoughts. And the Korean phrase is Don't cheat. And especially in this day and age, in my humble opinion, I think that if we all were aware of this, how much different our lives our world, our relationships, everything would be. And ultimately what it means is just like we can be intoxicated by alcohol, for example, we can become drunk, we can, we have to be aware that we can become drunk on our own thoughts, that it's, that's why I love that we started with that yin and yang. It's always a state of balance, and we hear it all the time. But again, if we stop for a moment, and really think about what that means balance, even looking at that symbol, it means every moment we have to be aware of ourselves or not, it's our choice. But if we choose to be aware of ourselves, we have to be careful that even if we feel so strong about something that we don't become, don't worry about it, we don't become so extreme in our thinking, How often do we see that, of course, we might not agree with something, and we feel know what you're doing is incorrect. But there's a fine line where all of a sudden, you're in that same boat, and you don't even know you're standing there. It's always important to expand our perspective, put ourselves in someone else's shoes, how do I know how that person feels? And I may not know completely, but if I stopped for one moment, whether it is our children, whether it's our spouse, whether it's a good friend in business, and I stop and think for one moment, I want to see where you're coming from, it does something to our minds. It's a self discipline that creates different habits. And again, at the end of the day, it's our choice if we want to take it to be dolci and become totally drunk and stuck on our thoughts. Not bendable. You know, it doesn't mean we can't be steadfast, right, of course, but just see the other side. And that's what that key number three, stop being drunk on your own thoughts.

Amy: 14:38

I love that that's so powerful. And I love the phrase that you just said, Don't become dodgy about it. Because I'm totally going to use that with people and they're not going to know what they're talking about the startup company.

Katie: 14:49

Does that also, does it also apply to like becoming drunk on your own thoughts of things that your self obsessing over like if there's something that you get Just incessantly or like picking on yourself about or thinking about something you're going through or constantly being in a negative state, is it? Does it apply to that as well, not just in regards to going back and forth.

Dr. Janelle Kim: 15:12

I really love that you say that, you know, you may be one of the first people who have brought it up in that way. So direct in that manner. And that's exactly right. We absolutely can can also have it pointing back to us that that, that negative effect, right, almost like the symptoms of getting too caught becoming too extreme. Absolutely. And so once again, we see how these tools, because that's what they are, you know, that's why I feel very compelled to share them. These are, yes, I am part of this lineage, I'm the first woman in this lineage, I'm the first to ever share it, you know, east and west, I probably should have shared Well, my father did grow up for a period of his life in the remote mountains of East Asia and Korea. It's like a movie, it's my own father. And it seems like that sometimes, you know, my mother, on the other hand, is American. So I believe, you know, I came into this world. Again, it was my choice, but but I've taken it on almost as a duty to realize that I am able to have that east west that I come from this lineage of 1000s of years, then a little bit more easy to grasp centuries of these tools that help us to see a little bit more clearly, and hopefully make them relatable to as many people as possible, you know, so I love and like you said, see. So

Katie: 16:24

it's really beautiful. And you are I love, I love the relatability that you're bringing with your books and everything as well and the one of the M's medicine, so that is where the the apology comes in. Yes. And so what kind of herbs is this? Are you using adaptogens, and things of that

Dr. Janelle Kim: 16:43

sort. So adaptions is something that I have spoken about for quite some time now. I will backtrack a little bit, that makes a little bit more sense for everyone. So of course, I was born into this, but it wasn't until Fast Forward seriously. I was a young adult that I realized, and it just hit me like that, that this is the direction I wanted to go in my life. And it was just like that you hear people say that I certainly had that experience. You know, it was that moment in time. And I had to make a choice. And that's how it felt to me. And I chose I was actually on the direction to study Western medicine. And I decided, You know what, my whole life, I've seen things and it didn't hit any kind of until that moment. I've seen so many things treated, or how can I say I want to say it properly. But I've seen so many conditions balanced, let's put it that way that people were not aware of or in my surroundings. And it kind of hit me as a young adult, I have to share this people have to know about this in this part of the world. And so that's where I kind of went into Eastern medicine and got my on my road to becoming a doctor. That didn't happen until a couple of years ago when I was about to have my second son actually holding that doctorate. But But yes, in our country, we understand Chinese medicine, I often refer to Eastern or traditional oriental medicine because I come from a lineage of Korea, right. And so of course, I've devoted myself to understanding Chinese medicine existed there before it moved into Korea, but Korea is known for certain acupuncture techniques and definitely known for advancement in herbal medicine. So just kind of putting that out there. Now in this country, we think of them kind of one in the same acupuncture herbal medicine. In East Asia, they're a little bit more while they completely come from the same route. As I've kind of already explained, you choose. And then this country you see that a bit to usually go like to the Department of acupuncture or to the Department of herbal medicine and my lineage are we definitely have acupuncture techniques, secret ones as well that have gone through my lineage, but really my family my lineage focused on that herbal medicine aspect. And so to kind of break that down a little bit, answer your question in a moment about adaptogens Katie, you know, I speak around the world about different herbal ingredients. So important. We have so many I mean, every medicine to some extent, could be traced back to plants, right plant medicine, but also super important is the understanding of formulation. And that's what I really devoted my life to. That's what my lab does. We contract manufacture products from skincare, body care, internal medicine, meaning supplements, tinctures, you know, topicals, for muscles and joints. And all of that is really based on certain formulas. So of course, the understanding those individual herbal ingredients, but like the recipes, the perfect and secret recipes that have been passed on for centuries. And so that's something I think is really important and I've certainly, I hope I've made some headway. I believe I have definitely been at kind of the forefront in the beauty and wellness industry. Having people understand that in any product. Again, internal external topical skincare haircare you can have the best ingredients, but if they're not formulated properly, if the ingredients don't synergistically work together, it might not be as good as people may think. And there's so many products out there that are just kind of put together. I don't want to say thrown together, but that's what I probably should send. Right. And so so that's kind of the understanding of herbal Medicine. And then finally, you speak of adaptogens. That's something I definitely talked about for 20 years. 20 years ago when I brought this up again, that, you know, talking about herbal medicine was over everyone's head. I mean, I started in the spa industry. You know, we were creating products that were in four seasons, Ritz Carlton's, you know, all of the your beautiful hotels and resorts. And I remember being at the forefront of natural products, which first of all, it's hard to believe there was a time that natural products like people didn't even really get it. What are you talking about? It wasn't that easy to make them. There weren't a lot of options of ingredients, herbal ingredients, are you kidding me? People would come over literally and tell me, you know, Janelle, at the time, I wasn't a doctor, this all sounds great, but I don't think people are gonna get it, I'd get rid of the Asian thing. And I would kind of just look and smile. And I went back to you know, we're all human. And I know that what I have to share, if I do my job properly, it's going to make sense. And it's going to make a big difference. And here we are 20 years later. And you know, Korean beauty is the biggest, you know, beauty industry, basically, in the world and eastern and western, it's all integrating. So it's such a funny thing. And adaptogens were part of that. It's a way another way to understand. So adaptogen adaptogenic herbs can be traced like that word to like the 1940s 1945, if I remember correctly, but definitely in 1945 1947, around that time. And it was by Dr. Lazarus, and this understanding that there's these plants that help us to adapt, because when they grow in the earth, would they have to go through their adaptability, how they survived how they lived, when we put them into our body, it helps us to do the same. Create that balance, right. And that's, again, I can go into many details, but I think this is the best way to understand it. That's what an adaptogen is it helps our bodies adapt under stress. And there's a certain category of herbal ingredients that go into this category of adaptogens. Now, why I said 20 years ago, I I wish to utilize that understanding as a way to help people understand herbal medicine. That principle exists, you know, since the beginning of herbal medicine, that is herbology. And so if we want to understand it as adaptogens awesome. And I think we're still at the very beginning of that, you know, so I use a lot of adaptogenic herbs in our formulations, again, from skincare, to capsules to tinctures you name it because of those particular herbal ingredients in that category. Their ability to help us balance they're very powerful. A lot of certain adaptogenic mushrooms I speak on a lot. I've been reading a lot of articles about that, you know, mushrooms are a hot topic. And certainly there's different ways of understanding the different types out there. But I still think we have, particularly in our country, not even scratched the surface of adaptogenic mushrooms, you know, your ratios and Chaga and lion's mane and, you know, and then you have your beautiful your stragglers, ginseng, Angelica. I mean, I could keep going, but those are some of the important ones. So

Katie: 22:57

yeah, that's why I brought it up. Because there it seems like in the last few years, it's become just more prevalent. And, I mean, you see it all over social media, it's it's gotten to be pretty trendy, and it's found in a lot of really beautiful, natural clean products and people seem to be loving it. And that's, it's really the only verb out of the herb ology that I was familiar with. So that's why I started there. But I'm sure there's a massive abundance and you actually reminded me while you're while you're speaking about her biology, I was doing acupuncture years ago when I was living in the city and it was in the summer and I was kind of like intolerant to heat and my acupuncturist I believe. I believe she was Chinese, she gave me a tea that she said if I drink this tea will help my body to like, expel the heat that I'm not able to process and it it did. It worked. I loved it. I drink it all summer, really hot summer in the city, but I completely forgot about them.

Dr. Janelle Kim: 23:58

And that goes it's fascinating like our very first minute of conversation that there's there's hot and cold to you and then Yan Yan is more cold Young is more hot, you know, and you constantly have to balance that. Sorry.

Amy: 24:12

Yeah, what I was gonna say which was also interesting just for like breaking it down for for people who don't know the space as much. I think when I hear adaptogens or herbal medicine, I think of it as like something you ingest. It's more like like supplements and things like that. And it really just opened my eyes to like wait, that's actually in beauty products and so many other products not just like things you're ingesting for your health. So that was Yeah, I guess naturally those things are in other products. I just just really think about it that way about like

Dr. Janelle Kim: 24:48

a medical doctor correlation. You can have these incredible ingredients and you hear on many different platforms or ways of understanding for lack of a better way of putting it that it does it depends on how much it can penetrate right how wash your body absorbs it. And that's where I talked about that importance of proper formulation. Because when you ingest an adaptogenic herb it goes in it literally simulates through your digestion, right? And you, you take out the nutrients, again, if it's formulated properly, and it agrees with you, so on and so forth. And so the one thing with topical, is there is a little bit more attention that has to be put on that understanding of making sure it penetrates and absorbs into the body, if that makes sense. You know, so it's even more

Amy: 25:31

of a question. And this might be hard to answer, but I think our listeners might want to know, so if you were talking to someone about, you know, using herbal medicine for different things, like could you name something that most people would benefit from? Like, it's something they're ingesting for their health, something for their skin, and like, okay,

Dr. Janelle Kim: 25:51

absolutely learn hair. And so, please remember, like I just said, it's one thing to have just one ingredient, it's another to have proper combination, right? Because, and I will answer your question, Amy. But I really, this is really important, because often, or almost always, almost always, because there are situations where taking just ginseng, for example, you know, all by itself can be so powerful, right for energy, depending on what kind of gyms and especially for women's for balancing hormones, right. So there's one that I just named, but you have to be careful, especially when it's just one herbal ingredient different than some of our drugs, if you will, because those side effects can be a lot more extreme in comparison to most plant medicine, but plant medicines are still very powerful and important. And what I mean by that is you can have Korean Red Ginseng, which is one of the most powerful ingredients, I think now around the world we notice and in Korea that is so prized. I mean, one small root of Korean Red Ginseng could be easily half a million dollars, I'm talking about how powerful it is in the body. Right, especially for for example, as being woman on the phone today, balancing different hormones, printing, energy, libido, whatever that might be so many different aspects. But here's what's interesting, if someone who has high blood pressure takes a whole bunch of Korean Red Ginseng, it could be really not so good for them because it increases your chi and raises chi. And with with a high blood pressure is a really kind of easy one to understand. That's why I'm giving this example, you can see where raising your chi strong is not really the best thing to do. And so that's where I just want to note that. So Korean Red Ginseng is a huge urgency in general is one of the most it's Ren Shen in Chinese medicine and Ren is human. And so literally, if you look at a ginseng root, they say it looks like a human being, which is really interesting. If you look at it, you can see it like the arms, the head, the leg is really interesting. And that's how herbal medicine 1000s of years ago, that's how they came up with these names and this understanding. So that's a really important one. For hair one in general, would be hibiscus I put that in a lot of our hair formulas for skin as well. I mean, skin and hair are kind of an extension. It's kind of one in the same. But hibiscus is so good for blood circulation. Right. So I mean, there's so many more, but I'm just kind of calling those that come to mind Angelica.

Amy: 28:09

I haven't heard about that already. And so that's a new one. I mean, I've heard of it, but not in the sense that you're describing.

Dr. Janelle Kim: 28:14

And then remember all your examples. Example For immune. Oh, yeah. Skin. Yes. So struggle is Angelica, you know, those are ones that you'll definitely find in the formulas that that I create at the lab.

Katie: 28:28

And I love that you're mentioning that you still have to be mindful and careful. Like even though these are natural, and they're herbs, they can be very powerful. I know not to completely go back to the adaptogens. But part of the reason why I'm so familiar with them is because I have to be careful because they affect your cortisol and I have a condition where I don't produce cortisol. So I actually can't really use adaptogens much like my other person could, which is kind of a bummer, because there's so many great products of the minute that I you know, read but but yeah, it's a good thing for the listener to pay attention to and to maybe check with your doctor first before starting something,

Dr. Janelle Kim: 29:04

you know, after Yeah, another great thing when you're out there looking for supplements like one thing because people asked me that often. And you know, we contract men, we work behind a lot of brands. And so we that means a lot to us, we keep that confidentiality, but you know, you kind of can see our stamp when you will see these formulas out in the world. But another great thing for people to do is to really look into who these companies are, who they're formulators are, you know because then you can start to trust a company. You know what I mean? A brand otherwise it is overwhelming. You know, there's so much out there. And if something becomes especially nowadays trendy, everyone jumps to doing it, you know, and

Amy: 29:40

so were the formulators is that noted on the packaging, because that's interesting. I always think of like brands that I like that I think have good ingredients from what I know but I've never actually looked further than like what lab is actually formulating. It's

Dr. Janelle Kim: 29:55

not always listed. To be honest. Usually you'll find if it really matters, I'm thinking of a few of our Our clients right now, usually you'll find that we really care about their formulas, their ingredients, they really have a purpose for that product. And now more and more you see it, because it resonates with people's everyone's kind of catching on, you look into their story, you know, who is the person behind it? Why are the happiness? What's their unique thing? You know? Is it high quality ingredients? That's a great one. Is it? I know some of our clients will speak on. It is the synergy between the ingredients, you know what I mean? And that is super key. So, yes, it is definitely something a good practice. Because again, I totally acknowledge it can be very overwhelming, stepping into a beauty store, a supplement department, whatever it might be, because there's just so much.

Amy: 30:42

Yeah, I was gonna ask that. If someone wants to go in their town or city to start utilizing some of these herbal medicine, what would you suggest? Like if they are already going to acupuncture would most likely that acupuncturist maybe have I know, my old acupuncturist that I used to do? I need to go back to this is reminding me had like, all these herbs raised on kind of what you needed. But like, if someone's not seeing an acupuncturist that has that as their like, where would you go to find good quality or charm,

Dr. Janelle Kim: 31:12

I mean, I'll just kind of make it as simple as possible. It is true acupuncturist will, or biologist, for example, they will look at your individual condition and really start to balance. Of course, every just like there's doctors who are so great and skilled at what they do. And there's some we're not as skilled. And so I want to acknowledge that the same thing happens with acupuncturist or biologists, you name it any kind of practitioner, right. And so that's a good way it's a little different. Like the formulas that we I create at my lab behind the brands are ones that can be handed out in general, right. So there's certain herbal ingredients like you kind of mentioned, Katie, I don't want to get too far into this. But it's important for people to understand that you know, if you have a certain cold, like, say you have a cold and what your cold is presenting as as a sore throat, well, technically, the way you treat that cold with a sore throat is different than treating a cold that doesn't have a sore throat, and you seem to have a really runny nose, I hope I'm not getting too detailed. But it's important for people to understand there's a difference in symptoms, because one cold has hot symptoms, that's the sore throat. And so you're not going to use a much a hot herbs, you know, too. And so that's how in depth herbal medicine can be. So for those types of more specific imbalances, cold is a little different, because we can put out supplements that can kind of boost immune system in general, right. That's a great place to start that kind of your acupuncturist or biologist, certain practitioners, you can then go to other places that offer it and really look into the supplements that exist and have people on the floors and what I mean is like Whole Foods, I think we have all over the country for the most part, especially east coast, west coast, right? Your your natural markets, I don't know if you have, for example, Farmer cup, but that's a great place and in the West here, that we have the I will definitely send people there when they're looking because the people I know that that are biologists, the herbalist on the floor are very, very good at what they do. It's very important to them. So that's kind of I hope this is answering the question, but you find good natural products store or if you're searching, if you don't have that option, and you are kind of looking online, do a bit of research and find I mean pharmerica is on for example, you know, I should you think I work for pharma guy keep saying your name. Because this was coming to mind right now. But that's where going back to what we just said, look into the story of that company, look into where their ingredients, you know, what matters to them. And that's how you can kind of narrow in on what works for you. And at the end of the day. Yes, so in Whole Foods. And I would have liked a bit, this is really important. At the end of the day, pay attention to how you feel is the most important thing. It goes back to that living meditation and those three pillars, you know, so often we look to our experts, which you should, in our practitioners or doctors, our yoga teachers, for example, and do that because they studied and they have, they have things to share. But at the end of the day, you need to be aware of yourself. So that means if you take what you think is the best ingredient and everyone says it's the best, and you take it pay attention week with something new into your body. And if after a couple of days or even that day, you start to have a headache. And you cannot figure out why all of a sudden, you know, I never get headaches and now I have a headache. I do not care how great that ingredient is. It's not balanced with your condition at that moment. And we really have to watch that the anatomy and then you start to become in charge of your own health. So I just wanted to say that super important.

Katie: 34:31

Yeah,

Amy: 34:31

yeah, we talked about that a lot on the show like really listening to your body and if someone is saying like oh, it's just this or it's just that don't worry about it. You're like no, I you need to. It's that mindfulness and that intense intentionality you have within yourself where I think a lot of people seem to be kind of chewed into that now, more so than before and I think people it seems like are asking their traditional doctor I was like, Well, what about this? Or what about this? You know? Because, yes, there's a lot more education out there. And there's a lot more people talking about, like attitude with the West, and

Dr. Janelle Kim: 35:11

even, you know, Western doctors, you know, yeah, you know, I don't know, I'm often on panels with, you know, Western Eastern. And I believe that any good doctor is just going to want the best for that patient, you know, and some of us, it's easier to get that advice than others. And that's, that is the way it is, you know, but in general, for sure. You see the world I, like I said, much different than 20 years ago, or maybe a little more when I first began and, you know, which harder path?

Amy: 35:38

Yeah, I hope that some of these more Western traditional doctors start getting into more, I mean, the good ones already do ask those questions that aren't outside of like, right, they're willing, because it really does make a difference. And they're looking at Mind Body Spirit, not just like

Dr. Janelle Kim: 35:58

the integrative cynics are a serious thing. I mean, it's happening, you know, and definitely, when you walk into certain Western medical doctors offices, you're definitely seeing doctors who are doing exactly that, you know, opening expanding their mind and recognizing, you know, these medicines have existed for 1000s of years. You know, it's so interesting when, because it yes, 1000s of years ago, they were not doing clinical studies. This is true. They did not put it down in that manner. But there's something to say, right? I mean, I think more and more people are seeing that now more than ever, especially after last couple of years, we've all walked through that there's something to say about these medicines that have worked on humans for literally 1000s of years. You know, so yes, there might not be this, what the Western Way, which is a very good way, don't get me wrong, having clinical studies, finding every single fact. But sometimes there's a little bit more to it. But that's holistic, also the way we look at everything. So there's three, absolutely. It's funny.

Amy: 36:54

Katie and I both had COVID Around the same time, and one of the things we both saw, I think was floating around Tiktok was, and I don't know if this is, well, I guess it's horrible, but it's different, like the oils. So it said, if you had no taste or snide, neither of us did to us. I think it was peppermint oil, and rose oil, rosemary, Rosemary oil every day in your nose and like she did it and it both worked.

Dr. Janelle Kim: 37:19

Stimulating to your tea. It makes everything function again. So it's an interesting thing.

Amy: 37:23

Right, exactly. Yeah. That was like, amazingly, yeah. And I

Dr. Janelle Kim: 37:27

think a lot of writers world is seeing more and more options is, you know, there's certainly some negative aspects which we're not trying to go down this path of social media and how small our world is with technology. But it does certainly at the same time, there's that duality, that dichotomy, again, of the yin and yang, are certain ways now that through being closer through technology and the internet and social media that we're learning these you just have to fact check that a bit, you know, in fact, that's one of the things that my team certainly has to say, you know, Janelle, Dr. Kim, if you can speak on this, do you agree or not? That happens a lot, actually. For different things, trends that we see whether it's a trend, or it's real, yeah. So

Katie: 38:10

that's, yeah, and nothing. And parents do that. And, you know, I feel like, we could talk about some much of this for hours. And I would really, really love to have you back to talk in detail about acupuncture. Because I think that is such a vast topic, right. And I've, I've done it, and it's worked for me, and I know so many people that have helped. So we'll have to do that another time. But before we let you go, tell us just a little bit more about what Jay JBK wellness labs does. And also, do you have Is it a branded CBD luxury skincare

Dr. Janelle Kim: 38:43

JBK wellness Labs is not named after myself, which many people think is named after my great grandfather, those are his who was an incredible practitioner of herbal medicine, and acupuncture for that matter. And we are contracted manufacturers, which means we make the products behind the brands. And again, I kind of touched on that already. But you know, they're our clients are carried in your high end resorts and spas, to your whole foods to now actually they're having like prestige and luxury departments and target and Walgreens. And so it's an interesting way for exactly what we're talking about to be, you know, to be available for more people, which is kind of neat. So brands kind of spanning all industries. And so that's what we do in everything that we do is rooted in that understanding of herbal formulation, of formulation of products in general clean beauty, of course, you know, natural health products, of course. And so that's basically what JBK what we do, so we're not a brand, so we're behind brands. And so when you talk about the first ever Yes, I created the first ever CBD luxury skincare. I mean, basically I started the CBD industry myself in my lab with the people who started CBD back in. My first son was almost ready to be born so over 10 years ago now, which is a long time in the cannabinoid industry. And that's a whole other conversation to network. that I jumped into right away. But then another thing where I thought, you know, this is going to be something and I'd rather be educating about it properly. But I didn't really want to be like the queen of cannabis, you know, so, but an alternative. And so so not to go too far down that road. But that's so JBK we do a lot in the cannabinoid industry because we kind of helped to start it. So we were the first to make the sav muscle and joint role on so on and so forth. And all these, it's a beautiful thing, because every time someone comes to us to make formulas, it's always unique, it is truly the most amazing thing. So we, they come to us, oftentimes with an idea, they'll come to us with formulas that they kind of want us to improve upon, for example, or they'll come to us with a really important ingredient. I mean that and that's just to name a couple of examples. And then we formulate and then we produce the products. And that's the headquarters are in San Diego, right where I reside. Right now, we have a lab in Orange County. And actually, we have one in Portugal, in Europe for our European clients. So yes, and we just started actually, we're really excited about this, and I'm happy I'm remembering to share, because for over 20 years, I've been in this industry. And when you when I say contract manufacturing usually have to have higher minimums. So we don't have to get into all the details of it all. But in order to work with us, or to make custom products, you have to order a couple 1000 of one product at a time. And that's not easy for everyone. And this has been on my mind for a long time. And so over the last couple of years, and one of the things that, you know, during the pandemic, I don't always think of it this way. But it's the truth that we were able to create a JBK was a private label a white label division. And that means a lot to me, because what that means is more and more people are able to put their brand on some of our most favorite formulas that I've created over 20 years of my lab. And so, you know, that's kind of a big thing. And so I'm really excited about that. That's kind of a new thing that we've done in my lab. So

Katie: 41:54

congratulations

Amy: 41:55

for future when we come up and your bonuses, maybe the product.

Dr. Janelle Kim: 42:03

I want to create a formula to help women balance their, you know, emotions, balance their hormones, to have more energy, whatever that is. That's exactly how it starts. And people trust you and then that's how it goes. So

Amy: 42:15

I love that and what is your book called again? And where can people

Dr. Janelle Kim: 42:18

you my book is called the young son, the Korean art of living meditation. It's kind of a long one. That's why I just remember Dr. Janelle Kim, living meditation, bright blue simpler. It's basically through Penguin, Random House and Watkins. And so you can find it on the Penguin Random house.com website on my website, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, basically, anywhere books are sold. So I'm very grateful that has come out, you know, just in January, so

Amy: 42:45

very excited. Thank you, Amy. Hi, congratulations. Okay, so getting into our wrap session before we close out. Janelle, what is your favorite wellness or beauty hack? I can. That's that's a hard one at my I do have so many.

Dr. Janelle Kim: 43:03

If I had to pick one right now, one of my favorites is remembering and understanding that true beauty does come from the inside out, you have to use very clean important products topically because it is our largest organ, our skin. But also we really have to pay attention to improving our condition internally, increasing our circulation, increasing our chi. And of course, to me, that means supplementing with herbal formulations. You know, being aware of my body knowing when to take certain ones. So I don't want to go too far. But yes, it's inside out which we're seeing much, much more in our beauty and wellness industry right now. So I'm so happy for that.

Amy: 43:41

Yeah. 100% Yeah, that's great. Okay, the next one, we call our five minute flow, which I guess could contribute to your CI. But here's the scenario. You just got out of the shower and dried off and Uber pings you and says they're five minutes away. So what is your quick beauty routine?

Dr. Janelle Kim: 44:00

That's funny, right? My locks up. I have one

Amy: 44:03

you just got out of the shower and dried off. And Uber just alerted you there five minutes away. So how do you you know, what's your quick beauty routine? What do you put on what are your kind of go to? And I'm shaking my head or that's every day forget?

Dr. Janelle Kim: 44:17

Yeah, that's called children. And podcasts Even my kids had to camp at 9am which is exactly when we were supposed to be on so that was literally my morning. So I do I get ready in five minutes. And that's just the truth today. We're lucky I put a little eyeshadow for you ladies to look, you know, all dressed up. But the i Everyday I use my herbal toner. It is one of the most important products I think I mean, again, that's so hard. I have the whole I'm Korean beauty right so I have the whole every step. But I always use a toner in the morning if I don't work out rather than just washing my face. There's no alcohol, it's all herbs. So it's just basically, you know, cleansing with a cotton pad, but at the same time all those good herbs onto my skin. So that's what I start with. And then honestly, I like a little concealer because it just makes me look a little brighter and a little natural blush. And I go on with my day. Like literally that's that

Amy: 45:11

and are these all brands that you make in the lab so it's not like a brand skincare for sure. Probably

Dr. Janelle Kim: 45:17

another one I love it's my later again, that's the I keep making a joke. It's the Korean beauty that is a Korean beauty hack and I very much stand by exfoliation is key. And so those are all products that I create my bathroom looks like a lab literally I have a little bottles everywhere. But as far as makeup, we we keep wanting to go down a direction are a little bit too busy. So I do I go for brands out there and the ones that I like, right now. I like RMS beauty. So very clean. I find that you know I don't like to reapply like don't look at myself in the mirror throughout the day because I figured what what in the world can I do anyways? This is how I

Amy: 45:55

layer your skin's unbelievable so

Dr. Janelle Kim: 45:59

yeah, like a little blush just because I'm all skin tone. And that's about it. So and then maybe a little lip gloss. Some

Amy: 46:05

love that. Okay, and how do you maintain your daily your bond I

Dr. Janelle Kim: 46:09

love by the way, that that is what you call your entire platform on everything that you do. And so how to maintain that is through living meditation. I mean, we're totally on the same page living meditation is the ultimate goal of reaching that state of Nirvana that state of honestly balanced, we started this way and I suppose well, and this way that you know, everything comes from the doubt and for those who are not familiar with the Dow, I suggest that you become familiar in some way because it is a really powerful and was people love it. And it really is just the universe, right? And the universe is everything and nothing. It is literally that Enzo circle which is on my logo. It's that like kind of brushstroke and that's to me, also is nirvana. Right. So to that state of from nothing comes everything and from everything comes nothing. And so I am able to constantly keep purifying myself creating good habits, having a self discipline through living meditation, which is why I put it in the book.

Katie: 47:05

That's beautiful. I just want to say before we hand the mantra over to Amy that you can just you really exude Janelle such kind of peace and joy and you're glowing from the inside out. So you are living proof of everything that you can say. So we're really grateful for having you on. Thank you so much for for being here with us today. And I think our listeners are gonna love everything you taught us and, and really, I would love to have you back and we can dive into it. I'm

Dr. Janelle Kim: 47:32

really grateful to be here. It was a wonderful conversation. I would absolutely love to come back. So I hope that was helpful. That's for sure.

Katie: 47:39

Was Thank you. All right, Amy. What's our mantra we'd like to close with a little something to end on.

Amy: 47:46

Yeah, so I don't know if this is a mantra or saying something I found on Jay Shetty, Instagram, but it's very appropriate to what we were talking about specially we were talking about being drunk on your thoughts, which kind of stuck with me. So here it is. If you want to be happy, don't take stuff personal. Let stuff go. Let people be focused on you. Your mental health, your spiritual health, your well being physically and financially.

Katie: 48:11

I agree. Yeah, yeah. All of the above agreed, right.

Amy: 48:15

So thank you so much. Thank

Katie: 48:19

you.

Amy: 48:20

Thanks for listening to Nirvana sisters. For more information on this episode, check out the show notes. Please subscribe and leave us a review. also find us on Instagram at Nirvana sisters. If you loved what you just listened to or know someone that would please share it and tag us. Tune in next week for a fresh new episode of Nirvana sisters will continue to watch out for all things wellness so you don't have to. Bye.

Episode 56 - VAGUS Not VEGAS! How TO Maintain Your Nervous System With Jessica Maguire Part 2 (Full Transcript)

This is a full transcript of the Nirvana Sisters podcast Episode 56 - VAGUS Not VEGAS! How TO Maintain Your Nervous System With Jessica Maguire Part 2..

Editor’s Note: Please know that this podcast transcript is automatically generated and may contain minor errors such as typos and word switches. For more information, be sure to listen to the podcast here or view our podcast episode guide.

Amy: 0:06

Welcome to Nirvana sisters podcast where we take the intimidation out of well being and beauty to help you achieve your highest state your nirvana. We are sisters in law and your hosts. I'm Amy Sherman.

Katie: 0:18

And I'm Katie Chandler. So let's get into some real conversation on sister's family. This week, we continue with Jessica McGuire talking about vagal tone and repairing your nervous system. And this part two episode, we get advice for helping to regulate children's nervous system, especially children with maybe autism, ADHD, and so on, Amy gets real time advice on her vestibular migraines and how it could potentially be tied to the nervous system. Jessica also helps us understand what different dysregulation look like for different people and the various ways that we can regulate our nervous system. We hope you enjoy this super interesting episode with Jessica McGuire. We found it to be so educational and really, really interesting. It's a completely different way of looking at how to manage one's stress. It's a new way that not a lot of people talk about and we think it can be really, really helpful to so many people. So we hope you enjoy.

Amy: 1:28

I have a question about I guess a symptom of not being regulated could be headaches or dizziness, because I have the similar migraines. If you know what that is. And they were really bad a couple years ago, they're much better now. But is that related? Because I have a feeling it probably is like I was off and probably needed to do things to help it. But are you familiar with that?

Jessica: 1:51

Yeah, there's some good research that shows there is some connections there, because of the vagus nerve connects like it's a cranial nerve, which you would link cranial nerves with other cranial nerves winds migraines. So particularly with the vestibular system, so as it comes up around the ears, it's connecting with other cranial nerves there. So they've shown that lower vagal tone can present as things like tinnitus, headaches, migraines, that kind of thing as well. But also there'd be the inflammatory links. So the vagus nerve can influence our level of inflammation. And that's if we'd love able to and we sometimes see these chronic things come up, such as migraines

Katie: 2:38

interests, or anything that you can do that like it, like if someone so for me example, what could she do to help with her vagal tone now that you know, she has a vestibular migraines, maybe the person, the listener is hearing this and they're saying, Oh, I'm I'm on the higher end? What like, what's something that they could do that could help them? I saw that you mentioned play on your Instagram page playing like a kid again, like these, you know, these these little things that we can do at home? Does meditating help? What are any things that our listeners could do? Sure.

Jessica: 3:13

So it would depend as well, I would be worried, like Amy and I were to look further, we would say, Well, what looking at what stage she would spend most of her time it really triggered her nervous system, does she have dysregulation? Or does she she's experiencing a lot of anxiety at that time. So again, I would be looking in that framework of the window of tolerance to see where that you know, where should be resting play is one of the best things because you you are working with your nervous system in the state where you have that sympathetic nervous system coming in, or the fight, the insane energy that leads to fight or flight is that mobilizing energy that is in play, but with play the vagal brake or the vagus nerve is still working. So you feel excited, energized, you feel that mobilization through your body, but it's not moving into a threat, because you've got the vagal brake fit. So play is great. It can be with kids. I mean, if if as an adult you find things with certain friends playful like comedy, it could be just taking funny photos. It could be going and doing something like a hike together and you know, really having that group laugh, banter, but reciprocity where it's back and forward is really what helps because when you say it's the same as speaking and listening, when you talk, your vagal brake releases slightly. When you listen, it comes back on slightly. So whilst we can say okay, let's do these things that are inside the window, where our nervous system learns and things will change is when you actually have some stress in your nervous system. So that's where we want to for some people excitement gets interpreted as anxiety. It's like almost like this, oh my god, this is so great. Oh, my gosh, I'm feeling so many things that I can't like keep it in check. So then it turns into like a racing heart and things. So, so we we do want to use it when, if we were to say that to you the answer to your question before? If so, Amy knew that she moved into anxiety whenever she went to family functions, let's say for instance, well, that's the time where we'd want to be saying, Okay, how can she keep herself just under that edge of her window without moving into anxiety? Now, that could be that she holds her husband's head or that she looks at him and they take like, a moment to be like, together, it could be that if she if she checks in with her shoulders, and a jaw is clenched, and she's holding like this, she goes, Okay, I'm gonna just I've not, I'm starting to notice that this is what I do is an automatic pattern, I'm going to undo that pattern and start to come back down. One of the things that I think is really helpful is using if then statements. So it's like, if I go to the family function, and I start to get anxious, I'm going to go outside for one minute and just, like walk with my feet on the graph, and really pay attention to those adaptations. So whilst there's a lot out there that we can see that says, this is going to help with the vagus nerve. It's, it's not really that powerful, unless we're experiencing stress. And we teach our survival brain, which is the part that detects threat to respond in a new way. Right? It's like, you know, we can all be very chill while we're on a meditation cushion, but then leave and drive out into traffic and completely.

Amy: 7:06

And so it's not trying to keep yourself calm all the time. It's knowing how to keep yourself calm in a stressful situation, and having the tools and strategies to do that, which I think I've learned over time. And I think, you know, that's a really important piece to it. Now, do people take, like, in extreme cases, do people take medication to regulate their vagus nerve? Or is it more just behavioral things.

Jessica: 7:32

So this is interesting, because when you look at what we call the gut, brain axis, that's how the vagus nerve runs from communicates from the gut up to the brain. And a lot of what it's communicating is coming from the gut microbiome, and the what we'd call the enteric nervous system, which is the nerve all the nerves in the belly that they might call the belly brain. And so some recent studies have shown with taking things like say antidepressants that helped to improve the level of serotonin, when the vagus nerve was cut, they stopped working. So it's interesting that we know that things like serotonin, taking those will or taking antidepressants will help in the short term, you know, that will help to improve people's mental health, but long term, it doesn't necessarily improve things. So is that that serotonin, serotonin, helping improve the function of the vagus nerve and what's being communicated? Or can you influence our own serotonin? So I think this is where it's useful to look at the vagus nerve as like this highway that's communicating what's happening between our gut and our brain. And we can also do a lot to change or rebalance, like what the how the microbes are working because they are what produce things like serotonin, GABA, which is an anti anxiety neurotransmitter, as well and dopamine. So we can we can still have a big influence on the balance of our gut and the vagus nerve will communicate that upwards. But in terms of medication specifically for the vagus, not really, it's more that the medication treats the end stage. So like inflammation, pain, you know, people use proton pump inhibitors for the gut, but a lot of that can be poor vagal tone. So unfortunately, a lot of them probably just mask what's going

Amy: 9:35

Yeah. And I think, you know, culture, people will say, you know, you hear it all over the place, like, Oh, I'm stressing to take a Xanax, you know what I mean? And like, that's very common, unfortunately, that is how people are coping with their stress me included sometimes if I need to, right. And I think it's really important to figure out ways to not rely on something like that to kind of get you back into your zone, if you will. Yeah,

Katie: 9:59

and I do I love that the tools that you were saying it feels like it's kind of like mindfulness practices like checking in. There's this book that I read to my children. That is, it's called ion peace. And it's just this little story all about this guy that is he's tuning into himself, like, right now I can hear the wind and the trees are bustling. And I can feel the grass underneath my feet. And I can, and it's like, just kind of checking in, like you were saying, Alright, my shoulders are really tense. Let me drop my shoulders. My I'm, maybe I'm breathing too fast or talking too quickly, let me slow it down. So is it is that kind of a good way to sum it up? It's tuning into yourself in these moments of stress, and recognizing these stress habits, and kind of shifting them. I think that's

Jessica: 10:49

a big part of it. But for some people paying attention to sensation, so we're already close to panic that can make them worse. Really, knowing where you are on that stage. So yeah, we hear a lot of like, just to breath work. If someone does breath work, when they're panicked, they are going to just feel a million times worse. It's a bit like saying, and I wish there was a simple answer to say it's just this, but the part that I keep coming back to when people are like, but isn't there just like one or two things? And it's

Katie: 11:24

really not? Because no, of course, yeah,

Jessica: 11:27

depends on each person. But for some people that will help you know, in the, in the ability to go, Okay, I'm going to focus my attention on this, like that can certainly help. But for other people, it could be things like, I need to move my body, or I need to use ways where I'm out in nature, or I need other people or it's, it's having like this enormous tool toolkit that you can go through and say this is going to work for me today. I mean, there's things with music that some people find regulating, that doesn't involve paying attention at all to anything, it should just be having the music there. And they've shown that we've children with autism, that that has been a really useful way to engage the vagus nerve. And it's having good effects for bringing that nervous system regulation. So mindfulness is good, I guess the part that I just caution people with is if they are really dysregulated, mindfulness has shown that it can potentially make the dysregulation last longer, because you might be paying attention to say, like a racing heart, or butterflies in your tummy. And if you've paid attention to that, it's almost like it's telling the brain there's danger. So this is where we need to know our system. And what works because I've worked with a lot of people who've had a history of like traumatic stress, and they just can't meditate. And they keep getting this message, like just meditate just mentioned, that well, doesn't work for them. So

Amy: 13:04

it's a little bit like, so those type of people need to find another method to help them get regulated, for example, exercise or play or something else. Yeah, I was gonna say, too, because Katie mentioned, kids, and you were talking about autism, etc. I was going to say, I'm sure, this could be the case for many children, especially like teens, because you know, going through middle school or high school is stressful. They're just not able to identify that it could be often. So what do you suggest for like, kids who may have a dysregulated? Tone? Because I would say, there's probably a lot I mean, you hear of so many, like, mental health challenges with kids nowadays. So I'm just curious for our listeners, if they have kids, they think that might have dysregulation and how they could help.

Jessica: 13:54

Sure. Yeah, it's very interesting. And a lot of the research has been with kids. So a lot of this stuff is so relevant, but it's helpful to look up. The babies aren't born with the ability to self regulate. So they actually rely on parents to literally calm their nerves. So the part of the vagus nerve, that's that vagal brake, it's got like a electrical insulation around it, and that is formed, or it's not formed up until we're about three or four years old. So there for kids who are like premature or maybe don't get that really good co regulation, they're more likely to experience anxiety. And there was even a study showing that adverse childhood experiences correlated with chronic illness later in life. So they followed these kids right through. So that was just to reiterate what happens early on in life is like setting up that person for for the rest of their life. So spending time with CO regulation is really important. But that's what I would say is probably the main part is the CO regulation. So using the voice using torch soothing, like that will have a faster effect. And then a lot of we the things we kids, like I mentioned before, the research is really interesting with music. But mid frequency music was shown to that's played has been shown to help kids access that part. But the back and forth of clay will work really beautifully. Even if that's like throwing a ball back and forth, like doing something where there's like, let the excitement build, bring it back down. There's ways to of course get them to tune into, like what's happening in nature, what's happening around that we spoke about as well. And really, like if we just say, okay, you know, the, my child is really up, I'm gonna go out and discharge some of this energy. Or it might be if they're flat, like getting them to like use things like stomping or slowly bringing that energy back up. So you're really looking to down regulate, or up regulate, the kids will always respond best with that CO regulation, because their little systems are forming through it. I mean, even the centers in their brain to do with regulation formed through that back and forth. Communication, new parents.

Amy: 16:39

Yeah, I was gonna say because earlier, we were talking about procrastination, and like, I'm thinking about my older son who's 15, and a bit of a procrastinator, but also has ADHD. So like, sometimes he can be flat or like super lazy, but again, I don't know if he's lazy, or he's just not like regulated. And maybe he needs to, like, get up and do something, which a lot of times we'll say like get up and go outside. And then when it comes back, and he's like totally fine. Yeah, so it's

Jessica: 17:06

an example. Yes. And like getting in with people, I think like because if there's that flatness and procrastination, people tend to withdraw a little bit and not want to go and do anything, it just becomes like a cycle. So it's like for us if we feel that flatness and that sense of, there's almost a little bit of a feeling of helplessness or hopelessness with it. But once we get back out, and it can be just even going to get a coffee or going to a park where there's a lot of people that will help to bring the system back up for sure.

Katie: 17:41

Yeah, I find it interesting. It this was talking about Jackson AMI son, it just reminded me of what you were saying earlier how people pick up on other people's dysregulation as well, like in, in my house if I'm stressed and like, you know, running around and reactive. The next thing I know, like, so are my kids, and then like my husband starts to get that way. And then the whole house gets really you can just like feel the stress levels rise. Yeah, in the house. Yeah. So it's, it's really interesting. So

Amy: 18:12

our next family dinners are gonna be like, Okay, we're gonna regulate, and our kids are gonna be like, what the hell you're talking about

Jessica: 18:20

100 does happen. And I think it's like, we need to not be too hard on ourselves for you know, getting stressed, because it's not stress is not going to ever go away. Like, it's always going to be there. And it

Amy: 18:35

can work for you in some in some ways. I think

Jessica: 18:38

that that sense of getting out of our comfort zone in some ways where we are on that edge of like, Ooh, this is scary. And then we can cope with whatever it is we actually do strengthen our ability to stay regulated under stress. So there's nothing wrong with that. I think it's more, I love that when people understand this framework, they stop blaming themselves. So it's like with your son, if it's procrastination, and underneath that is a sense of like he's you know, feeling particularly with ADHD, then changing the state will change that behavior. And this is why this stuff is so great for cues, but also we can give ourselves just a little bit of grace. Like, Katie, if you said from that year that you had your nervous system learned to be more sensitive to cues of danger. Because it was you know, having a hard time, but some of the time, that means we just then unlearn it through using those practices where we show, okay, I'm scared, but if I can, and if that's what you're saying what works for you where you're like, Okay, I can drop through my body. I can pay attention to what's here, and you just bring yourself down a little bit. Even though you it's still challenging you intact I can teach your system not to be as sensitized. So it's amazing dynamic.

Amy: 20:06

I have a silly example. But I was very proud of myself last week because I had to get a root canal. For the first time, I had like, really bad, it was one of those I had like really bad pain. And so I had to go to the dentist. And then he was like, you have to get a root canal, like, whatever. So go to get the root canal was like on the same day. And as soon as I got it, like, they put something in my mouth, and I felt like I couldn't swallow. And then I started panicking. And I noticed that my shoulders went up. And then I said to myself, Okay, your shoulders are up, like, move them down, breathe, and it like completely helps me and change me. And I was telling my friend, I'm like, Oh, my God, I'm so proud of myself that I like, got through it. Because normally, I'd be so anxious the whole time I like somehow managed to get through because I just noticed that physical symptom of me like raising my shoulders. It's just, that was just an awareness thing. But yeah,

Jessica: 20:55

amazing,

Amy: 20:56

silly example. But we relatable. Right? That's great. Yeah.

Katie: 21:02

This is so incredibly fascinating to me. And I feel like we could, I could personally pick your brain for hours. But really quickly, if you could explain a little bit your program that you do you work with your clients, and how our listener could get in touch with you to work with you.

Jessica: 21:19

Oh, great. Sure. So we have a few different programs, one that we have coming up very soon is our gut brain access program. So it's looking at, specifically the gut, and how that influences anxiety, depression dysregulation, and also how we can rebalance that microbiome to improve the functioning of the vagus nerve. So that is a six week program. It's not really about having to go on a diet and overwhelming ways to change your life. We just have found the through the science, what works and put it into recipes, so people can just integrate it. And it's matched to the States as well. So it's what works for you. That's one program. And then we also have a two hour masterclass that we run, that is a good overall introduction, and just gives you enough to go away get practicing on your own, and learning to really widen that window that we spoke about.

Katie: 22:21

Yeah, I think I'm going to be signing up for the two hour master. It sounds great.

Amy: 22:26

Where can people find you on Instagram? Because I know that, um, you have a lot of really great videos and information that I found to be really helpful.

Jessica: 22:34

Oh, thank you. So our handle is repairing underscore, the underscore nervous, the school system? Don't worry. It's really long. But yeah, there's a lot over there. We do. We do love to share a lot on on Instagram, we found that our audiences very, very excited to keep learning more. So it's been a lot of fun to, to to share this information with people over there as well.

Katie: 23:02

Yeah, your content is great that it is it's so for the listener, it's so incredibly informative. And you give a lot of great tips and educational information that really helps break it all down. I love I love your content.

Jessica: 23:16

Thank you so much, Katie. All right.

Katie: 23:18

So why don't we kick it into our rap session? Amy, do you want to? Sure. tip us off?

Amy: 23:25

Yes. So what is your favorite wellness or beauty hack?

Jessica: 23:32

Ah, I'm gonna go wellness just because I would say that beauty is not my area of expertise. Favorite beauty had a wellness hack would have to be I would definitely say the right people around would be the biggest key to wellness. So leaning into people for support, but also for play and for fun as well. So yeah, I would say that would be the biggest wellness. I love that.

Katie: 24:00

Yeah, surrounding yourself with the right people. Yeah, the energy right everyone's energy when you're picking up on it. Alright, this next one we call it the five minute flow to first of all, do they have Uber in Australia? You do right?

Jessica: 24:15

There's not much in our area like you often go to order them and you'll understand the

Katie: 24:22

question part of the flow. Yeah, so you just got out of the shower and dried off Uber just alerted you there five minutes away. What's your quick beauty routine? What are your go twos your holy grail is to get yourself ready and out the door and in that car,

Jessica: 24:35

five minutes. So I would definitely want to just do some deep cut fill in brows you know, because if you've got polished eyebrows, you kind of feel like you've got your act together and you're really organized. And then probably just looks of you know, like something like a bronzer or an ad coverage. I could just rub on my face but that still gave it a bit of a glow. Nice. Oh, we're just thinking if there's anything else five minutes, I think my time would be up if I had to do any more.

Katie: 25:13

The last one we want to know is how do you maintain your daily Nirvana,

Jessica: 25:18

I really think it's tuning into that those rhythms of the nervous system that I was speaking about before. So just being aware that I tend to want to go, I can do that, I can do that, I can do that. And then it gets to, like, I'm overwhelmed here. So knowing that rather than pushing through, that's the time to actually take a break and get outside, it's probably my main thing. So where we live, it's not far to a river and it's only like, a two minute walk and, um, just go down, have a walk, and then be able to keep working, I think through wisdom, you kind of learn to that your physiology is more powerful than your ability to keep trying to push. And so I listened to that physiology now instead of trying to override it. And that is how I would say much more insight that we know we talked about.

Katie: 26:09

Yeah, that's the key for sure. Yeah, it's so fascinating. It's like being in tune to your body on a level that I have never talked to somebody about before. I mean, it's it really is like You must be so in tune and in touch with with your body. It's I'm I'm hypersensitive, I feel everything in my system all the time. It kind of drives me crazy. But at the same time, you can use it to your advantage. And I just feel like I could learn so much from you. So I'm signing up for their class. Learn more.

Amy: 26:43

This was amazing. And so eye opening. So thank you so much for joining us.

Jessica: 26:47

All right. He's absolutely loved hanging out with you both. Thank you so much for having me. It was really fun. And I love that he was so enthusiastic to learn all about this. So thank you. Yeah,

Amy: 26:58

I think our listeners are really gonna like this. Thanks for listening to Nirvana sisters. For more information on this episode, check out the show notes please subscribe and leave us a review. also find us on Instagram at Nirvana sisters. If you loved what you just listened to or know someone that would please share it and tag us. Tune in next week for a fresh new episode of Nirvana sisters will continue to watch out for all things wellness so you don't have to. Bye.

Episode 53 - Nutrition Tips And Healthy Tricks For Summer With Holistic Nutritionist Jen Silverman (Full Transcript)

This is a full transcript of the Nirvana Sisters podcast Episode 53 Nutrition Tips And Healthy Tricks For Summer With Holistic Nutritionist Jen Silverman.

Editor’s Note: Please know that this podcast transcript is automatically generated and may contain minor errors such as typos and word switches. For more information, be sure to listen to the podcast here or view our podcast episode guide.

Amy: 0:06

Welcome to Nirvana sisters podcast where we take the intimidation out of well being and beauty to help you achieve your highest state your nirvana. We are sisters in law and your hosts. I'm Amy Sherman.

Katie: 0:18

And I'm Katie Chandler. So let's get into some real conversation

Amy: 0:28

Welcome back to the show Nirvana sisters family. It's Amy and Katie. And we're here today to do a quickie episode with Jen Silverman, who was on our show back in episode 16. And for those of you who did not listen to that episode, you should it's called no label as the best label. But Jen Silverman is a holistic nutritionist. She's an expert in nutrition and intuitive eating and we thought it would be fun to do a quickie episode with her just to talk about some stuff for this summer as we're getting ready. The warm weather's coming out. It's spring, summer soon. What do we need to know? What are the tips? What are the snacks? What are all the things from the fabulous Jen? So welcome back to the show. We're so glad you're back with us. We missed you.

Jen: 1:07

Thank you. I'm happy to be back.

Amy: 1:09

So starting off with our nirvana of the week. I'm going to flip it to Katy to tell us. What was your Nirvana this week, Katie?

Katie: 1:15

Well, thanks, Amy. Hi, Jen. So excited to have you. Let's see my nirvana of the weekend. And yesterday, I had the whole day in the city, like a big girl without the kids and without the, you know, the like running around school pickups, and all of that stuff. So it was kind of fun. It was it was the first time since we've lived in Connecticut that I've done that where I've gone in for the entire day, just myself doing my thing. And then I had dinner with a great friend that I hadn't seen in years. So that was it. It's like, I don't know, it's just fun to kind of step outside of your normal life and do something different like that. That was my old life. You know what I mean? That's yeah, I was. Just to have times, yeah, well, yeah. 100% Like, I wasn't necessarily working. I had some pampering and some shopping. And it was great. It was fun. What about you, Amy?

Amy: 2:09

I have a little Nirvana from this morning. So our puppy Skye who accounts they talked about on the show, she's eight months now. And she's still crazy, but she's getting a little bit more mellow. And she jumped in bed this morning with me. And we were spooning and it was so yummy. So and she's so big now. So like, our whole body was like against me. And we were just like, cuddling. You know, granted, it was for like a minute until she like wanted to do something else. But it was so sweet. Because she never really does that. So I loved it. That's so huge. And

Jen: 2:38

my birthday was last week. And so I would say I just feel like, and I know, it's sad that it only happens on your birthday or not sad, but I just felt really loved in general. lately. I had, you know, dinner with my college friends and I got to be with my parents and my mom made me dinner. I always laugh because I feel like when I was little I always wanted to go out to dinner. And now that I'm older and I can pay for my own dinner, I'm like, can you just cook me dinner with someone to cook me dinner? So I felt like I had a really special week. Just with a lot of celebrations and seeing people I don't get to see as much and I'm glad that even that was the reason but that brought us together.

Amy: 3:18

That's so nice. Yeah, happy belated.

Jen: 3:21

22. Right. Can you believe it? Exactly. Three actually, it really it just outlines.

Amy: 3:29

Solid state of mind. It's all state of mind. Okay, so let's get into it. So summer's coming up. What do we need to know, like, give us some quick things that you're thinking about for kind of while you're already in shape, but like, you know, getting in shape and getting prepped for the summer.

Jen: 3:42

So my favorite part about the summer is that you can eat fresh foods. And I should not imply that you don't eat fresh foods year round. But you've probably heard you know, the term eating seasonally. And generally, this when someone is telling you to eat seasonally, they mean like there are certain fruits and vegetables that are in season, winter, spring, summer fall, right. So if you're getting strawberries in the summer, they are that much more delicious than if you're getting them in the winter because they're you're getting them from somewhere else or writing to when they're picked, you know, in California, you're kind of waiting and that nutrient density and even the taste is kind of all being depleted as it finally gets to you in Maryland or here on the East Coast. So that is all very true and I love eating seasonally. But my what I mean by eating seasonally and I think it's what's overlooked a lot is that in the wintertime especially you're eating more warming foods, right like you're eating like soups and stews and broth and things like that, and naturally we crave those and you actually should like really lean into that. But in the summer everything's fresh and delicious and even salads and juices and fresh fruit and like it actually tastes really good versus like you're going like okay, this is fine. So I would say like from a food standpoint, number one like leaning into summer. It's amazing if everything's now seasonal and delicious, and we can eat salad without being depressed wishing we were eating something warmer, in my personal opinion at least that's so

Katie: 5:09

true. I definitely 100% do that. In the warmer months. I want the cold crispy crunchy salad, the fresh veggies and then when it gets cold, I crave the warmer stuff. And I like occasional material. I feel like I should really be eating a salad because so much better for me. Why am I not eating the salad? Is it I don't, I don't want it because I'm freezing my body's cold it needs to be warmed up and be it's just not as like crispy and crunchy and fresh as it shouldn't be. So that's a really great, great tip. I love that one.

Jen: 5:37

Thank you. I feel like I never think of that. Or not that we don't think about it from that side. Which is Yeah. A Grom for a workout standpoint, I mean, get outside like there is nothing better than like fresh air and like that not be not even just like not staring at a screen not in not. And that's not to say that there aren't wonderful at home workouts or if you are comfortable going into a gym or into a fitness class if those aren't beneficial. But there's just something about being outside. I think the term that I heard somebody uses called Nature bathing, and it's literally forest bathing.

Amy: 6:12

What is it? Nature bathing or forest bathing, I've heard

Jen: 6:15

are both there. I think they're both really like actual things. But yeah, but nature bathing in general, just having that even if it's like walking outside versus on a treadmill, like, yeah, your calorie burn isn't going to be different. But let's be honest, like, I really hope that you and everyone listening to this is not working out for the calorie burn. Like I hope that they're working out for all of the other benefits of exercise. So I mean that alone, just whether it's a walk of bike ride your gardening, I mean, I plan to garden, I'm doing it on, it's my Mother's Day gift every year on missions every year, it's the second year in a row because I used to live in a city and I didn't have a garden. But we're going on here to where we're planting my garden. i Yeah, that is also something that I love about like coming into summer and spring and stuff like that.

Amy: 7:00

That's funny that you plant a garden, I actually my mom and I, on Mother's Day usually do that too. We go to the store and we get all the flowers and we plant all the annuals for the week, the spring vegetables and like herbs. And you know, I haven't gotten into that territory. I would like to actually Katie and I've talked about having someone on the show to like tell people how to do it because we don't know how to do it or to do it where they actually grow and like animals don't eat them. Like the whole thing seems very intimidating shape, but in theory, I would love to

Jen: 7:30

do it. My mom um, the advice I will give you now in year two, but I was when I was younger my Mom did whatever year so I do know a little bit you do things eat like tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, they grow like weeds, like in a wonderful way. Like it's simple, you won't feel like you're failing. You literally water them once a day, no big deal. Put them in a sunny spot, not too sunny. The tomatoes need that like a cage because they grow up. The rest of them don't and they're fine as is I had because we moved into a new home I had like the landscaper when we were doing our landscaping like put in boxes for me. So it was proper, but you don't need that. That's just me being fancy. Um, herbs and spices separate container because they not like cross contaminate, but it's hard to contain them like men will I'm still growing mint from last May. And I'm like it's crazy. I wish that I ever planted that I'm really upset about and not that I don't love mint but it's like overtaking my yard. It's not that hard. I think a lot of people definitely. It seems like a daunting task, but it's not that challenging.

Amy: 8:36

So cucumber or just like put it in the ground and like tomato like go

Jen: 8:40

to home. I really, and they have organic and regular like you can choose which one and you buy the pot itself and you buy like the plant or soil and then even you could they'll tell you like I walked in there and I'm like this is my first time doing garden. My mom's like we know what to get, don't worry. And there's different planter soils, there's the organic one, there's regular one, you know, you it's one of those things that I would recommend going up like a higher price point because if it's a lower price point, not only is this soil now it's a bit thicker and chunkier and you want it to be more smooth, but it's also that there'll be other things mixed into it. This is gonna be a gross comparison, but it's almost like meat. Like if you buy good meat, like you know you're eating meat versus if you're buying right like something like crab carrot, better example. It's like real crab versus breading. I don't.

Amy: 9:28

Okay, you've inspired me I need to try it. Well, the animals get into it.

Jen: 9:33

No, but I've spent in my yard around my Yeah, I

Amy: 9:36

do too, but okay. All right. The other

Katie: 9:39

thing also I have read a lot of studies about like actually having your hands in the dirt and how gardening is really good good for you. It's grounding, it's good for the soul and there's like good bacteria in there that it's okay if it makes its way into your system and all of this stuff. So yeah, it's it's what's up

Jen: 9:59

probiotics? specifically, specifically about it. Yeah,

Katie: 10:01

yes thing. Yeah. Yeah, that's great. I love that. That's also

Jen: 10:05

a holistic functional practice going outside barefoot. So my daughter has to refuses to wear shoes, and is constantly people constantly make comments. And I'm like, listen, she's grounding. This is a practice, but it is like it's part of a meditation process for a lot of people.

Amy: 10:22

I've heard that that you should go outside with no shoes on and like grounding. I keep hearing about that. And it's funny because I do like to be outside with my shoes off. And I didn't know it was like a thing. And Jackson, my older son also walks around all the time with new shoes on outside and say, I'm gonna I'm like, that's good. He's getting the Earth. He's feeling Yeah,

Jen: 10:41

you can join the compound because we're total hippies. And we're gonna go, yeah.

Amy: 10:48

I love it. I also was just listening. I put it on Instagram this week. But I don't know if any, if you listen to the podcast, the Huberman lab

Jen: 10:58

I do. Andrew Yang and Dr. Mann. Yeah, he's best with him. Obsessed. He's

Amy: 11:03

unbelievable. But he was on the skinny confidential this week. And I listened to both of those. And he was talking about so many different amazing practices. There's a part one and part two, and I'm just in the middle of part two, it's so good. But he was saying also a good thing to do in the morning is to go outside, no sunglasses, nothing and just like, be outside and let the light hit your eyes for like 10 or 15 minutes. And it's sort of like that grounding thing. It's like wakes up your body and it like sets your circadian rhythm and all this stuff is so interesting. But anyway, so yeah, I love that. Okay, give us some because I'm a snacker, good snacks, easy snacks, healthy snacks that we can, you know, think about packing in our bags or grabbing on the go. So you don't

Jen: 11:43

want me to just say fruits and vegetables.

Amy: 11:49

And mean, you can grab a banana or an apple, but like, anything new any like, I mean, because we grabbed them or like fruits, veggies nuts, but like,

Jen: 12:01

okay, means I'm really into beans. So there's, it's a blue package, I want to say it's called the O Bean on Amazon. And it's at a mommy. It's just dried roasted at a mommy. But it's like 11 grams of protein, I want to say at 90 calories. There's some fiber in it. And it's a blue package. And I used to give it to my kids for their lunches. And now I'm like I'm bringing these to sporting events because you guys make me sit here for six hours. They're absolutely delicious. And Amazon has I mean, like the single servings. I'm also really into Brahmi right now, which neither of these are like new for the record there. Joe, I know that brand, the BR AMI and it's lupini beans also but these are not dry roasted. So the edamame one, they're crunchy like that texture. I'll throw them on a salad if I'm not eating them plain because they're delicious. Whereas the Brahmi you actually could also throw in a salad but they're I mean, they're they're like there's a big

Amy: 12:52

beans, right like the big white beans or fava beans.

Jen: 12:57

They're lupini beans, I think lupini beans, but fava beans is also a good one. But the Brahmi has single serving ones also. And they have different flavors. So I'm really into they don't require refrigeration. And you can eat the content like it's you know, it's probably this big the packet itself.

Amy: 13:15

That's good. That's good.

Jen: 13:17

Um, she I mean, I'm still in the snack islands and snapin has a salt and vinegar ring

Amy: 13:21

I love by now I saw that on your feed and I need to get those because I love snack length. And I haven't had them in

Katie: 13:26

a while. It's absolutely I mean, is that the what is that? Yuka Okay, yeah,

Amy: 13:32

but they're really light and crunchy and so yummy.

Jen: 13:36

One of my clients compared it to a vegan pork rind. I've never had a pork rind because I grew it is like that. But it looks a bit like that. But they're very fluffy. And what are those? Did you see those water? Have you seen the water lily puppy things?

Amy: 13:52

Right if you tried every snack known to man Yeah,

Jen: 13:55

yeah, I peed. I have clients that are into them. I personally, I'm not sure if I've ever tried them. I should though. I mean, they're

Amy: 14:02

good. They're a little like sweeter. I like the I like the snack ones better, but they're good. They're good. It's good to have a variety of things and those beans I've had before but I had like a bigger bag and I ate too many of them. I didn't feel well, so I was like, I'm gonna get the snack bags. I'm not like overdosing on them. Yeah. Jen, what's

Katie: 14:20

your position on like these healthy popcorn brands? Like the 100 Calorie pack skinny pop popcorn? I mean, are you pro corn anti corn? Like what's your thing? Just curious.

Jen: 14:32

Okay with corn. I feel like the issue with corn in this country is just more so like that. It's what what it it's bad to cows and almost kind of going back to the beginning of our conversation. It's not only corn, there's there's like candy in it and like all of this crap. And then when we are if we are I'm a meat eater like I'm not an exclusive carnivore but I eat meat. And then if I am eating that, you know, I believe we are not the You are what you eat, but you eat what you ate ate. Does that make sense? Like if my cow was eating grass, and then I'm eating the meat from the cow.

Katie: 15:10

Oh yeah. You're eating? What? Yes. Yeah, I totally get what you're saying. It's like the chain.

Jen: 15:16

Yes. Chain. Yeah. So the to me the gross pneus of corn is that it is in cow feed, but there's so much other crap mixed into it. But like I eat corn on the cob. I eat what are those? This is actually good snack those like big, like corn things from

Amy: 15:36

Whoa. Oh, those

Katie: 15:38

Oh, the corn kernel. Like the crunchy? Yeah.

Jen: 15:41

Those are delicious. Yeah, like very I love I love adding things like for texture, like into salads and stuff like that. Like that is a great added great pop of. So to go back to your question. I'm not anti corn had the lesser evil popcorn before that was delicious.

Amy: 15:58

That's the one you had at my house. Katie recently? Yeah. Like, yeah,

Jen: 16:01

yeah, I think I don't think smart pop puts anything in there stuff. I mean, I have like a bit of a negative association with anything that's like, like 100 Calorie packs, just because I don't know, there's like a psychological piece to it. But I also think it's really beneficial. Because quite honestly, we eat what's put in front of us, like, at every age. I mean, I see even with my children, I can give them a bag that's this big or a bag that this big. And they think they need to eat most, if not all of it. So there's something really beneficial about the single serving despite the fact that it's not really good for our environment.

Katie: 16:33

Yeah, that's so true. And to your point, the chain of like, you're eating what what you ate, had for breakfast. It's very true, because I haven't, I have an egg intolerance. And I was told find chickens that are not fed soy, because I'm highly intolerant to soy, because a lot of them are given soy feed. And so it's like, it's not the egg that's bothering me. It's the soy that the chicken ate that's in the egg that's bothering me. So yeah, this is

Jen: 17:01

not along exactly like that. But I was actually having a conversation with a friend who she was saying she can't drink wine anymore. And she's like, why can't I drink wine? And I'm like, I bet you there's so things in your wine, and there's still dates and all wine and you can buy organic wine and it's lower and sulfates but you know that they have filters now can buy single filters. You literally throw them in your glass of mine and you can enjoy your vine without getting a headache and feeling

Katie: 17:27

really. That's interesting.

Amy: 17:30

So yeah, I drink usual wine, which is an organic wine single serve and supposedly there's much lower sugar in it and no sulfites or maybe it's just low sulfites. I don't know, but I want to try those discs. I haven't heard of that. That's cool.

Jen: 17:46

They're like, they kind of like a silver package. And they're just like, a filter, and it filters them out. Because it's almost, if you're buying organic wine is definitely better than non organic wine. But it's similar to and I feel like I'm always using comparisons, but coffee. If you have decaf coffee, there's still little caffeine in it. Not much. Right? Right. So a little bit of it. And that's my assumption is it's pretty comparable from a wine perspective. If you're having organic wine, it's still gonna have some salt base just a lot less for the lower sugar. I mean, that mean that's huge. Like if you I don't know if how if you're a wine person or not, or how even gotten this direction, but I think Summer Wine, it makes sense. Yeah. You get really, you sleep poorly. You're sleeping more basically, it's the sugar because the sugar is waking you up because your blood sugar's spiking, dropping and then that's what's wake you up in the middle of night, there's sugar in the wine. So I would actually imagine from that aspect as well, the organic wine would be really helpful.

Amy: 18:46

So on that topic of cocktails and drinking in the summer, because we tend to be out more and drink more and all that. What's your go to for like low sugar, like as clean as you can get? Cocktails?

Jen: 19:01

I got this. Tequila, soda water and three limes. I can't tell you if you're nervous to go really like just I would to ease into it. I would say a splash of grapefruit juice, but ideally like fresh grapefruit juice, because that also cuts it really well with like the sourness

Amy: 19:22

of grapefruit juice and what kind of tequila Do you like?

Jen: 19:25

If I'm being a snob? I'll go like class at school but that should not be mixed with soda water. I actually did it once and was yelled at. Oh, good like casamigos Um, that episode. Oh, probably.

Amy: 19:38

Yeah, yeah, that's a good one.

Katie: 19:40

It sounds good. I'm a wine drinker. And I do I have read that wine and white wine and champagne are lower in sugar than a lot of other, you know, alcohol options. So I feel like if you can't do the hard stuff that tequila, then I think actually Champagne is the Is champion the least amount of sugar? I think I've heard that the dry the really dry champagnes

Jen: 20:05

really dry when I would say not like a Prosecco, right dry one.

Amy: 20:09

But we love percent.

Katie: 20:13

I'm not gonna say no to champagne though, either.

Jen: 20:16

Every day the celebration. I would say if you want to pace yourself, I would put, I would make it into like a spritzer bow. Like I've done that before. If I'm going, like, for example, I told you, I have a winery visit tomorrow. My plan is to get the wine with soda water to cut it, so that it's more of a spritzer and that I can you know, I can last longer and be cool.

Katie: 20:41

Very smart. Yeah,

Amy: 20:42

that's a good idea.

Katie: 20:43

I love and you know what? It's also really refreshing in the summer by the pool outside a white wine spritzer. Yeah, it's yummy.

Amy: 20:51

fruit in there. Yeah.

Jen: 20:53

Right. Kind of ruined it with them. I'm just getting like they are. They're really, I mean, they like they add so many calories. Like, I think we've talked about this. Maybe I have a client, a man who he lost like 11 pounds in a month. And the only change he made because he gave up alcohol. Like he's like, I just want to see and he No and, and I'm like, that's insane. Like he was still eating everything that he loved. And just crazy. Like how how it creeps up and you don't even realize

Amy: 21:25

Yeah, he's also he's also a man that was gonna say the exact same Yeah, like, if I cut out alcohol for a month, I would lose like half a pound. I mean, let's be honest. But I was actually going to give one fun hack, which I did like I remember I read about this years ago, and I haven't done it in a while. But you just reminded me of the champagne in the spritzer if you take blueberries, raspberries and put them in the freezer. They become like ice cubes. And then you can put them in your spritzer or water or whatever, and they're yummy. So

Jen: 21:54

you're now reminding me that's a great tip. Thank you. You're reminding me of last summer. I made my kids love watermelon. I always buy watermelon and we can eat like I mean a half a watermelon in a day in our house. I took the leftover because it was it was like two or three days and I was worried it was gonna turn froze the watermelon. Then I took it and put it in a blender with like fresh limes. And meanwhile, like it wasn't a sorbet texture was more like an icy texture like a Slurpee texture. I mean, I've never had I had mine. passerby I mean nutritious but yeah, it was like a watermelon Slurpee. It was literally just like lime juice and the watermelon but because it was frozen, it was that beautiful. But I should and had every intention of trying to put alcohol in that because I think that would also be delicious.

Amy: 22:42

Ooh, that sounds so good. And how did you freeze the watermelon? Like in just like little balls?

Jen: 22:46

Yeah, like I don't even have a pretty ball thing. It was like I cube the watermelons for my kids anyway, so I had like an a glass Tupperware thing and then I put it in my freezer.

Amy: 22:55

Yeah. Oh, I love that. That sounds so good. Yes. And you could mix them a little vodka tequila sounds

Jen: 23:01

amazing. I have to try it and I will let you know when I do. I will invite you. I love it.

Katie: 23:07

What about I have a question for the next recommendation. Do you have any like detox teas? I mean, you see people that are making these things with the ginger and Tumeric like what's what's your jam on? Do you have something?

Jen: 23:20

I do? So it's funny because again, you're like every word is really triggering for you Jen you're very specific picky. I hate the word detox like our livers job is to detox right like we don't need to go on a detox like we have an entire organ that does that for us that said and this is more of a not I feel puffy, although I think it would benefit because it will it's it will it's anti inflammatory and will lower inflammation in your body which is generally can manifest as just essentially puffiness in your skin. But I actually more take it if I'm not feeling great for an immune boost. So what I do is hot water. Fresh ginger, so fresh grated ginger, a little bit of honey because honey is antimicrobial. Oh half juice from half of a lemon and then Ceylon cinnamon,

Katie: 24:06

Ceylon what's Ceylon cinnamon?

Jen: 24:09

So there's cashes cinnamon, and Salem Ceylon is d Y L O N That's just the one that's I mean, I should say supposedly because the science of nutrition is just so interesting and I feel like there's always new articles like I'm literally always on PubMed and I'm like like finding and you can which is really sad probably find any you could find a study that will prove anything you want at this point if I'm being perfectly honest, I don't know if I'm supposed to say that but Ceylon cinnamon is supposedly the one that is actually anti inflammatory versus the cash is cinnamon, which I think is not as I want to say not as it's not the word not as fresh but not doesn't have the same properties so Ceylon cinnamon is as you can imagine a higher price point it's almost like that manuka honey thing versus like regular honey right?

Amy: 24:54

What do you store Yeah, I was gonna say like, if you just pick up cinnamon How would you know what kind it is?

Jen: 24:59

If you Pick up red ocean and then assume that it's not Ceylon but like Whole Foods like what's the brand if frontier it's like the Black Label the frontier like that they haven't say a lot. It'll say Salem cinnamon.

Amy: 25:11

Okay. All right, so we got some really good tips there. There's probably a million more, but we're gonna go to Katie because she's got some summer products she wants to tell us about. So I'm excited to hear them. Yeah. So

Katie: 25:23

I am super excited to share these because they're like game changers for me. And I just discovered them recently. And I'm obsessed. Well, Amy knows one of them. One is the secara Matt metabolism, super powder. I just started using it recently. And it definitely is all that it's cracked up to be like it. It helps with bloat. It helps with digestion, it helps with puffiness. It also gives me energy and kind of like, helps with mental clarity as well. It's super yummy. And I just think it's great for going into summer because I know Jen doesn't like the word detox, but it kind of feels a little bit like that. And also like it's just it just kind of like speeds up your metabolism, which is what it says it's supposed to do, which helps you know, flatten the tummy and things like that. So I really love it. It's a huge bag, you can get a 30 serving pouch for $90. A little steep, but I use like half of a half of the scoop every time I use that. What do you think about a Gen?

Jen: 26:25

I have a question I want to Yes. Okay. I mean,

Katie: 26:29

I would love to. And just

Amy: 26:30

while she's getting that out, I've used this metabolism that I've used. I use it a while ago. And I used it for a little while and I put it in my coffee and I think it was fine for me. I didn't really notice that much of a difference. And it was funny when Katie was getting it she asked me and I was like yeah, for me. It was okay. Like it wasn't bad. It wasn't I didn't. I didn't notice a major difference. But Katie has noticed the difference was which is great. So I think it just works maybe for some people and not for others. Yeah,

Katie: 26:55

I think so too. The ingredients are raw cacao powder, coconut milk powder, l glutamine, horsetail extract, kelp extract, tonight. Gymnema sylvestre extract, coconut sugar, it has a 1% blend of stevia and low how gow extract

Jen: 27:19

Chinese that's from traditional Chinese medicine. That's an herb that's commonly used in TMC.

Katie: 27:25

Okay. And then the last Oh, and TMC, which is bad. And is that no traditional

Jen: 27:29

Chinese medicine?

Katie: 27:30

Oh, I'm sorry, I got something else.

Jen: 27:36

Very common herbs in traditional Chinese medicine that it's okay.

Katie: 27:40

And then the last one is black pepper fruit extract. So, I thought it clean suckers.

Jen: 27:48

I mean, it's our glutamine that's giving you the metabolic effect. Okay. And the others are probably to make it palatable, but also like ingredients that aren't going to hurt you.

Katie: 28:00

Yeah. And they said that I think it's the horsetail extract that kind of helps with, like, like, helping you with bloat and puffiness, kind of getting rid of like extra water weight and things like that. But yeah, so I love that one. Alright, here's the next one. It is it's a red bag. Yep, exactly. I'm sure you've seen it all over social media. Alright, so get ready to have your mind blown. Whoa, there's this new tool that I have been wanting to get for years, but it was so expensive. Three years ago, I was like, alright, this isn't in my future. It is, I think just more available to the public now. So the price is more palpable. It's called the lumen. The lumen metabolism, hack, or hacker?

Jen: 28:48

You're gonna see a jade roller, I'm not gonna lie.

Amy: 28:51

Oh, yes, come on. Alright,

Katie: 28:54

so this is it. And what it does is it measures your co2 output that tells you if you are burning fats, or carbs, you blow into it. And the reason why I know that this is legit. Years ago, when I first started with my autoimmune stuff, my husband, I didn't know what was going on. We went to this very, like intense clinic in New Jersey with legitimate doctors and all of the tests and everything. They run everything under the sun. And one of the first things they had me do was blow into a device to see what the strength of my metabolism was. I think it was like my, like resting metabolic rate or something like yeah, so that is, yeah, so that is via checking your co2 output, and that's exactly what this does. So I blow into this. It's connected to my phone, and it tells me what I'm burning and then it gives me a plan for the day should I eat some more carbs today? Should I stay away from the carbs and the whole So is to get you to what they call metabolic flexibility. And it's where engine knows. Alright, Jen just perked up, you know,

Jen: 30:10

metabolic flexibility? And I bet you

Amy: 30:12

do. I would like that I definitely don't

Katie: 30:14

have it. Yeah, so that's what I'm working towards. And that's where your body, Jen, help us understand what that what that is,

Jen: 30:22

oh, that literally means what you think it means, which is that your body can metabolize all of the macronutrients, so fat, protein, and carbs. So what happens is with diet plans, like if you went on keto, for example, you're only eating fat, so your body and it's there. So there's, this is actually harder to explain than I thought, there's nine calories and one gram of fat, there's four calories in one gram of protein and carb. So when the concept behind keto not to get too into it is like if you're fat fueled, and you're only eating of a high amounts of fat, and you're limiting, like severely limiting, like under 10%, your carbs and proteins, then your body is living off of ketones, but you need to eat a lot less because there's so many more calories in that like, that's why it works, right? Like if there's only if there's nine calories and one gram of fat, you can eat a lot fewer, like more than half the amount than if you're eating if you are fueled by carbs and proteins. Does that make sense?

Katie: 31:21

Yeah, and also, go ahead. No, no, continue.

Jen: 31:25

I love that about the flexibility means that your body can digest all of those versus like you having to go on some specific diet plan or like your body really only knows how to digest one of those macros, because yeah,

Katie: 31:37

yeah. And also I read as well, that when you like, stop eating carbs, you stop making these enzymes that help you break them down, and all of that. And, Amy, I don't know if you remember we Amy years ago, before we knew better Amy and I were like really into keto for a while. And then when we tried to come off of it. It was crazy. It's like we couldn't eat a carb without feeling like we were going to put on five pounds. And I think it's exactly that. Do you remember that? You said, I feel like this screwed my body up. And I can't even eat a piece of bread anymore. So that'd be the piece of red. And again, like three rounds. Yeah, that's like exactly what the opposite of metabolic flexibility is. So this is a tool that you use to basically collect data and you have to be engaged, you check your you check, you check it multiple times throughout the day. And eventually using the data properly and applying it to daily life, it should get you to metabolic flexibility. So I'm all about like, you know, give me the data. And I'm a biohacker I

Amy: 32:33

love it. That's so cool. Wait, so explain how it works. So you blow in it. And then what? What's the output? What does it say

Katie: 32:40

in an app in my phone, it's Bluetooth. And it tells you it's like a little scale. One is your burning fat five is your burning carbs. And then there's in betweens, and the goal is to you know, like wake up at a one so you know that you're burning fat through the night. i This morning, I woke up at a five because I had pasta and wine last night. So you know that makes sense. But yeah, I'm still learning it. I've had it for a week. And it is complicated. It does take commitment. But yeah,

Amy: 33:15

but it's interesting, very cool. I think it's hard to know, like, I have no idea that you don't really know how your body is working unless you're super in tune. So that can really help to guide because I don't like you're right, like sometimes you eat something you feel a certain way. And like, yeah,

Jen: 33:32

I will interject and tell you that your body will always choose to burn carbs. First of all right? Like, that's why when you're running, if you're running a marathon or something like our bodies are smart, they know that as a quick source of energy. That's why every four to five mile marker, if you're doing a race, they're gonna have gummies and things that hit your bloodstream really quickly. Those are carbs like sugar is a is the literally the most accessible, digestible form of carbohydrate, it's not so good for you, because then your blood sugar spiking and your cravings are all over the place. But your body will definitely choose to digest carbs. So it sounds like this is helping you know what to eat so that your body is like, Hey, listen, we're not only digesting carbs, we got to like, move on to the other stuff. I'm concerned.

Katie: 34:12

Yeah. And also the other thing too, is like I'm attuned to my body, but just because I'm attuned to my body, I might crave carbs, but that doesn't mean my body needs carbs. There's other factors like hormones and things at play that could be making me crave carbs. So to have something tell me whether or not I really need them in that moment. Is is a tool that's a very useful tool. Yeah,

Amy: 34:34

so for this what's a cotton muddiman No, no, but the flexibility metabolism, linear metabolic flexibility. That is what when you can eat things without like gaining or losing weight, like you kind of stay the same and

Jen: 34:53

raising your blood sugar. So like if you were a diabetic, for example, and you were really obsessing over your blood sugar being in a healthy range, that would also be beneficial. So metabolic flexibility just means that no matter what you're eating, you're not, it's not going to affect not only your metabolism, but also your blood sugar and other like biometric factors.

Amy: 35:12

Interesting. So by using a tool like that, you could see how you were that day and then kind of like base your meal plan essentially on that,

Katie: 35:19

then it gives you a meal plan macros and everything. Oh, that's cool.

Amy: 35:24

Based on like, it'll tell you how to eat Yes, off of your

Katie: 35:27

score. It gives you a meal plan, like oh,

Amy: 35:28

that's so cool.

Jen: 35:29

The illuminator the lumen

Katie: 35:32

l you, me and for the listeners will have it in the show notes. So I went is this Jen Silverman approved? Are you

Jen: 35:41

interested in it? I'm totally going to DM them and ask them to send me one for free so that I can post about it. Yeah,

Amy: 35:46

maybe I need to do that again. Yes,

Katie: 35:48

it's it's not I mean, it's not super affordable, but it is up to I believe it was 299. And then you have a four month subscription to the app that does all the things and then pay another 299 to keep in that program. Or you can be like my goal where I'm trying to really use it, learn it. Right figure out ways to like personally hack it into my life. kind of love that. Yeah.

Amy: 36:16

Okay, that's really cool. And I definitely want to research that more. And Jen will circle back with us and give us her yay or nay on it, but it sounds pretty legit. Very cool. Yeah, it is.

Jen: 36:27

We're a numbers nerd.

Katie: 36:28

I'm also like a research geek.

Jen: 36:31

Metrics person then

Katie: 36:33

metrics

Amy: 36:34

are whoop. What's up? Like just listening? Yeah,

Katie: 36:38

I need one of those. No, that's

Amy: 36:39

the sleeping thing. I know. Well, there's

Jen: 36:41

the aura, raise their aura. And somebody gave me a whoop, and I don't want to activate it because I'm not like you in that regard. And that I don't want to wake up and see that my whoop is at 10% recovery and then not like move my body because I'm like, Oh, but I feel okay, but it's telling me that I shouldn't like I would read too much into it. Like I've had rice like Christmas time and I will not activate it and everyone's like learn

Amy: 37:06

and it tells you what is it do it measures your sleep and like and how well you

Jen: 37:10

Yeah, and not it's not as much like how many hours although will tell you that it's more like your recovery because you know, there's the sleep where you actually like get decent sleep and then there's a sleep that you're restless and you're waking up and you're you know, I don't know, I guess show REM sleep but it tells you like how are you burnin output and

Katie: 37:29

oh, I want one. Yeah,

Amy: 37:30

yeah, I was just I keep hearing about this and it's very interesting. But sometimes it's like ignorance is bliss because you don't it's you could get crazy with it. But I Katie, like when I get like blood tests or different things with the doctors I like give it to Katie she's like my metrics nurse. Like she'll be like, oh, yeah, this this. I'm like, oh, okay, like I don't even pay attention.

Katie: 37:50

But like, yeah, I have the teeniest tiniest wellness hack for like helping with bloat and a flat stomach that I think is great for summer. Right? Okay. Yes, peppermint tea with lemon. But prior to that the Trader Joe's No joke, Ginger shot. If I take the if I'm bloated, you know, gasoline, whatever. I take this. And then I drink peppermint tea with lemon. I'm doing it now. And it helps get rid of all of that. So that's just one nice little treat to Joe's lemon. The Trader Joe's organic, no joke. Ginger shot. It's a blend of coconut water, ginger, lemon juice and a little bit of cayenne pepper. And then pepper. I used to Trader Joe's organic peppermint tea with some lemon slices. And it like it really helps

Amy: 38:38

with that's good to know, especially on a day after you've had pasta and wine sounds like exactly.

Unknown: 38:43

Yes.

Jen: 38:46

She has a breathalyzer and

Amy: 38:49

I know I'm like I'm imagining her

Jen: 38:51

pulling that out like in a publicly

Amy: 38:53

No, no, she's totally. Yeah. She's like, literally probably going to be at a restaurant and be like, Hold on. Let me take meglumine Okay, I didn't order salad or pasta.

Katie: 39:03

It's 100% the truth and people think I'm vaping it's ridiculous.

Amy: 39:07

Oh, that's so funny. That would be that would That's very funny. All right. Let's do okay, I'm going to end with a quick this or that summer edition. You ready? Yes. Okay, blueberry or raspberries,

Jen: 39:24

raspberries twice as much fiber by the way as blueberries.

Amy: 39:27

That's nice to know that okay. Next one. Beach or mountains.

Jen: 39:34

Each. My heart belongs to the beach.

Amy: 39:38

Like failure. I feel you Okay, hot coffee or iced coffee.

Jen: 39:43

Iced year round which is not in line with what I said about wow, I know but I would rather drink iced coffee around and then have hot water to warm myself up in the winter after

Amy: 39:54

okay. Okay and last one sweats or judged up

Jen: 40:00

Oh, sweat. I'm a natural beauty. Yes, you are. And I'm not. I don't look, you're already Asian. Like I don't. It looks weird. I got my makeup done once for a wedding. And my David looked at me and he was like you look like, like Trump like he's like

Katie: 40:19

well, you are very naturally gorgeous. Thank you.

Amy: 40:25

Awesome. Well thank you for your this or that. This is so much summary. Thank you for being on the show. This is so good. I love all these tips and tricks. We'll have to digest and put it all in the show notes because there's so many good things to get everybody ready for the spring and the summer and the roses and the tequilas and the snack lens and whatever else we talked about, and don't forget your Luna thing that one of us has gotten me. Oh, we all need to make this frozen watermelon situation and do some videos and like share them with each other.

Katie: 40:53

Good idea.

Amy: 40:54

Put them on Instagram. Okay, I love it. Thank you so much for joining us and so good to see you too. Thanks for listening to Nirvana sisters. For more information on this episode, check out the show notes please subscribe and leave us a review. also find us on Instagram at Nirvana sisters. If you loved what you just listened to or know someone that would please share it and tag us. Tune in next week for a fresh new episode of Nirvana sisters will continue to watch out for all things wellness so you don't have to. Bye.

Episode 52 - Common Chiropractic Myths, Helpful Tips To Stay In Alignment With Dr. Debra Block - Part 2 (Full Transcript)

This is a full transcript of the Nirvana Sisters podcast Episode 52 Common Chiropractic Myths, Helpful Tips To Stay In Alignment With Dr. Debra Block Part 2.

Editor’s Note: Please know that this podcast transcript is automatically generated and may contain minor errors such as typos and word switches. For more information, be sure to listen to the podcast here or view our podcast episode guide.

Amy: 0:06

Welcome to Nirvana sisters podcast where we take the intimidation out of well being and beauty to help you achieve your highest state your nirvana. We are sisters in law and your hosts. I'm Amy Sherman.

Katie: 0:18

And I'm Katie Chandler. So let's get into some real conversation

Amy: 0:28

Welcome back to the show Nirvana sisters family. In this week's Part Two episode with Dr. Debra Block, we really get into the details. So last week, we talked about why chiropractic care is good for you and all the benefits. But this week, we really go deep into things you can do on a daily basis that can help you what to expect when you go to the chiropractor, what to look for, and more. So enjoy this episode. It's full of tips and tricks that we think will be really helpful.

Katie: 0:59

Amy, I'm curious why you were so scared of the idea of being adjusted. I mean, I love going in and getting my neck adjusted. And I know like something like, didn't you tell me that like that the whole thing kind of freaks you out that whole the whole neck adjustment?

Debbie: 1:13

I just want to say that Amy has asked me to rob her and touch her and examine her.

Amy: 1:17

I love a good massage and hands on my neck. I mean, always yes, yeah. Our whole moving your bones into a different place. Like only because and I'm sure people that are listening feel the same way. Like you've heard the horror stories of like, oh my god, I went to a chiropractor, I got my neck adjusted and like, I can't move or like you hear these. And it's miss. And that's one of the things I wanted to ask you, Debbie, like those common myths that people hear about. And I think that's why it was always because it's not just like, you know, you're you're adjusting the body. And if you don't go to someone good, something could happen. I mean, you're super qualified. And of course, I trust you with everything. So like, I felt so good. And it was funny, Katie, because Debbie was like, Oh, I can refer you to someone closer. You don't have to like, drive, you know, half an hour to see me. I'm like, No, I'm not going anybody. Like, you know, it's it's it's intimate to your point, and you want to trust the person you're with. And so I think that's why I tend to get over the fear. And now, I would happily go back to do it. But I think there's probably a lot of people that feel the way that I do. So Deb, what are you seeing as like myths that you can dispel for people, there's

Debbie: 2:21

lots of people who feel that way. And I do a tremendous amount of work. You know, my psychology degree really helps me with every single person I can sense and pick up on that even when someone's not telling me. So I really learn how I've learned how to and it's one of the I think it's one of the things I think every doctor should have is an understanding of where their patients coming from and being able being able to sense their own comfort or discomfort. But ya know, I do I do a lot of communication and explanation. And if I have to go really slow with people I do, we have non aggressive options that if I have to start out, you know, with an instrument instead of my hand so that they're not feeling the vertebra moving, then I will do that. But I do a lot of communication and a lot of explanation to get patients to feel more comfortable and you know, ease into it slowly. There are a lot of myths. Some of them are kind of laughable. My favorite one is Hey, Doc, you know, I've watched Jackie Chan movies, and he always breaks people's necks. And are you going to do that to be? Him? I want to be like, how dumb are you? Like, I don't say that. But you know, I first thing I say is okay, that's a movie, you know, like, that's fake. And I never took that class in school. Like, you know, I never learned how to break next, I only learned how to fix them. Now, I mean, are there any, you know, concerns and real reasons to be concerned? It's few and far between. And I will tell you that malpractice insurance wise, this is always interesting to people. When you look at health care providers, we have the lowest malpractice insurance cost of any health care provider because it's relative to the amount of injuries that are caused by the people in your profession. Wow. So the number of malpractice suits for somebody having been injured by a chiropractor are very, very low. So chiropractors malpractice insurance, like in comparison to a gynecologist and OBGYN who's I don't even know what the numbers are. But, you know, really exorbitant chiropractors are really, really very low rates because we really don't have many, many injuries. There are myths, the biggest one probably is besides this, you know, one that I just shared before is stroke. That's you know, people are like are we gonna have a stroke? And where that comes from is that there are patients with stroke symptoms that present like lots of other chiropractic patients neck pain, headaches, fatigue, range of motion restriction, those are typical for stroke for stroke patient, and they walk in. And they are most likely going to have a stroke sometime within the next few weeks. And if I were to do a Doppler ultrasound on those patients, which would evaluate the arteries in the neck, I would most likely see a clot what's called the thrombus, sitting in the artery waiting for that moment. And so if we don't properly screen for those patients with those issues, is there a possibility that we could adjust them and they could end up having a stroke a couple of days later, and then thinking it was the chiropractor? Who did it? Yes, that's happened. And chiropractors have had issues, you know, with that before, but it has been proven that it is not the chiropractor that caused the stroke, the stroke was going to happen. But the patient came in with symptoms similar to neck pain, headache, you know, patients, and the chiropractor that treated them didn't catch it because a Doppler ultrasound is not something you're going to order. Unless there's, you know, a very clear reason to do so.

Katie: 6:11

Yeah. So let's talk let's talk about that. Let's talk about when a patient comes in as a new patient, the screening that they go through the diagnostic processes that you do, to decide, you know, what they need, etc.

Debbie: 6:24

Yeah. So, obviously, patients fill out a lot of paperwork before they come in, they give me their whole health history, as well as their genetic family history. And have they had chiropractic care before? Have they had traumas have they had car accidents, you know, athletic injuries. So we get a little bit of a picture just from what they've filled out on paper. And then we sit down and have a detailed consultation where I asked all of those questions and we talk about them in depth. You know, what, what your family history is, is important. If you're a smoker, if you're a drinker, if your job requires you to be on your feet, or physical or sitting at a desk all day long, what your stress levels are, what your sleep and hydration and nutrition and exercise look like, what your pain is now, how you're describing it, you know, some of those descriptors can be really red flags for us, you know, worst headache I've ever had in my life is a big one that's refer out to hospital, they're most likely about to have a stroke or about to have potentially an aneurysm. I've, I've caught some scary things in my time. I actually just had a patient who came in post colonoscopy with a whole bunch of abdominal pain. And she was 41. Works out seven days a week in amazing shape and was coming to me for maintenance care to keep her spine in good alignment. She went for her, went for a colonoscopy routine and ended up having all of this abdominal discomfort two weeks later, and both of both her gastro her gastro and her regular doctor told her Don't worry about it, you know, give it some time. I was alarmed. There was something off about it. I said you need to go right away and have a have an ultrasound down and let's see what's going on. Turned out she had a ovarian tumor the size of a grapefruit Wow. emergency surgery within the week. Wow, I just got a while I have that kind of case walk in my office. I have referred out probably four or five strokes and my time. Usually they walk in and they're usually they're pretty obvious. I'm usually it's an older person. It's somebody who is slowed. I mean, I literally had a woman once years ago come in in a wheelchair. And she wasn't feeling well. Her husband pushing her in a wheelchair. She was in her 60s. And one of her feet. You know how in a wheelchair, you've got those foot pedals where you put your feet on, the foot pedals were up. And she was able to hold her left foot like you know, holding it still, but her right foot was literally dragging behind the chair. And I'm like 911 like something's not right. So yeah, I mean, we do have things like that walk in. So yeah, being a good diagnostician and not just looking at the spine. But looking at everything, you know, to the to the point of you guys talking throughout your podcast about kind of an integrative health care approach, which I think is ultimately part of your message. It's really hard to look at someone nowadays especially and not take into account their gastrointestinal health, their cardiovascular health, their gynecological health, their endocrine, health, and all of those things, play a part in what I'm doing. If I want to be a good doctor, talk to people about all of these things. And then once I get a really good understanding of what they're experiencing and what they're feeling and where they've been. Then I have them go through a range of motion. I'll look and see how they're moving and their lower back and their neck and their upper back. I'll do some orthopedic testing to see if there's an eye via sign of problem in the spine, and if they're having neurological symptoms like numbness, tingling, burning, loss of loss of muscle control or weakness, then I'll do some neurological testing. We also will palpate the spine and feel the areas that are bothering them to see what we can pick up with our hands. And, and then if necessary, depending on the age and the issue that's going on, and the history, I'll often refer out for either x rays and or an MRI, depending on what what they're dealing with. If I'm referring out for films, I bring them back and we go over the films once they've come back, we go over the findings, and then I'll treat them if there's no if there's no contraindication based on examination and history, then I'll usually treat on the first visit.

Amy: 10:49

Okay. Yeah, and what I was gonna say, I mean, you're obviously extremely thorough, and you I would hope that most other chiropractors are, but they probably might not be so like, How does someone find a trusted good chiropractor? Like, what would be the best way to do that?

Debbie: 11:05

That's a good question. I wish I could say there wasn't differences from one chiropractor to another. But I think that's probably true

Amy: 11:12

for every house, every kind of

Debbie: 11:15

industry, you know, there are some that are going to be you know, more in tune and aware and concerned and focused, and others who are going to kind of treat you more like a number and get in and get out. I always tell people who are moving to other states to ask, you know, I mean, nowadays with technology, there's so many great places like, you know, besides Facebook and neighborhood listservs there's also what is it that neighborhood app?

Amy: 11:42

Next door next door, thank

Debbie: 11:44

you. So there's lots of good ways. I mean, where I am, there's always people asking for, you know, who's a good chiropractor in town, and I'm always watching to see what people are saying. So there's lots of referrals, I would look start there, look for who else other people are seeing and you know, talk to them, especially if you've got something specific going on. Like I think you mentioned earlier, I treat pregnant women, but many chiropractors do not. So you know, if you're pregnant, you would want to look for other pregnant women who have seen a pregnancy trained chiropractor, because we are, you know, a unique bunch. And it's not something that everybody is well versed in. So looking for referrals, looking at people's websites, you know, what somebody puts into their website, I think really makes a difference and reading, seeing how that resonates with you, and then honestly going and meeting them. And if after that first visit, you don't feel like they're a good match for you, then you need to move on and go somewhere else. Yeah. Trusting your own intuition about how that person feels when they do they make you feel comfortable. Do you feel trusting? Do you feel like they're not what they know what they're talking about? Those are the things that I would recommend?

Katie: 12:50

Can I get? That's good advice. Yeah, that's great advice. Can I ask personal questions? Can I can I get a little diagnostics? I?

Debbie: 12:58

I'm very, very honest and revealing. So ask whatever you want.

Katie: 13:03

Well, I'm just curious. So and we talked about this actually, you're the Debbie's the whole reason why I went to a chiropractor recently, because I we chatted on the phone not that long ago, and I found a great chiropractor that I'm thrilled with there. I felt like that. They went through all the processes that you just explained, I feel, you know, really good feeling about them. So she did an x ray. And we found out that my hips were like, misaligned, and I'm thinking is I guess I'm just curious, like, is this something that I was born with? And it's just now aggravating me? Is this something that is happening over time? Like, like, how do these things? How does that even happen?

Debbie: 13:37

How old is your youngest? Okay,

Katie: 13:39

my youngest is four. My oldest is eight. Okay,

Debbie: 13:43

were you somebody who carry your kids on your hip? A lot? Yes. On your side? Yeah. Okay. And do you remember which side you carry? I

Katie: 13:51

carry them on the side all the time on my left, which hip is which hip is high? I don't remember exactly. But that makes perfect sense. Makes better. Zero. Yeah, that makes perfect sense. But it's just bothering me so much. You know, because you spent

Debbie: 14:06

eight plus four years carrying

Katie: 14:08

your children. Yeah. Yeah, no, I

Debbie: 14:10

mean, I don't know how long you were carrying your older one, probably, you know, probably, up until your younger one was born. I would imagine you've probably spent about four years, you know, off and on carrying each of them. And that in and of itself, you know, it's amazing. One of the reasons I got into pregnancy workers because I saw this huge void for moms, both pregnant moms and women after they give birth. I mean, in my opinion, that's the most physically taxing thing that we go through. And there's not much you can do to relieve your discomfort while you're pregnant. And post pregnancy after you give birth. Oh, my God, you're barely sleeping. You're changing diapers constantly. you're breastfeeding or you're bottle feeding. You're bending down and the biggest thing is that and this is what I think is amazing about moms women We forget about ourselves because our maternal age is so, so strong that whatever our children need, our needs are like, we don't even hear them. So if you have something in your head that says, Watch how you're bending, forget it, my kids crying, I'm picking them up and putting them on my head. So I watch moms every day put themselves into compromising positions at, you know, at the detriment of themselves for their children. And that I think, is just part of our DNA. So if you're not going to someone, or exercising, stretching, doing yoga, doing all of these things to counterbalance what you're doing on a given day, especially when your children are young, you will feel it and you will have issues and I I have like a kids free policy in my office where I say, you know, bring the kids if it means I can fix you, and you don't have to pay for a babysitter. Just bring them and I've got toys in my office. And sometimes we have lots of smart kids, but it's okay, because I'm there to help them off. And I sometimes help the kids too.

Amy: 16:00

Yeah, that's, that's a really good message. Because you're right, when you first make it, you're thinking about that, right? And so it's like, the last thing you would think about is like, going to get drafted or

Debbie: 16:10

when you're walking into your kid's room and they're crying on the veranda and you're like, are you thinking about how you're leaning into the grave? Or like 20 pounds, and you're like, great,

Amy: 16:20

and it's like, you're you're not doing a phase where you're thinking about taking care of yourself. I feel like that comes a little bit later. So you're not even thinking like all the things like maybe if you knew it, you knew now you would, maybe Ben differently or whatever, but I remember to when my kids were born, and I was holding them so much my like, wrists and forearms were like killing me. And I was like, This is so strange. And I was like, oh, whatever, right? You just ignore it. Right? Yeah, that's so interesting. I never thought about that I

Debbie: 16:48

educate my new moms about create space for you to you know, let your kid cry for an extra 20 seconds, so that you can put yourself in a better position before you start breastfeeding. Or, you know, don't change your baby on the floor. You know, let your baby you know, have a poopy diaper for another couple minutes, you know, and take them to a more ergonomic place for you to change their diaper, things like that. Just thinking about you know, doing things differently. So you're not harming yourself. So yes, Katie, your head, I would look to that. But one of the things that I do a lot with hips like that, especially if you see on X ray that there's a misalignment and you can ask your chiropractor, this, sometimes there's just like a little insert that you can put into the shoe. It's like cork and it can be anywhere from, you know, like three millimeters to nine millimeters, but goes under it can go underneath the insert to your shoe. And it'll just take your low hips. So if your hips are like this, you put it in this shoe, so that your hippo come up in balance. Oh, that's interesting, okay. And it's just a very benign, something that in you know, like I usually sell, especially for someone like you, you probably need a bunch of them for all your shoes. Like,

Katie: 17:58

I was gonna say, Do I have to switch it every time I've wear a different pair of shoes, because that would be a problem.

Debbie: 18:02

I just stick it in your shoe. And then you don't even have to think about it.

Katie: 18:05

Yeah, no, that's interesting. That's a great tip. I'm definitely going to ask about that. Because I like it's the alignments. And the adjustments are without a shadow of a doubt helping, but it's, it's not fixed yet. And I can tell and my other question for you is like, they want me to come three times a week. So when someone is first coming to you with a problem, how frequently do you like to see them? I can't get in three times a week. I'm trying but it's like, really once? What do you suggest?

Debbie: 18:30

So, you know, it's that's like a kind of a common, that's also a common myth. Or, you know, one of the things I had, I had thought about when you asked me that question earlier was, you know, do I have to see the chiropractor for the rest of my life, like, I don't want to become an addict, and you know, feel like I need this forever. That's, you know, a very common myth. When somebody first starts care, depending on the issue, and depending on what's going on with them, having them come twice, or three times a week is usually what's recommended for the first four to six weeks. And the reason is not because we're trying to get as much money out of them as possible. But it's usually because the chronicity of the problem has been there, especially with someone like you and your what you just described, it didn't just happened overnight, or over the last couple of months, it wasn't like you slipped and fell two weeks ago, and now your hips been bothering you, it's probably been building for quite a number of years. So to correct it is not something that's going to happen with one or two visits. And if we see you once a week or once every other week, you're probably going to return to the lifestyle habits that you're doing that are aggravating it. And so you're kind of like a bandaid instead of really trying to address the underlying problem, which we can do more readily if we see you in a closer together period of time and then we're telling the spine once it's coming out of alignment note you got to go back to this position and then we're also encouraging you while we're working on you to talk to you about how are you sitting and how are you sleeping and tell me when you sit down on the couch and watch TV Are you like you know holding your legs underneath your hips? Or are you you know, thinking about where your legs are, are you walking around the house barefoot, or, you know, like, all of these little things about your daily life are going to impact your your healing. So I want to both treat it regularly for the first four to six weeks. And I want to educate you so that you're doing the right things when you're not with me to help facilitate the healing, okay,

Amy: 20:26

someone would potentially go four to six weeks, and then they're kind of in maintenance mode under that we,

Debbie: 20:31

we have, everybody does it a little bit differently. But we have three phases of care. And I call acute for the first four to six weeks where I'm really trying to get you out of pain. The second phase was another four to six weeks, but we're seeing you less frequently, once a week, once every other week. And that's called stabilization, where I'm trying to just stabilize the issue. And then we move to maintenance, which is typically once a month or once every two or three months. And then I'm just maintaining what we've done kind of just making sure that you're still staying where you are. And you know that frequency can extend out if you're if everything seems good, but periodically, I just want to check your issue. And make sure that like the dentist that you're coming in and that your spine is aligned.

Amy: 21:10

Yeah. And I think it also depends on the severity of the issue, right? Because when I came to see you I came in a few times, but they weren't in the same week. I think it was like once every few weeks until I felt better. Yeah. And you know, now I haven't been back. So I think it also depends on feeling. Can I ask fine? Yeah, totally fine. I think, you know, just sometimes my neck will be in pain, but I'm a little bit more aware of it. I'm trying to stretch. And that's what I was gonna ask you to for listeners. So I love all the tips you just gave before. What are some tips like good stretches are things that people can do every day, to keep their body in alignment, a lot of people are sitting on computers, like what are small little things that people could start doing today.

Debbie: 21:49

So my biggest recommendation, and I do this every single day is to foam roll. I absolutely love foam rolling. And I think it is good for every single spine. We spend so much time compressed, you know both at the computer at work with our children, you know, we're in this compressed forward flex kind of state. And if you can open up your spine and expand it and have a foam roller that kind of is rolling across it and helping you to just elongate and extend. I think that's an awesome tool. And there's so many videos on YouTube that can show you how to foam roll. And that's a really inexpensive, something that you can buy at Walmart or Target. Yeah,

Amy: 22:32

that's a great tip.

Debbie: 22:34

So foam rolling number one, number two is when you are someone who's sitting in front of a computer all day or really anything at any job, I recommend stretching your neck, and I recommend stretching it in six different parts. So actually eight different positions you both have both are doing it. So she's posted lateral flexion. So left and right lateral flexion. Then you've got what we call flexion, which was going forward extension, which is going back, and then you've got rotation, which is turning to each direction. And then my favorite one, which is I call sniff the armpit where you're wearing the nose to the armpit and put your hand on the crown of the head

Amy: 23:12

and pull. Yeah, I love that one. Oh, yeah, that's a nice way you show me these, and I haven't been doing them. Yep, so

Debbie: 23:18

that's gonna really help both with the lower neck and the upper back and PT. What I then say is check your nose and take a deeper sniff. So go a couple degrees further. And then pull down towards

Amy: 23:29

this video out so people can see it. This is hilarious feel the upper back,

Debbie: 23:33

it's also a good opportunity to make sure that you're not smelly.

Amy: 23:37

Yeah, that's, that's really good. Because you just sit at your desk and do that when you're on a call. I yeah, I haven't been I forgot about those, I need to

Debbie: 23:45

recommend when you're in the car, and this is good for like, you know, my stage of life where I'm constantly driving my kids to a million different places, is all you know, just periodically, I recommend doing add a light not while you're driving, but I'll just retract my chin into the headrest, and just push and hold. And that helps to strengthen the anterior neck muscles. And we spend so much time on what we call forward head carriage with the phone and the computer. That by doing that and kind of using your head rests in your car, it really helps to remind your neck in your head that they Your head should really be right on top of your shoulders ear should be right on top of the shoulder within here. So kind of pulling back retracting like a chicken and pushing the head into the headrest and holding for five and then relaxing. That really is helpful. Yeah, I

Amy: 24:35

love all these tips because it's I think integrating these things into the things you're doing in your daily life. So it's not an extra task. It's like you're in the car anyway, you're at a light do that right? That was like one nostril breathing one amount of light just to relax. So I love that. Okay, so quickly before we get into our rap session. Deb, I want to hear about you know running your practice as a businessman. Then because not only are you taking care of people on the daily, but you're running a really successful practice, and it's a lot, so give us your kind of POV on that. I know you'd like that side of the business, but it's very different. It is,

Debbie: 25:11

it's hard, it's great. And I love it. And I think I love it because I like people a lot. And I think what makes you good at it is, is, is being good to people and knowing, knowing what you how people want to feel. So I think, you know, I've always been a people person. And I knew that I wanted to go into a field where I was working with people. But there's a difference between working with people and really being in the right space, in terms of helping them to feel both not intimidated, welcomed, you know, my patients, I mean, I have a community of people who, most of them come in and hug me hello. I mean, even you know, now we asked, like, is it okay, if I hug you because of the pandemic, you know, I have an environment that's really friendly and warm. And so that part of becoming successful was easy for me, the part and I'll just back up and tell you that I have a father, that's an entrepreneur, so I kind of grew up in your office and, and watching him build multiple businesses. And so one of the boxes that I wanted when I was in college and trying to figure out what my career was going to be, was a job in which I could be my own business owner someday, knowing that I could be a mom, and that I could have a family and I could also have a business. And in healthcare, that's a little hard because I didn't want to be on call. I didn't want to be, you know, needed on the weekends, I didn't want to deliver babies in the middle of the night. So this field fit for me in that regard that I knew I could create my own practice in my own business. But yeah, it is hard, I definitely have a lot more gray hair as a result. You can't tell because I highlight but but yes, it's stressful. And the hardest part is probably just managing people, staff management. And right now in the pandemic. I mean, this has been the hardest two years of my life. Being a healthcare provider through a pandemic has really been challenging. I think health care providers have very much been on the frontlines. with teachers, you know, we we've I mean, teachers were, I don't want to talk about teachers, they went through their own, you know, challenges, but I was, Amy, Amy and our other two closest friends and I have been on a text thread since a couple days before the pandemic really hit. And I was the only one going to work every day, they were all home working from home and their careers. And jobs continued in the comfort of their home and I was home for six weeks, and then back in the office with a ton of PPE on having no idea if I was gonna bring COVID back into my home. But having too many people in pain and hurting that I had no choice but to go in. So it's that part of the responsibility of, of being available for people, you know, in a snowstorm like I usually open and I'm usually there because I feel a responsibility to be. So it's an awesome it's an awesome reality that I've created this business and that it's successful. But it definitely comes with a lot of stress and a lot of burdens. That, you know, people who don't own businesses don't really know from right, but you wouldn't change it. No, I wouldn't, because I absolutely love the freedom and I could never imagine having someone tell me what to do now.

Katie: 28:35

Totalling? Yeah,

Amy: 28:36

I feel you on that. Okay, so we're gonna get into our rap session. So besides keeping your spine aligned, what would you say is your favorite wellness or beauty hack?

Debbie: 28:49

So I told you about the foam rolling, that's definitely number one and number two that you made that we didn't really touch on. And this is a big one for me, is I take a CBD gummy every night before bed nice. And I started doing that over the last six months six to nine months or so both because I feel more discomfort physically than I used to. And hormonally I am in a stage where I was like waking up in the middle of the night, every night at like three in the morning like on the nose and wide awake and couldn't get back to sleep and so that insomnia was something really new for me. And the CBD which has really awesome anti inflammatory benefits helps me to stay asleep and I have an awesome night of sleep because of a brand. So I actually saw this brand in my practice. It's called noetic nutraceuticals. And it was created by a friend of mine who I believe you know wholeheartedly in his science and in the process in which they went through to create it and that's probably a whole nother podcast in and of itself. But not all CBD is created equal.

Katie: 29:57

Yes, I agree with that. Go ahead. Yeah. Yeah, but

Debbie: 30:00

no, that's probably my best health hack besides the foam roll

Katie: 30:04

that's a good one. I'm gonna have to try it because I was doing CBD like tinctures for a little while at nighttime. This was a couple of this was like during the pandemic in the beginning, and you're right, they're not all created equal. Like I I had to stop because I don't know it just it wasn't working for me, but I would really love to try that one. Okay, sure. The next one, we call it our five minute flow. Just got out of the shower. Uber ping do their five minutes away. What are you going to do to get into that? Uber on time, get yourself ready? What are your holy grails your go twos?

Debbie: 30:33

You know, Amy's gonna totally laugh at this and she could probably answer this for me and the answer is Ubers gonna have to wait. That's like never a possibility for me to get out the door in five minutes. There's a joke. I'm I have an issue with punctuality. Getting out the door to five minutes. Uber might have to wait an extra minute or two. But yeah, what would I do? I I don't ever ever get dressed without putting body cream on all over. Face Cream. legs, hands. I think I'm like a little dry. So like if I don't do that, I feel weird. So that's number one. Number two would be hair gel. I have curly hair as you can see. And so like just throw hair gel in and then run out the door. And mascara lipstick even during masking lipstick.

Katie: 31:24

Wow. Really? Yeah. They make you feel good. Yeah,

Amy: 31:30

I mean, if you felt like finished, yeah,

Debbie: 31:32

finished or like, you know, like going out lipstick.

Amy: 31:35

Yeah, that's good. That's good. Okay, and how do you maintain your daily nirvana?

Debbie: 31:41

Oh, that's a good question. And to be totally honest, there's lots of days where my nirvana is missing. I think it's hard. Being a mom business owner chiropractor. I am often needed by everyone else. And so the biggest challenge for me is creating space where I get to exist without anyone needing me. Some days I can accomplish it. And other days I cannot exercise. Nice weather this morning. I went out for a walk and oh my god, it's so gorgeous out. And honestly, this is gonna sound really ridiculous. My dog.

Katie: 32:17

Yeah, that's.

Debbie: 32:19

That's an unconditional constant. And I love that she doesn't really need much from me.

Amy: 32:24

That's yeah, sweet. What

Katie: 32:25

kind of dog kind of dog is she?

Debbie: 32:27

A beagle Collie max. And she's just

Amy: 32:30

as like the best dog you've ever met. She has the best personality. She's like a human. And she is like, so sweet and so friendly. And like, she's such a sweet.

Katie: 32:39

I love puppy Snuggles. That's great. I love that. Nice. Yes.

Debbie: 32:43

And that's probably what brings me my Nirvana more than anything is coming home to her because she is just always super happy and only wants to just

Amy: 32:52

she's obsessed with you.

Debbie: 32:55

And I'm obsessed with her. So it's I don't blame you.

Katie: 32:58

She's the sweet. That's

Amy: 32:59

awesome. So I have a quick product review that. I think Debbie, you might have an opinion on, which is why I wanted to review this today. And I haven't I don't have a full review because I'm still trying it. But I recently got this LED lights, like this red light. I'm gonna put it in the screen. I

Katie: 33:18

saw that in your bedroom. And I was like, Wow, is this contraption I'm not surprised. Amy is the one that has it, of

Amy: 33:25

course. So I've been wanting to try red light forever. Because I've heard it has really great benefits anti inflammatory, it's really good for so many different issues. And this one I got on Amazon. But I had seen it because I got a facial a couple of months ago or something and the woman when she had my mask on or something did this red light, but it was like a portable one. So we'll share a picture of it on our Instagram. But it's kind of like a small little LED light that's flexible and can go over your face. So you just sit there for 10 minutes or 20 minutes and it goes on your face. So I've I haven't carved out enough time to do it. Like a lot of people do it daily a couple of times a week. I have noticed that when I do it. My skin does look good, but I know it's cumulative. But I would love to hear your thoughts, Deb on red light therapy because I know it's very much like in vogue right now. And a lot of people are starting to use it. But I have heard it has incredible benefits, but I want to hear your point of view on it. Well,

Debbie: 34:14

I don't really know a lot about it and in terms of facial rejuvenation, but I would love to come over and try it at your house. But I know that my acupuncturists, we have red lights. We have red light lamps in my office and I dry needle and they do acupuncture and when I have the needles in the person's back, we put the red light on top. Yeah, and it's supposed to help further the benefit of the needle into the tissue. So I know that there's definitely some, you know, Eastern philosophy that the red light is really helpful and that it really can benefit you know tissue and wellness and reduce inflammation and all of that. So I would imagine it should be good For the face, I've never tried it.

Amy: 35:01

Yeah, and this one actually I use it for my face. But like if I had, you know, joint pain or something, they say, this is flexibles you could like put it on your arm, you could put it on your leg, you can really put it anywhere. We were actually thinking, forgetting one, but we've been researching like the red light saunas, like the big ones that you can walk in, because it's supposed to be just so good for you like for every part of your body. So anyway, I'm testing it out. I'll keep I'll keep the audience informed on it. But so far, so good. Just gotta carve out a little bit more time for it. But that's, that's a fun one. And

Katie: 35:29

Amy, the brand and the name of that and how much was oh,

Amy: 35:33

yeah, sorry, this one I researched. This one's on Amazon. It's called hydras, skincare PD, PDT, LED light photodynamic facial skincare rejuvenation, photon therapy machines $279. I will put a link to it, but I had researched this one. And I feel like this was the one she had recommended, etc. So we will talk about that. And just for everyone listening, if anybody wants to reach out to Debbie, I would say to go to your website. Right, Deb? Is that the best place for people to find you? It's blocked? chiropractic.com?

Debbie: 36:05

No, it's actually as Laurie chiropractic center.com. Sorry, Chiropractic Center. And there's a contact on there where you can just click and send an email and it'll come right to us that you're at if you're interested.

Amy: 36:18

Okay, perfect. Yeah. And then you're gonna close that. Go ahead.

Debbie: 36:22

No, I was just gonna say that. Besides chiropractic. There's also acupuncture and massage therapy, too. If that was something else, that somebody wanted to look for it, we can do a podcast in the future talking about those things.

Amy: 36:31

I know I would love to. And I was saying to Debbie, when I was there, I'm like, I need to spend a whole day here. I need to get adjusted, then I need to get a massage. These are all the things that I love. This is like, no mana day for me. But in Okay, and we always like to

Katie: 36:44

go Yeah, I was just gonna say like, that's something that I love so much about what you do. It's like it's holistic, you're approaching the body holistically. And I just, I think it's great. We were when we first started doing thinking about doing this episode with you. You know, you can think like we were saying before, like could the chiropractic care, it's just adjusting the bones in the spine, it but it's so much more than that. And I love that our listeners learned that today. And I just love your approach and everything. So thank you for being with us today, Debbie.

Debbie: 37:17

Yeah, you guys. I really appreciate you having me. All right.

Amy: 37:20

And we always like to close out with a mantra to set a tone for the end of the episode. So Katie has one for us today.

Katie: 37:26

I do and it is Be kind to yourself. Your body is a temple and You are the Goddess that resides within it. So to carry your body and go find a Kyra

Debbie: 37:41

episode. It's perfect. Thank you.

Amy: 37:43

Good one. Thanks for listening to Nirvana sisters. For more information on this episode, check out the show notes please subscribe and leave us a review. also find us on Instagram at Nirvana sisters. If you loved what you just listened to or know someone that would please share it and tag us. Tune in next week for a fresh new episode of Nirvana sisters will continue to watch out for all things wellness so you don't have to. Bye.

Episode 51 - Align Your Spine And Your Health With Dr. Debra Block - Part 1 (Full Transcript)

This is a full transcript of the Nirvana Sisters podcast Episode 51 Align Your Spine And Your Health With Dr. Debra Block, Part 1.

Editor’s Note: Please know that this podcast transcript is automatically generated and may contain minor errors such as typos and word switches. For more information, be sure to listen to the podcast here or view our podcast episode guide.

.Amy: 0:06

Welcome to Nirvana sisters podcast where we take the intimidation out of well being and beauty to help you achieve your highest state your nirvana. We are sisters in law and your hosts. I'm Amy Sherman.

Katie: 0:18

And I'm Katie Chandler. So let's get into some real conversation.

Amy: 0:28

Welcome back to the show Nirvana sisters family. It's Amy and Katie. And I'm so excited. We have been wanting to have my best friend Debbie on the show for so long. She's very, very busy. So I'm very happy that she's here with us today. And this all started because I've always been scared to go to the chiropractor, which is crazy, because I know it's not a big deal. But for some reason, I was always freaked out, as Debbie knows. And I recently went to Debbie and experienced the whole thing. And it was incredible. And it opened my eyes to the world of it. So we wanted to have the show to kind of shed some light on the chiropractic category. And Debbie is the perfect person to do this. So I won't call her Debbie. That's my friend Debbie. But Dr. Deborah Block always knew that her purpose in life was to help people to improve their lives. After attending the University of Florida and obtaining her BS in psychology. She realized that she wanted to help people improve their health, both mentally and physically. She discovered the awesome benefits of chiropractic care in 97. While attending life University in Georgia, Dr. Block received her doctor of chiropractic degree in 2001, and went on to develop her own practice within a group in Georgia and after practicing in Georgia for a few years, she decided to return home to Maryland to continue practicing chiropractic close to her family and friends. So after joining a practice there for five years, she decided to open her own practice in 2008. And accomplish her dream of running her own practice and treating patients with the individualized attention and high quality care that she feels patients deserve and need in this current world of health care. So Debbie has owned her successful practice for 14 years that has grown into that has grown to include chiropractic, acupuncture, massage, therapy, and weight loss. For the entirety of her career, Dr. Block has consistently educated herself on the newest latest and greatest advances in the chiropractic profession, as well as the latest developments in patient care. She is certified in the Webster technique for chiropractic care during pregnancy, I know you do a lot of focus on pregnancy. And as a member of the International chiropractic Pediatric Association, she is also certified in dry needling, Dr. Blocks philosophy is to care for patients in a way that she would want to be cared for she strives hard every day to be the type of doctor that can give patients the assistance that they're looking for, whether it's with a smile, a friendly greeting, a courtesy phone call, a hug or individually individualized attention. She has done all of this over the past 20 plus years, all while raising twins that just turned 16. And I can attest to all of the hard work and passion Debbie has put it Dr. Block sorry, has put in over the years, because I just went in for the first time and I can see the care that she puts into the practice and the way even that she worked with me, but she worked with me the same way she works with all of her patients. And it's really rare because you definitely don't go to practices a lot where the doctors actually take an interest. It's more of a, you know, machine where people are in and out. So definitely a special experience when you're working with Debbie. And I think also, as I was thinking through this preparing for this interview, I was like Dr. Block has really been an early adopter in this like holistic health space. I mean, you've been doing this for so long. And I think you know, over the last 510 years, it's become in vogue, all of this holistic health and all of this, but it really wasn't when you started doing it. And I think you probably got a lot of looks and stares like oh, what field are you going into? And it's so mainstream now. So I want to hear a little bit about that. And not only that, I mean, and I was thinking about this, too. You're an entrepreneur, and you have this amazing practice. And not only you're treating patients, but you're running a business, and it's so hard. And that's why, for our listeners, it's been so hard to get Debbie on. She's so busy. But it's such an interesting topic. We haven't had anyone in this field on the show. And so we wanted to have her on and kick off all the questions we have about this incredible career and occupations. So welcome to the show, Debbie.

Debbie: 4:40

Thank you so much. That was an awesome introduction. I can use one of those like every week.

Amy: 4:45

I know right? You listen, you're like oh my gosh, I really have accomplished a lot.

Debbie: 4:48

Thank you. Yeah, it's awesome. Thank you. That was sweet.

Amy: 4:52

Yeah. So we are going to start off the show as we always do with our weekly nirvana. So this is where we talked about something that's sparked a little joy in our week or day or month, whatever it may be big or small, something that just sparked joy and put a little smile on our face. So I will hand it off to Katie to start. Thanks, Amy.

Katie: 5:10

Well, let me say hi to Debbie. Dr. Block. Are we calling you Debbie? Are we calling you Dr. Block? What are we doing here tonight?

Debbie: 5:17

Debbie director blocks to formal for this.

Katie: 5:19

All right. Well, I'm so happy you're here. And I can't wait to pick your brain. But before I do my nirvana of the week, I just want to mention I was perusing your website. And on Google, there was a review about Dr. block that was just so great that I just wanted to say it's so sorry to if this embarrasses you, but it says I've been in there. It's a great, it's such a good review says I've been in the military for 30 years, I have received medical care in seven states and three countries, I have not experienced a more professional, hard working and effective health care provider. Dr. Block is one of the best period that's from John L on Google. And I just thought that says somehow it says so much. So I just wanted to say,

Amy: 6:04

Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah,

Katie: 6:06

so my nirvana of the week, I'm going to think might be the same as Amy's we'll have to see. We had a photoshoot on Thursday for the Nirvana sisters brand for our website and our branding and everything that we're expanding and growing with. I was just in Maryland for the week for spring break with the kids and so that the cousins can be together and Amy and I could get some work done actually work face to face for the like, it never happens literally ever. So that was great. That was my nirvana. It was such a fun day. We had such a great time. And the funniest thing was like Amy was saying to me, you know, used to be a model, you know, you're doing she's like, I feel like I'm gonna be so stiff. I don't know what to do. And I was giving her some tips and then the camera comes on. And I mean, did this girl come alive or what? Like she she was like, so vivacious and having so much fun. And it was it was so it was just great. It was such a fun day. So what was your Ami? What was your nirvana?

Amy: 7:07

Yeah, I Yes, mine is definitely the same one. And we normally don't have the same Nirvana's. But yeah, I mean, it was such a fun day. It was just nice to be able to do something that was our own and really lead the vision in the direction and it was just super fun. And yeah, we're building our website. And so a lot of these photos we use on the website and all of this stuff. So it's super fun. What about you, Deb?

Debbie: 7:29

I can't wait to see them. Yeah, um, mine has to be tied to my kids, which I don't know if that's allowed or not. Yes. So I have had a crazy week with work. It's been one of those, like everything that could go wrong went wrong this week. And it's been super stressful. And one day after work, I was running to my daughter's lacrosse game and picking up my son from work. And I had this like two hour block where I got to watch my daughter and her joy on the lacrosse field. She plays for her high school team and watching her you know, really successful and really aggressive and really loved by this group of girls that she's playing with. This is a brand new sport. She literally like picked up a lacrosse stick for the first time right before tryouts. And I really watched all of the stress of my week just kind of leaves me seeing her and her joy and seeing what she's, you know, able to do. And then soon thereafter, I had to pick up my son from his first day of his first job. And he's working on a golf course he's in charge of the carts cleaning them and driving them to and from Oh, that's so cool. Where some like, you know, Mom of me, I'm like, Does he even know how to drive the golf cart. Meanwhile, he's like, responsible for driving 30 of them. And anyway, and I got there early, earlier than when he was finished. And I ended up parking and watching him work for, like 30 minutes or so. And it was awesome to see your 16 year old, responsible and capable and working and at the end of be trying to grab him. The guy that was training him came over and told me how awesome he was doing and just a moment of pride, you know, realizing that like both of my children are in good places. And that was just a very, very Nirvana kind of feeling

Amy: 9:16

and love that. Those are great. Yeah.

Debbie: 9:18

Thank you.

Amy: 9:19

So nice. Such good kids such good

Unknown: 9:21

kid. Thanks. It's hard. It is hard,

Katie: 9:24

I'm sure and especially I can't imagine. Yes.

Amy: 9:28

Double hard. Yes. Okay. So Dr. Block, aka Debbie, Deborah, give a quick intro to the audience. I mean, I kind of teed you up, but just a quick soundbite on you know, you and your practice and all of that. Or your background. I would say,

Debbie: 9:46

you know, what you didn't read in the bio was that I really didn't know anything about chiropractic before I went to chiropractic school, which is really unusual. Most chiropractors either like, you know, start out as patients as children or teenagers or they have some accident or trauma and chiropractic change their physical well being. So they enter into the program, I really knew nothing about chiropractic for me, I was, I was going forward to psychology and wanted to go that route. But then realized, in order to do it the way I wanted to do it, it was going to be eight years of schooling after college. And I kind of fell into this chiropractic idea. And it really fit all my boxes, I had very specific criterion for what I was looking for in my career. And this meant all of them. But the physical part of adjusting the spine and, and working with the spine was not really something I was well versed in. So that was a huge learning curve for me. And it was not it didn't come easily, it took me a lot of time to find people that were like minded to me, the chiropractic field is very, very varied. In the type of practitioners you can come across, some are more medically oriented, some are more philosophically oriented. And so you have a large continuum of different types of chiropractors. But I went to chiropractic school, I finished in four years, I stayed in Georgia to practice. And I really seeked out this profession because I knew I wanted to work with people. And I knew I wanted to work in healthcare. But I also knew very clearly that I did not want to work with sickness, I didn't want to work with ill people, I didn't want to work with dying patients. And I didn't want to prescribe drugs. Those things I knew just weren't in my understanding of health. So I was seeking something that gave me an opportunity to be a health care provider that met the met those criteria. And this did, what I didn't take into total account was the level of physicality that my job requires. And that's been harder as I've gotten older, to be honest. But the work itself is unbelievably rewarding and unreal, unbelievably, filling in terms of you know, how I feel at the end of the day after helping people.

Katie: 12:02

Yeah, I was just gonna say it to the point to the physicality of it, you have to be really strong. I mean, you're handling people all to end moving. And I've just recently started seeing chiropractor, we can get into that in a little bit. But yeah, I would imagine, it's, that's not easy. And so that was a surprising learning curve for you.

Debbie: 12:24

Yeah, it was. And you know, honestly, when I went into chiropractic school, I wasn't really as focused on my own health and well being as I needed to be. And I really started working out and getting healthier and watching my nutrition and watching my diet, and trying to focus on on endurance and strength, and all of those things, knowing that my future was going to be demanding physically. And obviously your body kind of you get a rhythm and you learn how to do things more safely, more carefully as time goes on. But Amy had also mentioned earlier, when she was talking about how things are so much more mainstream now, I've been practicing for 21 years. And when I went to chiropractic school, it's really interesting. I think there was like 5%, females, I was LA, I was one of the very, very few women. And I actually one of my boxes that I was looking to are not necessarily looking to fulfill, but it works for me was that I recognized that a female in a space where there weren't many females was bound to be successful. So I knew that, you know, the fact that there weren't many female chiropractors would would bode well for me. And it really has, what I do is intimate, you know, I touch people all day long. And not everybody's okay with that. So having an not to say that male chiropractors aren't, you know, capable of earning patients trust, they are very much so. But I think inherently it's just more of a natural, a natural experience for a female doctor to be able to gain that comfort on that trust with the patient and also read when they need you to, you know, step back or when they're okay to let you in. So that was a really interesting thing. And now chiropractic school is like 5050 females and males, there is no longer a curve like that. So it's really in my 21 years of practicing, not only have we come far in terms of females in the profession, but we've also come very far in terms of respect in the profession.

Amy: 14:23

Yeah, I love that. I never actually thought about that before. So taking a step back just to for people who are listening who have never seen a chiropractor. Why should people see when like, what are the benefits and what can people expect when they go to do it? Because I mean, for me, I've done a lot of holistic treatments. I've done acupuncture, I've done a million things, but I was always so nervous. And even though, you know, for those listening, Debbie has been my best friend for 25 years plus 30 years. So I didn't even want Debbie to do it until recently because I was so freaked out it was like in my own head. But why should people see wine like if you can give us sort of the The DL on that? Sure.

Debbie: 15:02

So honestly, chiropractic care is really good for anybody with a spine, which is everyone. I mean, even honestly, animals receive chiropractic care. And I'm an animal lover and would have even gone into animal care. There's actually a huge field of it with racehorses. My veterinarian has my veterinary office has a a veterinarian that specializes in spinal spinal adjustments for animals. So it really is something that anything anyone with a spine can benefit from. But the reality is that the life that we live now and 2022 is so demanding on our lives physically, chemically, emotionally, that all of those stressors, physical, chemical, and emotional, all create issues and potential misalignments within the spine, the spine is made up of 24 vertebra, they all have the ability of the vertebra to move and shift. And when we are either experiencing the physical trauma, a car accident, a slip and fall, a broken bone that then requires us to walk on crutches or in a shoot, you know, if there's genetic history of spinal conditions, dowagers hum forward flexion of the spine. I mean, there's like a whole list of things that can create issues for someone. But what I've seen more than anything, is ergonomics. Right. So in the last few years, I've seen more of this than I have ever seen in my career. And honestly, in the last few years, I've worked harder physically than I ever have. Because people are a mess right now. I think working from home was such a tremendous change for people physically and emotionally that it just wreaked havoc on everyone. Whether it was the stress of managing your children who are doing virtual school in the room next to you while you're trying to work on your laptop at home. I mean, I had patients working, you know, on their laptops, in their beds, on their couches in their, on their dining room tables. And just the simple act of spending five to eight hours a day on your computer at home, to have screwed up people so royally the chairs wrong, in even just a laptop, which I would say probably 90% of people now use laptops and not desktops, a laptop was made for travel, it was never created for people to work on a laptop at home, there's no way to type on the keyboard, have your laptop and look in the screen and have it well aligned for your arms and your wrists and your neck and your head. It's just not configured that way. So I can't tell you how many times I've told people, okay, you need to put your laptop up onto a stand, and you need to get a portable keyboard and you need a portable mouse. Because there's no way you can be ergonomically correct for your head, and your neck and your arms on a laptop. So just that one iota, then we've got cell phones, then we've got you know, anything that pulls you forward and keeps you there for a prolonged period of time. And even my new moms who are breastfeeding and changing diapers, all of these activities, people whose whose stitch or who do you know projects in their lap, all of these things pull you forward and hold you there. And if you do them regularly, then those are habitual, poor body postures that are going to eventually translate to spinal issues and or spinal pain. We see young children, teenagers, adults, geriatric. So I really see the gamut of what your spine looks like when you're young versus what it looks like as you age. And if you have had traumas, if you've had a lot of emotional stress in your life, if you've had poor poor posture, if you're an athlete, and you've gotten, you know, a bunch of injuries, while playing sports, all of these things are going to translate, you may not have any issues in your 20s or 30s. But by 40s, and 50s, those those things start to catch up with you. And in my opinion, it's much better to go and see a chiropractor as early on in life as possible, so that you can start that foundation of spinal alignment early. You don't need to have a lot of care when you don't have a lot of issues. And you want to create a space where your body kind of learns how to have what I call maintenance treatments that allow your spine to know how to maintain alignment and maintain movement and motion so that you don't end up as a 45 year old or a 50 year old who has significant degeneration and significant restriction and significant discomfort. It's interesting

Amy: 19:27

really, the idea is you want to be proactive, like a like many things versus going in when there's a problem because then it's almost too late or you

Debbie: 19:36

read dental cleaning, right? Like we don't wait until our teeth are falling out to go and get a cleaning. We go every six months to make sure our teeth are okay. And when they say they're okay, we go okay, great. And then we'll be back in six months. So it's kind of a similar mentality. Like you should be getting your spine checked. And depending on how much you're doing in your life, it may equate that you need it more frequently or less frequently, depending on what's going on in your world.

Katie: 19:59

Yeah, As you're saying all of this, it's reminding me of the three times in my life that I have sought out a chiropractor to help with what was going on. And they were all for three very different reasons like the most reason why I'm having hip pain. And it just occurred to me as you're speaking to me. The last year, I started working doing this, and I'm sitting at a dusk and on a keyboard way more than I have in the last decade. So maybe that's part of it. Before that it was sciatica from pregnancy. Before that, when I was a fit model, I was told it was from these, like, micro micro movements that I did over and over and over and over and over again, from when I was working, I would always turn my head this way. And, you know, it's like these little teeny things over time, can cause the problem. I just find it interesting, because I think people often think it's like, it's a trauma thing. I was just in a car accident, so I need to be adjusted for that purpose. And and the other thing is, I find interesting is that it's also very much related to the central nervous system. Right is, and that's typically the pain is stemming from, it's not, and please correct me where I'm wrong. But it's not just the things are out of line, but it's because of where your central nervous system is in relation to everything. Is that right?

Debbie: 21:12

Yeah, I love that you brought that up. Because sometimes that's like a little bit of a deeper conversation that I don't always go into right off the bat, your central nervous system is directly connected to your spine. So the brain and spinal cord are the first two things to form when you're conceived. And then the third thing that forms is the skull to protect the brain. And the fourth thing that forms is the spinal column to protect the spinal cord. So every single nerve that is coming off of their nervous system from the brain has to exit in between spinal vertebra. So if you have chronically misaligned vertebra, one, two, or five, and it's constantly putting pressure on the nerve that is exiting adjacent to it, you are going to eventually have issues in organs and or areas of your function that you may not have any idea has anything to do with your spine. But I have patients who come into me for neck pain. And you know, four weeks later, or three weeks later, they'll say to me, like, you know, I always have seasonal allergies right now, but for the first time ever, I don't Wow. You know, or I'm an asthmatic, and I usually have terrible asthma. I didn't even tell you about my asthma. But I haven't had one asthma attack since I've been seeing you and I normally have to a week. Wow. It's all the time. And it's not because I'm treating the asthma or treating the allergies. I'm treating the spine. But by clearing the interference for the nerve that's feeding the lung tissue or for the nerves that are feeding the stomach, people's gastrointestinal symptoms can improve. I even have and this always kind of blows my mind. I've had a handful of young kids come in to me parents who kind of like hear about chiropractic. And usually it's like a mom who's desperate because she can't potty train her, her her usually it's a boy having trouble getting their young child to go number two, and sometimes frequently actually chiropractic treatment to the spine in the area that feeds the intestines. And the stomach can help a young child to have a bowel movement without pain and without issue and allow them to have a bowel movement in the toilet instead of in a in a diaper. Wow. And the days when the moms like we barely made it home.

Amy: 23:25

Wow.

Debbie: 23:26

So I mean, even something as simple as bowel movements, like every single function that's doctrinaire by the nervous system has an has an impact by where the spine is, if the spine is in the wrong place, especially after years of it, it can create an issue within that within that part of the body.

Amy: 23:45

Yeah, one of the things, one of the big things so and Katie, we're going to do an episode on this soon in the future with my vestibular migraines, but that the spine is was I believe, a big part or a part of me getting these vestibular migraines because when I went to see, Debbie recently, my Atlas was out, which I didn't know. And that had happened years ago. So when I went to see another doctor, he was like, Oh, your head is literally not screwed onto your body. Right? I was like, What do you mean? And he's like your Atlas is out. You need to get it fixed. So my Atlas always comes out which Debbie can explain what the Atlas is, but it's probably common, I don't know. But that is that contributes to my headaches. So if you want to talk about that a little bit, Debbie, because I think first cervical

Debbie: 24:30

vertebra, it sits right underneath the skull. The skull has a the bottom portion of the skull is called the occiput. And the occiput is a U shaped bone. It kind of sits like this. And the occiput itself can kind of rock up or down, you know, left or right. And then the Atlas has a bone that sits right underneath it. And it's the most powerful vertebra in the whole spine. And actually, I use this example with patients frequently because it's really helpful. You guys remember Christopher Reeve about as Superman, he fell off a horse in his 40s, I want to say and he broke his second cervical vertebra. And he lost function in like 90% of his body, every single function, every single function within his body that was from C to below was no longer able to happen in his body because he had fractured his second cervical vertebra. But he could still see, he could smell he could hear he could move his head a little bit. And I don't know if he I think he could talk. And those functions were from C one and above. Wow, interesting. So the fact that he fractured that C two vertebra stopped the ability for the rest of his nervous system to function from C to below. And, you know, he, just to give him a quick nod, he had a lot to do with raising money for spinal cord research. He used his celebrity in the time that he survived, which was much longer than most spinal cord injured patients, and raised millions of dollars. So you know, this research continues. But yes, I mean, that's the reason for I mean, the whole don't, you know, breaking your neck is something that really equates to the potential for paralysis, because of the importance of the nervous system. So, so c one is a very important vertebra. It's, it's kind of the, you know, like the number one most important vertebra in the spine to make sure it's properly aligned. And what we find is when the occiput or the first cervical vertebra is misaligned, I almost always have headache patients headaches, are probably one of the most common things that walk in my office, migraines and headaches. And that relationship between the occiput and the SIR, first cervical vertebra are the very first thing that I check as well, as am I heard you talk about this jaw, that tension is also directly connected. So your TMJ or temporomandibular joint is directly connected to your first cervical vertebra and your occipital connection. And so those three vertebra are really not this isn't a vertebra. But those three joints are really important to make sure that they're properly aligned.

Amy: 27:01

Yeah, and I think so many people are like, grinding their teeth and their shoulders are up and their stress and it plays out in your neck and in your face. And so I think that makes sense why a lot of people are coming in like that. I really think

Debbie: 27:13

people with emotional issues who have issues because you know, sad, angry, you know, you hold yourself in a certain way. And that translates to what's going on physically, especially after a certain amount of time maintaining that like physical positioning,

Katie: 27:28

I have a question, how many of your patients that have come to you with these headaches and things? Have you found that they've been searching for an answer? You know, they've been there? It's like, they've tried all these other avenues? And then someone says, Have you seen a chiropractor yet? Have you gone into? Have you tried chiropractic? Does that happen often? Is it kind of a surprise to people,

Debbie: 27:49

actually, because it's not usually something that they think about, you know, and it's funny, because I've actually, over the years gotten, I have a whole bunch of dentists that refer to me now, because I've educated dentists that don't fit your patient for a mouth guard until you send them to me, let me check their jaw, and make sure their jaws where it needs to be and then fit them for a night guard to help stop the clenching. Otherwise, you're putting them in a night guard in the wrong position, potentially. And then you're encouraging this, you know, abnormal alignment. But yeah, headache. Patients are often surprised. It's not something that medical doctors are recommending, you know, getting dentists recommended has been a little bit of a, you know, an improvement. I do have neurologists that refer to me, but that's a tough sell, getting a neurologist to recognize that connection. I do have a handful that will send to me happily because their answer to me is, you know, a whole bunch of trial and error very invasive. Sometimes that's what's needed. You know, that actually, nowadays they have they've got less invasive options for headache patients. But yeah, if I can correct a headache with my hands, or if I can help a migraine patient who's suffering by just aligning the upper cervical spine, it's so much easier.

Katie: 29:03

Yeah, I have a friend that has had migraines her whole life, and I'm not sure if she's ever tried gone this route, and I'm sure she probably has, she definitely should have it. Yeah, that's definitely Shutts interesting. That's very interesting. The hormonal

Debbie: 29:15

case for women is also another big part of it for headaches and migraines. And that's something that I'm you know, starting to really work on it understanding and exploring and researching as I'm getting into the, you know, older years and the menopausal years and seeing how hormone depletion and hormone changes can really impact that as well. So I'm starting to really dive into understanding that connection, because for women, that's a big piece too.

Katie: 29:39

I have a question on the hormonal piece, and I'm not sure if it's related, maybe, you know, maybe you don't, um, I have recently started having a lot of hip pain and I know I went you know, I saw the chiropractor and she told me and we did X rays and everything but sometimes I feel like it is worse with my cycle can things like that fluctuate with your hormones as well? Do you know?

Debbie: 29:58

Definitely yeah. Funnily, I actually had a really interesting case recently that as you say that it kind of came to mind and I don't want to scare you in any way. But yeah, I had a patient who was having symptoms like that, and we ended up finding after me pushing and her OBGYN kind of excusing or dismissing her symptoms, and, you know, telling her, you know, take Advil and, and take, you know, could just take over the counter anti inflammatories that we sent her for an ultrasound, and she ended up having a huge cyst, ovary. So yeah, I mean, physical discomfort is a message from the body. It's an alarm, and it's telling you how there's nothing wrong. It's important pain is not always a terrible thing, because pain is a message. It's communication. And it's something that it's giving you feedback, you know, people often don't walk into my office until it's like a blaring alarm. And at that point, it's more difficult for me to help them and get them out of pain. Usually I will. But it's much better if you can start listening at an earlier stage and responding before it gets to that level of, you know, I'm now compromised functionally and I don't want to accept that.

Katie: 31:07

We hope you enjoyed part one with Dr. Deborah Block. Stay tuned for next week, part two, where we talk about why new moms especially need chiropractic care, tips and tools for things we can do at home. Plus, how frequently you should be seeing your chiropractor and what the whole experience is going to be like what to expect, so stay tuned for next week's

Amy: 31:30

thanks for listening to Nirvana sisters. For more information on this episode, check out the show notes please subscribe and leave us a review. also find us on Instagram at Nirvana sisters. If you loved what you just listened to or know someone that would please share it and tag us. Tune in next week for a fresh new episode of Nirvana sisters. We'll continue to watch out for all things wellness so you don't have to. Bye.

Episode 36 - Reiki Energy Healing, Chakra Balancing, Power Of The Crystal With Athena Bahri, Part 2 (Full Transcript)

This is a full transcript of the Nirvana Sisters podcast Episode 36 Reiki Energy Healing, Chakra Balancing, Power Of The Crystal With Athena Bahri, Part 2.

Editor’s Note: Please know that this podcast transcript is automatically generated and may contain minor errors such as typos and word switches. For more information, be sure to listen to the podcast here or view our podcast episode guide.

Amy: 0:06

Welcome to Nirvana sisters podcast where we take the intimidation out of well being and beauty to help you achieve your highest state your nirvana. We are sisters in law and your hosts. I'm Amy Sherman.

Katie: 0:18

And I'm Katie Chandler. So let's get into some real conversation

Amy: 0:28

Welcome back to this show Nirvana sisters family, and welcome to part two with Athena Bahri. This week, we go a little bit deeper into her book, raise your vibes and talk about some of the chapters we go we talk a bit about meditation and mantras and some interesting conversation around angels and signs and all sorts of fun stuff. So take a listen to part two and enjoy.

Katie: 0:55

There's a couple more things in the book that I want to get to I think they're so cool and interesting. You so first of all, really quickly, we can just touch on meditation and mantras, because that is very much a big part of of the whole experience. Right? Do you always do meditation within Reiki is a kind of, are you saying mantras while you're while you're doing Reiki?

Athena: 1:18

So I'm not. That's it's an interesting, yeah, that's an interesting kind of way to put it. When I do distance Reiki, just for example, I really do go into this deep meditative state, and so does the other person. So a lot of the time they'll even fall asleep, because it's so you know, they've really go into it. And then they wake up at the end of the session, like, whoa, what was that. So during distance, I'll find I'm much more into in a meditative state, when it's in person, you know, obviously, I can't quite just go into meditation, because I'm actually using my hands, you know, on the person's body, or just above, depending on the area I'm working on. So I don't use mantras or met, you know, as you would, as you would think of a mantra, we do have Reiki symbols. And there is there is a sound that is affiliated with those that you'll learn, you know, in the master level, or even level two in the Japanese lineage, it's usually not taught in western anymore, but in the Japanese lineage it is. And that's really amazing and powerful. And people kind of think you're funny when you do it. But, you know, I mean, I'm past caring what people do my work, it's like, it's okay, I'm a hippie, it's fine, you know. But really, you know, I don't, I won't use sound or things like that from myself, because I don't want to interrupt the flow of the energy that they're receiving. So when I'm doing like, they're drawing in energy, you don't want to interrupt that flow. And cause worry, so you know, oh, your throat chakra is out of balance. Let me do this. Let me work here. That Whoa, like, definitely, definitely not something you want to do. It's not like a massage or like, Oh, you're really tight right here. Let me work that out. Yeah. You want to keep that energy flowing and open and not, you don't, you're not causing blockages yourself. And likewise, when people have a massage, they think about it, you want to relax and just, you know, allow your body to release, right. And if the massage therapist is there talking to you during your session, it's it's kind of like counterintuitive, you can't really like relax and let go. So kind of similar in that way. But when people are doing, you know, self Reiki for themselves, it's wonderful to use mantras, it's wonderful to use Mudra, as well, you know, just helps. It's like, whatever works for you to help channel in this energy and help you feel a peace. That's what you want to keep doing. And in the book, there's so many different options that you can use, because everybody's different, and you're not going to feel called to do one one or of the one or another. And maybe your energy is different tomorrow. And what you did yesterday didn't work. So you know, in the book, you have an option to kind of switch that up and say, Oh, well, today, you know, I feel actually more drawn to use crystals, or I feel more drawn to you sound or today I'm going to dabble with the violet flame, you know, there's different ways you can, you know, work with energy, there's so much, which is so cool. And my kind of writing this book was interesting. It's like, no, but I need to add this. And now I need to add that at one point, man, like, you got to stop. Like, that's it. Like that

Katie: 4:36

number. Right? Well, that's, that's what I wanted to say. Because in the book, you have all the mudras and you have different mantras and just all of these different like self care self healing tools, you actually one of the mantras that you put in there was really important to me when I first moved here it was Om Mani Padme Hum, I might be saying it wrong, but that's how I say it. So I used that. That was my meditation when I I first moved here, I needed that compassion towards myself. What does that mean? It's, and correct me if I'm wrong or help me, Athena, but I, it means like compassion to yourself and to the world and kind of open, like letting all of that end to just kind of go easy on on your soul. Okay, yeah, guys that is that right, Athena?

Athena: 5:18

Yeah, yeah. And it's very unlined to with like, the Reiki principle, you know, be kind to your neighbor, and every living thing that includes yourself being kind to yourself, and the the mantras are in the Sanskrit mantras. These are, these are way Oh, these are like, 1000s of years old. And there's a reason that they are still carried with us today. Because they really are powerful. And in a way, you're also at sound healing. So you're using your own voice, to to generate this sound that is so healing. And when you do the mantra, that even just the ohm, you know, you feel that vibration, behind your mouth, behind your lips. And this, this is resonating. This is like, it's like carrying out throughout your body and through your energetic system. So, you know, using mantras are wonderful. I mean, some people are really into, you know, you have to do it 108 times they think it is right, and you'd go through the beads, kind of like a rosemary, Hail Mary, right, where they were, like holding the beads and going around. And for some people, if that's what works for you, awesome. I mean, I have no judgment, like, it's all about what works for you, I'm just kind of giving you the tools like this is what can help. I love that you did that when you're moving up there, because that's awesome. You might want to try also the one for new beginnings, where you're, you know, you're releasing any obstacles in your path and open to the blessings that can come your way. These are, you know, you just moved into a new place. So you got to kind of, you know, release the old life, right, so that you can begin this new chapter without feeling, you know, kind of like this. Hope, but I used to do it like this over here, you know, with my friend. And now what and all these like questions. Well, you know, using that one can help you kind of release that fear release that you're open to all the new and the wonderful that you're going to experience in your new home.

Amy: 7:14

And what is that one? Yeah.

Athena: 7:17

Well, yes, that one is in the book. And that, you know, let me say I should have drawn the page, but it's, I'm gonna Patti Namaha. So let me see if

Katie: 7:27

I can find it's kind of a large one. There was Nina, that's very long,

Athena: 7:31

long, but I have it broken down in there. Let's see, I'm gonna have to use my own index. What I love about this book is I use it as a reference myself all the time.

Amy: 7:42

It's a no, it's nice to have everything and then you can kind of skim through the areas that you want to focus on or the parts you want to read.

Athena: 7:49

Yeah, definitely. I mean, and like keep I keep this close, and I'm always referencing it and, you know, helping others so that they can I'm like, Oh, wait, I know this. I wrote about that. Um, okay, so it's on page 117. And it really it breaks down there how to say it, so that you're not kind of tripping over yourself. And when you're first starting, you know, just read it right from the book because it's right it's right there for you. Right. And I know at first if you just see it taped it looks kind of scary. It's kind of intimidating. That's a that's a long one, right? Like this one is is really I had bought like one of these little there's, there's this company that does mantra beads. And I had bought one of the beats. That was the first one that I bought my really felt called to it. This is this is even before I started Reiki, this is years and years ago, and I thought, yeah, that sounds new beginnings and removing obstacles. Let's do that. And I got this. Got this beat. And I would work with it. And I would say the mantra repeat the mantra, and oh, my goodness, the things that changed after I started working on this, it was almost like, I didn't think I was ready for this. Like, wait a minute, wait a minute, what's going on backup backup? Yeah, hold on. But all the changes that have happened since have been so incredible. So that's a really nice mantra to work with. You can also listen to it, you know, I'm sure if you type it into, you know, iTunes or something like YouTube and you know, you'll find somebody panting and it's helpful.

Amy: 9:27

Just like listen to that while you're doing yoga. Yeah, just that's cool. Yeah.

Athena: 9:31

Yeah, and then you can just start repeating like you're singing along you know, it's like when you're learning a new language and if anybody has learned a new language I married a Persian man so I'm always hearing their languages and listening to the music of it really helps to formulate the sound for you. Likewise, a kid and like you know, choir, we would sing in in like Latin and German and all these other things and I can't speak any of those. But when you're singing it, you know it's for some reason when you seeing that sound, that sound healing really comes through with ease. So yeah, it for I would say for anybody if you're struggling to repeat these, go look up the music on, you know, YouTube or something and do it that way.

Amy: 10:12

So yeah, that's a great tip. And you had mentioned mantras and mudras, what's a mudra

Athena: 10:17

Ah, so a mudra, which is also from Sanskrit. And you'll find these a lot. Actually, a lot of people are using that in yoga and meditation now, but it's just a way of how you hold your your hands. So like, you know, there's like a Surya Mudra, which, you know, this is the story of Mudra, right. And this one works with your thyroid, but it's also great for dietary stuff. It's great for grounding. So when you're holding this one, the idea is the pressure is here on your on your ring finger and in your hands. To get the pictures going in your hands, you have connection to the meridians in your body. So this is kind of the the thought behind it, you have these meridians which are really like energy roadways, let's say, you know, within our body, like a roadmap, and when you place that focus there, during your meditation, you are also sending that energy, you know, down your meridians through your body. And it's really delightful for for healing for giving yourself confidence, there's, there are so many that you can work with, there's some in the book as well, that helped with like confidence or just coming into your own. And when you hold these, and it doesn't have to be, you know, super strict and tight. Let your fingers like relax, but keep the focus the pressure on on wherever you're touching your thumb to or your everybody's probably seen this one, right. So when you're doing this, the focus is on the pressure here at your fingers. And then as you meditate. And let's say you get all these self defeating thoughts that start to come in, or I have an itch, or I have moved or what was that sound, all these different things that the brain is like trying to say, No, you can't become meditate. So you just return your focus back to where that pressure is. And suddenly your mind and all those thoughts, all those negative nancies in there, stop because your focus is here. And likewise, you know, if you're working with your breath, you know, you'll return to that sensation of breathing. Because your focus is on the breath. And that's that's what they use in mindfulness meditation is the breath, that there's lots of different ways to meditate. And a lot of people struggle with it. I mean, I know I did before, when someone was like, Oh, you gotta meditate. I can't sit there like you guys. Do that, like five minutes, like two minutes in and I'm like, oh, okay, I gotta move. I'm itching I can't Yeah, you're unsettled, right. And then and then I took this wonderful class for UCLA for mindfulness. And it really changed everything. I mean, I started it, you know, for not even for myself, I was going in with my husband, we had just moved to her own house, and super stress, lots of anger. And I was just like, alright, we got to, we got to tone this down, and let's go to a meditation class. You know, I didn't want to do like thing, you know, anger management or therapy, it wasn't kind of that situation. So I thought, Let's do mindfulness helped me more into that. And it ended up being such a blessing for me. And then I took my kids and I was like, okay, come on, guys, you you need to do this too, especially like, kids that are coming into their teens, they have so much angst so much worry so much, you know, hormonal changes and motions that are just, you know, all over the place, and teaching them to meditate has been such a gift, because now they have a resource that they can turn to, to just pause, like, bring all that down. And, and this really helps them I you know, I expect and hope that it will help them if they return to this throughout their lives, you know, when they life is gonna throw you curveballs it's gonna throw you stress, it's gonna throw you situations that yes, we're meant to grow and learn from but that doesn't make them easy, right? It doesn't mean that it's easy. So giving them tools to post bring it down, you know, have some clarity, do some Reiki on yourself love on yourself a little bit and then you can kind of face the challenges that life is throwing you with like a cool head and a little more clarity. And, you know, I mean, isn't that a gift just on its own? Right? 100 Yeah, my latest is teaching kids I love I love children. I love working with kids. And they've suffered so much during this pandemic, not having school being in zoom. I mean, I seen it everywhere. I have three kids. So I have a wide age range, age range of kids that I can see how each you know age group is is really affected by this and so I thought you know what, why do we have to wait till work? have grown up. And we already have trauma to you know, heal ourselves while we give them tools before life kicks their butt, right, let's, let's show them some of these things before life is too hard. And then hopefully, you know, using them and applying them their life will just be like that little bit less stressful, a little bit less traumatic, you know, can't save them from everything.

Amy: 15:24

How do you get to be interested in it? Because I have two boys, 14 and 12. And I try to like do breathing and different over them, but they're very, you know, they roll their eyes. I mean, I'm thinking maybe it's sinking in somewhere, but like, how do you get kids to be open to it and not think it's silly? Or, you know,

Athena: 15:43

well, who cares? If they think it's silly, that's fine. Like, you know what? That's fine. All right. So think it's like my kids call me a hippie Mom, mom, mom, you're such a hippie mom. I mean, I get this all the time. And I just love her. No, I have 15 and 13 and seven. And, you know, part of it is being that example showing them right now. It's the same with like rituals and and for our partners out there that think we're like being you know, doing my husband used to say, what is this hoodoo voodoo stuff you're doing? Married a long time. We're like 20 years now. So he's seen me go through all the growth and change. And, you know, in the beginning, it's like, and kids are the same, you know, it's like, right, it's like this kind of, you know, they're, they're skeptical and you know, they want to be on their phones or be with their friends and, but you know, kind of watching mom or watching dad, you know, sit down and do some of these things. And then when they show any, any, like the slightest bit of curiosity, you know, rather than like pouncing like, oh, yeah, here this is how you do and it's all like this just here. Why don't you try it? You know, just the tour. Like oh, it's cool right here are trying here ticket or yeah, this is my crystal here. Try it. You know, here's the here's one. Yeah. And just, you know, and they will look at it and kind of like okay, all right, cool, mom. But it plants the seed, you know, begins Yeah, that process my boys have crystals in

Amy: 17:13

their rooms. I gave it to them. And they thought it was really cool, actually. And they both have like one house by the window one by the nightstand. So I guess it is sinking in. But yeah, it

Athena: 17:21

is. Totally. It's a good reminder loves like Soul, don't you? Yeah, yeah. Kids love crystals. Like, my son comes and asks my 13 year old he'll come Mom, I can't sleep. Can I have an amethyst? Oh, that's great. It's like, pragmatic moments when and they're really children are so actually open and receptive to it. If we just give them kind of the environment where they don't feel pressured, or, you know, like, we're just dominating them with more rules, right, right, buddy, like 15 It's like, yeah, okay, I'm not gonna listen to you. But if it's kind of a gentle kind of thing, like, I ordered some sound healing equipment. And the first thing I brought it out, my kids all came out. Let's see. And I let them, take them, play with them. Use them like, Yeah, do it. Great. Cool. Isn't that fun? Oh, look. And if you do it like this, it makes this sound and, you know, suddenly, like, whoo, I want to do that. So it's, it's kind of, you know, leading by example. But then it's also just being open to letting them you know, take it at their own time. And, you know, the course the workshop I'm doing, you know, it's four weeks, I keep it short, because, you know, the attention span, like, I'm not trying to drag them through, like a whole thing. Just trying to like, you know, plant that seed, help them see, look, try this. Try this. See how this is? And look, doesn't that feel good? Cool. Now you do it, you know, I mean, it's kind of like, that kind of approach. And then that way, they're just a little bit more receptive. And you know, if they think I'm crazy and hippie, that's cool. That's fine.

Amy: 18:51

Yeah, I think they should do it wired at schools like they should open and close. Yeah, school doing something like that. One of my kids schools did that. And I thought it was incredible.

Katie: 19:01

Yeah. Before we get into our wrap up session, there's one little topic that I want to just hit really fast because it fascinates me and I think Amy as well and it's in your book, it's angels and signs. And how much of that is about being in tune like with your third eye and everything and having that pathway clear, I find I have always been very intuitive. My my crazy stories in my family like my mom and my grandmother and you know, have like seen signs and spirit and hurt spirit and everything. So how much of that do you feel is related to your third eye chakra?

Athena: 19:39

Well, your your third eye definitely helps you to be open to divine, you know, clear sight and open to things that are not of this physical plane, I guess is what you'd say. And then as well as your crown chakra being, you know, open to divine knowledge and guidance. So I think These two work really well together anytime you're working with, you know, spirit universe angels. It's kind of just, it's having that clear open sight that is beyond our physical plane. And that sounds very hippy. But you know, we do have like, you know, these planes where you have it, just think of it like your body, you have an emotional body, a physical body, and then you have a spiritual body, right? So it's kind of the same thing with our universe. You know, we have these different planes, there's a spiritual level to it, there's, some people will call it there's different names, you know, five D, 3d, you know, you'll hear it in terms of that, you'll hear it like, you know, Heaven and Earth, you'll hear different ways that people have tried to explain this, that man's women, humankind has tried to explain what these different levels are these different planes of consciousness or of beings, and you having that open third eye is really important, but I always say, like I said earlier, you always also want to make sure you have that strong root chakra, because then you are free to explore and, and safely without just kind of losing it, right. I mean, we've seen a lot of people, especially when people are using plant medicine, and I have awesome, great, I have no you know, anything against it. But what I do see is that people that are go on these, you know, trips will say or hallucinogenics, they have a hard time coming back to like real life, right? It's kind of like there's so far out there, that it's really hard to adjust back to like, normal, everyday life. So when you have that strong root chakra, you're really free to explore. It's like having your anchor, right? And how is that connected with angels? Well, I also have have had this amazing connection with angels, since I was a kid didn't really know what it was until I was much older. I just thought it was maybe weird. Like, why don't you see people to like? Talk about that. So, um, you know, what you grow up thinking is normal as a kid, then you talk to people like it's because it's your normal and you realize, oh, this that doesn't happen for you too. Okay, cool. We'll just like, you know, quiet here. But for everybody, they I think everybody has the potential and the power to open up to, to the Divine or to, you know, angels. I mean, we all have angels, we all have our, or our spirit guides. Some people like to call it doesn't matter what term you're using. But we all have these guardian angels around us that are right there. Like they're there, right there, like their board, give them something to do. They want to help you, they want to guide you, you know, just start talking to them. I know it feels a little weird at first but start talking to them. So asking for signs is the is the easiest way to start communicating if you haven't before. And you know, you don't even in terms of chakras, I don't know that you even need to, to open those, I think that will just your third eye will start to open as you practice this because you're suddenly going to become more aware of things outside of, you know, the physical, present life here on earth in your house, right? So ask for a sign. And then suddenly, what happens so often is people start seeing numbers, you know, sequences, like so 111222333 This week was crazy. Oh, and a wonderful Nirvana that I'm just thinking was all the angel numbers that I had coming forward this week, it was a mess. It was like, every time I looked at the clock, every time I looked at a receipt, when I went to fill up my gas, when it was it was crazy, like the number of messages, the number of emails like suddenly everything was an angel number and I was like, wow, like I'm on it this week. What's going on? Like, okay, angels, I'm listening. I'm listening, you know, like, Tell me Tell me what do I need to know and then just allowing yourself to be open to receive the message and you know, a lot of them will question like, Wait, was that right? And when you're questioning that's another time that you can ask for a sign like okay, I'm questioning this and my crazy angels you know, give me a sign show you know, throw a penny my way if if I'm not making if this is not like made up like if it's all in my head, you know, put a dime out there if it's not give me a penny and I swear, you know, like within like later that day or the next day, suddenly you're gonna see pennies or you'll see dimes and you're like yeah,

Katie: 24:44

my my mom was always say to me, she would say you know, when you're in your car or you're crossing the street and it's clear, and you're looking one way and then something just tells you hold on a second look the other way really quickly. She she's she and then the cars coming. That's a bout to hit you. She's always said like, those are your angels. They're they're like tapping on your shoulder, you know, reminding you just to be extremely. Yes. Yeah, but ya know, it's really, the whole thing kind of blows my mind.

Amy: 25:18

Yeah, we could do a whole show. And we should I think I should. Yeah, I think it's so interesting. And with all the signs it Yeah, yeah, I want to hear

Katie: 25:25

Yeah, yeah, we'll have to have you back to talk about that because that's

Athena: 25:30

absolutely. You're like that little whisper or that stranger that came by and randomly said some message that resonated with you and you're like, wait, what? Where did that come from a lot of the times you'll get these messages you'll or you'll even you'll overhear a conversation or, you know, a song will come on the radio with a specific lyric that applies to whatever you were just asking a moment ago, it's really amazing. There's no limits to like, how they

Amy: 25:55

showing Katie and her girls a picture last night of a pancake I made a couple of weeks ago. And I took a picture of it because it had a heart outline inside event. Like, very overt. And I was like, I wonder I mean, and I, and we just got a new puppy. Like, I think it was like earlier that week or something. So to me, it meant loving our homes or something. And it's all good. So yeah, it was unbelievable. I

Athena: 26:21

love that. Yeah, see, and it pops up in like, you know, even in our food, it'll pop up. So

Amy: 26:27

it was random. This never happened before I just happen to look down and I was like, Oh, my God, look at this. And I had to take a

Athena: 26:34

picture. And it usually something like that, where it's random, because it pops out at you, you know, if it was just something normal, it wouldn't pop, but something like that, where you actually went and got your phone and took a picture of the pancakes like clearly that struck you. So signs are like that. It's like they really strike you. You're like, whoa, wait a minute, you know, like, you know, why am I saying 111 all day long? Like this is you know, it's not it's not a coincidence. You know, it's your angels reaching out and trying to get deliver a message for you. And yes, sometimes it's hard to kind of decipher, but that's as you start communicating with them more, you can start asking for clarity, you know, asking for clarity. And then the, I guess the more experienced or the more comfortable is really, you become with receiving this information, the clearer it becomes for you. And you actually start to you. I mean, the way I have my intuitive guess is I have like this sense of knowing and then I'll see it. So it's like, like, almost like I know it like I'm hearing somebody talk in my head but I don't like and not It's not like a sound but like you hear it like it like a voice in your head kind of thing. I know that it's so yeah, right.

Katie: 27:44

I didn't know that comes into your brain that's very like,

Athena: 27:50

yeah, just like when a thought comes in your brain when you're trying to meditate, for example, right? You're trying to meditate and that thought comes in, you're like, oh my god, get out of here. But with Angel messages and connecting with angels, it's a similar thing, you'll hear this like thought but it's not your own thought, you know, that's what's different. It's not, it's not coming from you, but you hear it or you feel it or you know it. And it's like, whoa, you know, where did that come from. And then it's like, you know, those your angels. So just when the science do come, you know, manners matter, always use you know, just take a moment for gratitude, like angels, thank you for thank you for sending me that sign. You know, I really needed that today or, you know, whatever, just just take a moment of thanks because they love that too. And then they feel you know, appreciated and loved and honored and validated you know, that they're able to communicate with you. So, always important to keep gratitude, a central part of, of any ritual, any practice, anything that you're doing moving forward, because that really raises your vibration and, and everybody loves to work with someone who's you know, has gratitude because that's, you know, that's a blessing. That's someone you want to be around, right? So same thing with your angels, you know, be nice, say thanks. Yeah, thank you.

Katie: 29:01

That's a great tip. Well, at the end, thank you so much. This has been illuminating and very, very fun. So we want to get into our rap session with you because you know, we have some fun questions we have to ask you outside of all of this great stuff. So what is your favorite wellness or beauty

Athena: 29:19

hack? Wellness beauty hack? Oh, yes, this was on your list of stuff. So when I get five minutes and I gotta get out the door. Beauty will be you know, mascara and red lips because No, I don't have time for anything else. Boom. I'm out the door and I still look kind of put together sometimes I'll throw in a hat depending. I will always grab one of my crystals. So it would be you know, either a bracelet or a necklace. Sometimes I'll grab like, this one's kind of big to show you what's if I have a little one. So I'll have like a little crystal. I love to grab like a little crystal and way out the door and just tuck it into my bra. Like just remember more Yeah, but take it just, I know it's like my husband's like, what are you putting rocks in your bras now like what's going on, but it's, you know, it keeps that beautiful energy close to you, I happen to grab a rose quartz, but she was great that energy of love, you know, keep that tuck that into your bra. hematite is great. Keep yourself grounded. If you need some protection, you know, grab a protection stone, if you feel like you're going into an interview and you need that, like, boost of confidence, you know, grab a little strain and just stick it in your raw. It's kind of like a little secret hack. You know, your little secret stash. empowering yourself, you know, moving forward. So that's my, that's my one my best and favorite, I think is the little crystal Diddy's in the pockets.

Amy: 30:42

Yeah, great. And we probably know this answer, but how do you maintain your daily nirvana? What's the one thing you do every day to keep you peaceful?

Athena: 30:49

Yeah. My daily nirvana is my gratitude practice 100% My, the difference in my days is so drastic when I forget to do this. So first thing in the morning, I wake up and I just list off before I do anything, before I check the phone, before I go to bathroom before I even get pull off the covers, open my eyes and just take a moment three to five things that I'm grateful for. And this just starts my day on a positive shifts my energy into a positive. So no matter what comes towards me that day, I am starting from such a high place. But it's you know, it keeps you elevated and keeps you happier. We can't always be happy, there's going to be days that are just wretched. But when you start, you know from a place of gratitude, everything is a lot easier to bear during your day. And the days I forget, I notice a huge shift. I'm not able to handle things as well. So gratitude, gratitude, gratitude practice. It's so so important. That highly recommend everybody. Try it for a week. Yeah, and it's effort. It's it's nothing that right, it takes exactly again.

Katie: 32:01

So, absolutely. All right. Well,

Amy: 32:05

well, we are going to close out we're gonna have Katie do our mantra for us that just wanted to thank you so much at the end for being on the show. Well, we're definitely gonna have you back. There's so many topics to discuss. I mean, it's just like my mind is definitely blown after this. But really quickly before Katie just her mantra, how do people find you? Instagram?

Athena: 32:23

Yes, I am on Instagram. I have kind of a large following there on Instagram. I am on YouTube. It's also crystal Reiki healer is the name across everywhere. So okay, so Reiki healer.com Crystal Reiki healer on YouTube crystal Reiki healer on Instagram. It's actually crystal Reiki healer one on Facebook, I couldn't snag that one. And, you know, that's, that's where we'll find me. And then coming soon, I haven't told anyone yet. So this is my own. The Crystal Reiki show, which is gonna learn. Oh, I'm excited. And that will also be crystal Reiki healer. And the massage. I want to just think Crystal Reiki and you know, you should be able to find me but otherwise Athena Berry, BH ri. And you know, you'll find you'll you'll find me there I am. I try to keep this open as I can. So not hard to find if anybody. If anybody needs me, I am here for your highest good.

Katie: 33:26

Thank me. Where have I been on the show? Where and when is the show launching? But do you? Can you tell us that yet?

Athena: 33:32

I have not set a launch date yet. I don't know what my launch date is gonna be I'm hoping for next month. But you know, with all the pre production stuff, maybe January? I don't know. We'll see. Well, I'll keep you posted. And we'll see what happens. We'll do that right.

Katie: 33:52

Well, your book, raise your vibes energy, self healing for everyone by Athena Bari. I could not recommend it more. It's really a gorgeous, like self healing self love tool. And so thank you. So thank you for being here. So let's this mantra made me think of you because of your your gratitude practice how much it's just a common theme I think in your life. And so it is a negative mind will never give you a positive life. And I think that without gratitude, we can tend to lean towards negativity. So it just kind of supports that. So absolutely. Yeah. So thank you, Athena. Thank you for being here.

Athena: 34:32

Thank you so much for having me. Ladies. I am grateful to share with you and your community and I'm so happy love the book. So this has been such a blessing so grateful for you.

Amy: 34:43

Thanks for listening to Nirvana sisters. For more information on this episode, check out the show notes. Please subscribe and leave us a review. also find us on Instagram at Nirvana sisters. If you loved what you just listened to or know someone that would please share it and tag us. Tune in next week for a fresh new app. sewed of Nirvana sisters will continue to watch out for all things wellness so you don't have to. Bye.