Species of flowering plant in the buckwheat family Polygonaceae
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5 episodes with he shou wu
2 episodes with he shou wu
2 episodes with he shou wu
We all like to become fit and healthy and most of the people start wrong with their fitness training. Many people hate their body in the fitness area and want to become super strong or beautiful…At first, we have to change our attitude: 1.) To love ourselves as we are.2.) To enjoy our life.3.) To enjoy our fitness program. 4.) To do our fitness for our health and longevity, and not for something else.5.) To have patience with our progress. 6.) To understand our whole life as a journey to perfect health and not to aim for a short good outcome.7.) To forgive ourselves for our sins when we can't stick to our diet or do our exercise. 8.) To chose what fits for ourselves and not to follow blindly any recommendation that should have the greatest impact and doesn't fit us. 9.) To change our approach to our health and fitness if we can't get the results. We need at least to make a cardiovascular training that keeps our heart young and strong. Endurance training is not enough! That I learned very late when I got a heart arrest… Through my endurance training my pulse rate sank dramatically and in the morning my pulse was at 50 to 55 and then I got through a shock in the morning a cardio arrest. And now, when I go up in the morning I make a short time - high-performance training similar to the recommend German Trim-Dich exercise… ( you run for 1 to 2 minutes very fast, stop for 5 minutes- just walk and do this again and again). We can make also Resistance training (weight lifting, muscle training…) with high peaks performance as our cardiovascular training.Should we eat protein powder or some other supplements to get better results?Don't do so these supplements harm more than do good. Eat a healthy and nutritious diet with fruits and salad. Please omit all acid food like meat, oil, sugar… What I have learned now from the people with the highest age like the 256-year-old Li Ching Yuen that without herbs for longevity we can't become so old. For sure Li Ching Yuen practiced also Qigong and meditation and learned Kung Fu. I have tried out also these super herbs from China and my health is better…I recommend Jiao Gu Lan For the heart and longevity.Astragalar even taste well as tea, boost the Immune system. Gotu KolaGinsengLingzhi Mushrooms prevents cancerHe Shou WuGoji BerriesIn the morning I drink my 1/2l warm water with fresh ginger, turmeric, lemon juice and add honey. My Video: How to start with fitness? https://youtu.be/Rp2ISIAik8oMy Audio: https://divinesuccess.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/Podcast.B/How-to-start-with-fitness.mp3
Today on Holistic Dentistry, join our vibrant conversation with Sage Dammers, CEO and Co-Founder of Addictive Wellness, as he invites us into the enchanting world of adaptogens and herbalism. With Dr. Sanda at the helm, this episode uncovers the surprisingly addictive qualities of wholesome treats like chocolate, and how they can be both a healthy benefit and a tasty delight. Embark on a journey with Sage as he recounts his enlightening discovery of herbal systems during a college surf trip, leading to his innovative fusion of chocolate with herbalism and adaptogens. As a result, Addictive Wellness was born! Together in this episode, Sage and Dr. Sanda explore the rich history and benefits of adaptogens, shedding light on how chocolate can be more than just a guilty pleasure — it's a potent ally for your dental and oral health! Dive deeper as Sage unveils the unique adaptogen composition and the diverse health advantages offered by his chocolate varieties: Pure, Recharge, Focus, Immunity, and Energy. He doesn't stop there; Sage also provides invaluable insights on sourcing pure mushroom adaptogens, guiding listeners on how to maximize nutrient intake from their diet. This episode isn't just a discussion; it's an expedition into the harmonious blend of taste and wellness, promising to transform your perspective on chocolate and adaptogens. Join us! Want to see more of The Holistic Dentistry Show? Watch our weekly episodes on YouTube! Do you have a mouth- or body-related question for Dr. Sanda? Send her a message on Instagram! Remember, you're not healthy until your mouth is healthy. So take care of it in the most natural way. Key Takeaways: (1:52) How Sage got introduced to adaptogens and herbalism (5:22) Sage's experience with international herbalists (6:33) The surf trip that inspired the creation of Addictive Wellness (9:47) Why Sage mixed chocolate with herbalism and adaptogens (11:04) The history and definition of adaptogens (13:16) The types of environments adaptogens thrive in (16:20) The different types of adaptogens in Addictive Wellness Chocolate (18:41) The origin story of He Shou Wu root (20:32) The adaptogen makeup of Addictive Wellness Recharge Chocolate (21:43) The adaptogen makeup of Addictive Wellness Focus Chocolate (23:47) How to begin to implement adaptogens into your diet (27:17) Somatic responses to different types of adaptogens (28:49) The adaptogen makeup of Addictive Wellness Immunity Chocolate (30:00) The adaptogen makeup of Addictive Wellness Energy Chocolate (33:38) Tips for purchasing different types of mushrooms (36:16) Where to find Addictive Wellness online Guest Info: Sage Dammers | Website | YouTube Connect With Us: AskDrSanda | YouTube BeverlyHillsDentalHealth.com | Instagram DrSandaMoldovan.com | Instagram Orasana.com | Instagram
The herbs I take every day vary with time and the seasons but these are some of the herbs that I'm currently taking every day: medicinal Mushrooms like Cordyceps, Reishi and Lion's Mane, Dong Quai and He Shou Wu, two pretty amazing herbs from Traditional Chinese Medicine, Guggul, Aloe gel, Ashwagandha and Nutmeg (widely used in Ayurveda), and now in summer for its refreshing properties: Hibiscus cold-infusions with green Stevia leaf! Not to forget my digestive herbs, Fennel, Anise, Flaxseed, and Triphala or Haritaki! I will explain why and how I take these herbs and hopefully inspire you to take your herbs on a daily basis! Not sure which herbs would be good for you to take, on a daily basis? Would you like to work with me one-on-one and book your Online Health Consultation? Send me a message through the contact form on my website: www.herbalhelp.net Or click on my calendar to book a free 20 min call to get your questions answered directly or just for a meet and greet! I am a professional, clinical Herbalist registered with the American Herbalists Guild and would love to give you personalized help! Check out the new videos on my YouTube Channel! Herbal Help by Tamara Would you like to learn more? Join the classes! Upcoming topics are Ayurvedic Herbs, Chinese Herbs, and how to use and make herbal-infused oils! If you sign up for the Herb Student Membership on Ko-Fi you will get the Zoom link to upcoming classes, and you will immediately unlock the video recordings of 20plus of my herbal videos, classes, and herbal case studies! A lot of great material to help you learn and deepen your understanding of medicinal herbs and empower you to use herbs in a safe and effective way! Topics of past classes are Herbs for the Nervous System, Medicinal Mushrooms, Immune Support, Hormonal Balance, Herbs for the Brain, and more! I'm looking forward to being with you! Classes include a Q&A part with me, to answer all of your herbal questions, and to share which herbs you are taking and your experience with them so students can learn from each other in a classroom setting. We are a really lovely group of people from different parts of the world and would love to welcome you! Follow me on Instagram: herbal.help Come and join the monthly herbal online classes! Join my free herbal channel on Telegram! You just have to download and set up the Telegram App on your phone first (it's easy!), then click this link to join my channel. This show is meant for educational purposes only. This is not health advice. Please send me a message through the contact form on my website. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/downtoearthherbalism/message
Episode 48: Acupuncture & Herbalism with Margaret Travis Happy Lunar New Year! In this episode, Celine & Jeremiah chat with acupuncturist and co-founder of Louisville Community Acupuncture Margaret Travis! We dive deep into the practice of acupuncture and herbalism, learn about Margaret's practice, and get a ton of helpful tips and tricks from the world of integrative medicine that can help with a wide variety of issues and conditions. We really enjoyed speaking with Margaret and hope you enjoy listening! Learn more about Louisville Community Acupuncture at louisvillecommunityacupuncture.com. Paul Farmer/Preventative Health (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Farmer), Chinese Medicine (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traditional_Chinese_medicine), Acupuncture (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acupuncture), AOMA (https://www.aoma.edu), POCA Tech (https://www.pocatech.org), “The Web That Has No Weaver” by Ted J. Kaptchuk (https://www.fivebranches.edu/wp-content/uploads/book_pdf_The_Web_that_has_no_weaver.pdf), Qi (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qi), Gua Sha (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gua_sha), Louisville Community Acupuncture (https://louisvillecommunityacupuncture.com), Tiger Lily (http://www.tigerlilyholistic.com), Marfa, TX (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marfa%2C_Texas), Pulse Taking (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulse), Turtle Dragon Health Services (https://www.turtledragon.com), Herbal Medicine (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbal_medicine), Astragalis (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astragalus), Holy Basil (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocimum_tenuiflorum), Ashwagandha (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Withania_somnifera), Ginseng (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ginseng), Salvia / Dan Shen (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvia_miltiorrhiza), Goji Berries (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goji), He Shou Wu (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reynoutria_multiflora), Four Gentleman Decoction, Gan Mai Da Zao Tang, Xiao Yao San, Yu Ping Feng San, NADA Protocol (https://acudetox.com/nada-protocol), Lincoln Detox Center (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln_Detox), Mutulu Shakur (https://mutulushakur.com), Miriam Lee (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miriam_Lee), “Insights of a Senior Acupuncturist” by Miriam Lee (https://www.amazon.com/Insights-Senior-Acupuncturist-Miriam-Lee/dp/0936185333), Cupping (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cupping_therapy), Mai Men Dong, Meditation for Beginners(https://soundcloud.com/aswoowooasyouwant/meditations-with-jeremiah-4) If you enjoyed this episode, please consider supporting us: Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/aswoowooasyouwant Buy Me a Coffee - https://www.buymeacoffee.com/woowoo Follow us on social media: Instagram - https://instagram.com/aswoowooasyouwant Twitter - https://twitter.com/aswooasyouwant TikTok - https://vm.tiktok.com/TTPdrawRgf/ YouTube - https://youtube.com/channel/UCiz_gMlLUJorTN7UAszHrgQ SoundCloud - https://soundcloud.com/aswoowooasyouwant Thanks for listening! [Recorded, mixed, and produced at PS379 (http://ps379studio.com)] ⓒ & ℗ Own Your Rhythm LLC 2022 Disclaimer: The material and information presented here is for general informational purposes only. No material on this podcast is intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health care provider with any questions may have regarding a medical condition or treatment before undertaking a new health care regimen. The “As Woo Woo As You Want” name and all forms and abbreviations are the property of its owner and its use does not imply endorsement of or opposition to any specific organization, product, or service.
We all like to become fit and healthy and most of the people start wrong with their fitness training. Many people hate their body in the fitness area and want to become super strong or beautiful…At first, we have to change our attitude: 1.) To love ourselves as we are.2.) To enjoy our life.3.) To enjoy our fitness program. 4.) To do our fitness for our health and longevity, and not for something else.5.) To have patience with our progress. 6.) To understand our whole life as a journey to perfect health and not to aim for a short good outcome.7.) To forgive ourselves for our sins when we can't stick to our diet or do our exercise. 8.) To chose what fits for ourselves and not to follow blindly any recommendation that should have the greatest impact and doesn't fit us. 9.) To change our approach to our health and fitness if we can't get the results. We need at least to make a cardiovascular training that keeps our heart young and strong. Endurance training is not enough! That I learned very late when I got a heart arrest… Through my endurance training my pulse rate sank dramatically and in the morning my pulse was at 50 to 55 and then I got through a shock in the morning a cardio arrest. And now, when I go up in the morning I make a short time - high-performance training similar to the recommend German Trim-Dich exercise… ( you run for 1 to 2 minutes very fast, stop for 5 minutes- just walk and do this again and again). We can make also Resistance training (weight lifting, muscle training…) with high peaks performance as our cardiovascular training.Should we eat protein powder or some other supplements to get better results?Don't do so these supplements harm more than do good. Eat a healthy and nutritious diet with fruits and salad. Please omit all acid food like meat, oil, sugar… What I have learned now from the people with the highest age like the 256-year-old Li Ching Yuen that without herbs for longevity we can't become so old. For sure Li Ching Yuen practiced also Qigong and meditation and learned Kung Fu. I have tried out also these super herbs from China and my health is better…I recommend Jiao Gu Lan For the heart and longevity.Astragalar even taste well as tea, boost the Immune system. Gotu KolaGinsengLingzhi Mushrooms prevents cancerHe Shou WuGoji BerriesIn the morning I drink my 1/2l warm water with fresh ginger, turmeric, lemon juice and add honey. My Video: How to start with fitness? https://youtu.be/Rp2ISIAik8oMy Audio: https://divinesuccess.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/Podcast.B/How-to-start-with-fitness.mp3
Coffee, black and green Tea, Mate, Guarana, Kola Nut and Cacao all have something in common: Methylxanthines aka Caffeine. Coffee and Tea are the most taken herbs in the world and most of us consume them daily. What are the benefits? And are there any downsides? What are the alternatives? Herbalist Tamara digs deep into the weeds once again, in this info-packed episode! Learn about the subtle differences of tea, coffee and cacao and some amazing herbal alternatives which do not contain any stimulants but still beat fatigue and increase your energy! Tonic herbs from Traditional Chinese Medicine like Ginseng, Schizandra, Codonopsis and He Shou Wu. Ashwagandha from Ayurveda and Siberian Ginseng, from, well, from Siberia, aka Eleuthero root. Check out Tamara's website www.herbalhelp.net for info about individual health consultations. Write a message through the contact form on her website or contact her through Instagram @herbal.help Youtube Channel: Herbal Help by Tamara --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/downtoearthherbalism/message
Tahnee returns today on the Women's Series to bring you this truly discerning, multi-dimensional conversation with the ethereal Jessika Le Corre; foundress of the divine skincare company Feather Eagle Sky, author, herbalist, mama to three beautiful children, and overall incredible sovereign being. Raised completely immersed in nature, within the realms of both highly religious and native spirituality. Jessika is a woman who stands deeply connected to mother earth, keeping one foot in the natural world and one foot in the spirit world. "I think one of my greatest purposes is sharing that great spirit is everywhere and that the plants are alive in there. The earth is alive and how can you protect her if you don't even know how her? How can you protect that which you don't know, which you're never in"? - Jessika Le Corre Tahnee and Jessika discuss: The spirit world in its all-encompassing divine forms; from religions of the world to Mother Nature and Great Spirit. The intention, envisioning, manifestation, and hard work that goes into everything Jessika does; from birthing/owning a successful skincare company to living her dream life and being a super mama. The story of Feather Eagle Sky, and the ceremony that is woven into the creation process of these potent plant-based products, that are helping women all over the world reclaim their beauty. Using ceremony, meditation, and connecting with Mother Nature as portals of sacred space to come back to the true expression of ourselves as women. Parenting and laying a conscious, love based foundation for children where they can live in the natural world, be taught how to care for the earth and connect with the spirit of who they truly are. The importance of self-examination when it comes to belief systems. Are our beliefs based on direct experience and personal understanding, or just something that you've been conditioned and taught to believe? Sovereign living & getting back to what truly matters, as the ultimate act of peaceful protest. The necessity for true leadership in the world right now; leaders who value the importance of caring for the earth, all living beings and promote unity instead of hate, fear, and division. Jessika's personal experience of living in a small Mexican community, where she and her family have not only created a life they love and thrive in but where they also give back, support, and care for other members of their community. Who is Jessika Le Corre? Jessika Le Corre the creatrix of FeatherEagleSky, a well-respected pure organic skincare line that aims to reconnect us to the magic of the plant kingdom, the mother of three children, Feather, Eagle, and Sky, and an author (Moonbow, Nocturnal Outpost). Her work is deeply rooted in ancestral wisdom and ceremony. Jessika studied skincare, herbs, flower remedies, essential oils, and works with plant medicines with a seasoned Shaman. She incorporates the multidimensional aspects of life into everything she does, with an emphasis on the health of the whole (mind, body, spirit). Resources: Feather Eagle Sky website Feather Eagle Sky Facebook Feather Eagle Sky Instagram Jessika's personal Instagram Moonbow Book Q: How Can I Support The SuperFeast Podcast? A: Tell all your friends and family and share online! We’d also love it if you could subscribe and review this podcast on iTunes. Or check us out on Stitcher, CastBox, iHeart RADIO:)! Plus we're on Spotify! Check Out The Transcript Here: Tahnee: (00:00) Hi, everyone. Thanks for joining us on the SuperFeast Podcast. Today I'm here with Jessika Le Corre. I'm very excited to be speaking to her. She's the foundress of Feather Eagle Sky, which this stunning skincare company based out of New Mexico in the US. And she's also mama to three beautiful children who have given her the name of the company, which is great. And she's just this incredible woman. I've been following her on social media for a few years, and her poetry, the way that she mothers, the way that she loves her partner, and the way that she loves herself has been a real inspiration to me as I've kind of navigated my parenting journey. And I'm so stoked to have you here today with us, Jessika, thanks for taking the time. Jessika Le Corre: (00:44) Thank you beautiful, thank you for having me, it's an honour. Tahnee: (00:47) Yeah, it's such a great opportunity to get some of your wisdom captured because I think you share so much of yourself online through your words and your beautiful imagery. And just the stories you tell that I'm sure there's a lot of you that you keep for yourself as well. Tahnee: (01:04) I guess I would be really interested to hear a little bit about your journey, like your childhood and into your teens and 20s. And you seem to embody this real strength and feminine grace and wisdom. But I wonder if it's always been that way for you or whether you kind of had a bit of a journey to get where you are now, is there anything you can share for us? Jessika Le Corre: (01:25) Oh, [crosstalk 00:01:27]. Tahnee: (01:28) Start right in the deep end. Jessika Le Corre: (01:29) It's definitely been a journey. Tahnee: (01:32) Yeah. Jessika Le Corre: (01:34) I was always extremely connected to the natural world, the earth because I grew up way, way, way high up in the mountains in a very, very small village, just surrounded by the sky and endless meadows and mountains and trees, and mountain lions and bears and eagles. My dad is quite the wild man, and my mom is extremely religious. And I was raised actually to be a preacher, and extremely deeply connected to kind of that religious world of sharing just the fundamentalist and propaganda of it all, and kind of purging all of that in my life. And also, then my dad was like the great spirit, extremely native in his beliefs and very one with the earth. Jessika Le Corre: (02:40) And actually, it was the greatest childhood I could ever ask for because I was raised with so much love. And my parents are still together at 50 years, George and Georgia. Tahnee: (02:54) Oh, cute. Jessika Le Corre: (02:55) Yeah. Both very, very amazing and very different, but somehow have the deepest love for each other that has been one of the greatest examples for me in my life. But just that freedom that my father offered me and his deep connection with the earth, and the way that he never judged me and the way that I was able to just be so free in nature. Like I would never come home to after school, I would walk to school just across the dirt road. And then I would just be free after that, running up into the mountains and reading books under trees and writing and watching the stars at night. Jessika Le Corre: (03:39) And so it was an amazing place to give birth to all of my visions, and to actually have my deep epiphany at like 11 that I was one with God, and I didn't need to do anything to gain that approval or that there's nothing you can do to gain that kind of love that it's beckoning us. It's the universe, great spirit is always offering through every moment, through the sunrise and the sunset, and the trees and the hummingbirds and the flowers and all the plants. A window, an opportunity for you to have a glimpse of all of that beauty, and all of that wisdom. And so I'm grateful that I had my mother because she gave me the discipline I needed because I literally was travelling to other countries and was like a missionary and I had a lot of discipline, let's just say. Jessika Le Corre: (04:43) And I've studied the Bible extensively and read it over six times. And I've been able to merge with every religion in the world, through my travels of India and everywhere. I really knew innately as a young girl that I was already there with the divine, it was all good. And so growing up, though I did have to kind of purge all those beliefs because I believe it's necessary that anyone should examine themselves and their thoughts and observe them and see what's yours? What is your direct experience, not just something that you've been conditioned or taught to believe? Jessika Le Corre: (05:33) I'm glad that I had the extreme willpower, and immense wildness to do that because my mom is extremely strong. She's a very powerful woman. She's a total queen. But it was wonderful to have my dad at the same time who just saw that I had already gotten it. So that's my journey as a child. Well, I've had two brothers in my life and I'm the baby. So it was wonderful to kind of just be the girl and the baby actually, because they kind of put all the energy on the other kids and I got to be free. Tahnee: (06:16) I've heard that so much from the third children. Just kind of disappear a little bit. Jessika Le Corre: (06:22) Except not with my Sky. My little baby Sky who's six. He's the youngest, and oh my goodness, I feel like he gets all my attention. Tahnee: (06:30) He's such a big energy, even just through social media. He seems like it. Jessika Le Corre: (06:34) Oh, he is [crosstalk 00:06:35]. Tahnee: (06:35) A bit of a star. Jessika Le Corre: (06:38) He is a star. He's like a little Erwan. Tahnee: (06:41) Yeah, like daddy. Jessika Le Corre: (06:42) Really. They are mini each other’s, little twins. Tahnee: (06:45) That's very cute. It's not [crosstalk 00:06:48]. Sorry. Jessika Le Corre: (06:48) Full of love. Tahnee: (06:49) Yeah. Jessika Le Corre: (06:50) No, he's so full of love, and he needs so much love. And he's like a triple Cancer. Tahnee: (06:54) Oh, gosh! Jessika Le Corre: (06:56) Oh, yeah. Tahnee: (06:57) Squishy centre. Jessika Le Corre: (06:58) Yes, exactly. Tahnee: (07:01) It sounds like you were raised in this really, kind of almost extreme juxtaposition of your father's wildness and where you lived. And then your mother's strength and will and I guess, pushing you into this missionary work, which is quite an unusual experience, I think for a young person to be involved in. Jessika Le Corre: (07:22) Oh, yeah. No, I feel like I'm 400 years old. Tahnee: (07:26) Yeah, because it sounds like you grew up pretty early, in some ways. Jessika Le Corre: (07:30) Oh, yeah. Tahnee: (07:33) And is that something with your kids? Are you more conscious of a childhood? Or was it something you don't really ... Are you happy? Not to say that you can't really change anything anyway. But like- Jessika Le Corre: (07:42) Right. Tahnee: (07:43) ... is there a sense of you're preserving your children's innocence a little bit more? Or are you kind of just letting nature unfold? Is there something there with you? Jessika Le Corre: (07:57) We're extremely open with our children and we very much believe in letting our children become who they are, and show us who they are. But we lay the foundation for a lot of principles, there's a lot of universal principles that we really make sure our children are given. But as far as religion and all those things, I don't put any of those things on my kids at all. And I don't ... Politics, any of it, none of it, I am extremely, very much deeply trying to give them in my opinion, the greatest gift which is just being and living in the natural world and being deeply connected and in ceremony with plants and with great spirit and just allowing them to show us who they are. I don't want to put my agenda on them or Erwan's agenda. We don't have one. It's just that they become and always remain strong, healthy and free and wildly wise. Jessika Le Corre: (09:12) And they are, they're extremely wise children. They speak French, English, Spanish. They've been all over the world. They are just so Earth children. They're so grounded, so solid and so wise, that they're kind of my favourite people to hang out with. I would rather hang out with them than any other people because they really get it. They're so clean. They're so healthy. Jessika Le Corre: (09:44) Their mind is so clean. It's not tainted by like just the amount of ... The world is obsessed with gadgets, TVs, video games and they're so distracted. And my children spend every day climbing, barefoot, running, jumping, swimming, fishing, playing in the rain with kids with buckets. And speaking Spanish while they're here in the jungle. It's extraordinary and with lots of animals too, there's so many beautiful animals here. And so I just love that they get to have that. And that's the kind of life I want them to have because there's so many people who are protesting and marching and yet, do they know what they're protesting and marching for? Whereas, my children's life and their connection with the earth is their protest? You know what I mean? Is their march. Tahnee: (10:47) Yeah, it almost like the most ultimate act of rebellion is to disconnect from all of it, and to go back to what matters, right? Jessika Le Corre: (10:55) Yeah, exactly. And [crosstalk 00:10:57]. Tahnee: (10:58) Oh, sorry. Jessika Le Corre: (10:59) You go. Tahnee: (10:59) Oh. I was going to say, "You go." Because you're normally based in New Mexico. So you're down in Mexico, Mexico. So is this something [crosstalk 00:11:08]. Jessika Le Corre: (11:08) Oh, yeah. I'm a real Mexican. Tahnee: (11:10) Yeah. Jessika Le Corre: (11:11) Yeah. New Mexican, Mexican. Tahnee: (11:11) You seem like you're really comfortable there every time I see footage of you there. Jessika Le Corre: (11:17) Oh, God! I love it. There is nothing like the Mexico culture. They are so happy. Every day, we walk down from our little sky house temple kind of tree house thing that's perched very high up in the mountain. And it's a climb, we have to climb up and down all day long. People have no idea how much we move. Jessika Le Corre: (11:47) I just can't tell you how happy I am to see this, to be in this little community because it's a small fishing village down the coast of Puerto Vallarta. So it's only available by boats. There's no roads, there's no cars here. And so you are really deeply in tune with nature here. There is no sounds and nothing, it's just pure. All the elements that you could imagine. And then there's this beautiful community that's catching fish for dinner, and everybody shares and everybody's so happy. And sometimes we drink Mescal. And most of the time, we're just eating tonnes of fruits and incredible [foreign language 00:12:31]. And they're so happy and we dance. I danced all night last night. It's just amazing. I just love these people. They really get it. They smile from their hearts. And there's just so much beauty and they understand hard work and simplicity. And they're so genuine. Jessika Le Corre: (12:56) I just can't imagine my kids having to grow up, even though New Mexico is so unbelievable. I'm just grateful that my kids get to have another culture, another- Tahnee: (13:09) Yeah, experience. Jessika Le Corre: (13:10) ... way of being and seeing life and really being at home with it and having dear friends who they go stay the night out. It's incredible. I'm so grateful. Tahnee: (13:23) And I think that sense of when you're a child, if you're talking about later on being able to do that inquiring into what's mine and what isn't when you've been exposed to multiple ways of thinking and multiple ways of being, it gives you ... You're less myopic, I guess, in your worldview. So you're able to filter through what you really resonate with and what delights you. And I think that's where so many as kids go to school, they've spent 12 years in an institution, and then they're left to work out what they want to do with their lives. Jessika Le Corre: (13:52) I know, I can't even imagine. Our kids have an incredible Mystra, a teacher here, Carrie. She is from Mexico City. And she is an amazing teacher. And so they have their sessions with her every day for their school. And it's the cutest thing ever, all in Spanish. And then they'll have their math tutor and blah, blah, blah, and their music and everything and it's just, to me that is so much better than just sending my child to some school where I actually don't know these people at all. I don't even know what that ... That's great that they think they're teaching a lot of history, which they're not even really teaching history but ... Tahnee: (14:38) Their history. Jessika Le Corre: (14:40) Right, exactly. And school is important, I definitely believe school's important because of just the discipline that it does create in your children and in you as an adult, you do need to be educated and to learn things and it's very important. But the way that you learn is also just as important. My kids are sitting right outside looking at the trees and guacamayo are flying by and they can hear the ocean. And they're eating something healthy while they're doing their school. And then they run down the mountain to go get in the ocean after school, I just can't. I would never want to send them, I feel like I would be sending them to prison in some way. Tahnee: (15:26) Yeah. I can relate to that feeling. Jessika Le Corre: (15:28) To have to go sit for eight hours would just be [oh 00:15:31]. And I know because I have done it the other way. When Feather was a little girl, she went to Montessori starting at age three, Gentle Nudge, and she was there for like six hours. And yet she really loves school, she loves school because she's so social. She's such a social girl. But we were spending like 30,000 a year on school for kindergarten. Tahnee: (16:00) Yeah. It's wild. Jessika Le Corre: (16:01) [crosstalk 00:16:01]. And they're kind of teaching them about nature, but it's not the same, it's just not the same. And now that money that we work hard for whatever, gets to go to beautiful families that actually really need the money and who really invest so much energy into our kids because that's their livelihood. And that means so much to me to support this community. And especially in these crazy times that this world is in. I really want to. Jessika Le Corre: (16:38) I love living here because we don't own, we don't have any furniture but like a bed and whatever. We don't spend any of our money on silly stupid stuff such as ... Which, not that it's bad or anything, but just materialism is ridiculous. And I'm giving my children an experience instead. I'm giving them real-life experience. And while we get to support these incredible people who honestly, if they weren't getting a job from us, they don't make anything literally, they don't make anything. Tahnee: (17:20) Yeah. Jessika Le Corre: (17:21) Their daily allowance is like maybe $3, $5. That's nothing. Tahnee: (17:27) It's crazy just the disparity in economics. Jessika Le Corre: (17:33) And so when these people are actually making a really good wage, and they feel so valued, they really do put so much into your children. And it's a blessing all around because then it's something that's working out for us and for them. And we have lots of things like that in this community, we have so many different people who do stuff for us, and we just have for them and then they're so happy because tourism right now is not really a big thing because of the whole ... So anyway that we get to support these people, and they bless us with their beauty, to me is just the greatest thing that could be happening right now. Tahnee: (18:16) Yeah, it's a really beautiful time, I think to step out of the states as well. Jessika Le Corre: (18:21) No, it really is. I know that there's so much good that I love about America, there's so much beautiful, good that I loved about America. But it's honestly not the world that I grew up in when I was young. And I could care less to spend my whole life talking about these dweebs in office that can't even direct their own step much less then world right now or- Tahnee: (18:52) Yeah, exactly. Jessika Le Corre: (18:54) And they do not have the same principles that I have. They don't share any of the same principles I have. And I don't want to give my children that and I actually do not want to feed my children that kind of corruption as if it's important. Because no, I'm sorry, I don't want my kids voting for any of those people. Why would I? Tahnee: (19:14) Yeah. Jessika Le Corre: (19:14) Bring me someone who is a true leader who's actually going to care about all of mankind, who cares about the earth, and the pollution, who cares about really what's going on. Instead of just all of the hate and fear and the division. It's disgusting. Tahnee: (19:30) Well, that was the word that kept popping into my head to some was like leadership and how we don't have a model or as in culturally, I suppose, we don't really have a model for what leadership represents anymore because it's just been tarnished by- Jessika Le Corre: (19:44) That's a joke. That's just like a TV show. It's ridiculous. Tahnee: (19:47) It's drama. Jessika Le Corre: (19:49) Yeah. That's not leadership. Mexico gets a very bad rap for the corruption that goes on in Mexico. And yeah, there's a lot of corruption in Mexico, and all over the world but at least [crosstalk 00:20:01]. At least people know, it's the Narcos, they know it's bad, whatever. And they're not pretending to be anything that they're not. Whereas I believe people are totally delusional about America and the political scene is a joke. What a mafia that is. Tahnee: (20:20) Yeah. Jessika Le Corre: (20:20) And they're all liars. So whatever, I really think that when you live so deeply connected to the earth, and you are truly outside all day long, or sitting and meditating and doing your work, and it's so clear and evident what's going on in the world. And yet, you can't ... It's like nature doesn't allow for phone me. It doesn't allow for that kind of make believe. It's very clear like, "Ew that's yuck." This is spectacular. Tahnee: (21:02) I wonder because your work is with plants. And you've obviously been raised in the wild, and you've chosen to really spend time in sort of wild places. But has there been a period of your life where you've, I guess, lived in the cities and tried to fit into the culture? Or have you always I guess, not to say that you live on the edges, but tried to ... Well, I think it's unusual for us people to make the decision you guys make [crosstalk 00:21:29]. Jessika Le Corre: (21:30) Well, okay, so I probably am the most natury kind of lady you'll meet, in the sense of, I moved to New York City for like three months. I was 24, and I was dating this very amazing, unbelievable at the Smithsonian painter, ridiculous. But I couldn't see the sky, and the pollution and the noise was just so upsetting for my nervous system and for me because I love to lay on the earth and watch the stars at night. And I just didn't grow up in any way like that. And so, even though I've tried to ... I've done modelling in my life. And I've dated some of the biggest celebrities that we won't name. Jessika Le Corre: (22:30) And I've tried. There's been a few times that I've tried to live in different cities and stuff, and it just really wasn't for me, I could just really feel a difference in my health and how my clarity and everything was foggy. It was not the same as what I know, I deserve and need and what I wanted to give myself, which was all of this. Jessika Le Corre: (23:04) And so, and even though there's so many great things that can come out of cities, and I'm not saying that they're bad but I'm a purist in a lot of ways. I think they're the cause of a lot of the pain that we experience on this earth, too many people mass together and these big disgusting cities, and you're just domesticated, you're just an animal, you go from door to door from box to box. You're never ever having a quiet moment, your phone is ringing all the time, someone's messaging you, you got to do this. Jessika Le Corre: (23:44) And then you put up all these appointments to go do your yoga class, so you can find some stillness, or some introspection or whatever. And yet, you're thinking about whatever your latte or something. You're not even being. You're not even quiet. And then it becomes then the thing of socialising too much, and you can socialise too much. You don't always need to be with anyone, you need to be with yourself, you need to have alone times. And I value that as a mom, especially because I get so much time to myself in like where I'm just sitting watching hummingbirds and talking with the hogs and that feeds my soul. And whereas the city feels like it's just taking from me, it's like it's talking from me. Tahnee: (24:45) So how do you balance out things like social media and a business? And obviously, Erwan's a world famous MOVNAT creator and trainer and all of these things. How do you guys balance out those demands of the world, I guess, on your- Jessika Le Corre: (25:03) I feel really blessed because we love what we do. Tahnee: (25:08) Yeah. Jessika Le Corre: (25:09) So it doesn't feel like I'm actually doing anything for Instagram or doing anything for my business because it's just my life. Tahnee: (25:17) Mm-hmm (affirmative). Jessika Le Corre: (25:18) So I feel like it's just a part of it. And luckily, we get to share all this beauty with so many people. So I feel like it's almost like an obligation to share and represent what it means to be so connected to the plant world and all that beauty and to share all that. Jessika Le Corre: (25:47) The truth is, is that I don't care about Instagram at all. I don't care who likes me, at all I don't. I care that maybe one person might see something that I've written, or some little diamond gem that I've shared or might get a product when they've been using chemicals forever, and might actually order one of my products and be like, "Oh my God, this is like heaven on my skin." Because it literally is. And it's not because of me, it's because of Mother Earth. Oh my goodness, the gift she gives when you've been so processed yourself basically through so many different chemicals and crappy foods, and the noise of TV and all of that. When you actually feel the vibrations of the plants on you, it's so real that you can't not see it or experience it. Tahnee: (26:48) Mm-hmm (affirmative). Jessika Le Corre: (26:50) And so for me, and that's just like one example. But for Erwan and I, we have spurts of sharing. Sometimes I'll share here and there and it's always positive. I'm extremely a positive lady. Tahnee: (27:08) Yeah, I love that. Jessika Le Corre: (27:10) I love life. I love life so much. I literally wake up, and the first words out of my mouth are, "Thank you," every day because I love life. I love life, so much I can't even describe and I feel like the world needs just that extra, just someone being like it's beautiful guys, just try to see from a different perspective, try to open your eyes in a different way because it is phenomenal. Life is phenomenal. Jessika Le Corre: (27:38) And so, it helps that I already have the zest for life. So sharing is easy. And also, I have two days a week where I work on my business, whatever that is emails and whatever podcasts may come up, or making a new product or just making my products. I have two days a week where I do that and the rest is just me, is me having my unbelievable daily experiences with great spirit. And that's just phenomenal and Erwan is unbelievable. I could not ask for a better husband, a better partner, a better lover, a better father. He really was formed and created in a very divine way. He is exceptional. He really values me as a woman as the mom. We don't have any control like stuff in our marriage of like, there's no asking if I can go have an hour to myself or whatever. You know what I mean? Tahnee: (28:55) Yeah. Jessika Le Corre: (28:58) It's given every day because that's how much we value each other. He does endless training for his stuff that we rarely talk about because we are actually always training and preparing to be the best we can be. And so he goes off and he's floating in some pool up in the jungle somewhere doing his breath-hold. Tahnee: (29:22) Yeah, he's got an amazing capacity for breath. Jessika Le Corre: (29:25) All done, he just started that. It's unbelievable. He really is ridiculous, and I'm not trying to praise him unnecessarily. He deserves it. He is phenomenal. And him as a dad. Everything of Erwan just seeps into our children. It's not like he's trying and now here's some time kids and we're going to spend an hour together and go to a park. He's like, they're with us climbing on our backs while we're running down the mountain. Jessika Le Corre: (29:58) And then they have the beautiful, incredible nanny. Yahaida who's here and we've always had someone to kind of be with us and have that time to go. I think children also need not just you and their dad, they need another person who they can go and do stuff with. And I'm so glad that we get to support Yahaida and her family. And she takes them for a few hours every day. And then I go and I float endlessly in the sea or right because I'm working on another book. Tahnee: (30:36) Oh, great. Jessika Le Corre: (30:37) Yeah, so it all sounds really dreamy. Sounds like oh my God, they're living the life. And that's unbelievably so wow, they're so lucky. But no one realises the amount of intention, envisioning and manifestation work that goes into everything that we do. Erwan and I are extremely intentional, we are always on the same page, and we work really hard. But we know how to do it with a lot of fun. So- Tahnee: (31:10) Well, that was something I noticed from him like that he's made a post saying that he'd chosen to not travel as much with MovNat and to hand over, to train some of his people so that he could be with you guys more and it felt like there was just a lot of intention in that decision making around priorities and where his energy was best invested, which is with your children and your family while you're mothering. Jessika Le Corre: (31:33) Absolutely. Oh, God. He could be spending every day of his life promoting MovNat and natural movement and he could be travelling all the time. And that's if he needed to do that, well then that would be what he decided to do. But that's not what we wanted and his business is so successful already and does so great. And Danny and everybody who works for him and all his master instructors are phenomenal and I'm so glad that he was able to build that up like that, which he did on purpose because we are multidimensional beings, we are not just Feather Eagle Sky, we are not just MovNat: Natural Movement, we are constantly every single day improving, becoming all the things and different facets that we are. We're not just one thing. You know what I mean? Tahnee: (32:27) Yeah, totally. Jessika Le Corre: (32:28) So it's so great that Erwan was able to do that and that he values honesty as a man to and money the term money and how much people place on money. It's amazing that his intention has actually blessed us even more abundantly because just our very life together is the ultimate example of what we are doing, which is natural movement, which is MovNat, which is Feather Eagle Sky, which is actually really working with the plants and holding ceremony with unbelievable tribes. And living it, not just talking about it, not just doing endless Instagram videos of how we walk, or where we walk and this blah, blah, blah, this technique or that technique, and that's great. But if that's all I was going to do every day and live for every single day is that video that I got a post of me doing this movement. I feel like I would lose my passion. It would just not be for me. If I'm trying to so much get viewers and likes it just, it's not my thing and it's not his thing. Jessika Le Corre: (33:47) I feel like we just get so blessed because we actually know how to move through it with some grace, instead of being so self-obsessed. And man, there are some incredible teachers out there on Instagram and some incredible people who have a lot of wisdom, but, that's their whole life, that's all they do. Tahnee: (34:10) Also, it's always one of those things that I think about and talk about with my partner is it's all going to go away one day. Jessika Le Corre: (34:16) Hey, exactly. Tahnee: (34:18) And if that's all you have, if that's your life, what's left at the end of the day? And you have to have cultivate other values and other things to invest your time and energy in, I think. Jessika Le Corre: (34:29) Absolutely, and also spiritually speaking. You can feed endlessly the physical and share the physical. But that's what we're trying to share. And I think that's one of my greatest purpose is sharing that great spirit is everywhere and that the plants are alive in there. The earth is alive and how can you protect her if you don't even know how her. How can you protect that which you don't know, which you're never in? Jessika Le Corre: (35:04) It's so great to talk about it and have that kind of like mental context of, "Oh, it's so romantic the earth and I love the earth and blah, blah, blah." That's cute. Tahnee: (35:16) What does that mean exactly? Jessika Le Corre: (35:17) Exactly. You have to have some real sincerity with what you are sharing. And it comes out, it really does come out because I'm always amazed to randomly calls me up or messages me or emails me or wants to do an article or whatever. And they're like, "Oh, I was captured by your genuineness, your- Tahnee: (35:48) Authenticity. Jessika Le Corre: (35:50) Yeah, your authenticity of it. And I really appreciate that because I try so hard at not trying to be in my most real. Tahnee: (36:03) Yeah. Well, it is there, it's this sort of element of consciousness around constantly shedding the layers of projection or assumption or even culture or whatever, you just have to constantly be on to doing the work, I think. And that's when you talk about ceremony, you talk about meditation, you talk about stillness, floating in the ocean, like these are all ways we come back to ourselves to remember who we really are. And then it's just trying to preserve that. You say RECLAIM PURENESS is your kind of tagline for your company. But I think that's such a statement around coming back to that pure expression of ourselves. Jessika Le Corre: (36:37) Amazing that that beautiful ... Those words came to me in one of my ceremonies with the Shipibo in Peru way out in the jungle, years and years ago, that beautiful just reclaim pureness, and it was exactly it. It was like, "Come on, guys, get back to her. Get back to really being you. Who are you? Do you even know how beautiful you are because if you really knew how much you contain, that you contain the universe inside of you in your heart, your heart is the most unbelievable, extremely intelligent, it is the temple of where everything of who you truly are resides. And when you go into your heart, and when you actually connect truly to your truest highest self, then the wisdom that unfolds and the layers of shedding that go with that. And all of the preconceived projections of who you think you are, what the world wants you to be or blah, blah, blah. It's like they dissolve. And you're just there with your beauty and your heartbeat." Jessika Le Corre: (38:01) That's actually why I like to float in the ocean every day is because I just listen to my heart and it's so beautiful. I'm glad that you got that. Tahnee: (38:12) Yeah, I do that too. And it's- Jessika Le Corre: (38:14) Oh, that's beautiful. Tahnee: (38:16) Well, I teach yoga. And sometimes I ask people to breathe with their heartbeat. And they're like, "I can't hear it." And I'm like, "Wow," because it's something I think it must have happened a decade ago, something that it's just with me, if I get still straightaway. It's like the most dominant part of my experience. And it's just regulates my breath. Yes, this little thing. Jessika Le Corre: (38:37) Well, that's why you're so beautiful. Tahnee: (38:40) Well, thanks. Jessika Le Corre: (38:41) And so full of goodness. Tahnee: (38:43) Now, I'm curious about when you talk about plants and ceremonially seeds because I know, it's such a big part of your life and how you kind of create ritual and I guess marking the passing of time and life and all these things. And I feel like I've done ... Obviously, you work with plant medicines, but you also work with herbs, you work with plants in your skincare. Jessika Le Corre: (39:08) Mm-hmm (affirmative). Tahnee: (39:09) You guys also kind of work with ... You're not vegetarians, you eat wild meats, and from what I understand anyway, this is [crosstalk 00:39:16]. Jessika Le Corre: (39:16) Yeah. Tahnee: (39:19) Kind of real because this is one of the things I find really challenging about the ... I'm doing inverted commas, but you can't see them like spiritual communities. Is how it's like this kind of ... And I know the vegans are going to hate me for saying this, but it's the vegans and these kind of movements, I guess, that are like, "Oh, it's bad for the earth if we eat meat, or it's bad for the earth if we do this, or blah, blah, blah." And it's like my experience is the complete opposite on a plant medicine journey. I had this epiphany that like I was a vegetarian at the time and was like, "No, meat is food and it's energy and it's Chi or Prana or whatever you want to call it." Jessika Le Corre: (39:56) Absolutely, 100%. Tahnee: (39:58) Yeah, and I had this like little relationship with this piece of meat in the fridge at the place where I was staying, and I just thought that was just such an epiphany for me. And the more that I've worked through that conditioning and unravelled it, I've felt so much more connected, and so much more spiritual, all of those things. And I find that [crosstalk 00:40:19]. Jessika Le Corre: (40:19) Absolutely because there's no more compartment anymore. Exactly, you're not fragmented, you're not also putting judgement on yourself because in all of those trends and diets, and they all are almost like a religion for people because they start putting all of these things of you're a good person, you're a bad person, and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. No, that meat is life. And if it came from the wild, and if it's healthy meat, it is going to and if it was coming from the sun, and the animals and the grass and the grains and everything that caused that beautiful piece of wild meat to be on your plate that you need because your brain is made of fat, you need fat, your body needs that wildlife in you. Not only are you helping the earth, but you're helping yourself and your relationship with that. The sustainability in it, the gratitude in it, the receiving of it, and just the vital forces that are in it is so necessary for you to have a whole health. To have whole health, you need that. Jessika Le Corre: (41:35) And it is very good for the planet. That's the saddest thing. You can domesticate a million avocados and send a million gallons of coconut water in plastic bottles all over the earth, how is that beneficial, just because it's not meat, that is so sad. They have it all mixed up and so confused. And yet, it's usually because they think that that's what they should be doing because of all the virtue signalling that happens on Instagram and all those things, and Facebook and everywhere. And instead, when you listen to the innate wisdom of yourself. And when you live with honour and gratitude for everything, whether it's the mango, the wild deer, or the banana or whatever the fish from the sea that Erwan, and all this community and I eat, you're doing something that is so beautiful, and the honouring of it is the highest. And so you do, you get everything beautiful from that, and you are healthy, and you're helping the earth in that way. Jessika Le Corre: (42:45) But when you live in this just very fear and judgemental existence of judging others for what they do or what they don't do. And that's not to sound condescending, or self-righteous or anything, but you're at a level of where is your beauty truly? Where is your understanding of life, if it's all based in judgement ? Tahnee: (43:15) And that's so much this time, I think- Jessika Le Corre: (43:19) And that's why you don't feel good, exactly. That's why people don't feel good in their diets. That's why they don't look great, even though they think they're doing this diet, but the fear around food, the fear around everything. And also what the validation that people need through all of their health diets and blah, blah, blah. It's just so sad. Jessika Le Corre: (43:39) When you go and you use it. You hang out with people who are very tribal, or from a different way of life than you who are literally up in the mountains sitting in little huts, and they're barefoot and they're squatting and they're not posting every day about their squat session of 20 minutes, come on. Tahnee: (44:01) This is how they cook. Jessika Le Corre: (44:03) This is just life. There's not one that is not eating some wild element of fish or elk or pork or whatever they're eating- Tahnee: (44:17) Because yeah, for sure. Jessika Le Corre: (44:17) Exactly. Chicken or even cow, they're getting their milk from that cow. They're loving on that cow and when it's time to eat that meat. They are sad but they give gratitude, and they do it in the most respectful way that it's just absolutely living in ceremony. Whereas, look, people spend hundreds and hundreds of dollars on crap package crap that they don't know. There's no life in it. There's nothing in it. It's from a gross factory where mega abuse has happened. And it's loaded with gross hormones and it's just disgusting. Everything about it is disgusting. So of course that's bad, that's absolutely disgusting. And who would want to stand for that? Jessika Le Corre: (45:04) And so I see how they get on to that, the whole vegan thing or the vegetarian thing, it's usually a moral compass that they're trying to figure out within themselves. But when you just live deeply connected with the earth, and you listen to the earth, and you listen to your innate wisdom, you're going to enjoy that beautiful dinner that may have some chicken or may have some fish, and it is going to give you the life that you need, and the aura and the beauty and the luminosity that you need to really thrive. Tahnee: (45:38) And that's such a ... I think, I guess, what I see so much with people that we speak to is this they've started on these diets, they felt good for a little period of time, which we always put down to kind of like a cleansing period, and then they start to deteriorate. And then they're going, "Well, but I'm vegan and I'm this." And it's like to come back to that radiance that you want, you'd need to now rebuild your body with healthy tissue. And that comes through proteins and through quality fats. Jessika Le Corre: (46:10) Exactly, 100%. [crosstalk 00:46:10]. And so that cleansing period is great to go and do your cleansing, which is most of the time why they start in the first place is because they're not feeling good, and so they're changing their diet for that reason. But then once you've established that, and then your body is going to tell you, "Okay, I am so ready for that steak now truly." Tahnee: (46:29) Yeah, I had that. Jessika Le Corre: (46:31) It's like what are you doing to me? Tahnee: (46:31) I was like walking down the street- Jessika Le Corre: (46:32) It's like please give it to me. I need it. Tahnee: (46:33) ... it's like give me blood. I was like, "Whoa! That's interesting." Jessika Le Corre: (46:38) No, it's real. And that is also your animal self, like really needing that. And your spiritual self needs it. It's just the same as all of the isms. And I always tell them, people always ask me, "Well, what religion are you? Who do you follow and blah, blah, blah," and I'm like, "Wow, I don't follow anyone. And my Great Spirit is the divine is who I follow every day. And it's in everything from my orchid plant, to the sunset, to swimming in the ocean to sungazing. I'm not into isms. I'm not into all of that organisation stuff. I am into being dancing in all circles, and in none, being able to be my own experience and to experience my own dialogue with the universe." Tahnee: (47:29) I love that so much. I think that's such a ... Because it becomes a personal responsibility and a personal kind of act of sovereignty to put aside all of the cultural paradigms and conditions and step into what's really true for me, and what's my truest expression? And then can I allow that everyone else can have their own version of that without- Jessika Le Corre: (47:51) Absolutely, 100%. And I think that that's why there's a lot of people who, you wouldn't believe, like they stop me, they think I'm into some Kundalini teacher, they think I'm this Buddhist lady or whatever. I would say, I'm all of those things, but not in the way that you actually think. But the Kundalini is definitely ... I am definitely not that. I am using it right now, every day. Tahnee: (48:27) Yeah. Jessika Le Corre: (48:28) [crosstalk 00:48:28] things higher. But it's not because of any practise that I've done. Even though when I was younger, I studied. You cannot imagine what I studied, and I do love Buddhism immensely, but I don't need any man-made guy to be my guru when I am my own guru. God is my guru, the divine is everywhere. I don't need to follow anyone, because the message of whatever I need is always going to come from within. And that's where you want. You are your teacher, you're your greatest teacher. My children are my greatest teachers. Oh, my goodness. Tahnee: (49:06) They came from within you, so it's the same really. Jessika Le Corre: (49:08) Yeah, exactly. And that's the same with the political world right now not to talk about that, but people are so desperate for a leader. When will you lead yourself? When will you be your own leader? When will you listen to the unbelievable wisdom that comes out of your own hearts when it's not tainted by everybody else, and all their opinions and all of their supposed like going to fix the world if you eat this way, or you're going to blah, blah, blah if you do this. There's no one way. There's no one herb that will give you everlasting life or immortality, it's everything. It's the whole process and it's this selection and the elimination of everything. Jessika Le Corre: (50:01) And sometimes the greatest gift you could ever give yourself is to just stop listening to everybody and everything and to just start listening to yourself. Tahnee: (50:14) And so in terms of herbs and things, I know you work with them. Jessika Le Corre: (50:20) Oh, God. I love plants more than you could imagine. I love herbs. Tahnee: (50:24) Yeah, [crosstalk 00:50:24]. You're like, "I'm taking this tea and it's like all these nine brilliant herbs and I'm like yes. And it's stuff- Jessika Le Corre: (50:32) You know it's amazing because they just come to me in my head and as a little girl, I'm so Virgo too. I really do think that all that is, it is astronomy and astrology are real because we are [crosstalk 00:50:46]. Tahnee: (50:46) Oh, for sure. Jessika Le Corre: (50:47) So it's definitely. And for me, it's like I was a natural alchemist of plants. Even as a young little girl, I was always inviting my friends over and I would be smashing cabbage and rose petals and telling them to drink and I would be putting them in champagne glasses, and I'd be like, "And your skin is going to glow." Jessika Le Corre: (51:13) And so no, I just listened to myself. I also look at what I eat always. I look at what's maybe causing some breakout or something. Some of the oils in Mexico are not that great oils, they're bad oils. Tahnee: (51:34) Yeah, for sure. Jessika Le Corre: (51:35) So I was eating too many to start tostadas last time and my neck kind of broke out. And I love tostadas and salsas. Tahnee: (51:43) Good problem to have. Jessika Le Corre: (51:47) Yeah. And so I just made a wonderful concoction of red clover and burdock and echinacea and Oregon grapefruit and gotu kola and my skin instantly just cleared up because everything is from within. Everything is from within but if you listen, the plants will talk to you. And if you work with them too, if you're like, "I feel I have some extremely dedicated dear best friends in my plant allies." I love dandelion. I just love dandelion and burdock and I love for my skin echinacea and for all of it, I just love dandelion and burdock. I just love them and echinacea and for my feminine self, I really love Damiana, and He Shou Wu, and American Ginseng, and those are all in Egyptian Blue Lotus. Oh, my goodness. Jessika Le Corre: (52:43) And I've shared some of these property blends. And then I always notice bigger- Tahnee: (52:51) Companies? Jessika Le Corre: (52:51) ... people who follow me and they put together my little thing, it cracks me up. Tahnee: (52:56) Yeah, that's just [crosstalk 00:52:58] we like. Jessika Le Corre: (53:00) But I'm a natural herbalist. Even though I am an herbalist, I'm a natural one. I was always a natural one, it was just I was always connected to the plants. And then I use some very sacred plants that I don't talk about very, very much because they're more for protection and because I try to also respects that relationship that I have with the plants of not just, I don't like to overly promote plants, because to me, people have no connection with the plant. And so I always say to start, just go sit in your yard, if you're not feeling good, or if you're working on something within yourself, if you just sit in your yard, hopefully, a garden somewhere or something if you have access to it. Jessika Le Corre: (53:44) But that plant eventually if you sit there long enough and you're with the intention of seeing which plant you need for that moment, that plant's going to pop out. And sometimes it's so obvious, it's right there in front of you, whether it's aloe or whether it's echinacea or whether it's [crosstalk 00:54:05] wild rose or nettle. Oh my god, I love nettle. I love nettle so much. Tahnee: (54:11) I love nettles too. Jessika Le Corre: (54:12) Oh, I'm going to love everything. And my house here is loaded. I have more plants than anyone could ever imagine in here in this jungle. It's just like my dream. Tahnee: (54:17) Yeah. Jessika Le Corre: (54:19) I think that's why I live here too. Because New Mexico, despite the enormous amount of medicine that is just laced in all of that land, surrounded by 20 different pueblos that are continuing in their traditional seeds and song and dance and I feel so blessed in that way and it is home, it will always be my home, home. It's like my blood. Jessika Le Corre: (54:43) But the jungle and it doesn't matter what jungle, the jungle is so alive. It's so alive and I need that green and I just love to just be in the dirt all day and planting and watching them grow. Tahnee: (54:57) Things grow so fast if they're satisfied [crosstalk 00:55:00]. Jessika Le Corre: (55:00) And then I'm walking, I can pick whichever plant I want while I'm walking and bring it home and root it, and I'm so excited about my vanilla growing right now. Tahnee: (55:06) Oh, that's beautiful, yeah. Jessika Le Corre: (55:08) So it's been a blessing to me to use plants and to give them and share them with the world. And that's really why I created Feather Eagle Sky was not to have like a business or something. But actually, I really did it just to help women feel and look and experience that kind of potency and that brilliance on them. That's going to give them extraordinary beauty without makeup and all that other crap. Tahnee: (55:40) Yeah. Jessika Le Corre: (55:41) You become more luminous, you become more beautiful because these plants are alive. And they're so cellular, and they get into you and they just lace you with all their love and all their wisdom, and they open your heart and they calm you and they inspire you, and they protect you. And this is just like your basic plants. If you could just smell a rose every day. Oh, my goodness, the wisdom of that rose would be the ultimate meditation because it's brilliance is so true to itself. It's so glorious and so full of love. And what a queen. Oh my goodness. Tahnee: (56:22) Yeah, just like shameless radiance and beauty. Jessika Le Corre: (56:26) Yeah, exactly. Tahnee: (56:27) No filter. I think it's so beautiful to offer because you look at what women are exposed to and it's just this kind of bombardment of chemical crap, and like celebrity culture and all of this stuff. And just to say that your beauty is enough, and then to work with nature to enhance what's naturally there. Jessika Le Corre: (56:54) 100%. I feel so blessed that this little small business that I created forever ago while I was pregnant and giving birth to my son Sky. And then like Eagle, not even a year old, helping me make stuff and Feather, and- Tahnee: (57:12) Cute. Jessika Le Corre: (57:14) I feel so blessed that I have never put out ... Like, it's just me who handles everything, and my shipping team. And that's it. I make everything, nobody touches anything, I make it because I do lots of prayers and lots of songs and lots of love. And I'm so grateful that despite the fact that I've never had to sell myself or promote myself by spending loads of money or something to just make my business known. It's travelled across, I send to 22 different countries. It travels across the earth in this unbelievable way. I have women who write to me telling me that when they get their products, they actually dream of me. And it's so beautiful. Jessika Le Corre: (58:04) And then I have huge celebrities, like very big celebrities that follow me and use my stuff. And I don't ask for that. It's just what I feel like great spirits, when a product is real, the energy that's in it is real, it's going to shine through. And it doesn't matter what you do, or what you don't do. If it's real, and you're real. And you are, and it's full of love, which I hope that everybody, whatever business you're doing, just love what you do. And it will always shine through. Jessika Le Corre: (58:40) So I'm so grateful because this little business of mine has just supported our family in the most amazing way. And it's a blessing to just know that people write me and tell me how just one time they used Arkana, which is one of my favourite face creams for the sunscreen and just to know that it's non-toxic, and then it's out there in the ocean, or it's up in the mountains. We're rinsing off in the rivers or whatever you're doing, or that it's going down your drain but it's not going into the earth in a way that's disgusting or into your bloodstream. Jessika Le Corre: (59:18) If you just thought of your body as the earth, the bloodstream just like the rivers of the earth. If you just thought of yourself like that, then you would think of the earth like that. The more that you take care of yourself with beautiful products that are actually genuinely clean and true ingredients, the more that the earth will benefit. Jessika Le Corre: (59:40) I don't know why it's so hard for these women who are so conditioned and constantly the media and false beauty, is truly false beauty because there is nothing that you could do to be more beautiful than you already are. The less that you put on, the more that you come through. And the more that you start loving you, and just adorning yourself with rose oil or sandalwood or neroli. Oh my God! There are so many amazing ones. Jessika Le Corre: (01:00:13) You will start to feel more beautiful. You will start to see your skin start sparkling and shimmering and shining because that other stuff that you're putting on your skin is dead. There's no life in it. It's like bug spray. You're putting it on you. It's tainting you and it's going into your lymph nodes, and it's going into your body and everywhere. And it's just like [inaudible 01:00:38]. It's yuck. Tahnee: (01:00:42) It is yuck. And I love that you can use your stuff on kids and it's just like there's no fear. Jessika Le Corre: (01:00:47) Exactly. Tahnee: (01:00:48) [crosstalk 01:00:48] and you can go in the ocean or the river. Jessika Le Corre: (01:00:49) It's for everyone. I know, someone, a very big celebrity. Really beautiful woman reached out to me via email a couple of like a month ago, maybe, and told me that Arkana totally took away her little girl's dermatitis. And I was just like [crosstalk 01:01:08]. She goes like, "Just in two days," and I was so happy just that is everything to me. If that is like what I'm out doing, then any labour or love that I put into it is worth everything because I feel like I'm a spokesperson for the beautiful earth. I don't feel like I'm a spokeswoman for maybe it's Maybelline or blah, blah, blah. Jessika Le Corre: (01:01:32) Maybe you're just that great. And you're that beautiful and the earth just helps you to remember and to wash off all of that stuff that's constantly telling you that you're not enough that you're not beautiful, that you actually need this concealer this foundation, this eye shadow, this eyeliner, this mascara, this eyebrow pencil, this lip liner, this blah, blah, blah. Then you need all the stuff and all the gloss and everything that goes into your hair to keep it straight. And oh, heaven forbid that one little hair, go flying in the wind. Jessika Le Corre: (01:02:07) Oh, man, when you let the earth touch you. And when you feel her beauty bless you, you will always be so beautiful because you will age and you will age because we all age. There's no denying it, but you will age with more grace and more beauty. And you will really embody and your aura will just be glowing. And that is the attraction that you want. That kind of luminosity that sparkles because it's so pure because it's so clean because it's Mother Earth. Tahnee: (01:02:43) Reclaimed your pureness. Jessika Le Corre: (01:02:44) Exactly. I never get bored with my eight years, I never get bored with my business. And there's moments like sometimes products don't come in at the right time. I seek out extremely old farms for some of the people I partner with, like my Corsican immortelle and a place I love and I go and visit all as much as possible when we can and I love every ingredient that I use. Jessika Le Corre: (01:03:18) I've actually experienced, been in that farm, picked, found there's no like ... I'm just not buying products from Mountain Rose or wherever and putting some essential oils in it, and that's it. This is real whole plant medicine. This is like real love from the earth and it takes me hours to make. I spend whole days just blending and doing my stuff and sitting in quiet and sitting by the stream and talking to the plants and whispering, "Go give all those beautiful girls all that love," and so it comes through. Tahnee: (01:03:58) It sure does. Jessika Le Corre: (01:03:58) And sometimes you will get a person who has been so used to the other products that they're like, "I don't know." And it's okay because you can't please everybody, but for the most part, for eight years, I've been doing just fine. And those that know it and experience it get it. You know what I mean? Tahnee: (01:04:25) Totally. And I think people sometimes just aren't ready for a certain experience. We work with herbs that people ingest and sometimes, for whatever reason, they just don't ... The first time I ever sought Reishi I had a spiritual awakening. I was meditating with her and we had this whole relationship, it was just divine and He Shou Wu as well was one of those herbs for me. Jessika Le Corre: (01:04:52) Oh, that is amazing. Tahnee: (01:04:52) Wow, Australia just banned it. We're not allowed to sell it anymore. I'm so annoyed. Jessika Le Corre: (01:04:57) Are you kidding? Tahnee: (01:04:58) I'm not kidding. Anyway, that's a story for [crosstalk 01:05:01]. Jessika Le Corre: (01:05:00) Well, and on that note, I will just say that get ready world, if you actually care about what's going on in this world, then you will really start defending the things that are actually healing your body and helping you because right now there is some big agenda going on that wants to keep promoting horrible vaccines and stuff, and mandating that you do this and that you don't do that. Jessika Le Corre: (01:05:25) Small businesses are barely getting by but Walmart and Costco and the big [crosstalk 01:05:31] are doing just fine. So just think about that. And awaken yourself to the fact that there is a whole thing going on. But the more that you just keep calling in the plants and giving them love and respecting them. I really pray that a big raising will happen soon, I pray. Tahnee: (01:05:54) Well, this is the thing, the more people support businesses like yours and ours, where they start to do their own work to cultivate this same through the heart that we're talking about then the better chance we have, I think, to get through all of this. Jessika Le Corre: (01:06:11) Absolutely. And also just continuing to talk about it and to [crosstalk 01:06:15]. I don't care what's going on in the world, one way or another Mother Earth at the end of the day- Tahnee: (01:06:22) She's in charge? Jessika Le Corre: (01:06:22) Yes. She's going to conquer any of us. She could bring us down in a second. We celebrated yesterday, a year of the flood that happened here in this village that I live in. And a massive flood came last year, and it [crosstalk 01:06:41]. Tahnee: (01:06:41) For it, yeah. Jessika Le Corre: (01:06:42) Yes, it was very bad what happened to so many different people, but yet their resiliency. And my whole point of that is, is that Mother Earth is unbelievably powerful. Tahnee: (01:06:57) Mm-hmm (affirmative). Jessika Le Corre: (01:06:58) She can wipe you out in a second. And so hopefully, we are creating children and mothering children that love the earth, because they are our next generation, they are the next generation. And the more that you get them away from those video games from that TV, from that artificial crap. And you get them in contact with the divine, the powerful, the beautiful, the sacred, then everything will come into a much more happy equilibrium. Much better harmony than what's going on. But that's also good. It's good for the world to wake up a little and hopefully they do. Tahnee: (01:07:39) That seems like a really great place to leave it because that's the sort of message that is really important right now. But I really hope that if you're listening, you jump on Jessika's website, and have a look at her products, place an order. It's feathereaglesky.com. I'll put the links to all of Jessika's social media, her website, her partner's book. I just wanted to ask you, Jessika if there's anything you wanted anyone to kind of know, any other places they should go to find you? Anything like that or? Jessika Le Corre: (01:08:11) I have a new book coming out as soon as I feel it's ready. But it's called Nocturnal Outpost. Tahnee: (01:08:20) Oh, beautiful. Is it a partner to Moonbow or is it kind of like a- Jessika Le Corre: (01:08:28) No, it's basically my life story with a lot of the dark things that I actually never share with anyone. Like how I've saved my life from scorpions, or how I went through major initiations and many different spiritual ways to be at this point in my life, and to be able to share all of that beauty with everybody. That there is always ... Nocturnal Outpost is about how there is so many different dimensions that we, as humans can tap into, and within ourselves, and that we are every day experiencing even through the bad and through some painful things and through whatever darkness and that there's always, always if you have extreme willpower, and genuine discipline and great courage. And if you're able to see through all those bells, then you get to experience such unbelievable beauty too. And it's all worth it. Everything is worth it all because you don't grow and you don't shine and you don't sparkle if you've never been in that mud. Tahnee: (01:09:45) Yeah, for sure. I think that's such an important thing to talk about because we live in Byron Bay in Australia, and that can be a bit of like love and light stuff. Jessika Le Corre: (01:09:55) Yes, so I know you live in a very powerful land. Oh, my goodness. Tahnee: (01:09:58) We do, yeah. Jessika Le Corre: (01:10:01) Wow! Tahnee: (01:10:01) And I mean I'm so grateful for where we live. But sometimes I'm challenged by the [crosstalk 01:10:04]. Jessika Le Corre: (01:10:04) Yup, 100%. As a girl who's grown up in a lot of ceremony and an incredible amazing native friends, and I've seen and witnessed a lot so, so grateful for all the
Ian Ferguson from Jaiya Inc. joins Mason today for a juicy chat about relationships, intimacy and sexuality. Ian works with his partner Jaiya to empower people to own their desires and express their true sexual nature. Ian believes an individual's relationship to their sexuality reveals how they live every aspect of their life. Tune in for a truly fascinating and grounded chat about the things many of us don't often address let alone talk about! "having sex is natural, but making love is an art." - Ian Ferguson Mason and Ian explore: The challenges couple's face postpartum, how having a child can interfere with intimacy and sex drive and what to do about it. The erotic language of arousal, discovering what turns you and your partner on and learning how to communicate it. The limerence period. The lack of communication and awareness around sexuality in general. The five sexual blueprint types - the energetic, the sensual, the sexual, the kinky, and the shapeshifter. The Erotic Breakthrough Course; how to embody, heal and expand your sexual blueprint type. Sexuality as a common thread amongst us all - "Where did we all come from... We all came from sex." Ian Ferguson Who is Ian Ferguso ? The consummate Renaissance Man and a lifelong student of Human Potential, Ian Ferguson has been featured on Good Morning America, Anderson Live, VH1, and in Details magazine. From his youth as tap dance king of Ohio to directing and performing in Off-Broadway theatre in New York; from building a seven-figure design business serving celebrity clients like Drew Barrymore, Ashton Kutcher and Michelle Pfieffer to co-creating Jaiya Inc., an international company with the mission of uplifting sexuality as something to be openly and honestly discussed, celebrated and enjoyed, Ian has been driven by his desire to create a world with freedom of expression for all, a world where people are more connected to the truth of their bodies and each other through authentic, honest communication, and love. In 2007, Ian partnered with Jaiya, an internationally recognized, award-winning sexologist and best-selling author to co-found Jaiya, Inc., spreading the word about Jaiya’s revolutionary framework, the Erotic Blueprint Breakthrough™, designed to radically transform how we talk about and experience sex. Resources: Ian's Website Erotic Breakthrough Quiz Ian's Facebook Youtube Q: How Can I Support The SuperFeast Podcast? A: Tell all your friends and family and share online! We’d also love it if you could subscribe and review this podcast on iTunes. Or check us out on Stitcher :)! Plus we're on Spotify! Check Out The Transcript Here: Mason: (00:00) Ian, thanks so much for being on with me, man. Ian Ferguson: (00:02) I'm excited. This is good. Good thing we have a bit of an Australian crew down there from some other podcasters, we've got some coaches down in Australia. Mason: (00:12) Cool. Ian Ferguson: (00:12) So the people who know the work that we're up to, it's the U.S., Canada and Australia is third on the list of the most people who have taken our quiz and dropped into what we're up to. Mason: (00:24) Yeah, I can imagine. It's interesting because Jaiya, your partner... And it's been interesting because I didn't realise when I heard about her back when that you were working side by side, or just how intimately your working and partnering side by side, which is cool because I want to ask a couple of questions in terms of working together that intimately because Tahnee and I, I feel like we do a really good job. Tahnee's the GM of SuperFeast and we're working like every day. You've got a kid as well. How old is your... Ian Ferguson: (00:57) 10. Mason: (01:00) Wow, you've got a proper child, not just a three-year-old wobbly child. Ian Ferguson: (01:06) You're in a three year old zone? Mason: (01:09) I'm in it. I'm bloody in it, man. Ian Ferguson: (01:12) Well you're, you're starting to hit that place where it's... Well, in my experience it started to get a little bit easier. The first two years? Whew. Mason: (01:21) Yeah, it's going like in both directions. It's a tonne of fun. It's really getting interesting and it's wild having all these conversations, but no, I don't doubt that there's a lot of people following both of your guys' work and like a lot of Jaiya's work, which is, we're realising now, is a lot of your work as well, which is fun. Ian Ferguson: (01:44) Right. I didn't really start taking on more of the front face role until about five years ago. I partnered with Jaiya just romantically and was supporting the work in some ways financially, producing some of the film work, and also being a test subject because everything that we talk about is stuff that has either played a really fundamental role in our life, in terms of improving our sex life and our connection. After our child was born, we had a major crash in our relationship. We had about a year and a half of the blissful limerence stage, we're in love just can't keep our hands off of each other, all the passion is alive. We had a child, the economy crashed and I moved from a place that I had become really entrenched into, into this cohabiting domestic lifestyle. Ian Ferguson: (02:41) From stress and just total hormone imbalance I crashed, my libido tanked, my confidence in the relationship started tanking. Jaiya is a sex educator, our sex life falls off the map from going from like 100% down to 10%. So she's a sex ed educator, has all the sex techniques in the world at our disposal and we can't figure it out, like many couples who are in that situation of either just that period after you've been really deeply connected and all of a sudden it's not working the same or these big life circumstances come up and it's all different. Ian Ferguson: (03:17) So we had a three year period where we were deeply, deeply struggling and in that period and our commitment to each other, we just started to really reconfigure how we were relating to each other because it wasn't working. So we went through an intense experimentation stage and that's where I really started to get much more deeply invested in the work because I saw the turnaround in our relationship and I'd always wanted to dive more deeply into the work of helping people live their fully expressed lives, feeling fully alive, and it just seemed like a complete perfect dovetail and a new transition for me. So three, four years into the relationship, I really took a deep dive into it. Then the last five years I've been basically just on the front lines with her in terms of everything from teaching, enhancing the models and frameworks that we're working with, and then building our coach community and just getting the word out there. Mason: (04:20) And going through those three years to get there and sticking it out obviously then... Because that's all with like you know, when you're going through something, when you're really going through it and you're like you're kinda like... It's like, "All right, cool." A lot of people just don't hold on or a lot of people just won't go deeper in order to find their way out of that maze. Obviously for you guys that period would have created a knowing and loving of each other that's allowed you to work together I assume, but was it so... So was it... Because you're not running off endorphins anymore, you've got a child in the house. I was talking to Tahnee about how she heard Jaiya's, like a bit of her postpartum, what was going on, like having a tear and needing the internal massage, which Tahnee asked me to ask you if there are any details on that, because we've got a lot of mumma's that tune into the podcast who might be interested on that level. Mason: (05:15) So maybe we should stop there and just talk about that, but what I was just wanting to know is was it that experimentation and looking in for different shades that you could bring into the relationship? Was it trying to get to know yourself and then you couldn't just take for granted that, "Oh yeah, I know myself on more of a surface level and that's enough," but "Holy shit, if I'm going to have this deep a relationship and this new life that's seemingly domestic... As you say, which seems like there's shackles, which it's just an external thing to rebel against. It's nothing... You don't really know yourself and know what you want it's not going to be that satisfying. Mason: (05:56) So I just want know more of the details of postpartum and for you as well, what you went through during that time to really keep you bolstered and then coming out of it, was it that that experimentation and really getting to know yourself that led the way? Ian Ferguson: (06:12) So there was the perfect confluence of events, working both angles here. One was the perfect confluence of events that was leading us down the dark tunnel, which was at the edge of us separating our relationship and figuring out how to co-parent as separately and then riding and in tandem with that was our dedication also to, "That's not how we want things to go. We know we love each other. It's just the passion is not there, the connection has dropped off," and being committed to figuring out how to reinvigorate that and along that line, Jaiya in her work as a sexological body worker and at that point, being fully in this work for over 12 years working with thousands of clients, she started to recognise the patterns in people's sexuality where she would be working with one client and she would get turn-on with a certain kind of technique or a certain kind of approach to their arousal or the way that they could drop in with someone. Ian Ferguson: (07:19) Then she would use that same technique on another person and it'd just be a flat line, there'd be nothing. This is where the Erotic Blueprints really started to crystallize for her and start to download. So he started to see these patterns and then she started to experiment in her client sessions with these ways of approaching people in the arousal patterns and the sexuality and their ways of bonding with someone else, and it started to crystallize and form into the framework that has now become the Erotic Blueprints. Part of the experimentation that I talk about, it was us experimenting in our own sex life with each other, and what we discovered, and I'm sure we can drop into the blueprints and really dial that in for your audience of what the hell I'm talking about, but it's basically your erotic language of arousal. Ian Ferguson: (08:11) Once you understand what you're turned on by, how you're turned on and what you're not turned on by and what turns you off, then you start to be able to have this language of articulation, of being able to share with your partner and know. What we discovered was, at the time, Jaiya was primarily sexual, partially because that was very front and center in her biochemical makeup, in her desire pattern was her sexual blueprint and secondary was energetic. So sexual, she was craving sex, was starving for sex. My libido had tanked on a biochemical front, testosterone was down, we were doing co-sleeping with our child, which was also boosting oxytocin and bonding chemical, which is just like bonding but not sex drive and sexual, as we discovered later, was basically zero on my blueprint map. So she's a sexual energetic, I'm a sensual kinky. Ian Ferguson: (09:13) So she was coming to bed at night and she was grabbing my crotch and she was trying to seduce me by going and taking strip classes and coming home and getting in a g-string and doing sexual moves in front of me and trying to get me turned on that way. At one point that's exactly what she did, and my comment to her was, "You don't need to do that. That's so obvious," and that was not the right thing to say, and it spoke to a truth for me, which at the time that was not something that was going to get to my arousal. I was coming to bed at night and I would slide up next to her and I would start to cuddle and want to relax and have this transition moment and then discover what unfolded in our eroticism through that connection and bonding. Ian Ferguson: (10:03) When I came in and cuddled with her, she was like, "Oh great, another night we're going to roll over, we're going to go to sleep. I'm not going to get laid tonight." So she's just like moving into depression, rolling over, crying herself to sleep. I want to connect. I want to have that kind of intimacy with her. I had already been married once and our sex life was one of the fail points in that relationship. So I started to spin and go into like, "Okay, here we go again. I don't know what to do. I don't have the confidence to step up and be present with my partner in a way that's going to satisfy her." So it was like Jaiya was speaking American English and I'm over here trying to speak French, and we think because we speak this different language that, "Oh, we must not be in love with each other." Ian Ferguson: (10:54) Once we started to discover the blueprints, then we can start to actually communicate to each other in the way that the other was going to be turned on. That's when the deeper experimentation in our own relationship started to move into our own expansion of, "Okay, how can I expand and meet my partner in her sexual and her energetic approach to sexuality and how can she start to discover more about the sensual and the kinky approach to sex?" That's where that started to come together. The whole piece around the vaginal tear and the biochemistry end, we can talk about that in a minute, but that's where the blueprints started to take formation. Mason: (11:33) What's it's really interesting in that there's this obviousness, in say, in certain instances where someone just wants on, and the other is feeling like they need a little bit more, like they need some cuddling and then going in many different directions. However, it's so blatantly obvious to you a lot of the time, which is one of the... When it's happened to me I know that Tahnee would want something else and I'd theoretically know how to approach it, but just have this block of languaging and just couldn't do it, which it feels sadistic in the sense of like, "Who am I? I know that I need to just approach it in a little bit of a different way. Why aren't I doing it? Why can't I do it?" There's that huge block. Mason: (12:27) The blueprints I actually heard about probably about five years ago when Tahns and I were first starting out and we'd just have these conversations. Obviously, just early on in the relationship it's just like, "Oh that's interesting, and that's interesting." It's not like.. There wasn't too much on the line then because it was just flowing up, moving into when there is a child in the mix, all of a sudden, I think what becomes really highlighted, as you said, is like jewel blueprints that come up, which is something that happens in relationships, just like, "Hang on, you are super sexual and now you need something else, like energetic. What is that?" and there's no... All of a sudden it's like, "Why aren't you the same," and, "What's wrong with me? What's happened here?" Mason: (13:16) So that's one thing I really, really, like it's always stuck with me about the blueprints and I've got to get in again and take the... Is it a quiz because we got a [inaudible 00:13:29] book. Ian Ferguson: (13:29) There's an assessment. There's a full assessment. So you take the quiz and then the quiz kicks out what type you are. It also gives you a rating of percentages. So it's not just your primary because you use secondary, tertiary, your quaternary, I don't know what that is, and your fifth because there's five of them all together. Mason: (13:46) I've had a bunch of friends really sing its praises and I dialed in. Without doing the quiz I just dialed into knowing myself because I always have a hard time doing quizzes and things. Even though there's no problem like, "Don't label me," I'm always worried that I'll change my mind and that it won't get reflected in the quiz results. Mason: (14:06) Anyway, it's kind of... I've known a bunch of people who are grounded and know their shit who have really just... it's made for a really good talking point and understanding of themselves. Therefore a way to communicate with their lovers. Ian Ferguson: (14:20) For sure. There's several threads coming up from me as we talk about just this, the context here. One is the piece of new to relationship, most people revert to the sexual way of relating. You're in that limerence phase, there's all this turn on, your hormones are pumping and we revert to sexual. So then we abandoned or just forget about those aspects of our sexuality, which may actually be more our primary drivers. Ian Ferguson: (14:50) So as the limerence period, which is that first flush of romance zone, which lasts six months to two years fades, it's just like what most of us do in so many other aspects of entering into a romantic relationship. Let's say you're the type who was going to yoga five times a week and you have your dance thing on Thursday nights and you hang out with your buddies on Saturdays. You're now in your relationship and a lot of time and dedication and focus goes into this new romance, you drop away, maybe you get to yoga once a week and you hang out with your buddies every four weeks and all these elements that were really nurturing to you start to drop away. Then six months, two years in, you start to go, "Well wait, where am I in this relationship?" Ian Ferguson: (15:38) So we've set up this expectation with each other that this is how it is. We're sexual, we get together all the time, we're spending all of our time together, and then the satisfaction of that, the intimacy gets too close and then it becomes the sort of like sense of a trap. That's where starting to utilize the language of the blueprints gives you the empowerment and the language to bridge the gap. Ian Ferguson: (16:02) So the other aspect of this, which the thread that popped to me when you're talking about your progression in your relationship is this problem with sexuality in general, which is people don't talk about it. Like we do to some degree in our intimate relationships. I know people, because of our clients, who have been in relationship for 20 years and they never talked about sex. It's supposed to be automatic, it's supposed to be natural. Yes, it's natural. So having sex is natural, but making love is an art. Ian Ferguson: (16:35) So being able to articulate how you make love gets into all the fine detail of what pencil you're using or brush you're using or the type of paint or the way you're mixing the colors together, and you don't have the facility in any Western culture that I'm aware of where you're given a deep language of how to express and articulate needs, desires, hopes, wishes, turn-ons, turn-offs in a way that is rich and actually truly descriptive and or not triggering. Ian Ferguson: (17:13) So if I'm a sexual and I'm used to speaking overtly sexually about how I like my partner's breasts and her ass and my language, that's the limit of my language, and then my partner turns out to be an energetic sensual or kinky and that's my language, it's very likely just to shut that person's system down and just cut, cut off the communication. Mason: (17:42) Well, I relate exactly to that scenario and at times obviously it changes, and that's where I think it's going to be, I'd like to jump in a little bit more in and do some of the blueprints because it's like, "All right, great, we know that at times your energetic and what that means. However, I'm over here sexual," because I feel like that's like the quagmire. Mason: (18:06) That's why I love how thoroughly you and Jaiya are going through this. It's not just like, "Here's your sexual blueprint. Now have fun everyone." It's like, "Well now what? I've got my needs over here, saying I'm feeling really sexual and you've got your needs. I just want to pull some hair and go for it and you need to energetically feel me." It's like how do we bridge that? So is it as simple, in your approach, is it just like, "Let's communicate. Let's talk about our needs?" Ian Ferguson: (18:49) So the blueprints are the introduction to a pretty broad framework. It that has the blueprints, it has your stages of sexuality and it also has the four pathways or blocks to sexual health and vitality. So there's an ecosystem that's working here and just like anything that is really rewarding, it's a 360 degree panoramic, full spectrum look at who we are and to add another complexity, our sexuality is shifting. You're without a kid, without your domestic needs and all those things weighing on you, your sexuality may be in a very different place than when you've got a newborn and you're dealing with all of the things that come up there or aging or an accident or a breakup in a relationship. There's so many things that can affect our stage of sexuality. Ian Ferguson: (19:54) One of the routes to this, to you, anybody listening, is a willingness, right? So if there's a willingness to start to get into the other person's world, then there's a deep hope that you can really start to expand into that person's blueprint and feel it and understand it. So it's the ability, more than communication, to get to this empathetic convergence where you can really start to, even if it's not your turn-on, you can start to feel the person's turn-on through that approach and give spaciousness to it. I feel like it'd probably be better for everybody listening for us to dive into just articulating what the blueprints are at this point a little bit. Mason: (20:42) Yeah, it sounds good. Ian Ferguson: (20:43) Great. So there's five blueprint types. There's the energetic, the sensual, the sexual, the kinky, and the shapeshifter. Ian Ferguson: (20:52) The energetic really thrives and tends to get turned on by anticipation and tease and distance. They tend to also look at sexuality in more of a spiritual or transcendent way of connecting with another person. So those are some of the positives and the superpowers of the energetic. They could orgasm by not being even touched, by me standing across the room from Jaiya 20 feet away, I can play with her energetically and she can start moving into orgasmic experience. Really a mind bender for somebody who's not energetic, "What's going on? I don't even know how to relate to that." So those are the superpowers of the energetic and the shadow of the energetic can be too much closeness, too fast, can completely shut the energetic down. So you move into the collapsing of the space ends their arousal. The anticipation of the kiss of like I'm inches away and we're holding that space is where the juice is, and then when I move in for the kiss, perhaps an energetic might be like, "Oh, fuck. It all just went away." Ian Ferguson: (22:12) This is a generality, not always true, but often an energetic can have a history with sexual trauma and that is where that collapse of space and where that breaking of the boundary is the thing that shuts down their sexuality. An energetic may also give over their boundaries too quickly. They may have very little sense of their own container and what they need. So they'll acquiesce to their lover and that will just reinforce their shutdown and their lack of boundary and they'll do this because they're so energetically connected to their lover that if they disappoint them, they'll feel that disappointment deeply. So that can be some of the things that can be challenging for the energetic type. Ian Ferguson: (23:00) Essential type. Mason: (23:01) Makes sense. Ian Ferguson: (23:03) Yeah, and if you have any questions about it, just interrupt me. Mason: (23:06) No, like it's so on. Honestly I know it's just on point. Anyway... Ian Ferguson: (23:14) Perfect, and the thing about when people hear about the energetic, we get a lot of commentary is like, "Oh my god, I didn't even know this existed. I've been feeling broken, wrong, like I don't even know who I am," their entire life and then they hear this spoken and they're like, "Oh my god, that's me. I had no idea." Mason: (23:33) That's so full on. We haven't really brought it up, but a huge context of just us having this conversation is seeing within the flow of your life, seeing your libido in a level where you can be like almost, I don't know, yourself, proud of yourself. The libido is who you are and your sexuality as a part of who you are. We go into that conversation with the herbs consistently. That's why, when you want to have conversations like these, to see like how do we actually... Yes, you've got like good herbs in like the Jing herbs in there, but that's just starting or just helping something along, but this, it's quite often a... And that was what it was like for me, the biggest penny dropping. I haven't really gone and done my blueprint yet. Mason: (24:26) I feel like I've been, I don't know, a little bit apprehensive, it's probably... And to know myself but I don't feel that at all anymore in that area. I'm really, really happy to go there, but just in that nature of that energetic, that existing and that possibly that could come forth rather than another blueprint could come forward, this is very game changing stuff. This is what I like. As you said, and then that leads to you being able to have a smooth lifestyle where libido can actually flourish rather than trying to like, "If I take his herb, I'll have a libido. If I get rid of my estrogen dominance, then I'll have libido." It's like that's going to get so far, but you need a dialogue going forth, right? Ian Ferguson: (25:07) For sure. Yeah. Yeah. My mind starts to go off into all the places I could go on that, on a tangent. Mason: (25:14) I know and then I'm taking you off course. Let's stop with a distracted, we'll go back to the blueprint. Ian Ferguson: (25:19) Cool, and out of that I think we'll be able to touch on some of the things that you're addressing there. So the sensual blueprint, they bring the artistry to sexuality. Their sensual is all about the senses being ignited. So sensual could have a strawberry and eat that strawberry and go into orgasmic states. Sensual is the kind of person when they're eating, you just hear them like, "Hmm, Oh." They like the textures of the clothes, they need the environment to be really dialed in for their system to relax and for them to open. So a sensual type needs the... We talked about an energetic already. So the sensual type typically needs to relax to open to their sexuality. So they can get down regulated and then they can connect. Superpowers of the sensual is they can have full body orgasms, like when they're in their body, they're connected fully. Ian Ferguson: (26:19) The challenges or the shadows for the sensual are when the environment or the atmosphere is off, music is too loud, the lights aren't right, they've got the interior brain chatter of, "Oh my god, I didn't return that call. There's a sock on the floor. Oh, that means I got to do the laundry. I got to do this thing." So the disconnect goes into the brain and completely disassociating from their environment. Smells, in terms of receiving from a lover and they can be like, "Oh, they're down there so long, their neck must be getting uncomfortable. Do I smell down there? I don't know if bathed." So they just get lost in all of that minutia and then they can't connect and they can't drop in. Mason: (27:01) It's one obvious shadow for sensual, for me anyway, in thinking about it. That's super interesting. Ian Ferguson: (27:10) It's not an obvious shadow. Mason: (27:11) No, not for me, not in my perspective on that. I'm like, "Oh wow." I just like, "Yeah," but it makes sense that it's like that, "Brrr," chatter is in stark contrast from the sensuality. I guess it's like the balancing act of that blueprint. Ian Ferguson: (27:26) For sure. Mason: (27:27) So it makes sense on that level. Ian Ferguson: (27:29) Yeah, and then a comparative between energetic and sensual would be the type of touch that they enjoy. I know some people may be watching this and some people may be listening, so the energetic, again in that spaciousness, they can feel those energies off the body. So the hairs on the skin, the very edge of the fascia, just like that outer layer of the epidermis, that can be a total turn on with very light and very slow touch. They can feel that energy six inches, 20 feet away. For the sensual, the touch tends to be contouring, more like massage into the tissue. Also still slow and really feeling, feeling everything deeply, but much more physically connected. So the sensual really likes to collapse that space, get into the cuddling and the nuzzling and the deep connection. Mason: (28:24) All right, yeah. Ian Ferguson: (28:27) All making sense is it? Mason: (28:28) Yeah, it's definitely crystal when can... Hey, I just started thinking because I'm an overthinker, so it's just got me thinking as well. Ian Ferguson: (28:39) Cool. Then the sexual is what the Western stereotype is about sex and sexuality. They love genitals, they love nudity, they love getting right to business. Sexual superpowers, they can go from zero to 60 in one second flat. It's just like, "Oh we're on, this is sex, we're going to have an orgasm." They want everybody who's involved in the situation typically to have an orgasm, that means success, "We've had a sexual encounter I've had an orgasm, we're good." In opposition to like the sensual, the sexual needs to have sex to relax. Sex is like life itself. If I'm not having sex, I'm not living, I'm don't feel fulfilled. Ian Ferguson: (29:26) The sexual who's really sexually fulfilled tends to feel really empowered in work, really feels bold and emboldened and seen. They really need to be seen for their eroticism and accepted for their high libido, for their high desire to just have sex to feel accepted, to feel wanted. So those are superpowers for the sexual and they bring the fun to sex. Like there's not all the story, there's not all the busy work, there's not all the confusion. It doesn't matter if the lights are too bright or the music is, "We're going to fuck, this is good." So they're just like all in. Mason: (29:59) And that's super like it's perpetuated... Is it like in the West, teenage boys, that's like you click into the association of that because we've all got an element of these blueprints inside of us and so that either brings like you're a dominant alpha because that is where you thrive and that's just commonly like, "Well that's what sex is in the West." Then there's the other part of it, just like you're a male especially, , just from my perspective and you're energetic and those sensual aspects of yourself are not quite up there, that's very confusing, right? That's like, "Well, I'm just no good at sex." Ian Ferguson: (30:46) Right. Mason: (30:47) But then that's also what's present at the beginning of relationships, as you were saying, right, that sensual nature, it's a little bit easier for everyone to connect on that level because it's a common commentary on sex and then boom, all of a sudden things change. That must be one of the most common things I'm assuming, but that must be one of the most common things that occur, is a relationship six months in or a year in, and then all of a sudden you almost need to enter into a completely new relationship and it creates these hectic speed-bumps trying to just move past just that whole expectation and just be like, "Oh great. Yeah, cool. Let's do it as we always did, let's just fuck. What happened? Why don't we do that anymore?" Ian Ferguson: (31:27) "What happened. Why is it not working?" It's like driving blind, right? Again, back to that language piece, it's not something that people talk openly about, it's not something people... Usually our mentors are anything from our peers, parents, porn, religion, the mentorship that is available to anyone around this realm of sexuality is not only often full of shame and suppression, but sometimes it's downright full of misinformation. Mason: (32:02) Yeah. Ian Ferguson: (32:02) You're given some tools and you're given a hammer to do something that you need to accomplish with a screwdriver, and it's just because there hasn't been this open dialogue and even with people who have an open dialogue, they don't have the distinctions to really dive in to the full range of human sexuality. It even happens within the communities that congregate around sex and sexuality. Ian Ferguson: (32:28) So one of the things that I'm most proud of about what we offer in our community, in our courses, is this full range of sexual expression and acceptance. Nobody listening is broken, wrong in your sexuality. We walk around, many of us, feeling broken, wrong, unseen, ashamed of who we are and this creates more of this hiding, more of this separating and silo-ing and, "I'm just going to suffer here alone in my silence." And back to the community thing, it's like there are great tantra communities, there are great BDSM, kink communities, they're great swinger communities and they also tend to silo. They also tend to be like, "We're this type of person and we're going to hang and we don't understand the kink person over there." Ian Ferguson: (33:27) So what happens is the people who've got a kinky person and an energetic person, the energetics typically going to be more guided towards like a tantra community, the kink person's going to be walking into the tantra community and go like, "What is this weird stuff? I'm not into this. No turn on here from me." More disharmony within the relationship and the connection, the kinky is going to take the energetic to the kink environment and they're going to be horrified, likely full of judgment of like, "Wait, sex is supposed to be spiritual and connecting and slow and full of this energetic connection to God," and they're going to look at the kink community and think, "What are these people doing?" Ian Ferguson: (34:10) This is what happened with Jaiya and I. I haven't talked about kinky yet, but because of her tantra and energetic background, had really big misconceptions and judgments about the kink community. She had 15 years of being immersed in the tantra community. and sex was about enlightenment and spiritual connection, and this is another shadow of the energetic, where they can be judgmental or have a sense of superiority about their sexuality versus all the other types of sexuality. So that that can then cut them off from this wider expression and wider acceptance of all that's out there to play with. Ian Ferguson: (34:52) So the silo-ing of communities goes to reinforce this disconnection between people because they're not seeing, they're not having other people representing in their relationship, these other blueprint types. So that's one of the things I'm most proud about with our community is that we're speaking to everybody's sexuality under one roof, right? We all be all get to play. Mason: (35:17) And in a way that isn't... Because I think another common thread if you're just watching Western culture, like media and that kind of thing, the next flow is when it stagnates, "Let's go try something. Let's go out and try some kink. I want to.. I brought home a tantra book," or maybe it's like, "Okay, oh, we're going to go to a swingers party." It's a little bit shooting in the dark, which sometimes gets you there, but when you don't know about the thing that might tickle you in the right place, I really like that, "Well let's just... Those things are all well and good then let's go and do them. They're at our disposal," but you start a little bit closer to home and get a little bit of light on the situation so then you can make... You don't need to seek as much. Mason: (36:05) You can like know a little bit more. I really appreciate that because- Ian Ferguson: (36:09) Yeah, that's good. I like that too. Not throwing spaghetti at the wall, but yeah- Mason: (36:14) Because that's stressful. If you have a kid and you have a job and all these things and maybe a hobby or whatever it is, and your own health stuff going on, you don't have that much time. Maybe in early 20s it's just like, "Hey, cool, I'm going to go try this style of tantra. Then I'm going to do a bit of Taoist sexuality. I'm going to try this. I'll be poly.. Polyamorous for a little bit now." It's just like there's so much time and that's not realistic on a broad scale and you just said, as having these kinds of conversations, it doesn't really happen too much. Mason: (36:49) We have like the talk, the sexual talk, which I don't know if that happens. I think it's more of an American thing, like having the talk around sexuality, but we definitely are the same here in Australia. It's definitely an uncomfortable conversation, which is interesting to be like, what we're really uncomfortable with is exploring the fact that we have nuance because these blueprints are going to show, not just being relating to sexuality, right? It's just relating to different other aspects of ourselves that lead to our happiness and our ability to connect. What's so taboo about that? It's hard to admit that this is a new area for us. Ian Ferguson: (37:36) For sure. What we've found now that the blueprints have been out there and with a massively expanding community and more people being exposed to the blueprints, is people are finding that this stuff translates into all the aspects of their life, right? How they set their environment, how they relate to their kids, to the people in their workspace and gives them more empowerment, not just in sexuality, but to really own who they are and what they need to thrive any situation. So that's, that's an unintended consequence of this. Mason: (38:15) Happy accident. Ian Ferguson: (38:17) People who've talked about how they now get to understand their children better because they got one kid who's highly energetic and they've been forcing hugs on them for 10 years and they realise this and they go, "Oh my god, what have I done? I've been invading my child's boundaries and their sense of autonomy." Now they're able to create a relationship of respect and say, "Would you like a hug?" and when the kids says, "No," they say, "Great, thank you." And they've got the sensual kid who just really needs to be held and needs their room in a delicious, beautiful designs so that they really feel like they have their space. Ian Ferguson: (39:02) So they do translate all throughout the threads of life. Mason: (39:07) So good. Ian Ferguson: (39:07) Where were we? Mason: (39:08) On set rule? Ian Ferguson: (39:09) Yeah. Mason: (39:09) I think we're finishing the- Ian Ferguson: (39:10) The sexual. Mason: (39:11) Sexual, yeah. Ian Ferguson: (39:13) So the shadow sides of the sexual, one, especially if you're a vulva bodied person, can be the sense of shame because the typical is that the man is the sexual, that's the stereotype and that the penis body people are the sexual and they're overt about it and always driven by it and that the vulva bodied folks are more going to be sensuals or maybe energetics. So a sexual- Mason: (39:41) We need to think about penis bodied and vulva bodied? Ian Ferguson: (39:46) Yeah. Mason: (39:46) What do you mean by that? Ian Ferguson: (39:48) So we're taking genitals away from gender and we're taking genitals away from your sexual identification. Mason: (39:56) Yeah. Ian Ferguson: (39:57) So this is for anybody who's trans, bi, non-binary, there's I think... I get this number wrong frequently, but it's somewhere between 63 and 67 gender identifications currently out there. So one of the things also in our community that we're working to do is obviously make it open and accepting to the multitude of consensual relationship styles, your sexual identity and your gender identity. So that when I speak to the penis bodied, let's say there's a bisexual person who's got a penis, they identify as feminine in their energy, they don't really relate to being called a man, but maybe they're going non-binary, but I can speak to the genitals and I can speak to the stereotype that's usually associated with those genitals, right? Ian Ferguson: (40:55) So a person with a cock is going to be typically identified as male. They may not present as male or they may present as male, but identify as female or identify as a trans or whatever. Wherever you find yourself we are here to honor you in that place of self identification. So I choose to say penis bodied or vulva bodied simply to speak to the genitals and the stereotypes associated to them. Mason: (41:28) I didn't realise it was a literal penis bodied. I didn't realise that or if it was just like a body shape kind of thing. Anyway, I got it. I love it. So the shadow side of the sexual self... Ian Ferguson: (41:49) So for the vulva bodied, typically a highly sexual vulva bodied person will come up against being slut shamed. It's just not acceptable, right? So shame can be an aspect of it. Another version, which I didn't realise until about two and a half years ago when we were doing some of our own work around erotic personas, was the layers of sexual shame that I was dealing with. So for the vulva bodied and this thing of being overtly sexual can end up in a place of shame, slut-shaming, being shamed for their overt sexuality. On the opposite, I just realised about two and a half years ago, this was running for me, as a penis bodied person, I identified basically a cisgendered male, my is with my genitals, I had the good boy complex, right? Ian Ferguson: (42:49) So in relationship to women, if I presented my desire for them, that was me being a jerk. This is how I associated to it. I associated the guys who are the alpha male as dangerous, threatening. So there was a different layer of shame for me being a cock bodied person that then had me shut down those energies in myself and not be able to put them out in the world. So that's a really interesting growth edge for me, in how I relate to my sexuality and being able to, once I got a handle on this and I played with an erotic persona that was overtly sexual, I started to be able to re-own aspects of my sexuality and my sexual started to go up in my blueprint percentages. Mason: (43:40) Right. So you can see you're tuning in like on a yearly level and just seeing these alterations. It makes sense. You've got this garden of sexuality and you've got to start somewhere in watering some of the pioneer sexual plants for you and then that's going to help everything else grow. Ian Ferguson: (44:00) For sure. That's the zone we call expansion, and that's where you start to be able to get the turn-ons of your lovers or other blueprint types and actually integrate them. So you're not just doing something in service to somebody, but you actually can like tune in to that aspect of your sexuality. Mason: (44:20) Cool. Yeah, and that's a nice little caveat that I want to talk about, because that's what quite often what stops me, just I think more as an excuse rather than anything, is that I don't want to be pigeonholed. I don't want to completely go, "This is who I am and this is what I want to try," and then now realise, "Actually no, it's something else." I don't like being pegged down, but which is just a silly little bypass of... Ian Ferguson: (44:43) I think it's the common thing for people. An example and we'll talk about it next is the kinky blueprint. So I think a lot of people who will take the assessment, it's your mind answering the questions and the circumstance of the quiz. So you're reading these questions, there may be a lack of relatedness to say like the kinky frame or there may be some kind of subconscious shame running around, "Oh well, that's wrong," or, "I shouldn't be turned on by that," or, "That's strange and I'm not going to answer that question with my true response to it," or "I don't even know what that feels like in my body. Mason: (45:22) Yeah, right. Ian Ferguson: (45:24) "I've never tried it. So, nope, I don't know." So he first layer is doing the quiz, which is this mental exercise, but where the rubber really hits the road is in the body because these tools came out of somatic practices and it's of the body practices, so when we start to test them in the body, sometimes you get very different results than what comes forward in the quiz. Ian Ferguson: (45:53) So somebody who says they don't like spanking either never experienced it, they're ashamed to say it or write it on quiz, and then they get on the table or they start playing around with it with a lover and you do that slap to the inner thigh and they're like, "Ooh!" they just light up like, "Aww-grr!" That's exciting and sometimes unnerving for people because they're just like, "Wait, I don't want to be that kinky person," and yet their body says they're turned on by it. Mason: (46:24) Yeah. Ian Ferguson: (46:26) Then just one other piece on the shadow side of the sexual, which the sexual may never really be aware of, is that they are missing out. There's a lack of relatedness to all of the other turn-ons that are present. They'll get impatient with the sensual, they have no understanding of the energetic, the kinky is weird and, "Why do we need to do all of this strange thing with scenes and gear and psychological game play?" So they can be very myopically focused and this is a complaint for sexual lovers that we'll often hear from the lover of a sexual, is that they feel like they're a piece of meat. They're just being used for their partner's sexual gratification. Ian Ferguson: (47:21) The shadow aspect there is just in the ability to really relate with their partner and and see their partner. The other aspect there too is also the sexual wants to be seen for their libido, their eroticism, their turn on and accepted for that, and when they're not, they can sometimes collapse into a lack of confidence or indignance like, "Wait, we need to be having more sex and we're not and you don't love me," and that kind of spin can- Mason: (47:50) Spinning a good story. Ian Ferguson: (47:54) Spinning in the story. So kinky. This actually really is my personal fastest access to turn on, is the kinky realm. A lot of people have associated kinky with that has dungeons and leather and chains and the kink realm just sort of busts that myth. It includes that, but the kinky realm is a vast ocean of possibility of expression. Mason: (48:26) Did you support Jaiya to write a book about kink? Ian Ferguson: (48:30) Oh yeah. So we went deep, deep, deep into the kink realm. Mason: (48:33) Is this when 40 days, 40 days of submission? Ian Ferguson: (48:36) Yeah. Mason: (48:37) Yeah, I remember hearing that story from Jaiya. Okay. Yeah, maybe you could like... I think it's a good story if you want to share your perspective. Ian Ferguson: (48:47) For sure. So Jaiya has several books out on the market. The publisher did 40 Shades [inaudible 00:48:57] and kink was starting to come up in the cultural conversation. Mason: (49:01) Yeah, right. Ian Ferguson: (49:02) Funny enough, Jaiya, when she first formulated the blueprints, there was energetic, sensual, sexual and shapeshifter. Kinky didn't exist. This is how much she didn't have it on her radar as like, "Oh, that's a whole category for people's arousal." So the publishers came and said, "Hey, we really want to get you in on this wave and you're a perfect person to go in and write the book," but she didn't know anything about kink. So we made a deal with each other, which we were going to do 40 days where Jaiya was dominating me and I was submissive to her. Then we were going to do the reverse where I was 40 days dominating Jaiya and she was submissive to me and Jaiya goes whole hog whenever she does anything. Ian Ferguson: (49:50) So I got to be the guinea pig in this experiment and realise the depth of my kink. Like it was there in surface expression, little bit of cuffs and some light bondage gear and that sort of thing that I had in my repertoire, but we hired experts, we hired trainers, we went deep into multiple modalities of the kink experiment, learned incredible amounts about our own range of what turns us on and what doesn't. Kink is still a way low and Jaiya's chart, but now she has a much deeper understanding and has some access to kink where she didn't have it really at all before. Then in the kink experimentation... I had a thought that passed. I'm going to let it pass because I'm not going to catch it at the moment. It'll come back. Mason: (50:49) [inaudible 00:50:49] maybe. That'd be fine. Ian Ferguson: (50:50) What's that? Mason: (50:51) I was just talking to the idea. You know the ideas and the thoughts come in, you just like it's all kind of it's own little adventure and maybe in another podcast for right now until we've got a little bit of extra room for it. Ian Ferguson: (51:02) That's right. It didn't need its space quite yet. It was an amazing opportunity for me to be seen fully for who I was and honored in our relationship. Mason: (51:14) I can imagine. Ian Ferguson: (51:15) It was also pretty wild because when I was in the submissive role, for a cisgendered male, penis bodied person, I definitely had like shame challenges coming up. Like, "Wait, why am I turned on by this?" Or we would experiment with shaming language and I was like, "Oh, I'm not going to be turned on by being called a slut or derogatory terminology being used on me during a scene," but we came up with a list of vocabulary words and things to play with, really pushing the edge and we're doing this scene, she's using his words and I'm like, "Whew, my arousal is through the roof. I'm completely turned on by being put in this position where I'm having degrading language used about me," and I kept asking why. Ian Ferguson: (52:05) Like I'm 30 days into this experiment of being in a submission. I just keep going like, "I don't have any history... These are misconceptions that are common around BDSM where I'm like, "I don't have any history of sexual abuse or trauma," like, "Why am I into all of this stuff?" and finally one of the BDSM practitioners we were studying with was just like, "Why don't you just stop asking why and enjoy yourself?" And it's like, "Ooh." Mason: (52:39) That's right. It's an interesting one because I relate to the good boy and so in terms of... I mean I could probably relate of having it come towards me a little bit more, but I feel like I've just noticed recently and just growing up, parents divorced, mainly with my mum, really associating with being like, "I'm a good man," and a little bit of PC elements come in there. So in terms of dominating in that language, coming from myself, even now I can see that that's like, "Well that opens a river of sexual expression," opens something up and that's interesting point. Just, "Why don't you just enjoy that? That's an opening and leads..." You don't have to analyze that, but just watching that subconscious or that, "This is bad. You can't say those things. You can't say that to a woman," and everything that comes with it, very insidious for me. Ian Ferguson: (53:44) For sure. Very much cuts one off from access to pleasure, access to honoring oneself, being able to see and seen first by oneself, let alone being able to present that to the outside world and have it be seen by someone else. Mason: (54:00) That's so full on because that just opens up so much in the day to day just joy of being with a person, right? It can just create a whole dam and a relationship if there's these blockages, and just what you just said, that's often enough. It doesn't need to be analyzed. Ian Ferguson: (54:18) Yeah. I've had some kinky partners since then and played very much in the dominant role. Jaiya, she can play psychological kink. There's two different types of kink as we frame it, there's the psychological kink in the physiological or sensation based kinky. I'll distinguish those in a second, but with Jaiya, she can play psychological kink, she can be submissive psychological kink. She's not so much going to be in the sensation based kink in terms of spankings or deep scratching or any kind of hitting or bondage, that kind of stuff. Ian Ferguson: (55:00) So I've had some other partners who are very, very, very much in the kink and very much into the physiological and psychological and that place of ownership of being able to step into the dominant role. So kink can be an amazing place to practice for anyone who's looking to step into authority, but if you're looking to play a part and put on the role of authority, like, "You're going to get down on your knees and suck my cock," and play this role, the authenticity drops out and the actual connection and the turn on drops out because the receiver, let's say in that circumstance, if I'm going to put on this role, and that's what I did practically like 25-30 days into my dominance role with Jaiya, I was trying to put on this character who was dominant and it was a joke, like Jaiya was literally laughing at me at certain points. Like, "Phht, I'm so unconvinced by whatever you're doing." Mason: (56:06) Yeah, I can see you putting on your officer's hat, but yeah, talk about that nuance because I'm sure that's like a block. I can definitely relate to that and especially even something that would help me in the future just hearing about it now. Like what was the nuance there? Ian Ferguson: (56:26) Yeah, so there's a lot of nuances. One, just the discomfort of like I had the good boy thing. So being able to drop into what... So here's, here's the big shift that occurred. One of our instructors in this realm basically boiled it down to me that this is not about putting on that role. This is about an honest, authentic conversation about what turns you on and being really present with your partner because as a dominant there's so many different roles you can play in that. So you can play the role that you're submissive is a piece of furniture or a piece of meat, they're there to be used by you, but it's all within a container of a very, very clearly defined container that's consensual, has boundaries, has edges that you cannot go past and has rules that you must abide by. Ian Ferguson: (57:29) So once you set your container, once you have full-on consent from every participant in the scene, you know what the game is that you're playing. Then within that game, the dominant is actually responsible for the wellbeing of the submissive. So some people will look at the BDSM world and they'll think, "That's just abuse. The person is hurting that person and they shouldn't be hurting that person," so all these judgements role. Inside of the context of a conscious kink scene, the submissive is the responsibility of the dom. So awareness needs to be heightened. If I'm in a dominant role, what's occurring for my submissive? How are they feeling? Are they getting turned on because we have an agreement of this is a scene that even if the stated thing is like, "This scene is from my pleasure and my pleasure, only as the dominant," they're in an agreement thing, so they're in their arousal, they're in their turn on within the context that we've set. Ian Ferguson: (58:40) So there's this awareness, there's this presence that needs to take place to be dropped in to, "Oh, there's the subtlety of that thing that then turned into my turn on, on my pleasure because my submissive is turned on, or because the scene is going just as it's planned and I'm seeking for what really turns me on." I'm not playing at some role of like, "We're going to pull out the cop uniform and have you chained to the bed," and whatever the stereotype thing is that we think it's supposed to be- Mason: (59:16) Which is often as far as people go. Ian Ferguson: (59:18) Yes, right, but rather looking for like, "Oh, it really turns me on." Mason: (59:25) What actually turns me on? Ian Ferguson: (59:27) Yeah, what actually turns me on and where do I feel that connection to my own power? Then this where lifestyle kink, where people can start to go into lifestyle kink or really using the tools of kink domination and submission to create empowerment in their own life. Ian Ferguson: (59:47) So let's say I'm in my workplace and I have a difficulty with being assertive and being authoritative. Well, start to look where the authentic core of what result you're trying to achieve in that situation, step into authentically claiming it and calling it out with the people who are either your subordinates or even with your boss, but really being in an authentic emotional connection with the outcome you're looking to create, whether it's in a BDSM scene or it's just in the conversation you're having with your boss. Mason: (01:00:26) Yeah. I feel like you can't separate this from any other part of life, can you? To think that we can compartmentalize sex into this little like piece of the pie of who we are now. Well even just what we bring to sex and our own sexuality, it permeates everything. Shadow side? Ian Ferguson: (01:00:51) Okay. Well the positive and superpower of the kink is wildly creative, just immense. I could be studying and doing really intense kink work for 10 years and really there'd be another 10 or 20 years to play in this realm. The superpowers are wildly, wildly creative. Often superpowers have to do with the authenticity of the conversations because you are talking about boundaries, consent, really diving deep into knowing your own turn-ons and the other person's turn-on, so you can create very conscious container for sexual play and sexual expression and superpowers for a kink is they also can have non-touch or let's say non-genital focused or non-touch orgasms because they move into subspace because they're being bound and spanked and the endorphins are rushing. So they can achieve orgasm without genital touch or without what typically is associated to what leads to orgasm. Ian Ferguson: (01:01:55) Shadow sides. Biggest shadow side for the kink is shame, which we already have touched on here, "Why am I this way? Why am I turned on by this? I'm one of the weird people. I'm a kinky super freak. I don't want to be that," so that can be a downside. Then also a potential for... this is kind of a shadow potential for any blueprint type, but for kinky it can be very distinguishable, which is you can have a particular turn on, which becomes a rut, which becomes a sexual grave. Ian Ferguson: (01:02:35) So let's say an example is like I'm only turned on by having sex in the yellow raincoat. "That's my kink, and that's the only way I'm turned on, and here I'm with my partner and that's really not doing it for my partner but that's it, that's all that turns me on and I can't get past it. So you can get into this rut that then becomes the grave of turn-on where there's no turn-on to be found elsewhere where you're going to lack sexual connection with your lover. Ian Ferguson: (01:03:12) I want to state really clearly, if that works for you, whatever that turn on is and you're happy with it and your partner's happy with it, there's nothing wrong with it. It's all good, but often the sexual dissatisfaction, the sexual disconnection takes place to oneself or to others and you're in the grave. Mason: (01:03:38) In the grave. And then shapeshifters, just shapeshifting in dominance throughout the different blueprints? Ian Ferguson: (01:03:45) Yeah. Shapeshifter is everything. So the shapeshifter is like the high performance sports car of sexuality. They have the full range of expression. They're turned on by all of it. Superpowers for a shapeshifter are that they're turned on by all of it. They can be the ultimate lover for any lover because they have the full range, they're turned on by it, they know how to feed their lover in whatever blueprint they are. Ian Ferguson: (01:04:14) On the flip side of it, the shapeshifter also can have a sense of shame because they're usually really big sexually. They're really expressed and they've been shut down as "You're too much, you're too loud, you're too big, you want too much. Why is this always so complicated?" So their sexuality can be shut down on that front. Ian Ferguson: (01:04:35) Another shadow for them is that they can often live a life of sexual starvation because they'll fall into a relationship with somebody who's got a primary blueprint and they'll move into the people pleaser mode, turning on their lover in their blueprint, never being fed in their full sexuality, and they'll shut down and then that chain piece of, "I'm too much, I want too much, I'm too complicated," and they won't claim their needs or their desires because it'll rock the boat. Mason: (01:05:08) Yeah, being a pleaser, that rears its head after a while, doesn't it or something like, "Well, I'm giving you everything you want," and just pretty much just become you can be, "[inaudible 01:05:17] under the skin. Ian Ferguson: (01:05:17) Yeah. Mason: (01:05:20) So good and thanks for going into that comprehensively. It's one of those things, especially like for a path of arousal because arousal's just like... You're aroused sexually, you can be aroused by life, you can be aroused by your job, you can be aroused my, everything. It's just it has so much to do with health and longevity. It's an interesting thing. Do you guys get into the Taoist herbs? I think I've heard Jaiya talk about his He Shou Wu and Eucommia. Ian Ferguson: (01:05:46) Oh, for sure. Mason: (01:05:47) You're on board. Yeah. it's an interesting thing. You can say these Jing Herbs, you got to watch out, you get pretty potent when you get onto the Jing Herbs, but when someone's like, "I'd like to have a little bit more libido." It's like, "Yeah, cool. That's all well and good, and yes, Jing Herb's and Schizandra are great, but what does your libido look like?" That's an interesting thing. That's why I wanted to do this podcast and have these chats as well, is just because we got to make sure we have other things in our awareness of yeah, like if you're going to have that potency being built with your lifestyle and with the herds, make sure that you actually can take it in different directions, it doesn't bottleneck in terms of you just mean you want to just be able to feel like you can just fuck like you did it in the first six months of the relationship.Maybe it's moved on now. Mason: (01:06:39) It's so nice to be able to like... You must have it all day. I'm just feeling that empathy for those moments where it clicks and the awareness happens within it for someone with their own sexuality in their relationship and the pressure eases because they can like, "Oh, I can start relating to myself as who I really am," rather than the projection of just the cultural, like what I started identifying with, it's just really nice. So I'm glad everyone is going to get to listen and tune into your work. We've gone really down the rabbit hole with the blueprints, which is awesome because it impacts everything, but I really want to hear what's going on with the new work and your new course that's coming out. Ian Ferguson: (01:07:23) Okay, perfect. Yeah. So you're going to post the quiz in your show notes. Mason: (01:07:27) Yeah. Ian Ferguson: (01:07:27) So that's sort of like the first step. Mason: (01:07:29) So everyone, go and take that quiz. Ian Ferguson: (01:07:33) For sure. So that's the first introduction. Just a recommendation, when you take the quiz, there's going to be a webpage that pops up. Scroll down the webpage because you'll see your primary blueprint type at the top of the page after you finish the quiz, but when you scroll down the page, you'll see your percentages so you'll see your primary and you'll see all the other blueprints and see where you stack in there. So fun to take with your lover so that you can compare notes like, "Oh Whoa, what's going on there?" This is either why we're rocking it or this is why we've got some disconnection. Mason: (01:08:09) I did have that question actually. Obviously you're going to see compatibility emerging and non compatibility patterns, I guess, to an extent. Is it one of those things at times when you see like a, I don't know if there's two that are starkly in contrast to each other, where you go... Is it always possible to make it work as... Oh the will. That's what you were talking about, the willingness. Ian Ferguson: (01:08:29) Willingness. Mason: (01:08:29) Willingness before, and really I liked that you brought that up because in Taoism we talk about the Three Treasures, Jing, Qi, and Shen, but no one really talks about that fourth treasure Zhi which is will and it's not willpower, it's as you tonify and have your essence of your Jing, your geneti
In this episode, I am accompanied by Lori Kennedy who is the founder of The Wellness Business Hub, she started as a registered holistic nutritionist but her journey took her somewhere else where she created an incredibly successful business. If you are a practitioner who is looking to create a signature program and you are looking for a team to be there to support you, don’t look any further than Lori Kennedy, her team and her company. Lori is also the host of a fantastic podcast The Business of Becoming, she is also the producer of The Wellness Business Summit which is hosted each year. Lori is a self-proclaimed introvert, highly sensitive person and intuitive empath. In this conversation, Lori talks about how the seeds you are planting today in your business are going to be the harvest of the next 3-5 years. We live in a world of instant gratification as a society, expecting to do the work today and see the results tomorrow, and when things don’t turn out that way, we usually get frustrated and want to quit it all. Lori has gone through all that too, she teaches today how to stick to your vision and your plan and how to do it on a daily basis. Here are the main topics of this awesome conversation: ● Lori talks about her professional and personal journey. ● When you start a business, it has to go deeper than just having a goal. ● Seek for your highest potential. ● What does it mean for you to become financially independent? ● The cost of success. ● Lori talks about what ‘sacrifice’ looks like to her. ● What you are doing today is going to come to fruition in 3 years. ● What if the sacrifice and the challenge is the whole point? ● How do you start? Pick that one goal. ● Be surrounded by people who hold you accountable. ● Find one person who you can tell your absolute truth to. ● Be clear of the steps required to reach your goal. ● Lori talks about her new book The Succesful Practioner that will be launched on March 27th, 2020. I hope you found this episode as inspiring and real as I did. Wishing more simplicity and ease in all that you do! You can connect to this episode on iTunes, Spotify or Stitcher by searching The Simplicity Sessions, or visiting www.jennpike.com/podcast. Learn more about Lori Kenedy: The Wellness Business Hub The Business of Becoming The Wellness Business Summit Sneak peek into The Succesful Practitioner, Lori Kennedy’s new book. Take your Health Practice Online on Facebook Online working with Jenn: To register for my signature program The Hormone Project and work with me 1:1 to support your health, hormones and more, please join the waitlist at www.jennpike.com/thehormoneproject The Synced Program is now available for registration, learn how to tune your body to the lunar cycle, and acquire a multidisciplinary approach to balance your body in less than 30 minutes a day! Learn more about our amazing show partners: I want to share what I am drinking today which is a mix of a dandy blend, cinnamon, He Shou Wu, collagen, Coconut Oil with Ghee from Saint Francis Herb Farm and a splash of non-dairy milk. This amazing Coconut oil with Ghee is totally paleo and keto-friendly is satiating, incredible for the brain´s health and has a delicious texture. Mix it into your smoothies or use it for baking or cooking. Create a more simple life with Saint Francis Herb Farm products, You can order through Pure Feast, use the promo code JENNPIKE and save 10% off all of your purchases. Coming out of the winter season into the spring always brings concerns about how to support the skin. There is a serum that I love to use every night before going to bed called Nourish by Skin Essence Organics. After applying it my skin instantly feels softer and hydrated, Nourish has an anti-inflammatory effect and stimulates collagen production. While shopping at Skin Essence enter the code jennpike15 for 15% OFF your purchases www.skinessence.ca- Canada www.skinessenceorganics.com- USA and International Learn more about Jenn’s work: Jenn Pike Ignite your Life with Jenn Pike The Hormone Project The Simplicity Project Shop for books, DVDs, programs and much more! http://www.jennpike.com/ Simplicity TV on Youtube Quotes: “Dare to seek your highest potential.” “You can create your circumstances.” “Women are not taught how to desire.” “What you are doing today is going to come to fruition in 3 years.” “Appreciate the challenge and sacrifice, because the reward is worthy.” “When you decide you are going to step out of the norm, there is a cost you have to pay to have it better than the rest.” “Everything worth having has a cost.” “The road of transformation is an isolated and lonely place.” Additional Information About Jenn: Jenn studied and graduated with honors in Human Anatomy and Physiology with such a passion that it propelled her to continue her education over many years. Jenn is a Registered Holistic Nutritionist, Medical Exercise Specialist, Registered Yoga Instructor and Faculty of the Toronto Yoga Conference, Pre & Post Natal Yoga Expert, STOTT Pilates trained instructor, Twist Sport Conditioning Coach, Spin Instructor Crossfit Level 1 Coaching, among other certifications she got along the way. She is also a guest Holistic Expert for Breakfast Television, Global, CHCH, Rogers Tv and writes columns for STRONG Fitness Magazine, iRun magazine, Savvy Mom and contributes to Inside Fitness Magazine, The Toronto Star and Sun. She is also a proud educator and ambassador to Genuine Health, Nature’s Emporium and Juice Plus. Jenn is a proud mama to two beautiful souls and her best teachers of life. She resides on Lake Simcoe in Keswick with her husband and two children.
Part 1 of 2: The tale of He Shou Wu or “The Black Haired Mr. Wu and the acupuncture points related to the energetics of Chinese vine Polygonum multiflorum, one of the most highly prized of the Chinese herbs because it tonifies Kidney energy and Liver blood for fertility and longevity. LifeWave patches may be used to help head hair with anti-aging effects. There are acupuncture points that harmonize the Kidney meridian and tonify the Liver blood, and Kidney energy and Liver blood are reflected in the health of the head hair. LifeWave patches boost the health of internal organs, endocrine, vertebrae, joints, and sense organs – all under the influence of Kidney energy and Liver blood, as reflected in the health of the head hair. During this episode of Ask The Doctors LifeWave Radio Show, Dr. Dennis and I will be discussing how to apply LifeWave patches on certain acupuncture points to harmonize meridians and energy that affect the health of the Kidney qi and Liver blood, hence head hair. We will illustrate the congruence of Western anti-aging physiology with the art and science of Traditional Chinese Medicine that lead to deficiencies in Kidney energy and Liver blood, hence health. We will discuss how to do LifeWave patching based on the spirit of certain acupuncture points, such as K 1, K 3, K 6, K 7, K 9, B 23, GV 4, CV 4, CV 8, GV 20, Lv 3, Lv 8, Lv 14, and K 27.
Mason Taylor and Tahnee McCrossin; the King and Queen of SuperFeast, join forces on the pod today to bring us a beautiful conversation around the healing art of Chi Nei Tsang. Chi Nei Tsang is the ancient form of massage practiced in the Taoist healing system. Chi Nei Tsang is used to detoxify and energise the body's organ systems via the release of stagnant Qi. Chi Nei Tsang is performed primarily on the abdominal region however the technique is a full body practice. Tahnee shares her personal healing journey with the practice both as a student and Chi Nei Tsang practitioner, outlining the methods you can use at home to encourage the smooth flow of Qi throughout the body as a whole. Tahnee and Mason discuss: Tahnee's healing journey with Chi Nei Tsang. Chi Nei Tsang as a healing art. The core philosophy of Chi Nei Tsang. Integration and congruency as an integral part of personal evolution. Tonic herbs as vessels for change. Health sovereignty and home based health care. The energetic personality of the body's organs. The value of rest and listening to your body's wisdom. Who are Mason Taylor and Tahnee McCrossin? Mason Taylor: Mason’s energy and intent for a long and happy life is infectious. A health educator at heart, he continues to pioneer the way for potent health and a robust personal practice. An avid sharer, connector, inspirer and philosophiser, Mason wakes up with a smile on his face, knowing that tonic herbs are changing lives. Mason is also the SuperFeast founder, daddy to Aiya and partner to Tahnee (General Manager at SuperFeast). Tahnee McCrossin: Tahnee is a self proclaimed nerd, with a love of the human body, it’s language and its stories. A cup of tonic tea and a human interaction with Tahnee is a gift! A beautiful Yin Yoga teacher and Chi Ne Tsang practitioner, Tahnee loves going head first into the realms of tradition, yogic philosophy, the organ systems, herbalism and hard-hitting research. Tahnee is the General Manager at SuperFeast, mumma to reishi-baby Aiya and partner to Mason (founder of SuperFeast). Resources: Nourishing Her Yin Event Video (The Chi Nei Tsang portion of the chat starts around the 38:45min mark) Mantak Chia Website Mantak Chia Self Massage Book Mantak Chia Chi Nei Tsang Book Dan Keown Q: How Can I Support The SuperFeast Podcast? A: Tell all your friends and family and share online! We’d also love it if you could subscribe and review this podcast on iTunes. Or check us out on Stitcher :)! Plus we're on Spotify! Check Out The Transcript Here: Mason: (00:01) Hey everybody, welcome to the podcast. I'm sitting here with my lovely Tahnee. Tahnee: (00:07) Hi. Mason: (00:08) So Tahnee, as many of you know, is SuperFeast mumma, my baby mumma. And well, one thing we haven't been doing as much as we'd like because Tahnee is running SuperFeast and teaching yoga and getting ready for yoga teacher trainings and doing all kinds of things while we raise our little human, and our dog as well that we have now. Mason: (00:34) One of the things we haven't done as much is sit down and jam on the podcast, but we've really worked hard to be able to carve time for that as we focus more and more and more on the educational piece. Now, as you guys know, when it comes to SuperFeast, we're really rock and hard on these Daoist Tahnee herbs and in talking about them and educating and taking them in that frame of sovereign health and taking responsibility for our own health. Mason: (01:04) And that is why also we educate about many, many other things, not just herbs. And today, we're going to be kind of revolving around organ health and that companion to herbalism, which is massage and self-massage, and we're going to say where it goes. Tahnee studied Chi Nei Tsang Daoist abdominal massage. As we were just saying, it's designed to be a self administered healing art. Right? Mason: (01:35) Again, something we work with herbalism. Everyone knows our herbs. You need to go to a practitioner to get herbs. I can't possibly figure out what herbs to take, especially when you see really institutionalized Chinese medicine, it's very like this paranoia around herbs. You might as well not eat any food because every bit of food that you eat is going to have an energetic impact on your body. That's like extreme institutionalization. Mason: (01:58) But massage can be like that as well, just a subconscious, “Hey, I got to go and see a masseuse in order to get my healing.” But one thing we're going to dive in today with Tahns is how we can bring that into our own lives. So why don't you … I know roughly, but why did you choose to go and do Chi Nei Tsang massage out of everything you could have been doing? Tahnee: (02:23) You remember me having a crisis of faith before I went in to that? Mason: (02:26) Yeah. Tahnee: (02:28) I had an eating disorder growing up was why, and I kind of hated my tummy, not even just physically, but I just always felt like all of my health problems came from there. It was always bloating or gurgling or not digesting something or there was pain or there was just weird sensations. And I just felt like it was this kind of mysterious land in the middle of my body. Tahnee: (02:59) And so much of my practice, up until that point, had been on the anatomy of the muscles and the tendons and the bones. And yoga is very physical, but we don't talk a whole lot about the organs per se. It sort of gets mentioned. You've done yoga training as well. You know it's like, “Yeah, this is good for your organ health,” but doesn't … in terms of really the unique characteristics of the organs, their personalities, their functions. Tahnee: (03:27) I'd studied Chinese medicine a little bit at that point, so I kind of knew that there was some interesting stuff there, but I hadn't really gone deep into it. So I don't even remember how I heard about Chi Nei Tsang. I think it was on the internet somewhere and I just had this weird feeling like, “Oh my God, I have to study that.” And it made absolutely no sense. I'd never received one. I'd never seen it done. Tahnee: (03:51) It was literally like … I believe in writing maybe in a blog post or something. And it kind of coincided with me being about to travel and a few things kind of happened. I think I was traveling like the next year or something. Anyway, I looked up who invented this thing and where it came from and I found Master Mantak Chia, who was kind of teaching it in Thailand and that he'd revived this lineage, which got lost in China after Chairman Mao kicked out all the healers and philosophers and artists and intelligent folks. Tahnee: (04:24) That's a bit of a broad stroke, but a lot of people had to leave China around that time. And so in Thailand, one of the remaining masters of this art survived and my teacher met him. This man saved his uncle's life and so he was curious about studying it, so he basically apprenticed himself to this guy for a few years. Mason: (04:44) That guy was Mantak's uncle, you said? That was insane. It was like three days with the deepest kidney disease, was that right? Tahnee: (04:51) Yeah. So apparently in Thailand, if you get unwell, they don't want your death on their records because it reflects poorly on their funding and stuff. It's like the more people that die in the hospital, the worst funding they get, sort of thing, or they get investigated or something. So basically, the doctors apparently told this guy he had to go home and die because they couldn't do anything for him. Tahnee: (05:12) He had kidney disease and it was so far along that it was just done. And Master Chia's family had heard of this guy and they contacted him. He was in Bangkok. So they traveled to Bangkok and took the uncle there. And apparently, he had three days of excruciating treatment, which from what I understand, and hopefully if anyone knows better than me, they can let me know, but I'm pretty sure it was like 12 hour days of massage and this man was screaming in pain. Tahnee: (05:40) It was apparently incredibly painful, but the healer was able to free whatever was causing the problem probably on a multidimensional level. And yeah, he walked out of there three days later, fine and lived a long, happy life as far as I'm aware. So Master Chia was so impressed. And this is a guy that traveled back to Hong Kong as a teenager to start studying Daoist healing. Tahnee: (06:06) He had a master who … he used to work to preserve his life and he was very much au fait with the whole canon of healing tradition that came out of the Daoist philosophy and he was just so impressed with this. He was like, “I have to keep this alive.” So yes, he basically studied with this guy. I think he was an apprentice for a couple of years and then kind of his peer. Tahnee: (06:29) He worked alongside him for a while and then he basically systemized what is now Chi Nei Tsang. So there's a few places you can study it around the world. Thailand tends to have a bit of a hotspot of it. And then in The States as well, it's more common. It's not really well known in Australia and certainly when I first google at … I don't even know if I spelled it properly and I couldn't really work out. Tahnee: (06:51) There was nobody I could find to give me Chi Nei Tsang. Anyway, I ended up going traveling and in Guatemala, I received one from a woman at a little town off San Marcos, La Laguna. That's where I was. Lago de Atitlan was the lake and she gave me one and I remember going home and I felt like shit and I cried. I think I was very resistant to it. I was like, “Yuk.” Mason: (07:19) It's like when you discovered … whenever you find something that ultimately becomes a love … I don't think it with me, but you hide it. That was the same with doing, yin yoga, right? You absolutely hated it. Tahnee: (07:31) I think I have a really strong resistance to what's good for me probably. I think I'm really confronted sometimes by the depth of my own suffering like how shitty I can feel through my own self and Chi Nei Tsang really highlighted for me how much stuff was stored in my body that I was just ignoring. So I think there's this part of me, this maybe more intelligent part of me that knows it's good for me and then there's this other part of me that has a toddler tantrum about the situation. Tahnee: (08:02) So I had my toddler tantrum, decided I was never going to do that again. Then I ended up somewhere else in Thailand at the sanctuary, which is this like a resort. And there was a guy there doing Chi Nei Tsang as well, and it was a completely different experience with him. And I wouldn't really say I enjoyed that either, but it was more just … I didn't enjoy the therapeutic relationship. Tahnee: (08:24) I felt it just wasn't something that I enjoyed. It didn't really do anything for me compared to the first one, which obviously moved a lot of stuff. I found it to be quite kind of superficial and I was like, “Oh, okaymaybe I'm wrong about this whole thing.” So that, I was in traveling through Thailand on my way to this training. So I was kind of having a lot of doubts. Tahnee: (08:54) And then I obviously spoke to you, I think you were back in Australia and I was in Chiang Mai and I was going, “Oh my God, what am I doing? I'm about to spend $4,000 on this training with this guy I've never met, with this thing I'm not even sure I like.” And like I guess my gut, funnily enough, drew me to it and … yeah, I decided to go and I was very, very ill when I arrived. I'd very stupidly eaten some fruit off of the ground in Thailand. Tahnee: (09:24) And would you believe I got sick? And it was probably the worst gastro I've ever had ever or could even imagine, lying in a toilet … Oh sorry, lying in the shower with the shower, running just pooing because I couldn't get to the toilet. It was so bad. And that went on for three or four days. I was supposed to get there early and enjoy the grounds and do some practice and spend the whole time pooping. Tahnee: (09:47) And the cute little staff were bringing me soup and trying to look after me and I just couldn't handle life. And I met Mantak Chia the night before we were supposed to star and he said to me, “Tahnee, you need to go to the hospital.” I said, “No, Master Chia, I want to do your training.” And he was like, “Well, my advice would be you need to go to hospital. You're very sick.” And I said, “Yeah, I know, but I want to stay.” Tahnee: (10:05) And he said, “Okay, well. Then we'll take care of you.” And yeah, within three days, I felt amazing having like … I was being practiced on every day. It was a really great group. They all looked after me for the first week while I was healing and the second week, I just felt amazing. So yeah, it just was really proof in the pudding, I guess, of how effective it was. And just … yeah, it's such a beautiful thing. Tahnee: (10:29) I think so many of us are so vulnerable with our tummies and we don't like being touched there. And even within our love making, a lot of us are sensitive to having our tummies touched and played with and I think it's something now as we evolve as a culture, it's really useful to start to think about, “Well, what's going on there?” And that's what's so interesting about the Daoist perception. It's that it's not the brain that thinks and creates thought and emotion. Tahnee: (10:57) It's the organs. The Heart receives everything that comes through and then it filters it out to the different organs of the body. And so anything that's stressful, the Liver is going to deal with. So that can manifest into anger and irritability, but just any kind of a stress. Any fear is going to come through the Kidneys, any thought, analyzing, thinking and that can turn into anxiety and worry that comes through the Spleen. Tahnee: (11:23) The Heart receives joy, but too much joy, excess joy can injure the Heart. I think I've missed one. The Lungs. The Lungs kind of perceive our grief, but also that bittersweet beauty of life. So there's this really … working with those as archetypes, I think it's a really powerful way of starting to live because you're out of your head and you're down in your belly. Tahnee: (11:47) You're not just perceiving with … even like in spiritual traditions, it's like, “just feel with the heart,” and it's like, “well, no. That's not enough.” There's different seats of consciousness in the body and when we look at it through this lens, it really aligns a lot with yogic thought as well. And when we look at where the energy of the organs manifest from, it manifests from the chakra, from the multidimensional body, but that's kind of a more complicated story. Tahnee: (12:13) But we're looking at this really kind of … we're looking at the organism being a powerful receiver and transmitter of thought energy and emotion as well as an alchemizer of physical compounds. You can put something into the digestive system and it can be alchemized into Blood and bone and transport it out to the Liver and the Kidneys and moved around. We can breathe through the Lungs and that becomes this fuel that fires our entire body, our metabolism. Tahnee: (12:44) That's just, to me, some real mystical shit right there. Science can talk about these things, but it can't really explain them. And when you look at what Daoist practice is all about, it's about alchemy. It's about how do I take these kind of gross material things and transform them into something more? How do I be a physical body and at the same time be a spiritual being? Tahnee: (13:06) And how do I have enough strength and enough capacity in my energy that I can hold that spirit in me? And it'll not just be this idea or this concept, but actually an embodied experience. So, yeah. So Chi Nei Tsang opened up that a lot more for me, I think. I think yoga had started that process and I think I just … Obviously, having had an eating disorder and having had digestive stuff through my life, it made me realize you literally digest your entire life. Tahnee: (13:36) It's not just food, it's thoughts and feelings. And so I started to realize, yeah, I wasn't digesting my life fully. There was some work around that for sure. It wasn't an easy process, but worthwhile. Mason: (13:51) So the Chi Nei Tsang is speeding up the emotional or energetic processes around that? Tahnee: (13:57) You've heard it. Like you touch someone's organ and suddenly, they're in tears and it's like, “ well what happened?" You know? And it's like acupuncture, it's like herbalism. It's like therapy or any of these things. Part of it it's the practitioner's Qi, so the ability of the practitioner to facilitate and transmit energy so that the person's body can respond. And it's partly the person, it's the individual. And I think what I love about Chi Nei Tsang and Master Chia is it's all about self healing. Tahnee: (14:32) It's not about someone else doing that healing for you. So I don't heal anybody when they come on my table, but I can facilitate what maybe needs to move for them to release the blockage to healing. So yeah, I might touch someone and they might cry, and to me, that's a positive thing because their energy that was blocked is now moving and all that energy wants to do is move. Tahnee: (14:54) That's... Health is movement, is flow. Anytime we have a blockage to movement of Qi, of energy, we're in trouble. That's what all bad things in the body are, tumors, injuries, any kind of inflammation, anything like that, it creates a blockage to flow. So when we start to move that, then we get a chance to get fresh blood into that space, fresh energy into that space, nutrients that are required for healing. Tahnee: (15:23) So the touch part of it is therapeutic in that there's a transmission of Qi and a mechanical movement of tissue which creates space for healing. But then I think a lot of people just to be touched in a non-sexual way with intention is really powerful too. So I think there's that side of it. And then a lot of the techniques are based on Qi Gong, so we have to visualize color and sound and use different positions and hand positions. Mason: (15:51) Do you find yourself doing that? Tahnee: (15:53) Yeah. So the idea is that as a practitioner, you're the bridge between the heaven and earth. So you're releasing toxic Qi down to the earth because the earth … Like how a tree loves our carbon dioxide and we love its oxygen, the earth is really happy to receive what's negative for humans. It's like compost for it. It turns it back into positive good stuff. And the heavenly Qi is what we can use for healing. Tahnee: (16:20) It's like universal violet light Qi which comes down and again, you learn to feel and transmit these things. And I'm certainly not a master at this like Master Chia is a master at this, but as you get more sensitive to it, it becomes more perceptible definitely. And yeah, these things are all really powerful. Tahnee: (16:38) So as a practitioner, your job is to be open to that flow and to be able to channel it, and as the receiver, you're obviously starting to build your perception of these things. So one of the reasons a therapeutic relationship is useful at the beginning is many of us can't feel our energy. We don't know what Qi feels like. We don't know what our organs feel like. It's just tense and tight and painful. Mason: (16:58) Well, it's almost like we're scared to actually go in there and touch it. Like, “Am I allowed to do this? Can I just touch my liver like this? Is that bad? Is it going to explode?” Tahnee: (17:08) Yeah. Well, you've seen people at workshops that I do. They're like, “Aah.” And I'm like, “Just press into your tummy.” And they're like, “What?” And people freak out of it and I get that. Again, I was like that when I first started exploring this stuff. Tahnee: (17:22) And I think I still like … Massage may tell me sometimes, because my mom used to tell me to do it when I needed to poo and stuff, but I never really liked … I had an idea of where the organs were from studying anatomy, but I didn't … I would never have gone and, like you said, and tried to poke my own liver because like you say, it's like, “Well what happens if you do that? Is it a balloon that'll just pop or?” Mason: (17:45) Yeah, I think the extent of what everyone has, I think it comes up sometimes in yoga teacher trainings and anatomy trainings of just following the line of the colon. That's what it would be like. And even in geriatrics and that kind of thing, it says, “That's what I'll do. I'll just follow that line,” and that's probably the extent of it. Tahnee: (17:59) Yeah. I think for a lot of people, even to touch their colon is to not appreciate that this is an organ that is working against gravity for a solid portion of the transit of your feces. So it's going up the right side of your body underneath the liver. The liver is meant to deposit toxins down through its tissue into the large intestine to be transported out. Tahnee: (18:18) Often, a lot of people have congestion there, so the liver remains toxic and that goes back into the blood then that has to go across the body again. Not exactly the most mechanically simple process given that we all sit all day in a half rounded shape, and then it goes down the descending colon and to exit the body. So there's a lot of potential just in the colon for things to go wrong. Tahnee: (18:47) But then you've got the Liver, you've got the Stomach, Spleen kind of system. You've got the gallbladder's there, which can often get blocked in a lot of people. The bile gets very thick and sticky especially if people are in a really low fat diets and stuff. The fat actually triggers a release of bile. Anyone who's done a liver flush will know all about that. Tahnee: (19:06) And the kidneys, which are harder to massage, like I usually have to work with someone for at least … best case scenario, probably three or four sessions to get there because just for most people, they're too tense and they can't relax enough to let me go into there. Mason: (19:20) Yeah, I think you've got that one- Tahnee: (19:21) Abdominal cavity. Yeah. Mason: (19:22) … maybe once with me. Tahnee: (19:23) Yeah. I think once. But, yeah. And then obviously they can, especially if someone has a diet or has the sense of proclivity toward calcium build up and stuff, they can get quite painful if people have that. So I suspect that it was what happened to Mantak Chia's uncle. It was that they had to work on the kidneys to break up all the calcification in order that the kidneys could start to filter again. Mason: (19:50) Well, it's the same … It's same plaque build up. It's just one of those things that make us susceptible to gravity. And it's always that. When you were talking about that story again, that's actually what I was thinking. I was like … It makes sense that this guy's … Like what gets the turtles, the great turtles. They're hundreds of years old and it's just this bad calcium arthritic buildup that eventually just makes it, “Nope, can't swim anymore. I'm tightening up.” Tahnee: (20:13) Freeze. Mason: (20:13) It's what happens to organs naturally. It's like plaquey build up in the heart, plaquey build up in through the brain for stroke and so on and so forth. Arthritis has a lot to do with age, has a lot to do with the fact that we've got inflammation, blockages of Qi, low immunity, all these kinds of things. But then, it's always … It seems like this big leap in perception of self healing. Mason: (20:41) It's like to be like we've got our exercise and that moves our lymph … Yet we've got such a hectic world that it would … Superficial massage and superficial movement isn't a lot of the time. Mason: (20:55) It'll do a lot, but as soon as he started getting into really spending an hour or spending two hours, or even spending 20 minutes of yourself really getting on verse, just doing a rub in a clockwise direction on your belly, all of a sudden, it just opened up this whole layer of deeper intention, which I was just like, “Oh man, if we had this in hospitals, you would just completely and utterly avoid so much shit.” I mean, I think it's like one of the- Tahnee: (21:28) We're very scared of pain though and it hurts. This is a thing. I was actually talking to our acupuncturist about this the other day because he does the traditional Chinese massage, which is painful, right? Mason: (21:39) It can be. Tahnee: (21:42) And Master Chia teaches us to massage. We get in between each rib and we rub really hard and it's like to break up all that gristle and that fascia in there. It's painful. And I remember like cry laughing when I first had it done. I was like, “This is outrageous.” Mason: (21:57) Especially in the ribs because … I think a lot of guys relate. You said the cry laughing like that. You see all this … What you're seeing when you've really overly ticklish and skittish, you can see it's like a compensation that you have with your [crosstalk 00:22:12]. Tahnee: (22:11) Yeah. Well, and Master Chia said they're people that avoid pain through laughter. So there'll be people that make a joke when they're feeling uncomfortable or so he said, “You can tell a lot about a person's personality when you're massaging that part of their body because there'll be people that avoid discomfort with humor.” Mason: (22:31) Yeah. That's me. Tahnee: (22:32) Yeah, me too, to some degree. And he said, “As they get more comfortable with …” And I think all of us … I certainly know over my … I think I've been practicing yoga now since I was 15. I'm 34 and that's a long time. And meditating not anywhere near that long, probably like 10 years at the most, maybe eight. I feel like my personality has changed a lot. Tahnee: (22:58) Not that I don't find humor in things, but just that I don't need to avoid discomfort as much as I used to, so I don't have as many compensation patterns. And if you think about avoiding an emotion, that energy has to go somewhere. This is one of those … I think it's Einstein's laws or... “Energy doesn't leave. It just gets transformed.” So if we don't express our emotions, then the energy has to be stored. Tahnee: (23:24) And so it will be stored as tension, usually in the body. And so what you'll find is people will have chronic patterns of tension, which are related to emotional patterns. A really common one is neck tension. A lot of people have that and they find if they get stressed, they get neck tension, which is the Yang channel of the Liver, the Gallbladder channels. Tahnee: (23:42) It's all around the neck and the trapezius muscles there and the back of their heads. If you ever get those kind of back of the neck headaches, they're often related to Gallbladder, which means your Liver is stressed and which means you're stressed. That's kind of the pattern. And this is an emotional thing. You're not capacitated to deal with the level of input you're experiencing and it's manifesting as stress. Tahnee: (24:07) So that's an emotional response to an external stimulus that manifests as a physical symptom. So people would go take a painkiller, but that's done nothing to deal with what's actually going on. So a better thing to do would be to learn to manage stress or reduce the input so that there's less external stress. Mason: (24:26) Look, another thing there is when you're getting rubbed and you're hitting a point, it's possibly like a trigger point. What's it called? The ouchy points. Tahnee: (24:40) Well, all trigger points, acupuncture points. Mason: (24:42) Acupuncture points. That's what I am thinking… I forget the name, but it just means it was like an ouchy point. It's like a barefoot name for the, those running around barefoot acupuncturists, but you can't stop the perception that you're going to be able to get it out of your body. You're in Meridian at that point. Mason: (25:00) That's always one of the things I was like … I really think about the fact that feeling emotions, feeling your Qi and then feeling your physicality, that's all intertwined in that. That's all related, right? So it's constantly getting these headaches in the back of the head and you're getting this tension in the back of your neck. One of the things we're trying to do is go like, “All right. Well, let's feel you know and what's the path of least resistance? Mason: (25:26) Is it feeling where physically, that tension pattern is coming from?” You're feeling the emotion that's associated to it and I think I can relate to the fact that we're also not embodied that. You can quite often try and intellectualize that idea and it's hard to slow down to get that perception of whether it's the emotion or the physicality. Mason: (25:48) I was feeling it this morning when I was running with Goji. I was like, “Oh, for the first time I can feel why sometimes when I run, that tension emerges into my neck,” and all I did is it took me having less agenda with my running and slowing down. Tahnee: (26:05) Yeah. It's adrenaline which creates stress as well because running is a stimulus to the body that you're in danger. You have to work … In my opinion, you have to work very hard to maintain equanimity while running that you don't have a negative effect on your adrenals. That's another story. Mason: (26:19) Absolutely. Absolutely. That's why I like barefoot running as a philosophy. Tahnee: (26:23) Yeah. And I think if you are stressing the Kidneys, it'll affect the Liver. That's where your manifest that tension from, because the sinews will tighten because the Liver gets stressed. But again, if you can manage it, I think it can be very healthy as well. But, yeah- Mason: (26:37) It's healthy because then the dog's worn out. Tahnee: (26:42) We have a Kelpie. She needs running. Yeah, I think it's healthy that there's … I think from … This is where herbs certainly are useful because I look at … Let's say there's someone with a chronic liver pattern. Herbs that support the liver are going to really support their capacity. So I would look at yoga practice. I would look at … This is why with Tai Chi Yin especially, but you can do this in a Yang practice too. Tahnee: (27:09) It's just a bit easier to communicate these ideas to students because it's slower, but you can work on the Liver channels when you're about to bleed for example, because your blood is moving and your body's kind of creating new blood and there's all this good stuff happening on account of your menstrual cycle about to occur. So if you work on the Liver channel in that time, you take your liver herbs, you nourish and support yourself with enough rest and minimal stress. Mason: (27:36) Which Liver herbs are you talking about? Tahnee: (27:38) Well, I'd look at things like He Shou Wu, I'd look at … It depends on the person and the constitution, but typically, you're going to look at … From our end, we're working with tonics. If you wanted to be more kind of medicinal about it, you could certainly work with other ones. But I'd be looking at things like Dong Quai, things like He Shou Wu, things like maybe Schizandra if you're constitutionally appropriate for you, Reishi. Tahnee: (28:01) There's all going to manage the symptoms. Again, it would depend on the woman and what is going to work best, but they're the ones I'd be looking at. And for me, I'm a Livery constitutiony person, so liver herbs in general just work well for me and they keep me balanced. Whereas someone who's more of a Speeny constitution person would be better with Qi herbs and so on it goes. Tahnee: (28:25) So I think the thing with herbs as we work with them, with the tonic kind of side of things, it's like I'd stick to stuff that works really well for your body and generally, we're going to find that most of the herbs we sell work on the Liver, Kidney, Spleen areas, which are the most important in terms of general metabolic health. For sure, if you're asthmatic, work on your Lung channel. That's super important. Tahnee: (28:53) If you're going through a lot of emotional stress with grief, work on the Lung channel. This is where these ideas of emotions become really powerful because it's like, “If I know I'm going to …” say someone dies, it's like that would be a time to really ramp up my Lung herb regime because it's really common. And some of you may even know people that someone dies and then that person grieving gets a really bad respiratory infection or pneumonia. Tahnee: (29:20) Actually, I've read some studies that correlate a lot of the secondary deaths after married couples, like say the husband dies and the woman will die of pneumonia or some kind of respiratory failure. And that makes a lot of sense. If you look at what Chinese medicine says, that level of grief is going to injure the Lung literally on a physical level and then it's going to be susceptible to pathogens which are bacterial infections or whatever. Mason: (29:42) And then you're looking at physical manipulation as well. Tahnee: (29:47) In terms of massage? Mason: (29:48) Yeah. Tahnee: (29:49) Yeah. Well, so that's why Chi Nei Tsang is just another tool in your tool kit. So it's like, “Okay. Well, I know I'm going through something really potent and powerful. I'm going to massage my ribs. I'm going to take my herbs. I'm going to talk about my feelings. I'm going to meditate or do some kind of a practice that connects me to my body and myself.” Tahnee: (30:05) That isn't a mental thing, like you were saying. This idea of being able to think through your emotions is kind of futile because they're not a thinking process. The brain in Chinese medicine is from the Kidney's and has little to do with feeling, if anything really. It's more of like the feelings tell the brain what to do. The feelings dictate the response. Tahnee: (30:26) So if I have to go on stage and I'm afraid of speaking in public, then my Kidney's are going to tell my brain to initiate my panic response and I'm going to go into, like, my bowels might empty. I might start hyperventilating. I might … Whatever people- Mason: (30:43) That's an extreme. Tahnee: (30:45) Well, that used to happen to me when I had to public speak. I used to get the poos. This is what I mean. My belly was so sensitive to things. As a kid, I used to say to my mum, “I feel sick.” And she'd be like, “You have to poo.” And I'd be like, “Oh.” I was so disconnected from that part of my body and I would respond to everything through it. Tahnee: (31:05) If I was heartbroken, it would show up in my belly and I was like … I feel everything through my tummy and I was terrified of having it touched because I guess subconsciously knew that that's where it was all going to be. And I actually managed to get through the training without any massive emotional dramas. Tahnee: (31:27) A few people I worked on that fully broke down and had some pretty big crises on the training. And I think probably because I'd been meditating and doing a lot of other stuff in the lead up to being there, I was probably in a better position than if I'd gone- Mason: (31:42) It can just crack you wide open. Tahnee: (31:43) Yeah. I think, if anything, meditation did that more for me than Chi Nei Tsang. But Chi Nei Tsang really for me, gave me a practical tool and a piece of biofeedback where I could … I know that if I'm touching my tummy, it's really sensitive and inflamed that I need to probably, first of all, check in with my diet, maybe drink a bit more water and then look at what's going on emotionally in my life and what I might need to balance out. Tahnee: (32:08) And similarly with clients and anyone I work on, it's just like there's so much information there. You look at the navel area, it's where we were connected to our mothers for 10 months of our lives. So there's all of this idea of nurturance and what we did or didn't receive in the womb that remains with us after we are born. Again, this is energy that doesn't disappear or just get consumed. It just changes form. Tahnee: (32:36) So it still exists. Our ancestral line, the navel is associated with the ancestry of our entire lineage. So I've had people that are very open, energetically have big visions of their past lives and various things through that center because they've been able to connect to it through that. And again, there's a transmission that occurs when two people who are energetically open work together. Tahnee: (33:02) So that's something that can happen if I'm working with someone who's on that level, I suppose. I've had people obviously with trauma stored around their uterus and different parts of their body where we've worked through that kind of stuff. It's always really interesting what the body holds that the person isn't willing to share. Tahnee: (33:25) And I mean I would never … It's something as a practitioner obviously you're really mindful of, but I never try and force anything out of anybody. Often, I'll see or hear something that I try not to … And I mean that more on an energetic level. I don't literally hear anything but I can sometimes have visions of things or whatever and I'll just wait and see if the person wants to share that with me or not. Tahnee: (33:50) Sometimes I might offer it if they ask, but that's probably the trickiest part to navigate, I guess because often, like I said, it's stuff that we've blocked away for a reason. Mason: (34:03) Well, it's interesting. I think what you're talking about there when you didn't get blown out of the water and have a huge peak experience that was hard to integrate, which I think is an interesting. It's like anything. It's like whether you go to meditation, silent retreats, plant medicine or you do like huge doses of the mushrooms when you begin to like in a lot of the time and sometimes it's because we're desensitized and sometimes, it's because when we need it. Mason: (34:27) We have this huge peak experience that's super transformational a lot of the time. And then it's, “Okay. And now it's a time to integrate.” And what is integration? Well, integration is you know, you've got a lifestyle that consistently is supporting you to stay healthy. So your physical tissue and your Qi can work through anything that you're bringing up as well that you've got the foundation so that psychologically, you can handle these changes that are occurring. And it's quite simple, but- Tahnee: (34:59) Jing, Qi, Shen, right? Mason: (35:00) It's very simple, Jing, Qi, Shen. But what I like … Again, what comes up constantly with Chi Nei Tsang, it's like, “Oh great.” Well, we like a peak experience and they're fun. However, generally … Especially if you're going to be doing the chop wood, carry water and integrating a little bit into your own lifestyle, you are consistently working psychologically and emotionally on something. Mason: (35:25) And hopefully, you can keep that in a point where you don't consider yourself that you're someone that … You've got something wrong with you or you're bad or broken because you always have to be working on something. That's the development of our Shen. It's the whole point of taking life experiences and taking it through the peculator and hopefully, bringing out some wisdom so that our virtuous nature can come forth. Mason: (35:48) So I mean, important to not expect all these knock-it-out-of-the-park experiences. I like to, I think, when it comes to Chi Nei Tsang. I know that's definitely- Tahnee: (35:58) I mean, I don't think that's common. I mean, I think for whatever reason … My yoga teacher talks about this a lot. He's like, “The karma has to be right for these things to happen. You can meditate for 40 years and never have a peak experience. It doesn't mean you shouldn't meditate.” I think he says that he's meditated for 40 years and never had a peak experience. Tahnee: (36:19) And I've meditated for less than 10 years and had a bajillion peak experiences. And why, I don't know. For whatever reason, I'm predisposed to them and he isn't. It doesn't mean that he shouldn't teach me or that he shouldn't teach or … He is, as far as I'm aware, a very advanced meditator, far more advanced than me and able to maintain his focus for much longer. And I think it's just like anything. Tahnee: (36:48) It's like for some reason, sometimes certain stars align and stuff happens and other times it doesn't. And I think that's my experience with Chi Nei Tsang. I've had clients where we just have a beautiful healing, connection. I just massage their bellies and we spend time together and that's all it is. And then there's people that are puddles on the floor and I have to spend three hours talking to them to get them calm down again. So I think it's just- Mason: (37:15) And all in all, if we're trying to sustainably create this ongoing system in our lifestyle to help us consistently transform right, I think that's kind of fair to say whether it's on a micro or macro level as we're moving along, we'd love relationships to become richer, to work more towards passions or get more onto the path of our destiny. I think this has been a really, really nice practice for me. Mason: (37:42) It's not something I'd sit there and do in 20 minutes of every afternoon, but every now and then, I can really … I feel it and I get in there. And it's a nice one having a tool and the arsenal because you're moving along and you get to these crescendos when you're possibly going to really get some distinction on an emotional set that you have or something that's going to allow you to create distance between your noticing and your reaction, something most of us are working on and especially working on at the moment. Mason: (38:10) And then just having … And then you've got your herbs to support that. You've got your personal practice, your time in nature, your relationships and having … You've got your physical practice and you've got your fascia stretching, whether it's Yin or whether it's the work I'm doing with Benny, Movement Monk Benny. We got all those things. Mason: (38:25) But then having this … I think this in the arsenal, quite often for me, it's enough to just bolster all my efforts to make sure that I bring it up to cresendo that point and then I don't just … it doesn't just slide back down and actually I can't get the boulder over the mountain. It's just one of those things I can use to just really bring it along that physical touch, that physical manipulation. Mason: (38:47) And it's the same with any deep healing, as you were saying, when you've got menstrual issues that are hardcore congestion in through the female sex organs or a tumor sitting within an organ. Why would we not touch these things? It's so difficult for the body to overcome these huge blockages. Tahnee: (39:08) Well, it's painful, is reason one … Usually when there's stagnation, which is what you're talking about in those two examples, then there's pain because things congest around there, the toxins build up and it's usually a got an emotional component. And pain science is one of the most fascinating areas of science because it's purely subjective. I could have cut my arm off and you could cut your arm off and we can both describe completely different levels of pain. Tahnee: (39:32) It's not like there's one pain scale that everyone, like they go, “Oh, happy pain or sad pain at the hospital,” but they're completely subjective experiences. You tell the doctor how you're feeling and that's where to digress a little bit. Like lower back fusion, it's proven to be completely pointless. It doesn't stop lower back pain whether it's fuse the discs of the lumbar spine, usually, it's all completely, the surgery is a waste of time. Tahnee: (40:01) And I feel very confident in saying that, what was actually proven to be best is psychotherapy and movement. And the combination of those two are going to relieve stress. They're going to manage emotions. They're going to support the Kidney and Liver channels, which low back pain typically is correlated to. So we're looking at this system, I suppose, with the body as opposed to individual symptoms. Tahnee: (40:26) So if I was looking at menstrual symptoms or a tumor in my sessions, it's like tumors are typically cold stagnation, so you want to warm that up. And again, cancer's a tough one for us to talk about. As everybody knows, it's the big thing you can't talk about. And if I have someone come with cancer, I obviously don't work directly on their tumor usually because it's not appropriate, but I'll do energy work on it. Tahnee: (40:52) So I've only worked with one person with bowel cancer and that felt to me like a black sticky tar-like energy, so I just spent time countering that with healthy Qi. And she was going through different courses of treatment anyway, so it wasn't really appropriate for me to do anything beyond that. I was just there to support. Tahnee: (41:18) But from my experience working with a lot of types of infections and things as well, anytime I felt anything really chronic and bad, its felt like black tar. I can, in really heightened states, which is not frequent for me, unfortunately. I can feel like I can pull that out. But that's only been like twice that I've felt that. And I've spoken to some acupuncturists and healers about it that I know and they have said, “Yeah, that's when you're a really strong Qi Gong practitioner. Tahnee: (41:48) You're able to actually pull that out on an energetic level,” which I'm sure there are healers out there that can do that. I'm not at that point. But yeah, I think normally, it's like, well, if you're warming it up, you're increasing blood flow and circulation. In general, these are going to be really helpful things to get going. Like menstrual disorders work really well with Chi Nei Tsang. If anyone out there has any kind of menstrual stuff going on, start massaging your uterus every day. Tahnee: (42:13) You don't have to do anything fancy, just scoop around your pubic bone and your inner pelvis and just get in there. And if it feels painful, spend some time rubbing it until it stops feeling painful. It's that simple. It doesn't have to be complicated. In Chi Nei Tsang we have lots of complicated techniques and I've certainly used a lot of them, but I also have found when teaching people, it's best to just … simple, simple, simple. Tahnee: (42:38) So just if it hurts, spend some time on it, breathe into it, send some love to it, give it a good massage and generally, you'll find that these things dissolve. That's what I've found really interesting in my body. It was like you feel something that feels like a huge knot or a lump that it's really painful and it's like, “I can't possibly deal with this.” And 10 minutes later, it's gone. And it's like, “Wow.” Mason: (43:02) And sometimes, it's not. Tahnee: (43:02) Yeah. Well, sometimes it's 20 or 30 or 40 minutes later. And like I said, I've had clients that come back three or four times and I finally get to a point where I'm able to soften them up enough. So there's lots of things that can happen... Tahnee: (43:15) But yeah, I think in general, anytime we're looking at pain when there's touch and those kinds of things, it's generally coming from some kind of Qi stagnation and it's usually helpful to massage it. Again, within reason. Don't go hard on yourself. Mason: (43:34) Well, that's kind of the real … we mentioned barefoot running. It's like that's something that's very obvious for people to say, “You start running barefoot, not in shoes. If you put that little bit of new stress on your ankles and your arch and your knee, the whole rule is if you feel little tweaks or if you feel anything becoming, feeling really vulnerable, you open yourself up to something. Mason: (43:54) That's it. Your session's done for the day. And I feel like it can be the same like this. And in terms of techniques, I mean, I really started like going deep when I let go of the techniques. When I was rubbing my organs and I let go a little bit more of going like, “All right, now here I'm in the duodenum. Okay. Now, in the pyloric valves and …” again, I was intellectualising a lot rather than just getting to know myself through feeling and through touch. Mason: (44:28) Because my mind quite often works like if I can't explain what I'm doing externally, how do I justify doing this in the first place? And through that, my techniques got more advanced in relationship to my unique little organ system rather than trying to use a particular technique. That was really nice, getting that little insight. Mason: (44:48) But I think that's just something … This is … Everyone's on practice here. Even though it's called Chi Nei Tsang, it's literally just you sticking fingers and- Tahnee: (44:58) Yeah. Well, look, I've only received Chi Nei Tsang from probably let's say 20 or 30 people in total in my life and let's say 30 of them were on training. Oh, sorry. 20 of them were on a training. And then I've had Master Chia, Utah, the lady in Guatemala, the guy in Thailand, probably … I'm trying to think of any other professionals who've massage me … oh, Sola. Tahnee: (45:26) I've had a few professionals messaged me and they've all been very different in how they approach Chi Nei Tsang. And even friends of mine who having received them from me were like, “Oh my God, I have to go study this.” They called me up and were like, “It's so different to what you do and I wanted to learn what you do.” Tahnee: (45:42) And I was like, “Well, I think like anything … Anyone who's learned to teach yoga or done anything, it's like you put your own spin on things.” So I certainly think while I respect Master Chia's work and his techniques … And he's very much a stickler for the techniques. I'll often start much further along than he recommends in the flows that he teaches and stuff. Tahnee: (46:07) I think I've just found intuitively there's different techniques I'm really comfortable with and ones I'm not comfortable with. There's ones that I've found effective in general for people that I wouldn't … I had … Utah did one on me one time where she just pulled my spleen for like an hour and went, “Oooh,” and that was it. Tahnee: (46:27) And I was like, “Well,” and it was amazing, but on paper, that sounded like there was no flow to that. It wasn't a massage per se. It was kind of a shamanic style of healing. So I think there's probably a lot more of my influences from her and on that side of things where it's just- Mason: (46:47) She's Mantak's student- Tahnee: (46:49) Yeah, yeah. She's in her 60s and has been living with him in Thailand with her husband for, I would guess, 20 or 30 years. I remember speaking to her about it, but I can't remember exactly. And she's European, so she travels all through Europe teaching this and she's a master in her own right. And just like … we've spoken a few times about that she has a different style to Master Chia and teachers differently to him. Tahnee: (47:11) And I know there's people in The States that have developed their own versions of Chi Nei Tsang now and this woman in Thailand who has her own version. So I don't think there's a right or a wrong way. I think it's anything that just each practitioner will have their truth and the best way of expressing it. But I think if you're just curious about touching your own belly, you've got permission. Tahnee: (47:32) Go do it. And it's interesting. The history of it, I find really interesting because it correlates a lot to what happens in our culture now. I think is, it became unfashionable to touch. The healers weren't allowed to touch the higher cast of person they want … Especially not allowed to touch women. It went from being like a village-based medicinal practice to like a more systemised medicinal practice. Tahnee: (48:02) And Chinese medicine has evolved a lot over the centuries and the millennia. So Chi Nei Tsang came about from a much older time when hands-on healing was considered appropriate and then that lost favor especially as Western styles of healing penetrated into China. And I'm studying acupuncture at the moment. So I just learned that that was around the late 1800s, early 1900s. Tahnee: (48:29) But yeah, I think when we look at that, we see that we lost a lot of the touch based healing arts from China. And massage, in the West, is very different to Tui Na, the Chinese style of massage, which is more similar to what I have learned. And you've had massages with John, our acupuncturist. He gets into all the gristle and runs up and down the bones and gets right into all the fascia. Tahnee: (48:55) Most Swedish style massages, they're nice for moving Chi at a superficial level like you're talking about, but in terms of getting Chi into the joints, which is where it really matters and that's why Yin Yoga, Qi Gong, that type of massage is so important because the joints are where the Qi … This is when you talk about calcification and stuff before. It's where the Chi will stagnate the most easier because the joints are dense. Tahnee: (49:17) There's no blood. Blood andi are really close, but when you're looking at an elbow or a knee, there's very little blood in there. And so these are really prone to deterioration really quickly, especially if our Liver is struggling, which again, like we said, everyone is stressed. So that's really common in our culture. So it makes a lot of sense to do these painful joint based massages like we do in Chi Nei Tsang. Tahnee: (49:41) Chi Nei Tsang isn't just the belly, just to be clear. It covers the entire body, so we'll do anything that needs doing, really. I've done Chi Nei Tsang on a friend of ours who's in his 70s … Nearly in the 70s and it was all around his knees and his pelvis because that was what was required. And it's really about where are the blockages of Qi, how do we break it up so that these blockages are removed. Tahnee: (50:06) Again, it was a very painful session for him, but he felt incredible and could walk differently afterwards. So it's these kinds of ideas of maybe the session won't be that fun, but the benefits are going to be huge because you're breaking up adhesions and … Yeah. Anyone who's had a frozen shoulder and had manual therapy done on that, I've heard it's very, very, very painful. And it's the same idea. It's like to get that fascia to dissolve- Mason: (50:31) Adhesions on the fascia, yeah. Tahnee: (50:32) … Yeah, you need to heat it up and it needs to be broken up in a lot of cases. And there's some really interesting work around how sensitive fascia is and that breaking it up isn't always that helpful if there's a really strong emotional component because it just creates more trauma. And I think there's something to that, so I think you want to work with a good practitioner who understands the nuance of when it's appropriate and when it isn't. Mason: (50:54) Or have your own ability to actually process emotions and just look historically how you've done it that it's very accessible. Tahnee: (51:00) Yeah, I've worked with this really inspiring woman when I taught yoga in Newcastle. I think she came to my classes for … I'd want to say like 18 months to two years of Yin Yoga and she had a frozen shoulder and she'd just sit there. She'd sit next to the wall and she'd do half versions of everything because she couldn't really do a lot. And I remember speaking to her and she's like,” I can like lift my arm up over my head now.” Tahnee: (51:24) She was just … And it took a really long time, but she just kept showing up. And that was a really inspiring to me and that's really indicative of how long it takes to change fascia. We're literally talking about reshaping ourselves and the shape we are is because of our thoughts and how we respond to the world and how we respond to life and what we were conditioned to postulate ourselves toward or against. Tahnee: (51:45) You'll see people in families have same posture and those kinds of things and it's because we learned so much of this and we're conditioned as children to pick up on our parents physiology and their responses to things and how they … We've both done therapy, all about that. So our bodies hold that just as much as our minds and our personalities and our thoughts and emotions do. Tahnee: (52:07) So it's a lot quicker to change a thought than it is to change the body. I think that patterns are very slow to change, but again, I would say the pattern is more closely correlated to the body. The yogic tradition talks about samskara's and vasana's, so these character traits and conditioned ways of behaving. So a samskara is like a conditioned pattern of behavior and vasana is like when that becomes who I am. Tahnee: (52:37) So I might say I'm Tahnee and I am a yoga teacher and I've been doing the thing, teaching yoga so long that I identify with that as me. And if you take that away from me, I'm going to suffer because it's who I am. And that's just a silly example, but it's a good one to demonstrate it. Tahnee: (52:55) So when we look at the body, the body will often mirror these same ideas because your yoga teacher will walk a certain way and they will hold themselves a certain way and they will think certain things and they will speak a certain way, and so as a result, you start to embody this idea of something instead of actually just maybe being more authentically like you. Tahnee: (53:14) And so yoga is all around how do we remove these hats that we wear, all these masks that we wear to the world and find out what's really underneath. And I think Chi Nei Tsang is one of the tools that we can use to start to dissolve some of those attachments and conditioned patterns I suppose. So I think it all fits into me to the same framework. Tahnee: (53:35) I separate yoga and Taoism when I teach because it's easier that way, but I see them as being very similar, if not the same, at the risk of offending some people. I think that the ideas fundamentally are very, very similar. Mason: (53:48) When you get bare bones about it, everything is, unless there's a very, very unique spiritual intention that someone would have. Tahnee: (53:59) Yeah. Well you could look at maybe Tantra as deviating because it starts with the assumption that there's oneness, whereas … I mean, I think … Oneness to me is a whole another podcast, so I don't think we'll go there. But if anyone's interested, let us know and we can go there because I love talking about this philosophy stuff. Tahnee: (54:18) But coming back to Chi NeI Tsang, I think when we can embody ourselves fully and unify with ourselves, that's the first step. It's the absolute foundation. It's the fundamental step to any personal growth and transformation and evolution, which is what this path is about. You can't take tonic herbs without changing and evolving and this is why we do this. It's certainly what motivates me to get out of bed every day. Tahnee: (54:45) And it's not this idea of becoming someone better or … It's just like I can feel that there's so much that I look through when I look at the world that isn't me. And it's like … And I've felt me, and these two things aren't completely congruent yet and that's okay. I'm still really young and I think that there's time, but I think that the more I practice and the more I explore these really ancient healing traditions, that I can feel this congruency coming. Tahnee: (55:17) And that's what yoga talks about. It's like we start to abide in our true selves. It's not this split where we think we're one thing and we do something else. And we're all hypocrites, every single one of us, and yoga doesn't say hypocrisy is bad. So much as it says, well, it's a sign that your inner and outer worlds aren't aligned. You say one thing, you do something else. You think one thing, you do something else. Tahnee: (55:36) There's no congruency there. It's because you haven't fully integrated. And that's what I think all of these healing tools point us toward. It's this idea of being able to be congruent and cohesive and consistent and all of the good things. Mason: (55:55) So we'll put the video from the Nourish Her Yin event where you're on stage taking everyone through a little massage sequence. Tahnee: (56:05) Can we do a better video than that? Mason: (56:05) Yeah. That's what I was going to say. It would also... Goji's (dog) getting in there. It'd be really good to just have a couple of different series like YouTube videos. Tahnee: (56:16) Well, what I've got in mind is doing a self massage one and then showing a simple partner massage or something, just a little flow. Mason: (56:27) Well, especially it's a good for mums and dads in the household to just have a little bit under your belt in terms of a little digestive flow. Tahnee: (56:35) Yeah, well, if you have a bubba, I wouldn't do Chi Nei Tsang so much as just rub their tummies really gently in a circular … So you want to go, I'm never good at this way, but clockwise, I think. Is that the right way? Yeah. So you want to go- Mason: (56:48) Looking at the belly clockwise. Tahnee: (56:49) So if you're looking at your baby's tummy, you want to go clockwise around. So basically, from their right to their left, an arc like a rainbow, that's going to help, especially if they get colic or any kind of constipation or anything. It's going to help to move what is stuck. And babies, like us, they process a lot through the digestion. Tahnee: (57:12) They're very open energetically, so it's always interesting to have a look at what else is going on in the family life if that sort of stuff is happening, what they might need to be buffered from or what they might be experiencing. I mean, these amazing little perceptive beings they are, so pretty cool. But yeah, Aiya doesn't love being massaged, unfortunately. Tahnee: (57:35) I always had dreams of, “I'll massage my baby.” And Aiya is, “Oi, get off.” So maybe when she's a bit older, she'll appreciate having a massage therapist mum. Mason: (57:44) That's all I was thinking. It's like when you get a little bit older, it's like having your little herbal remedies around and you have your Gua Sha stone around- Tahnee: (57:49) She does like Gua Sha. Mason: (57:54) … she does like Gua sha. You have your little Chi Nei Tsang technique. I mean, all we're talking about is a very practical focus even like putting too much on it and it's just very simple skill sets that hopefully, are going to keep you out of a doctor's office. Tahnee: (58:08) Yeah. I kind of always think- Mason: (58:10) Or a naturopath's office. Tahnee: (58:11) Well, I've said this to you before, like about being a cool old grandma, and I think it's such a shame in our culture. We've lost … I know … even when I was in Japan, when I was 16, the grandma and grandpa and the aunty and uncle all lived in the same compound and they were old, the grandma and grandpa and they did all the prayers. Tahnee: (58:30) They'd light all the incense, set up the alters every morning, facilitate that. If I saw the kid had a cold or something, grandma was boiling up stuff. I was too young to really comprehend exactly what it was, but now I'm thinking she was probably doing some herbal treatments or something. It's like they were holding that wisdom and that role in the family of just providing the health care. And you'd use a doctor only in a really extreme situation. Tahnee: (58:55) And I think there's really something … I know you saw me, I started reading nursing books and how to look after sick people because I was thinking, “Well, if I Aiya's unwell, how do I manage that?” And I think there's this lack of skill in our culture that us younger people have especially, that we don't know basic home remedies for things that aren't silly. Tahnee: (59:20) Like, “Oh, garlic if you have a cough or whatever,” I'm thinking more like, “How do I actually know when a fever is okay and not okay?” Because fevers, in my opinion, are an incredibly powerful healing tool and it should be left alone in general, but I know there's a point when they can get dangerous too. So it's like we've got to … h
Mason and Tahnee come together on the podcast today, to take a dive deep into the wonders of Qi, the second Treasure in the Taoist system. In the West most of us are familiar with the concept of Qi being energy, however the Taoists understood Qi in a more expansive context. Today we're excited to explore the philosophy and application of the Qi Treasure and to introduce our SuperFeast family to our new baby - The QI blend! Tune in to get the full download and learn how these beautiful Qi herbs can help you activate your potential and feel truly vibrant. Tahnee and Mason explore: Classical Chinese Medicine vs modern acupuncture application and diagnoses. Qi as a force present in all things, tonic herbs included. Dis-ease as a manifestation of blocked/stagnant Qi - "the only time we get ill is when our Qi is blocked" - Tahnee Inherited physical, emotional and mental patterns as factors that can interfere with an individual's free flow of Qi. Personal practice and Qi cultivation. Constitutional typing and Five Element Theory. The new SuperFeast QI blend. The relationship between Qi and Blood. The Taoist concept of humans being the bridge between heaven and earth. The Three Treasures; Jing, Qi and Shen. Qi as a subtle but transformational force. The self healing capacity of the body. When and how to use the QI blend. Wei Qi and external environmental pathogens. Who are Mason Taylor and Tahnee McCrossin? Mason Taylor: Mason’s energy and intent for a long and happy life is infectious. A health educator at heart, he continues to pioneer the way for potent health and a robust personal practice. An avid sharer, connector, inspirer and philosophiser, Mason wakes up with a smile on his face, knowing that tonic herbs are changing lives. Mason is also the SuperFeast founder, daddy to Aiya and partner to Tahnee (General Manager at SuperFeast). Tahnee McCrossin: Tahnee is a self proclaimed nerd, with a love of the human body, it’s language and its stories. A cup of tonic tea and a human interaction with Tahnee is a gift! A beautiful Yin Yoga teacher and Chi Ne Tsang practitioner, Tahnee loves going head first into the realms of tradition, yogic philosophy, the organ systems, herbalism and hard-hitting research. Tahnee is the General Manager at SuperFeast, mumma to reishi-baby Aiya and partner to Mason (founder of SuperFeast). Resources: Yi Jing - The Book Of Changes Rhonda Chang Digesting The Universe Book Karma and Reincarnation - Dr Motoyama Book The Power Of The Five Elements - Charles Moss Book Q: How Can I Support The SuperFeast Podcast? A: Tell all your friends and family and share online! We’d also love it if you could subscribe and review this podcast on iTunes. Or check us out on Stitcher :)! Plus we're on Spotify! Check Out The Transcript Here: Mason: (00:01) Hello, lovely people. I'm here with the lovely Tahns. Tahnee: (00:04) Hi. Mason: (00:04) So we wanted to tackle one together on this beautiful Saturday morning. We're in the podcast room. We've had torrential rain overnight, so the Qi of the land is absolutely pumping. It's conductive out there. And we thought it'd be a really good, beautiful time to chat to you guys about the concept of Qi. Obviously we've got a little bit of an understanding in the West of what's Qi? Qi is energy, everything's Qi. And we wanted to go a little deeper into the nuance. We're going to talk about, Tahns is definitely going to be going in through everything that she's studied with yoga, Taoism, anatomy and all her, everything else, Tahns will go into it. Being an abdominal masseuse, being a Yin yoga teacher. Mason: (00:47) Tahns works with Qi a lot, and is developing a really nice understanding of this huge concept. And so we're going to be looking at what Qi is in the body. Going to be looking at how many different layers and variations there are. But also then we're going to be looking widely in the body, in the three treasure system of Taoism. That's a bit more of a macro view of what Qi is in the body. We're going to be looking at what it is, how to cultivate it, in that context. How Qi herbs work in the body, because one thing I think you guys, you should be understanding by now is that Taoism is appropriate for the lifestyle. Yes, We're talking about there's Taoist's, hermits in the mountains, just going on doing nothing but Qigong all day, living off one grain of rice. And then the rest is tonic herbs and spring water and constantly meditating. Mason: (01:39) But the concept of Taoism, they can cross over to a mother of four, simply being able to manage her health and her family's health through some very basic principles. So Qi can get incredibly complex when you go into all the different ways that it can be deficient and rebel in the body and so on and so forth. And so there's that clinical understanding of Qi, we can get a little into that, and how it's represented. But then there's a very accessible, I guess, conversation around Qi that we want to be having at the same time. So no matter how much time you have or interests you have, you're going to be able to get a dialogue. Tahnee: (02:23) Yeah, hopefully we keep it in the accessible realm today. Mason: (02:27) Well I like getting inaccessible as well because it's interesting and I think it's nice as well just to have that context for everyone to reaslise, you don't have to remember all this. And at any point that it gets, if you're dealing with something heavy internally at any point it gets too much and you reaslise you can't retain it, there are practitioners, and we like teaching you how to find particular practitioners. I'm down the rabbit hole when it comes to acupuncture and that. I'm down the rabbit hole of Rhonda Chang stuff and finding a practitioner that it's actually ... I think it's getting more and more difficult to find an acupuncturist that's actually practicing what Rhonda calls Yi, actual medicine that isn't layered over with Western, basically biochemistry or Western symptomology. But that's- Tahnee: (03:09) Or pathology. I'm studying Health Science degree, majoring in acupuncture at the moment actually. And it's interesting how little we really touch on the more shamanic aspects I suppose of Chineseedicine, which is definitely what I'm more interested in. And as someone who's received acupuncture for a long time, the people that are more versed in that are definitely, in my opinion, more effective practitioners for me. So yeah, it's interesting to think about that, and even in terms of when we're talking about herbalism, what we do at Superfeast, to taking a herb that has a lot of Qi, and has a lot of intention in terms of its cultivation, its processing, versus taking a lot of just things you can buy over the counter. I'm thinking about this little compressed tablets and all that stuff that are... You can take them and they can have an effect for sure. But I don't have the same connection to them that I do to the Taoist Tonic Herbs. It's a really interesting nuance for me and something I'm exploring. Mason: (04:18) But you can feel, in a clinical setting, it's more steely. It's more, and especially when it gets symptom, when it becomes pathology based, and symptom based, it's very much okay, this is the diagnosis and... Unfortunately it's going, it's starting with ... I think what we're talking about guys before we jump into Qi, and yes we're going to talk about the Qi blend, and Qi herbs and all these kinds of things. But these tangents are why we get the big bucks. So we're talking about if we start with, okay, you're having headaches, so we start with the symptom and then we go, hh, there's four different types of headache. There's going to be a hot headache and a cold headache, and a deficient headache. Mason: (05:10) And I'm not an expert on this, I'm just enjoying it because it's slightly anarchist from what the current Western Chinese Medicine looks like. It's not Yi, it's not medicine, it's not traditional medicine. It's washed into this Western approach where it's what's the symptom? Okay. Oh, you've got, gosh, I don't know, you're nauseous. Okay. Generally the pattern is it's going to be one of these four or five different types and we're going to find it and then we're going to treat you by hitting, via the dictation of what we know to use. If it's this type of nauseousness we're going to use these points and this herb. Mason: (05:52) So there's this tendency for a lot of practitioners these days to be, feel tickled by the fact that yeah, wow, I found someone had a headache and I had options in how to treat them because everyone's different. But it's still a textbook version of treatment. And just going through Rhonda's stuff. She's just, it's still not medicine. It's still not proper Chinese Medicine, based on the classics. The classics would be doing a 100% ... Well we don't know, you don't make any assumptions. We just go in and find what's going on within the Yin Yang- Tahnee: (06:27) Individual treatment. Mason: (06:28) Very, super individual. There's, what's going on within the Yin Yang, and what's going on within the five elements, the Wu Xing. And so in that sense, there's no rules ever. And it's hard, because it's hard to commodify that, it's hard to bring people into- Tahnee: (06:46) Well it's hard to systemise and teach that. And I think when you look at the history of anything that gets codified and systemified ... I don't know if that's a word. You lose a lot of the nuance that when you work one-on-one with someone and learn something in a oral tradition based on apprenticeship and just doing the thing with supervision. That was what really got lost in China when Mao Zedong came through and he really created these colleges, these places to go and study acupuncture. And you could do... Or Chinese Medicine I should say, not acupuncture, the whole scope of practice that they decided would be most useful for treating the masses of China. And that's what we've inherited. And there's people Rhonda doing amazing work, trying to keep the old tradition alive. Tahnee: (07:34) And I think that's certainly where you and I lean toward, in our interests. But I can sort of see how you have to learn, you have to go to school because there isn't really another way to do it. But then you have to take responsibility for actually going and immersing yourself in the art of healing, which is a really different thing. And it's the same with the Che Nei Tsang I do. I learned with Master Chia and I've had lots of friends go and study with him after receiving treatment from me. And they're Oh my God, when I got there it was totally different to what you do. And it's yeah, because I'm bringing my whole life of experience, all the things I've done, all the different trainings I've taken. Tahnee: (08:16) When I work one-on-one with someone I'm bringing that plus my own Qi and my own Je ne sais quoi, every individual has their own special gifts. So I think you can't ever copy someone else, but you can definitely learn from other people. And I think as long as we remember that these things are both a science and an art, then we can be really ... It's the same with the herbs. So we would get, people write to us and they say I have a headache or I'm exhausted. Well we can only give a general answer to that because we're not seeing you. We're not talking to you. We're not investigating your history and really our duty of care, to do that over the internet or the phone is not there. We can't manage and support that. But that's where a practitioner- Mason: (09:00) Well it's not even- Tahnee: (09:01) Well that's where a practitioner is so useful because that therapeutic process of sitting down with someone, having them hear you and witness you and mirror you, and then also treat you. I think that's really powerful, and especially if they're an educator or there's someone that's going to help empower you toward your own understanding. Those are the best kinds of practitioners. And if you find one, hold on because I have had people that I've worked with for five or six years because they've just done so much for me in terms of getting me to be my own practitioner. To become responsible and sovereign for myself and you outgrow them over time for sure. Tahnee: (09:39) There's probably three people I've outgrown but I really, I value them so much as teachers. I think that's just the constant journey of life is wherever you are in your path, find the people that can support and nourish you. Know when to let go, know what to integrate and transform it yourself. A lot of this stuff we're talking about today is really relevant to this. Qi, it's that ability, once we start to get everything flowing and harmonise then, if we're talking about treasures, we've got strong Jing, we've got strong Qi, then we've got strong Shen and we're really potentiated and in our Dharma in the world, to cross our traditions a little- Mason: (10:16) Well not cross, but put them next to each other. You can have them next to each other, it's fine. Tahnee: (10:19) Well they're actually very similar. And I teach yoga, definitely with a huge, I guess, eye on the Taoist tradition because I think what the Taoists do is describe the subtle body really well, and describe the alchemical processes that happen. The yogis talk about it as well, but it was quite secretive and because of Muslim invasion and all sorts of things it got a little bit lost. So it's really cool to look at it from both sides. And if you believe that we all are incarnated spirit, which is what these two traditions point to, and that the purpose of our lives is to fully embody our spirit in this physical form. It's not to ascend, it's actually to descend the spirit and to have that spirit fully animate and penetrate this organism and its expression in this life, that's Dharma. Tahnee: (11:10) That's this idea of us living our true path. And that could be everything from nurturing a child, to creating an empire. There's so many, and it doesn't have to always be a positive Dharma, because depending on our karma, and the things we bring, we may have different things we have to express. But I think when we look at this idea of potentiating the human, which is what we're doing here, at the end of the day it's yeah, we want to be really conscious of how we choose to work with people. The kinds of information we choose to integrate into our home practice, into our culture. It's something you talk about all the time, this idea of creating culture, and these are constantly slippery conversations. It's never black and white. It's never, I'm this, because this is the Yi Jing, right? Everything changes. The Book of Changes is the foundation of Chinese Medicine. It's this idea that nothing stays the same. Mason: (12:08) It's a good point. If you go and find a practitioner, you go, have you studied the Yi Jing? Tahnee: (12:13) Well yeah, I think it's definitely not, to my knowledge, taught very extensively in acupuncture school, in inverted commas. But yeah, I think this curiosity, but you can go study the Yi Jing, it doesn't have to be this mysterious, this thing. And if you're interested we'll put it in the show notes about the YI Jing. I'm just making a note to do that. Mason: (12:34) Well, I feel like, sorry to butt in, the reason that it's brought up a little today, because I think we're going to be talking about a lot of concepts of Qi, and within this system when we're coming from a Western system, and when we're interacting with, especially at the moment new waves of Chinese practitioners, sometimes we don't see a lot of effectiveness. I think that's fair to say. Tahnee: (13:04) Yeah. Mason: (13:04) And I think what I want to bring up is that one, we're not putting the complete expectation on you here to be able to immediately affect your own Qi. However, at the same time we're talking about, this is so beyond proven and effective. And just because... You talk about it as well Tahns, when women going through menstrual issues, which can be blockages of Qi and you go and see a practitioner and it doesn't work. You haven't gone to someone who's practicing Yi medicine, and that's just the reality. And Rhonda talks about this all the time, a lot of the practitioners... And I just want to make sure everyone listening is just, we're trying to give you enough space and opportunity, what I call, to activate the placebo. Mason: (13:45) These Qi herbs, whether we're talking about tonic herbs, or whether you know what, there's some more severe stuff going on. Maybe the general tonic herbs aren't going to do it and you need to go to a practitioner that's going to get a little more nuanced. These things, they just work. They work. For thousands of thousands of years they've been working in the most complex system. At the moment, now, even in Chinese Medicine hospitals in China, they've got a Heart department, the Kidney department- Tahnee: (14:14) The stroke department, I just found one last night, what I wrote you, I will tell you about this later. Mason: (14:19) Which is interesting, but there's no stroke in Chinese Medicine. Tahnee: (14:24) No, but they don't, they just say, if you come with these things, we can treat you as an individual in our hospital. Mason: (14:30) No, they don't. That's what's happening. Sometimes it's happening. They're not doing that a lot at the time. They're having, well I'm going to treat you for- Tahnee: (14:37) Oh, that's when they're mashing up the Western piece- Mason: (14:38) No, they're it's a Western thing, and the prejudice is, in certain instances Western Medicine is just going to be more useful. And more and more and more I see how amazing ... Don't get me wrong, I see how amazing Western Medicine is and how incredible, to an extent, drugs are and can be. And I can see how people need an institution. But that's the placebo of the Western Medicine. It's so compartmentalised and institutionalised and there's theoretically all these safety checks, which is an absolute bullshit... On its own it's amazing, but it's unwarranted faith that they're being given by the population. Mason: (15:17) But the whole prejudice, although the whole, subconsciously for a lot of people, even in these Chinese medical hospitals is that a lot of the time the Chinese Medicine just isn't as reliable. Where it's, from what I'm understanding, not that I understand it necessarily, but I'm awakening my own reality. You saying it's shamanic, and then shamanic is scary therefore that mustn't be effective, That must be very ambiguous and we're calling in spirits to do the healing verse... Of course that's not the case. The real old Chinese Medicine, especially in relating to what our Treasures are and nourishing our Treasures through Qi herbs and a lifestyle that's generating our own Qi, we're generating our ability to have our Qi go through phases of transformation constantly so we don't have blockages. Mason: (16:07) This is extremely effective and it's not this thing that's, well it's not actually, not as reliable as Western Medicine. Western Medicine might be really reliable to get you back to a somewhat normal state for the next couple of years without actually dealing with your core problems. And if you're going to go to real Chinese Medicine though, you need someone really working closely with you, and educating with you, and going deep into what your issue is. And we just don't have time for that in an institutional level. Tahnee: (16:37) Well I don't think it's unique to Chinese Medicine, but I think when you look at all of the ancient traditions, it was very much around community based model and individual personalised care based on diagnosis that really took into account the whole organism. So it's talking about symptom management, which is what Western Medicine is really good at versus healing or, you talk about with Rhonda's work. This idea of true medicine, which is more to do with... My teacher always says, you're trying to put yourself out of business as a practitioner. So you're trying to get the person to the point where they are self managing and they're sovereign in their health and they'd only need to see you maybe seasonally, maybe once every couple of years just to check in and make sure everything's going well. Tahnee: (17:26) And as educators, that's something that I'm really passionate about, for me anyway, I don't want to speak for you. But the more people expose themselves to different ideas without judgment, without needing to make something right or wrong, it gives you this capacity to hold, that F. Scott Fitzgerald quote, hold multiple opposing ideas at the same time. So the Chinese Medicine says there's a universal force that is animating and that turns this sack of fluid and chemicals into a body, And when it goes away, we become chemicals and fluid again, and we dry out, and we dissolve and we become food for the bugs and bacteria. Right? So this is the foundation of Chinese Medicine. It starts with this underlying idea of universal consciousness. Western Medicine doesn't have a underlying theory. It starts with pathology, Mason: (18:17) Well that's fine. But as long as it's kept in its little place over there. Tahnee: (18:21) Yeah. But that's what I'm saying. I think as a culture we have gone, Oh, okay, we're going to worship the altar of modern science, but we forget that it has limitations. And similarly, Chinese Medicine has limitations. It's great to have a sterile surgical environment to operate in a car crash situation- Mason: (18:41) Absolutely. Tahnee: (18:42) Yeah, I know you know this, but I'm just trying to explain it for people that are listening. If I am in a car crash, I want to go to Western hospital for my immediate treatment and then I'd love to go to a Chinese doctor to maintain and improve my health over time. It's this idea of childbirth, in Chinese Medicine that's an opportunity to get healthier. And in Western Medicine it's, cool, you had a baby, see you later. We don't ever want to see you again, basically. They might check in on you for six weeks or however long the process is. Tahnee: (19:10) And so there's this two very different ways of looking at health, really. One is coming from a educative... And almost a faith based type of health that the natural state is health. That's what I feel is for me the big difference. Whereas Western Medicine is almost, things are going to break all the time and we're just going to keep patching them up. But it's the roof is going to collapse one day. You can't just keep putting screws in and polls in, and bandaging shit up and expecting it all to stay there. It's going to just all fall down one day. Tahnee: (19:45) And so that's where I think I prefer to sit in this idea that, we are by design, whether it's intelligent design or evolutionary design, I don't know, but we are by design healthy, and we are by design moving always toward health. And the only reason that ever happens is because our Qi gets blocked in some way. And it's either emotional or physical or mental, either we have a thought recurring that creates a blockage or we have an emotion recurring that creates a blockage, or we have some physical- Mason: (20:16) Something structural. Tahnee: (20:17) Mass. Yeah, that creates a blockage. Mason: (20:18) Yeah, or even the Qi blockages from parent to child, you'll see a hunch or something go from mother to a daughter and that's going to create- Tahnee: (20:28) Yeah, inherited. Mason: (20:29) Inherited, and that creates a blockage in an organ, that's going to create an emotional pattern or expression. Tahnee: (20:33) It's 11:11 everybody just letting you know. But yeah, I think, for me, just that idea even of inherited physicality is so interesting, because if learn how our parent thinks, and how our parent relates to the world, then we model that and then our bodies express that as well. So I find that really interesting when you look at, I used to teach yoga to people in families quite regularly and you would see that the genetic, it's not even the structure is inherited, it's the mental and emotional weight is inherited. And you would see that manifest, and you would see how they would react and respond in similar ways to things. And that's one of the things I love about yoga, is because it offers us this opportunity to hold space for ourselves, to examine that and decide whether or not we really want to carry that on. Tahnee: (21:30) Because, sometimes those things are great. Sometimes we have power house parents who are super rad and really give us a lot of gifts and help us to really express our own unique gifts. And sometimes we have people that really just pass on a lot of trauma, and a lot of suffering. And this idea of, and Chinese Medicine talks about this too, around the ages of 28 to 30 is this transition out of the ... Jung's work in particular is really interesting on this stuff. And he took a lot of that from the Indian and Chinese traditions. But this idea that we start to release our parents and we start to forgive them for what they couldn't offer us. And then we take responsibility for what we need to manifest to really fully become ourselves as we move into our 30's and 40's. And I think that's, we don't talk about that much in our culture. There's a lot of blame and there can be a tendency to just go to therapy and to stay in this loop. And I love therapy, don't get me wrong. I think it's really powerful, but I think you have to graduate from therapy at some point. Mason: (22:30) Well, this, a lot comes back to the concept of why you'd have a practice to cultivate Qi, and move Qi, and why you'd be moving every day and why you'd be working on your emotions, why you'd be taking Qi tonics, why your diet is appropriate for you to cultivate Qi. Because if you've got this Qi moving, Qi needs to transform, that's why if anyone, if you are relating to your body in a stagnant Western model, if you're trying to be optimal, if you're trying to be balanced. There's just no such thing as a stagnation. Everything is constantly moving and moving into these stages. Moving into that place when you're 30, or if you're going to therapy and you're identifying these patterns and things that you've picked up from your parents. If you're healthy, if you've got strong Jing foundation, and Qi is said to be in the Treasure system, the child Jing, if your Qi is moving, then you're going to be able to actually transform things internally. That's the alchemy. As long as you keep on moving, I think that's what you were leaning to as well. Tahnee: (23:26) Yeah. Well that's what I think is super important because I think sometimes people just keep bumping up against themselves and they get stuck. And that's what I mean about, sometimes these external things, therapy or yoga, or meditation, all these things, they can almost become traps where we continue to validate ourselves through the external thing that we do. You can see that a lot in the spiritual community where it's okay I don't the way I was brought up. I'm going to really change that and then I'm going to push back against that culture, instead of really integrating the parts of you that are really from that culture. And this is a lot to do with that shadow work that Jung talks about. But we need to have really strong Qi, and strong Shen to do that work. Tahnee: (24:11) And a lot of the time when we're pushing back against something all the time, we waste a lot of our energy and this is our Qi, and so we don't have a lot available for healing. Even for clear thought, it's this idea of when we're depleted, which can be exhaustion, that's Jing Qi, because this is always, this was really confusing for me when I was first learning Chinese Medicine, it was Qi, Jing Qi, this Qi, that Qi, Yi Qi, so many Qi's. Mason: (24:36) Gu Qi, Kong Qi- Tahnee: (24:37) But everything is Qi. Yes. Everything, you're Qi, I'm Qi, matter is Qi, the bookshelf is Qi. Mason: (24:37) The laptop is Qi. Tahnee: (24:37) Yeah. But then the force is Qi, and this is where the idea from yoga of Shiva and Shakti is really helpful for me, because if you think of Shiva as form and Shakti as ... I'm sorry, Shiva is consciousness and Shakti is form. So this idea of the union of consciousness and form is the expression of Qi in the manifest world. So we see in this 3D reality form because of Qi, and because of its interactions and from that Yin and Yang in the five phases, this is this snowball I guess of creation. And then when we want to transform our Qi, we have to really engage those two forces. We have to engage the Shakti, which is more the Jing. The Shakti is the reproductive force. It's that cellular force that regenerates and if you want to have healthy cells and not have cancer, and all of these things, it's, yes strong Jing, strong Shakti. Tahnee: (25:43) I actually read a really interesting study last night. This is a small tangent, but they studied, I think it was a hundred and something people who had Alzheimer's, and they were looking at the types of patterns, because you know how you were saying before that a headache can be Liver Yang, it can be this, it can be that. So they looked at the percentage of people with which patterns, and 100% or maybe, it might have been 99%, a hundred people of 110 or something, had a Kidney deficiency, basically a Jing deficiency. And then on top of that they had extra things. So it's 70% had a Liver thing, and this many had a Spleen thing and whatever. Tahnee: (26:24) But nearly everyone had a Jing thing. And I was isn't that interesting? We talk about brain function all the time, we talk about this ability to maintain the health of our brain, which is the sea of marrow in Chinese Medicine, which comes and originates from the Kidneys. And this simple study, just looking at the patterns of every person with that, every single one of them, nearly, had a Jing deficiency. Mason: (26:49) And what I was alluding to before, just so there's a clearness in tonality, having those kinds of patterns, just being recognised that normally if this, it's going to be a Kidney at the source of it. What is limiting and what Tahns isn't talking about is going, oh okay, so if you have Alzheimer's, we treat the Kidneys this way. That's a Western model. That's starting, so if you're going to an acupuncturist ... I'm not throwing shit at anyone, they're probably going to be able to be effective, but let's just say me going in my new cracked out, reading Rhonda Chang stage. Mason: (27:24) If you go to an acupuncturist and they're I treat diabetes, I treat Alzheimer's. That's what I specialize in. Just be careful because in that instance of we see a pattern most of the time with Alzheimer's, being there's a Jing thing. Well you can map that back to the sea of marrow that Tahns is talking about, being governed by the Kidneys and the Kidney Water. But then being able to go out, if there's rules that arise through studies, then you're stepping outside of medicine. Mason: (27:58) Australia is stepping outside of the Chinese Medicine. You need to be able to recognise patterns and then be able to make sure that you can go in and break all rules if necessary, in treating what's personally going on within that person's Wu Xing element. Because why is that going on within their Kidneys, for some it might be, they've been around too much Fire burning up their Water. There might be the Spleen, it might be a Spleen thing, Spleen might be- Tahnee: (28:22) Yeah for sure. Mason: (28:23) So anyway, just wanted to put that caveat just in case anyone was confused by my tonality before. Tahnee: (28:28) Yeah. Well I think, I guess if we can just make it clear that each individual gets treated, not the disease. There's no pathological identifying, often in the translations of the texts it will be febrile diseases. But at the end of the day we're looking at, what is this individual pattern, what is this individual treatment plan for the person presenting in front of us. And it will change in time depending on the season, depending on the state of their life, depending on all sorts of things. So how you would treat someone when they're pregnant is going to be very different to how you would treat them when they're not pregnant, because their body's operating in totally different states of- Mason: (29:09) Yeah. Which is really annoying for a Western mind. Tahnee: (29:13) Well, I think it is a different head. And I know for me it took, I think it took me a few years to really be able to put on a Chinese Medicine hat and- Mason: (29:25) You almost have to be in a bit of a parasympathetic state to be able to rest and digest actually what, the gravity of just that personalisation. Tahnee: (29:32) Yeah. Well there's a book that I read recently that I really loved, which I felt really encapsulated a lot of the stuff I learned and- Mason: (29:39) What's that? Tahnee: (29:40) It's called Digesting the Universe, I brought it for you. Mason: (29:42) Yeah, that's right. Tahnee: (29:44) But yeah, he talks a lot about just this idea of literally digesting the universe. This capacity about bodies, not just to digest the food that we eat and the air that we breathe and all of these things. But also to digest our purpose, our emotions, the energy coming from the universe. That's the purpose of the human is to sort of be this bridge between heaven and earth. And it's a really powerful mission, I suppose. And where, I guess this gets pretty esoteric, and we probably should start talking about Qi a bit more, but it's this super important thing because it's well, if we're looking at why we want to be strong and healthy, why are we want to cultivate Qi? Tahnee: (30:33) It comes back to this idea of so we can really embody our full potential in our time here. So we aren't just fighting with ourselves and suffering. There's a certain amount of challenge involved in every life of course, but we can meet it with grace, or we can meet it with more pain and more suffering. And so I think this is, for me, this idea of the Triple Treasures is a really powerful one in terms of just how to best move through life in a graceful way, I suppose. Because it's Jing, that foundation, the form, the structure, Qi, the animating force, the metabolism and the movement of energy in the body- Mason: (31:13) And emotions. Tahnee: (31:14) Yeah, and emotions and thought. And then Shen, the ability to really be tapped into the higher source of consciousness or whatever, in the 3D reality. Not needing to go live in the astral plane. Because the Taoist Masters can do that, my teacher can go astral travel till the cows come home, but- Mason: (31:33) And then the cows are come home Master Chia, I'm bloody hungry mate. Tahnee: (31:38) Yeah. And my other teacher, Paul's teacher, he would do a lot of healing in the astral, he would work a lot with spirits and ghost and- Mason: (31:45) [crosstalk 00:31:45] that was? Tahnee: (31:46) Dr.Motoyama, I'll put his links to his books in the show notes. Mason: (31:51) So that's especially around karma. Tahnee: (31:53) No, he did a lot of work, actually scientific work in measuring the Meridians- Mason: (31:58) Oh that's right, he was the groundbreaking right? Tahnee: (32:01) Well his work hasn't been accepted by mainstream science yet, but he put people in ... I've got an interview with Paul coming up so I won't tell the story too much because listen to Paul. But yeah- Mason: (32:10) Paul Grilley that is. Tahnee: (32:11) Paul Grilley. Yeah, he put people in the Faraday cage and had the Taoist Masters on the outside and on the inside, so a Faraday cages impermeable to magnetic and electrical force. Right, so if you're in a Faraday cage, you're isolated, there's nothing can get through to you. And they had machines in there that would measure Qi, and they were able to see that the Taoist Master could transmit his Qi through this Faraday cage, which is wild because you can't send an electronic signal through there. You can't send a mobile signal through there, whatever- Mason: (32:42) Were they picking it up as an electrical signal? Tahnee: (32:45) They have really sensitive equipment that can measure Qi. So he divides this thing called the AMI, which measures the Meridians. And Paul and Suzee both had, they were both attached to it, and he could use this machine to tell what people's constitutional weaknesses were. So his was heart, Dr. Motoyama's, and he died of a heart thing in the 80's- Mason: (33:03) Well he predicted that before that? Tahnee: (33:04) Yeah, in his 40's of something, he was, ah that's my weakness, that's how I'm going to go. Mason: (33:09) That's even our acupuncturist, even just relating to what type of constitution are you? In that Charles Moss style of what's going to dictate, are you a Fire constitution, are you a Water constitution, and then associating that somewhat with where your constitutional deficiency is. That was an interesting thing for me. Where's your constitutional deficiency? If you're deficient there, that's essentially ... You're going to die of something, and that is going to be a dictation of what constitution you have. Tahnee: (33:41) Yeah. And I think what's cool when you know that is, this is what John, our acupuncturist says to me all the time, he's live in your element. So it's actually, even if it's your weak... Not that it's your weak spot, but you'll feel best in your element, but you'll also, that will be where you'll show imbalance as well. So I'm a liver constitution. And so for me, moving fast, being creative, thinking, ideas, those things will really stimulate me. Getting shit done, that's my constitution, and when I'm in that, when I'm full of blood and full of Qi and rested and juicy, my upward Yang can express. But if I start to deplete that, then I'll get Heat, then I'll get digestive stuff, then I'll get my Kidneys tapped out, which is all related to this Liver system getting overwrought. And me overdoing my constitution. Tahnee: (34:39) So it's learning to embody the gifts of your constitution without flogging your constitution, I suppose. Mason: (34:48) Yeah. Tahnee: (34:49) A fire person might be really charismatic and great at speaking and really enthusiastic and able to bring all the joy. But if they overdo it, they're going to get depressed and tapped out and want to hide from everybody. So there's this Yin and Yang, I suppose, of the constitution embodiment as well. But I love these ideas, Ayurveda has prakruti and vikruti, which are your foundational constitution and then what you're currently out of whack in. So I might go and get acupuncture for my Spleen if I'm out of whacking in my Spleen, but my underlying constitution is Liver. And often the acupuncturist will still treat the Liver Channel as well because ... and this is what Rhonda talks about a lot, if someone's a Livery person, you can treat the Spleen, but it's not going to do as well as if you actually treat the Liver and the Spleen, or just the Liver in some cases. Mason: (35:39) Yeah right, that's what Charles Moss talks about a lot as well. That's what, what's his name? That was- Tahnee: (35:43) Wellesley. Mason: (35:43) Wellesley's, not Matt Wellesley- Tahnee: (35:48) I can't remember. Mason: (35:48) Anyway. Tahnee: (35:48) John Wellesley's maybe. Mason: (35:50) Wellesley, whether ... I'm not complete- Tahnee: (35:53) 1. Wellesley he is. Mason: (35:58) The J stands for, Jay Wellesley. I'm unsure of the effectiveness of his work. All I know is the work, that Power of the Five Elements book by- Tahnee: (36:15) Charles Moss. Mason: (36:15) Charles Moss is super interesting. So I don't know whether it actually works too well, but I assume it does, in some instances. But their thing is find the constitutional deficiency, or typing, and then just treat it. And if you treat it, you're going to create such a dam release of Qi that it's going to essentially clear up other blockages. I think that's a very simplistic, I think however there's so much truth to be able to, you need to know where to go, where's the pinnacle point? Where's the king or queen pin that you can just hit? And then, at the same time, go and find where the almost symptomatic deficiency is, and then treat it that way as well. Until you can get back to that constitutional deficiency. Tahnee: (37:00) Yeah. Well I think this is where, if we look at Qi and for example the Qi blend, it gets interesting because ... So we have a culture of anxiety and overthinking and doing a lot and worry and- Mason: (37:12) Not being able to digest the universe. Tahnee: (37:14) Yeah. And at this particular time, especially, we've just had crazy bushfires raging through Australia, it's flooding now today, the M1 is flooded, which is the big highway near where we live. So this is within three or four months we've had a bushfire and now we're having a flood. And so these things challenge our ability, they challenge of Shen, right? They challenge our ability to understand and integrate, and so they can really deplete us, because we're trying to hold on and- Mason: (37:43) Make meaning. Tahnee: (37:44) Make sense of these things, which really comes through our Spleen, Spleen Stomach pairing. I'm just going to say Spleen now because it's easier for me. But this Spleen organ, which is the digestion and transformation of the things that we take in, which is everything from food and water and stuff, but also information, ideas- Mason: (38:04) And heavenly Qi. Tahnee: (38:06) Yeah. And so when we're looking at how we use Qi herbs and what, it's with Jing, so many people are exhausted and they're burning the candle at both ends, so by working on the Kidney Channel, they get results. But if you understand your constitution, I'm constitutionally Liver, so I'll take Liver herbs all the time, and then I'll have things Jing and Qi herbs regularly, because they support the main organs that support or draw from my Liver. Right? Tahnee: (38:39) So just from my understanding of the elements, I just know that if I stay in that triangle, it really helps me to stay balanced. Whereas other people might be more Heart, Lung, Tiver people. So the different constitutions are going to have different combinations of formulas that work well for them. And if you look at all the longevity formulas, they were really working with the Triple Treasure herbs, the Jing, Qi, Shen herb's and they were working, probably in my opinion, with herbs that were good for their constitutions. You look at the guys that lived on He Shou Wu and Ginseng, yeah they were using these herbs to really bolster their capacity to hold Qi in the Meridians. And so what we're looking for is to get stronger. Tahnee: (39:23) And to get stronger is, I think of this as the great analogy that, I don't know who taught me this, but it's always stayed with me, You want to increase your capacity to hold more bandwidth. So it's if you dig a channel and run water through it, if it's only shallow and you put a lot of water through, it just floods out and you can get quite unwell from that, putting too much Qi in too soon. So people that do Vipassana and lose their marbles, which happens, they hadn't built the Qi capacity, the Pranic capacity to hold what they were- Mason: (39:57) What's coming through. Tahnee: (39:58) What's coming through, yeah. Mason: (39:58) The same with plant medicine, you see people just- Tahnee: (40:01) It's just getting electrocuted. It's just too much energy through a system that wasn't designed to hold. Mason: (40:06) Too much insight. Tahnee: (40:06) Yeah. And you can't integrate it because it's too much too soon. So what we look at with herbs and meditation and physical practice, and this is why if you look at Chinese Healing, it does include not just herbs, but Qi Gong, it includes breathing practices. It includes acupuncture, massage, meditation's, these kinds of things- Mason: (40:26) Taoist yoga. Tahnee: (40:27) Yeah, because we have to work on the multidimensional experience in a multidimensional way. So just to meditate all the time is going to put you out of whack, but just doing exercise all the time and never meditating is going to put you out of whack. So you need to find the middle ground between all these things, and it's going to be a little different for each individual as well. But this is what we're looking to do. So when you start taking tonic herbs, you take a little and you just let your body adjust and you start to open up to that. And it's the same with QI blend, right? Tahnee: (40:59) This is going to nourish the Spleen, it's going to nourish the Lungs, it's going to support the capacity of the body to draw energy, which means you're going to have more available energy, but you don't want to go crazy hard on that at the beginning. You want to make sure that you just ease into that. And in time your body will get used to running more Qi through the Meridians. Which you can think of the Meridians if you need a physical analogy, as the spaces in between the tissues and the bones. So they're correlated to the fluids that run through the fascia. Tahnee: (41:29) And if you look up extracellular tissue, extracellular matrix, look up fascia, F-A-S-C-I-A, you can have a look at this gelatinous gooey substance that exists inside of the body. And the theory at the moment is that this is where the Qi runs, because when you look at the myofascial Meridians and what the Taoists, where the Chinese and the Taoists lay it out in the Meridian points, they correlate to these fascial lines in the body. And they're individualised to each person. So again, you'll look at an acupuncture book and it'll say, this point is too C-U-N, Cun from the midline or whatever, but that's going to be based on the individual's body and their size. So for someone who's a giant like me, it's going to be slightly different to someone who's really small and compact, their Meridian points will be closer together. Tahnee: (42:18) And it's just on account of that the scale of their body is different. And so you want to look at increasing your capacity to hold energy. And this is where we, in our lives, use movement practice. We use breathing practice, we use herbs, we use good food. We use rest, because all of these things allow the body to grow and change. And this is the purpose of life, right? Is to learn to be with change, be with the Tao, with the flow of life, and to become really capacitated and powerful and strong in ourselves. Tahnee: (42:51) And so I think this blend really excites me because I think, when we look at children, when we look at our culture of poor digestion and the amount of people that have crap digestion is just out of control. And when you look at this ability to digest life, and as a metaphor for digestion, it's well yeah, if you're having digestive problems, what aren't you digesting? What in your life, this was a huge one for me. I, in inverted commas, can't eat gluten and certain things and it's a lot to do with, for me it was a lot to do with working through the emotional as well as the physical stuff that was required for me to be in a capacity to digest and to receive and to take in nourishment from what I was eating. Tahnee: (43:39) And so when we work on our Qi, we work on strengthening the Organ Systems involved in that. And that's the Earth Element. This is, Rhonda talks about it as a soil, and it's tending our garden, it's creating a really fertile bed in which to plant the seeds of our Dharma to spring forth. And I feel it's a really foundational, if you look at a lot of the ways the five phases are drawn, the Earth is in the center. It's the middle of it all, and it's the beginning of the all, and the end of it all, we begin in the soil and we end in the soil. Tahnee: (44:11) And if you look at chemical matter, which is what we are, we're carbon based life form, the soil is full of carbon. It's this idea of composting, transforming the food with heat into nutrition for the body. There's our alchemical transfer- Mason: (44:26) In a big bag of bacteria. Tahnee: (44:29) Yeah, where- Mason: (44:31) That's the human body I'm talking about. Tahnee: (44:32) And soil, soil is bacteria, we're bacteria. There's a lot of correlation when you look at these analogies they chose were really, really good. They really encapsulated something that is so easy to understand and so simple, but has such depth. And that's what I find so inspiring about it. Because I feel like sometimes the more I learn, the more I reaslise how simple it is. Mason: (44:54) Well that's it, the simplicity is what there is. And that's why, it's an interesting thing. I watch my own Western mind, even to an extent wanting to go and carve it up and explain it. What does it mean? And what were they meaning by that? Ah, now it's almost validated, because I can see that correlation between soil and the human microbiota. And that's really interesting, I've made a mental connection. But in your mind, you're essentially going to be able to go take yourself further into a sympathetic state. You're not dropping down feeling, rest and digesting place, which is where healing happens. And so you see where this ineffectiveness of modern Chinese Medicine starts coming through because we need to make it all mental verse. Just being able to sit in the simplicity, which is where we're going to need to be sitting in our households working on our Qi for decades and decades and decades. Mason: (45:43) Does it make sense for us to go, right, I'm going to use these Qi herbs because I know that QI is an electromagnetic force and it gets collected in this part of this spleen, not the actual Spleen element, the actual spleen organ, and I have to know about the spleen organ and I need to know about its relationship to the pancreas. It's not realistic when you're just trying to enjoy your life and spread more awesomeness. To an extent, going into, specialisation is interesting and it's good, but the simplicity, what you're talking about there, is just, that's always what's going to make this accessible and then allow there to be consistency. Mason: (46:15) What you were talking about before with heavenly Qi, I think it's got everything to do with the Qi herbs. It's got everything to do with these herbs, Codonopsis, White Atractylodes, and Poria and Astragalus, in that humans being the bridge between heaven and earth is what, it's a core in many philosophies and it's a core Taoist belief, which is, just being a metaphor in itself. I don't mind it just been that. So we've got that relation, so it's Tian, Ren, Di, it's sky, human, earth, and each of those, they're Three Treasures in themselves. Right? Mason: (46:52) And so we see, same as with Shiva being that Yang and being that consciousness, and then that Qi, humanity being associated with that treasure of Qi. And then we see the Shakti being that earth and that Yin, it makes sense. It's the same as, Pachamama being mother earth and earth, and Pachacarma, that father son in the shamanic circles. But you can see then there's Three Treasures in, for sky we see sun, moon, stars, humans, we see Jing Qi Shen, and then for earth see water, wind, fire. So they've got their own Jing, Qi ,Shen. Mason: (47:31) But humans sit in the middle, We are most appropriately, if we're going to be a bridge, Qi is going to encapsulate us the most. And that's why you, we see ... that's why I'm excited to have more and more Qi blends coming through just in our little, and being able to educate about Qi and the cultivation and Qi and movement Qi in our little circle. In our little circle here, because Jing has been such a focus because everyone's been I need energy. Everyone's been so exhausted and so that's not a place to start. You need a foundation, you need an actual ... You need to be connected to say the gas, you need wood to burn in order to actually have digestion, or to have immunity. To have physicality, to have the possibility for your skeletal system to stay appropriately strong throughout your life, for your knees to stay strong, so you don't just start deteriorating, which we see. Mason: (48:22) Celebrating Western Medicine, but everyone's deteriorating at 60 years old. And that's well that's what happens, the thinning of the artery wall, that happens when you're 60, we can hold that off a little. But that's not what I believe is the normality. But at the same time that Jing, once you've got a lifestyle where you're not leaking that Jing, as we know, well where do we move? That's why a lot of the Taoists would be, Jing herbs would be there, in their circulation. The less stressed they were, the less they had to continue to take Jing herbs, you would take them every now and then. Mason: (48:59) Maybe water was, they have a Kidney Water constitution. And so that's why they enjoy it. And maybe sometimes they just putting a little extra money in the bank by taking a Jing herb. But a lot of the time you're going to see them sit. A lot of people sit, in their tonic herbal practice, on Qi herbs longterm. Okay, so why is that? Because it's the bridging force, it's that bridging Treasure. And yes, we're going to be talking about how digestion wise, the Spleen Earth system is what is taking in food, and able to cook and ferment our food. It somewhat controls that metabolic fire, and our ability to then extract what we need from what we're eating. Especially if you're eating a diet, something that's appropriate for you and your diet. Mason: (49:49) You were speaking to that before. It's why you've personally had to move away from a bit of a vegetarian diet, because you need lots of blood, and if you don't have lots of Blood, your Liver is going to be deficient in Blood because it stores, and you see things go wrong. That's why you can't go into this Chinese medical, Western compartmentalise, symptomatic external idea based of how to treat. The same way you can't go into external diets, this diet's correct, just with some nuance. You can't start with ideology, you can't start with institutional thinking. You need to start ... and you can't just go, offhand, but everyone's individual, everyone needs to personalise. Yeah, you do. But that's where you absolutely need to start with no prejudice in terms of how that person needs to live. Whether it's in a medical system or whether a dietary system. Mason: (50:44) But in that nature of us being that middle treasure, and that bridge, it's why, also with this lifestyle that we've got a movement practice that's moving out our Jing. We're increasing our ... What was the analogy you were using, in terms of you don't actually have the bandwidth. We need to slowly, with consistently, through a good diet, good Qi herbs, through our, whatever it is, you're own type of meditative practice, and breathing practice. Even just breathing well, they don't need to be real clinically done either, it's just a lifestyle that's hopefully not too stressed out. So you can breathe. You don't need to be this monastery, two hours a day practicing yogi. Mason: (51:32) I think that's another big thing, there's too much pressure. Find your own way. You can go your own way, with finding how to cultivate your Qi, without prejudice of what it's going to look like. So in that sense, we're in a rest digest place, so that we're able to actually digest the food that we're eating. But once we're in that place where our lifestyle is becoming extremely individualised, but it's visceral, it's felt. I'm moving, not because the CrossFit person or the Ashtanga yoga person, or whatever it is, they told me to move that way. I'm connected to my body and how I'm going to move myself and move my Qi. And that's going to increase your bandwidth. All of that, allows you to digest the universe because you're moving your Qi, and you're cultivating Qi, and that's all you need. Mason: (52:22) We don't need to theoretically understand the in's and out's of how the universe is working, in order to do this. It can't be done solely, or even in a dominant sense, in this mental framework and especially within a sympathetic nervous system turned on. Fight or flight, which we're all doing. We're all fighting. We're all fighting to justify our existence, especially with social media. Definitely feeling that come up in myself recently, trying to personalise more and more. Just nuances of it, but can you really just sit in a rest and digest place? Then you're actually going to be able to cultivate some Qi. Mason: (52:58) When you start cultivating your Qi, you're actually, and through the Qi herbs they're going to be focusing on your Spleen Earth and your Lung Metal, to make sure that you're getting a lot from your food, get a lot of Gu Qi from your food, and a lot of Kong Qi from the air that you are breathing. And then beginning to cultivate that electromagnetic charge within those organ systems, but then also unifying those two daily forms of Qi so that that can, in the Yang form, be distributed into your subcutaneous tissue, into your surface Meridians. That's known as your Wei Qi. And so that's what keeps you protected. Mason: (53:34) And then also down into your deeper Meridians, the 12 major Meridians and beyond. To actually nourish your tissue, or to nourish your organ system. Sorry. And in that sense, when you can get a lifestyle flow going down that route, you're drawing less and less and less and less and less on your Jing in order to get through the day. And more and more and more via your movement practice, breath, food, Qi herbs, right? You're drawing on, you're increasing your capacity and your bandwidth to utilise daily Qi. And the idea is, you get so good at that, which is, this is where the Taoism comes in, whether it's for everyone or not, but you can actually start then creating so much, and cultivating so much that then that can percolate down and start to be stored as Jing. Right? Because remember Jing is just Qi. They're not completely different things. It's just different- Tahnee: (54:25) It's our chemical form of Qi. I think there's ... I can't remember the numbers, but there's in one of the Taoists alchemy texts they talk about, it takes seven whatever's of Qi to and make one whatever of Jing, I don't know if you can remember the? Mason: (54:41) No. Tahnee: (54:41) No. And the same with, that much to create Shen, it's this really huge process of refinement. And one of the things I think that's really important to think about, is that idea of exhaustion, if you're going through the day and by three or four you're completely knackered and you still have to push through. Let's say you have small children, we know all about this, you have to push through till eight or nine until they're finally in bed and you can start to unwind and rest. Then you've basically just used all your Qi by three, and you're now tapping into your reserves. And this is having to go into a savings account every week to live. You're going to run out of cash at some point. And that's when we hit that exhaustion that people contact us about. Mason: (55:27) Yeah. Can I talk to ... Because there's a nuance there that is, I think it's useful for people, just remembering, you, may have been working on your Jing for a long time that you might get to that three o'clock or that four o'clock and you feel fatigue. So for that fatigue or that fatigueness in your limbs, mental fatigue, that's more closely associated with that treasurer of Qi. Tahnee: (55:51) Yeah, like heaviness. Mason: (55:52) Yeah. Tahnee: (55:52) And even, if you imagine sagginess ... I don't know how to best explain this, but you know when you've been on a plane for a while and your feet get fluidy and heavy and swollen and stuff, that's because your Qi is stagnating, is not able to circulate, and you've run out of battery power, I suppose, to move your Qi. Mason: (56:14) And there is, don't mistake that for the fact that when you get to three to five o'clock, it's bladder time in the Organ Wheel, and that is a time for less intense energy. Tahnee: (56:28) Yeah, but that's where you would have a yoga nidra, or go have a cup of Qi, and do a meditation or something that recharges you. Mason: (56:37) Absolutely, do a ... That's what I did, I went live yesterday on Superfeast, and I was having a little rebound, and I had my afternoon Qi. But just to, you might have your lifestyle dialed in where you don't become exhausted necessarily. It might take a few months of you not really changing until you really actually start going, shit, I'm getting exhausted here. So in that instance, it's a perfect time to be working with these Qi herbs, right. Verse, if you are actually exhausted and you need external stimulus to give you willingness to get up and get going. That is a Jing deficiency, and you need to use lifestyle and Jing herbs. And that's when you potentially need to make big changes in your life in order to ensure that you're not leaking your Jing. Mason: (57:25) But it's almost, with Qi, it's almost a little harder, because the subtlety, you can't just do a 30 days of Qi and then completely change the direction of the way your emotional patterns work, and the way you've constructed your workflow and all these kinds of ... you can't just do, 30 days of Jing, people get off stimulants, get on Jing and then can feel completely recharged, in terms of what it's it changes their lives. My gosh, I'm not leaking Jing, you were able to do something. Mason: (57:57) Qi is, it's more subtle. It's more transformational and rewarding in the end, but it takes that little more consistency. It's less extreme, but the rewards of you altering your lifestyle in minute ways. Oh, I need to do a little less exercise, a little less, more of that exercise. I need to alter my diet. So this is where it challenges ideologies, right? So when you're Jing deficient, you open yourself up to ideologies, because you don't have a foundation of who you are, and what you are. But then once you've plugged that Jing deficiency, you've still got those identities externally attached to ways your parents lived, the way we live in the West, the way a liberal voter lives, a way a vegan lives, or a carnivore lives or whatever it is. Mason: (58:45) But in the Qi stage, when you're cultivating more and more Qi, you are personalising more and more for yourself. So you need to know yourself and understand yourself. And that can be confronting, because you need to know yourself emotionally. I'm definitely confronted by it, it's difficult work. You need to start understanding what's actually going to work for you. So it's going to challenge every prejudice that you had about yourself and every little external identity grab that you had. So just know, that's where you're really getting alchemical internally, when you get to this point when you can sit in the middle and cultivate that Qi. And when you do have that Qi flowing and cultivating, through these things that we're talking about, that's when you naturally, your flame gets bigger, and your light, your Shen, you can start actually really learning some deep things about yourself. And learning from life experiences and bringing that forth in your own wisdom, which is your Shen. Tahnee: (59:42) I think, what I'm really thinking about while I listened to you talk about that is, this idea, I think we were talking about it before, not in the podcast, but before we came on, but about, how basically the idea is to become a wise child. And if you look at a child, if they have an emotion and they're permitted to have it, it just gets expressed. They have a tantrum, they kick, they scream, it lasts for five, 10 minutes and then it's done. And then they're hey, can we go play in the muddy puddle, or whatever. And it's, that energy hasn't been stopped in their body and it hasn't created a blockage. Tahnee: (01:00:24) And what we do as adults, over time, and we learned this from childhood, and thi
Chinese Medical Physician and acupuncturist, Carolyn Barron, is back on the show with all her wisdom! Today, she joins us to talk about the Winter Water season, the transition into the Chinese New Year, and what this means for our energy and practices during this time. We aren’t meant to go nonstop, and Carolyn shares how going slow and turning inward matches the season we are in. We dive into what it means to move with the energy of nature, and Carolyn reveals her favorite teas, herbs, and foods to nurture ourselves during this time. At the end, Carolyn leads us in a DIY acupressure, Qigong meditation. Location note for Acupressure on Ming Men 'Gate of Life': Ming Men is located in the center of the spine, just below the 2nd lumbar vertebrae. Hot tip ➞ find the curve of your natural waist where it pinches ever so slightly inward, then join the thumbs together on the midline. The thumbs will generally intersect w/ the spinous process of L2, and LIKE WHOA, this point is usually tender. My favorite acupressure technique for stimulating Ming Men comes from Chen Xiyi’s Red Phoenix Calisthenics, + involves rolling the knuckles over the areas left + right of Life Gate 36 times (36=9, the Taoist number of completion, containing all things + all permutations). It is said that by performing this sacred kneading that Qi can be absorbed into the bones. ***Our meditation begins at [40:50]! Learn more about Kelsey at http://kelseyjpatel.com (http://kelseyjpatel.com) Resources: Sign up for Carolyn’s magikal newsletter at botanarchy.com/inquire (http://www.botanarchy.com/inquire) Follow @botanarchy (https://www.instagram.com/botanarchy/?hl=en) on Instagram for recipes! Recommended Books: Tao: The Watercourse Way (https://www.amazon.com/Tao-Watercourse-Way-Alan-Watts/dp/0394733118) by Alan Watts Herbs for nourishing the Kidneys and supporting yourself in Water season: He Shou Wu (https://jingherbs.com/collections/best-sellers/products/he-shou-wu-extract-powder-50-grams) Schisandra (https://jingherbs.com/products/schisandra-extract-powder-50-grams?_pos=2&_sid=15a15d3de&_ss=r) Restore the Jin with Rehmannia (https://jingherbs.com/products/restore-the-jing-extract-powder-250-grams?_pos=3&_sid=d0beae3a0&_ss=r) Preorder Burning Bright: kelseyjpatel.com/book (https://www.kelseyjpatel.com/book) Instagram: instagram.com/kelseyjpatel (http://instagram.com/kelseyjpatel) Magik Vibes Instagram: instagram.com/magikvibes (http://instagram.com/magikvibes) Facebook: facebook.com/kelseyjpatel (https://www.facebook.com/kelseyjpatel) Magik Vibes is a production of (http://crate.media)
Mason Taylor is a health educator, tonic herb expert, and the founder of Superfeast.com.au, which is one of the world's most prominent purveyors of potent, wild-crafted medicinal mushrooms & adaptogen herbs, designed to upgrade your body naturally in almost evcery way possible. An Australian like myself, Mason's extreme love of natural healing products and foraging for his own mushrooms, lead him to create Superfeast in order to share this ancient plant knowledge, and help others living in today's modern world support their immune system, kidney function, sex hormones, and many other aspects of their life using these compounds -- many that have been used traditionally for thousands of years, but now have advanced scientific backing showing their power on the human body. In this episode we discuss some of the potent ranges of herbal medicine, how tonic herbs can detoxify the body, the healing and immune-supporting properties of several kinds of medicinal mushrooms, details on several unique herbs including He Shou Wu, eucommia bark, and pearl powder, how herbal medicine may aid in extending the lifespan of humans, some natural biohacks for skin health, and right at the end of the episode, what the most potent antioxidant rich plant compound on earth is, and how it can help with wound healing, and to bring out more radiant skin. We also talk about deer antler, which is a compound taken from the antler of a deer, why it's so powerful, and what it's used for. And as there have been some ethical concerns for the sourcing of deer antler, Mason has asked that I share a video of his visit to the farm where Superfeast source this part of their product link, which I have linked to below. SUPERFEAST: https://superfeast.com.au/ DEER ANTLER FARM VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAkyU26dflA CONNECT Connect with Leon The Alchemist online for more intensive biohacking, longevity, and performance advice daily, with exclusive content you won't find anywhere else: INSTAGRAM: @LeonTheAlchemist | https://www.instagram.com/leonthealchemist TWITTER: @AlchemistLeon | https://twitter.com/alchemistleon LINKTREE: https://linktr.ee/leonthealchemist WEBSITE: http://bioalchemy.co COURSE: http://bio.ax/ LEARN Want to take your biohacking skills to the next level? Wake up feeling better each and every day? Or as Dr Aubrey De Grey has suggested, see if you can implement some of the longevity biohacks that may see you living to 1,000 years or more with advancements in technology? Then my intensive biohacking course The Alchemist's Guide to Biohacking (http://bio.ax/) is something you should consider becoming a student of. Use the code "HALF" during the first month of this podcast being launched to get 50% off lifetime access, with all future updates. Check out this biohacking course at: http://bio.ax/ SUPPORT I spend a ton of time putting together this podcast, and would love your support. Whether as simple as reviewing this podcast, to checking out the products I recommend, or even becoming a student of my intensive biohacking course "The Alchemist's Guide To Biohacking", I appreciate every human who supports me, however large or small the action. ITUNES: https://apple.co/2GQnXH2 SUB ON GOOGLE: https://bit.ly/2SbvJ05 BIOHACKING COURSE: http://bio.ax/
In today's podcast the boys come together to discuss candida overgrowth, its frequency within the population, the varied symptomatology associated with this common yeast-like infection and the strategies you can use to bring the body back into balance. Mason, Dan and Sage draw on their superior knowledge of this condition from personal experience, sharing their wisdom from a traditional Taoist tonic herbal perspective and a functional naturopathic approach. The gents discuss: The fact that Candida albicans is a naturally occurring organism within the body and only becomes problematic when imbalance occurs how chronic use of antibiotics can contribute to the condition how diet and lifestyle practices can help to bring things back into harmony the common symptoms that candida overgrowth is present, e.g. chronic fatigue, brain fog, digestive disturbances, weakened immunity, oral thrush, fungal infections within the the skin and nails etc the particular clinical tests you can use to investigate and diagnose candida within your body how you can use your symptoms and health history to identify whether candida is a problem for you foods that aggravate the immune system and exacerbate candida overgrowth the importance of food combining in regards to candida candida from a naturopathic perspective and the clinical markers used to identify the condition the importance of normalising the body's circadian rhythms and adrenal response is in regards to healing candida from a Taoist perspective and what's happening within the organ systems, particularly the spleen how candida leads to jing depletion and exhaustion within the system as a whole the correlation between candida and leaky gut the Jing herbs you can use to rebuild your foundational energy stores, these include he shou wu, cordyceps, rehmannia, morinda etc the importance of lifestyle factors such as sleep, rest, breathing practices, nature time and reduced caffeine and sugar intake to bring combat candida overgrowth the lifestyle tweaks you can use to bring the body back into its parasympathetic mode so you can heal. Reishi and Ashwagandha are game changers here how cutting carbs and sugar can help manage candida symptoms using fats (ketones) as fuel how herbs such as pau d'arco, chaga and reishi can assist healing the benefits of probiotics and fermented foods such as sauerkraut and coconut kefir the Body Ecology Diet the importance of sunshine and vitamin D, sweat and movement the herbs and nutraceuticals you can use to break up stubborn biofilms the importance of supporting the liver with herbs such as schizandra, burdock and dandelion root and st mary's thistle the importance of full body detoxification in healing from candida overgrowth the three phases of liver detoxification and the nutrients your body needs to successfully complete them the immune boosting powers of medicinal mushrooms when healing from candida, particularly chaga, reishi, turkey tail, maitake, Mason's Mushrooms the difference between ground dwelling mushrooms and those that grow on trees e.g medicinal mushrooms bringing awareness around the glycemic load of gluten free products when working to heal candida overgrowth the tests you can use to distinguish candida from other bacterial loads within the body, particularly the OAT (organic acids test) Who is Dan Sipple? Dan is a also known as The Functional Naturopath who uses cutting-edge evidence-based medicine. Experienced in modalities such as herbal nutritional medicine, with a strong focus on environmental health and longevity, Dan has a wealth of knowledge in root-dysfunction health. Who is Sage Dammers? Fuelled by a passionate desire to help people live the ultimate life and create a better world, Sage studied raw and superfood nutrition and traditional herbal systems, especially Taoist tonic herbalism. He has worked with and trained under the world’s leading master herbalists and nutrition and longevity experts in Costa Rica, Australia, Bali, China, and America. Sage has developed products internationally and given lectures on peak performance nutrition in Australia, Bali, America, and France. His years of experience in this unique arena have allowed him to cultivate an unparalleled combination of cutting edge nutritional and culinary expertise. Sage has started tonic elixir bars in 5 star luxury hotels in Paris and Sydney serving longevity elixirs disguised as gourmet treats, introducing the novel concept of healthy indulgences to the market of world travelers. Resources Clearlight Saunas The Wim Hoff Method Body Ecology Mason in China at the Poria Farm Benny Ferguson Movement MonkDan InstagramDan Email Addictive Wellness addictivewellness Instagram Addictive Wellness Choccies on Amazon Q: How Can I Support The SuperFeast Podcast? A: Tell all your friends and family and share online! We’d also love it if you could subscribe and review this podcast on iTunes. Or check us out on Stitcher :)! Plus we're on Spotify and Soundcloud! Check Out The Transcript Here: Mason: Hey, everybody! Welcome to the SuperFeast podcast. It's Mason here, and I've got an epic conversation coming for you today with some of my favorite men in the health space. I've got two names and faces you're going to recognize. We've got Sage Dammers from, you're joining us from over in LA, Addictive Wellness. Incredible tonic herb-infused, sugar-free chocolates as well as smoothie elixir packs, and all infused with all these beautiful tonic herbs and mushies we're going to be going into and as well as tonic herbs on their own. Mason: And Sage is one of my absolute favorite voices coming out of that like, gnarly melting pot of LA with this absolutely next-level in health and this integration of health systems from all around the world, and Sage has been in it for so many years and you've heard him talk on it before, and you've heard his wealth of knowledge. It's always surprising to find out what he's going to be able to come up with. And today, talking about candida, is going to be no different. Mason: And I've also got Dan Sipple, friend, functional naturopath down the south coast of Sydney. Dan is absolutely my favorite go-to naturopath, we've been friends for a long time. He is now officially my mother's naturopath and mine and Tahnee's naturopath, and so that's a beautiful little evolution that's going about. Mason: Boys today we're going on a deep dive, three way conversation around the yeast-like infection candida albicans. Welcome guys. Dan: Hey, hey. Sage: Thank you for having us, Mason. It's a pleasure to be here. Mason: Yeah it's going to be so good, so fun. Alright, you know I don't know how many other people are going to be having the best time absolute ever having a conversation around a gnarly infection that's become ... I guess it's not as trendy, I'd say? As it used to be? But it's definitely still a hot topic, especially a hot topic in the west. Mason: Candida albicans, yeast-like fungus within the body that, as I mentioned, now it's absolutely a normal part. These candida cells are a normal part of our body, of our flora, exists within our mucus membranes, our skin, mouths, genitalia, vagina, intestines and other organs. We're going to be talking about this phenomena today where we see some kind of environmental, or maybe lifestyle, or maybe it's been a modern medicine antibiotic that's then led to an upset within our microbiome and basically in many other areas, including immune deficiencies. That's led to this fungus, yeast within the body then overgrowing and getting what many people have experienced, which is fungal overgrowth. Mason: First of all I just want to go to Sage. Just going to go to you and say hey and give people a bit of an insight with your history of candida. Sage: Yeah, absolutely thank you Mason. For me personally, I dealt with candida first hand. When I was growing up I was a vegetarian but not a healthy by any means. I was just on carb overload throughout my whole Childhood of like rice and pasta and pizza and any carb I could get my hands on. Was very fortunate not to be eating fast food, but still was not the most ultimate diet ever. Sage: So when I came into my teen years, about 15 and a half, I started developing chronic acne, probably more to do with my diet than anything else. Diet and combination of hormones and things like that. I didn't know what to do with it at the time, you know? I tried lost of topical things and things of that nature but nothing was really making an impact in helping me, and that's such a stressful thing as a kid to be going through. And I resorted to taking antibiotics, because it was the only thing that was going really do me any good at the time in terms of the superficial results that I was looking for. I didn't understand the whole repercussions and the future downsides of it, I just knew, this is going to help me in the short-term not to be so self-conscious. And I had no other solutions. I didn't know of all these other things I know about now. I wish I would've. Sage: So I was on twice-daily antibiotics from age 16 until 19 and a half. Mason: Gnarly. Sage: So these years of antibiotics, as you can imagine, wreaked havoc on my microbiome, and left me ripe for candida to come in and take over. So it was a thing where in the beginning I enjoyed fruit so much, and even as I was getting healthy and getting onto much more of a natural diet I still really enjoyed fruit. So I didn't want to give that up, and that was the one thing holding me back from really making progress against candida, where I couldn't make the jump to go fully into what was necessary to push back on the candida. Sage: And eventually it got to the point where I got real mentally strong about it and got strict and went through the Body Ecology Diet, Stage One, where it's really strong. Cutting out carbs, cutting out sugars, bringing in probiotics and fermented foods and some of the most powerful antifungal and immune-enhancing herbs, and over the course of a couple years that really got me through it and got me to a much better stage of health. Life has been much better ever since. Mason: Yeah, I mean to the extent that where I think that history of yours has played such a huge part in your life that it's absolutely entwined in your philosophy, the ways that you make your chocolates and your elixir blends, right? Sage: That's why I have sugar-free chocolate, is because I [inaudible 00:05:25] but still have a sweet treat, while I was in the candida recovery stages, and it didn't really exist. It wasn't out there. All, you know there's all these chocolates made with agave and coconut palm sugar and all that, and regardless of where somebody may stand on those things, they are still gonna be feeding bacteria, fungus, yeast and molds in the body, and it's not going to be your friend most times and especially not on recovery from candida where you need to not be feeding these guys. So I made it out of necessity, and it's turned into a beautiful life of being a chocolate maker. Mason: Yeah, I love it. The fruit of the healing journey and I still attest that it's the only sugar-free chocolate that I can really thoroughly enjoy. Sage: Thank you. Mason: Dan you've had quite a history with candida, now you've really had this firsthand clinical experience for a number of years now. I'm interested to hear what your path with candida has been. Dan: Yeah sure, and not too dissimilar to Sage. IT very much came as a result of antibiotic exposure, and so I've talked a couple of times on previous podcasts. In my earlier years, 17, 18, 19 I had issues with viral load and autoimmunity, which kind of set the scene for other opportunistic organisms to take over, and it was a course of about five or six years where I was kind of floating in that space where my immune system was compromised to the point to where I would actually need antibiotics by the time these bacterial infections would take over. It was like a vicious cycle that got set up, and I see that often in clinical practice too, where once that cycle starts it's very hard to get off that train. Particularly if you are being dictated to by the western medical model, which at the time I was heavily under the influence by. Mason: [inaudible 00:07:19]. Dan: Yeah, absolutely that's right. So lots and lots of antibiotics, I'd get better. I'd push my body a bit, the infections would return to the point where there was clear and overt infection. Not knowing anything about herbal protocols or functional medicine or naturopathy or anything of that kind of world at this stage, but it was very much a long road to try to undo that vicious cycle and get out of that loop? And incorporating things like Sage is talking about with diet and lifestyle and cutting the alcohol and the sugars out, you know. Optimizing vitamin D status and restoring the microbiome. So it was definitely one of those things that didn't go away overnight, and I think that's really important to drill into the listeners as well is that once you get traction with something like candida you really need to set up a lifestyle that facilitates long-term resistance against that so that these opportunistic organisms can't take back over. Mason: Candida's such an interesting one. The level of symptoms that arise from a chronic infection are so vast, and it's one of those ones where if you read the list you go, my gosh; I don't know if that list is very useful because there's so many other infections or deficiencies that can give rise to it. But then there are, of course, some specifics. And so looking at the list, you've got chronic fatigue, brain fog, digestive issues. Then when you start getting down a little bit more the reoccurring yeast infections, oral thrush. Even going into sinus infection, you can start seeing candida is being implicated when there's food allergies, when there's intolerance. Of course, dead giveaway is fungal infections on the skin, within the nails especially within the feet, and then a weak immune system. Quite often is it a chicken or an egg, you know? You can see that when there is weak immunity, especially when you see medications in particular like antibiotics and chemotherapy, and then hormone disrupters like hormone replacement therapy ... what is it? Corticosteroids, then? Am I saying that right? Dan: That's right, yeah. Immunosuppressants, corticosteroid-based medications because they're basically squashing the immune response, which, although ameliorate symptoms, allows these guys to take an even stronger hold. Mason: Mm. Oh and then you even see joint pain and definitely the alteration of moods coming about from candida. And so we go, okay. Unless you've got some of the telltales, like reoccurring thrush, fungal thrush in the mouth and fungal infection coming up on the skin, how do you clinically hone in on a diagnosis that in fact we do have candida cells proliferating in excess in the body? Dan: Is that question directed at me, Mason? Just to clarify? Mason: It is, and I will just make ... And I don't think you have clinic, Sage. I don't know maybe you didn't know that Dan. Sage: No, no clinic for me. So if I hear the clinically word in there just [inaudible 00:10:22]. Dan: Yeah, so to answer that question. That's a really good question, Mase, to really sort of hit on the head in the forefront. I think with an issue like candida it's very, very rare that I see that alone. What I usually find is that that's there in concert with just a good old dysbiosis where you'll see bacterial pathogens that are overgrown, you may or may not see parasites as well. So I don't think I've ever seen just one clean cut, pure case of candida without all that going on with some sort of viral load or bacterial imbalance. And so what we find is, is that the best kind of treatment is not just to isolate the yeast in this case and attack the yeast. It's to nurture that whole ecosystem, to treat it like an ecosystem where you're setting up a new environment basically, to where it's not conducive for it to thrive, which as we say does incorporate diet, lifestyle, herbs and the whole concert and symphony of things. Dan: But in terms of testing, you can do blood testing for antibodies to see if the immune system has actually seen the candida albicans and made antibodies against it from the base cells? The only downside to a test like that is that you don't whether the immune system has made those antibodies 10 years ago or if it's happening right now and that's where the symptoms really need to guide you. If there's overt signs of candida as is like on the tongue, the toenail, the respiratory issues and what not, then you've got more of a case for that so that's where usually doing the stool test and looking at candida markers in combination with that blood is a really good way to back that up. Because if you're seeing it on both, if you're seeing it in the stool, antibodies, then you've got quite a good case for it being currently present. And in that case, you know, obviously, you want to make the protocol more specific to yeast in that case. Mason: Sage, how do you go about this? Because I completely ... I like the fact that I've got access to Dan's knowledge and can get a little bit more specific, and I know you recommend this a lot, in getting some testing, getting some panels done so you're not just, like, shooting in the dark. But how do you, dare I say kind of like, I know I can definitely say that I come from a more folky perspective when it comes to gentle diagnosis? But from your perspective how do you go about that in really identifying that candida is in fact present? Sage: Yeah, I don't know exactly what your health care system is like in Australia, but I know here in the US it's expensive to do lots of testing. Very often things will not be covered by insurance so you'll have to pay them out of pocket, so I always find it's really nice to be able to at least somewhat get a little bit of progress in terms of a self-diagnosis before you go investing in testing so at least you know what tests to go do, so you don't have to spend thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars. Because it can get real expensive. Sage: So with candida, as you mentioned, you're looking at a lot of symptoms in terms of recurring infections, oral thrush, fungal issues. And then it's a combination of looking at your symptoms and then looking at your history in terms of antibiotic use. If you've had extended use of antibiotics, especially if it's for two weeks or more in the past, your odds are going to be pretty high that at some point candida has taken a good foothold in your system and started to really proliferate beyond the natural levels that you'd find. Candida at small levels is actually a good part of a healthy microbiome, good for nutrient absorption and beneficial in that way. But when things are thrown out of balance you're going to get in a lot of trouble. Sage: So there's many really good questionnaires up there online that people can do just to get an initial idea, just to get a rough feel? Then from there you can progress to testing, which I think is incredibly important. If you can afford it, whether it's this kind of testing or whether you're looking at your thyroid or hormones, rather than just experimenting without data indefinitely and maybe five years from now you finally figure out what's really going on. Save yourself a ton of time and a lot of trouble and probably save yourself money in the long run in terms of being able to spend money on the right supplements and herbs to help you out, and foods, rather than dealing with misdiagnoses for an extended period of time. Mason: Well let's say just getting to the food here. Often we know, that yeah we've had a look at kind of the pharmaceutical angle, the antibiotics especially. Especially going in and nailing the microbiome and causing our ability to actually create the environment where we can naturally regulate healthy levels of this, this and candida cells being within the body. Let's have a look at the food that you see as being an accumulative force or an aggravator, that leave our organ function, immune function, the microbiome function to getting to the point that candida can actually take hold. What are the, what are these nasty ones or excessive ones that get nasty when they're excessive? Sage: Yeah I think it is many things that happen in conjunction. Probably, if you had never taken antibiotics, and you've got a really strong immune system, you could deal with having some of the wrong foods coming into the body, right? Even if you never did antibiotics, but you're having tons of sugar, but your immune system's really strong ancestrally? Maybe you're okay and maybe you can pull it off. Or if you're having lots of sugar and in combination you're having, say, ground mushrooms, like culinary mushrooms that haven't been properly cleaned and tend to be very contaminated and nasty. And these are different from tree mushrooms, I want to be real clear about the distinction- Mason: I'm going to leave a lot of time for us to get into that distinction, thanks for bringing that up so when we- Sage: Yeah yeah. So we'll come back to that a little bit later. Patience everybody, we'll get there. Mason: Patience, you mushroom fiends! Sage: Depending on the individual, right? Because everybody's got a bit of a different setup in terms of the microbiome and adjusted powers, but for a lot of people I think also: poor food combining. Especially having lots of, like, leafy greens? That take time to digest and they're very fibrous? And combining that with really sugary starchy fruit. I've found that for a lot of people the fruit wants to burn up fast and move through, and it's like rocket fuel. But then you have, you know. It's like a Ferrari on a freeway, wants to go, doesn't like being driven slowly. And then you have these green leafy vegetables that take time to digest, they're very nutritious, they're like a big rig carrying lots of, you know, nutrition on them and fiber and what not. And they slow down the traffic, and the Ferrari is getting into road rage. It's like it develops into a situation where it's a ripe breeding ground for proliferation as things start to ferment in there. Sage: So that could also be a situation that, while it may not specifically cause, it wouldn't be a root source of candida? It would not be supportive or helpful if it was something that you were dealing with. Mason: Mm. Love it. Hey Dan what about you, in terms of dietary lifestyle factors that are really going to come in and, you know, if ... I like what you said there, Sage. There's going to be different constitutions at work here. You're going to have an ancestral ... It might be the difference being breastfed or not being breastfed, in terms of whether your immune system is strong or just ancestrally whether you've got that strong gene expression within the immune system, and then acknowledging that. Because long-term, I think you've definitely seen it over in LA, I definitely have here in the health, same way. You almost get to a paranoia of candida becoming crippling to your lifestyle. Is that something you see happening a lot? Sage? Sage: A little bit. It's not people, the awareness of it in the community is not as strong, I would say, as it was in like, 2011, 2012? There was- Mason: Glory days. Sage: ... back then? You know, these trends and focuses always kind of come and go. I don't know, it's weird because it's still as much an issue as ever, but people kind of feel the need to talk about something new, so they can sell new books and post new videos. So. As we move more further beyond some of the basics than we really need to, the solution was often right at hand. Mason: Yeah, very funny. And I agree. I think candida is having a PR nightmare right now. I think- Sage: [SIBO 00:18:45] has stolen all the attention from it. Mason: Yeah. And so Dan what's your take on this? Dietarily, lifestyle-wise, what are the conditions that you see as precursor to, especially if someone has the constitution that is ripe for the picking for candida being an issue. What do you see those being? Dan: I completely agree with Sage, and I think I'd add on to that what I find really prevalent is when people's circadian rhythms are out? When they're using, you know, dietary sources to jack up their adrenal response. So caffeine, you know, refined sugar obviously. Nailing the circadian rhythms and leaving space between meals sounds really, really simple, but it is quite pivotal when you're dealing with any sort of dysbiotic environment when it comes to the gut, or the respiratory system, or any immune suppression. Getting the circadian rhythms locked in and normalizing the nervous system, and the adrenal response is huge. Dan: Because if you think about it, if you've got fire going on in that digestive system or anywhere in the body that's of a yeast or a general viral origin or whatever, your adrenals are seeing that and are constantly trying to put out those flames with a fire extinguisher, hence the adrenal fatigue phenomena. So normalizing those rhythms and supporting the adrenals can't be understated. Mason: Yeah, I would definitely attest to that. I mean, we've spoken about ... I think I've spoken to both of you previously on the podcast talking about digestion in case people aren't realizing digestion has a huge part to play with candida albicans. Especially from a [Daoist 00:20:29] perspective when you start seeing weak spleen Chi. Mason: That can really be the feeding ground from a triple burner perspective. That middle burner really emerging with whether it's just dampness or weakness within the spleen and therefore that whole spleen and digestive network through the stomach, then allowing strong digestive function, strong governance of your bacterial levels. What we see there is that can be the catalyst to then going down into the lower burner where we see damp heat emerge, and we start seeing yeast infections within, basically throughout the entire sexual organ system. And then also moving from that middle burner to the upper burner, where we see heat and fire through the lungs with all those allergies and all those respiratory issues and through the heart as well. Mason: So basically I'm going to pause it there because I think if I open up that can of worms and make a distinct ... in these treatment protocols it's going to take us in a completely other direction. Mason: But there's a few things then that you were touChing on that I want to leapfrog off, and that was definitely the Jing and exhaustion aspect here. You talked about the fact that, I like seeing the Jing as the pilot light for digestion. If you are exhausted, if you're adrenally exhausted, if you're leaking that essence, if you're relying on coffee, if you're mentally stressed and you're in emotional patterns that continue to make you, you know. Those things that make you emotionally excessive. You're going to see that you don't have the foundations and roots within your body, within the core energy centers of the kidneys to really stabilize you. And to that, you're going to see a thorough endocrine disruption go on at that stage, because you are overly adrenalized. And you can't produce natural cortisol, you can't get down to, like you have to rely on these cortisone creams and all that kind of stuff. But then at the same time you're not going to be able to lead to that real healthy sex organ function. Mason: And so, basically, that core is ... You see that consistently, I do as well, Sage, where that exhaustive, gene-depleting lifestyle doesn't allow for the pilot light to go on so that the spleen can actually turn on that fire and appropriately- Dan: It can probably become, I think it can really become a vicious cycle, because with the candida, it's creating higher levels of permeability of digestive lining. So you're getting, essentially leaky gut, and this is releasing bits of food and digestive materials into the bloodstream, which is causing inflammation and autoimmunity. But it's also releasing the toxins, which are being produced by the candida. Its own, basically the candida poo being released throughout your body. Dan: So now you've got systemic inflammation firing away, and that is going to be a major leak of Jing. So that in itself is depleting the adrenals, and it's a vicious cycle because okay now your adrenals are depleted, now you can't fuel your immune system because you're experiencing exhaustion, and the candida can even grow further. And it's really unfortunate. But at the same time if you can get in there with a little bit of action and start making some moves on it, you can slow down that cycle and start to spin it back. Mason: Well let's start here, in terms of looking at treatment. Once we've identified that perhaps we have an environment, and as Dan was saying: you're not going to be able to just isolate candida. There's most likely going to be a number of coinfections, and you're definitely going to see, I'm sure you're going to see a bunch of worms of various types being present at that time because we're going to see a repressed immune function. But starting off the bat, quite often we're looking at removing the excessive candida from the body, cleaning up the diet, and I guess loosely saying this is going to be a cleansing or cleaning aspect of the protocol. Mason: Now at this point, I'd like to get both your two cents. We'll start with Sage. Do you like to bring in, of course lifestyle factors, and I think it's obvious that are going to reduce stress, but do you like to bring in herbs or other practices to, for lack of a better word, tone our ability to store and restore Jing? Sage: Yeah, of course. So naturally, you and I and I bet Dan is into these as well, you want to look at your top Jing-building herbs. Things like He Shou Wu, Cordyceps, [inaudible 00:24:58], Rehmannia, Morinda. And so I think building that base of core vitality is an essential component of any healing program, basically. Because without that your body just does not have the energy and the safety. When you're in such a Jing-vulnerable state? And you're prepared to run out of fuel and die at just about any moment? Your body is afraid and not going to divert resources to dealing with your fungal issues because it's just concerned with not, like, crashing and burning and that being the end of the show. Sage: So absolutely, building the Jing is essential, so you can build ... you're kind of simultaneously wanting to build the Jing, and address the candida itself to stop the Jing leak, and then you can start improving at like, twice as fast. Mason: And Dan, what's your take on that? Dan: Yeah. 100%. Nervous system and adrenal support is absolutely necessity initially before you, I think before you even go in thinking about using the big guns to break up the biofilms and reduce the candida load with strong antimicrobials, which are all part of the protocol. But it really depends on the person in front of you to. So for example, if I've got someone who's burning the candle at both ends, doing the 75-hour work week, and only wants to take antimicrobials it's like, ha ha. No, no, no, no, no. We have to nail the lifestyle first. That is absolutely essential. And so sleep, blue lights, EMFs, all of that stuff comes into it. Diet, you have to have the foundations ready and ripe for the body to go, aha! Now I can enter healing mode, now I can switch over to parasympathetic. Because the foundations are there. Dan: What I often do in those cases, too, with someone who is really on this end of the spectrum and is part of that go-go-go lifestyle? Is just little simple tweaks, like green tea. So instead of coffee? It's green tea. It's anti-strep, it's anti-candida, it boosts [inaudible 00:26:58] bacteria, it's antioxidant, it's lymphatic. So little tweaks like that. You know, removing the sugars. You sort of stage it out. Dan: Then you might bring in a probiotic, and you'll use a strain which has been shown to reduce fungal load and boost natural killer cells and various components of the immune system. And you step it up. And you step it up. And you step it up. And you carefully watch for reactions, because that's another part of it with any sort of protocol where you are reducing microbial load, because you are obviously going to run into potential detoxification issues if that person's ability to clear out these metabolites can't keep up with the front end. So that's something that you really have to be careful navigating. Dan: And like Sage said earlier, this can take a long time, people. This can take, if it's been a long time it can be up to one or two years. And then once you're there to have to maintain where you've got to, and in my case I got there a long time and ended up, a little while later, in a moldy apartment over on the northern beaches and it all went out the window. Those things come up, so you have to be really on to the environmental side of it too. Mason: Okay, and let's just, before we move on, I want to touch on the nervous system and supporting the nervous system to getting into that parasympathetic state so we can actually get to resting, digesting, and healing. Some of your favorite methods, distinctions whether they use technologies or whether they be something simple that we can access through nature. Dan: Yeah, nice one. So I'm sure we've touched on it before Mason, but just barefoot earthing. Getting back into nature, a very simple thing to do. Slowing the breathing down, doing diaphragmatic breathing, not breathing shallowly from the chest. And doing that as often as possible, making that really, really priority. I often team that up with the blue light blockers, which you can get now. Get people to slap those on at like 7 PM at night every night leading up to bed. SwitChing off wifi at night, that's really good for the nervous system. Dan: So all these little tweaks to get you over from fight-or-flight over to the parasympathetic side of the nervous system. You can also pair that up with a few gentle botanicals like chamomile, passionflower, and Reishi mushroom for example. That trio works fantastic. Mason: Yeah, like a beautiful moon milk at night, maybe with a bit of a ... well I like doing a chamomile, lavender infusion within the milk there, been doing that for retreaters recently and getting those Reishis in there. Beautiful nightcap. Mason: Sage, I know there's like a crazy crossover of what you do and love and recommend there, with the breath and the barefoot and getting the blue light out. Sage, one thing I'm going to have to do and put in the notes here is get the instructions on how people can completely get the blue light off their phone. Everyone's like, oh night mode. It's like, no, no, no; I'm like, Sage has got this beautiful hack for getting all the blue light out. Sage: Deep in the settings you can modify it so it glows all red at night, and you can still fully text and stuff. It gets weird if you're trying to, like, check out Chicks on Instagram? Because they don't look good. Mason: And that's you, man. I imagine it gets weird for you all night. AnnaBlanca's like, "What you doing?" Mason: "No I'm just doing some, looking at like, photography development, old school style, so weird." Sage: But other than that, it's great to be able to flip on all red at night, and it's just, everything in your phone, the only colors are red and black, for everything. And there's a shortcut you can set up where all you have to do, and I'm not sure exactly how this goes on with iPhone X and past that where there's no home button anymore. But with the older ones you just tap the home button three times for the shortcut, and it'll put it right into the red. So it's easy to turn on and off, so it's great. And then even for some random reason you need to check the time in the middle of the night, it's all red, so. It's ideal not to use it at all, but if you have to look then at least you're not messing up your melatonin levels and shocking your system in the middle of the night. Sage: And other things that I like for getting into that parasympathetic state is, Reishi mushroom has been mentioned. Ashwagandha is another one of my absolute favorites because it works on so many aspects of health that people are struggling with these days. Mason: It goes right in that moon milk as well, the Ashwagandha and Reishi with that infusion. Oh man, it's so good. Sage: And then also, infrared saunas are great to put you back in that parasympathetic- Mason: Oh yeah. Sage: ... state because you're being surrounded by the infrared, which is that heat signature that we as humans give off. That's why you look through night vision infrared goggles, and you see people. So if you think back, and this is a theory my dad first shared with me, and this is not scientifically based, really; it's just a theory, and you see if it resonates with you. But if you look back at when the last time was that you were fully surrounded with infrared heat in somewhat of a dark and fully safe place was in your mother's womb. Mason: Oh, true. Sage: And so it is getting you back to that place of being fully provided for, fully safe, everything take care of and everything's okay, all you need to do is Chill out. Mason: And you know what I'd probably put there, like, putting those ocean sounds on. Like over when Tahnee was pregnant we were listening to the placenta, and it had this woosh, woosh. So getting those sounds in there at the same time, those ocean sounds while you're meditating in that infrared sauna. And we should put some links, just here on this call we've got some incredible resources for people to go and get a clear light sauna. I mean, your folks offer them over there in the States, and we're both friends with Sebastian here who owns the New Zealand, Australian, and European and UK branch, so basically no matter where you are in the world we're going to be able to basically get you hooked up in- Sage: We've got the connections [inaudible 00:32:52]. Mason: Yeah, we've got the connections. We'll put some links in though depending on which continent you're on and give you some ... you know. Just give them the old, Sage and Mason ... and Dan. Well let's throw Dan in there as well. Sage, Mason and Dan sent me. So get you hooked up because I agree that is one of the absolute, ultimate technologies, having an infrared sauna in my house for getting the nervous system toned up. And we could just do a podcast on that, I'm sure. Mason: Now let's start- Sage: Real quick, if you don't mind, just to finish on the nervous system. I'm a huge fan of the Wim Hof method for this. Breathing and the super oxygenation? For strengthening the nervous system and gently building up to cold exposure. People get intimidated because they see people do it on Instagram in the beginning, but it's just like lifting weights. You train your nervous system, you don't jump in and do something super challenging, you know? Go to try to bench press 200 kilos on your first time going to the gym. Sage: You do the 30 seconds of cold water at the end of a hot shower or after taking a sauna, when it's not going to be that crazy. And from there you gently build up. Eventually you're doing 10 minutes of a cold shower, or you're doing a five or ten minute ice bath and it's not that big of a deal anymore because you built up to it at a sustainable level. Of course if you hit it too hard in the beginning, that's why people catch a cold. Their nervous system's weak and it can't handle being out in the cold if they hit it all at once, and it overwhelms them. It's like if you try to do too much at the gym, you're going to injure yourself, it happens. So I think that is one of the most incredible tools that I've experienced, and now that I've been doing it for, almost four years. And it's been, yeah. So powerful for me. Mason: Yeah and I think that's a good distinction there because when you look at the branding and what works is seeing Wim walk up and down in his shorts, and it's covered in snow. And basically it's very important for us to remember that these aren't systems of fanaticism. These are systems of appropriateness for you to build that core function. So I definitely throw my support behind that. Wim's a great guy and also for those of you that are maybe wanting to go even deeper through a process with your breath, if that might seem a little bit unobtainable? I'll also put a link, um, Benny Fergusson, my friend, the Movement Monk, has a really amazing, gentle breathwork practice that is very intricate and very much takes into account these, the mental and physical unification that's going to have to go throughout that process. Mason: So you've got lots of resources there, everyone, for getting that nervous system toned. Then we start moving into how are we going to get ... We've got the baseline. We've got building back our Jing, getting our nervous system toned, and I think we've kind of talked about it's the bread and butter. And maybe bread isn't the best example here because it's got the yeast raising factors, that are actually going to be implicated when it comes to candida. Sage: Non-starchy, gluten-free bread and butter. Mason: Mm, mm. Grass-fed butter. Sage: There you go. Mason: Basically now I want to get into where we're getting into the clearing now. Getting into the clearing, starting to bring some herbals, start bringing in some compounds that are going to start building back our microbiome, start countering this intense leaky gut that we can start seeing and that permeability that we've already touched on. Sage, you're starting out. What are your pillars for starting to clear the body and get it back on track in those initial stages, which may be for three months or a year. Sage: Yeah, yeah. It is a bit of a journey, and that was the most intimidating thing to me in the beginning that actually stopped me from starting for a couple of years, after I kind of knew I was going to have to do this. But I was super intimidated by the fact that I was really going to have to be serious about cutting down on carbs and sugar for anywhere from six months to two years, and I wanted to figure out any other way. But in the end it came back to this: you've got to deal with these basic things. Sage: So you really want to minimize carbs, cut out all forms of sugar, because all of this is beating the candida. Eventually, one day, you will be able to bring it back in moderate amounts, as you've rebuilt your whole gut microbiome. But for now, you really want to cut it down. And you're going to see tremendous ancillary benefits from this, aside from just the candida? You're going to be able to start burning ketones as a fuel source and start burning fat, so you're probably going to experience some great weight loss, some people are probably going to enjoy that. And when you're burning these ketones for fuel and burning fat as fuel, healthy fats, you're able to produce far more ATP, which is your pure cellular energy, than when you're burning glucose as fuel. So you're going to have a lot better energy, once you transition. Sage: It can be a little challenging as your body first is transitioning to burning fat as fuel. But once you get there it's pretty amazing. And you'll learn to get creative with stevia and things like this that can still give you the pleasure of sweetness in your life, you don't have to say goodbye to that. There's many ways, we put tons of recipes on this stuff on our YouTube channel. And so that's the first step, is cutting out all these things that are feeding the candida. Sage: And then, what are you going to go after it with? One of the best that I found was Pau D'arco tea. It's one of the most powerful, natural, antifungal herbs coming out of the Amazon. You can make a really nice tea with that, it goes great as the base of any hot elixir, or you could just be sipping it on its own, all the time. And then two of the other very powerful herbs for me, the tonics that we all know and love are Reishi mushroom and Chaga. Sage: Chaga for me was especially impactful. I was doing some nice tinctures and capsules but where I really started experiencing the benefits of it was when I would get the raw chunks of Chaga mushroom and cook them for three hours into a real strong water extraction, freeze it overnight so that the water gets inside the cell walls, these cell's walls that are super hard that you can't digest? Actually busts them open as it freezes, then boil it again the next day and make it super strong, and I was getting into drinking it regularly. That was a huge assist in my journey against candida. Mason: So ... Yeah, go for it. Sage: Oh I'm just getting on a roll. Mason: So, well actually before. I want to keep you going, but I just want to comment on two things there and Dan, get your two cents in. Mason: That's a really appropriate use of the ketogenic diet. I really like ketogenesis as a distinction in what's ... in a way to possibly get us losing weight that's excessive and actually shouldn't be there? And also getting our mitochondria rocking to the extent that we can, for a time, get off sugars and get into this state where our metabolism can get a bit of a reset and it's a little bit of a breath of fresh air for our immune system for a time as well. Rather than just, go after it, get shredded, nonstop, don't ever not be keto. Mason: I don't know what your sense of that is, but we've discussed it a couple of times on the podcast and it's come up with one of Tahnee's conversations with a practitioner in terms of like, for women. An appropriate time to use ketogenesis and when it's not actually that useful? And we've spoken about it, Dan, in terms of what that excessive fat can do to go and contribute it over too much of a long period to gut permeability thanks to the off-gassing that that excessive fat gives through the bacteria. Mason: But I just wanted to really like ... I like that distinction that you just made there, Sage, I think that's for most people as casting a wide net. That seems like a sensible time to be using ketogenesis. Sage: Yeah. I think, you know there are anti-aging benefits of it in terms of minimizing glycation and things of that nature. And I think it's a transition diet, something you do for a time period to really change your inner terrain and external appearance and everything. And then probably long-term more of a cyclical ketogenic diet is probably the more beneficial thing, where you go in for a bit and out for a bit. And it's more of a natural flow. Mason: And of course, Pau D'arco. I think we're three massive Pau D'arco fans, coming from the lapacho tree in the Amazon. Heavily a part of my healing protocol. I hit it for probably a couple of years I had it constant rotation in strong amounts before it was time for me to then cycle off. Sage: You get to where you don't even want to think about it anymore. Just, you hit a point where, okay. I've had enough, I'm good. Mason: Yeah, I've had it absolutely enough. And that is, I think that's a really appropriate way to let your body govern, you know? Because of course, with any herb, especially a herb that has strong antifungal, antimicrobial actions, you're going to want to cycle off that at some point. Because your body's going to want to have the breathing room to go and do its thing and regulate. Mason: I just wanted to throw my support behind those. Pau D'arco had such an incredible, such an incredible impact on me moving ... I don't think I even mentioned the fact that I did, that was my catalyst, was candida, in getting into this. I was having fungal eruptions on my skin and a suppressed immune system. I've told the story I think on the podcast a couple of times, but it was definitely for me likewise, that combination of Chaga mushroom and Reishi mushroom, but then I'd use a base of Pau D'arco tea, and that's a very simple herbal approach. Mason: Then I had He Shou Wu coming in and nourishing my kidneys in the beginning, and that was the beginnings for me. Getting off the, of course I got off gluten, I got off the grains. I got off the conventional western diet, which is very suppressive to the spleen Chi and it definitely was to mine, and it was really suppressing my digestive capacity. And I was able to bounce back pretty quick, especially with those three primary herbs, the two mushies, and the Pau D'arco bark, and then the He Shou Wu coming in and supporting. Mason: And after I want to hear all your awesome rambling Sage, but I want to let everyone know that after this we're going to dive into the mushies. Sage: Yeah, so those are my first two pillars really, is starve the candida and get in the beneficial herbs that are going to help clean things up in there. And then you've cleared it out, and what are you going to put in there? You're not just going to leave a blank slate and let the candida come back in all over again like you did with antibiotics. You messed up once, don't do it again. So now, we want to introduce really great bacteria into the gut. So it's good to be taking some probiotics. Sage: I'm really a fan of taking spore based probiotics, or ones that are shown to have efficacy in actually making it through and setting up shop in the gut, rather than being killed off somewhere higher up? Maybe in the stomach by digestive acids and things like that? SO rather than just looking at the number of colony forming units, which is what's advertised, you actually have to do a little deeper digging to see if the company's actually had testing done, to show the level of survivability, which makes a huge, huge difference. You can have a trillion-strain probiotic formula that all gets killed off in the gut. You don't get anything from it, or you can have a 30 billion and all 30 billion survive and make it through and set up shop and are doing all sorts of work for you. So it really makes a big difference, whether it's surviving or not. Sage: And then getting on fermented foods, was a big part for me. Tons of sauerkraut, fermented vegetables ... Drinking coconut water kefir was really supportive for me, and yeah. That's the fermented side of things, and those for me were the three main pillars. Sage: You know a few other herbs that were beneficial were, like occasionally using a aged kyolic garlic extract was also supportive for me. One time early on I heard someone say, oh yeah you should juice a whole head of raw garlic. Candida will freak out about that. Holy crap, I had the worst burn, I pretty much gave myself an ulcer in the stomach from that. So don't juice a whole head of raw garlic and try drinking that. It's not a good idea. Learn from my mistake. Mason: Yeah, you lose your friends, you lose your intestinal lining. Sage: It was painful, man. Mason: That's so good. But hey, I think it's awesome that everyone can learn from our fanatical mistakes. Because I've definitely gone down that road. Mason: Yeah, I love it. I love that it's simple, I love that it's methodical, I think that it's really ... Over the years I've seen that same combination coming up again an again and again when you go through all the complexity and all the confusion in terms of what you should and shouldn't be eating and drinking, basically these are the core pillars in terms of what's going to get you from A to B in terms of healing as soon as possible. You mentioned Body Ecology, I think that's really ... I think you kind of consider that the Bible of the anti-candida diet, is that right? Sage: Yeah. It's a great place for anyone who's thinking they might be dealing with a candida issue to start out and get a good set of basic information and approaches and what foods can be beneficial and what not. Because they'll get a taste of things, and a feel of things I think from listening to us today and get some really good ideas. But it's good to have a kind of a manual, that you can really pore through and refer to and can address it from all sides. SO I highly recommend it to anyone that things they may be dealing with candida. Read the Body Ecology Diet book. Mason: Love it bro. Mason: Dan, what's your take? When you're entering into this what foods are you bringing in, what foods are you eliminating, are there any distinctions in terms of any particular constitutional elements that you like to take into account? Dan: Yeah, definitely and I'm one of those practitioners where, I probably do the least amount of dietary manipulation compared to a lot of practitioners. What I typically do is, apart from the obvious things, things such as alcohol, excessive caffeine use, refined sugars. Usually if we can take dairy and gluten-containing grains out of the diet and lower the amount of starches? I generally don't do too much above and beyond that in the initial stages. A, because of the amount that it puts onto the patient who is already compromised to some degree under this burden of stress, and so we just want to take out those really common sort of insults to allow the inflammation to kind of just settle down in the gut. Dan: But I think probably what we perhaps should've mentioned a little bit earlier is just movement and sweating, and we talked about sauna of course. But sunlight and movement are massive for candida. When I treat people that have chronic yeast issues, they're different people when you consider how they're presentation looks in winter compared to summer. And that I attribute largely to the upgrade they get from their immune system when their vitamin D level are optimized? Because we know that with optimized vitamin D levels we're producing higher amounts of our body's own antimicrobial substances like [inaudible 00:47:54]. Which has been shown to be stronger than many, many, many botanicals when tested in terms of destructing biofilms and getting viral load and bacterial load down and so forth. Dan: Movement's huge. You know lymphatic detoxification, that's massive as well. To ensure the person is moving and sweating and getting adequate sunlight. Dry skin brushing, that's effective as well. But at particular sort of point in treatment I like to then depending on the person's constitution introduce some gentle biofilm destructors as well. It's one thing to bring in antifungal herbs, but if the immune system can't see them, the shell of these critters isn't cracked up to allow their contents to be exposed to these botanicals or our immune system, then we're kind of not getting as much bang for our buck. So compounds like N-Acetyl Cysteine, absolutely brilliant for breaking up biofilm, really good for supporting the liver as well and glutathione production, which is our body's master antioxidant and you want prime levels of that anytime you're doing any sort of changes to the gut ecosystem or detoxification. The good old, Pau D'arco and cat's claw tea combo I found to be personally really successful and I think that's probably one of the first things you and I ever jammed about back at the markets years ago. Mason: Yeah man. For sure, and I think I can attest to Sage's love for cat's claw, una de gato, as well. Everyone's like, oh my gosh you guys are eating cat's claws? It's just a bark, everybody. I've got to just mention that. Sage: [inaudible 00:49:31]. Mason: I get that every now and then. Mason: Yeah sorry Dan, I had to get that little joke in there. Dan: Yeah, absolutely. Definitely. So, yeah. In addition to that, pomegranate I have found to be just absolutely magnificent when it comes to any pathogenic overgrowth. I can't speak highly enough about that particular herb. I haven't found any other botanicals that simultaneously lower things like bacteria and candida, whilst up-regulating good bacteria at the same time. So pomegranate tincture is definitely going into the protocol for anyone who has any sot of fungal overgrowth. Dan: Apart from that, once you're doing the biofilm work, the person's moving and sweating, the vitamin D is optimized, and the dietary foundations are on point, you do have to think about the liver and all the metabolites that you're breaking down. Because the liver ultimately has the job of buffering and keeping the oil clean. And again, that feeds back into using things like N-Acetyl Cysteine, Alpha-Lipoic Acid, good old and St. Mary's Thistle, burdock, dandelion root just as teas can be really pivotal as well. Dan: Just, garbage in, garbage out. Just get people thinking about the more you're killing off, and the debris you're producing that has to be exiting the system because you can get that enterohepatic recirculation, and you don't want that, because the bugs will just set up shop in a different area of the body. Mason: So can I, I'm just going to before we move on. I just really want to bring a summary to this aspect of treatment, where we've identified that perhaps we do have an overgrowth of candida. We get into the tweakings of the diet, whether we do it gently, and I would agree that it's a psychological conversation of whether someone's going to go down the hardcore, phase 2 Body Ecology when it's like no sugars whatsoever. Maybe some green apple, I think at this stage- Sage: It's Phase One, Full Intensity. And then Phase Two is, like, gentler as you've gotten better. Yeah. Phase One is the Full Intensity. Mason: And also just making distinct what Dan was saying there, what are the core things that I'd be introducing if they're in a state where it's just not possible for them to make those changes? And that would be, again, whether it's going to work or not, these are ... this is what everyone's going to have to have that real dance within themselves, I think that's safe to say, and what's possible for you. And then you're going to have to manage your expectations with that. And as you said, Dan, I don't know, what were you saying dietarily with your core? Refined grains, excessive sugars, definitely getting off processed sugars, I think that's ... if you're on processed sugars you're going to basically be shooting yourself in the candida foot every single time you try to jump at him. Mason: So we've got that aspect, you know? Possibly looking at ketogenesis for a particular time, and so basically we've got that dietary component. Within talking, within a herbal sense and a treatment sense of getting our nervous system really toned and getting us in a calm place where our body can actually heal, getting our foundations of our Jing through Jing herbs. Like you mentioned, He Shou Wu, Rehmannia, Cordyceps, Eucommia Bark, and I think you mentioned Cistanche as well, Sage, and also you're going to get a good crossover there. And you don't have to have all of these, you know. You pick your herb, and Ashwagandha is also a beautiful one that's going to have those jewel effects on the nervous system and on the kidneys. Mason: Then we've gone to talk about, right. What herbs are we starting to include and what supplements are we starting to include to actually start clearing these out. Medicinal mushrooms we're going to go into next, but that's a huge aspect of building up basically the Jing of the immune system, which is always implicated. I can definitely always ... Definitely always, that's never the case. But I can generally say that you're going to see an immune suppression when it comes to candida. I think that's a fair thing to say, would you guys agree? Sage: Absolutely. Because you're very vulnerable to other things happening and taking place. Mason: Absolutely. So then we see both your suggestions in terms of what we're going to be getting coming in. We're going to get the herbs like Pau D'arco, the Chagas, the Reishis, Maitakes, and turkey tails are always going to be wonderful bringing those in to fortify the immune system. And you've talked about N-Acetyl Cysteine and started talking about this other aspect of this phase, which Sage, I know you're all over. And now that we're here Dan I really appreciate you bringing up the biofilms, the ability for us to actually break down. I don't know where you're atin terms of just describing what these biofilms actually are. I know there's a bit of calcification involved in them and I know the immune system especially has a hard time identifying that there is something there behind this little encasing, or this little barnacle, in which the infection lies beneath. It's one of ... Its survival, opportunistic mechanisms to not become identified by the immune system. Mason: And at that time so I just want to talk just a little bit more on that stage within this protocol, of actually knocking out these biofilms so our immune system can start getting this candida infection under control. So I just want to reiterate: your favorites for breaking down these biofilms, and then I just want to have another quick little conversation around opening up detox channels, supporting liver, and also my favorite, including binders, like clays within the diet to help moving these things out. And then also inclusive in this conversation is going to be, the saunas. We don't have to go too much further into it, but if you've got that going on, you're going to be definitely opening up that channel of detoxification through the skin. Mason: So in terms of knocking out these biofilms, your faves Dan? Dan: Pomegranate first and foremost. N-Acetyl Cysteine which we mentioned, and another one from the silkworm, Serrapeptase, I'm sure you guys are quite familiar with as well. Sage: Yep, absolutely. Mason: Another big favorite. Dan: Yeah. The only caution with Serrapeptase is long-term, it can ... Let me rewind a little bit. Good bacteria as well do form biofilm, and so there's a concern that long term use of agents like Serrapeptase and N-Acetyl Cysteine can also crack up good biofilms, which you don't want. Mason: Mm. And that's like, it's natural with anything that's a treatment protocol or enzymes therapy, with the Serrapeptase, you want to make sure that you're cycling it and respecting the treatment period, and you're not going in an “altering” the system of the body too long-term. Would you like the use of MSM in there? Have you ever found that useful? Dan: Yeah I do, I do like MSM and that's a big one I'll use in conjunction with this protocol particularly if people have joint-related issues. Which as Sage said, we often see that with candida, these fungal metabolites get passed around and float around through the body. It can cause quite painful and swollen joints and brain fog. That's another thing, with brain fog the components that get broken up with candida compounds actually form acid aldehyde, and that's why you get people who say, I feel like I'm drunk; I'll go to work and I just feel like I'm wasted and I can't think properly; my short-term memory's gone. And that's because of this acid aldehyde that the candida produced. Dan: SO yeah, sorry. Kind of went off on a little tangent there, but- Mason: No it's really funny when you see those news articles of people who they found had so much fermentation going on in the gut they were tested to be drunk and they hadn't had any alcohol at all. So bizarre, but it's true life. Dan: Next thing we know there'll be pulled over and getting breath tested and being fined as having [crosstalk 00:57:19]. Mason: Soon enough. You want to get tested for candida? Get pulled over and the cops [inaudible 00:57:23]. Dan: Yeah, imagine that. Imagine we get to the point that we're really concerned about the immunological health of our population. Random candida testing everybody. Pull over, like, parasite testing, you know? We've just got your back, everyone. Mason: Concerns your driving safety. Sorry Dan. Dan: Do not operate maChinery while candida is present. Mason: Yeah. Dan: But yeah, so to summarize. N-Acetyl Cysteine, Serrapeptase, the pomegranate. Good old green tea. Sounds very boring and we're used to hearing that but that is so, so good for candida in particular. We can talk about things like lauric acid and caprylic acid, they're often good additions to do particularly in those stubborn cases. Dan: The other one I didn't mention is berberine. Berberine is really efficient at cracking up biofilms and getting on top of ... And this is what I love about herbal medicine. It's like we're isolating candida but we know we're going to have a good effect on viruses and bacteria at the same time. So if someone does come in and they've got known candida issues, but they also have [inaudible 00:58:32], we know that using agents like berberine and pomegranate we're hitting both on the same head, if that makes sense. Mason: Mm-hmm (affirmative), mm-hmm (affirmative). Mason: Absolutely. I mean, yeah, it gets a little bit different when you're using herbals rather than isolates. Beautiful list there, Dan. I really like the Serrapeptase- MSM combination for breaking down those biofilms and definitely going to have to get a little bit more into pomegranate, definitely through my support behind the berberine. Mason: Sage, in term
Are you frustrated and fed up with struggling with unresolved hormonal health issues? Today, we dive into all things hormones with a certified naturopath, Dr. Naomi Judge, who is well-known in Australia for helping women connect the dots between their health, happiness, and hormones. Find out how a life of optimal vibrancy and joy can be your new normal! Visit https://holisticwellness.ca/podcast for complete show notes of every podcast episode Topics Discussed in this Episode: Some of the common complaints and issues that women are struggling with The impact of hormones on our cycles Things you can do to help you gain a deeper understanding of your cycle Things that drive food sensitivities The link between estrogen dominance and food intolerances Some everyday foods that we can include in our diets to better support detoxification and our hormonal health The top strategies you can do to achieve your new normal The benefits of grounding Simple things that we can do to support our adrenal health Hormones and skin health Key Takeaways: During our cycle, estrogen changes our immune system, so we’re more likely to get coughs and colds at certain times of the month, and we’re more likely to be more susceptible to getting allergies. When you’re looking after your hormones, the first thing you need to do is clean your bowel, your liver, and your gallbladder. Focusing on self-care is really vital to balancing your hormones. If you’re busy all the time, running from task to task, and constantly feeling stressed, your hormones are not going to get a chance to settle down and you’re going to be in your sympathetic nervous state the whole time. When your hormones are beautifully balanced, it brings you that bright, vibrant look, and it's the best way to prevent premature aging. When they are imbalanced, your looks could change drastically in a short period of time, where your skin is dry and you notice more fine lines and deeper wrinkles. Action Steps: Really look at things and track things that have to do with your cycle so you can understand more about it and understand what’s related to your hormones. Rather than using an app to track your cycle, write things down. Track your food sensitivities based on your cycle. Achieve your new normal: Start by balancing out your macronutrients and recognizing what a good meal is for you. Learn what meal suits you so that you can start with just having three meals a day and stop having so many snacks, stop craving sugar, and stop feeling hungry after each meal. Also, remove your trigger foods from your diet. Focus on self-care. Re-balance your nervous system: Do deep breathing exercises. Eat slowly. Naomi said: “You feel more in control when you understand that there are things within your control that are driving these symptoms. It’s not something that’s just happening to you… It’s because there are other things going on with your hormones that you can effectively get under control.” “I think we’re now coming to a realization that what we need as women to get through this busy, stressful time is more focus inwards, more focus on ourselves, and more of that kind of quiet time.” Thanks for listening! If you have any questions that you would like answered in future Q&A episodes, you can ask me over on Instagram, @holisticwellnessfoodie, or contact me through my website. And come to hang out with me in my Holistic Wellness Private Community on Facebook. Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes and leave us a rating and a review! Links to things we talk about in the show: Break Through! To Feeling Fantastic In A Body You Love - A 28-day program to help you transform your body from the inside out. Kickstart Free Cleanse - Listeners can claim a discount for the program normally $177 (with this code they get the 28 Day Cleanse for $99). Use COUPON CODE 99DEAL Recommended Products: Sun Potion products (He Shou Wu, Anandamide) Sponsor Links: Natures-Source.com - enter code - HOLISTICWELLNESS for a 10% savings. Free shipping to Canada and the US with orders over $50. *You must create a free account in order to use the coupon code. The code cannot be combined with other discounts and offers. PureFeast - Save 10% off your first THREE orders over $75 + free shipping with coupon code - HOLISTICWELLNESS Perfect Keto - Use the coupon code HOLISTICWELLNESS and get 15% if you’re ordering in the US. Link to my program: 6 Week Healthy Hormones for Women Intensive - Use the coupon code podcast at checkout to save 60%. More from Naomi Judge: Naomi’s Instagram: @naturopathnaomi Naomi’s Facebook Naomi’s Website More from Samantha Gladish: Samantha’s Facebook Samantha’s Instagram Samantha’s Website Holistic Wellness Private Community on Facebook
Are you ready for another exciting Q&A episode? Not only am I going to answer some of your questions that I’ve pulled up from Instagram but I’m going to share a crazy story about appendicitis, ovarian cysts, digestion, and all that good stuff that happened to me over these past few weeks. Let’s dive in! Visit https://holisticwellness.ca/podcast for complete show notes of every podcast episode Topics Discussed in this Episode: The reasons why you’re waking up several times during the night and what to do about it The ways you can make your elixirs and what to add to them Key things to keep in mind when you have Hashimoto’s The things that can impact your menstrual cycle Key Takeaways: The top reason women are waking up multiple times during the night is due to blood sugar instability and cortisol issues. Your body cannot heal if you’re not sleeping. When you’re sleeping, that’s how you detoxify and how your body produces human growth hormones. Frankincense essential oil is really great for ovarian cysts. Castor oil is great for detoxification so you can rub it all over your body. It’s also quite soothing and calming, so if you actually find that you have a hard time falling asleep, rub some castor oil all over. Action Steps: Take time off work. Manage your stress and lifestyle intervention. Make sure you stay on top of re-testing. Eliminate as many inflammatory foods as possible. Pay attention to the different shifts in your body. Level up your self-care by scheduling for an osteopathy or a massage. Samantha said: “Pay attention to these different shifts in your body because one little thing starts to have this trickle-down effect and starts to impact so many other things.” “I feel like sometimes we just are unaware of how good we could potentially feel. So go find out what that potential is because I promise you, there are tweaks that shifts that can be made to really allow you to feel so much better.” Thanks for listening! If you have any questions that you would like answered in future Q&A episodes, you can ask me over on Instagram, @holisticwellnessfoodie, or contact me through my website. And come to hang out with me in my Holistic Wellness Private Community on Facebook. Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes and leave us a rating and a review! Links to things I talk about in the show: From Boobs to Pubes: The Many Uses of Castor Oil Visit Strong Athlete! You can book in with Krisjon for an Osteo appointment or Mark for a massage. Recommended Products: Sun Potion products (He Shou Wu, Anandamide) Dandy Blend Perfect Keto MCT Oil Powder Designs for Health products (GI Revive) Land Art Aloe Vera Juice Lily of the Desert Aloe Vera Juice Genestra Digest Plus Sponsor Links: Natures-Source.com - enter code - HOLISTICWELLNESS for a 10% savings. Free shipping to Canada and the US with orders over $50. *You must create a free account in order to use the coupon code. The code cannot be combined with other discounts and offers. PureFeast - Save 10% off your first THREE orders over $75 + free shipping with coupon code - HOLISTICWELLNESS Perfect Keto - Use the coupon code HOLISTICWELLNESS and get 15% if you’re ordering in the US. Link to my program: 6 Week Healthy Hormones for Women Intensive - Use the coupon code podcast at checkout to save 60%. More from Samantha Gladish: Samantha’s Facebook Samantha’s Instagram Samantha’s Website Holistic Wellness Private Community on Facebook
This week on “Rebel Hearts”: Kristie speaks with AnnaBlanca and Sage, founders of Addictive Wellness, producing superfoods chocolates and elixir blends. Their mission with Addictive Wellness is to share the incredible healthy indulgences they had been making and enjoying every day. Into each piece of Chocolate and each packet of Elixir Blend, they infuse their love for each other, for life, for nature, and the desire to help everyone live their own version of the ultimate life. In this interview, AnnaBlanca and Sage share the story of what inspired them to start making superfoods chocolates, and they talk about the enormous blessing of being able to co-create with one another. We discuss the incredible benefits of raw cacao, medicinal mushrooms and superfoods. AnnaBlanca and Sage then go into great detail sharing which Chinese and Ayurvedic herbs they use the most in their chocolates and how these amazing superherbs affect our health and wellness. You’ll learn all about Reishi Mushrooms, He Shou Wu, Ashwaganda, and, AnnaBlanca’s favorite, Lion’s Mane. I’m sure you’ll never look at chocolate the same way again! Learn about how sugar affects our health and also why it so important to AnnaBlanca and Sage that all of their products are sugar-free. Sage even shares a little bonus from a talk he gave on hormonal health, including the different hormonal needs of men and women. Listening to this interview, you will not only receive an enormous amount of delicious information, but be inspired of what is possible for us to create when we come from a place of love- love for what we do, and love for one another. Special offer from AnnaBlanca and Sage: get 10% off your first order with coupon code REBEL.
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Listen to the episode by clicking here: 1. Reishi. This mushroom is the one that Alyssa recommends to start with if you're ready to begin adding one of these holistic herbs into your life. Alyssa lists a whole bunch of health benefits in our interview varying from stress-relief to fighting allergies. Listen to the podcast to get the whole list. 2. Stress-relief is probably the biggest reason why you need to try adding these holistic herbs into your diet. The way we live our lives has sped up immensely over the years, and our bodies are suffering because of it. Our bodies and minds simply aren't meant to process the amount of information that we're processing. Do what you can to relax, treat your body & mind well, and drink some holistic herbal tea. 3. Cordyceps. These tall mushrooms can give you a burst of energy. Drink this one in the morning, and if you're looking for a coffee alternative, then cordyceps might be your shroom. 4. Starting to get grey hair? He Shou Wu can actually reverse the greying of your hair. For real! It's also a beautifying root, so no harm in taking he shou wu. Alyssa also recommends to take it after your period since it contains iron and nourishes the blood. 5. Isn't the Root & Bones packaging stunning?! Alyssa spent years preparing for Root & Bones by finding the perfect supplier of the herbs, a lot of attention has gone into the detail of the packaging, and Alyssa has used very few funds for the marketing by working with influencers and all of it in Instagram. 6. Warm holistic herb drinks. In my life they're a staple. Alyssa has been taking these herbs in her coffee for a decade now (!). Maybe that's why she's so grounded. It might be the simplest way to incorporate them into your diet since you probably already drink a hot beverage in the morning or evening. 7. Chaga. Is the most potent antioxidant on the planet. The mushroom has scientifically proven anti-cancer benefits and inhibits tumor growth. Enter code: pwig2017 to get your 15% discount. Valid through September 17th, 2017. The Episode's Takeaways We've learned about the healing properties of these holistic herbs and in what way they can benefit our life and our health. If you're wondering whether you should start your (side) business then Alyssa recommends to just go for it. You'll always wonder "what if" if you don't go out and try. You can make time for your business if you really want it badly enough. Alyssa manages her time by working four days a week at her acupuncture practice and one day is dedicated to Root & Bones. She'll also work evenings and nights and she's usually available throughout the day via Instagram which doesn't really end. There is a lot you can accomplish by reaching out to people, Alyssa dared to ask people for help in promoting the herbs and in most cases people are more than willing to help. If you believe in your product then others will too and they'll be more inclined to help out. You'll always encounter obstacles along the way, it depends on your mentality on how you deal with them and see it as they are; an obstacle. Not a full-on road block on your way to success. Alyssa's goals for the future involve expanding Root & Bones to include more herbs in the selection, but she will always 'needle' (practice acupuncture)! Be inspired. Go out and do what you're wanting to do. The time is never right and neither are the circumstances. Alyssa proves that it's possible to do it on the side. You don't necessarily need to dive in deep and quit your job. But you do need to dive in and invest time and be consistent. No more excuses! Get your 15% discount! Click here to buy Reishi Click here to buy Chaga Click here to buy He Shou Wu Click here to buy Cordyceps See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
The Awareness Revolution Podcast: Health | Personal Development | Conscious Living
The superherb revolution is just like the superfood revolution. We now have access to the most amazing herbs ever discovered. Just like with superfoods in the past, people were limited to the superherbs that grew in their area. Thanks to technological advances, we can easily hop on a computer, push a few buttons, and have the most powerful herbs in the world shipped right to our door. Whereas superfoods are food, superherbs are our medicine. Some superfoods are also considered superherbs, but superherbs are generally more on the medicinal side and less like food. Many of the superherbs can come from wild plants. This is an excellent way to get alkaloids from wild plants in our diet. You can buy them in stores, online, or you can even find them growing wild if you know how. In general, superherbs are typically tonic herbs. Tonic herbs are herbs that can be consumed regularly over long periods of time without you having a negative reaction to them. They're extremely safe and gentle. Tonic herbs are like a hybrid of food and medicine because they're medicinal but you consume them regularly like food. The dual directional nature of tonic herbs allow them to bring the immune system up or down, whichever is necessary. This level of intelligence is extremely beneficial for people who have auto-immune conditions. Some herbs, like garlic, should not be taken every day and they only have the ability to move the immune system in one direction – up. Because we have access to the best herbs from all around the world, it's best to take the top herbs from each herbal medical system and integrate them into your approach. When you combine the best herbs from the Chinese medical system, Ayurvedic medicine, and South American herbalism, you have a cutting-edge strategy that is unsurpassed by anything else in the world. Instead of health insurance it's heath assurance. It's the future of medicine, though it comes from our ancient past. Tip: Make your own tinctures with herbs because you can make them stronger for far less money. Top Superherbs Cat's Claw – extremely potent anti-viral Pau d'Arco – extremely potent anti-fungal Ginseng – Possibly the most famous herb in the world. Stay away from the cheap stuff because it's too young. Wild ginseng is highly prized and gets more expensive as it ages and gains Shen (Spirital) properties. Ginseng should be at least ten years old before you consume it. Highly regarded Shen tonic. Deer Antler – top Jing herb, boosts adrenals. Rejuvenation. Builds muscle. Shilajit – High amounts of fulvic acid. Mucuna – highest known source of L-Dopa. Great for people with Parkinson's Disease. Schizandra Berry – the “five flavored fruit.” Nourishes all three treasures (Jing, Qi, Shen). He Shou Wu - supplements the congenital life force of the kidneys, it improves hair quality and deeply nourishes and rejuvenates the whole body. Astragalus – qi tonic. Excellent for the immune system, energy, and lungs. Eucommia Bark – Excellent for building ligaments and fighting arthritis.
In this episode, Dr. George Lamoureux discusses the myriad benefits of the legendary tonic herb He shou wu! Perhaps best known for its relationship to healthy hair, He Shou Wu actually has many benefits beyond what its name suggests. Where did the name come from? How was He Shou Wu discovered? Who benefits from taking this herb? Like many Chinese herbs, there are two kinds of He Shou Wu on the market: “prepared” and “unprepared”. What does this mean and what is the functional difference between them? How does He Shou Wu affect glycation and AGE's? What do the studies say about the benefits of He Shou Wu? Listen now to find out! Visit www.JingHerbs.com now! Find out how your Three Treasures are doing at www.JingHerbsTest.com Ask us something at questions@JingHerbs.com!
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