HealCircle.org

Category: Optimal Sleep

  • Meditate like Oprah: TM meditation

    What do Oprah Winfrey, Hugh Jackman, Katy Perry, and Cameron Diaz have in common?

    They all have spoken publicly about their love for TM or Transcendental Meditation. So let’s explore Transcendental Meditation and its profound effects on the mind, body, and health.

    Understanding TM

    Transcendental Meditation is a simple technique that allows you to access a state of deep relaxation and heightened awareness. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi introduced TM in the 1950s though it has been practiced for thousands of years prior. Unlike other forms of meditation, TM does not require concentration, focus, or the use of specific postures. Instead, it involves the use of a unique mantra or sound that helps the individual achieve a state of transcendence, where the mind settles into a state of profound rest while remaining fully alert.

    How to TM

    During TM practice, you sit comfortably with your eyes closed and silently repeat a specific mantra given to you by a trained TM teacher. You practice twice a day for 20 minutes. This mantra is a sound or vibration chosen to suit each person individually. By focusing on the mantra, the mind naturally transcends thoughts, allowing the individual to experience a state of pure awareness. This transcendent state is said to be characterized by inner calmness, clarity, and a sense of unity with the universe.

    Scientifically Proven Benefits

    Transcendental Meditation has been extensively studied, and numerous scientific research studies have documented its benefits. Regular practice of TM has been associated with reduced stress, anxiety, and depression. It has also shown positive effects on blood pressure, cardiovascular health, and overall well-being. The deep relaxation experienced during TM allows the body to rejuvenate and heal, resulting in increased energy levels and improved focus and productivity.

    Enhancing Cognitive Abilities

    Transcendental Meditation has been found to positively impact cognitive abilities. Regular practice improves attention span, memory, and creativity. The deep rest attained during TM helps the brain to function more efficiently, leading to improved cognitive performance and problem-solving skills. Moreover, studies have shown that TM practice positively influences brainwave patterns, leading to greater coherence and integration across different areas of the brain.

    Promoting Emotional Well-being

    In addition to its physical and cognitive benefits, Transcendental Meditation also promotes emotional well-being. Regular practice has been linked to decreased symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and improved emotional resilience. TM provides a sanctuary from the daily stresses of life, allowing individuals to process emotions more effectively and cultivate a positive outlook.

    Accessing Higher States of Consciousness

    One of the unique aspects of Transcendental Meditation is its potential to lead individuals to higher states of consciousness. By transcending thought and experiencing pure awareness, practitioners report glimpses of expanded consciousness and a deeper connection to their inner selves. These experiences often bring about profound insights, a greater sense of purpose, and a more meaningful understanding of life.

    What I love about it is that it’s portable and can be practiced to reduce stress in a traffic jam, at the grocery store line, before a test, or an important presentation. No one needs to know you are “TM”ing your way to a smile!

    Are you Ready to TM?

    YES!

    Then as the first step please check out their website TM.org. Along with valuable information. you can also find there a trained TM teacher to begin your practice.

    NOT YET.

    Then may I suggest the following:

    1. Find a place to sit comfortably on the ground or chair
    2. Close your eyes and rest your hands comfortably on your lap
    3. Chant the mantra OM (YouTube has videos for OM chanting ) for 7 minutes at the start and end of your day.
    4. Once you are comfortable with the chanting, try 20 minutes at least once a day or ideally twice a day. Notice any changes in your life experience, health, relationships, and more.

    If you would like to meditate in a group, for free, then join us at each night at 9:20 PM PST for a 11-minute meditation, Email us at GoBlisvana@gmail.com for the invitation to join nightly meditations.

  • 5 Crazy Things Intermittent Fasting Did to Me (and how I got through them!)

    5 Crazy Things Intermittent Fasting Did to Me (and how I got through them!)

    By Reena A Jadhav

    I love snacking! Grazing all day on nuts, Ferraro Rocher, Nutella, cookies dipped in tea …give me little sweet treats (like a child) all day long and I’m blissed out.

    Well, then this happened.

    In 2017, I almost ended up dying, 28 symptoms attacking me daily, and had to figure out an exit strategy from the grave.

    After a mini PhD in healing, I decided to embark on intermittent fasting with 2 large meals and herbal tea the rest of the day.

    I wanted the promised land of reduced inflammation, gut healing, mitochondrial recovery, organ rejuvenation, mental clarity, sleep through the night and beating away of sugar cravings.

    I could almost envision the new me through the shimmering mirage, all healed and rash free. No more swollen fingers like stumps or big hives on my cheeks. No more funky black lines on my palms or bathroom runs 10 times a day!

    I was so ready to get my life back. To heal.

    So I deeply thought through which day to commence my march to super health (I didn’t want vacations or parties to interrupt my carefully crafted design back to health). March 1 seemed like a great day for new beginnings.

    So it was that on March 1, 2017, I began an intermittent fast (IF) that would take me through an adventurous rocky road of recovery. A topsy-turvy roller coaster …did I mention hate scary rides?

    Here are the 5 crazy things I wish someone had told me when I first started! Why? Because any challenge can only be won with preparation. You can’t go into a battlefield without a plan and resources. Knowing where the mines are will get you to the end goal of not eating for 14 to 18 hours. I stumbled around for months before getting into the rhythm of a dinner by 7 pm and lunch at 12 pm. Here’s how I did it!

    5 crazy things about intermittant fasting no one tells you (and how to get through them!)

    So here are my top tips for ‘body maintenance’ and to your body thriving!

    1. Cravings -this fasting is NOT helping!
      They tell you IF kills cravings. What they don’t tell you is that fasting first pumps up the cravings and only if you defeat the dragon do they go away. My first week of IM was actually not so bad the second week of not eating after 7 pm brought out the sugar beast in me like never before. I would wake up with the strangest cravings for Baked Alaska and Chocolate Halwa, delicacies I had not devoured in decades. I got worried I was pregnant! My family freaked out and there were many times when my husband would restrain me while my daughter quickly grabbed the cookie box/chocolate bag/ice-cream carton out of my hands and hid it or threw it away. It got very ugly. It turns out the hormone ghrelin is the troublemaker here. When you start any kind of fasting it rises and rises and rises, creating that sense of desperate hunger. But it soon settles down into the new norm. To get through the rough few weeks of my battle with ghrelin I adopted the “honey on tongue” trick- I would put a dab of raw organic honey on my tongue and savor it till the desire to eat an entire cake would vanish. Another trick that worked was herbal cinnamon tulsi tea with monk fruit sweetener. So get ready to find your “honey on tongue” trick that will get you through the ghrelin spikes.
    2. Binges – food frenzy coming on!
      Apparently, IM should shrink our stomachs so we eat less. Clearly, my stomach didn’t get that WhatsApp alert. Till today, my daughter is horrified at how much I eat at, what I call, “feeding time”. Ever gone to a zoo and watched animal feeding? See how all the animals get so excited and eat voraciously, without stopping to breathe, until all the food is gone? That’s the new me. At 12 pm sharp I eat everything in sight. I always ate like a bird, according to my family. Now I eat like an elephant. It’s almost like my body knows there’s no food coming for 14+ hours and its time to hoard. The first few weeks I would eat less and be starving within an hour. My digestive juices were trained to wake up every hour on the hour due to my grazing habits. They were so confused when no little snack would show up. They would go nuts, demanding something to digest. It was quite an exercise in willpower! Which I really didn’t have much of those first few months- I was constantly in the pantry eye worshiping what I would eat at the next meal. It was quite comical for my family to watch, as they tell me. Then I got smart and started overeating and adding heavier proteins that would take longer to digest. Another great addition was psyllium husk that bulked up the meal. It took almost a month to retrain my digestion to only wake up at 12 pm and 5 pm but it eventually worked!But I still eat for about 1.5 hour each meal in quantity and variety that continues to horrify my 14-year-old!
    3. Chirpings – wake up at 4:30 am!
      I’ve never been a morning person, I love hitting snooze, snuggling in deeper and getting just a “few more minutes” of sleep. IF killed that indulgence, fast! Within 3 weeks I would wake up at 4:30 am like an alarm, without an alarm, and be wired without caffeine or sugar. I would try to get back in the dream state only to have my mind fully awake and ready to rock and roll. Something truly magical happened to bring my body into a balance that it hadn’t had since my middle school days. I had so much energy that I would go for a run and come back singing ready to get to work! No caffeine or banana chocolate chip muffin needed.With my dinner ending by 7 PM, I learned the trick that if I went to bed by 10 PM I would miss the hunger cycle. But if I was up at 11 PM I was back in the pantry starving and binging. So I changed my night owl routine just to stop myself from raiding the pantry. This one small change, I believe, kickstarted my tsunami of healing. It turns out that our body is naturally designed to wake up at dawn but in order for it do that it needs to work through the complex clean up and rejuvenation cycle. Which requires us to be in bed by 10 PM. Ayurveda also recommends finishing dinner 4 hours before sleep time to allow the body to focus on rejuvenation instead of digestion at night. So, if you want to sail through your IF transition then schedule bedtime at 10 PM and you’ll see amazing results!
    4. Feelings – anger, sadness, fatigue, cold, hot
      I’ve always been an even-keeled, low key, stable emotions kinda woman. No throwing things or wanting to ram into cars on the road. That all changed with IF. The first month I felt a gamut of emotions I had never experienced before. From road rage to sobbing for brownies…from freezing to melting …it was all very confusing. And painful enough to make me want to give it all up. My body was fighting the change with all its might. There’s science that supports emotional healing as the body heals, which means lots of deep down hurt wells up and then disappears.My family was fighting the change with all their might. They just wanted the old “Mom and Wife” back; this new one was a firecracker. The cause of all this mayhem? A combination of low blood sugar, blood flowing to fat stores, dehydration, hangry hormones and more. It was all very touch and go for a while. But I’m not known to give up, no matter how tough the climb. So I persisted with constant deep breathing and meditations. Something called Tranquil Mind herbal helped tremendously. So did baking, not working out and cutting down my commitments.  Recently, I interviewed Susan of Brightline Eating on my HEALTHIER podcast and she shared the science behind willpower as well as recommending not working out during fasts and transitions. So if you’re going to embark on a successful IF protocol long term, skip the exhausting gym visits and slow down your pace the first few weeks or months…or till your body settles into the new rhythm.
    5. Rumblings – shouldn’t my digestion be better?
      I remember the first week facing off with the loud sounds my belly made all the way from 8 am till 12 pm. Until I fed it, it made a fuss like a child!I hoped it was just a few days of drama but it lasted several weeks. Annoying and a little embarrasing frankly.My digestive reset took close to a month and gave me everything from bloating to constipation, both known side effects of IF.  Constipation I resolved through psyllium husk which also kept me bulked up between long meal breaks. Funky cramping tummy I fixed through herbal mint and tulsi teas. So there you have it! You have been informed of the perils that lie ahead in your journey to an IF lifestyle as well as simple tips remedies. Overall the benefits outweigh the drama and justify the upheavel this change inevitably brings with it. But …IF not for everyone and certainly not forever. So, 3 to 4 days a week I tell my body when to eat and the rest of the days I listen to what it wants! For me, its become a happy celebration of health and indulgence. How about you? I would love to hear your IF stories, so do share with me on social media or in comments below!

    Finally, get the MTFHR test done to determine if your liver could use additional support.

    If you already have a chronic illness, prioritizing detoxing is critical. Our body cannot restore and rebuild if it’s fighting off invaders. What’s amazing is that the moment your body is free of toxins it literally blossoms! Your energy will go through the roof, your skin will glow, you’ll see better, you’ll smile more, you’ll poop at least twice a day effortlessly. (Yep, you wanted to know about the pooping, right?)

    More importantly, you’ll know you are on the path to being disease free!

    If you need help, we’re are always here with a Health Bootcamp for you!

    Follow Reena on Twitter @reenajadhav Linkedin www.linkedin.com/in/reena or Facebook Reena Jadhav

    Never miss her articles, subscribe to our blog alerts here >

  • Diet for Health

    Diet for Health

    This is Step 6 of the article I wrote, 7 Step New Health Pyramid, which you can read on this Page >>

    By Reena A Jadhav

    We truly live in the best of times – and the worst of times.

    We have never had so much abundance and variety available. Mounds of delicious, addictive, affordable foods from all over the world are tempting us 24/7/365.

    But the price of this abundance and excess is, guess what? Obesity and chronic disease.

    Think about how the animal kingdom eats – horses eat hay, birds eat seeds, bees eat pollen. You don’t see bees chomping down hay or horses licking pollen off flowers. They instinctively know what their bodies need and are happy eating just those foods. (Have you ever seen an obese bee?)

    We have the same innate intelligence… however, we also have a problem: a brain that fears starvation and wants us to stock up. Our brain also loves dopamine rushes which – unfortunately – food provides in abundance. This creates a deadly combination of addiction and overindulgence (for me it was sugar, chocolate, flour, and butter).

    Living in our world of rich Starbucks aromas and cheap Krispy Kreme donuts we are all paying a heavy price for overindulgence.

    So you need to ask yourself, “is this food my fuel – or my funeral?”

    And there’s a bigger, hidden issue. (Yes, another problem.) We don’t know what’s healthy and what isn’t. Do we?

    One day coconut oil is good for you, another day it isn’t. Yesterday eggs were causing cholesterol but today they don’t. It’s enough to make us all throw up our hands in confusion as the so-called “experts” change their minds.

    Fake health news is everywhere. Companies fund studies (with top researchers of course) to support the “health” benefits of their poisonous products. Greed has beaten integrity and it’s impossible to know the real truth around research any more. No, a glass of wine daily is not healthy (not that you want to hear that!).

    And then there are the thousands of additives, chemicals, and GMOs, plus of course glyphosate, which all lace supposedly healthy foods with poison. It’s like having an evil stepmother at every store, feeding us their poisoned apples with a smile. Berries may seem like manna from heaven – but only if they don’t come gift wrapped in glyphosate which will obliterate your microbiome and create disease.

    False advertising is rampant, tricking us into thinking we are eating healthy. There is nothing natural about “natural flavors”. Packages have big bold words about health – and tiny print that reveals toxic chemicals (like carrageenan). Eating healthy can feel like a lot of hard work.

    Foods created in a lab – designed to be addictive – are everywhere. Addictions drive so many of our daily food habits. From that morning Starbucks run to the packets of chips you just can’t put down, we don’t stand a chance against all this masterful manipulation!

    As if that’s not enough, we’re not all the same. One person’s medicine is another person’s poison. An apple a day may keep the doctor away for you but it creates inflammation for me (fact – per my FIT test). Our bodies actually tell us quite clearly when something doesn’t agree with them, but we’ve lost touch and no longer listen to their whispers. At least, not until they start screaming out loud – and then we take pills that we’ve confused with “cures”.

    Eating out of season is yet another confusing experience for your body. Our physiological needs change with the seasons – yet we eat exactly the same all year round. We fly in blueberries from Mexico and lychees from China. We eat pumpkin in summer and plums in winter. Worse, we eat complex, heavy, hard to digest meals as the norm rather than the exception as they are so easy to procure. What would have taken half a day to cook (and hence only cooked weekly or monthly) is now available any time, anywhere.

    Take a moment to read those points again. Then pause to consider this: your right to healthy food has actually been taken away from you.

    If you want to eat to create health, you are going to have to break out of your current state of acceptance and trust. How many of these dangerous beliefs do you have?

    • Believing that all fruits and vegetables in the grocery store are equally healthy (they are not, buyer beware!).
    • Believing that the newest fad diet (right now it’s Keto) must be the cure-all because so many famous people are touting it. (It never is – just yet another marketing ploy to sell more of something.)
    • Believing the claims of the labels on your food (no, you can’t trust them – you need to read the fine print and ingredients list).
    • Believing that manufacturers have your best interest at heart (of course not – they care about their profits and bonuses way more than your health).
    • Believing that your doctor knows about nutrition and has the answers to everything (there are still MDs out there saying that nutrition has nothing to do with cancer).

    Are you wondering if I’m a conspiracy theorist who made all this up? Let me assure you that what I’m sharing was distilled from the 75 interviews I conducted with renowned MDs on the Healthier Podcast. From Dr. Mark Hyman to Dr. Zach Bush to Dr. Joseph Mercola, these doctors are all desperately trying to get this message out: buyer beware of your food choices today!

    If you are overwhelmed with what to do next, here’s my very simple plan that I started following two and a half years ago. I completely reversed all my symptoms (28, remember!) and experienced food as medicine first hand. Ok, ready to eat to heal? Here’s how you do it!

    1. Get Personal
      Figure out which foods are medicine – or poison – for your body. (It doesn’t matter what works for anyone else!) The shortcut for this is food sensitivity tests. I’ve done Viome, FIT, ALCAT and the common insurance covered food allergy test. The harder way is to keep a food diary and start with an elimination diet. Then as you add food items back in, see which ones make you lethargic and tired or symptomatic (gas, bloating, rashes, headaches). Exclude those completely.
    2. Buy Quality
      Eat only what’s grown organically, locally and in season, at least five days a week. There are wonderful local farmers’ markets in each town and that’s a Saturday morning date I never break. Once you start eating local produce you’ll never go back to packaged grocery store produce – it just doesn’t taste the same, not even the organic produce. It’s harvested too early, coated with wax and has been sitting around for a month before you buy it. Freshly plucked vine-ripened foods have a whole different taste and texture that you will crave once you try them. (This is a healthy craving!)
    3. Cut the Packages
      Eat less than 10% of your daily food out of a package. If it’s bought in a package it’s been processed. If it’s processed it’s not creating health. See how long lettuce lasts when not packaged vs packaged. There is something that’s added to packaged organic foods that makes them last so much longer. Because adding chemicals, that sounds like a great idea, right? And I’m not putting that inside me if I have an option.
    4. Cut Down
      Eat less. Give your body 4 to 6 hours of breaks in between eating meal. Time to process your food. To clean out the junk. To take some rest and recover. Overeating is an epidemic – portion sizes in America are out of control. Restaurants have been using larger portions to attract more customers and the outcome has been obesity and addiction. No one needs a venti latte or a “supersize” meal. We are not exactly running marathons daily. (More likely sitting in the car or on the couch.)
    5. Get Fasting
      Fast one day a week to help your body “reset” itself. Traditionally, most cultures used some kind of fasting. Now we all seem to be eating non-stop! But science now supports intermittent fasting as a path to longevity. Really, we shouldn’t need science to tell us that eating less (but high quality) food will make us live longer! It’s common sense – which we have all but given up on (preferring to worship at the altar of research, letting some ‘expert’ tell us what to think).
    6. Go Simple
      Eat simpler meals. Don’t combine too many different foods in one meal – instead, eat larger quantities of fewer types of food. Make it easier for your body to digest what you’re eating and you’ll feel a surge of energy after meals instead of looking for a pillow.
    7. Go Raw and Natural
      Try to eat half your meal as raw salads and fruits which have structured water to charge you up. In winter eat more warming soups, in summer more salads.
    8. Read, Read, Read
      If you’re going to buy packaged food, read the ingredients list first. If you can’t pronounce it, or it sounds like a chemical, take a breath – and put the package back. It takes a little getting used to but then it becomes a habit. My 13 year old doesn’t buy anything without first reading the label. Now we’re so efficient that in an instant she knows whether to even read the label or not – she just looks at the number of ingredients and puts it back on the shelf!

    Your diet should be a priority, not an afterthought. What you eat creates your reality. Your joy – or misery – is linked to your food. So why not eat to LIVE – to create a longer happier healthier life?

    It’s worth the time and money.

    You’re worth it!

    And we are here to help you with our programs.

     

     

    Follow Reena on Twitter @reenajadhav Linkedin www.linkedin.com/in/reena or Facebook Reena Jadhav

    Never miss her articles, subscribe to our blog alerts here >

  • Detox for Health

    Detox for Health

    This is Step 6 of the article I wrote, 7 Step New Health Pyramid, which you can read on this Page >>

    By Reena A Jadhav

    Every second that we are alive we are being (in)toxicated! Think about it: we’re living in a toxic soup of chemicals. In our food, in the air, in the stuff we touch and even in what we hear, see and feel. When you suddenly want to accelerate and ram into the car in front, that’s a toxic thought that creates a cascade of chemical reactions.

    The simple math for health is this: what goes in must come out. Our bodies are giant processors that take stuff in, suck out the nutrients we need, and throw out what’s harmful or unwanted. Your body is a brilliant self-cleaning machine (like some kind of super robot – only, you know, wetter) with a whole system of outputs – sweat, breath, urine, and poop. Most of our critical organs such as the liver, kidneys, lungs, lymph, skin, and the digestive system passionately scrub and squirt and clean all day long.

    Even the trillions of bacteria in the gut have the fun job of gobbling up whatever comes hurtling down the tube and digesting it into a waste matter that gets pooped out.

    Without such efficient cleaning, we would be a large stinky swamp! And sometimes we are…

    From bad breath to smelly gas, sour sweat, and weird growths, we have all experienced bouts of toxicity without realizing that’s what it is.

    Trouble really begins when crap starts to build up. And up. And up.

    And what goes in sometimes, somehow gets stuck. (Lovely!)

    This trouble is called toxicity and it’s the root cause of chronic illness and most disease according to Ayurveda (an ancient science of health from India). Ayurveda calls this toxicity Ama and recommends a serious 7-day program called Panchakarma to rid the body of toxicity from all layers.

    All layers?

    Yes, toxicity builds layer by layer. Initially, the toxins sit superficially ‘on the surface’ (a bit like a coat of paint) but with time, the toxins move into organs and then cells, disrupting normal cellular function and creating havoc. Like a car engine can’t function with residue, nor can your body function with toxins circulating all over.

    I had colon cancer at 35 years and an autoimmune crisis at 45 years – yes, that was my party of 28 symptoms. After months of research, I was able to self-diagnose myself with the MTHFR gene mutation (which afflicts a significant number of Asians) which makes it hard for the liver to do its job. When the liver is backed up you end up basically dying, little bit by little bit. That was me, with my deluge of symptoms coming from auto-intoxication and a gut that no longer digested anything properly. I had SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth – sounds delightful, right?) and gut dysbiosis adding to my toxic overload. My sugar addiction didn’t help. It took me 15 months to clean out the toxins that had been layering on for decades.

    But I had asked my doctors on multiple visits about my mild annoying symptoms from indigestion to bloating to fatigue – only to be told to take some Tums and get more sleep. This drives me crazy. Guess what? There’s no test for toxicity. MDs are NOT trained to notice the subtle signs of toxicity that don’t show up on regular tests. These can be addressed pretty easily with minor changes and regular maintenance. (Yes, like a car.) In fact, I have begun writing an anthology called Deceived: what you don’t know and your Doctor isn’t telling you to reveal more such information and actionable tips from World’s leading doctors.

    12 TIPS TO KEEP TOXINS OUT

    So here are my top tips for ‘body maintenance’ and to your body thriving!

    1. Got Gas?
      If your guts are gurgling at you, or you’re bloated like a balloon, it might sound funny but take it seriously. It’s creating the worst kind of toxicity that causes disease. Find the root cause and fix it! The root cause could be food intolerance (you can get tested for that), low stomach acid (take a supplement with each meal), stress (don’t eat while working), low enzymes (you can take a supplement for this with your meals too), overeating (eat smaller portions), SIBO or Candida, and fix your Leaky Gut with Restore.
    2. Take Time…
      To keep your body’s cleaning mechanisms working, eat your meals at least 4 hours apart. Don’t snack as that interrupts the complex digestive process kicked off when you eat a meal. Don’t eat after 7 pm or 8 pm latest, as your body’s overall cleaning is done at night and if there’s food to be digested that process stops.
    3. … and Take a Break
      Fasting once a week is a cultural tradition that makes a lot of sense to me now! It’s the quickest way to cleaning out any crap and giving your body a day off to recover. Intermittent fasting of 16 hours daily is also a proven way to address everything from obesity to diabetes.
    4. Boost Your Body
      Dry brushing your entire body and then oiling it before hopping in the shower will transform your daily ritual into a cleansing one. A weekly bath with Epsom salts or dead sea salts is another great way to pull out toxins sitting close to the skin.
    5. Heat it Up
      Sauna is my fun way to detox! Your skin is your largest organ for cleansing, so take advantage of it. Even the ancient Romans did it religiously. Join a gym or buy one for your home. A weekly sauna can be the easiest way to pull out toxins hanging out in fat cells and tissues.
    6. Breathe, Baby
      Deep breathing first thing in the morning or Zach Bush’s Nitric Oxide Dump workout are simple ways to push out toxins via the lungs. Most of us are shallow breathers and the culprits are technology and stress. You have to train yourself to take slow, deep rejuvenating breaths all day long. In fact, one of the reasons we yawn while sitting for long periods is carbon dioxide build up. So mindfully breathing correctly all day is another simple way to keep your body humming.
    7. Touch It…
      Massages are another fun way to get the circulation system working correctly and get the toxins out.
    8. …Move It!
      Our lymph system is the only design that’s a bit flawed (in case God is accepting input on Human 2.0). It doesn’t work without movement. Trampoline is a great way to get all the toxins stuck in our lymph moving out of our body. A lymphatic massage is another fun way to deal with the sludge.
    9. Sponge It, Baby
      There are some great food options such as Chlorella, Spirulina, and cilantro that literally pull out toxins from our gut. Supplements such as milk thistle and magnesium can also be critical to supporting the body’s detox efforts.
    10. Are What You Eat
      Imagine trying to clean your home without a powerful vacuum… yup, total nightmare! Cleaning our body can be so much simpler with nature powered vacuum, which comes in the form of fresh herbs, fruits, and vegetables. Add a couple of these daily to have a spotless interior: Lemon/Lime, Broccoli Sprouts, Spirulina, Chlorella, Alfalfa, Wheatgrass, Kale, Olive Oil, Brussel Sprouts, Sauerkraut, Ginger, Turmeric, Coriander, and Fennel. Or take a shortcut and try this Detox tea!
    11. Switch Off
      Do a digital detox daily or weekly – or at least monthly. Shut down all notifications and schedule a short time interval to check and respond to messages. Turn off all technology an hour prior to bedtime and don’t touch your tech in the morning until after (healthy) breakfast.
    12. Switch Out
      Do an emotional detox where you identify people that trigger you negatively and disconnect from them for a day or a week. Give your emotions a break from negativity and schedule time to build positive emotions through gratitude journaling or watching cat videos (or whatever makes you giggle!).

    Finally, get the MTFHR test done to determine if your liver could use additional support.

    If you already have a chronic illness, prioritizing detoxing is critical. Our body cannot restore and rebuild if it’s fighting off invaders. What’s amazing is that the moment your body is free of toxins it literally blossoms! Your energy will go through the roof, your skin will glow, you’ll see better, you’ll smile more, you’ll poop at least twice a day effortlessly. (Yep, you wanted to know about the pooping, right?)

    More importantly, you’ll know you are on the path to being disease free!

    If you need help, we’re are always here with a Health Program for you!

    Click here to read my next post Step #7: DIET>>

     

     

    Follow Reena on Twitter @reenajadhav Linkedin www.linkedin.com/in/reena or Facebook Reena Jadhav

    Never miss her articles, subscribe to our blog alerts here >

  • CBD for Pain and Sleep with Dr. Mary Clifton

    CBD for Pain and Sleep with Dr. Mary Clifton

     

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    Read the Transcript Below the Bio

    Dr. Mary Clifton is an Internal Medicine doctor in New York City, with 20 years of experience in both the hospital and private practice and is also a licensed by the New York State Department of Health to provide medical marijuana and is a recognized expert in CBD, Cannabis, and Medical Marijuana.

    She is a published researcher, national speaker on women’s health and osteoporosis, and author of four books, and two new soon-to-be-released books on CBD and Cannabis – what you need to know, how to use them and a COOKBOOK to support ease of use.

    She is also a leading voice in telemedicine to bridge the gab in healthcare availability and affordable lab testing for long-term wellness.

    She has a special interest in innovation in health care delivery and patient empowerment. An alumni board member at Michigan State University’s medical school, Dr. Mary completed her residency training with MSU in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

    She has previously served on the national speaker’s bureaus for multiple women’s health and osteoporosis pharmaceutical companies, including Eli Lilly, Amgen, Forest Pharmaceuticals and Medtronic.

    After authoring her health guide, Waist Away and a companion cookbook, Get Waisted, she designed a 30-day wellness program to help patients take control of their health, with health coaching branches in 74 cities and online.

    Her passion is to not only help patients create a fast reset for their health and lives but to support health practitioners to reset their practices and revenue through telemedicine and lab testing opportunities.

    Join HealCircles to get free trusted support for greater health!

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    TRANSCRIPT:

    This is auto-generated and may have mistakes. Please listen to the interview for accuracy.

    Reena Jadhav: Hey everyone and welcome to unexciting and bottom of the podcast and a video interview today so we are chatting, but Dr. Mary Clifton about cbd and its role in completely alleviating pain as well as sleep issues. Dr Mary has been an internal medicine doctor for almost 20 years, specializing in weight loss, osteoporosis, menopause, these disease prevention and reversal. She regularly speaks at various health conferences, corporate wellness events, universities, and is the author of the bestselling book waste away as well as the coauthor of the book get wasted, but of course what’s most exciting is that she has an upcoming book on cbd that we’re going to talk about at the end of the interview. Dr. Mary, welcome. Thank you.

    Dr. Mary: Excited to be here today.

    Reena Jadhav: So I’ve got to ask, how do you go from waste away to cbd? How do you make that transition and what inspired you to get get into marijuana?

    Dr. Mary: Oh. I spent a lot of time thinking about hoping nutrition, plant based nutrition, and I still love the power of nutrition and wellness in general for allowing a patient to take their health back into their own hands. And then over the past couple of years I’ve had a couple of experiences that just really enlightened me to the value of marijuana. It was just three or four years ago this month that my brother died and he went through. My mother has said after seeing my father and my brother died, that we’ve seen the worst event and the best of it that my father passed very commonly, but my brother really struggled and it was very difficult even with excellent medical care through hospice to get control of a lot of the anxiety and unfortunately the pain.

    Dr. Mary: And then shortly after that, unfortunately one of my good friends got diagnosed with recurrent ovarian cancer and in a very high level of medical marijuana used right up until the end and had a shockingly calm and very well controlled transition. And I, I mean, having done this for 20 years, I’ve seen a number of different people move through this process and I had just never seen something so. So I thought if it’s working here, where else is it working and what don’t I know. And over the past several months I’ve been thinking and reading and creating a ton of valuable videos and the science that’s available around this drug. This is opportunity to be innovative and for patients to take their own care into your own hands and be able to do things like reduce their opioid requirements by 42 percent in, in all kinds of pains situation.

    Reena Jadhav: Yeah. And opiod crisis is huge. We have got to figure out a solution for that. And if this is one that clearly I think we need to tell everyone about it. So thank you for being our guests today. One of the questions I get asked Dr Mary all the time as wait a minute, it was illegal and now it’s legal, you know, how can that make any sense? I’m sure there is someone’s making money off of this, you know, that’s why anything that’s done in this country anyway anymore. So for those who are very skeptical about how did we go from having something that was completely illegal to now being legalized?

    Dr. Mary: Oh, well, I mean if you look back in ancient texts from India and China, Uber using this drug for thousand years ago for management of pain, abdominal pain, nausea, weight loss, a joint trouble. And then, I mean it was used very heavily in the 1,718 hundreds for management of pain and anxiety and situation. And then unfortunately in the 19 thirties underwent a prohibition here in the US and uh, and, and uh, across the world that has really limited its availability and its use and its scientific study. We have a very limited ability to study it scientifically here in the US because we have to use have a certain plant that’s only available from one certain growing area and it’s not even a product that anybody is using it more and the dispensary’s and and unfortunately our studies were really leaned toward the prohibition and trying to make the product look more dangerous rather than doing a good scientific work. So now luckily we’re getting some great new scientific data. We have great answers to some of these question but I agree. I think patients really struggle with the limited scientific evidence available for their different diseases and that’s part of my mission is to create these digestible videos that allow people to see what scientific evidence is available around their particular disease state.

    Reena Jadhav: So let’s start with pain primarily because I know so many people that suffer from pain and chronic pain and it’s almost like something magical happens when you cross 39 to 40. Dr Mary, I don’t know what it is a, but somehow you go from 39, no pain, the 40 and everything’s creaking and I hear it’s much worse when you’re 50 and I’ll know in two years when I hit that how the pain intensifies, but we know that pain is something that a lot of us are dealing with and, and yes, the cause might be inflammation, et cetera. How does cbd work in alleviating

    Dr. Mary: the entire cannabis sativa plant? The entire. We use marijuana and cannabis interchangeably. Those two words that basically mean the same thing, but the cannabis sativa plant, the bud has a 80 different phytochemicals that are referred to as Turpines. There all of the different chemicals that, uh, that are active in the human body when the marijuana is adjusted, whether it’s, you know, baked or smoked or, or adjusted in a tincture or adjusted in an edible. Those products enter the system and, and activate the various receptors. And the, the heavy hitters. I mean there’s 80 different chirpies, but the heavy hitters within the cannabis sativa plant or the CBD and Thc and the Thc, we all recognize is the psychoactive product. It’s the cannabinoid that gets you high, and CBD is the workhorse of cannabis sativa. It’s the cannabinoid that relaxes the muscles and helps to calm the mind and helps people to sleep and helps to control pain.

    Dr. Mary: It does that through CB one and CB two receptors that are located all over the human body. In fact, we have an endocannabinoid system already in place where these CB receptors are present and then endocannabinoids, the Amanda might and age too, are created when the body needs to try to control inflammation or pain. So that system is already in place. Endocannabinoid meaning from the inside and cannabinoid. So when you’re administrating cbd or thc or any combination of these other cannabinoids, you’re stimulating the CB one and cb two receptors located throughout the body. You had different CB receptors that you get different responses. CB One receptors are located primarily in the spinal cord and the brain, so when you’re dealing with pain, for example, when you burn your finger, and I’m sure you’ve experienced this, that you burned the tip of your finger and tiny tip of your finger, and yet the whole hand feels uncomfortable for the rest of the day.

    Dr. Mary: I mean the the ascending pathway from that tiny fingertip burned sends that pain up through the spinal cord and then the spinal cord takes that to the cortex and in the brain, the pain gets amplified to some degree. That allows you to protect the whole limb so you don’t injure yourself and then all that information comes down through the descending pathways, but there’s different controls and regulators in place at all of those levels. That CB impacts the end. The CB two receptors are really involved in immunology there, CB two receptors all over your immune cells, the lymphocytes and macrophages, but also concentrated in the lymph nodes and spleen so they can impact and regulate your immune to various different difference that your body experiences.

    Reena Jadhav: What about sleep? Because that’s of course the other one. Then we’re seeing sleep issues, sleep disorders, not just an older populations but also in teens these days. So my followup question is going to to be of course about age range and cbd usage, but how does cbd work for sleep?

    Dr. Mary: within our age group? Sleep is the number one reason that people are looking for CBB or medical marijuana and it’s a perfect use for this product. The CB one receptors are a richly present throughout the brain in, in all different areas, in areas involving memory storage, but also in the cortex and particularly in the frontal cortex where a lot of thought and emotion is stored and using the particularly cbd, uh, in the setting of sleep has been shown to be very effective for helping people with insomnia, insomnia under control. Most people get quite a bit of benefit purely from the CBD. Some people describe an entourage effect and the research supports this, that the administration of cbd combined with other cannabinoids in the hole, but actually more significantly controls the sleep and, and helps people do even better. But a lot of people get great results with cbd alone,

    Dr. Mary: with any disease that you’re trying to treat with CPD or medical cannabis. The big issue is titration because so many people try and try it once they take one dropper full, they hold it in their mouth because if you’re taking a teacher, you know, and you let it absorb across the oral membranes, it responds very quickly, especially if you’re using nano a product you can get almost immediate absorption. But if you don’t like the taste or if it doesn’t work with one dropper, full people will set it aside. But in all of the studies, the titrations can take up to two weeks where you’re increasing up to four dropper falls to see if you’re getting the result. So that you really want to think about if you’re trying to titrate and take a little time to see if it’s going to work for you.

    Reena Jadhav: That makes so much sense to not give up. And you’re right, I hear this all the time that you’ve been on my end. Like, oh, I tried it. It didn’t work. And you might, you know, my suggestion always is how long did you try please keep trying, try different dosage, trying to try different types of, of intake. So for some sprays work because I’m lotions work for other people, pills, work, you know, figure out what’s gonna work for you before you just kind of quit and give it up.

    Dr. Mary: About 10 percent of people don’t like it and they quit, they don’t use it. But I will, will be other people. There is this range of titration and also studies show over and over that when people are using an edible, that’s when they’re really satisfied because you, you take the edible and then you have a 60 to 90 minute timeframe that been waiting for this product to start to work. And so who even knows if it worked, it’s like 90 minutes later. So if you take a tincture or you didn’t return and you can determine if it’s working and then titrate pretty rapidly. So it just leads to a better level of success if you start with a tincture or a vape with these products.

    Reena Jadhav: So let’s talk about all the fears that prevent people from actually doing the cbd route. What have you heard that I’ll share what I’ve heard and then hopefully you can help alleviate some of these concerns that keep coming up that prevent people from trying something that really does work.

    Dr. Mary: Yeah, I mean, I think the big concern is the limited scientific evidence which we’re really trying to get on top of for people. And then another concern is legality it cbd is legal in all 50 states, but you know, I spent some time in Michigan, that’s my home state and on the west coast of Michigan, everything is much more relaxed than on the east coast of Michigan. And so we would have to be careful, I think even as a medical marijuana user to be very, uh, you know, outward about your medical marijuana use on the east coast of Michigan. And that’s true in a lot of states, county by county. You kind of have to read their local law enforcement in addition to following, you know, federal and state guidelines. And then there’s concerns about becoming addicted to cannabis dependence. And I, and I’m not sure where you’re at with this, I think that, I mean in my review of the literature, you definitely are aware that you’ve withdrawn from cannabis, but there isn’t really a withdrawal syndrome that requires drugs to treat. It doesn’t cause a dependence like the opioid withdrawal that is so dramatic. So I’m not too concerned about dependency issues. Patients also deal with social stigma. You don’t want to be, you know, somebody’s grandma smoking a or somebody in your church using drugs and then

    Reena Jadhav: it’s getting around the mental structures of I am doing cbd. I think that’s a big part of it.

    Dr. Mary: Oh, I do too. I do too. But I’m amazed at the, at the amount of movement in people’s thought processes, even in the last several years, I think the studies show 70, 80 percent of Americans are ready for marijuana to be legal recreationally, everywhere. So we just have to, for a government to catch up with their times so that they can, you know, manage where the money goes. There’s definitely gonna be a lot of money in this more than is already being spent and wants to make sure that their resources are captured.

    Reena Jadhav: Definitely. Let’s dig a little deeper into the whole concern around am I going to get addicted to this because I think that’s such a significant piece of why a lot of adults educated adults don’t do it because like you said, there isn’t enough science to prove that I won’t get addicted and I just don’t want to try that. Especially if I may have had an addiction issue in the past. What is being done? What are you doing on your own? What organizations are working to do enough clinical trials and prove that it’s not as addictive, addictive at all. Meaning, you know, like we don’t get addicted to aspirin, you know, you take it, it does its job and that’s it. You take it as long as you want it to do its job and when you no longer need it, you don’t take it anymore. So talk a little bit about what’s being done to create more of a scientific basis for dispensing marijuana.

    Dr. Mary: My patients say that like, I feel better when I use this inhaler for my asthma, but then when I don’t use it, I still have shortness of breath and I don’t want to get addicted to it or you know, or their blood pressure pills and, and oftentimes the setting of blood pressure, diabetes, not every time, but oftentimes we are giving somebody a crutch to give them some time to manage their lifestyle and get things turned around. And uh, but I mean the, these, these drugs are not addictive in so much that they work. And if you stop them, they quit working. So is cbd really has no addictive potential and has the potential to make you feel better and in that way you may want to stay on it. But, uh, you know, cannabis dependency is a hotly debated topic if it is real at all.

    Dr. Mary: And I think, you know, when you’re looking at, there’s just so many great scientific articles where people got significant improvement and multiple chronic diseases. I mean, ptsd, anxiety, also chronic pain from neuropathic causes or from central pain syndromes or from like actual painful exposures, acute traumatic injuries that had really good results with cbd. There’s benefits for a very, really nice emerging data in the opiod epidemic and people withdraw from their opioids and, and also als and um, and you know, weight loss and loss of appetite with cancer and HIV, all of which are important, uh, important and valuable and places to position this product.

    Reena Jadhav: Let’s talk teens and teen challenges for now. So we know we’re having some pretty interesting challenges and health for teens, especially around gut and sleep. So how can a parent think about offering their child cbd as a medicinal product for some of their issues? What are your thoughts on that?

    Dr. Mary: Yeah, I think that what you have to be careful is there. You know, there, there is some variability in these cbd products. You really have to know your supplier. I mean, you, you choose your cbd based on how it’s grown. If that matters to you, it matters to me that things are grown organically and that there’s a limited pesticide exposure, so I really try to identify as cbd products that are grown for the plant. The plants growing conditions are excellent and the harvesting conditions are excellent and then I also worry about the distillation process. If the. If the distillation process leaves behind some harmful solvents or alcohols in the final product. I am not interested in that product either, but some of the products I don’t have as much cbd as you think they do or they may have some traces of other cannabinoids like THC

    Dr. Mary: There was a study published in Jama in 2017 that looked at 84 different cbd preparations and found that 26 percent of them had a different concentration of cbd in the final product than what was on the label and the distillations are allowed to have a certain percentage of thc. So there are some products that are really, really cleanly distilled that are zero thc products and that’s. That would be the product I would choose for a younger person or for somebody where drug testing is a significant concern so that you can avoid any kind of thc exposure

    Reena Jadhav: and where can you find products that are approved by Dr Mary

    Dr. Mary: specific products for sale on my site. So I work with people who are interested in offering products to their audiences to make sure that they have some recommendations for good products. I am really interested in these highly carefully distilled products that are really clean and um, and I love these very innovative herbalists who are adding adaptogens and other like, for example, skullcap combined with cbd for managing insomnia and all of it in one. So I’m excited for these herbalists that are really thinking in a very innovative way. So those are the products I have my eye on right now.

    Reena Jadhav: Any particular against someone listening, watching this today saying, okay, I’m going to do it, you know, I’ve, I sleep issues, I’ve got pain, I’m going to do it. I’m going to give this a try. Where do they start? Where do they go? Where do they purchase?

    Dr. Mary: Well, I mean I’ll tell you what, probably my top three favorites right now would be a Dr Tom O’bryan, a product. He works with some horse products and they have a very nice, a candidate that’s a combination of cannabis plus adaptogens, which is really great for managing day to day stress and anxiety and just feel fantastic. That’s a very good product for children. I particularly like the Messiah products, which is not spelled messiah. It’s spelled m, a s a y, a messiah oil and Annabel is a vanderbilt biochemist. She has, uh, has distilled a very nice product and has an amazing story surrounding to use for her own son. And then another person that I like who’s also a coauthor or contributor to my book is Lou. He runs the apothecary kitchen here in New York City down in alphabet city and he does all kinds of amazing herbs and he also has a couple of herbalists, several herbalists, right on staff that will mix products very specific to your needs.

    Dr. Mary: But his cbd combinations are really nice and he’s very intelligent. He’s been doing this forever. So I think going to any of those professionals, you wouldn’t go wrong. They’re all doing very high quality products, it just depends on exactly what you’re looking for and that really only touches the surface I have to say that, I mean within, within organic food and also within cbd there are a few people who aren’t doing excellent work, but the vast majority of the people that I’ve run into blue moon, holy grail, I mean people are providing some really nice products. It’s just that most products are distinguishing themselves on their packaging and the packaging is great. That matters to me. I buy stuff if it’s pretty no doubt, but when I’m using a medicine or food I really want the highest quality of that product. So those are my papers companies right now.

    Reena Jadhav: Oh wonderful. Thank you for sharing those. And Dr Tom O’bryan is, I’m a huge fan of his and um, did his book masterclass and in fact we’re hosting a call in a live session with them. So I’m super excited to hear you mentioned that he’s, he’s in the top of your list. So that’s very exciting for us to hear, um, do our listeners or viewers need to get a prescription or is this something you feel vacant handle on their own? Go directly to the sites.

    Dr. Mary: about CBD is that you don’t need a prescription. You can take back your health and run it yourself. If you need consultation, certainly there’s doctors in mind that provide those. I can provide those for you also, but we also have a coaching community that can help you for a much lower cost and give you some really great advice. I how to, how to, how to titrate if you need that, you know, you, you may be surprised at how effective you are taking care of yourself with these products and just titrating yourself and. But, but sometimes you need a little bit of advice and going forward or a little bit of uncertainty and you know, you don’t need to spend $300 an hour to talk to an internist for that. If you can talk to somebody who knows the data and can up level a question if they need, then a little coaching is really effective without having to empty your wallet.

    Reena Jadhav: So true. And the analogy that I give and I’d love to get your thoughts on, on this analogy is, you know, we don’t go to a doctor to find out if we need skullcap as an example. You know, if I need herbs, I certainly don’t go to my doctor and say, oh, so you know, what herb should I be taking or go ahead and give me a prescription for herbs. And I think we have to transition from thinking of cbd is something that’s a medical pharmaceutical grade product that needs a prescription and need someone to watch over. Me Too. It’s no different than taking Ashwagandha or any of its licorice root or any of those other herbs, Rosemary, etc. It’s just that it’s got a branding problem, uh, because it was illegal for so long and it was connected to getting high and addictive for so long that we forgotten that it’s in it’s original. It’s just a leaf.

    Dr. Mary: Yeah, and I mean if you think about it, you know, just uh, back in the twenties you would be, I don’t know, would you be driven a car or would you still be on horseback?

    Reena Jadhav: I mean it’d be growing in the ditch.

    Dr. Mary: It’s just an ordinary weed. It was, it was everywhere. And with the prohibition now there’s very limited exposure which I postulated before might really be impacting your endocannabinoid system in the first place because if you don’t give the body be appropriate precursors to create things, the body when we can’t move forward on some, on some important products. So I mean if you’re, if you never get any exposure to cannabis, this was a product that you, that you breed the pollen in twice a year at the very minimum a, you know, as, as recently as the 19 twenties after the prohibition in the forties, of course it’s disappeared, but there’s probably value in the addition of the small amount of cannabis at least just to help maintain a balanced to your system. And again, some people love the cbd. Some people try the cbd and say, I feel like I’m getting some benefit. I don’t know that I’m getting everything I was hoping, you know, and, and the, the, the movement forward to a medical cannabis is a great choice and I love medical cannabis because it blurs so many lines, you know, it’s moving out of the prohibition, which is lovely and people feel better from the point of view of their multiple sclerosis or their, you know, nausea or their pain or their ptsd. But in addition to that, they feel better.

    Reena Jadhav: what are the top 10 things it does? If I was to start taking cbd from dr tom’s shop, what would I experience? What are the things that I should look out for and get excited about?

    Dr. Mary: Well, I think that he would experience a reduction in anxiety. The research, most of the research that I’ve published and surrounding ptsd because that’s the medical indication. But, uh, you know, you could also apply it to anxiety and stress. It’s a very good stress reliever. Most folks in menchies are going to move toward a higher cbd product, lower thc, because the high thc, that sensation of getting really high, we’ll sometimes trip and anxiety reaction in predisposed people so the cds and very effective and posttraumatic stress and also in anxiety and your stress. Anybody dealing with muscle spasm or neuropathic pain can expect a reduction in the pain. I mean, again, it’s not for everybody. About 10 percent of people that start these trials end up going off the trial because they don’t like the sensation that they didn’t think that it worked for, for nausea or, or weight loss or loss of appetite. The cbds are very nice, but perhaps a touch of thc and some of those may stimulate the appetite a little more effectively. There’s been some really neat, uh, animal studies, even though I don’t focus a lot on animal studies, some of them are really good, but there’s a really good animal study that shared with the thc seems to be the thing that really sets up the munchies

    Dr. Mary: Like you might think you would with a full on cannabis product.

    Reena Jadhav: And how does it pertain to weight loss? Can I, can I ask you that? Does it help or hurt weight loss.

    Dr. Mary: They looked at different cb two receptor blockers and receptor enhancers. the study that I really liked that looked at this was a, and I hate to talk about animal research, but, but this was such a good study. They injected a animal tummies with either a cbd product or just normal saline and then all of the animals I got a high using a higher thc product and the mice that had the thc without the cbd, it a lot more, much more munchies, but the mindset had teach c that was tempered with cbd, didn’t have that terrible munchie experience. so, um, so the cbd doesn’t appear to enhance the appetite and it does appear to blunt that appetite enhancement that you see with thc. And so, uh, but in, I mean in, in populations that regularly use marijuana for recreational or medicinal purposes, you don’t see an increased concentration of obesity actually the mean within drug and alcohol addiction treatment. We always say it takes a lot of cupcakes, shot of heroin, I mean cupcakes or seem to your brain and feel good. They pop a bunch of receptor, but 120 fIve people over and overstep their opioids and get very heavy. So they give you the stimulation you need without having to over indulge on food products.

    Reena Jadhav: That makes a lot of sense. Anything else that you’d like to share before we wrap up?

    Dr. Mary: Oh, no. I feel like we covered everything. I would just really encourage a healthy time for titration at least two weeks for titration and uh, and seeing what works for you. And then remember, there’s a lot of dIfferent modes of administration. If your state has gone to the point that well, everybody gets access to cbd and there’s a million different mechanisms to administer that. Most people prefer a tincture, just a dropper full that You hold in your mouth. If you’re using a medical cannabis. There’s edibles and hard pressed tablets and bates and whole. But just make sure that you, um, you know, choose a mode of administration and If you don’t like it, try a different mode of administration before you give up the mode of administration matters to people’s level of satisfaction.

    Reena Jadhav: Absolutely. Thank you so much for sharing that. And for the rest of you, uh, this is just as teaser, we are going to be interviewing dr mary again when her book comes out. So stay tuned for that and make sure you subscribe to our newsletters because we are going to feature her book masterclass in there. And then of course we’re gonna follow it up with a bootcamp, a cbd bootcamp, so we can be there with you as you try this most amazing herb, which truly seems like it can help us all, every single one of us. So would that said, mary, thank you so much again and keep doing the great work.

    Dr. Mary: Oh, thank you. Thank you for having me

     

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    Till next time, wishing you health, love, and joy!

  • What’s Your Mental Fitness Score?

    What’s Your Mental Fitness Score?

    By Reena A Jadhav

    My friend Audrey works out five days a week. On the sixth day, she does Bikram Yoga in sweltering heat. Then on the seventh day, she “rests” by doing an 8-mile walk.

    Know someone like that?

    Yes, we all know that one person who exhausts us, just by telling us their workout routine. As a nation, we spend over $26 billion annually, on fitness. That’s great; we’re looking hotter, wearing muscle shirts and lifting our body weight on our pinkies. In fact, in our online health bootcamps, the fitness section ends up being very popular!

    However, let’s talk about mental fitness for a change. Suicides of stars such as the iconic Anthony Bourdain or beloved designer, Kate Spade are shining a much-needed spotlight on our mental health crisis which is costing us of $200 billion and affects about 60 million Americans. Yup, 1 in 4 Americans suffers from some mental illness every year. It’s very likely that this number excludes the underreported teen mental health crisis.

    So what is going on?

    Some of the mental health issues are complex and inescapable, and my heart goes out to those struggling to heal from them.

    However, a portion of this crisis, in my opinion, is due to our mental “obesity”. We are mentally fat and out of shape, incapable of handling this crazy roller coaster ride, called life. Our mental muscles are weak and flabby from overstimulation and overfeeding on a buffet of mentally disturbing media tweets, posts, alerts, and dings.

    We have to remember that we are a beautifully brilliant mental program that’s absorbing everything around us.

    Unfortunately, what we absorb today by the way of mouth, sight, sound, smell, and emotions is driving our less than joyful mental state.

    It’s time we started treating our mind as the muscle that it is, and feed and flex it to keep it strong! In my opinion, the feeding of our mind includes not just nutrition but also sleep, socializing and social media.

    So, if we watch crap, eat crap, and sleep like crap, we are bound to feel and act like crap. Hanging out with crappy people? Guess how you’re going to feel the next day?

    I see it as simple math that no one mentioned to me when I talked to my primary care doctor years ago. Her terse reply was, “what do you expect, you’ve got two little kids, a full-time startup job and a traveling husband. Its normal to feel weepy and exhausted.”

    Now looking back, having conducted 75+ interviews with health pioneers, I can say definitely that it was not normal and it was totally fixable.

    Every day, every action either feeds your mind to joy or jitters.

    I wasn’t sleeping well, eating right or breathing and resting. I was literally doing everything to contribute to a terrible state of mind,

    So, whenever you feel sad, anxious, angry or reactive, take some time to think about what you’ve been feeding your mind lately. Better yet, become mindful of giving your mind exactly what it needs to stay fit!

    Check out the short and totally unscientific quiz below that I crafted to help you gauge your mental fitness. Then scroll down to see your results and the explanation for the quiz. Let’s get started!

    MENTAL FITNESS QUIZ

    1. Do you laugh at least 3 times each day with genuine (not fake!) glee and find joy in small things?
    2. Do you have the willpower to say NO to that extra brownie, drink, smoke, or double cheeseburger 90 percent of the time?
    3. Do you get at least seven hours of deep restorative sleep every night?
    4. Do you view social media, TV, Netflix etc for less than 2 hours every day?
    5. Are you consciously grateful for the little things like running warm water and almond milk at Starbucks?
    6. Do you spend time with people you love at least once a week?
    7. Do you get out in nature and say hello to the sun for at least 30 minutes a day, 5 times a week?
    8. Are you loved? Do you love yourself?
    9. Do you rest and breathe deeply several times a day for a few minutes?
    10. Do your meals include 50% healthy fats, fresh fruits, and vegetables?

    SCORE

    THE BOSS: MENTAL ROCKSTAR (8-10 YES)

    If you answered YES to about 80% of the questions above, your mind is rock solid. You are the boss of your emotions and you’re not about to let anyone tell you how to feel or what to feel. You know you are in a creation of love and are strong enough to handle any crap that may come your way. Also, you have strong boundaries and try to live mindfully.

    THE INTERN: MENTAL MIDSTAR (5-8 YESes)

    If you answered YES to at least 50% of the questions above, that’s a good start! However, you’re definitely not in charge yet. You’re like an intern, still doing what others tell you to do. Like a poor intern, your emotions are on a roller coaster depending on the 10 factors above. For you, a bad day is just one social media post away. Or around the corner from one sleepless night. It’s an exhausting way to live and you’re probably moody as heck!

    Remedy: Keep a diary and track which of the above-mentioned skills you need to work on to become the Boss!

    THE JANITOR: MENTAL ROOKIE (0-4 YESes)

    If you answered Yes to 4 or less, you’re probably familiar with mental messiness. Janitors have the fun job of cleaning up all the mess and so do you.  Your mental mess maybe the extra or unwarranted irritability, anger, anxiety, fear or just a constant stream of negative self-talk. You may be contemplating using or already using sleeping pills, happy pills, wake up pills, weight loss pills and any other pill you hope will fix whatever you think is broken.

    Sadly, no pill will. But there’s great news still: YOU can fix your problems!

    Remedy: Take each question above and figure out how to get to a YES on it. Take your time, but be sure to get that question to a yes before you move to the next. Eventually, life should get lighter, easier, and more engaging. Before you know it, you’ll be the Boss of your emotions and a heavyweight champ in mental fitness.

    (Legal disclaimer: See your doctor before you make any change to anything).

    QUIZ EXPLAINED

    So you’re probably wondering what the science is behind this totally unscientific mental fitness quiz created in a Starbucks while sipping steamed almond milk with nutmeg?

    Having interviewed almost 60 brilliant health practitioners I’m sharing how I came up with the quiz questions and the recommendations.

     1. Do you laugh at least 3 times each day with genuine (not fake!) glee and find joy in small things?
    Our brain creates pathways based on emotions. The more often you travel on the same emotional path, the more your brain subconsciously jumps onto that pathway. Translation – if you tend to laugh a lot, you’ll laugh even more. If you tend to find faults often, everything will always appear faulty. So the great news about this revelation is that we can fake our way to mental fitness. Find reasons to laugh (watch cat videos, memes, comedy channels, whatever tickles you) and you’ll find more and more things funny and entertaining.

     2. Do you have the willpower to say NO to that extra brownie, drink, smoke, double cheeseburger 90 percent of the time?
    If you remember your first yoga class or your first marathon, then you know what it means to push through when your body is screaming “NO WAY”. Willpower is the basis of mental fitness. Having the power to say No to spending an hour on Facebook, or simply deleting your twitter account is a significant piece of mental fitness. Otherwise, you’re merely one step away from being a robot programmed by the masterminds around you. Just like it takes willpower to walk away from a Krispy Kreme doughnut in the office kitchen, it takes serious willpower to walk away from negative self-talk. But, you can develop the inner strength if you focus on it. Start small, make a list of what you should be saying “No” to but aren’t. Then get started with one item at a time. Before you know it, you’ll be in charge with a strongly developed “No” mental muscle.

     3. Do you get at least seven hours of deep restorative sleep every night?

    According to so many studies, if you lose sleep, you lose your mind. There are hundreds of studies that show an undeniable connection between sleep and the mind. So if you’re a proud night owl, insomniac or a college student, your constant thoughts of misery may just your brain being sad about not getting enough zzzs. For some of us on the wrong side of 40 years, we would like to sleep, but can’t quite seem to catch that perfect snooze. Thanks to a little help from my podcast guests I now sleep like a baby. My secret potion? I apply some magnesium and take a drop of vitamin D with K. If you’re getting less than 7 hours of quality sleep, prioritize fixing it. These days there are such great natural sleep supporters that you have no reasons to suffer poor sleep. Just remember sleeping pills are not the answer, according to various doctors. It is vital to get natural, deep, restorative sleep.

     4. Are you on social media, TV, Netflix etc for less than 2 hours every day?
    Imagine eating the buffet at Bellagio, the Venetian and Mandalay Bay combined, at the same time, and for free? That is exactly what happens to our minds on social media! Naturally, our mind enjoys living vicariously through other people. Lying in bed scrolling through a celebrity’s social media feed, reading about a recent feud or reading someone’s food recipe is to our brain what a bubble bath is to our body. It just wants to sink in with a glass of wine and never come out. But then, there’s the subconscious thought flow that accompanies the passive scrolling: “I’m not as pretty, as rich, or as successful, as ____” producing an inevitable sense of sadness. The results of studies performed to evaluate emotional states after Facebook binging are not pretty. Worse still, the stories we often get riled up about on social media, in the news, or on Netflix are just that — stories! Perfectly filtered to feed our lowest emotions. Do not fall for them. It is time to take back your sanity! Limit social media and entertainment consumption to less than 1 hour a day, total. Instead, read a good book or go for a walk with a friend.

     5. Are you grateful for the little things like running warm water and almond milk at Starbucks?
    While social media can make you feel unloved and “not very special”, gratitude can fix it in less than 5 minutes every day. It is the closest thing to a “silver bullet” for all that ails you. For one thing, you can’t be grateful and sad/angry/anxious at the same time. So make up a list of specific things you are truly grateful for and read them daily! What I did during my two years of my health crisis is write a word of gratitude in the morning and right before bed. I ended up creating The Health Journal, a weekly health tracking and inspirational journal, as there was nothing easy or quick to track gratitude and my health. I’m not the only fan, check out what Kelly Noonan Gores says in our interview on the HEAL documentary.

    Just start by acknowledging simple, wonderful things that happen daily, like waking up! Jokes aside, millions don’t wake up every single day, so if you woke up that’s worthy of a little gratitude (according to Sadhguru) and me! Now that I’ve developed this practice, I find myself constantly saying thanks – for a delicious brownie that I couldn’t eat a year ago to the warm hugs from my teen daughters.

     6. Do you spend time with people you love at least once a week?
    There’s a sad transition that happens between childhood to adulthood. We stop hanging out with the people who love us unconditionally (ahem, parents) and start spending time with those who we want to associate with for various reasons. That might mean choosing the mean but popular kids in high school, the hot/cool teens in college, or the boring boss who controls your promotion. Nevertheless, we are subconsciously aware that these are transactional and transitional relationships built on some form of codependency and not love. As I get older, I realize how crucial it is that I cultivate loving relationships with people who respect me for who I truly am inside. Even the presence of only one loving friend can bring you a sense of general well-being. Yes, your spouse counts too! Prioritize spending time with people who really love you, from your family to those few friends who will drop everything if you ever need them.

     7. Do you get out in nature and “say hello” to the sun for at least 30 minutes a day, 5 times a week?

    As humans, we have gone from living under the sun and in nature to living inside and under artificial lights. This has changed everything. We often forget that the sun and moon power our design in a significant way. Our brains are wired to pick up cues from the sun, and our body needs the sun for thousands of processes (not found in a bottle called, Vitamin D+ K, although I take it regardless).  We need nature to keep us in balanced and in rhythm, yet, so few of us spend time having a picnic or a hike over the weekend. After sleeping, this is the second most important of the ten factors for mental fitness. It’s virtually a shortcut to better fitness! Schedule your daily lunch in the sun with your feet on the grass, instead of eating in a tiny cubicle, and watch everything get better! I am not exaggerating. Try it for 40 days and share your experience in the comments.

     8. Are you loved? Do you feel loved?

    Can you look in the mirror and say, “I love you” without cringing? Try it. It took me months before I could do it without giggling or making funny faces at myself. One of my favorite authors and inspirational speakers, Louise Hay, introduced this concept and calls it mirror work. The brilliant and famous psychologist to the stars, Marisa Peer, talks about the critical importance of being able to say, “I am enough.” A great antidote to the world making us feel unworthy is to look in the mirror and repeat, “I love you.” In my interview with Dawson Church on beating anxiety, he said at the very end that the most important thing anyone can do is to love themselves. It sounds easy, but so few of us treat ourselves the way we treat others. Track how many times you are mean to yourself with words like, “you idiot” or “stupid you.” How many times do you acknowledge that you love YOU? Every cell is listening, and they need to know that you love them no matter your size, color, level of education, bank balance, or accomplishments. Ensuring that you love you is the single most valuable thing you can do, starting today. Other than, you know, sleep, sun and laughing.

     9. Do you rest and breathe deeply at least a few times a day?

    Somehow rushing around has become a norm. Trying to pack three days of work into one has become a thing of pride. Perhaps not for all of us, but some of us. This only ends in sheer exhaustion. Rushing around creates many ripples with an overall dangerous impact. First, it makes you breathe poorly. You begin to experience shallow and quick breathing which creates a lack of high-quality oxygen needed by cells. Second, constantly hurrying signals to your brain that there’s a tiger somewhere (your body uses breathing to figure out when to release fight or flight hormones) which propels it into action by changing your chemical composition in seconds. More glucose is released, your digestion shuts down, sending more blood to your extremities. Your body is ready to fight or run and certainly not prepared for that sandwich you’re wolfing down while driving madly through traffic. Then, we wonder why digestive issues are the new epidemic! So, take time to rest, as your grandmother did. Rest after lunch. Take breath breaks where you simply sit for 5 minutes and a deep breath. Check out some great breathing exercises for anxiety with Dr. Mukta Khalsa here.

     10. Do your meals include 50% good fats, fresh fruits, and vegetables?

    Finally, we cannot conclude any fitness talk without a section on nutrition. After all, without food, we die. However, because our poor minds cannot speak as loudly as our cravings, they are ignored. So, I’m here to remind you that your mind would like some good fats, like avocado and olive oil, to feel safe and loved. It would love some juicy organic in-season fruit to feed its creative juices. It would like some dark greens as a connection to our beautiful planet. Feeding our mind a diet of lab-made food (sorry, but did you think that chicken nugget was real food for your mind?) only creates a huge deficit, which no amount of sleep is going to balance. Just like your car won’t drive on good wishes, your mind isn’t getting fit on nuggets. I’m not making a case to boycott nuggets if that’s your thing, but it should be an occasional treat. Prioritize feeding your mind for fitness. It will reward you with a burst of joy like you’ve never experienced before.

    Let’s prioritize mental fitness and together create a more loving life experience for all!

     

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  • The 6 Biohacks I Do Daily for Sleep, Cravings, Weight, Workout, Nutrition & Joy

    The 6 Biohacks I Do Daily for Sleep, Cravings, Weight, Workout, Nutrition & Joy

    By Reena A Jadhav

    I am almost 47 years old, which means ‘100% health” has become an elusive dream that I am constantly chasing.

    Why?

    Because I love sugar.

    And I love to stay up late at night.

    And because who enjoys grinding on workout machines in smelly gyms anyway.

    Oh, did I mention I thrive on snacking on sugary snacks late at night while browsing workout videos for tomorrow?

    So, I’ve had to think long and hard about creating a lifestyle that lets me be a “good girl” each and every day despite wanting to be “bad” all the time. Here are proven hacks that work for me, try them out and share what works for you!

    Biohack 1: Sugar-free go-to treats

    Anyone who gives sermons on cutting down sugar clearly is not a sugar addict and should not be giving said sermons.

    Ask me, I know all about cravings and crushes on deep dark chocolate, banana nut cakes, Tiramisus, biscotti dipped in tea, fluffy pastries with cherries on top.

    So to lecture me on giving up sugar is to not understand the demon I fight daily. My cravings are already more manageable now that I have fixed my nutritional deficiencies, microbiome imbalances, and stress levels. But they are always simmering under the surface, tempting me to drive through a Starbucks or binge on that carrot cake my daughter brought home last night.

    Here’s what I do instead:

    1. Vitamin Water Zero calorie with crushed ice or blended with ice
    2. Kite Hill almond yogurt with monk fruit or stevia and some cinnamon or cardamom
    3. Gluten-free homemade Banana cake 
    4. In an emergency- 5-HTP Enhanced with Vitamins B6 and C
    5. Satisfying Vegan Sugar-free Mocha

    Biohack 2: Sleep by 10:30 pm

    Some of us are night owls. It’s too bad that our body doesn’t care and insists on sticking to its own rhythm of healing and cleaning. Which means we really all need to be asleep by 10:30 pm regardless of the siren call of the moon.

    Prior to these hacks, I would get wide awake around 11 pm and doze off around 3 am. Now, I am out in a blink if I follow these:

    1. No chocolate, sugar or caffeine after 3 pm
    2. Magnesium at 10 pm
    3. Dinner ends at 7 pm
    4. Deep breathing: breath in slowly to a count of 10 then pause for 5 and breathe out slowly to a count of 15 to 20 and pause for 8. Do this till you fall asleep … in about 10 minutes!
    5. Optional- I hear from friends that a couple of sprays of CBD under the tongue will do the trick

    Biohack 3:  Workout for health

    I have friends who thrive in the gym. I even have a mother who looks forward to her “daily outing” to 24-hour fitness where she swims, lifts weights and more. But if you don’t have time or inclination, here are some very easy hacks to get the same benefits:

    1. Start your day with Zach Bush’s 4-minute workout
    2. Download the free HIIT app and do scientifically proven 7-minute workouts 3 times a day
    3. Stand don’t sit at work
    4. Walk everywhere, take the stairs, park far away and read other ideas here

    Biohack 4: Weight management

    Once you hit 40 years of age various body parts seem to start growing! I thought aging was degeneration, who knew it also could be an expansion of the belly, butt, love handles, double chin, thighs and more. So if you’re facing the constant battle of the bulge, worry no more. Wouldn’t it be great to stay the same weight as pre-marriage without constantly counting everything you put in your mouth? Here are some hacks that have worked surprisingly well for me over the last few years:

    1. Intermittent fasting for 16 hours
    2. Not eating after 7 pm but eating without counting until then
    3. Drinking sugar balance and detox teas weekly
    4. Adding fiber, fiber, fiber (acacia or psyllium husk are my favorites)
    5. Fixing my microbiome (this is my fav probiotic)

    Biohack 5: Nutrients

    We are meant to eat lots of nutritionally dense foods daily. Do you? I certainly don’t. I have really great days (when I come back loaded with farmer’s market produce and cook up deliciousness) but mostly not so good days (when I am trying to get the newsletter article written or a Health Bootcamp launched). But for me, nutrition cannot be a stepchild anymore. It gets the same priority as my firstborn with these hacks.

    1. A concoction of Spirulina, Moringa leaf powder, apple cider vinegar and fiber daily
    2. Mary Ruth’s liquid day and night multi-vitamins 3 times a week
    3. Organic Suja green juice or an Urban remedy juice daily
    4. Coconut water and young coconut meat 4 times a week (yes I buy and break coconuts and drink in nature’s multi-vitamin)
    5. Liquid IV for hydration 3 times a week or when I do hot yoga or sauna (you can take any electrolyte drink that’s clean)

    Biohack 6: Joy

    You can’t be truly healthy without joy. That’s a fact. Believe it. There’s so much science behind it. Now staying in a state of joy all the time in our crazy toxic world is a whole different article. In fact, various bestsellers have been written on it. I have personally interviewed so many great authors and attended meditation retreats that I have written about. Here are my proven hacks to get and stay in a state of joy:

    1. Daily 21-minute meditation (I do Shambhavi to get in a giddy state of drunken bliss)
    2. Daily 10 minutes of journaling (5 minutes Journal in the morning and right before bed)
    3. Daily activity from the Joy Calendar (its free when you sign up for our newsletter)
    4. Tulsi Rose tea (my favorite) or any calming herbal tea to bring a smile for no reason
    5. Walking in nature, soaking up the sun, barefoot in the grass, hugging an old tree, chasing after a butterfly or feeding a bluejay are all known to cause strange feelings of inexplicable joy, I suggest you try them!

    So there you have it, these are my 6 biohacks that keep me healthy despite myself. Want to transform your life too then check out the BIOHACK FOR HEALTH Bootcamp with Dr. Comella below and join us on our daily live coaching calls. I’m looking forward to meeting you!

     

     

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  • New Health Pyramid: 7 Steps to Unleash Better Health

    New Health Pyramid: 7 Steps to Unleash Better Health

    By Reena A Jadhav

    What if everything you believe about health is upside down or just plain wrong?

    What if there’s an unbreakable set of rules that govern your health?

    Could that explain why you’re sick even though you eat well and exercise? Or why you can’t lose that extra weight, or reverse diabetes, or get your blood pressure and cholesterol under control?

    Read the key points and article below for the 7 Step Sequence for Better Health!

    Key Points

    • I created this Health Pyramid in order to share the methods I used to heal myself from 28 symptoms.
    • Having “faced off” and won against both cancer and an autoimmune disease, I propose a New Health Pyramid. It’s based on not only my own experience but also thousands of hours of interviewing some of the best doctors, healers, and functional medicine practitioners in the world.
    • My Health Pyramid has 7 steps, of which 3 form the foundation without which the top 4 topple
    • Food is the last step on my pyramid; getting to Calm is the first step.
    • Why do some people escape disease but others catch everything? It is because the base of their pyramid is strong.
    • Our body has two goals: to keep us alive and to procreate. Sickness only comes when the body starts losing the battle to stay alive.
    • What battle? Our body is battling stress, chemicals, lack of nutrients. sleep deprivation and more every minute of every day.
    • On a daily basis we are either in “sick zone” or “heal zone”. When “sick zone” exceeds “heal zone”, we get sick and then diseased.

    After all, despite the billions spent on disease management and specialty diets, we are still a nation of sick, fat, unhappy citizens.

    I am here to tell you: it is not your fault. It’s not. You are an intelligent, committed person actively seeking health and fitness. And yet, everything you do seems to fail. You try again and again, in a new way – a “better” way – hoping that, his time, it works. You start that hot new diet “guaranteed” to work. And it does work, temporarily. Then it fails. You get more and more frustrated until, at some point, you binge on everything. You feel sick and guilty. And then the cycle starts again.

    Sounds familiar? That was me, too.

    It is true that, to thrive, your body needs the fuel of healthy food. However, if you are already sick or symptomatic, fixing your diet is not the first step on your path to healing. It is the last step. No matter how much broccoli or bone broth you eat, you cannot heal if the other critical elements of health are not in place.

    My “wow” moment hit when I realized that good health is a pyramid, with a strong foundation to support the peak. A wobbly foundation causes the pyramid to crumble, leaving us with symptoms and sickness.

    This is why our diets fail. The food we eat is but the capstone of a large, complex structure that, if left unattended, will crumble beneath a diet and cause it to fail. The key, then, is to establish and strengthen the foundation before building upon it, layer by layer. Diet is, in fact, the last element in the process of health.

    What I have learned through healing myself and from interviewing top doctors is that there is a formula for healing. You can’t randomly address one factor – like diet or exercise – and wonder why you fail to heal your disease or to lose weight. There is a reason why a vegetarian can contract heart disease while a smoker with terrible habits can live to 90 years old. We once thought it was their genetic luck, but we now know that genetics influences only about 10% of our health. The rest is in our control.

    I had thought I would reverse my 28 symptoms one by one. First the hives, then the angry outbursts, then the hair loss, then the bladder urgency… but that’s just not how the body works. My journey to health has taught me that the body heals in waves, not symptom by symptom. What is fascinating is that our body can heal lightening fast once it is in what I call the “Heal Zone.” And thus our mission is simple: get in the Heal Zone – and stay there!

    The Heal Zone requires three core elements which compose the foundation of our pyramid: Calm, Sleep, and Nutrients. These are the components of the pyramid which support the structure of your good health. So – if you can keep calm during the day, sleep well at night, and give your body the nutrients it needs, diet and exercise will naturally fall into place. You won’t have to battle cravings or stuff yourself with leftover pizza at midnight. You will have the energy to walk your 10,000 steps every day. You will feel satisfied by a healthy diet, without binging or craving. You will feel energized, motivated, and happy.

    Your body is a miraculous, self-healing machine. If you follow the right formula, it can be rebuilt, and you can be reborn healthier, younger and more resilient.

    You can choose to be reborn healthier.

    You can choose to be reborn younger.

    You can choose to take back your life.

    All you have to do is follow the right formula. That formula is my new Health Pyramid.

    There has never been a more urgent time for humanity to put our health first. Despite the $2.3 trillion in annual health spending, over 50% of US adults have a chronic illness. Over 50 million people suffer from an autoimmune disease, and it is forecasted that 1 in 2 newborns will be autistic by 2025. This means that, potentially, half of your grandkids could be autistic. You are either, dear reader, sick, about to be sick, or the caretaker for a sick loved one.

    My Health Pyramid has answers.

    Some Myths & Mistruths

    • The understanding that our good health is primarily a function of our good diet is just plain wrong.
    • The belief that an extreme solution to our symptoms is the only option (such as steroids for knee pain) is a myth.
    • The trust in our doctors as the infallible experts who can unfailingly heal us when we fall sick is misplaced.
    • The body is the most sophisticated, complex, interconnected, dynamic living system on Earth, with only one purpose – to keep us alive.
    • The symptoms and sickness we experience are merely the “red light” on your dashboard – blaring loudly to tell us that something is wrong, and we need to pull over.

    Pull over now. Read this article and do a quick check of your “engine”.

    Reena’s 7 Step Health Pyramid

    My 28 Symptoms

    If you read health books or listen to health podcasts, I know how you feel.

    Overwhelmed. Confused. Should you eat vegan or meat only? Is eating eggs ok now? I thought coconut oil was saturated and terrible – but now, I should put it in my coffee?

    When I had my second health crisis in September 2016, I acquired 28 symptoms that conventional doctors just couldn’t figure out. I had been tested for EVERYTHING. My doctors said I was the “healthiest sick person” they knew. Yes, I was severely underweight at 95 pounds. Yes, I had unexplained hives, rashes, and black lines tormenting my skin. Yes, my eyesight had rapidly deteriorated. But, they said, those symptoms could be psychosomatic. My tests were clear. One doctor prescribed anti-depressants. Another suggested steroids. The day a doctor told me I might only have 5 to 10 years, living with these 28 symptoms, I broke. His exact words were, “Look, this is your new reality. You’re getting older. Get used to it.”

    So, of course, I decided to ignore all of them and fix myself. I embarked on a journey to get my health (and my life) back. The first step in my mind was figuring out why my body was so angry at me.

    That’s how I saw it. My body was literally freaking out, screaming and throwing tantrums at will, like a small child in crisis.

    I could yell back, duct tape it, ignore it – or, I could try to listen and understand the issue. There had to be a trigger.

    Because of the way that I got sick, I had always assumed that there was only one trigger. One day I was dancing on the edge of a swimming pool in Cabo; the next I was in an ER with my eyes swollen and face puffed up. That was the first symptom.  Within a month, there were 27 more.

    So I decided to get an unofficial degree in healing. But then, as I dove into research, forums, books, and interviews, I ended up with severe migraines every night. There were way too many very sick people who weren’t getting better – and every new article from a renowned expert contradicted the last one I had read. One night, looking at all my notes on the computer, it hit me that this process was becoming counterproductive. I needed an answer to my health crisis, not a mess of conflicting sensationalized information to constantly sort through.

    In times of crisis, we all fall back on what we know best.

    In my case, that was chocolate and startup principles. So I dove headfirst into gooey deliciousness while trying to apply the golden rules that had granted me success in my career:

    1. Don’t believe, hypothesize.
    2. Know your starting point.
    3. Experiment a lot; test and track; then analyze.
    4. Small changes often make a big impact – so try everything in small doses.
    5. There’s a tipping point to everything; find the tipping point to my health, and then move on.

    That was it. Those were the five things I was going to do until I reversed all my symptoms and got back my health. I was going to do this forever if that’s how long it took. I refused to consider the options of steroids or antidepressants or living with my symptoms for the rest of my life.

    Fifteen months later, I got back my health.

    My rebirth came with profound personal insights, and the shocking revelation that everything we believe about our health and the reasons why we get sick is just plain FALSE.

    Having been urged by so many to share my experience, I decided to write this article to summarize what I now know and believe.

    Why We Get Sick

    There is no single trigger to a full body meltdown. Our body is a beautiful, strong, complex machine designed to keep us alive and to procreate. It’s not about to fall apart from some pollen, or milk, or gluten. Despite all the crap we throw at it, for years, it fights back valiantly until, one day, it fights back a little less vigorously. Then, another day, our body can’t rebuild the gut lining as well. It starts to slowly lose the fight. That’s when symptoms start – aches, nasal drips, migraines, gas and bloating, fatigue, or mood swings. And then finally, one day, with a heavy heart, it’s forced to accept defeat. You are granted a diagnosis of diabetes, or cancer, or heart disease, lupus, thyroiditis… And those are the lucky ones. Some simply die of a sudden heart attack.

    Just as we humans have different capacity to fight, so do our bodies. A skinny Indian like me will lose pretty badly fighting a trained boxer. Similarly, we are all born with a different innate capacity to fight off sickness and stay healthy. Some never get cancer no matter how much they smoke. Others, like me, get cancer despite being a healthy vegetarian for most of my life. Cancer can take six to ten years to develop. Heart disease and diabetes take decades too. No one falls ill overnight. We all pay the price for neglecting our bodies early in our adult lives.

    So, if you or a loved one you know is sick, here’s why: their body is overwhelmed with triggers, and no longer has the strength to fight back.

    How To Heal

    The greatest insight from my own healing experience is this: everyone can heal.

    You can reverse all of your miserable symptoms and rediscover a youthful life full of vigor, zest, and excitement. It doesn’t even take that long. The sooner you react, the faster you get back to the baseline of health – which is where your body thrives.

    The Health Pyramid is my way of sharing what I believe are the true priorities for reclaiming your health. Our culture’s focus on diet as the tool to achieve good health may have been true decades ago when everyone went to bed around 10 pm and the word “stress” was reserved for military personnel in times of war. Today, the food we eat is the last step in achieving true health. Let’s dive into the pyramid so I can share what I believe should be on your priority list.

    Step #1: CALM

    Click here to read my post on Step #1: CALM.

    Step #2: SLEEP

    Click here to read my post on Step #2: SLEEP.

    Step #3: NUTRIENTS

    Click here to read my post on Step #3: NUTRIENTS.

    Step #4: JOY

    Click here to read my post on Step #4: JOY.

    Step #5: MOVE

    Click here to read my post on Step #5: MOVE.

    Step #6: DETOX

    Click here to read my post on Step #6: DETOX.

    Step #7: DIET

    Click here to read my post on Step #7: DIET.

    No one should suffer from preventable and treatable diseases. No one should live a half life due to their diabetes or heart disease. These seven steps may have a loved one! Please share and let’s get healthier together!

     

     

    Health Bootcamps

     

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  • The Dharmic Intersection Of A Soul Journey, Autoimmune Healing Crisis

    The Dharmic Intersection Of A Soul Journey, Autoimmune Healing Crisis

    By Cate Stillman

    Listen to Cate Stillman interview Reena Jadhav on how she healed from her health crisis by clicking on audio below:

    I wanted to talk with Reena, founder of HealerPedia because after she interviewed me twice about Ayurveda I got curious about who she was. It turns out she’s one smart cookie who coaches Silicon Valley entrepreneurs in the success of their startups. With one degree from Wharton and an MBA from Harvard, Reena’s healing journey is of particular interest to me.

    Her career path was interrupted by a soul-journey health crisis. After getting nowhere fast, she took back her life into her own hands and found her healers, her doctors, and her support team to help her regain her body. In the process, she awoke to the crisis of healthcare and where startups and venture capital can make a difference. She’s at that cool startup place of being whole, ready, and curious about where her dharma and the marketplace will take her.

     

    I rap with Reena Jadhav about healing her dharma + healing her Autoimmune disease:

    • Earning a Masters in Self Health Care
    • How an imbalance of surrender and control contributed to her disease pattern
    • How she healed her CIPO
    • Why it takes a team, not a doctor, to heal yourself

     

    What you’ll get out of tuning in:

    • How Western medical tests can indicate you’re healthy — even when you know something is really wrong
    • How our bodies can go above and beyond in maintaining balance, even when a perfect storm is brewing inside that leads to a health crisis
    • An understanding of what a tipping point is and what happens when our bodies reach that moment

    Show Highlights:

    • 5:00 — Reena explains her lifelong health patterns and the health roller coaster that necessitated the beginning of intense healing.
    • 10:45 — By taking her health and diagnosis into her own hands, Reena gained a much better understanding of what was going on in her body and why it seemed to be fighting back so hard.
    • 15:15 — We need to understand our Subtle Body language to see patterns that allopathic medicine can’t pick up on.
    • 22:00 — Healing can put us in touch with our souls, even if we haven’t really been living that way before.
    • 29:50 — The healthcare system is completely broken. If we don’t fix it now, we will handicap an entire generation. We’re sick as a nation, and we don’t need to be.
    • 34:30 — Reena explains the evolution of HealerPedia and how she plans for growth. People are reinventing healthcare, and it’s important to support that.
    • 42:50 — Startups can be scary, but they provide a great metaphor for life: it’s important to dive right in, follow your intuition, and see where it takes you.

     

    Favorite Quotes:

    • “I didn’t really have time to think about, ‘Wait a minute. Why is my bodybuilding cancer inside me? I should change my lifestyle.’”
    • “I remember clearly thinking that my body was screaming at me, and I didn’t want to shut it up… I wanted to do something about it.”
    • “I believe that every human being’s body, soul, and spirit are trying so hard to keep everything in balance. And then something tips. When that tips, everything gives up.”
    • “So you were like a bacteria cesspool — in your gut — and you were just feeding it with sugar and you’d been doing that since you were born.”
    • “We’re living in this boiler room where no one’s taking a moment to chill out.”
    • “What people think is, if you don’t have cancer — if you don’t have something deeply disturbing — you’re fine. You’re not sick. The reality is that that’s not true!”
    Cate Stillman

    Welcome to Yogahealer.com. We’re all about vibrant health evolution, both personal + planetary. Let’s step deeper into dharma and an awake life together. Start with your Yoga Lifestyle Upgrade Kit + Upgrade your body, your dharma + your life.

    You landed yourself on Yogahealer.com. I’m a force to be reckoned with – and so are you. To get us started on the next phase of your potential -start the 40-day journey. Get a guided tour of activating the tools from Ayurveda, habit evolution, yoga, and life-hacking. Know yourself, and take a giant step forward into your potential.

     

  • My Experience with Meditation -Bhavas Spandana and Sadhguru

    My Experience with Meditation -Bhavas Spandana and Sadhguru

    By Reena A Jadhav

    “Bhava Spandana is like making a person jump and look beyond the wall. He sees beyond his limitation experientially. Once he sees that, he knows that he must go over the wall one day to see what is on the other side.”
    – Sadhguru

    Today, I wish I was a writer. But I’m not. I write like the stereotypical startup CEO/ tech investor – in bullets the length of tweets with key takeaways. So how am I to do justice in sharing a life-changing experience with you all? Forgive me in advance for my linguistic inadequacies in sharing my experience with Sadhguru’s Bhava Spandana program.

    To make this writing exercise even more of a ropes course, we all signed non-disclosures and can’t share the heart and soul of the program. So I am simply sharing what I experienced “inside” as per guidance from ISHA. Enjoy!

    How We Met

    My interest in meditation fired up around November of 2015, two months into a severe health crisis. Like most agnostics in a crisis, I began searching for answers to questions such as, “what happens after death” and, “can you heal through mind control.” After watching a few dozen Youtube videos, I stumbled into Sadhguru answering the question about death, life, and meditation for healing.

    The more I heard this motorbike riding, white-bearded, crazy witty, straight shooter making statements like, “don’t believe anything till you experience it” the better I felt. To my husband’s dismay, I started doing his meditation, “I am not the body, I am not the mind” daily. According to my husband, Sadhguru sounded downright frightening. But that meditation freed my frightened mind from obsessing about my frail body. It gave me strength and peace of mind, which as it turns out is crucial to get into the healing zone.

    Why I went

    Hundreds of little changes later, I started to heal and the first thing I did when I was strong enough to stay awake an entire day was taken Sadhguru’s Inner Engineering with Shambhavi Mahamudra program. Why? Because of the scientific proof that it makes you smarter. And I was seriously worried I had lost a few million brain cells during my illness. I wanted to get them back! That 21-minute meditation was my first brush with bursting lights and fading images during the practice. Nothing earth-shattering, but certainly very curious. It also accelerated my healing, as I am now convinced.

    So when I received an invitation for Bhava Spanadana (BSP), 4 days and 3 nights advanced meditation residential program in Tennessee, I had to apply. First time around it sold out in 20 minutes and I got on the waitlist for 2018. This October I finally made it with four dear friends to experience the “other dimension” and pure bliss.

    The word Bhava literally means “sensation.” Spandana can be loosely translated as “resonance.”  Hence the promise of experiencing sensations of bliss and joy. 

    Here’s how they describe it- This advanced meditation program is designed by Sadhguru to provide the opportunity to go beyond the limitations of body and mind and experience higher levels of consciousness. Bhava Spandana offers the experience of a world of unbounded love and joy.

    Getting to the Promised Land

    We had taken a red-eye flight, and then the shuttle at 9 am, which got lost and took 4 hours instead of 2 hours to deliver us to the promised abode.

    A small group on the bus started chanting a mantra meant to bring us closer to Sadhguruhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5q45ogMnKwc

    I continued to take in my first view of the beautiful countryside of Nashville while craving cashews and kombucha (neither of which I had brought per instructions!).

    When we finally did arrive, it was like a giant copper half dome in the middle of a deep forest. That emotion of curious surprise would be the theme of emotions for me over the next several days.

    I am not at liberty to share my experiences each day so will share a general summary:

    My first experience of Sadhguru was both beautifully funny and traumatic. 

    Sadhguru’s first words hit home to many of us with its deep perception and wittiness!

    That continued throughout the program- he was either making us laugh hysterically or cry deeply. His deep yet obvious insights through funny parables reminded me of how a thoughtful father would share his wisdom with his children.

    It was also my first truly traumatic experience of over 30 years. 

    I can’t share anything other than the fact that I hadn’t been this moved since a childhood experience on a trip to India. The program continued to shake, melt, tug, fire away at my heart full throttle.

    There were experiences that had me watching transfixed.

    Then there were experiences where I had to blink furiously to confirm I wasn’t hallucinating.

    My curious scientific mind tried to analyze it all despite the constant reminder this was an “experiential” program and logical rational analysis wouldn’t yield expected answers.

    For someone with my structured engineering mindset that was the first hurdle. I kept trying to find patterns, connect the dots and all the other cliches our mind resorts to with an unfamiliar situation,

    But the moment Sadhguru spoke, my mind would quieten its “Sherlock Homes” tendencies and drink in this very human mystic with his self-deprecating humor.

    The next four days we meditated, did various practices and followed the “Sadhguru Plan” that really no one shared with you till the moment you needed the information.

    While I am unable to share the specific experiences that I am bursting to share, here are the reasons I call it my rebirth!

    And that’s not hyperbole, I am just stating a fact.

    1. The new truth about life and death

    We are all raised with specific shared beliefs about “life” and “death. My beliefs were- life is great, death is not. Life must be protected and must be dedicated to excelling at education, work, marriage, child-raising etc. That excellence must be pursued with a serious intensity layered with moments of socializing and celebrations.

    What I walked away with – life is neither the body nor the mind, nor to be taken any more seriously than a game. Translation- play to win but have a blast doing it and don’t take anything, especially yourself, too seriously!

    Death is just a transition, it’s not “the end” and certainly nothing to fear.

    How that translates into my re-birth: 

    I made a call to my 18-year-old college daughter saying, “Find a career you love, forget everything I have been instilling.”  She still thinks its some reverse psychology I am trying on her!

    What difference does it make if she becomes a neonatal surgeon if that means her entire life is devoid of giggles, smelling flowers and playing outside in the sun.

    Life is meant to be enjoyed with your entire being- passionately, wholeheartedly, fearlessly, unconditionally. Anything that deters from that is taking away from the life we are meant to experience.

    2. I am you. 

    I am also the leaf, the apple, the almond, the Korean boy, the blonde woman. I am not a physical entity but an energetic manifestation in a temporary body.

    I know I know, we have all heard this before. But until you EXPERIENCE it you don’t really INTERNALIZE it. I knew this in my head but not my heart.

    Now my heart has experienced it over three days. I have momentarily forgotten my physical boundaries and found myself in little objects.

    How that translates into my re-birth: 

    If I am YOU how can I hurt YOU? I suddenly understand the Jains and other sects that don’t want to hurt even plants much fewer animals. Oh, the stories I could share about my experiences and those of others as we came to this realization. All I can say is, if this program was mandatory for every child we would change our entire planet in one generation.

    One generation.
    We would rid wars, hate, anger, bloodshed, despair.

    3. I am not the body, I am not even the mind 

    I saw I experienced, I believe.

    We are more than our physical body and our mind.

    The meditation, “I am not the body, I am not even the mind,” that I did for over a year when very sick has taken a whole new sense of truth. I used to chant that mantra like a parrot, without truly believing the message. Now, I don’t need to chant it, I already know it.

    I have experienced proof.

    How that translates into my re-birth: 

    So much of a woman’s self-worth is linked to her body perception, as designed by the trillions spent on media.

    Almost all our beliefs come from our family, society, media. We listen, we believe.

    Sadhguru teaches to question everything, “Only believe what you experience.” The mind can lie by repeating someone else’s lie. But your experience will be the truth.

    So the goal of the program is to give you the “experience” to finally comprehend Sadhguru’s message.

    The program did deliver that for me. I truly believe for the first time that this body and mind are artificial constructs. I had heard Oprah say this in a meditation session with Deepak Chopra, “We are spiritual beings having a human experience.” It now resonates with me.

    How does that realization feel?

    Relief.

    I feel lighter, more joyous, unburdened. My context for life has changed.

    If I am a physical body and mind having a temporary life, then everything in this life takes on monumental importance. Not so much with the realization that the truth is quite the opposite.

    It’s time to have some real fun in my remaining decades!

    4. There is magic inside each of us

    We had finished a meditation and Sadhguru asked us to stare intently at his eyes. This was unusual as he was typically reprimanding us to keep our eyes closed. I heard him distinctly say, “Look intently!” and I thought, “Fine I’ll look intently already.” As I stared, his face begins to turn pale white and then broke into psychedelic pieces which seemed to appear and disappear. And then fade some more. I apparently laughed a bit hysterically and said a bit too loudly, “are you seeing this! Oh my god, are you seeing this?” In our little corner, I may have been the only one to experience this powerful shifting of his energies that made his face fade away and break into moving psychedelic patterns.

    Then suddenly he was talking again and his dusky, strong, white-bearded face was back.

    Several folks came over and asked me what I saw as they hadn’t seen anything unusual. One of those was a gentleman who was able to answer my questions about what I had seen. He knew a lot about Sadhguru’s display of almost supernatural energy manipulation.

    But it’s interesting how this part of his abilities is not promoted or more actively shared. If it had been, I would have been more prepared for the program. But then again, maybe I wouldn’t have attended. Maybe I would have feared what I don’t understand. We, humans, tend not to trust people who are not like us.

    Then I would have missed an experience of a lifetime.

    Sadhguru is clearly not like us.

    We then proceeded to do a “special” meditation which held the potential for some of us to experience another dimension.

    After the meditation, which pushed every boundary, I was disappointed that a portal didn’t open or another dimension show itself to me. Maybe I wasn’t one of the lucky ones, oh well.

    Of course, we all cried in unison with our partners for a third of this meditation. Crying and laughing were our two states- laughing when Sadhguru spoke and crying when he made us meditate.

    After lunch, we came back to a very interesting practice/meditation. 

    So here I was, half asleep, my thoughts on the cashews that were waiting for me when I got home when I suddenly heard Sadhguru’s voice change from serene and explaining to irritated and booming – ordering us to focus and stop getting distracted.

    I thought, “how does he know we’re distracted,” as I focused on the instructions.

    And then what happened will forever be my moment of rebirth.

    I got drunk. Full-fledged intoxicated- with giggles and euphoric joy. As we were given instructions, I forced my eyes open (they seemed glued shut) and started to walk with a very unsteady gait and a very steady beaming grin. My mind said, “Yup Reena you are fully drunk for the first time in a decade!” And that thought made me burst out into a full belly laugh. My husband would get a kick out of this, I thought.

    I had stopped drinking in September of 2015 and even prior to that I would have a couple of drinks on weekends and nothing more. What I missed most about drinking was the pure joy at silly things that alcohol used to induce in me.

    But this was different than just intoxication, it had a visual perception modification too. Everything looked clean and clear as if washed by fresh rain. I thought I smelled something fragrant. It’s as if everything had just become so much more beautiful, even the people!

    As I gazed at a sea of slow-moving people, I saw slight frowns and no beaming smiles. I wanted to yell out loud, “What’s wrong? Why aren’t you laughing…”

    That thought made me want to do something silly to cheer them all up, which then led me to burst into more giggles. I walked outside and found three blades of grass to focus on and “be with”. But then I saw this tiny little single white flower, swaying in the breeze by itself and fell in love with it.

    I wanted to save that little flower from the trampling feet that might hurt it. I wanted to plant more flowers to give it company. That flower became so important to me that I visited it daily till we left.

    So, I understand why people call it the rebirth. 

    I no longer look at life the same way.

    Because life is not what I thought it was.

    I am not the body. I am not even the mind.

    I am an energy- powerful, knowing and giddy with joy. I am also silly and playful and have no cares.

    And I really do love everyone. Even the folks I was not interested in getting to know when I walked into Mahima. You know, the ones that don’t look and talk like me. Now I was chatting with them like old friends.

    It’s hard to explain this experience that I so desperately want you to understand. So, I’ll try this analogy. 

    Remember when you were little and believed in Santa and the Tooth fairy? Then they told you that was Daddy and Mommy and there really were no flying reindeer or magic? Remember your heartbreak?

    It’s like that but in reverse.

    It’s like finding out there IS magic and it’s real and it’s inside us just waiting to be released.

    This magic has one purpose, to make you laugh and be in pure bliss.

    The magic to be truly unconditionally joyful simply through some breathing. Ok, maybe it’s not that simple, but neither was walking and we all mastered that.

    I’m ecstatic at this discovery. Everyone must know. Why don’t more people know? Why isn’t this taught like we are taught to walk and talk? Why aren’t we taught to ignite the magic that makes us love everyone?

    Can you imagine a World overflowing with love and laughter?

    That’s the world I want for my kids and grandkids. So they can truly live life to it’s highest potential.

    I stayed in a bit of a haze for hours and it only left once I took a nap. That night we had a full-fledged party into the early hours with dancing and singing and games!

    Day Four

    I woke up feeling like usual, extremely groggy and starving. I wondered if my experience had been real. I wondered if I would ever experience it again.

    As we did our morning practice, I experienced the same rising of joy and laughter. Yes! It was real and it was back!

    It was more a sense of calm bliss vs the intoxicated joy. But I was thrilled to experience it again. We then settled in to hear Sadhguru share some more of his witty wisdom. He shared fascinating stories which made us laugh hysterically despite the fact that each story had a moral and we were really sitting in a sermon. Thankfully there were no heavier physically and emotionally draining practices. We laughed and cried some more, ate, got our valuables back and bid adieu to Mahima and Sadhguru that evening at 7 pm.

    On the flight back

    As I closed my eyes, exhausted, scenes flashed by like a train through a countryside. I smiled despite my aches and pains at scenes of dancing, giggle unabashed, crying soulfully. I had been through an entire lifetime of emotions in 5 days. All I felt now was gratitude. How fortunate that forces had conspired to give me this experience of a lifetime.

    As I reflect further, here are some fundamental ways in which my perspective of our World has changed and a few other notables:

    Resonance: We are resonating with every other human, animal, grass, rock on this planet. We are all exactly the same. Feeling this resonance has given me deeper empathy for everything. I keep thanking my food every time I eat, as it’s life that has sacrificed itself to keep me alive.

    Mortality: I’m now keenly aware of my mortality, not as a distant possibility but an inevitability. Which means every moment must be enjoyed to the max. Translation – I am questioning everything that destroys my happiness, such as watching Trump news, and eliminating it from my life if possible.

    Change: This tsunami of change in me has come from experiencing for myself certain energies. It didn’t come from listening to Sadhguru or Osho or any of the other exalted beings of our time.  These experiences that brought about change in me over the 5 days were, simply put, traumatic.

    But all change is hard.

    Changing your fundamental beliefs in your mid-40s is typical “mission impossible.” So, I think I’m permitted to feel a tiny bit accomplished at having shattered my old mold to create a new me.

    And If I can do it, so can you!

    Detox: Gone are a lot my cravings- for a special type of pillow, for my bowl of nuts every hour,  Kombucha, binge-watching Blacklist…In hindsight, I’ve been a prisoner of my habits and I feel released.

    I am in charge: Destiny, Karma, fate are words we are brought up with, especially us Indians. It’s heartening to know our lives are a “creation in progress” with us being the master creator of our own life experience. I feel stronger, more in control.

    The new big bodacious goal:  My new big goal is to keep this newly lit flame of awareness alive. There have been inadvertent attempts at stomping it out by extremely well-meaning friends. But fortunately I have four friends who were on this journey with me, and together we will stay rooted in our truth instead of dissolving into our old beliefs.

    My experience was unique to me and my gratitude is boundless. My friends had very different experiences. You can watch the official video for Bhava Spandana to hear experiences of other participants.

    You can learn more about the program here including the cost of Bhava Spandana and upcoming dates.

    ps:

    Yes, I have continued to experience the “high” every time I do my practice, which means I am never missing a day of practice ever again!

    PPS:

    No, Mom and Dad, you haven’t lost your only daughter to a cult or an ashram, and I am not a “devotee” of Sadhguru. The way Steve Jobs taught me marketing mastery, Sadhguru is teaching me life mastery.