149: Reinvent, Explore And Discover Your Health With Dr. Sharon Stills

This is episode 149,

Reinvent,

Explore and discover your health with Dr.

Sharon Stills.

My name is Tudor Alexander and this is the Dance of Life podcast.

Every week,

My goal is to inspire you to take action towards what you love,

Live a transformed life and enjoy the journey there.

Are you ready?

Let's go.

What's up,

What's up everybody?

Thank you so much for joining me today.

John Burroughs once said,

Leap and the net will appear.

And if you don't know who John Burroughs is,

He was an American essayist and a conservationist from the 1800s.

Now,

That quote we picked for the day because we're talking about health today.

We're going to be exploring a lot of different elements of health,

But health is such a vital part to life and specifically taking action to live a healthy life.

You know,

Sometimes health can be a murky puzzle,

But it's all about that taking that action so that you can find what that puzzle looks like for you and what you need to do specifically.

My inspiring guest today is Dr.

Sharon Stills.

She's a naturopathic medical doctor who has successfully helped thousands of women transition gently to the different stages of their lives with all natural methods.

And she's passionate about spreading the word about her red health philosophy,

Which is a three-pronged approach to health that we're going to break down in this episode,

But it starts with reinventing your health through incremental changes and increased body awareness.

The next step is to explore emotional and spiritual obstacles that have been blocking your happiness.

And the final part is discovering your new life as you take actions,

Both small and large,

That bring you into the world around you as an active participant instead of a sidelines bystander.

Dr.

Stills is a graduate of the Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine in Tempe,

Arizona.

She's a leadership member of the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians,

The Arizona Naturopathic Medical Association,

And the Oncology Association of Naturopathic Physicians.

She's also well known for her successful treatment of breast cancer,

Both early and advanced stage,

And was featured in the Cancer Prevention Summit regarding her vast experience.

Dr.

Stills is a sought-after lecturer and natural medicine consultant who authors and reviews articles for Women's Health Network,

Where she is also a member of their expert panel.

And she's passionate about her leadership role in legislative issues regarding naturopathic medicine.

You can find Dr.

Stills on any social media at Dr.

Sharon Stills.

And you can also go to our website,

Drstills.

Com.

All this stuff will be available in the show notes post to this episode on the website danceoflife.

Com slash podcast.

Now if you go to Dr.

Sharon's website,

Drstills.

Com,

You'll be able to get a couple of awesome things.

One of them is a free stress reduction tips,

18 stress reduction tips,

Like basically a free report for that.

And then also she is launching some red health cards.

So if you like the conversations that we're talking about today,

These are really cool cards that you can use to basically take action.

Each card is a little action oriented card.

You pull a card,

It gives you actions and tips to basically take action on one of the three areas in the red health program.

So those are all available at drstills.

Com.

Now today's episode,

We're talking about reinventing,

Exploring,

And discovering your health.

Because like I said,

Health is such a big part to anything you want in life,

Whether it's creating a business,

Creating a family,

Being creative,

Being motivated,

Being wealthy,

Whatever it is,

Health is that central pillar that really unites us all.

And in my own life,

I can tell you it's been such a learning process to see that we all have a specific roadmap.

And in this episode,

We're going to talk about the three components to that roadmap,

The mental,

Physical,

And spiritual side.

And you have to,

You know,

The key is finding out what is your particular roadmap?

Where is that taking you?

And what are the obstacles and treasures within that roadmap?

We all have such very different health pictures.

So I'm super,

Super stoked to have you guys join us on this important conversation today.

So let's go hang out with Dr.

Sharon Stills and reinvent,

Explore,

And discover our health.

Man,

That intro always gets me pumped up.

Welcome back to the show,

Everybody.

So grateful and happy to have you here.

I'm here with my wonderful,

Beautiful,

Amazing friend,

Dr.

Sharon Stills.

How are you?

Doing really great.

Nice to be here.

So excited to have you.

I'm happy to be here.

I'm like jamming to the music.

I love that.

Yeah,

No,

It definitely gets me pumped up every time.

That was the point.

Well,

Today we're talking about such a big and expansive topic,

Health,

Really.

I mean,

Health is just such an overused word,

But I love this reinvent,

Explore,

Discover.

So tell us a little bit about that.

Who you are?

How did this come to you?

Why did you pick these words specifically?

And kind of let's start with that.

Okay,

Well,

Let's see.

First of all,

I'm Dr.

Sharon Stills.

I'm a naturopathic doctor.

For the listeners who don't know what a naturopathic physician is,

Let me just briefly explain so you have a little bit of foundation.

So naturopathic physicians are trained as primary care doctors.

We go to a four-year medical school,

But it is a specific medical school.

There are about seven of them in the United States and in Canada right now that are accredited schools that you can go to.

It's a four-year program,

You know,

Post getting an undergraduate degree.

And we learn how to be physicians,

But we don't learn how to be the kind of physician that you're probably used to that you go to and you see for five minutes and they write a prescription for you.

So we learn everything that a regular doctor,

Traditional MD learns.

We do anatomy and physiology and we spend a year in the cadaver labs and biochemistry.

And we do learn pharmacy as well.

Like I do have a DEA license.

I can prescribe,

But I tend to use my prescription pad,

Like writing things like you should drink more water or you should get out and dance more.

Those are important prescriptions too.

You know,

I just read that the UK is thinking about passing a law or something where they can basically prescribe dancing as a treatment.

I prescribe it all the time.

I mean,

To me,

I prescribe it for myself.

I love to dance.

Dance is really good medicine.

There's a lot of benefits to it,

But staying on what I was saying.

So basically people can come see me for anything from allergies to depression to cancer to autoimmune disease to whatever it is that's bothering you.

Or if you're just looking to stay healthy,

I love that too.

And I look to find the root of the problem.

So I always say I'm kind of like a two-year-old because my favorite question when I'm working with patients is like,

Why?

Why is that?

Why is that?

But I really want to understand what's going on.

So like an example I use often is like migraines,

Let's just say.

So if you came in because you had migraines and like three of your friends came in because you had migraines and you all saw me and instead of seeing me for five minutes,

I spend like an hour the first visit with patients because you can't possibly get to know what's going on with someone on every level in five minutes.

And we're delving into every level from your lifestyle to your physical history,

Mental history,

Emotional history,

And so on and so forth.

And so if you all saw me for the initial hour and then you all like met in the waiting room,

You might be like,

Well why'd she get that and why'd I get this?

We all have the same problem.

But the truth is you just have something that's manifesting as a migraine.

But why you have migraines may be because you have food sensitivities and someone else may have migraines because they have hormonal imbalances and someone else may have migraines because they're in a crummy relationship and they,

You know,

Need to get out of that relationship.

So there's many different reasons why we manifest a disease process in our body.

And so that's just a little bit,

I mean I could speak for days and days,

But just to give people kind of an understanding of like what the different kind of doctor I am.

And so Red,

Which is my.

.

.

I love the red hot health.

That's so good.

Well,

Those can't see me but I have red hair.

I know,

It's totally perfect.

You gotta check out her website.

So I was sitting,

I used to have a very large clinic on the East Coast and I was sitting with my office manager and I was kind of like,

You know,

I can only see so many patients a day because I have to take care,

You know,

I'm all about physician heal thyself and I practice what I preach and I take care of myself.

And so I was like,

You know,

I wish,

I was like,

There's so many things that I do that like could benefit anyone,

You know,

No matter whether they have a disease,

Whether healing from a disease,

Whether they're just healthy and want to practice prevention.

And I was like,

You know,

I'd love to create like a program that anyone can benefit from because obviously I can't see like all the people in the world as patients.

And I was like,

You know,

I don't know what I would call this.

And,

You know,

My last name is Still's and I'm like,

Still method,

You know,

And she just looks at me and she's like,

Uh,

Duh.

You know,

She's like Red,

She's like,

Everything about you is red,

You're so red.

And I was like,

Oh,

That's a really good idea.

And so I was like,

You know,

That's a great acronym.

And so what,

You know,

I picked Reinvent for Your Health because I feel like in society,

So I'm all about like busting open what like society tells us and is that really the truth we need to live by?

And I think a lot of times when we stop and examine our beliefs,

It's like,

Oh,

Do I really believe that?

Or is that just something that's been programmed into me that I never.

.

.

Societal,

Yeah,

Programming.

Exactly.

So I was like Reinvent because I feel like society,

I see so many patients who like,

They turn 50 and they're tired and they're getting fat or whatever's going on.

They're achy,

They're in pain.

And they're like,

Oh,

My doctor said,

You know,

It's normal.

I'm just getting older.

You know,

This is what happens when you turn 50.

And I'm like,

No,

No,

No,

No,

No.

That is totally not what happens.

That is so not the truth.

And so I wanted people to like really embrace,

Like you can reinvent your health when you're 20,

When you're 30,

When you're 40,

When you're 90,

Like any time.

Like,

So if you are sitting there right now and like you have a diagnosis or disease or an autoimmune disease and you've been told like,

You know,

You're going to have to live with this.

There's nothing that can be done.

Like that doesn't have to be the truth.

You know,

I work with people and I work,

You know,

With a lot of really sick people.

I specialize in cancer and autoimmune disease.

And I can't tell you like how many patients I've seen where like they were told,

Go home and get your affairs in order.

You're going to die.

Wow.

Or this is,

You know,

There's nothing we can do.

You're just going to have to learn to live with it.

And it's like,

That doesn't have to be the case.

Like it doesn't,

It can be different.

You can reinvent.

You have to really,

You know,

Be your own best healer and take,

You know,

Take things into your own because healing is not like the passive,

Like when we think of a doctor in the olden days,

Like,

You know,

From my parents' generation,

Like whatever the doctor said you did,

It was like the doctor was on the pedestal and you were just down there like,

Yeah.

And you know,

If they said to do this,

You didn't even question it.

And it's like,

No,

For me,

It's like patients are like,

We're co-creators on the journey.

And you know,

Yes,

I have a lot of knowledge.

I have a lot of experience.

I've been doing this for close to 20 years,

But it's like,

Ultimately you are the one that makes the choices.

I can tell you,

Look,

This is going to be a good diet for you,

But I'm not with you 24 seven.

Like you're the one who goes home and decides what you pick up at the grocery store and what you put in your mouth.

You're the one who decides if you're going to keep a good bedtime or not.

And so you have to be an active participant.

But if you are like,

You can reinvent your health.

I don't want you to feel like you're stuck.

And I certainly don't want you to feel like,

Oh,

This is what happens as I get older.

You know,

My knees ache.

Because I can tell you,

Like,

I get healthier every day.

And I actually got into this because I was very sick and unhealthy as a child.

And as the years go on,

Like,

I'm reinventing my health.

I'm,

Most people are like,

Oh,

I wish I could feel like I did when I was 20.

And I'm like,

Not me because I felt like crap when I was 20.

I'm like,

I like the way I feel,

You know,

Now that I'm 50.

I was going to say,

What got you on this path?

It's always interesting because I find people's life paths,

Especially when they find something that's activated in their life purpose.

In this case,

You know,

You're a healer in my book as far as the work that you do.

And it always relates to some childhood,

You know,

Trauma or something that we experienced that didn't go right for us that inspired us to create it into a gift later.

So tell us more about your experience.

Like when you were a kid,

You said you weren't very healthy,

Like.

Yeah,

That's definitely true,

Especially in like the alternative medicine.

It's like we all either have like our own story,

Or we have a story of someone who's very close to us.

And we saw where natural medicine made a big difference or traditional medicine wasn't helping.

You know,

So for me,

I grew up just very sickly.

So I had severe allergies,

Severe asthma.

I was in and out of the hospital and oxygen tense because I couldn't breathe.

I couldn't even walk outside,

Like if they were mowing the lawn or cutting the grass.

I grew up in New York.

You know,

It would just send me – Probably pollution too was a big impact.

Actually,

I think Phoenix is more polluted.

Really?

Yeah.

I grew up on the ocean.

Oh,

Okay.

Yeah.

You had that filtration.

But I just was very sick.

I was depressed.

I was headaches,

Overweight,

Allergies,

Asthma.

I just never felt good.

And you know,

I grew up in a dysfunctional home like most of us did.

And so,

You know,

When I was 12,

Almost 13,

I decided,

You know,

That drugs and alcohol would probably be the answer for me.

So I spent my whole entire teenage years just in a drunken,

Doped up,

You know,

From LSD to cocaine.

You know,

I just ran the gamut of it.

I,

You know,

I jumped in.

I was like,

If I'm going to do this,

I'm going to be an A-plus addict.

And so,

You know,

I was sick.

I was addicted.

I was not present in my life at all.

And then I ended up getting married young.

I was probably like 18 or 19.

And I got pregnant very soon after we got married.

And that was kind of like a wake-up call for me.

Like even though I was,

You know,

Out there doing all sorts of crazy things,

I was like,

All right,

Now I have like a child and I can't be doing this and I better straighten up my act.

And it just so happened.

And I think the universe works like this frequently where like you meet the right person at the right time.

You know,

They say if the student is ready,

The teacher appears.

And so my husband at the time and I had moved upstate and my neighbor was very into alternative healing and her brother was a colon hydrotherapist.

And so they were very into like cleansing and proper diet and organic.

And they just started sharing it with me and it was like,

Oh,

That makes so much sense.

And,

You know,

I was worried.

Like I was like,

I don't want my baby to be sick like I was.

And so it was just one of those things that I just,

It just like made so much sense.

It was like,

Ah.

And someone asked me earlier today,

They were like,

Did you always want to be a doctor?

And I was like,

No,

I wasn't like I had a childhood dream of being a doctor.

I never actually thought about it until like this moment when I met her and I was learning about all this.

And so I just became very passionate about it.

At the time I was married,

I was a stay at home mom.

I had another baby like 20 months after I had my first baby.

And then I got divorced like when my second.

So I had like a 10 month old and like two and a half year old,

And now I'm divorced and I'm 23 or 24.

I have no college education.

My ex-husband is a deadbeat.

I know he's never going to do anything and support us.

And I'm like,

What am I going to do?

And I was like,

Well,

I could go back and be a secretary because that's like what I had been doing.

But I was like,

You know,

I don't want to be a secretary.

I want to like,

I want to be in my passion.

And I'm like,

All I was doing was like reading nutrition books.

I was just so into it.

I was like,

I want to do this.

And my friend at the time was like,

I,

At the time I was living in Buffalo,

Which is upstate New York.

And my friend was like,

I've heard in Canada there's some kind of doctor who does like holistic stuff.

And I was like,

Well,

We should go see him.

So we packed the kids in the car and we drove across the border and we went to see this naturopathic doctor.

And I don't really remember much about the visit,

But I remember walking out and standing in the parking lot and saying,

I'm going to do what he does.

And it just became,

That was the moment I was like,

What he does is so cool.

And that's what I want to do.

And like,

I had no idea at the time that like you needed an undergraduate degree or anything.

So it took me about 10 years from that moment where I proclaimed it and I just kept saying it.

It was like,

Nothing could stop me.

Like,

Oh,

You know,

You need a four-year graduate degree.

All right,

Well,

I'm going to be a naturopathic doctor.

I'm going to figure it out.

You know,

You're a single mother with two kids.

I'm going to be a naturopathic doctor.

And I really believe our words are very powerful and we have to be very attentive to what we say because we do really create or discreat what's going on.

And I just kept saying,

I'm going to be a naturopathic doctor.

I'm going to be a naturopathic doctor.

This is what I want to do.

This is my passion.

You know,

I would do this just for free.

If I was,

You know,

Independently wealthy,

I would still want to learn about all this.

And so I just got – That's the mark when you know it's something true to your heart.

Exactly.

You do it for free.

And so I just got on my journey and,

You know,

I did it.

No,

That's great.

I love hearing those stories.

I think all of us have something inside of us that we can convert into a gift based on our experiences,

Our traumas,

Our,

You know,

Whatever passions,

Things like that.

And I always love hearing those stories.

Yeah.

And I do,

You know,

I always say,

Because it's like,

I talk – like when I talk about patients because I look at like constitutions because,

You know,

Why are six people in a room and like maybe there's a toxic exposure,

But only like,

You know,

One gets really sick,

One gets a little sick,

Two or five – like why do we have different experiences when exposed to the same thing?

And part of that is because we have different constitutions.

And so you can look at it a lot of different ways.

Like in Ayurveda,

We have vata and pitta and kapha.

In traditional Chinese medicine,

We have like the wood element and fire element and water element.

And so it's different makeups in homeopathy.

We have different constitutions.

And I think part of that is also like what we're born with as far as like what we can handle.

And so I use the example – Like gene,

Like genetic stuff?

I mean,

You know,

Our genes we are born with,

But with epigenetics,

It's like we can,

You know,

What's the saying?

Like your genes load the gun,

But epigenetics pulls the trigger.

So we can actually – That's cool.

I haven't heard that one yet,

But yeah,

That's good.

You know,

We can actually change how our genes are expressed.

But I feel like we all are born,

And I use like the analogy of like a backpack.

And so for me,

I was born with like a very little backpack.

So if I'm stressed or I'm exposed to toxins or I'm not eating the right diet,

Or I'm not exercising,

Like my backpack doesn't have a lot of room and it starts to overflow.

And when it overflows,

There's symptoms.

Someone who's born with a very large backpack,

And I think of like the 120-year-old grandmother who's like rocking on her porch,

Smoking her cigarettes and chugging her whiskey.

And she's like never been sick a day in her life.

She's got like this ginormous backpack and,

You know,

She could just do anything,

But she's got this strong constitution.

And so I thought of that because you said like a gift.

And so I kind of think of it like,

Yes,

I,

You know,

I was very sick and,

You know,

Still to this day,

I have to really watch myself.

You know,

I have this tiny backpack,

But it is a gift and it's helped me to really live a healthy life where if I would have had like a large backpack.

You might have not discovered.

Exactly.

That's interesting.

I love that.

Well,

You brought up the constitutions.

I think that's really interesting because you're right in that,

You know,

There's this idea that we have the same exposure,

But not the same results.

So how do people go about,

What are some good ways,

I guess the thing that comes in my mind is how can people start to investigate or start to paint a picture of that backpack?

Because in some sense,

I think the backpack is actually a great metaphor and I'll tell you why.

Maybe you already have this in part of it,

But you like a backpack is on your back.

So imagine that you can't really see it.

So you don't know the size,

Right?

So my point is like,

We all have a backpack,

But we don't know the size of that backpack and we can kind of feel,

But until we can kind of get some clear,

You know,

Like for example,

Taking a food sensitivity test that tells you,

Okay,

Like if you have a lot of food sensitivities that starts to paint a picture of what kind of food can go in your backpack,

So to speak.

So let me interrupt you for a second because I,

And I do do food sensitivity testing and there it's an important piece,

Which is different than like,

If you go to a traditional MD,

They do like the scratch test on you.

And pricks and stuff.

Exactly.

And what they're looking for are only like IGE mediated reactions.

And that's the part of the immune system where like you eat a strawberry and the next thing you're like an anaphylaxis,

You can't breathe or your eyes are blowing up.

Like extreme situations.

Yeah.

Like you probably know,

You know,

If you're an adult,

If you have like an IGE reaction to something because you're probably carrying an EpiPen,

There's probably been an issue and you're aware of it.

But food sensitivity tests are actually checking IGG mediated.

So these are delayed reactions in the immune system.

They can occur like up to 72 hours after ingesting a food.

Wow.

Okay.

And so it's really hard to know,

Like you can eat eggs on Monday and you can have a migraine on Wednesday from the eggs you ate on Monday.

And like there's no way our human brain is really going to put that together.

We're kind of like,

You know,

If we eat eggs for lunch on Monday and then two hours later we have a migraine,

We're like,

Oh,

It's probably from the eggs I ate.

The timeframe is short enough to where you can see the relationship.

But that's not always the case.

But when you do food sensitivity testing,

It's really important that you know the integrity of your gut before you do that.

Because sometimes like patients will come in and they've had food sensitivity testing done and they're allergic to like 75 things.

You know,

They tested for like 150 and they're allergic to half of them.

And that doesn't necessarily mean you're like sensitive to all of them.

It probably means that your gut is leaky.

And so the gut is,

You know,

Even though it's inside like our body,

It's really outside.

So like from our mouth to our anus,

This tube,

This gastrointestinal tract is really,

You know,

Secure.

And the food that we eat like passes through it,

But it shouldn't have contact with the rest of the body.

And what happens is when that tube becomes leaky,

When there are gaps,

Then foreign proteins from these foods can escape into the rest of the system.

And that's when they cause immune complexes and they cause all sorts of issues.

So if you have a leaky gut,

You will show up with a lot of food sensitivities.

So a lot of people have that these days.

It's becoming a growing problem.

It is an issue.

And so the take home message from that is like,

If you're working with a doctor who wants to do food sensitivity testing on you,

Like make sure they've checked your gut first and make sure your gut is not leaky.

So that way,

When you do the food sensitivity test,

Like you get more accurate results.

And yes,

The gut is leaky in a lot of people and it's because of over antibiotic use.

How do people find out if they have leaky gut or what are some of the ways that they would?

I do stool testing,

Like specific testing.

So like you can go to your regular gastroenterologist,

But the kind of stool testing they do is very like basic.

They're going to look for like some certain bacteria.

They're going to look for blood in your stool,

But the kind of labs I use are like alternative medicine labs.

And so we look in depth at,

For parasites and for different inflammatory markers.

And we look at the microbiome to see the good bacteria,

The bad bacteria.

And so there are tests we can look at zonulin,

Which will elevate in a leaky gut situation.

So I test through the stool.

I think that's a really good accurate way right now.

You can also test through the urine.

I used to do a lot of urine testing where you do lactolose and mannitol.

These are like sugars that shouldn't pass through.

And so you can check in the urine if the gut is leaky,

You'll see them there.

Oh,

Interesting.

So,

But all these,

Like I think if you went to like your traditional MD and said like,

I want to be tested for leaky gut,

They'd like look at you like you were nuts.

Yeah.

It's not recognized as a problem that you can throw a prescription at.

So.

Exactly.

If there's not a drug to fix it,

It doesn't exist.

I was just talking to a friend yesterday that they,

I think they recently discovered a new neuron.

Well,

It's not new,

It's been there,

But a neuron that literally connects the brain and the gut.

Like,

We all knew that there was some signals,

Obviously the most of the serotonin is producing the gut and these kind of things.

But apparently they discovered a structural connection,

Like neurological connection between your brain and your stomach.

Yeah,

We are really,

Really connected.

You know,

The gut,

We call it like the second brain.

And just like you,

I mean,

Serotonin is produced there,

Like our immune system,

Like 75% of our immune system lays in the gut.

And so the gut is crucial to everything.

So like,

I have patients that come and see me and maybe they have like rheumatoid arthritis,

Or maybe they have breast cancer or colon cancer.

And I'm like,

We got to do a stool test.

And they're like,

Why?

You know,

I poop every day.

Why do you need?

And it's like,

Well,

No,

It's all interconnected and we need to see what your immune system is going because the gut is always involved and the gut needs to be healed.

And now,

You know,

With the microbiome studies,

I mean,

They're just finding the back.

So if you think about it,

The bacteria in our gut outnumbers the amount of human cells we have.

So like,

We're really big bags of bacteria walking around with like a little human.

So it's kind of weird when you think of that,

If that's really,

You know,

What's going on.

What,

Why do you think,

I mean,

To me,

I think alternative medicine,

Because I've been in that world,

I mean,

Not as a practitioner,

Obviously,

But I,

You know,

I've done all kinds of different tests and worked with naturopaths and things like that for a while.

And for me,

It has a lot of value.

But why do you think that this type of approach to medicine,

It's a lot more integrative.

It's a lot more big picture,

Looking at the relationships between things.

Why do you think that that is?

I think it's the future,

But why particularly do you think it's important today in today's culture and today's world and in our,

In our advanced technology and all the new problems that we have that challenge it?

We were just talking off air about Wi-Fi,

Aura ring going through your body.

Like people 100 years ago,

Didn't have to deal with half of this stuff.

So I think we're dealing with so many new challenges to our health that,

That having an integrative approach is so much more important than just the standard chip chop,

Here's the pill and that's it.

And if you think about it back,

Like when antibiotics were discovered,

You know,

It was like this amazing thing,

You know,

People didn't have the sanitary conditions and like,

So it was this big thing and it just got like blown out of proportion.

And you know,

There is a time and a place for everything.

And so,

You know,

Once in a while a medication may be appropriate.

You know,

It needs to be looked at individually.

I mean,

I can tell you,

I've been practicing for almost 20 years and I've written two pharmaceutical prescriptions in my whole career.

One was for a lung cancer patient that I was treating and she came down with pneumonia and often cancer patients will die because of pneumonia.

And I was like,

You know what,

We've never used drugs with you.

You're really ill right now.

Like let's just give you an antibiotic and it saved her life.

Yeah.

And the other time was for a cranky patient I had and she was flying and she had a sinus infection and she just wanted a quick fix.

And it was,

I just something that's short term,

Basically.

Which I'm not really about quick fixes,

But she was very adamant and I was just like,

Fine.

So,

You know,

And other than that,

And I have treated,

You know,

Everything from end stage cancer,

Autoimmune disease,

Acute pneumonias,

Illnesses,

Like,

You know,

It's not like I'm just treating like,

Oh,

Some little minor allergies.

So if you know what you're doing,

You know,

It's possible to treat the body holistically.

If you don't know what you're doing,

You know,

You can be misled.

Like if someone takes an herbal class online and then they think,

You know,

You could be dangerous.

So you really need to work with like a doctor like me who's gone through an accredited program and really understands,

You know,

The body and how it works.

And so to answer your question,

You know,

Why is this important today?

Because we are,

I mean,

I forget the exact number,

But it's like,

You know,

An umbilical cord for a baby has like,

Is it like 1300 or chemicals in it?

It's like the exposure that we are getting.

Like I used to say,

You know,

Let's find out if you're toxic.

Now it's like,

Let's find out how toxic you are.

Like we're all toxic,

You know,

Glyphosate and Monsanto and Roundup and the pesticides that are sprayed.

That's crazy.

So it's like,

So we're living in a toxic environment and we're also living in a very stressed environment.

So it's just go,

Go,

Go,

Go,

Go.

Like,

You know,

Even back in the 50s or the 60s,

It was like a slower pace and people had family dinners and they had.

.

.

They had Facebook notifications.

And it's Sunday outings and like,

You know,

The cell phone,

It's like a double-edged sword.

There's a lot of good that comes with it and it's nice to be connected and there's a lot of conveniences,

But it also like people are just staring at their phones.

I know our necks,

Like we're going to like evolutionary,

We're going to like be,

No one can see me,

But I'm like bending my neck forward.

Like our necks are going to change.

So we're in like cell phone position because,

You know,

You just look around outside and everyone is on their cell phone and I'm human too.

So it's like something I have to like consciously be aware of.

Like I'll leave my phone in the car.

We have apps now to turn our social media off and lock you out of your phone on purpose.

Exactly.

And so,

You know,

We're connected,

But we're disconnected.

You know,

Being connected on social media is a source of connection and like,

Hey,

I wouldn't be like,

You wouldn't be listening to me right now if you weren't like listening to your podcast.

And so there's a lot of benefits from it,

But it's really about like finding the balance.

And so people really,

To heal,

They need to like be addressed as a whole being because it's not just about the physical body.

And so that's where the E.

I was just going to say,

Yeah,

There's two other ones.

The E in red is about exploring your spirit because it's not just about the physical body.

It really is the mind and the body.

And I find that a lot of people either like live in the mind camp or they live in the body camp.

So like you'll find people,

Whether they're practitioners or they're,

You know,

Patients seeking help,

They're like really into the mind.

So they're like,

Well,

I spiritual and I meditate and I do yoga,

You know,

And then they're like eating M&Ms and smoking cigarettes.

And then you find people on the other hand who are like,

Oh my God,

I don't even drive by a McDonald's,

You know,

It's evil.

I go around the corner just to make sure I don't have to pass it.

And,

You know,

And so they eat a very pristine diet and they hydrate and they're all buff and at the gym,

But they're like walking around pissed off and they're angry and they haven't resolved childhood issues and traumas.

And so like,

Neither is good.

You know,

It's the combination of reinventing your physical body of paying attention because I believe we're all spiritual beings having a human experience.

And so the human experience is housed in the body,

In the vessel that we've been giving.

And so we do need to take care of it.

And I feel like,

You know,

If you don't take care of it,

It's hard to really enjoy your spirituality.

Like if you have chronic headaches or chronic back pain or you're chronically ill or fatigued,

It's like,

How could you enjoy,

You know,

Your meditation or,

You know,

Being,

You know,

Exploring that aspects of yourself?

Because like you have this physical pain that keeps reminding you.

And so it's really important to,

And it's not enough to just like have a great body and feel good and not get sick.

You have insecurities,

You're constantly complaining or,

You know,

Self-worth,

Whatever,

Right?

Exactly.

So it's really about your health,

You know,

Reinventing your health,

Exploring your spirit.

And then when you get to the deep,

It's like discovering your passion because I believe,

Like I was saying before,

Like I was so passionate about health and I believe everyone has a passion and it can be anything.

You know,

It could be a career,

It could be your garden,

It could be baking,

It could be volunteering,

It could be animals,

It could be reading,

It could be so like whatever it is,

Like everyone has like a passion,

A gift that they were meant to give and share with the world.

And I feel like it's a lot easier to find that if you've kind of like cleared through.

But,

You know,

I think about like the chakras.

And so like you think about the root chakra,

Which is all about survival and security.

And as we go up the body,

You know,

So as we're heading up the body to the navel and,

You know,

We're getting more into like self-esteem and sexuality and creativity.

And so like these first three chakras,

Like the root chakra and the sacral chakra,

Your solar plexus chakra,

You know,

These are all about like survival.

Do you have a house?

Do you have a job?

Do you have money?

Do you have food on the table?

Are you creative?

Are you sexual?

Do you feel good about yourself?

Can you stand in your power?

And it's like once we get past those,

Then we start going into like the heart and the voice and giving words to our truth and our passions and,

You know,

Our third eye and seeing and spirituality and the crown chakra,

Like being connected.

And it's like,

I feel like there's a reason why we have to get like those material things in the lower chakras handled.

There's an order in which they have to happen.

Yeah.

And so it's kind of like,

That's like my red is like,

You know,

You got to reinvent your health,

Like handle your lower chakra stuff,

Get your body in order,

You know,

Explore your spirit,

You know,

Get your anger and your emotions and get clear in that.

And then you get to like ascend and discover and have fun and play because ultimately,

Like we're all here to enjoy the human experience and to,

You know,

Try it on and play and see what it's all about.

And so that's kind of where those words came up.

It's kind of like,

You know,

To reinvent,

To explore because there's so much to explore.

And I feel like the emotions are kind of like a layer.

And so we're kind of always exploring and seeing what's going on.

And,

You know,

Sometimes we think,

Oh yeah,

This is where I'm at,

You know,

I'm not angry.

And then it's like,

Oh,

Let's peel that layer back a little and you find all this anger that's living there.

And our emotions are intimately connected with our organs.

So like from Chinese medicine perspective,

Like anger is stored in the liver and the kidneys house fear and the lungs house grief.

And so,

And it's kind of like,

It could be inverse,

You know,

It could go either way.

So like you can have asthma and a problem breathing,

You know,

And then it's going to affect your lungs and your grief and it can make you really sad.

Or you can like have a death and have a lot of grief and then all of a sudden you start having lung issues.

And so.

.

.

Do you see like in your patients,

For example,

For somebody who has some physical symptoms and then have you experienced like where you treat the emotion behind it and suddenly those physical symptoms go away?

All the time.

All the time.

All the time.

Yeah.

I'm always like,

I had a patient the other day who said she was having problems sleeping.

And I said,

So what time are you like waking up at the same time every night?

And she said,

Yeah,

I'm waking up at 4am every day.

And I was like,

Well,

4am,

That's the time of the lung energy because each organ has like a time period.

Based on like a circadian rhythm?

Yeah.

It's called the cycle of tides.

And so each organ,

So the lungs are from 3 to 5,

Like 1 to 3am is liver energy.

A lot of people wake up in that area,

But she was waking up at 4.

And so like the first thing I said,

Well,

Well,

That's lungs.

You know,

Lungs are about grief.

You know,

What's going on?

And she was like,

Oh,

You know,

My daughter just came out to me and told me she's gay and I'm kind of processing that.

I'm grieving what I thought her future was going to be.

And I was like,

So it was like,

Okay,

We don't need to like give you a sleeping pill.

Our session,

You know,

We talked about that.

That's crazy.

See,

In a normal situation,

Like normal,

Like being,

Let's say a regular doctor,

They probably would have just prescribed him a sleeping medication.

Ambien.

Yeah,

Ambien,

Right?

You're ambien.

You know,

We're never ambien deficient or Tylenol deficient or,

You know,

We can be nutrient deficient.

And so,

You know,

That's why I kind of like toggled the R and the E because I can see a patient who has like chronic fatigue syndrome.

And so,

Actually I can tell you a story about me.

So,

When I was a young mother and I was doing my undergraduate,

This was after I proclaimed I was going to be a naturopathic doctor.

So,

I,

You know,

Had my kids and it was just a really crazy time.

Like,

My kids were going to like a Montessori preschool and I was at the university and I was doing my massage practice to put food on the table for us.

And it was like very stressful and I wasn't getting to see my children.

And I had gone from being a stay-at-home mom to now all of a sudden I'm never seeing my kids.

And so,

I ended up with chronic fatigue and I was on the couch and I was,

You know,

Taking the right herbs and doing the right green drink,

But like I wasn't getting better.

And one day I was just lying there and it like just kind of like,

Bam,

It hit me.

It was like,

I'm really sad.

Like,

You know,

And if I was home in bed,

Like I got to see my kids more because I was there.

I wasn't running around.

And I was like,

I'm really sad.

Like,

I'm never getting to see my kids.

Like,

We wake up,

They go off to school.

I have someone babysitting them so I can go do massages.

Then I'm at class.

And I was like,

This is not working for me.

And so,

Like,

While I was lying there in my sick bed,

I was like,

I'm going to homeschool my kids.

I'm going to go to night class.

Like,

I created this whole other outside the box,

What I can do.

And it was like,

Voila,

Guess who didn't have chronic fatigue anymore.

It was like,

And so that really showed me like,

Wow,

There's a lot to this.

So,

You know,

I see it with patients all the time.

It's like,

You know,

Patient comes in and they're chronically ill and it's like,

Well,

Are you really like,

Maybe you are zinc deficient and that's going to be the magic thing.

Or do you hate your job?

Do you hate your relationship?

Do you hate yourself?

Like what's going on?

And often it's a combination of things,

But sometimes it's like one thing.

It's like,

You know,

You need to leave that job.

And then all of a sudden,

Like the illness is not really there.

In some sense,

I mean,

It's almost hard to draw a line between the physical and emotional because,

For example,

Let's say you're at a job that you hate or you have negative thoughts about something that's causing you a stress reaction.

That has a biological,

Physiological cascade of hormones that goes on,

Which drains your minerals in your body.

And,

You know,

So it's like- Exactly.

They happen,

I would almost say that it's like they happen simultaneously.

They arise mutually.

The physical and emotional problems,

It's like they cause each other in a sense,

You know?

Like- Yeah.

It really- It's hard to draw the line.

It really is hard to draw,

You know.

It is.

And I mean,

I think like in a,

Like ultimately I think like everything kind of starts out here.

Well,

I'm like,

You guys can't see me,

But I'm raising my hands above my body.

But it's like,

It starts out in the outer energy and it kind of comes into more physical.

And so I- What do you mean by outer energy?

You know,

More like in our spiritual energy.

And so I do think that illness is more like a result of we are out of alignment.

We're not on our path.

We're not on our purpose.

Yeah,

For sure.

And then it's like,

It ends up in our physical body.

But I don't think that we're all,

Like you have to have a really strong belief in the mind.

And I think,

You know,

If you don't believe it,

It's not going to happen.

So working with the physical body and the emotional body is really the way I see like for typical human beings like you and me,

That we can really heal.

And,

You know,

You do need to feed the body properly.

Like if you,

You know,

The other night,

It was last week,

I went to see the Dave Matthews Band out here in Phoenix.

And we got home late.

It was like a quarter to one.

And like the next day,

I was so tired.

You know,

I'm usually sleeping by like 10 o'clock.

And I was like,

I felt it the next day.

I was cranky.

My brain was fuzzy.

Like I had to take a nap.

And like,

I was like,

You know,

So many people walk around and they're sleep deprived.

And then they don't feel good or they're,

You know,

Their emotions are off.

And then they go to the doctor and the doctor's like,

Oh,

Here,

Take an antidepressant.

But like,

We need to look at why.

So like to me,

The foundations and that's like what I talk about in my red deck is like,

You know,

Eating a healthy diet.

Like I think we can all agree that like,

You know,

Food intimately affects us.

And so like,

I write on my card,

Like,

Would you rather be a juicy red apple or a greasy bag of chips?

And just,

You know,

Think about it.

Like- That's true,

Though.

They all have a vibration,

Right?

Exactly.

You're putting that in your body.

And how do you feel after you eat an apple?

And how do you feel after you eat a bag of greasy chips?

Like you feel more sluggish.

Like it really does affect us.

So,

You know,

Feeding our body properly is so important.

Making sure we're hydrated.

You know,

Some of the things that I teach are like,

You know,

It's not rocket science.

It's not like I've gone out and discovered this amazing thing.

It's just reminding you of like the basics.

And like,

If you go to a traditional doctor and say you have like type two diabetes,

You know,

They'll say you need to eat right and exercise.

And that's it.

But like,

I like to really delve in like,

What is eating right look for like for you?

And that's different for everybody too,

Because of all of our genes and food sensitivities.

Exactly.

Blood type.

Blood type,

Right.

You know,

Time of the season.

Like,

Certainly if you live in a place where it gets very cold,

Like you shouldn't be eating raw smoothies and raw salads when it's like 10 below out.

Just like here in Phoenix,

You know,

When it's 180,

000 degrees,

Probably good to eat like lighter,

You know,

Cooling foods rather than like,

You're not going to sit down and like make a big beef stew.

So we really need to eat according to the seasons.

From an Ayurvedic perspective,

Like our Agni,

Which is our digestive fire is strongest in the middle of the day.

And so a great tip for all of you listening is like,

Eat your largest meal in the middle of the day for lunch and then eat lighter for dinner.

And that alone can help with digestion,

It can help with weight loss,

It can help with sleep.

You shouldn't eat food like three hours before you go to bed.

For those of you that like eat then go to bed,

You probably don't sleep as well.

You may have acid reflux,

But even just your sleep will be disturbed because when we're sleeping,

We should really go into parasympathetic mode.

And the part of that that's about resting and repairing and regenerating,

Not the part that's about digesting.

Digesting.

You know,

That's been such,

It's so funny,

Like,

It's such a well-timed conversation.

I have had so many digestive issues in the last year and a half,

And it's been slowly putting the puzzle pieces together with,

You know,

Stool tests and all kinds of stuff.

But one of the things anyway that I have done now for quite a few months is the intermittent fasting.

It's basically not,

I don't eat after,

Like you said,

Three or at least four hours before you go to bed.

So,

And I noticed a huge difference in my sleep.

Like,

I don't wake up anymore to basically go to the bathroom or just wake up randomly,

You know,

Because it seems to be much heavier.

But I used to love eating and going to bed.

It was the worst thing.

And,

You know,

Especially if you go out with your friends and you're like,

Yeah,

Let's go get some Mexican food.

You get like the heaviest thing possible.

And I did that for years because,

You know,

As a professional athlete,

Whatever,

I could get away with,

I'm in relatively good shape,

You know.

So,

I think we kind of take our bodies for granted.

You don't have to be a professional athlete because even,

You know,

As you grow and you start learning about these things,

You're like,

Wow,

I made so many mistakes when I was younger,

You know,

Like,

Because you didn't respect alignment.

I think that's why I want to get to is you brought up this word of alignment.

I love alignment because I'm always talking about alignment,

Especially from my background in movement.

And one thing that's been a big lesson in my life is to learn to respect alignment,

The alignment of things.

You know,

There's an ancient principle of Wu Wei in the Asian tradition,

Which is basically the art of effortless action,

Which is like you take action when the alignment is proper rather than,

You know,

We live in a culture and this all ties in,

But we live in a culture of action,

Action,

Action,

Just push through willpower,

More energy,

More masculine power.

And it doesn't,

We don't like when you said about timing your meals,

Like,

Okay,

The digestive,

You know,

Circadian rhythm,

The fire is highest in the middle of the day.

So,

That's when it's aligned for you to throw that big meal at it.

If you throw a big meal at it,

A big meal two hours before you go to bed,

You're not aligned to digest it.

So,

You're just creating resistance.

You know,

When you're exercising,

If you're doing something out of proper alignment,

And like we've seen these videos on the gym fail videos where they're doing all kinds of stuff,

You know,

We laugh at it,

But it's like,

They're about to,

We laugh because it's like,

Oh my God,

They're going to injure themselves.

And that's the point.

Like,

If you don't respect alignment with your health,

Right,

With all these different things,

You know,

You're going to create resistance,

Which I think is the disease.

You know,

We experience the resistance as disease when something's out of alignment.

Yeah,

It's a beautiful way of saying it.

Absolutely.

Would you say,

You know,

With your patient,

We have that third component,

Which is the spiritual component,

And I think it's equally as important because when you find a purpose,

When you find something that lights you up on fire,

I think that that has a lot of benefits for your health too,

No?

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

You know,

Some of the things I ask my patients,

Especially like the ones who have real serious chronic disease,

You know,

Do you have a strong spiritual faith?

And I don't really care what it is.

You know,

It could be you go to church,

You go to synagogue,

It could be that you,

You know,

You pray to the moon and the stars,

But like,

Do you have a belief in a higher power?

Is there something that you connect to that's greater than you?

And when they answer yes,

I always see a better outcome.

You know,

And I also ask them,

Like,

Are you,

You know,

Are you in your joy?

Are you living your joy?

Are you in,

You know,

Do you feel like you're living your gifts and your passion?

What's your why?

What's your purpose?

And again,

That can be anything from,

You know,

Changing the world to,

You know,

My why is,

You know,

My children and my husband or whatever,

You know,

We all have different whys and they're all equally important.

But when you have,

Like,

Your why and your passion and you have a connection,

I always see patients have better results.

Do you find,

Do you find that people have certain obstacles?

Like,

What do you,

Today's world,

Like,

I find,

For example,

That with all this technology and stuff that we are experiencing,

It is giving us two diverging paths.

And one of those,

One of those paths is,

Oh my gosh,

You can create so much,

You can,

You know,

Spread your word out there and get,

You know,

Get your gifts out into the world through this technology.

The other side of it is,

Oh my gosh,

There's so much stuff to watch,

Netflix and,

You know,

Whatever else,

You know.

So,

We are polarizing,

I feel,

Into this,

You know,

At the beginning of this episode,

We talked about,

Like,

Culture and creating us,

Culture creating us,

Basically,

Right?

Which is this idea now,

Which is that you're diverging paths of either you're a creator and you're expressing yourself,

You're finding your purpose or you're just getting distracted so easily by so much stuff.

So,

What do you find are,

Like,

Obstacles to people finding their passion or acting on their purpose?

In your own experience with the people you worked with,

Is it more self-doubt?

Is it distraction?

Is it fear?

Like,

What do you find is kind of.

.

.

A,

B and C.

Definitely,

You know,

I think that distractions,

I think lack of,

You know,

I'm really big in meditation and I teach meditation and I feel like meditation is some of the best medicine we have out there.

I also think dance is some of the best.

What kind of meditation?

So,

I'm trained to teach MBSR,

Which is mindfulness-based stress reduction,

Which is based on the work of Jon Kabat-Zinn out of UMass.

And so,

To me,

It's like,

Because my own private personal practice has always been in Zen meditation.

Oh,

Cool.

And I feel like MBSR mindfulness is kind of bringing Zen to the masses,

Which I think it's very powerful.

And,

You know,

Mindfulness is just paying attention,

You know,

Moment by moment,

On purpose without judging yourself.

And I think we are very out of the moment,

Not mindful.

And so,

We're distracted.

And so,

It's not something that society,

Like society gives value to,

Like you were saying before,

You know,

We're so busy.

And yes,

Like people think,

Oh,

I sleep only four nights,

You know,

I'm amazing.

You know,

Where's my gold star?

Like,

We kind of like give credit to people like,

Oh,

You work 80 hours a week?

Wow,

You're awesome.

Yeah,

Competition for who's more stressed out.

It's like we've lost,

You know,

What success really is and how we define it.

And it's not being so busy and not taking care of yourself.

So,

I feel like a meditation practice is like this opportunity to really check in and see what's going on because no one's going to really say,

Hey,

Tutor,

You know,

What's your life about?

You know,

Have you stopped and,

You know,

Created a space?

Like,

That's not part of our society.

We don't teach it to our- That's not part of our standard conversation.

Yeah.

And we don't teach it to our children.

Like in school,

I feel like we should,

You know,

We should be teaching how to be mindful,

How to discover your gifts,

How to feel good about yourself,

How to be in touch with like your own rhythms and what works for you and knowing when you're stressed and knowing how to,

You know,

Handle your stress and what kind of stress reduction practices you're going to have.

But,

You know,

We don't teach any of that.

Wouldn't it be amazing if kids,

I just thought now like if kids learned about all of this stuff that we're talking about today,

Like with whatever gut flora and balancing your emotions like- If I open up the Dr.

Still's Elementary School,

That is what they would learn about.

But,

You know,

So people are really distracted and it's not even,

You know,

I often think like,

Like I live my bucket list.

Like,

You know,

I know what I want to do and I know that life is precious and we never know when it's going to end.

And I just like go for it.

And like when I want to do something,

But no one makes it happen for me.

Like I decided I wanted to climb Kilimanjaro.

No one like came along or,

You know,

It was like I had to like carve out the space.

Like this is something that's important to me and I have to do it.

But I think a lot of us are distracted and we're too busy.

And if you really start to piece it down,

So a lot of what I do with patience is really like dissecting your lifestyle and like utilizing even like a calendar.

Because what's a common thing,

Like people would be like,

Oh,

I'm too busy to work out.

But like working out,

You know,

An hour,

You know,

But how long did you spend scrolling on Facebook today?

And so we have to like relook at what we're doing or,

You know,

How many hours of TV are you watching?

And so are you really too busy or are you just not making good choices for yourself?

And so distraction,

You know,

The social media and like I love social media,

But it really should be limited and used for,

You know,

When you find yourself just scrolling or you're like,

You know,

10 pages deep in like your ex-boyfriend's cousin's sister's wedding,

You know,

And you're like stalking out of control.

Like,

You know,

That's not a good use of your time.

But if you're on social media and you're watching like an informative,

You know,

Facebook live or like you get to see,

Like I love it.

I see,

You know,

My friends who live across the country and I can see their kids and just kind of keep track.

Like it's beautiful for that too.

But when it gets out of control and no one's going to be there except for you.

And,

You know,

Meditation is a way to like really start to have an internal dialogue with yourself and to really get to know yourself.

And so I think that's really important.

I think also,

You know,

Our society,

Like the 9 to 5 lifestyle,

Like I always joke,

Like if I run for president,

Like my first platform is going to be like doing away with the 9 to 5 Monday through Friday.

Like we should have weekends that are five days long and maybe work two days.

It's just not healthy.

Like you get up at six,

You get showered,

You know,

You're out the door,

You're in traffic,

Stress,

Stress,

Stress.

You're at your job all day.

You come home,

You got to grab the kids,

You got to make like it is not a healthy.

They said that actually,

I think when they studied the actual amount of work that the average office person does in 40 hours,

It was something like eight hours.

Exactly.

Because everyone's on.

It's totally unproductive.

So that's why I like my,

You know,

Two hour,

Two day work week and five day weekend.

And so,

You know,

Because productivity,

Exactly.

Like if you're really focused,

You can knock it all out.

So I think,

You know,

Being creative with what you're doing and,

You know,

If you're in a situation where that's what you're doing,

You know,

Trying to figure out ways,

You know,

Can you work from home?

Can you?

Because that is a very unhealthy situation that we've created for people and it's harder to take care of yourself.

But I can tell you when there's a will,

There's a way.

So when I was in medical school,

I was a single mother.

I had two boys.

They were like eight and ten at the time.

And I,

You know,

Was unwilling to not take care of myself.

I had to take care of myself.

I had to raise these two kids and get through medical school.

And I kind of looked at like,

What were my non-negotiables?

And so like for me,

It was meditation.

And I just like hit the jackpot.

This Zen monk lived around the corner for me and had like a Zen doe in his backyard where he did meditation and chanting and tea.

And so I would go out at like 4.

30 in the morning and I would go around the corner and I would meditate.

And they would meditate for a couple hours,

But I didn't have that kind of time.

But I'd stay for like the chanting and one of the sits.

So I got in my meditation.

Then I would come home.

The other thing that was non-negotiable for me was exercise.

If I don't get aerobic exercise,

I get depressed.

I'm a blood type O.

Blood type O,

We need to move our bodies.

We need to be physical.

And so then I would hit the gym just a half hour,

But enough to get up a sweat and get on the stair stepper or the bicycle.

And those were like my two non-negotiables.

And the third non-negotiable was sleep.

And so you're like,

You're getting up at 4.

30 in the morning.

I'm like,

Yeah.

And I was going to bed at 8.

30 at night.

So like by 7.

30,

It was like,

All right,

I've got an hour left.

We're going to wind down,

You know,

And you just start to triage.

Okay.

I guess I'm not,

You know,

Back then we didn't have like email and all these other things,

But it was like,

You know,

Okay,

I guess the laundry is going to have to wait or,

You know,

The dishes are going to,

You know,

Let them soak in the sink.

And that was like non-negotiable.

So I got my eight hours sleep.

I got my meditation.

I got my aerobic exercise.

And that was what I did.

And so you can get in some bare minimums,

Even if you live like a really busy,

You know,

You have a nine to five job and you have kids,

You just have to think about,

You know,

How you're going to do that and be creative.

Like if you're driving,

You know,

To work,

Use that as a period of,

You know,

Not to just put on the news or to put on some loud music,

But,

You know,

Can you listen to an uplifting book on tape or can you,

You know,

Can you listen to positive affirmations?

So can you utilize your time a little better to feed your soul,

To feed your body?

No,

I love it.

I mean,

It's so true about utilizing the time because ultimately we all have 24 hours in the day,

Right?

I was thinking about just in my own life,

Actually recently I had this thought like literally yesterday.

I don't remember what got me on it,

But I was thinking about how much my life has changed in the last like 10 years,

Let's say as an example.

I look at my life 10 years ago where I am now,

I'm like,

God,

I'm like,

My amount of time hasn't changed.

Like I still get 24 hours,

But I'm like what I know and what I can do and just how I'm utilizing my time and then,

You know,

10 years from now it's going to be a totally different story hopefully.

But so,

You know,

It's crazy that if we learned to make the right choices,

How rapidly life can change.

It's like you don't even recognize who you were anymore based on just the choices that you start making.

So,

Mike,

Actually my question for you was,

You kind of already touched on it because I think we had a telepathic moment.

I was going to ask you,

I said,

If you could give three habits,

You know,

Obviously there's many,

But if you could pick three to tell people that you should have to have in your life to basically have good mental,

Spiritual,

Emotional health.

And you were kind of listing three habits that were non-negotiable for you,

But if you could give three habits to say hey to people to basically,

You know,

Live a good life in all the senses of the word,

What would they be?

Obviously everybody's different.

So hard to pick three,

But I would say hydration.

Hydration.

Like please get hydrated and take it seriously.

You know,

The minimum is half your weight in ounces.

So,

Like if you weigh 100 pounds that would be 50 ounces a day.

If you weigh 200 pounds that would be 100 ounces a day.

Optimally,

Like three liters close to 100 ounces is the magic number that kind of gets our metabolism and our cells really hydrated and functioning.

But,

You know,

Some people are drinking like eight ounces a day and I mean pure water.

You know,

Coffee doesn't count as hydration.

So just getting hydrated because,

You know,

Our cells are dependent upon fluids.

Our body is 70-75% water and so drinking enough water,

You know,

If you're fatigued,

If you're in pain,

If you're constipated,

If you have headaches,

So many issues are from chronic dehydration.

And so like when patients have problems I'm like let's get you hydrated and let's see if the problems go away.

If they do,

Hooray.

And if they don't,

You know,

Are they slightly,

You know,

Then we can dig a little deeper but like let's get the foundation down.

So hydration.

Sleep,

Like eight hours of sleep,

The optimal hours for sleep are 10 to 6,

10 30 to 6 30.

That's like in alignment with our hormones and the rhythm of our body.

What do you say about those different,

I have a question about that because that this is important.

Sleep is a huge thing.

What do you say about the different,

What is it called,

Like you have these different sleep types,

Like you have the wolf,

The bear,

I forget what research it's based on,

Like some somebody came up with this,

But basically,

You know,

Like some people are basically night owls by nature,

By their genes,

Some people are early birds,

You know,

So what do you say,

How does that factor into that?

Yeah,

I,

You know,

I've read a little bit about that,

I'm not an expert on it so I can't really,

I know what you're talking about,

And I kind of like read it,

I'm like,

My thing is like no,

You need to sleep from 10 to 6.

I don't care that,

Like are you really a night owl or is that just what you're,

Like we need to,

How do you know with all these devices keeping you awake?

Yeah,

We need to go to sleep like when the sun goes down,

Like we should,

Like be in harmony with nature,

You know,

We're so,

You talked about what gets in the way,

Like that's another biggie,

Like being disconnected from nature is so harmful to our health,

And so I do believe we should,

You know,

And when you're sleeping,

It needs to be pitch black,

So like if your room is not pitch black,

And I mean pitch black like you can't see your hand in front of your face,

Either get blackout curtains or wear one of those eye masks,

That's what I do,

And you know,

That way you can activate your melatonin production which helps with sleep,

And if you're not sleeping,

You know,

See a naturopathic doctor,

You know,

Who can see why you're not sleeping,

It might be because your stress levels are too high at night,

You need to lower your cortisol,

You may be hormonally imbalanced,

Bioidentical progesterone does wonders for sleep,

It could be,

You know,

Stress,

It could be your actual room,

Are you doing a good wind down routine,

You know,

Get rid of,

You know,

Two to three hours is like optimal to get rid of the blue light from the phones and the TV,

Not really that realistic,

So wear blue blocking glasses,

You know,

At least an hour before bed,

Get rid of the electronics,

And then the third one,

You know,

I would say gratitude,

Which I know you'll get on board with,

But you know,

Having gratitude,

It's like,

You know,

How do you see the cup,

Is it half full,

Is it half empty,

You know,

Every day when I wake up,

You know,

I say a prayer of gratitude,

And in the Jewish tradition there's actual,

There's an actual prayer for that where you thank God for returning your soul to your body to give you another day,

And so I say that prayer every day before I wake up,

But just a prayer of gratitude for life,

You know,

It often takes like a tragedy to make you wake up to that,

And I'm like,

You know,

Don't wait for a tragedy,

Like wake up to it every day,

Like I think about,

You know,

The day after September 11th,

Like everyone was so loving and kind and supportive and it was beautiful,

But like why did we have to have such a tragedy to awaken that,

It's our natural spirit,

And it's so easy to,

You know,

Get cynical or complain,

Like I,

You know,

I'm,

You know,

I'm human,

I'm not perfect too,

I,

You know,

I still complain,

I once tried,

There was like,

You wear that bracelet on your wrist,

There was this like no complain challenge,

Where like,

You had to wear a bracelet on your wrist,

And every time you complained you had to move it to the other wrist and you had to try and get through 21 days without moving the bracelet,

I don't think I ever made it,

But you know,

Practice makes perfect in being mindful,

So like,

You know,

I'll complain and then I'll kind of catch myself,

And I'll say,

You know,

How can I be,

How can I be grateful,

Because life really is a gift,

It really is short,

And you know,

Acknowledging that shifts your,

Shifts your energy,

It shifts your neurotransmitter,

It shifts your physical body,

And so it rewires the brain,

And there's so many things to be grateful for,

And you know,

A common practice is to like keep a gratitude journal,

And like sometimes people say like to list,

You know,

Three things,

And I like to say like just one,

I feel like when you say like list three things,

It like turns into a project,

And you just kind of barrel through,

But like just one thing,

You know,

In the morning or the night,

Like one thing you're grateful for,

And it could be like anything,

It could be that someone held the door for you,

It could be that you love your blankie and your pillow,

And you're grateful that you have one.

As long as you really get present to it,

I think that's the key,

Right?

Exactly,

And so that just starts to really change,

You know,

Even a bad situation,

You can always find something good to be grateful for,

So I,

You know,

I kind of snuck four in there because I said water,

Sleep,

I snuck nature,

And,

And gratitude,

And you know,

I talk a lot,

You know,

I have 39 cards in my red deck for self-healing that I talk about all of these things,

And so,

You know,

Even just one thing,

Like the reason why I did these cards and I have all these tips on them,

I'm like even if just one tip,

Like someone really takes and owns and embraces,

Yeah,

It becomes part of your life,

That's significant,

Yeah,

It's been,

I've like done a good service,

And that's enhanced their life,

And so,

You know,

It's little steps,

How we get to,

You know,

Great big steps.

One final question for you,

Dr.

Stills,

What are you grateful for right now?

Oh my goodness,

Well,

I am really grateful that my daughter-in-law is pregnant and I'm going to become a grandmother in a couple of months.

That's kind of the highlight of my life right now.

Did you just find out today or?

No,

No,

She's due in a couple of months,

I've known for,

We've known for a while,

But I'm just so grateful that I've wanted to be a grandmother for a long time,

And I'm grateful I get the opportunity and a new baby and joy in my life,

And I'm just so grateful.

That's going to be a really nice addition.

It's crazy,

My friends,

Like two of my longest friendships,

They have kids,

They just had kids,

I mean,

The last,

They're like two or three years old,

But it still blows me away just seeing them,

Seeing their kids,

You know,

It's like I've known them since we were kids,

So to see these little creatures walking around that are meshes of them and another person,

It's just,

It blows your mind,

It's crazy.

Yeah,

It reminds you,

You know,

I think like to have a child come,

You know,

Because my kids are 28 and 30,

So like to have child energy in my life again,

Like you get to see the,

Like you get to experience the world through child's eyes and children are so in the moment,

They're so grateful,

You know,

They have no problem sleeping when they need to and,

You know,

Hydrating and eating when they need to,

You know,

They just really give you like,

They're so,

Everything's so new to them and it's such a great way to experience the world.

I think we all need to embrace our childlike beginner's mind,

We call it,

And,

You know,

Meditation,

Like to begin again and to see things with new eyes.

So important to continually stay connected to that process,

That beginning process.

Exactly.

Love it.

Well,

Thank you so much for today,

This was a blast.

Yeah,

Thank you for having me.

I'll post a link for those red cards in the episode notes,

But thank you,

It's been an awesome time.

I hope everyone enjoyed it and be well.

All right guys,

Well I hope you enjoyed that interview with Dr.

Sharon Stills.

You know,

Health is such a big part of life,

Of creating anything that you want in life,

And it's also a multi-faceted approach.

Remember that everybody's journey is different,

So you have to be able to find in what areas can you take a targeted,

Actionable approach to really make a difference.

My goal with this interview was to inspire you to look at your own health from all these different perspectives so that you can take the steps necessary to live a vibrant and meaningful life pursuing your dreams.

If you want to get more info on Dr.

Sharon,

You can find her on social media at Dr.

Sharon Stills,

That's at Dr.

Sharon Stills.

Don't forget also that you can get those 18 tips,

That free report for stress reduction,

That's for free.

You can get it at DrStills.

Com,

That's with two L's by the way,

D-R-S-T-I-L-L-S.

Now all this stuff is going to be available to you in the show notes for this episode.

If you go to danceoflife.

Com slash podcast,

You'll see the show notes there,

And as well as her red cards.

These just came out at the time of this episode,

So make sure to check those out.

That's basically a deck of cards,

Each of them has actionable tips and strategies and things that you can take immediately when you pull that card.

It's basically a tool to help you take action on these three different core areas of your health.

So I hope you've enjoyed this conversation with my inspiring guest,

Dr.

Sharon Stills.

You can share with me your biggest takeaway on Facebook or Instagram at Tutor Alexander Official.

And as always,

If anyone in your life right now needs to hear this message,

Share it with them.

You never know the difference that you can make.

And let's remember our quote from the beginning of this episode,

Leap in the net will appear by John Burroughs.

You know,

Oftentimes health is a murky picture.

I know in my own life I've had to deal with some stuff that I simply couldn't control,

But just like this quote,

You often have to just take action even though you don't know and you have to leap or as I like to say,

You have to dance.

So remember your health,

Like everything in life is a dance.

Now go out there and dance it well.

For more episodes and weekly content,

Stay connected at danceoflife.

Com.