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Harness The Healing Power Of Nature with Aimee-Jean Greenacre - E7
59 Plays1 year ago
In today's fast-paced world, it’s easy to feel disconnected from the healing power of nature and struggle to cultivate habits that support our overall well-being. We may feel overwhelmed by the demands of modern life, neglecting the importance of mindfulness practices and the impact of nutrition on our physical, emotional, and spiritual health. This episode explores how reconnecting with nature, forming intentional habits, and integrating mindfulness practices can help us navigate life's challenges with greater resilience and vitality.
Aimee-Jean Greenacre is renowned for her holistic approach to helping women reconnect with their bodies, intuition, and overall well-being. With a background in dance and movement, Aimee-Jean has masterfully integrated these elements into her coaching practice, empowering her clients to achieve emotional release through physical expression. Her transformative work has positively impacted the lives of countless women, from busy professionals to stay-at-home moms, guiding them on a journey of self-discovery and inner harmony.
“There's so much more to this conversation of purpose and joy and pleasure and play that we have stopped really giving attention to since we were kids.” - Aimee-Jean Greenacre
In this episode you will learn:
- The importance of establishing daily rituals and mindfulness practices for intentional living and emotional well-being.
- How Aimee-Jean navigated challenging emotions and transformed her life after her mother's cancer diagnosis and a profound experience in the Amazon jungle.
- The benefits of incorporating juicing into your routine for nutrient density and detoxification, with specific recommendations for vegetable juice combinations.
- Insights into ideal foods to consume during different times of the day, aligning with nature's rhythm and the body's digestive processes.
- Strategies for managing stress through movement practices like dance, yoga, and hiking, as well as the importance of connecting with nature and sunlight for overall well-being.
- The societal impact of food choices and the need for education and effort in making healthier dietary decisions, despite the challenges posed by the standard American diet and food subsidies.
Resources
- Connect with Aimee-Jean on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/greenshaker
- Discover more about Aimee-Jean's work and offerings: https://www.aimeegreenacre.com/
- Shop all the products Aimee-Jean mentions in the episode: https://alively.com/products/aimeejeangreenacre
This podcast was produced by the team at Zapods Podcast Agency:
https://www.zapods.com
Find the products, practices, and routines discussed on the Alively website:
https://alively.com/
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Transcript
Unexpected Life Challenges
00:00:00
Speaker
You can do all the right things internally and your life can be thrown completely, which just throws you off kilter. And that's where the true work, I think, lies. with How do you deal with life when it presents these like really challenging circumstances? What is your mindfulness practice? How do you release those emotions that you're dealing with? Are you storing them in the body to keep it all inside? Do you share with a friend? Are you expressing? Are you getting that energy out so that you can process and come back to your center again?
Introduction and Health Profiling
00:00:29
Speaker
This is the Home of Health SPAN Podcast, where we profile health and wellness role models, sharing their stories and the tools, practices, and routines they use to live a lively life.
Amy's Travel Experiences
00:00:43
Speaker
Amy, it is so good to see you. I think last time we caught up, you had just gotten back from the other side of the world. You would never guess looking at you, you were jet lagged. But it was to see ah a bunch of family meet your niece, I think, for the first time and celebrate some birthdays. Exactly. Yes, that's a month ago now. So it was good. It was good to be back in my flow here in l LA, though. It always takes a minute to get back.
00:01:06
Speaker
Well, especially when you're that many time zones away, right? They say a day per time zone at least, and then you have the whole routine side that's probably different separate from the jet lag side. Totally, totally. But I'm back. I feel good now.
Movement and Emotional Expression
00:01:19
Speaker
Fantastic. Well, so speaking of being back, you know, your social handle is Green Shaker, because even though your last name is Greenacre, how you moved on the dance floor was was a big part. And just before we jumped on, you were talking about just coming back from your yoga class. And so I understand movement is a big and important part of your life. Can you talk about that?
00:01:40
Speaker
Yeah, for sure. I love to move. I feel like movement has been such an outlet for me, I think from a very young age. um So I was raised in a household where we went to church and gospel church. So there was a lot of singing and a lot of dancing, a lot of expression from a very young age. I also am one of four sisters. So we were dancing, doing concerts at home, things like that. And then I was classically trained in dance until I was 18. I did it at high school, to my high school, like the end of my high school, what do you call it, graduation. And yeah, so for me, it's I feel like it's been the the outlet for my expression. I think that's probably the best
Rediscovering Dance During COVID
00:02:19
Speaker
way to describe it. And I think only in the last couple of years, I've understood the emotional connection to like why I need to move so much, like to actually like release whatever I'm holding on to or to really process something that I'm going through. But i I think I intuitively have done that my whole life by, you know, loving dancing, going out, going to, I mean, I definitely had years of going to Burning Man and festivals and these places where, and you know, I think I found that that church kind of energy, that spirit, I guess you could call it, Holy Spirit energy on dance.
00:02:49
Speaker
on the dance floor and at festivals and I craved it am i and I love it. And I think through COVID that kind of stopped. There wasn't as much going out. There wasn't as much, you know, ability to be able to express yourself with other people and that kind of fun fun dynamic. And so I kind of went inwards and I started dancing. I was like remembering that I need to dance and I started doing it for myself at home, in my bedroom, processing emotions. And yeah now I have that real like understanding of oh, I need this. We all need this. You know, it's a very primal, instinctual thing. I think we did growing up as a friendship, social, fun activity. And now I'm understanding like, whoa, I i need that like daily expression to move through whatever I'm going through.
Travel Wellness Tips
00:03:32
Speaker
So.
00:03:33
Speaker
I mean, it's it's a truly core human trait. right I and don't think I'm making this up. I believe I read they think singing may predate language. There's something to that kind of singing, dancing, and then entirely separately, ah our bodies were made to move. it's it's We start having issues with our body when we're not moving it. The best remedy is typically to move to address whatever injury you have.
00:03:56
Speaker
Yeah. can i say so you When you're doing a long trip like you just did, you're coming back from across the world. yeah Is it 16 hour, 18 hour? like crazy Crazy long flight. Do you have any go-to airplane routines that you say, here's some stuff that I do kind of on this cadence to try to keep my body a little bit more nimble than sitting in those terrible seats?
00:04:18
Speaker
Yeah, I think it's preparation like beforehand. I'm a big advocate for sunshine, sunlight, and really syncing with Mother Nature's rhythm. So getting up before your flight, even if it's super early, and going outside, putting your feet on the earth, going to the sea, putting your feet in the ocean depending on where you are, getting sunlight in your eyes, and really just collaborating with like nature's energy. Because that really calms your nervous system before you're about to go sit in in a very non-natural environment, right?
00:04:44
Speaker
in the air. So getting some movement in. I love to go for like a long walk in nature for like an hour and try and sweat, try and move your body just to prepare even like a beautiful yoga class. If you don't have nature around you somewhere where you're able to just like get that natural chi moving through your body first and foremost, cause then you're like a a full battery, right? You go onto the planes rather than going on depleted. So I think preparation is good. Lots of hydration. I always, always, always bring with me cucumbers or celery or carrots or like half an avocado, some protein. If it's a long flight, like I bring my own food and I make sure that I'm eating real food with none of the like salts and sodiums and all the stuff that they put in the processed foods
Post-Flight Routines
00:05:24
Speaker
on the plane. And I'm always wanting to bring like a big Yeti cup, teas, I'll just c chug, you know, tea while I'm on the flight, always ask for hot water. And then a lemon before I land, like squeeze in a lemon and like an apple or something before I land to like really wake me up to sync with the time zone that you're in, like getting in.
00:05:40
Speaker
And then same thing as soon as I get off the plane. And when I'm on the plane, I'm the one who like, I think I drink so much tea that I'm up and walking anyway, but like, okay Walking is really good. Comfortable clothes where you can like, you know, move on the seat, you know, get your, your limbs moving. I'm always doing a few laps and stretch it. I'm a widow stretching at the back of the plane. You know, you kind of got it right. It's so uncomfortable. And then when you get off, same thing, go straight to nature, even if it is, you know, if it's the first thing in the morning, that's usually when you land from Australia, like I go straight to the sea, the earth, somewhere ground, get rid of all of that, like plane energy up here, come back down to earth. sunlight in your eyes and try and stay up to the clock that you're there. Like for the circadian rhythm, really check in with again, the sunlight, the earth, hydrate. I always have like a huge green juice as soon as I land or something like that to just kind of flush out all the toxins. So I'm a big nature advocate. Like mother nature has all the tools and all the answers. And I think when you have to go in these non-natural environments, just bring as much nature as possible, clean food, and then get back in sync with the, uh, the circadian rhythm as soon as you land.
00:06:46
Speaker
Do you have any favorite stretches for, that are kind of more airplane friendly than maybe some others that you do? Oh, that's a good question. I probably don't even think about it. I just intuitively like we'll move bending over and like shaking up my lower back. Cause I feel like you're seated all the time. Um, lunges to like get into the hip flexes. Honestly, it's just more like, I think I walked down the aisle with like really big steps, like a lot.
00:07:11
Speaker
And then when I get to the back of the plane in the middle, I'm always bending over, putting my hands in the sky, you know, you'd like then I'm just stretching out that whole back and lower back. i don't think i mean I don't think I'm thinking about it. I'm so intuitive. Like I just feel into like, where do I feel tight? What feels like it needs a good stretch right now?
00:07:27
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, that that is one of the advantages I think dancers have over the rest of us. You're more in tune with your body, ah at least speaking to other dancers I've interviewed. yeah You sense a lot more, oh, well, I can feel what my body needs today or what it doesn't need. Like, wow, that sounds incredible. Like, to be able to hear it's talking, I just don't speak the language. I'm sure my body is speaking. And so that's something I probably need to learn.
00:07:53
Speaker
Yeah, I'm sure you do. I'm sure you actually do know more than you think that, you know, and you're just doing it without you even consciously making those choices. Do it, you know, i think so I'm sure. Well, so when you're not traveling, what what is your go to routine? It sounds like you do a lot of yoga.
Fitness and Movement Practices
00:08:10
Speaker
I do. Yeah. I've actually been getting into sculpt, like, uh, it's it called a sculpt class, which is a combination of like Pilates based floor workout and a little bit of hip training and cardio. I love, I think as a dancer, I love like a full body movement where I'm moving my entire body. I don't love Pilates. I don't love just like lifting one leg, lifting one, but I know it's really good for a specific muscle group. Um, but lately I started doing a sculpt class like once or twice a week and I started doing a weights class once a week.
00:08:38
Speaker
And then i'll do I'll do yoga, but it's a pretty intense vinyasa, like hot yoga not hot yoga, it's it's a warm room. So that's probably like, I think I only do a class maybe three times a week, probably like ah a sculpt, a yoga flow, and a weights class. When I'm in my luteal phase, which is you know the end of my period before I get my period, my body's not as like strong and not wanting to do those harder classes, I'll just end up doing more yoga those weeks.
00:09:06
Speaker
And then I'll try my best. I'm pretty bad at it when I'm in Venice, where I live, but I love hiking. I love going out in nature and going for like a good one and a half hour, you know, long walk in nature. When I'm in nature, I do it so much more often. I do it every day, like a big walk.
00:09:22
Speaker
um and When I'm at my desk with clients most days, i'll do like a if I don't do a yoga class or something in the morning, I'll do like a 40-minute walk just around my neighborhood with my drinks and listen to a podcast or something. and that's and Then I'll do an evening walk as well if I can at sunset and try and like watch the sun sunlit at the end of the day to like unwind from computers.
00:09:43
Speaker
On the hiking, you already mentioned grounding once. Do you have specific hiking shoes or boots that you wear? Do you do kind of the zero lift thing? No, I just use regular. I have a pair of hiking shoes that I wear that ah like you know they can get more dirty and brown than my white sneakers. No, I'm not i'm not that um tuned in to the all the biohacking footwear and stuff like that. But when I do beach walking, I'll try and do barefoot so I can really to connect with the earth.
00:10:12
Speaker
yeah And then given you're used to doing the classes and everything, you have the weights mixed in with the sculpt, with the yoga. Do you have any at home equipment or anything you travel with? Like, do you have bands or light weights or anything? You say, Hey, yeah if I can't get to my class, this is the stuff that I have access to.
Mindful Morning and Emotional Balance
00:10:27
Speaker
Yeah, a little bit. I have these ball of angles. They're like a little weight. they're They're not, they're not very heavy. I think they're maybe like five or 10 pounds, like they're light um and I used to travel with them but the most funny thing is when I travel with them my bags always overweight if I'm going for like a long distance I end up having to wear them through the airport to like not have them in my luggages so that's quite funny but that's really the only thing that and I have like a ah yoga mat that I don't really bring it with me though
00:10:54
Speaker
I'm pretty like when I travel, I trust that I'm just going to enjoy, I'll do more walking or I'll do more at home stretching. I kind of cut out the like the routine and the rhythm when I'm away or traveling. But I used to take those baller bangles with me everywhere just for a little more, you know. yeah You can put them on your wrist, you can put them on your ankles. They're not as strong of the weights that I do now, but the things I always you know travel with is like my journal and a mug. and I didn't mention, but like the first thing that I do when I wake up, I'll usually like make my bed, connect with my body, like hand on heart, hand on womb, and just check in with like where I'm at, where I'm at in my cycle, how am I feeling? Am I dehydrated? Am I bloated? Am I tired? Am I sore? Am I achy? like I really just check in with the body first thing. and I teach my teach my clients to do that too before you rush out to the day. like
00:11:38
Speaker
Take a breath. I always look up. I know what time it is by my room has skylights. So I can always check in with the time, but then I'll wake up, make my bed, make like a morning drink, and then I'll come back into my room and meditate for 10 minutes with my journal. And I have a little five minute journal just to like.
00:11:53
Speaker
put down that, I don't know if you know, the five minute journal. It's a really yeah great. Yeah. I got gifted it like last year sometime. And I travel now just with that. If I don't travel with like my full journal, it's like just, just that moment of checking in that intentional moment. I try to do that. my That's probably like a 20 minute routine, you know, maybe 30 minutes go inside. Yeah.
00:12:12
Speaker
make my bed, go inside, brush my teeth, tongue's great while the water's boiling, come back with my warm drink, sit down. 10 minutes of meditation. I use this app called Okan, which is a really great, it's where I actually go to the yoga studio as well here in Venice, and then I'll i'll set some intentions. And that if if if that's all I can do for a day, like that's that's great.
Nutritional Routines While Traveling
00:12:31
Speaker
20 minutes of just being with myself before I have to give to others or rushing out to a class or whatever.
00:12:38
Speaker
That sounds like a great way to start the day. You you touch ah a lot on different ways you nourish and fuel your body. And but you were trained as a chef, you you had a catering business. And so this is something you actually help start a farm in Ibiza, maybe. yeah And so this farm to table, like you've done it right from the farm, taking it to the table.
00:13:04
Speaker
And then really being thoughtful when you're traveling on bringing the food. Because that that is where so many people slept. They have the best intentions when I'm at home. I have all the great things. When I'm gone, it's like, oh, here's what's available at the airport. You can't even find an apple. Good luck. yeah So how do you think, separate from the travel you've touched on, kind of your day-to-day, you've mentioned some green drinks and smoothies and teas and things. like What does your day-to-day or week-to-week nutrition routine look like? he Okay, so interestingly, I just gave up matcha for the month last month after i go traveling. I just wanted to see how it felt not to have caffeine the first thing when I woke up in the morning. So that was a month long trial. I just had a matcha this morning for the first time after a month of not having it.
00:13:49
Speaker
Interestingly, I love that warm drink in the morning. I used to make these little turmeric, lemon, and ginger shots that you freeze into this cube, pour over hot water. Me and my partner used to make those together, and so I still try to do that. It's like a little more of an intentional tonic before I had... Ginger, turmeric, and what was the third?
00:14:09
Speaker
lemon, like whole lemon with the skin. And then you make them into like little ice cubes and then you put pour hot water over them. That's a great way to like have something a little warm. But I switched to cacao with like a mushroom blend of like codriceps.
00:14:23
Speaker
lion Chaga, Lion Mine, Turkey Tail, things like that. I have tons of gifted mushroom mixes in my in my pantry. So I switched to that and I actually found like the brown concoction, like the the darkness of with the cacao and the and the mushrooms. I was feeling more acidic actually drinking like the brown color which is a very versus a bright green drink, which is full of you know antioxidants, polyphenols, like that I don't know, the color green. So ah big I'm a big advocate for like eating the rainbow. It's something that I preach I have shared this ethos for. ah Don't count calories, count colors. right So even me switching from the the mushroom brown mix versus like the the green, that was the reason why I was like, I kind of miss my green. I miss those antioxidants. I miss that. like it It felt more nourishing. And and the L-theanine, I actually felt like I was missing
00:15:14
Speaker
the matcha. So I brought it back today. It took me so long to drink it. It took me from seven till like 10am because it was it was it was pretty strong in the cafe. Strong when you're not used to the cafe. Yeah. Yeah. So that's something that's a ritual that I love matcha in the morning. I make it with coconut oil and honey and hot water. So there's my milk and it blends into like a really frothy latte. It's the green shaker matcha latte. So that's definitely a ritual and a routine. So what's what's the brand of the matcha you use? so The one I use, so it's my recipe is the green shaker matcha with the coconut oil.
00:15:44
Speaker
Honey in the water and you blend it in a blender. The brand that I use is an LA brand. It's called Alfred's Tea. It's a ceremonial tea room. It's really nice. It's bright green. It's not beautiful.
00:15:56
Speaker
um So that's definitely something that I do weekly or daily. I have spring water. I have a spring water delivery service. i like I'm constantly with my big water canteen and I drink a lot of water most of the day. That's really all I drink. I might have a tea in the afternoon if I need like a warm something in the winter. I love licorice or dandelion.
00:16:15
Speaker
rose, something like that, just like ah an organic tea bag. Food-wise, the training that I did for cooking was actually through a culinary school called Soul Culinary, which is all around how to optimize your energy by eating with the circadian rhythms of Mother Nature. so I'm really tuned into this style of eating. It's called chronobiology, if you want to look into the science behind it.
Chronobiology and Eating Habits
00:16:37
Speaker
It's basically eating foods at the right time of the day,
00:16:40
Speaker
in sync with Mother Nature's sunlight um you know sunrise and sunset to really optimize your lymphatic system and your digestive system. so It was a very alternative style of cooking school that I went to. The teacher closed his practice here in Venice, but he's hoping to open up a retreat center now in Costa Rica with all the plants to be able to really teach people more about this. It's a really Again, speaking about intuitively and how we eat intuitively and how we should eat in harmony with nature, it made so much sense to me. so To break it down for you, in the morning when you are breaking your fast, you're rising and shining, your lymphatic system needs hydration. and The most hydrating foods and the foods that actually get sunlight's first energy, which is the sunlight energy that you're also eating, is fruits. anything that grows on a tree. So fruits first thing in the morning on an empty stomach actually gives your body sugars naturally to wake up your brain, to wake up your your whole body, your lymphatic system. um It's very hydrating and you're also getting fiber and good sugars to populate your gut microbiome. And it's also considered quick exit food. So it's going to help flush out and have a bowel movement first thing in the morning. okay
00:17:47
Speaker
So it goes within your system within 20 minutes of eating and hydrating, fiber filled, colors, nutrients. And the most important thing is eating local and seasonal. So I don't buy fruits that don't grow where you're from. So you eat local ones that grow from where you're from because you're just like a plant and you want to eat the same food. that away So fruits, first thing in the morning, but other things that grow on trees are also coffee, cacao, coconuts, and nuts. So if you do need to have more of a full breakfast, you know, a lot of these um alternative coconut yogurts or nut milks or nut and seeds and nut butter on an apple. Like if you need to, yeah there's a huge, like wrap your sugars in fat movement through the glucose goddess and things like that. There's a lot of people who really
00:18:29
Speaker
are anti-fruit, let's be completely honest. The whole like paleo movement and Atkins, like fruit is the enemy word. Truthfully, fruit is Mother Nature's gift to your your whole body. It's so good for you. So much better than eating a fake protein bar or a fake powdered anything. like fruit Fruit is life force energy and it's really cleansing, very hydrating. So first thing in the morning, anti-semic fruit.
00:18:52
Speaker
so and It's probably worth distinguishing here and get your thoughts between eating fruit and drinking fruit juice. because when When you're eating the fruit, it has the natural fiber in there. Your body is having to break it down. and so It processes the same apple very differently than if it's been squeezed and processed and you're just drinking and you're mainlining that fructose and how your body is going to respond to that. Totally. Maybe some of the juicing and things have led people astray on what fruit is and the impact. But if you're eating whole fruits, your body is processing very, very differently. Totally. Yeah. With juicing, it's look, I love juices so much for it. Like if you need a good hit of nutrients, you need a good hit of like flushing out. your your blood, your liver, your kidneys. like It's so good, but I would stick more to the vegetable juices. So I always am like a beetroot, carrot, ginger, lemon, or a green celery, cucumber, you know lemon, ginger. I always add lemon and ginger to it. If you need to add like a little bit of apple here and there, if you're in you know California or the US, but when I'm in places like Bali or Australia, I thrive on... I love pineapple juice with like lemon and ginger. I love you know, things that are made more locally, like a watermelon juice with freshmen in Bali is like, it's it tastes different. It feels really nourishing. Also so seasonality is really important. You know, whatever's in season is going to feel, but absolutely when you're eating the foods, you're going to, you're whole. It's like a mindfulness experience. You have to chew. You have to prepare your body to receive it. Fiber, a hundred percent. Like you get so much more of the vitamin and nutrients from eating a whole fruit versus yeah, just drinking it. So morning,
00:20:31
Speaker
We're going through the soul kitchen concept. We've done the morning, the ones that get the early light. That's fruit, that's hydrating. Yes. Coffee, also nuts, cacao, and coconut. If you eat any of those extra protein or nourishing, energizing things, they all grow on trees too. It's great foods for the morning.
00:20:49
Speaker
and Then, moving into the daytime, the sun is stable, so is your body. It's the time of the day that you want to have the most amount of energy. and It's also where your digestive fire can also break down and and process a much larger meal. so Very, very similar to a lot of Chinese-based medicine and Ayurveda and even in Europe. Lunchtime should be the biggest meal of the day. Kids come home from Europe. They have a huge lunch with their family. like it's It's a very traditional thing, even in you know Asia and things like that. Lunchtime, the biggest meal of the day.
00:21:18
Speaker
you're able to process and digest. Your Agni is alive and your digestive system is when you should be having it. You need energy in the middle of the day. and there's something so Anything that grows on land is daytime food. so We have crunchy green leaves, cucumbers, tomatoes, pumpkins, zucchinis, squash. like Anything that grows on the land that really requires a lot of sunshine is great to have.
00:21:41
Speaker
and grazing animals. So chickens, lambs, turkeys, anything that's out there grazing on the land, out there absorbing sunlight energy, eating the grass, you know synthesizing that energy, that is what we should be having during the middle of the day. So big a big beautiful bowl. Grains are also need a lot of sunlight as well. So you want to have like some grains with a piece of protein and lots of crunchy vegetables or a yummy sauce. That's a great meal to have in the middle of the day. So eat your protein, your beef, your chicken, like the bigger proteins that take a lot more energy to digest, yeah middle of the day. middle of and And then as the sun starts to set and we're going into rest and restore phase for our body, we want to have things that are closer to the ground, grounding root vegetables, anything that grows underground. So bulbs, root vegetables, so beetroots, carrots, sweet potatoes, bulbs are like fennels, leeks, asparagus, mushrooms, onions, garlics, ginger, all of those are kind of like Asian foods. They're all bulbs. They all grow underground. okay
00:22:38
Speaker
I love always like referring to Asia because I lived in Singapore, so I learned a lot about these food groups and stuff. yeah And then the two of the proteins that are night considered nighttime food would be fish, again, underground. They're underwater, as you can see. And eggs. Eggs are laid in the dark, and they're considered and like a nighttime food. They're also very light on your body to digest. So a great meal could be you know anything that's Asian, honestly, like a broth, a stew, a curry, ah you know anything that you cook with those root vegetables, all those bulbs.
00:23:08
Speaker
and make it into like a really light, digestive thing. Fish suits, fish stews, a piece of fish with some of those vegetables that I mentioned, an omelette, like mushrooms and all of those yummy Asian veggies chopped up into like an omelette.
00:23:20
Speaker
Perfect, light, easy to digest. So your body's not exhausted trying to process this huge piece of meat or these other foods that were like a crunchy raw dish. So that is the process. You want your body to sleep okay and restore and do its job at nighttime, which is to replenish your skin cells, replenish your blood, replenish your hair, your nails, your everything. it like It needs energy to do that while we rest. And resting restoration is what we do at nighttime. so giving your lymphatic system a break to rest, you know, to really do its thing so it can start all over again, wake up, have a bowel movement, let's go again. You know, that's kind of the the the ideal. And when I learned this and learning to cook in this way, I was like, yeah it makes so much sense. Like why, why didn't, why doesn't everyone eat this way? I think a lot of, again, Asian cultures, they do, they understand lighter meals at nighttime, eating close to like sunset for yogis, you know, like all of that kind of those practices. Now,
00:24:16
Speaker
I'm not dogmatic about anything. This is one way that I learned. It revolutionized my idea. I try my best. I do follow it. Not not religiously. I sometimes put other vegetables at different times of the day. If I'm really hungry in the morning, you know I can skip the fruit section and I'll just have like a huge breakfast bowl at 11 or 12. I'm not dogmatic in any way. and I just think it's a really beautiful guide.
00:24:41
Speaker
to eat with nature, eat with the rhythm of like our body sinking with nature. And so it really made a lot of sense to me. Now, when you're doing this, being this thoughtful on balancing out the foods by time of day that you're eating, and then also eating the rainbow You're really getting a diversified nutrient profile. you're You're getting just from the food you're eating. Are there any things you supplement with? Do you do you supplement any proteins? Do you supplement collagen? Any micronutrients? Magnesium? iss nothing you It's just all pure.
00:25:15
Speaker
Magnesium. There's not enough magnesium in our soils. So I supplement at nighttime. I also used to used to be a chef actually being on my feet all day. It was like one of those things that helped relax my muscles and my legs definitely still working out. So magnesium is the only thing that I really supplement with. If I am going through a season where my immune system feels lower, I can sometimes add in like liposomal vitamin C sachets in the morning. You know, the ones that you can have When I'm feeling my body get run down, there's this one brand of ah wellness formula it's called by Source Naturals. It has a whole multitude of different herbs that you can take to really up your immune system if you're feeling run down. That's really the only ones that I will cycle through. I used to have like glutathione to like, if I'm feeling like a liver overload, glutathione is really good. NAC, again, if I had any like chest or nose, but these are like
00:26:06
Speaker
sometimes. I don't supplement every day. like i try You should be able to eat your food and your vitamins through your food and you shouldn't be relying on anything else.
Access to Nutritious Foods
00:26:15
Speaker
I think from a like a fat perspective and extra protein, i like I have coconut oil in my morning drink, like a big tablespoon of that. I'll have almond butter with my apple or peanut butter or something. Every day with my meal, I will for women's health as well. Cycle syncing, I always put like pumpkin seeds um or sesame seeds or extra cashews on like a crunchy agent thing at nighttime. Like I always supplement them with extra nuts and seeds. Also great for your, to clean out your bowels. Yeah. So I feel like nature has everything you need. Like it has all of you adding all those things. You're going to get healthy hair, skin, nails. Like you're going to have yeah enough of the vitamins and polyphenols from the colorful fruits and vegetables, antioxidants, like
00:26:57
Speaker
Nature has everything we need. we've just I think we've become so disconnected from it that we are looking for these quick fixes and we feel like we have to supplement. Look, a lot of people don't have access to i mean California, right? The farmers market here are incredible. I feel very privileged to have, you know,
00:27:15
Speaker
really good produce that is colourful and nutrient dense. If you shop at the farmer's market, you're pretty you're pretty um lucky to be able to eat seasonally because it only will give you what's in season. and Depending on where you are, like what grows at certain times of the year, you know it is challenging to to try and get everything we need, but I think we overcomplicate it a little bit too much. and We turn to quick fixes or powders or these things that our body actually doesn't recognise as nutrients.
00:27:43
Speaker
I mean, the tough thing, in you live in Southern California, so it's probably a slightly distorted view of America, but 90% of Americans don't eat the recommended amount of fruits and vegetables a day, much less the variety and the recommended amount, maybe half or a third as much as you really should be yeah eating. and And so you think about the standard American diet that was all about how do we make it shelf stable and just get it out there, make it cheap, very cheap, addictive calories that we put out there.
00:28:12
Speaker
yeah And it's it was one of the things that I was taking more and more supplements. But then I realized what I'm eating, you know, let me just go run this through what? Oh, I'm getting a thousand milligrams of magnesium from what I eat each day. Do I need to supplement with it? like i I'm eating these from Whole Foods. I may be OK. But I realize that you and I might not be representative of yeah the US population. and Our listeners are probably a little more on this end of the spectrum. But you Just if you look at the food people buy, it just doesn't always have that nutrient profile that we're talking about here. Yeah, it's um it's it's hard, but I don't think it has to be hard as well. you know I feel like if we if we allow space for like, do your best.
00:28:58
Speaker
energy, you know and being more compassionate with what we are, trying our best. you know Just do your best. If you can't buy organic, it's okay. If you can just buy you know what you what is available to you from where you live um and really adapt to where you're from. you know and I feel like, yes, most of middle America, but there are fruits and vegetables. I've traveled around. like It's possible. you know like Even Yeah, I think that the unfortunate thing is like how cheap the alternative foods are, like how cheap the packaged foods are. and I think that's where the disconnect is that it's it's so much cheaper to buy packaged, yeah you know not nutrient-dense field. where If you go to you know Southeast Asia or South America, where they're poorer countries, the poor people eat fruits and vegetables. They eat rice, fish, fruits and vegetables, or rice and beans and vegetables. like
00:29:43
Speaker
And it's what the poor people eat versus like in America, it's the opposite. which just it is It is sad, but I don't think it's impossible to to buy. you know Even if you go to any Walmart around the US, you know they do have fruits and vegetables, and it's possible to like try your best to eat more colorful foods and things like that. I mean, full transparency, Walmart is the largest seller of organic products in the country. and So you you can get all this stuff. It's just, as you point out,
00:30:12
Speaker
cent per calorie of any organic plant is just never going to compare to nutter butters or little Debbie cakes. and it's just yeah and Until we address that more as a society of, like hey, do we really want to subsidize high fructose corn syrup and make these things super, super cheap for people? like what How much is that actually costing us, not just in the subsidies, but in the metabolic disease that we then have to treat through Medicare and Medicaid.Align? Let's just think through a couple steps on that equation. but
00:30:44
Speaker
I go on a tangent. I know, ah but it's a real tangent and I think it's a valid point to bring up and it it is unfortunate. and I think education and just trying your best, like to like it's all we can do. you know I think places like Costco and there are other places where we you can buy food in bulk that is healthier. you know it is but It does take a little bit of education and um energy, but you've got to put effort in it to really make it work. But if you're told that your your your life is on the line and you have to, like it's almost like, don't get to that point. you know How can we do the best to you know preventative care versus like getting to the point where like, oh my gosh, my life depends on you know having to switch my diet.
00:31:23
Speaker
That's something I definitely want to get to with you, because so many of our guests, how they got into what they're doing is all tied to, oh, here's where I got personally, there was this huge wake up call. And there's a there's so many steps before then of You don't know what great feels, right? We say health. Oh, you're healthy. You you don't have diabetes. You're healthy. youre like well Are you
Sleep and Natural Rhythms
00:31:47
Speaker
thriving? Are you living with vitality, which may be different than I can get through each day, but you don't know because that's what every day feels like until you have, wait, once I take out these toxins, once I start eating the rainbow,
00:31:58
Speaker
I have so much energy. I feel amazing. I'm so much happy. My skin's clear. Everything's great. But before we jump to that, you touched on the stopping matcha for a month and and seeing what it was like without caffeine. I'm curious, did that impact your sleep at all? like do I don't know. Do you track your sleep and and did you see a difference before and after or through that process?
00:32:20
Speaker
It's a good question. I do track my sleep. I have an aura ring and I was coming home from Australia. So I had jet lag for like the first week of that. And then I was moving into like, again, I'm very, very in tune with my body as a woman because this is the work that I do. I teach women about cycle syncing and monitoring their body. So I was like the first week or so I definitely, I didn't really notice anything. No, I have to be honest. I didn't notice anything because my body naturally was like coming back from an overseas trip. So I was already a week out of like taking melatonin to help me sleep. So that was not true data. And then moving into the second phase of my period cycle where my luteal, you know, you get the spike in temperature, and then there was a week
00:33:04
Speaker
which, again, I'm going to go super woo-woo here. Let's just di dive deep into the moon cycles and the astrology. so There's been an eclipse season for the last two weeks as well, and there was a full moon before that. and My body was also going into luteal phase, into my pre pre my pre-menstrual. and so As a woman, your temperature is rising. You do get your my data from my score around my my period cycle. It's incredible. like you Literally, you your readiness score drops your temperature is rising. So they think you're having a really restless sleep, but it's actually just naturally what happens to your body before you have your period. So your luteal phase sucks for a woman. Like throws your body temperature. So, and then you want to like tune into like the astrology and the planets and what the planets are doing. So we have this eclipse, which ends on this Monday, but it's been operating for two weeks between the full moon and the new moon. And as someone who is very dialed into that kind of stuff, I was waking up at like three 30 in the morning, four, five 30 in the morning, like
00:33:58
Speaker
wired. And that is a typical kind of thing that can happen around the season. So I feel more dehydrated. So to be honest, I think the the macho and the non-macha, I didn't even notice because there was so much else happening in my life at that point.
00:34:13
Speaker
Not a single variable there. So you you track your sleep. Do you do anything? I mean, you take the magnesium. Do you have, like with the temperature change, do you have one of the cooling pads or anything on your bed to try to help with that or no? No, no, no, no. It's just, I think it's, you don't really notice it as a woman. It's just something that naturally happens. And you notice it because you know that your period's coming because you can recognize the temperature. I think tracking it's very interesting because you can see it, right? You can see your scores being very different.
00:34:42
Speaker
In terms of that, note I think I always try to decrease you know the harder workouts and increase more walking. ah Trying to go to bed earlier is really important if you are going to have that restless night's sleep. So I try and like you know go to bed, read. I've been reading a lot before bed recently, which feels really good.
00:34:59
Speaker
But I was still waking up wide awake with like, I didn't even know what that was. So it's, it's so interesting being a human. You can do all, and that's, I think that's a huge part of it as well. You can do all the right things from a physicality point of view. You can, you know, where it rise with the sun, get sunlight in your eyes, move your body every day, eat all the beautiful things. And then, you know, whatever's happening externally, we have no control over. right? Whether you're going through a really stressful time at work, a relationship breakup, financial issues. and this These are truly the underlying current of what causes stress and causes our data to be thrown completely. You can do all the right things internally and your life can can be thrown completely, which just throws you off kilter. and that's where That's where the true work, I think, lies. with How do you deal with life when it presents these like really challenging circumstances? What is your mindfulness practice? well How do you
00:35:50
Speaker
release those emotions that you're dealing with? Are you storing them in the body to keep it all inside? Do you share with a friend? Are you expressing? Are you getting that energy out so that you can process and come back to your center again? I think that's a very ah huge part of this beautiful mindfulness movement, your nervous system, really understanding your fight or flight responses to stress. you know It's a real yeah epidemic that I think a lot of us are being more aware of. And maybe we didn't have as much stress before, you know, prior to the, to our COVID, we were just, you know, on, on what do you call it? Cruise control. We were just in this fast pace. Let's go, go, go, go, go. I think the moment that the world had a chance to stop the discomfort of like, whoa, slowing down. I'm feeling all these things I haven't felt before. And I don't think that we've gotten back to a rhythm. I don't think we even understand what a rhythm is anymore. We're like, what do we do now? like I know too much. I know what it feels like to like feel my feelings there. What do I, how do I move on? How do I go back? i don't I don't want to go back to that old, you know, pace. Speaking of going to the old pace. So we touched a little bit, kind of the more three, more physical sides on Houseband between the fitness and movement, nutrition, super recovery. And then now we'll talk more on
00:37:04
Speaker
the emotional, the social, the psychological. and This, I know, is a big focus of your work on how that actually... They aren't separate. you know We're taught they were separate. and One is health and the other is mental health. and Actually, they're all health because you do this and your cortisol levels go up and you may store fat and you may sleep less and you may have a different appetite. so It is all health together.
00:37:26
Speaker
but How did you come to that? How did you personally get to that realization on the criticality of these other pieces? who Personal journey, being a private chef, being running a catering company pre-COVID, I was having really, really, really painful periods. And my body was like, I had, and i not injuries, I had really like reoccurring from overuse. So I had like carpal tunnel in my arms, really achy swollen knees.
00:37:55
Speaker
puffiness in my face, totally inflamed in my stomach, really painful periods. Like I went through a season and this was in my thirties and your body changes. So, you know, your, your, your periods will change as the season of your life changes. You know, it's more of these years where you're meant to be having babies from 30, you
Personal Transformations and Vision Quest
00:38:11
Speaker
know.
00:38:11
Speaker
So 40 that's like the peak time 25 to 35 and my body was not happy so I definitely had like a wake up call and I was doing all the right things and literally eating the cleanest most organic beautiful foods in front of me I'm being paid to nourish people so my diet was like.
00:38:29
Speaker
the best it could have been. um I was moving. I was physically on my feet all day. It wasn't like I was sitting and staying. I was moving. i was you know I was financially in a really, really successful place. there was a core One of the core ah mental health and unhappiness pieces, which I think we need to give credit to, was like I was single. and I was single at an age where I was cooking for other families and I was taking care of children. and I was like giving up my evenings, my weekends to like take care of others. I was like,
00:38:59
Speaker
That was the missing thing in my life and my body in my family. I was totally my masculine. I was totally in this go, go, go, go, go kind of energy. And my body as a woman was like, this is not how we're meant to be. Like I had a real, real wake up call combined with me realizing what was missing in my life. What was this unhappiness? Because technically everything on the outside was like, perfect, right? Except for this one piece for me personally, which was like, i I want to have a family of my own, you know? And I was reaching around 34 at this stage. I was really aware of this, you know? It kind of came very, very true to me. And so, yeah, that was kind of my wake up call. Like my mental health was really challenging. And my body was was suffering, even though I was doing all the right things. um And that was like, I think that the huge shift that allowed me to realize
00:39:44
Speaker
Is this the direction that you want your life to go in? like is this You want to keep doing this? like Where is this going? Where is this path leading you to cooking for another five years? you know it's like Or do you want to make a change in your life? and so I took myself on a month-long vision. growth I was in a relationship at that time when we actually broke up, which kind of was the ah realization of, like where am I going? What am I doing?
00:40:03
Speaker
And so I went to the Amazon jungle. I went on a full month long vision quest by myself. I'd never really traveled like that before. And I came back. I was very in touch with the rhythm of nature and I did like a full theater and cleanse and it was like a beautiful experience. And then I came back from that trip January 2020.
00:40:22
Speaker
I went back to work February 2020. and i remember driving I worked in Newport Beach and I was driving from LA to Newport Beach. I remember driving like 45 minutes, 50 minutes every day in this peak hour, let not peak hour, but like traffic and five lane highway. LA is always peak hour traffic, right? I just came back from the Amazon. I was like, chickens. And like, I was like, so in touch with the rhythm of nature. I really remembered what it felt like. And I was like, I, my life is not in alignment. And I was like, I don't want to do this anymore. I remember crying. I was literally crying one day on my drive home and I was like, I don't want to do this anymore. Give me like, you know, full full break praying, speaking out to, you know, whoever's listening. I was like, I don't want to do this anymore. I remember crying really, really, really heavily in my soul was like, I don't This is not for me anymore." and About two weeks later, I was on a catering trip in San Francisco, and then I came back to work. and That was like March, and so the world actually
New Directions and Online Presence
00:41:20
Speaker
shut down. and i got i got My prayer was answered. and i really got to and it was The most beautiful part of that journey was i from December to January, I'd already like
00:41:31
Speaker
funny. It's such a female thing, but I'd already like taken off all my gels. i like I used to have fake eyelashes. I took off my eyelashes. I like let my hair just be natural. like I was already like three months prepared for the pandemic because I feel like women really like lost their shit. Like, oh my God, we can't do any of our things. And I was like.
00:41:48
Speaker
Whoa, I had like a three month detox of like removing all of the external things that I think I needed to like validate whatever woman. And that was a real beautiful like juxtaposition of just like, whoa, I'm ready. I'm clear. like The people people need help. I'm going to like and i teach them how to cook. And I just showed up online. I actually built my online presence by just being of service. I was like, you don't know how to cook?
00:42:11
Speaker
like I was doing IG Lives every day with all my friends brands and companies. I started partnering with wellness brands. I was doing IG Lives like every other day. I did like digital dinner parties. We'd you know we would come together. We'd cook the things. We did like sexy Sunday brunches with another chef friend of mine. I just like showed up in service of what I could offer in that time. and This whole other direction of my career kind of tip took off, which was so beautiful. and I realized I loved teaching. I loved educating. I loved you know doing this kind of work.
00:42:39
Speaker
I was always trained as a holistic nutrition coach. I'd always had clients on the side. I did a lot of women's retreats throughout my years as a chef going there. So I worked with a lot of clients still one-to-one, but only one day a week. I could only see clients one day a week because I was cooking the rest. And then I already suddenly had more space and then these people were reaching out. So I started taking on more clients. And then it was this beautiful progression between I didn't leave the cooking world at all. Everyone knew me as a chef, so I was still getting... No restaurants were open. no part you know as I was doing tons of cooking gigs that, you know, 2020, 2021. Still cooking a lot, but it was more in alignment with like people who were desiring healthy food and gathering. and it was kind of know
00:43:18
Speaker
Prohibition this era, you know, we'd gather and do these beautiful things. It was fun. It was a really beautiful time. But that's, I think that was my, my realization and stepping into like what I was truly, truly always meant to do, which was to help as many people as possible and be more of service and not yet stuck in like a one, one year, one family, one, only one people were really getting a benefit, I guess.
00:43:39
Speaker
And now, so kind of four years after that awakening and and realization, what does your mindfulness or stress management practice look like now? I mean, you touched a little bit on some of the journaling in the morning. I don't know if the grounding is a daily activity or if that's just something right before traveling. How do you try to bake that in to make sure you don't get to that point again?
00:44:03
Speaker
Yeah, debt for sure. Daily rituals. are and it's like I want to like really preface this as like it's impossible to be a perfect human all the time. we can you know We're sharing all of these beautiful tips and like I don't journal every day. you know I tend to turn to journaling when it's like, I should have done this a lot earlier. you know it's like that When I have the time and space because I am stressed out or I am anxious, right there's a lot going on in my mind. so It's good if you can get in the habit of those daily rituals, which are non-negotiables like you're morning sitting down with a warm drink and just jotting down on some intentions for the day or checking in on your body and like, how am I feeling today? How's my emotions?
00:44:43
Speaker
As a woman, where am I at in my cycle? Am I going to be a bit more edgy this week? Should I be like maybe removing some of the caffeine? Should I be eating you know having more juices to up my nutrients like rather than quite craving certain foods? so like I think there's this is like ah consciousness and awareness of like who what's going on inside of you. Check in on your your internal voice. you know A lot of those stuff that really blocks us and and triggers all of the reactions in our bodies and our thoughts. It starts here, you know how we think, what we believe, what we are saying to ourselves, that internal dialogue. I think that mindfulness and mental health piece is like, check in on that. doesn't Don't get to the point where like it's screaming louder or even your body. Don't get to the point where your body has to scream really loud that you're not taking care of. it And I think we oscillate, right? We can get in
00:45:31
Speaker
Yeah, a really good routine with certain you know meditations. Fantastic. Having a little meditation to tune in, to drop in, let the nervous system calm down. Whether that's first thing in the morning before you run out in the day, last thing at night, or in the middle of the day. like I'm feeling a little bit overwhelmed. take yourself I always take myself on a mental health call walk if I feel like I got to walk this out or go to the beach. okay Go to nature, I think is my go-to if I ever feel really stressed, overwhelmed, disconnected on my laptop, on computers, on my phone, checking Instagram, like too much. I'm like, whoa, I gotta like take a moment, take a breath and then get out in nature. I think nature is my truly, it's the easiest. It's simple. It's fresh air. It's sunlight. It's free. It's around us yeah and go hug a tree, you know, whatever you can do. I think grounding in nature for your mental health has
00:46:21
Speaker
so many benefits. It's one of the things I feel like really actually calms our nervous system, regulates us, comes back to center, and we can actually like reset because it takes away a lot of our negative ions. you know It really takes away the fresh air, breathing in.
Intentional Habits and Emotional Processing
00:46:35
Speaker
Yeah, that's kind of my process for sure.
00:46:38
Speaker
And I mean, this may be another one of those examples where you're just more in tune having been a dancer and everything. Are you good enough and trust yourself enough to know when it starts building? Like, okay, I i will notice the trigger in time and I will get out in nature. Like for me, example, I have on my calendar that pop up is two alerts, two points that I do my 478 breathing to just clear. like because i I know I could just get sucked in and not look up for 10 hours. If I didn't put these in, nope, go do this and you'll clear your head and you're going to be more productive. like The five minutes that you lost there, you're going to make up in spades down the line. Do you have that kind of structure in or do you say, look, my whole life is around listening to my body and so I trust that I'm going to be able to hear it when it's time? Yeah. um i I'm a human and I have good days and I have bad days for sure.
00:47:29
Speaker
I think, I think some people are so good at having that regimented, um, like alarms and settings. Like, even if I have them, I am very emotional and I think my emotions can sometimes take over and I can like, I kind of give up. I'm like, Oh, I can't, I can't, like I do. I really go into my emotions sometimes. I'm like, I can't right now.
00:47:47
Speaker
ah Let me be clear, when I say I have the calendar, they're not always productive. right like Sometimes I'm doing it while writing an email. and like I'm not getting the benefit of it, but I probably get twice as much benefit than I would if I just trusted myself just knowing me. right Everybody's different.
00:48:02
Speaker
I think that that programming, like the repetition of doing something every day, that habit stacking will be in that habit, but making your habits a ritual, like making it a non-negotiable. That's something that you do, like my warm drink in the morning and sitting down and trying to be intentional. And sometimes if I'm rushing out the door, if I'm with other people at a home traveling or whatever, you know, I'll just make sure I do it when I get back. Like I have a moment to just be intentional. I think when you make a habit or ritual and you make it intentional, I think it kind of sticks and you enjoy it. It's like that thing that you look forward to, you know, that you really want to do. So I think having those beautiful habits and really trying and practicing it for 21 days straight until it becomes ingrained in your daily, what do we call it, flow. But there are seasons in your life. There are seasons in your life, I mentioned before, where you're going to be going through something more challenging. So my mom got diagnosed with cancer last year and that was a really challenging year for me. And that's why I started dancing.
00:48:54
Speaker
I didn't know how to deal with these these feelings. I truly did. and I have a coach. I was speaking to her every week. Talking wasn't cutting it. you know Talking wasn't helping. so A lot of these like my sisters are somatic therapists, so I do a lot of her um practices and stuff like that. and I did a lot of my own study around somatic therapy, being a dancer, knowing how in tune I am with my body, and also working with clients and realizing there is so much more to what's going on in their body than just these health issues. It's not just food. We can't just fix it with food and mindfulness and meditation, journaling. like they kind of They're good and their maintenance of the vessel, right? But until you get to the root cause of what is blocking your flow, what is that but is that thing that you literally, like you can't move forward, no matter how much good food you eat, how much meditation, like it all helps and it maintains. Maintenance is important. It's a car. We have to take care every day. We have to eat, sleep, rest,
00:49:44
Speaker
But there's the emotional and spiritual connection, which I think is so important. where you know These mindfulness habits do tap into the spirit because you're you're quieting down a lot to listen to that inner voice, that intuition. yeah what do you What do you want in your life? What is actually going on? and you Is there grief? Are you dealing with something that's so... Are you giving space to feel that emotion? Are you giving space to process what you're going through? And I think that's scary for a lot of people.
00:50:12
Speaker
we're programmed to just be in the doing all the time. Like it's success, achievement, like go, go, go. where we're We're rushing towards this illusion of a finish line, which is death. And if we're not taking these moments to intentionally check in with like, why do I feel this block? Why do I feel, why is, why is my body saying signaling me these messages? Like if you don't take the time to really ask yourself those deeper questions, and that's why I think working with a coach or working with a therapist or working with someone that you can talk to these things, but then, yeah,
00:50:41
Speaker
you It's scary to like change your life. It's scary to like do something drastic to really make sure your your body is going in the right direction, but also like, what are you doing with this precious life? And I think there's so much more to this conversation of purpose and joy and pleasure and play that we have stopped really giving attention to since we're kids. kids are naturally playful, moving their body. They they move through their emotions. They're so connected to this like inner voice that like, I want to do this and they just do it. Or I want to
Community Support and Personal Growth
00:51:12
Speaker
dress up like this. And they they're so free to express. Then we start getting conditioned, conditioned, conditioned, just work, just show up, just, you know, get the money, get the job, get the house, get the things. It's like this this tunnel that we forget about what do i what actually brings me joy. And am I doing daily activities that actually allow that part of me to be expressed? Like dance for me was like an expression of both the grief I was going through and and the the uncertainty I felt. And also it brought me joy. So it's like, it brings the happy hormones. It released the stuff that was going on. But I feel like there's other activities which release like, you know, putting things off for too long and then you'd finally do it. It's like dopamine release. So you finally like book the trip, or you finally take the call. So you finally break up with the partner. You're like, these are the things that literally like break those strongholds of the things that are feeling stuck in our bodies and our lives.
00:51:59
Speaker
i mean You brought up how difficult it can be to do a alone. and you know As we talk about the that fifth pillar of social connection and purpose, and your purpose has been to really build these social connections and community around this. you know A word that's come up many times is flow. I know you have a program, Nourish Your Flow, that you run a couple of times a year to to kind of build this community and help teach people about this. Can you say anything about that?
00:52:25
Speaker
Yeah. So community is so important. Being around people is so important. And I think a big part of this like isolation movement of like independence and doing it on your own. and And I think it's removed what we all need, which is, you know,
00:52:40
Speaker
being in in community with others and being in commune and being supported and feeling held and it is so so, so, so important on so many levels. The being in flow is truly like taking care of everything we just touched on, like your your physical health, your mental health, your emotional health for women, your period health, your your your inner ah flow is super important to know it and and witness it and understand it and work with it.
00:53:03
Speaker
So I created a program for women. It's a group offering that I run twice a year, like you said, and it's all called about all the elements besides food that nourish your flow. And I think that this community aspect, being in support, listening to other people's stories and understanding that you're not alone, you know, we've got, there is support. We can turn to people, but we have to cultivate those relationships and we have to make time for it too. You know, we have to make time for community. We have to make time to be there for others so they're there for us in hard times.
00:53:31
Speaker
um family, friends, community. But I feel like community is such a huge part of my life and I'm so grateful for it. I don't live where my family's from so I rely on my community as family. But I think that when you're going through something like turning to someone else is like super important. It's like the most important.
00:53:49
Speaker
And speaking of turning to someone else, I know you do one-to-one coaching and we have to get you off because you have a coaching session now. So Amy, it it has been absolutely wonderful ah speaking with you. Thank you for everything you shared. Hopefully more people will take this to heart and and realize they're not in this alone, don't have to be. Where can people find you?
00:54:09
Speaker
Yeah. Thank you so much Andrew for this conversation. I feel like we could keep talking. I love, I love, this is my favorite way to like share this message and to have conversations with people. It's so important and it's beautiful. So thank you for the invitation today. Green Shaker is my Instagram. I love connecting with people. You can send me a DM. You can reach out to me. I work with women one-on-one in a three month container. It's a very much a deep dive into those intimate parts of you at behind the scenes. My programs, you can look at that, but yeah.
00:54:36
Speaker
Green Taker is my Instagram. Send me a DM. You can find a lot of links over there as well. It's probably the best place. I'm very active. I dance. I teach. I share a playlist. I do lots of things over there. So come say hi. Don't be a stranger. And thank you again, Andrew, for being prompt with our time today and great questions. It was really enjoyable. Thank you so much, Amy.
00:54:55
Speaker
i Thank you for joining us on today's episode of the Home of Health Span podcast. And remember, you can always find the products, practices, and routines mentioned by today's guests, as well as many other healthspan role models on the lively.com. Enjoy day.