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Transforming Lives through Holistic Healing and Surfing with Hana Miller
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What if you could unravel the mystery of your mind and body, and unlock the secrets of holistic health and healing? Enjoy this conversation as we connect with Hana Miller, a holistic health practitioner with an unconventional journey that is as inspiring as it is intriguing. Hana takes us on a ride through her life's adventures, from a pre-med student to an international flight attendant, before uncovering her true passion in Chinese medicine and acupuncture.
Join us as we explore Hana’s transformative journey from conventional medicine to holistic health practices and ayahuasca therapy. We dive deep into her program, the Balanced Woman, where she addresses a plethora of issues including fertility, anxiety and postpartum depression. Not only that, but we also journey with her from the tropical warmth of Hawaii to the chilly waters of the East Coast, discussing the challenges and joys of surfing and the significance of respecting the ocean.
As we round up our conversation, Hana shares invaluable insights on the impact of diet on our well-being, and the connection between food, health, and acupuncture. She sheds light on how small, consistent steps can lead to healing when it comes to mental and emotional health. Plus, get ready to be enthralled by the story of her first surfing experience, the inspiration she draws from her dad's unwavering passion for surfing, and more. Join us in this enlightening episode with Hana Miller - it promises to be a journey you won't forget!
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Hanna Miller. Welcome to the podcast.
Speaker 2Thank you so much for having me stoked to be here.
Speaker 1Yes, it is awesome to have you here. We met because of Chiller, which is Wes Miller, or Wes Chiller is the stage name, which is pretty cool because we were at the Dead Bands Lua recently. Yeah, that's me. Husband there, the family. I saw your parents, your mom, with a bubblegum. I was like dudes, I want to say hi to everyone. I'm like, ah, dude, just let everyone have a good time.
Speaker 2Oh my gosh, you should have Part of her having a great time is meeting new people. Oh really, yeah, I watched her lay down a lot of chats with a lot of different people all night long.
Speaker 1That's so rad. Now you came because you were the Lua. How do you say that? I want to make sure I say this right, we the head Lua.
Speaker 2I was the queen of the Lua. The queen of the Lua.
Speaker 1That's what it is, queen of the Lua. There you go, ok, yeah, how did that come about? I wanted to ask and talk to Wes about it, but I'm like I'll just talk to her on the podcast about it. How did you get linked up to do that? Yeah, yeah, because you're not local anymore, right?
Speaker 2No, no, I live on the East Coast now, so Wes and I grew up together. He's actually my oldest friend. We've known each other forever. Get out of here. Yeah, I know that. Yeah, yeah, we shared the same last name, so in school we always sat next to each other. We're always next to each other in the lunch line. So he's been my man for a lot of years more than 20 years. We've been friends 20 years.
Speaker 2Yeah, yeah. So we actually met. I grew up dancing hula and I competed at this big, big show in California called a hula mau. And Wes and his family I mean you know them. They're just so ingratiated in the Aloha spirit. They love the Hawaiian culture. Wes has played ukulele for I mean forever and ever. I listened to your podcast with him recently.
Speaker 1Oh cool.
Speaker 2Hearing him share that story was just so sweet, like, so memorable. And I was the first keiki, which means child in Hawaiian. I was the first keiki soloist for my halau, which is my Hawaiian hula dance troupe, basically. And I remember Wes came up to me after the show and introduced himself. There's actually a photo of us next to each other. It's over. I don't even remember how old. We must have been 9, 8 or 9 years old, and so it's been this. It was kind of a big full circle moment for us.
Speaker 2Yeah, yeah, yeah, getting to the luau, like having it be this big collaboration. But yeah, it's been a lot of years since I've danced hula on stage and Wes was originally looking to me to just kind of give a little bit of insight into the Hawaiian culture and what would make the luau feel really special and just the right amount of authentic and cheesy. So it kind of just evolved from there and it turned into him asking me to host it and dance and it was, I don't know, it was a while. That was a great night.
Speaker 1Yeah, I mean. So everybody knows you should have came to the Deadman's luau. It was a good time. How did you pick your? I don't want to say is it costume, it was the best way to put it.
Speaker 2You did have a costume right. It was a Halloween party. It was definitely a costume.
Speaker 1Right right Now, were you supposed to be a mermaid, it kind of went into the mermaid territory.
Speaker 2So originally I was thinking Wes and I, we talked about it just being like a classic hula outfit, which is typically like a hokule kopeh which are around the wrists and ankles, lei tea leaf skirt. But when I saw his sequined tuxedo jacket, something in me just came alive. I was like I need something that matches this, and so I started looking and suddenly it just evolved into I don't know, creature of the deep meets mermaid.
Speaker 1What's that? It was great you and your man walked in. I was like, oh, you guys look fantastic.
Speaker 2It was great it came together last minute.
Speaker 1No, it was cool, it was a good time and it was just kind of like it had a good atmosphere. Everyone had a pretty good vibe, so it was just fun to be with everybody and get away for a little bit Because I tour managed for him. So I do a lot of behind the scenes stuff that a lot of people don't see too much Because my thing with him?
Speaker 1I used to do music a lot. I told him look, dude, I'll just come to your shows. I don't need money. Whatever you need done behind the scene, I'll take the stress so you can focus on being the artist. So you can perform and do well, so it takes that pressure off of him. All he has to do is worry about is his music.
Speaker 2And you need that balance.
Speaker 1Oh yeah, you need it.
Speaker 2So deeply in front of you, yeah.
Speaker 1So it's been cool to be there and see him evolve and do his thing. He's so funny I just love him. He's so creative.
Speaker 2He's an animal man. He's one of the funniest motherfuckers I've ever seen in my life and he's just gotten wilder with age. He's become like both. He's such an adult now, Like you both are, like you have this house and these jobs and these responsibilities and these things that are so adult, Like I know that we're in our 30s but at the same time, he's still an eight-year-old boy. Oh yeah.
Speaker 2He's still just wild and crazy, and it's been really cool to feel that enthusiasm build until like half somebody who you get to do that with. Collaboration is key when it comes to creating new things, oh yeah.
Speaker 1Oh yeah, it was cool the way he and I connected, Because I had no idea he came from a different fire department and I was. I had just promoted. I'm working on a new rig.
Speaker 2And he was there that day Come to find out.
Speaker 1He's like, hey, you surf. I'm like, yeah, but the surf and surf was like eight years old dude Go all the time. He's like I surf too, and they actually know now we're surfing, have a fun. Just long-boarding together.
Speaker 2Oh yeah, all the time, all the time.
Speaker 1It's just, it's super cool. And to see someone in our job field. You know, working as firefighters, what we do is a lot of stress involved. There's a lot of things we have to deal with that most people will never see or understand, but to see him as a creative as well be in that atmosphere.
Speaker 1So it was just encouraging for me, because there's nothing wrong with firefighters, right, but we work inside a box, right, we all wear the same uniform. You follow the SLPs. This is how you shall do this, that. But for us, being creative and writing music or doing podcasts or whatever your art is, you think outside the box, and that's not too popular in the fire service at all, you know. So it's cool to see someone else who can do that but also have what we do on the side and we thrive off it together. Why we've just become such close friends and teaming up and doing stuff. So it's pretty cool.
Speaker 2It's cool that you guys have been friends that long but have you surfed your whole life too, yeah.
Speaker 1Yeah.
East Coast Moves and Surfing Experiences
Speaker 2That's freaking good Are you surfing on the East Coast? I haven't so much, so I've had a little bit of a wild trip on the East Coast. For me, the moves have been very functional. I'm from California, but I spent a lot of years in Hawaii, which is where I was living before I moved to New York. And yeah, so the East Coast has just been this different experience. Like I went originally because I was a flight attendant with American Airlines oh, you were, yeah, so I was with them for a few years and then, and so I was based out of New York and did that whole grind. But I was living in Hawaii, commuting to New York, right, and I did not last very long. No, that's a lot, it's a lot. And then I went back to school to get my master's in Chinese medicine and acupuncture.
Speaker 1Yo, we are going to talk about that.
Speaker 2Yeah, I love you, sent me like who you were before. I thought it would be a little easier.
Speaker 1Because usually I invite people on, I'm like let's just be organic and be what it's going to be. But I'm like reading, I was like, wow, I was like hey, sam too, like she's pretty smart. Very intelligent woman over here.
Speaker 2Thank you.
Speaker 1So real quick on that surfing. I surf in New York. It was a long years.
Speaker 2Montauk, Long Beach.
Speaker 1Long.
Speaker 2Beach, long Beach. Long Beach to Long Beach yes.
Speaker 1Long Beach. It was so cold, it's so fucking. I could not believe it. I was not prepared. I had a spring suit and I was like, well, I'm here, I'm just going to go. I was freezing.
Speaker 2It's so real. We've done the polar bear plunge out there on Super Bowl Sunday and snow on the ground. Everyone's just so cold. It's so, so, so cold. It's a blast. But now that East Coast surfers, it's a hardcore crew.
Speaker 1Yes, it is.
Speaker 2Like I had a lot of friends who surfed, and just the dedication that it takes to when you're living in the city, especially and if you don't have a car, and it's like you're rolling on public transportation with your surfboard. You're a wetsuit. You need so much gear because it's cold, so it's like you're not just like in you know, trunks in a shirt, with like a change of shorts in the bag, ready to, you know, hop back on the subway to get back home. It's, it's a whole thing.
Speaker 1Oh yeah, it's funny to say that because I borrowed a friend's lawn board who used to live out here and moved for his job, for whatever reason, took his lawn board, which probably he didn't surf much out there, but I remember being on the subway with this 98.
Speaker 2Yeah, People are looking like dude, what are you doing?
Speaker 1It's like whatever I'm going to serve, so I don't care, it's all good. Okay, so you got your masters in what again?
Speaker 2Acupuncture in Chinese medicine.
Speaker 1Where'd you go to get that?
Speaker 2Yeah, so I went to school in Manhattan. I was in New York, I went to Tri-State College of Acupuncture and it was a specific master's program for for Chinese medicine, specifically to become an acupuncturist.
Speaker 1Wow, and it was okay. What was your undergrad then? Was it something that I did pre-med, you did pre-med?
Transitioning From Medicine to Ayahuasca Therapy
Speaker 2Yeah, I did. Oh Damn girl. So my background's in Western Western Biomedicine.
Speaker 1Okay, did you originally want, to like, be a doctor or something? Yeah, is that what you were going for? That was the plan.
Speaker 2That was the plan. I did public health and microbiology and was always kind of set on that path. And then towards the end of school, when everyone was applying to med school and getting ready for that process, I remember I just finished taking a health organization and policy class. I was just thinking to myself. I don't want to do this, I don't want to, I don't want to do this Like this seems like such a bad idea. What's it like? Yeah.
Speaker 2So I completed my holistic health certification concurrently while I was in school. It was just a two-year certification and then I stepped away from education for a couple of years, moved to Hawaii, did literally nothing for a few years. We took a break. I took a break. I took a much needed break. I think, especially in our 20s, like we need that space just for clarity, and I mean it's why I remember, when I decided to quit, American Wes was so she's like what are you thinking? Oh, come on.
Speaker 1What are you doing?
Speaker 2Oh, he was. So just like, what are you doing, like you've got a good job with a good company? Yeah, oh my gosh, that was a he's coming at it.
Speaker 1Part of him cares. It's like a parent.
Speaker 2Exclusively because he cares Like. He is one of those people who's just always seen the potential in others and is not afraid to push them. Part of his charm, part of his best qualities, is he nudges. But I just I'm grateful that I was a flight attendant for a few years, because it's such a tough job. You never really think about it. I mean, it must be like being a firefighter, you're in service, yeah.
Speaker 2You're in service, those sleepless nights like just the rigmarole, like being with people in that capacity, and I was so unhealthy and so deeply unhappy that the question became like what am I doing with my life? Like I want to make a difference in people's life, I want to help people, Like I want to do something that has more meaning to me specifically. And I'd meet other flight attendants who just loved what they were doing and they were so excited and so passionate and love showing up. And I remember thinking to myself like I don't feel that way.
Speaker 1Like.
Speaker 2I don't want to do this. And and then I met my husband bless him and I remember thinking to myself I'm like I'm not going anywhere, like there's no fucking way I'm not going anywhere.
Speaker 1A little thing called love.
Speaker 2It is. It's just all of a sudden, you know, my whole life changed. Then I yeah, I went back to school.
Speaker 1Was that in New York that you met?
Speaker 2him, we met in Peru.
Speaker 1Peru all places yeah. Peru, let's rent.
Speaker 2Yeah, we met in the Amazon jungle, so what? Maybe you should be on here, jess.
Speaker 1Come take a seat, man. We got a lot to talk about bro so were you both on vacation. Is that what it?
Speaker 2was yeah, yeah, I mean, I'm not sure.
Speaker 1There are no, no limitations to what we can talk to All right. Yeah.
Speaker 2I mean I'm an open book. But yeah, jeff and I met at an Iwaska retreat. Oh very good. Yeah, so it was.
Speaker 1That's very healing. Very yeah so it was my second year down there.
Speaker 2Yeah, yeah, I just did it recently.
Speaker 1Yeah, oh, I see, yeah, yeah, I got on my arm.
Speaker 2Yeah, well, because of my tattoos.
Speaker 1They had to do it on the backside of my arm or whatever.
Speaker 2Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1I love. I was going to ask that.
Speaker 2Sure.
Speaker 1You know you're in the holistic and Chinese medicine, which is I. I'm a huge supporter of medicine. I'm not a big fan of taking a lot of meds. Sure, I'm even to the point I I've had a few injuries because of my job Torn, rotator cuff, different things have happened. I've had roofs, you know, hit me in the head, fall down all this stuff. I've had brain injuries. I mean, it's a great, great career. Yeah, but erection it wrecks you.
Speaker 1It wrecks you hard and you know so remember. After coming off the brain injury and dealing with that, I felt like because I was still in a really bad fog- it's taken me years to feel normal internally.
Speaker 1And remember my neurologist telling me you know you're going to feel off, but to everyone else you'll feel normal. And it gets to a point where you're just super frustrated. You're like man, I can't put these things together. I mean it was so bad I had to get my speech back. Then, like they had to have shapes and colors, so it's like, hey, put this square in the square peg. And I'd be trying to put it in the round. It's weird because I knew, I knew it was a square, but from here to my hands just wasn't computing, so it was a lot and I've still dealt. I think the injury was.
Speaker 2How long ago.
Speaker 1I think it was 2020. Wow, yeah, 2020. It was right. When the pandemic hit? Wow yeah, I was on duty, rolled a vehicle. I don't remember. It was a rainy day and I woke up in the hospital, can't talk right and then eventually just lose my speech. It was crippling in many ways, Very humbling. You think, oh, my career's over, how am I going to provide? I got mortgages to pay for and all this other stuff. Coming off that and getting back to work, I just for time. It wasn't working well.
Speaker 1And then you start feeling very inadequate, you start getting very dark thoughts and that's where I kind of raised my hand and was like, okay, I need some help. You know, I need luckily have that at work as far as they have therapists on call for us through a program. But then there was a friend of mine. His name is John Vargas and he's a firefighter, but he's he gives out camo, he does that.
Speaker 1I lost good and some other stuff and he reached out to me. He listened to the podcast a lot. He was like hey man, I know we haven't talked in a while, but he said I had some concussions and I was dealing with a lot of same things you've talked about. Why don't you come try ayahuasca? At that point I was like I'll try anything, I'll go for it, and it was one of the I could. What I usually tell people. It's one of the most beautifully violent experiences I've ever had.
Speaker 1Because you deal with so much and it feels like it's this third person out of body type thing. It was very emotional for me, it was very healing and there's a lot that I dealt with just in that amount of time and I'm a huge supporter on Campbell and I was here, I think there's so much more we can do for ourselves.
Speaker 1Yeah, especially, I'm a huge supporter of these organizations that help with PTSD, for fire, police, military, because there's there's so much that we see and deal with that we can't just you can't put in the words. You know we see a lot of violence but, we did sign up for it. We're here to help people, yeah, but who's gonna help me?
Speaker 1Yeah that's why I got to a point how do I help myself? Yeah, I'm helping people and I feel like I'm losing my mind here, and after doing that, I was gives a life-changer. It was, it was. It gave me so much clarity and it gave me like had hope again. Hmm. You know I was like, oh my gosh, tim, you're gonna be fine, I know you're gonna be good. So I love to hear that both of you guys were doing that. I think it's a beautiful thing.
Speaker 1It really is, if you're ready for it Of course say but is that something that you also learned in the medicine, that you learned with your degrees and all that?
Speaker 2So it was really, um, it's kind of the other way around. So, yeah, I I started working with with ayahuasca when I was 24. Okay and I met Jeff when I was 25, and I went back to school when I was just about 26. Okay, so it's before yeah, yeah, and it was really, um, you know, similar to you, you know I'd been through, been through quite a bit of trauma. You know different accidents, you know sexual trauma, difficult things. Like I said at the beginning, there's nothing else. I'll tell you everything.
Speaker 1Yeah.
Speaker 2I literally I'm open with people for a living, so who's gonna be inspired that's?
Speaker 2why yeah, it's easy to talk about, but it was just hearing you kind of recount that experience as well, like that frustration, that that Openness and willingness. You're like I'll try anything, like I will do anything because this isn't working for me. Yeah, and that's typically like where, where I meet clients out as well, is when they're kind of at Like they're wits end. They're like I'm willing to do whatever it takes to take ownership of my life, to take control of my circumstances, to feel Like I'm not at the mercy of my experiences and instead like I'm my own person and I have a choice here and I have resilience. And so it was like this big, big turning point in my life where I'm sure that so many people can relate to that in their 20s Just being, you know, lost.
Speaker 2Yeah you know, lost and hopeless and frustrated and in poor physical health, poor emotional health, like really questioning your mental well-being as well.
Speaker 2Yeah and so it was, you know, something that calls to you. And so, yeah, I went to the jungle the first year when I was 24, and then I went back at 25 about a year later, took Plenty of much needed time to integrate everything, and then, and then it was during that retreat that I met Jeff and Just the message came through that it's like, what am I doing? Yeah, like there's so much more to what I'm capable of. There's so much more that calls to me and I need to To help people in any way, shape that I can, even if I'm ill prepared for it. So the question kind of became how do I get prepared for this? How do I develop the skills and the tools and the knowledge to be of service to other people?
Speaker 2And and it came in a dream, you know, it's like acupuncture played a big role in my healing journey. I'm, you know, chinese wine on my mother's side, and so we grew up seeing acupuncturists. But like with with acupuncture it's it's something that mirrors the work that that ayahuasca provides, because it's a complete system of healing. And what, what a lot of people aren't aware of with with ayahuasca, is that it's part of a greater pharmacopia of medicinal plants and it's a complete, complete system, and that's really what I fell in love with with Chinese medicine and with all, all ancient, true medicine. You see this with Ayurvedic medicine, and it's something that sees the human as so much more than just their physical body, so much more than just their emotions or their spirit. It sees them as, again, these complete beings.
Speaker 2Yeah so that's why acupuncture is the shit, chinese medicines, the fucking shit.
Speaker 1Absolutely. Well, I'm getting old man. I gotta start doing some stuff to help myself out here. Speaking of which, at the, the dead ends of the well. Yeah. I hope you saw when I said hi to you I totally had earplugs in the whole night. The whole night I was like dude, I gotta keep the just work. I've lost hearing in my left ear Just a lot of motors and stuff like that, so I'm like I'm gonna put these in. I may look like a dad, but it is what it is.
Speaker 2Yeah, good, do the dad thing.
Speaker 1So from graduating with your masters you have your own business. Did that start right when you finished your master's degree, or is that something that kind of you built up over time?
Holistic Healing and Infertility Issues
Speaker 2Yeah, so I it was a combination. So I opened my private acupuncture practice right when I passed the boards and got licensed, and then it was really the same kind of nagging feeling for a lot of years where I I love, I love acupuncture, I love treating people, I love love having my hands on people. But I just remember thinking to myself again and again like this is medicine and this is knowledge that everyone needs to have. And so from that, that idea Emerged my online business and that's really like the big focus, like to me now, acupuncture is the pleasure.
Speaker 2Yeah like being with people, having that time being with them face to face, and then the. You know, the bulk of my business is online where I educate people. So I have a three month online program, the balanced woman, and it's where I teach women specifically how to heal themselves Holistically, okay, you know to heal their bodies, master their emotions, align their lives, work through trauma, work through blockages, work through hormonal imbalances, and it's it's amazing because I get to work with women from all over the world Now yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1So you have your business literally worldwide pretty much.
Speaker 1Yeah yeah, that's amazing. Now, you know, I've known from a lot of my fellow personnel firefighters. Because we're exposed to so much over time just from because nowadays, right, a lot of things are made out of plastic, so that smoke isn't burning as clean as people think. Right, it's not the old homes with the nice wood furniture and the metal trash can, right, it's particle stuff and plastic. So we get exposed to a lot and with that for I know at least on the male side we have a lot of infertility issues, and so do some of the women, does some of what you do, deal with that. And the females infertility Type issues are trouble getting pregnant.
Speaker 2Yeah, oh yeah.
Speaker 1I made your part of it right, yeah, yeah. I see a lot of my friends struggling with that definitely.
Speaker 2I mean it's. I See women for a whole host of imbalances, but like the main ones are definitely Fertility, pms, pcos, fibroids, uterine cancer, cervical cancer Okay. I mean cancers of all kind, and then obviously like the emotional Ramifications that come with being physically out of balance as well. Yeah so the anxiety, the depression, the suicidal thoughts, postpartum depression and just feeling disconnected. You know how it is when something's going on with you physically.
Speaker 2Oh, when yeah how does it not eventually wear down on your mental clarity and your emotional capacity? So it's ensuring that across the board, holistically, you're being cared for in a way that's cohesive and comprehensive.
Speaker 1Yeah, I'm really glad you've been hit the hit on so much because and this is not some people are gonna need the pharmaceutical meds.
Speaker 2Oh yeah, I can't. My background's in Western medicine. I love Western medicine. Yeah, I like.
Speaker 1I get it, but I I shy away from it. You know, because a lot of these meds are really tough on your organs. A lot of people don't understand and even, like some of my family members, they'll say oh, I'm good, I took my blood pressure method. No, it's. It's meant for you to take it for a little bit of time and then get yourself healthy so you get off it, not be on it for like 15 years, you know so I always. It's almost like. I hate to say this, but from what I've noticed, it's sick people make money.
Speaker 2Yeah, yeah, absolutely don't, they don't you know. So that's why I'm making money off of me anymore.
Speaker 1Right, I mean, I don't have an addictive personality, but I had throat surgery back in 2015 and it was the healing process on that was terrible, because everything we do, life is through your mouth. You eat, breathe, drink everything, grow it hurt to breathe.
Speaker 2I can't even imagine.
Speaker 1Oh, it's terrible. It was like they're say hey, it'll, it'll be like seven days. That was the longest seven days of my life. I remember they gave me liquid coding. Take this for your pain. It was like every four hours and After a couple days I noticed it.
Speaker 1I needed it every three and a half now I need it to, and then, once I start rose, I'm like wait a minute, I'm not taking this like I'm supposed to. I was like, nope, I'm done. Yeah, that toss it out, I'll just take tonal, I'll just deal with it because, I don't want to get hooked on that. I've seen that a lot with, unfortunately, some people that I know where they've been given these heavy narcotics to help with pain. The next thing you know they're hooked on it.
Speaker 2That's, I mean, it's terrible. Oh, it's bad.
Speaker 1It's an epidemic in itself. That's why I always I'm such a big pusher on trying to do things naturally first start with your least invasive, then go on to your most invasive, whether that's narc or whatever you got to do to feel better, but I'm a huge supporter of what you're doing.
Speaker 2I think it's very, very important.
Speaker 1I know Wes is.
Speaker 2We talked about all the time I mean you heard us talk about it.
Speaker 1I'm sure with what you do, how you help people, it doesn't line up as well with surfing and being grounded. Yeah in the ocean and that's its own way for me. I'm only 37, but my dad, my dad's a lifelong surfer. He had me out since I was like eight years.
Speaker 1Oh, you know that's what we do, and I remember him telling me and it stuck with me all these years so much Because he's such a, he's a, he's a rough, he's that gender, older, generation, right, he's a Vietnam vet a different time, like man, go to work and provide, you know, and then the women stay home, whatever. But I remember him taking me to the ocean In surfing, and he said always, respect this place. Everyone comes here for a different reason but leaves better. I remember being like eight years old. I was like she, what Can we just go serve Like as we grow right her 20s, like there's the mystery of life is interesting.
Speaker 1It has highs and some heavy, heavy loads and where I've felt always so grounded like I'm gonna be okay is Even when life hurts, someone's passed away or difficulties of diagnosis is or the joys of New born in the family or whatever it may be.
Speaker 1I go to the beach, yeah, and I stand on that sand and I hang out, watch surf for a little bit. For our going. I always just feel like I can feel the ocean breeze, the sand feels good on my toes, except for when it's like 105 out and the sands burn. But then you get in the water and it's like you have to. You mean, for us now it's natural, right, I can just turn on board and boom, just jump up because you've been doing it for so long.
Finding Meaning and Growth Through Struggles
Speaker 1But you know, to the focus you need to have for the timing of the wave, watching the swell time this was how many sets are in the swell. You know how many waves are in this the set coming through, and you know what am I gonna do? My hang 10 this time I go in it. You have to focus so much it's like I forget everything. And every time I get out where there's a first wave or last wave, I'm always smiling. Oh, I try to encourage so many people like, just go to page man, yeah, get in the water. You never know what's gonna do for you. I don't know if that ever lines up with what you're helping people with oh my gosh, to a team.
Speaker 2I mean that's a dirty. I love listening to people. So that's, that's the beauty of Chinese medicine, because it's elemental medicine and you know people, they, they have a very standard understanding of acupuncture where they're like oh, it really helps with low back, oh, I have a friend who got pregnant. Oh, like it helps with headaches or sleep quality or anxiety. But what I teach people is the deeper philosophy and also the system beneath it, which is all based on five elements and how these five elements fire, earth, metal, water and wood mirror the external seasons, mirror the seasons of our life, mirror the way that we process things, and it's Such a deep and profound way to begin to look at everything in your life.
Speaker 2So, even hearing you talk about these times in your life, like these lows and these highs, like the beauty of seeing it from this perspective, is that you recognize the place that both of these experiences have and you Growing and progressing as a person, how we need to have these moments of struggle.
Speaker 2We need to have these times when we feel Disconnected from ourselves, when we feel lost, when it feels like everything's just going to shit, like one thing after another Is just fucking going to shit. We need it, you know, because these are those formative experiences which, in Chinese medicine, correspond to Yin, which is darkness, nighttime, the downward movement of energy to more of the feminine, to more Internal reflection, to winter. You know it's. It's these times when it feels like nothing's changing, everything hurts. I'm sitting in the dark, I don't know my way out, I don't know if there's ever going to be a spring time. You know, it's that pure, like winter, that hibernation time, and when you learn to recognize it for what it is, it makes those dark times not only Bearable, yeah, it makes them meaningful, because you know that inevitably there's Springtime coming.
Speaker 2Yeah there's movement, there's. You just said the word hope with that, like how ayahuasca gave you hope. Yeah and hope is the emotion associated with springtime, associated with the wood element, associated with new beginnings.
Speaker 1Yes, yeah, gosh, you said something so good and no, that's struggle. That hits us at times. You know there's always a saying I will Try to tell friends who are going. I've once married before Terrible wrong to divorce. Don't wish on anybody, but those are some dark times, right Hard, and I've been helping people, their friends, that are dealing with that. It's hard, right. That's the equate to death in the family. That's what it feels like. And by there's so many times I, you know, I tell friends and I've read it myself. You know, calm seas didn't make a skilled sailor. You know that sticks with me at times because the reality is, I don't care who you are, it doesn't matter if you're the wealthiest person in the world, you are the poorest, or you're the highest performing athlete or you're nobody. We're all going to deal with very difficult times. Struggles come your way, no one's. No one's gonna escape that. And there's so many times in those dark moments I felt to myself you're like dude, there's no escape.
Speaker 1How am I gonna get through this? I mean, there was times in my life, at least for me, of literally being on these just crying, like I even pranked God, I need help here, like I need some. Someone needs to help me because I can't do this. This is too much. But then, realizing Years down the road, you look back, you're like Damn, I got through that. Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1Like it's okay, like there's so much I learned. You know, I look back, I'm like dang this and this, this, this, or you list off the things that I learned that were good from that. Here's the this, this and this. I did bad and you progress and you grow and I I've always learned at least for me, some of the best growth I'm learning I had were through the difficult times in the bad decisions course. I've learned some heavy, heavy decisions and Even to the point, at least for me, of having empathy for people.
Speaker 1Now, you know I like I say I've had great success in my life. I've done well. I've had very dark times. I've had a lot of money, not had a lot of money, still had the same issues yeah, so the same problems. I've met really awesome people. I've met people that are nuts, you know, but they're all going through something and to sit and it's like we talked about the whole reason.
Speaker 1I do this podcast. I like listening to people just as much as you like helping talking to people, and it's amazing when I get people on here, you start hearing their stories. You're like I had no idea you were going through that. Yeah, like that's heavy. Yeah, and I yeah, this is what I did. Well, you're like yo, dude, that's super inspiring. You start hearing people dealing with real life. Yeah, not the fake of social media. You know the the all this be real, right, social media is great, it's good for business, all that, but good Lord, love, it's so fake. You're seeing the best of people right and I'm like, well, that's cool. I want to know about your hard times.
Speaker 1I want to know how you got to where you are. Yeah, what made you the person that you are? What are the some of the mistakes? What are the difficult times were out of your control. But my goodness, looking back and seeing just as me talking personally the growth that I've had and there's still regret. Trust me, you're like dude. I can't believe I made that decision. I can't be talking to that person that way. But you become such a better person. It's for me. I had to learn, start realizing, like with anything I've had an issue with or I've made a mistake. I don't point at the person. I've learned now to look at myself. Yeah, okay, where did I go wrong? How could I have projected myself better? How could I have talked to this person better? Why did I make that bad decision?
Speaker 1or why did I make that good decision? I went well. What led up to these things and that's what has helped me grow as a person, but Honest, been difficult at times and you know I've had great conversations with West.
Speaker 1We open up each other because I Think an ad is dressed to not just deal with your own life, but now you add on the things that we see in our career field, you know and it's like in a, we work two days on, four off, so in a 48 hour period, right, you know, we'll see someone who took their own life to someone who's had a heart attack, we delivered a baby, fought a fire, cut a person out of car, and it's like, okay, 7 am Is hit, go home and be a husband, a son, a father, you know, a father, uncle, whatever it's gonna be, and be normal. And you're like in this shell shock mode. You're like I just saw this craziness. Yeah, like how do I in that the bummer with a lot of this is is it teaches us to bury things.
Speaker 1Hmm, which is a bad bad idea, and I did that for so many, so many years. And then you that starts to play Private life and this goes for anybody, of course. You don't handle the issues that you have. Now that's playing a role in my relationships, whether it's someone I'm dating or with family like why am I getting angry? Why over what? Because there's a dish like what am I flipping out for right now, there's no reason to be this way and realizing it's something within I need to handle.
Speaker 1You know I need to dig inside myself and figure out the things that I've been through that have affected my soul, my heart, so I can be a better person.
Speaker 1That start cowering away and become this dark entity of Tim Fisher. That doesn't need to be because that's happened. I noticed that when I struggle, I Cower away. I won't say cower, but yeah, I hide, I keep everybody out. I don't want anyone know like I'm struggling, having a hard time, and that's where you start getting these thoughts. We're like you know, maybe it's better I'm out here. It's like wait a minute, let's stop this right now. Any day above the dirt's a damn good day, I don't care how bad your struggle is.
Speaker 1That's why we're so big on her about PTSD or fire, police, military getting help, because so many people just don't understand. Yeah, and then what do they do? They throw medication at us.
Speaker 2Yeah, yeah, I don't.
Speaker 1There's better ways. That's why I'm, like I, such a big proponent on what you're you're doing, and I know it's geared towards women, right. Yeah do you also do with the men as well?
Speaker 2I do, yeah, so I have the primary focus as women, but I've also found that Within a family, especially women tend to be the drivers. So when their shit is in balance, when they know who they are, when they know what they're supposed to be Eating to support their health and support their hormones, when they know how to resolve emotional blockages and move through trauma, when they're no longer being governed and directed by these experiences that they've had that may create this, you know this unfounded anger or projection. It's like a ripple effect. There's this saying in Chinese medicine. It's a Taoist, a saying that I've adopted for for my own purposes, in my own interpretation, but essentially it's like one one. One person heals, they can help another person heal, and when two people are healed, they can help three people heal, and when three people are healed, all people are healed.
Speaker 1That's good. Oh, I love that.
Speaker 2So it's the same principle. It's like I know that if I can help one woman, yeah her family changes, her friendships change and that has a ripple effect. So I start with women, because I'm you know, I'm a woman.
Speaker 1I am a lady.
Speaker 2But I work a lot with couples okay which I see often.
Speaker 2And then I work a lot with men in my private practice, but we're we're hoping to expand and we're hoping to to work with men as well and even just hearing you talk about this, you know my mom, my mother, is always very concerned about me. I'm sure that you hear about this all the time, but she's always like are you okay? I'm like, I'm good, I'm good, but Growing up as a very sensitive child, you know, as someone who's always taken an interest in people and loves people and has the tendency to find, growing up, I'd find myself in the position where people would just open up, dump a lot on me, and it was a lot. Yeah, it was exhausting. It's really difficult when you're you know you're that person. People love you. You know they're like I'll just tell you everything, tim, no problem. If you don't have the skills and the tools and the resources and the sense of center to ensure that you're in balance, you can start to absorb a lot of that. You know you carry that with you. You carry the things that you've experienced from work. You know, and I still remember when West told me he wanted to be a firefighter, I was like I don't want you to be a firefighter like I don't want you to do it. I'm like I love you, I'm so proud of you. I think that's amazing, I think that's a terrible idea. I don't want that for you.
Speaker 2But as someone who's in a very different field of work but also something similar where I have women coming to me day in and day out sharing about the various traumatic experiences they've been through, which are just just dreadful, just Terrible, the things that people have endured, myself included. I remember when I first started I was like I don't know if I can do this as an acupuncturist. I was like I don't know if I can do this, like I don't know if I can have my hands on these people. I don't know if I can hold this space for them to help them move through these really intense like physical blockages, emotional blockages, things that have shaped their behavioral patterns, their addictive behaviors, their relationships. And it's through an education where I really Learned the structure in the system. And it's also through a very in-depth education with Iwaska, with our Arm maestro there, like Apprenticing her, learning from her, learning how to be resilient, so that one these things Inevitably, you know, come towards me.
Speaker 2One women come towards me needing to work through this shit. Yeah, it's like water off the ducks back. You know like I remain centered, like I remain myself, because I know that when I'm in order, when I'm in balance, when I'm centered, that's how I'm able to be of service. I Don't need to absorb everyone's things, I don't need to relieve them of their burdens. It's my mission to teach them how to relieve their own burdens, to center themselves so that they too can be resilient and navigate the difficulties and struggles of life with the same clarity and ease that I've Actively cultivated within myself. You know it's, it's things like this, things like what you're doing. You know what it means to to be centered, so that when you're pulled off center through any number of Experiences, any number of things that you see, you know how to bring yourself back.
Speaker 2Yeah and that's the connection to the ocean, that's the connection to nature into the elements You're like. Here I am. Yeah. I forgot about you for a while, lost side of you. Yeah and then you get out of the water and you're like oh, like I've still, like I'm still in there.
Speaker 1Yeah.
Speaker 2I'm still me.
The Importance of Diet for Well-Being
Speaker 1Yeah, it's almost like gosh get out. You feel like you're that resilient kid. It was just having fun, yeah, you know, it's I bear some of the good points because how many people probably feel like, how do I help myself? Yeah, I know what that feels like. That's a question terrible feeling.
Speaker 1Giving people the tools yeah, you know, to help them live a better life. Piece said gosh, it's so important. It really is, because the struggle is the struggle. Life is real. Man, we're all going. It's not easy. You're dealing with so many different things happening and work and family Moving, living here, family, this over there. It's just. It's amazing, but I think, I think with for me at least with age and time and experience in life, you start to learn the importance of making sure yourself is taken care of yeah, like you say, right yeah.
Speaker 1How am I gonna pour out into other people if I'm not doing good? Yeah, and that's what it felt like at work for so long. We're sitting here and like, literally we're saving people saving people.
Speaker 2Yeah, giving your body is giving. Oh my gosh mental and emotional well-being.
Speaker 1Yeah, and then you get off and you just like you're in this weird fog and like shell shock.
Speaker 2There's nothing left, and then you're supposed to go home.
Speaker 1Yeah, and it's like you still have responsibilities.
Speaker 2You're just getting started.
Speaker 1So that it's so beautiful doing that, that, what you're doing is, it's so important. It really is to show people there is a way. There is a way like almost. I want to say I promise you the way, and the Sun's gonna rise and it's a new day to start something new every single day, it's gonna be good.
Speaker 1Yeah, now, one thing that you did say how. I really want people to hear this, because I feel like diet is a huge issue in our country, but food plays such a huge importance on your body and your health physically and mentally, I would say correct. Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1What best? I want to ask this is more like how do people, how do we get people to understand that what they're putting in their bodies is important? It's not just like I'm just gonna get a burger today, I'll get pizza tomorrow. I hear me out. Okay, we pretty healthy Meal prep, all that stuff now the weekends, that's my time. Oh yeah, pancakes let's go get a burger, let's have a shake. Monday comes, boom, we're back on it. But the importance of your diets and your food, how much that plays into your well-being.
Speaker 2Hmm, yeah, yeah, I mean, it's everything. It's funny even say that, though, because it's, it's a combination. It's education, of course, you know, like my background's in health, education, public health, and it's education, but it's also Understanding the deeper value behind it, why I'm always concerned with why am I doing this? Why, like, what's the ultimate purpose? What's?
Speaker 1your understand right.
Speaker 2If people don't feel connected to what they're doing, if they don't feel connected to their food, connected to To what they're putting in their bodies, they're not going to follow through on eating, while there always has to be a deeper why to what we're doing and a lot of it, funny enough, like I make shit really complicated sometimes. We all do like. I love the Intricacies and the details of things. I love to like dig into it, but I always come back to the most simple, basic truths. And when it comes to what we put in our bodies, how we move our bodies, our overall health, what we invest in ourselves, it comes back to how much am I worth? Oh, Wow.
Speaker 2How valuable is my body? Yeah how valuable is my mental and emotional well-being? What do I deserve? Because there's, you know, there's short-term pleasure for long-term pain, and then there's short-term a little bit of discomfort for Long-term pleasure girl real quick.
Speaker 1Can you say that one more time what?
Speaker 2did I say? I Will say it again. I'm like, let me think, what did I say? I said there's Short-term pleasure which can yield long-term pain, and then there is short-term discomfort for long-term pleasure. Mmm, food is one of those things. Self-care is one of those things. Moving our bodies Do I love going to the gym? Not always, you know. I found a way to fall in love with it because I say to myself like I love this, like I love my body, I love moving my body. Even the days when it's difficult, I'm in like do I love Cleansing with as much regularity as I do not always? The last one that Jeff and I did my husband was a battle. I was like this is why I don't cleanse with you. When I cleanse by myself, I'm in this zone. It's at a very acidic time, like I'm focused. But the funny thing about the recent cleanse that we did, I was like I know at any given moment I can tell Jeff like you want to go get ice cream and he'll be like okay. Oh yeah.
Speaker 1Yeah.
Speaker 2But even still, like it was funny moving through it with him. Yeah like going through. And it's when I say cleanse like we're not fasting, we're not on an all juice cleanse. It's not that fucking hard.
Speaker 2Right like you're just eating clean, whole, simple foods.
Speaker 2And in Chinese medicine, when it comes to food, when it comes to movement, everyone has a very unique constitution. So what a lot of people don't understand is that is that they need to eat in accordance to their unique body type, to what they need emotionally. If you're the type of person who's always craving sweets, there's a chance that there's an imbalance within your earth element, that you may have digestive issues, that you may have an underlying deficiency in your spleen or in your pancreas, that you may have the tendency to put on weight in certain places and and a whole host of other things. But they think, like there's something wrong with me because I crave sweets, because I have this addictive tendency, because, like, I just have a Sweet tooth and there's nothing I can do about it, as opposed to asking themselves like, is there something that I'm missing that I really need? You know? So it's. It's learning to understand what do you uniquely need? And there's a reason why Chinese medicine is more effective than a lot of other modalities of healing is because it's highly individualized.
Speaker 1Oh, okay.
Speaker 2Everyone needs something different. Wow.
Speaker 1That is so true. Okay, why is the reason why I do ask this? Because I Did have that moment where Mike okay, ate this. I feel like trash. The next day I got done surfing at church, I just took my RV down there. I always park, like we get on the base and park and just hang for the day. It's great, right, it's so cool, it's a fun break. We could be there all day.
Speaker 1And I didn't plan appropriately because I usually take my RV on duty and that's kind of like my thing when I get off, for me to kind of like Get the pressure off of what you know doing with being on shift and all that I go straight to the beach. You usually, if there's no surf, I go skydive. I've got a Paraguay, yeah. Yeah, there's no surfing. Like cool, I'm gonna go to drop zone and go surf or, excuse me, go skydive. Then I go for run and do my thing or whatever. But I Didn't plan. I was excited to get down there because the surf was good. I think it was actually a day. West was down there. We surfed all day, we had blast and I was like man, I am starving. There's a Carl's Jr Over there, which I'm sure you know. I think it's off Kristin.
Speaker 2Oh yeah, my brother lives right there, yeah.
Speaker 1So I'm like you know what? I'm just gonna go over here and just grab a quick double Western bacon cheeseburger. I haven't had one in probably like 10 years, so I get it. I mean it driving away homeless music, it's a great time. I woke up the next day. I was so swollen the face I like my face was tight, dude, everything was kind of like puffy and I thought I'm never having that burger. It's me different now.
Speaker 2I can't you're definitely gonna have. You just got, like it's, fear and fire between man, I was thinking, dude, just from the burger.
Food, Health, and Acupuncture Link Understanding
Speaker 1I mean, yeah, I eat clean, but man, that one, that one thing hit me so hard. And that's when I started connecting. I'm like, okay, I don't want to feel that way again. Because the next day, the whole day, I just felt sluggish, tired, drained and, like you said, short-term pleasure. Right, boy, when that Western bacon cheeseburger went in, right, I was pumping, I was driving a little RV, I was like, dude, surfed all day. This is great. The next day I was like I feel like a blob. I can't do this ever again. But linking that Understanding, like, okay, eating this food made me feel this way. Done, yeah, I don't want to feel that way. I don't like how I felt in the morning. I don't like being sluggish all day because I get up and work out and go move, first thing I did want to do anything the whole day.
Speaker 1So it's like linking for me, linking that together and understanding what that made my body feel like, yeah, I'm not gonna do it for me, it has to be worth it.
Speaker 2You know I love to eat like I'm not one of those girls I love to eat, I love to indulge, like I'm a happy girl, you know, when there's, when there's something good on the table, right. But for me it's ensuring that there's again this balance. So that's really. I mean, that's life, right, that's the seasonality of things, like, that's being in harmony, it's it's balance and knowing how far can I push this? How much room do I have to? How do I, how do I always say this?
Speaker 2So it's not necessarily the best analogy, but it's the one that always helps me, and visually, probably because there's food involved. But it's basically like if you imagine a plate, you know, and your plate's like pretty full, and you even hear that, like in the way that we say things like oh, I've just got so much on my plate. Like when we have a lot on our plate, whether it's, you know, environmental toxins, like you were talking about before, surrounded by plastic, there's shit in the air, like there's things in the water, there's things in my food, like that takes up room on the plate. And If we have a bunch of other crap on the plate, like we have stress on the plate, yeah, we have difficulties in our home life.
Speaker 2On the plate, we have a difficult job, something that taxes us physically and emotionally, and then you're putting on things like bacon cheese burgers and French fries and alcohol and drugs and whatever. It just takes up room. And so when the plate starts to spill over, those are the symptoms that we start to see. It's when we're just at capacity. That's when we start to see things like brain fog and headaches, poor sleep quality, anxiety, depression, bloating, you know whatever it may be. And so the whole idea is you need to do things to take Stuff off your plate, like create a little bit of room, because when you've got a little bit of room on your plate, or when you have enough, you can have that bacon cheese burger and you're like I'm good.
Speaker 2Like there's room on this plate for this. Right now, like I'm feeling centered, I'm feeling strong, I'm feeling well rested, like work's not stressing me out. Home life is good. I've been eating generally, you know, 80% clean. You've got room for these things that take up a little bit more space.
Speaker 1So true, yeah, you just got to fix it. I love how you make it so simple. It's like well, yeah, it is that simple. Like, what are we doing?
Speaker 2Exactly. We love to complicate things, but we also like the simplicity of what it means to be healthy, you know. But when we're unhealthy it can feel so complex, like we're going to one person after the other trying to look for answers, trying to fix it, trying, trying, trying. And in a lot of ways it's like just these few simple things need to come into alignment and then you're good, and then you're cruising, and then difficult things happen and you're like whoa, this is kind of hard, but I'm okay. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2You know, ideally, I know.
Speaker 1Okay, so you do the acupuncture and so people kind of understand what like. So what is acupuncture doing when you're this way? I don't want to sound dumb, right, but you're putting that needle into somebody, right? So people know when you're focusing it on a spot. I mean, I know you can do it for stress or pain, but what is that actually doing? What is that activating?
Speaker 2Good question. This is a big question. There's a lot in there.
Speaker 2There's a lot in there. So, from the very, very simple level, when there's pain in the body, it's because energy's stagnated. So in Chinese medicine they call it Qi, and when Qi stagnates, it creates pain. So Qi stagnates for any number of reasons. It can be physical trauma, it can be roofs literally falling on your head, your poor shoulders, your poor noggin oh my gosh. It can be things you can be in an accident. But it can also come from things that are difficult, like if you've ever been through something emotionally difficult, how stuck you can feel. Yeah, you can feel stuck emotionally. Or you can feel stuck in your career, or you can feel stuck in your relationship. When things get stuck in your life, it creates pain in the body over time.
Speaker 2And how I think of it is almost like our body is a series of rivers, right? So if you think of Qi stagnation like a big boulder being dropped in a river, what happens? Over time? The water starts to move a little bit less freely and something that was once clear and clean and flowing suddenly starts to become a little bit creepy, looking Like it starts to pull up, algae starts to grow. It's no longer clear, like it's diseased, right, the water becomes diseased. So what acupuncture does is it essentially goes in and it removes those boulders, clears out the debris, clears out the buildup, clears out the excess and allows things to flow the way that they're meant to flow.
Speaker 1My goodness, I did acupuncture. I think it was a few years ago, but I remember when I was going in for just my knees, because at the time I was doing ultramarathons. I was running 50, 60 mile rounds. Fuck yeah, it was a fuck. Yeah, but you finish, you feel like you conquer the world and they give you a banana and a cheap medal. It's like all right, go home, good job. We're like that's it, Like I feel like I conquer the world, man.
Speaker 1But yeah, I know it's like yeah get ready for the next one and I remember doing my knees but he suggested hey, you know he's got no me, you know he's a really good dude. He said you do a lot, you do a lot of stress, let's do some acupuncture for stress. I remember him doing that and girl.
Speaker 3Oh my gosh, the rest of the day I was just like dude. I feel great.
Speaker 1Yeah, but I remember like he had some in my hand and then he put one like right there and then put one on top of my head. I remember just like sitting there I was thinking I wonder how crazy it looked right now. You look nuts, trust me, you look crazy I kept looking in between my eyes like dude, what is this thing right here? But it worked, it worked. I was surprised because I was raised in a pretty strict Christian home.
Speaker 1I come from a very faith based home and I have my own faith. I throw it to church every day. Now, like I'm not the poster child for Christianity, I'll tell you right now I'm being a believer, but I have my own relationship with my creator.
Speaker 1That's all it matters to me. But anything outside of praying and church is just like witchcraft. You can't do that right. That's just how I was raised. So to do cambo or try acupuncture, I was always like dude, what's gonna happen? And then to realize like yo, this is great, this isn't witchcraft. This is good stuff.
Speaker 1This is natural healing medicine that will help you and I could say it just from experience. It's been a game changer. It really has. It's realizing like, hey, there's, there are people who are gonna need different programs and doctors for stuff, but if you just try these things first, you might be surprised how well it's gonna work out for you and what it's gonna do, cause it has been life changing for me.
Speaker 1And that's why yeah like, when you sent me your profile and what you're doing, I was like, oh man, she's rad dude, we gotta get her on here, we gotta talk about this, yeah, yeah, and it's funny to even say that you know we can go that route as well.
Speaker 2But when we're open, when we're in alignment, like that is a deeper connection to God or to some sort of higher power or higher purpose or whatever it is that people believe in. But that's been the interesting thing was it was really like through combo, through ayahuasca, that I rediscovered faith in something greater. It's like how could you not? You know?
Speaker 1I 100% agree with you. I mean gosh, just to even know how you're, how magnificent the body is, I mean and this is not to get like crazy spiritual, but I'm just thinking like-, but we can.
Speaker 1Yeah, I mean, it's even to think when two people come together and you create a human being, the miracle behind that. I saw this video the other day and it was showing when the sperm actually implants the egg. I can't remember what they called it, but a ring of light hits around that egg and I was like I remember stopping it. I got super emotional. I was like this is glorious. This is so beautiful yeah now.
Speaker 1That being said, I am a paramedic still right. So I'm going to paramedic school. We have to. It's like a crash course of medicine.
Speaker 1It's hard but you spend like a couple of days in labor and delivery. Yo, a shout out to all the ladies. Okay, so much respect. I passed out. I'm there trying to learn. And I fell to my knees. Okay, I was like yo, what is going on here, man? This was like 12, 15 years ago. You know, you think you're some hot shot young firefighter, I can see and do anything.
Speaker 1And I got there. It was like 7 am I supposed to be there? 7 to 7, right, hey, you need to help deliver babies so you can do it in the field. All right, cool, let's do this. Right? Hey, tim, come in here. We got emergency C-section. I was like, yeah, let's do this. Man, girl, girl. The things I saw. I was like they had the clamps, things spread and they're pulling guts out, they're putting it up. I was just like that's. When I fell to my knees, I was like I fell down. They said get him out of here. I remember leaving that day. I think I helped deliver like three or four babies. One was emergency C-section. I drove home in silence. I was like what is life?
Speaker 2I told my sisters I was like you guys are warriors Warriors.
Speaker 1okay, that childbirth is radical.
Speaker 2It's radical.
Speaker 1It's like it's beautiful but insane at the same time. It's amazing. Anyway, it's not too cool if I rap, but no, it's a good way, I was like dude. What the heck Life is a miracle.
Speaker 2It's a miracle. And I say that all the time because, again, we lose hope a little bit in our bodies. Sometimes we lose hope in what we're capable of. And I tell people always, again and again and again the body is designed to heal. Everything in our body is meant to heal. So if you're holding on to pain, it's there for a reason Until it's ready, until you're giving yourself what you need in order to fully heal, and it's. You know, not everyone gives themselves that opportunity, not everyone meets their body in that collaborative space.
Speaker 1Yeah, I hear you on that. I 100% agree. It's hard, because how do you kind of the best way to put this, how do you? It's almost like I tell people you can't teach motivation but how? Do you teach someone to try and get in line with themselves?
Speaker 1you know, to try to figure out their inner selves and who they are. Don't worry about your external circumstances, you know. Get this in here right first, and then everything else will follow. Like if my home life, where I'm internally off, I have such a hard time focusing at work. That's a bad thing to say, right Cause it's like we're helping people, but it's like I need to. I need to be 100% internally, physically, spiritually and also at home, where, like, it affects everything in my life, everything. That's why, for me, I'm like gosh. I've learned that I need to take care of myself. How am I going to keep pouring into others if my glasses aren't getting filled? It just doesn't work that way.
Speaker 1It won't work. So, girl, you're such a rock star, now your business do you also do in person, or is it all web based?
Speaker 2It's web based. Yeah, so I do see people in person, but it's all referral only, so I generally don't accept new patients, unless it's coming from another patient. Yeah, but it's all online these days.
Speaker 1And how do people get in contact with you?
Speaker 2Yeah, so I mean you can find me on Instagram.
Speaker 1Let's go.
Speaker 2It's at thebalancedhealer. My website is thebalancedwomensystemcom. You can also just shoot me an email infoatthebalancedwomensystemcom. I loved basically, I like to chat, like chat with people for a living. I'm like everyone just messaged me Like if you want to talk, we can talk. I was like I don't know Tim, I'll talk to Tim, we're good, I don't care.
Speaker 1Yeah, Wes is like hey man. You think, Hannah, come on, I'm like, I was like I don't know.
Speaker 3Yeah, I don't care, I don't know who she is but yeah, bring her on, man, let's talk with it.
Speaker 1Oh my gosh, so do you come back out here often or do you stay on the East Coast?
Speaker 2Yeah, so my family's here. Yeah, they're in California and Hawaii. So we're here, we're here a lot.
Speaker 1Okay, please tell me you're getting surfed in. Yeah, okay, so do you have to learn how to?
Speaker 2surf. He is gone. Bless the man. He actually learned how to surf at Surf Ranch. Oh, he did. Oh my God, they got him in the water they got him in the coach. Yeah, he got it together, bro. That's so cool. He has no fucking idea what to do. What better place, though?
Speaker 1I mean, why not oh?
Speaker 2my gosh, that's super cool Serving perfect little waves here. He's funny yeah.
Speaker 1Yeah, keep him going, keep him going, keep him going.
Speaker 2I will tell you the relief when I realized I'm like, oh, he's okay in the ocean. Oh, he's like this. He's from New York, you know, born and raised. He always calls himself like an upstate rube, like the man didn't see the light of day until he was 25, that's why his skin's so perfect. Still he's 42, he looks like he's 20.
Speaker 1Get out of here, he looks good. Oh, does my man, jeff, have a skincare routine?
Speaker 2No, what he doesn't know.
Speaker 1Okay, all right, I'm gonna talk to him after and find the sea.
Speaker 2It's because he didn't see the light of day. He grew up in basically Canada, but he's a competent swimmer. Okay, totally good to go. Goes to the beach with me every day that we're home, I love it.
Speaker 1How was that first time taking the water? Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2There was definitely a moment where he was like, oh, this is a little scary, you know.
Speaker 1Bro's too fierce.
Speaker 2I took him like in front of the house with like an extra heavy beach break. I'm like you just run in really quick in between sets, you'll be totally fine. I was like just don't just keep going. I'm like if you hesitate you're gonna get worked Like just go Right my dad.
Speaker 1You probably heard me talk about Wes when he took me out when I was eight. We used to like boogie board and stuff, yeah, and the surfers. Finally, he never forced on us. I said hey, dad, I want to surf. Okay, and we? You know one more, we went foggy.
Speaker 1He just gives me a board and he just goes. I'll see you out there in the break. Oh my God, what? What are you talking about, dude? I got throttled. I remember saying he's like, whatever you do, don't give up. Yeah, just get out there. And one of the best moments I ever had to this day it's still so etched in my mind but finally paddling and figuring out, bouncing the board and I was paddling out, I was so terrified. I still remember that feeling. You're just this little kid. Everything looks huge, it's foggy, like you barely see the waves when we're probably like eight feet away from you coming in and I finally made it out to breakwater.
Speaker 2Exhausted.
Speaker 1Exhausted, but as soon as I'm getting out there, I see this guy coming through the fog. He's taking this left. It looked huge to me. I'm a little kid. He was my dad and he had his classic 60s stance and he's whistling doing his thing.
Speaker 3I was like yeah, I remember doing, I was like that is my hero.
Speaker 1You know I want to be this guy. It was just. It was such a beautiful moment.
Speaker 2It's that moment, I mean my dad still serves the same way.
Speaker 1Oh, I love it.
Speaker 2Arms up In the tube Extra well.
Speaker 1Yeah, he's always dude, always like this he's got, he's 82 and he's still going. Oh, so good. It's just awesome. He has this group over here at Bolshechiko. I don't know if you've heard probably. Bolshechiko and it's like 16.5. All these old dudes hang out. They get there right when it opens. They got food out for each other, they talk and they go surf for three minutes and then come out.
Speaker 2That's it.
Speaker 1It's so rad to see.
Speaker 2It's like it really is.
Speaker 1Yeah, and it's good because I can see how much that's helped my dad just from. He was a green beret for 22 years. Like he's a tough man. But I had a brother who passed away in a car accident in 2004.
Speaker 2He was 18.
Speaker 1And I just my dad being such a tough man, that was the first time in my life I ever saw him break down and that was really difficult time. That moment was hard, but just the years after that, the amount of pain that you still see your parents and like life goes on. I think that's what's also the hardest part. I mean, the sun still rises and sets.
Speaker 1You still got to pay bills you still have responsibilities, and seeing how difficult that was on him and my mom, but also seeing what the ocean did for him. He never stopped surfing.
Speaker 1I knew that was his go-to he still he just goes, it's like that's his. I spent his mantra for so long for him and seeing how it's just brought so much healing and so much fun. And I remember talking to him the other day and you know we were chatting, sitting at his house, he's over here in Lakewood, he's not far, and we were talking. He just brought it up. He was like you know, those those years after your brother passed, when we were surfing together, were some of the best years of my life. He's like that's exactly what I needed at that time. It was so hard I didn't. He said he tried his best to help the family but he was trying to figure out the struggle for himself and that pain of losing a child. But like it gets emotional talk about now. But to him saying like yeah, you meet me, meeting me at the beach and still going when you were a teenager and what we did together, like he said, that meant more to me than anything. You know it's like gosh. I love the ocean.
Speaker 2Like I don't want to give this up, so it's just one of those eternal things. Oh, it's so beautiful.
Speaker 1Yeah, I mean it's, he's also been out. When I was out on like a it was about like a. I want to say it was like 14, 16 feet. I was the only idiot out there on a longboard going for it. Yeah, and I, I I think there's a bunch of people on the beach watching. Anyways, I probably charged more than I probably should on the boards I have, but it's like hey, we're at the beach, let's go. Man, I ended up wiping out on like the second way a huge wall.
Speaker 1Well, I ended up like hurting my neck, yeah, and I was in the hospital for like three days. My poor dad washed the whole thing because the pretty much went straight down the longboard.
Speaker 1The board shot up and just smacked me in the head there's a big gouge out of the board and then I couldn't feel my arms and legs. I was like hey dad, I think we need to go to the hospital, yeah. But he was like he'll take, he brings it up. He's like remember that time you were stupid and went out on a 16 foot day?
Speaker 2It was a really good idea. Yeah, I know, I was like hey man, that's how legends are made, bro, let's go.
Speaker 1Oh my gosh. Yeah, but he was like that was really tough Cause. When you wiped out, I was like that was one of the only times I've ever been scared of watching you surf. I was like sorry, dad, but it's pretty rad.
Speaker 2I mean the things we sacrifice for something that is just pure pleasure. And to touch on what you said earlier, like, how do we motivate people? Yeah, people are very simple. Like we move towards pleasure and away from pain. So if we associate pleasure with something that's challenging, that's difficult, and we say things like I love a good challenge, it makes it feasible to move through these things that are difficult. So, just to wrap it up, we don't need to hone in on it anymore.
Speaker 2but it's like people come to me when they are desperate to get away from pain and they are willing to do whatever it takes change their diet, change their lifestyle, change their relationships, change their careers because they know what it's like to struggle and they're willing to do what it takes to no longer feel that way.
Speaker 1Yeah, it sucks when you have to get to that point.
Speaker 2Yeah, yeah, many times, absolutely.
Speaker 1What's in. It is like dude what is going on?
Small Actions Improve Mental Health
Speaker 2Yeah, that's what makes us who we are.
Speaker 1Yeah, and one of the last things I want to talk about with you too, is we talked about this, the type of medicine you do, and it's amazing and how can that be related to a lot of people who listen here that are dealing with a lot of mental health things? Because that's a big thing now, and it actually has been a long time. It's just been taboo to talk about. I'm not afraid to talk about it on here at all I go to therapists.
Speaker 1I need to start seeing them again. I haven't gone a few weeks but it's helped me so much. But how is some of that medicine going to help with the people that I work with with their PTSD and the things that they're going through?
Speaker 2Yeah, so I mean, it's a combination of things. There's always what we do for ourselves and there's always the help that we seek from other people. So when we're at least trying, you know, when we're at least doing little things day in and day out, it's these little, consistent things that will ultimately lead to bigger results. And that is why, like I talk about, you know, faith, I talk about hope, I talk about trusting that there is a bigger picture to this. Your life is one big, long experience and if you're caught up in just a couple of chapters where things are difficult, you forget what it's like to really heal. And when it comes to mental and emotional health, it's recognizing that it's temporary if you want it to be, that you can come back to center, you can reclaim your health, you can reclaim your life. That it is your right as a human being to live a life that is fulfilling, that is more meaningful, and I have seen people overcome extraordinary obstacles and extraordinary odds, but it's really. It's starting small.
Speaker 2You know it's small, small things out up to bigger results.
Speaker 2Like I think about it all the time, like you know, we could go to the gym one day and be like, okay, I'm gonna like work out, I'm gonna get really fit and really healthy and go to the gym for eight hours and we might feel really good about ourselves, but walk out of there feeling like am I really seeing any results? Am I really seeing any shifts or any changes, as opposed to if we're dedicated and we're like, okay, I'm just gonna commit to doing 20 or 30 minutes three times a week, at the end of a month or two you're going to feel different. So, with our mental health, with our emotional well being, like these daily practices, these little rituals, these little things that we do for ourselves whether it's making healthier food choices or seeing an acupuncturist, or asking someone for help, or just taking that first step into the therapist's office just opening up your mind a little bit in terms of you know, small things you can do that's ultimately what leads to you feeling like you're yourself again and that you're in control.
Speaker 1I'm glad you said it's little things. I think a lot of times, at least for myself, you think it's gotta be this huge change. You know big life moment, you know it's like. Just be faithful in the small.
Speaker 2Yeah, it's not sustainable. I think big shifts, big moments are also important, but just these little things that we do for ourselves, like waking up and drinking a lemon water, eating a little bit of fruit today, you know, choosing to eat just a hamburger instead of the bacon cheeseburger Well, that's like a little bit. Maybe a little bit of bacon Maybe just like a little bit. Really, can I just have like one piece of bacon?
Speaker 1No, that's that is gosh, you're so right and all that it really is.
Speaker 2I mean it's, it is a small it adds up faithful in the small things. Be faithful in the small things.
Speaker 1Absolutely Now, real quick. Are you really getting your PhD right now?
Speaker 2My doctorate yeah doctorate.
Speaker 1Yo, can we just celebrate this for a second. That's a big deal. Okay, so I'm working on my masters right now and I have I have six classes left 14 to take.
Speaker 1And let me tell you, I am so done. I can't. I'm just like this needs to end. I've never written so many papers in my entire life and I'm thinking why am I going to do this? I can't sit still. I'm like I kind of got to keep myself occupied doing stuff. I mean, it's gonna make me better. But I thought about the PhD. You know, I think I was like four classes and I'm like, yeah, do you want to roll like I'm passing with Bs and as we'll do this? And in one of my classes I had to write a long research paper. I was done. I was done because I talked to somebody at the college about hey what's your PhD program Like?
Speaker 1well, you're gonna have to take this class first and research writing and this and that. And to anyone who has a PhD, god bless you. Straight up. That is dedication, Even the masters, Because right now I'll tell you right, it's so hard and I'm done with this. I just want to throw it up. Okay, reality is I'm paying for it, so I'm like you can't quit, like you're in bro, yeah, you're in it to win it, you got to finish, but what? So what's the PhD that you're working on?
Speaker 2I mean, you bring up such a good point just with that right there. When you are invested in something, you show up. I'm a big fan of paying for things because I know that when I pay, I'm in, I'm making the most of it, like I'm, I'm all in. Yeah, so it's um, it's a doctorate in Chinese medicine. So it's funny because at this point I have one, four, eight, I have about 10 or 11 years of formal higher education under my belt and even still in China, I'd be a doctor. I'd be a doctor, like at this point in my education, with, with my experience, with my clinical hours, with, with everything I've done.
Speaker 2But in the U S it's, you know, it's a credentialed society, which I appreciate. I'm like, I want people to be competent at what they do, I want them to be dedicated. If someone's sticking needles in me, like I want them to know what the fuck they're doing, plain and simple. So it's really just that, that deeper understanding of Chinese medicine, of how it relates to, to people on a global scale, and it's just this next, next step in the journey. And for me, like education and investing in myself, investing in my ability to deliver to other people, is ultimately all about being in service, so I want to be the best that I possibly can be so that I can help other people do the same.
Speaker 1Well I want to say hugely impressed. Please keep going and don't don't, don't quit, keep going. It's, it's encouraging, it's really cool. When you sent me and I saw that what you said about you know kind of about yourself or rundown I was like yo, this girl's got some brainpower man. I just put water on fire. It's pretty simple. It's like the wet stuff on the red stuff, man, it goes out. So I saw that. I was like dude Hannah's red, like heck, yeah. But I could say thank you so, so much for taking the time to be here. I know you have a busy schedule. It was great hanging with you and your husband and family at the Deadman's Luao, what you're doing with your business and the education I mean it's just, it's all such great things. Keep going.
Speaker 1Thank you you don't know the lives that you're going to impact with what you're doing. And I say this a lot with people. It's like you brought up that ripple effect you just throw that rock in, boom right that you don't know how many people just from touching one life, how that's going to continue to ripple out. So, if I can be encouraging, keep going, yeah. Thank you you have no idea the amount of lives you're probably going to impact until you're off this earth.
Speaker 1And then you'll know be like oh wow, I actually did good.
Speaker 2Looking down like oh yeah, that was me. Did you see that?
Speaker 1So thank you so much for being here and being so open and chatting. We're really appreciate it. You and Jeff will always have a place in our home if you guys ever need anything. Thank you so much Always here and if he wants to serve when he's up here, I got like 12 boards to tell him to come. Just grab, I'll give him the code in the garage. Just pick your and pick anyone you want, bro.
Speaker 2Oh my gosh, we're in, so thank you so much for coming on.
Speaker 1At the end of every podcast, we do a. Let's go on the count of three. You ready? Yeah, okay, one, two, three, let's go. Bye everybody. Thank you so much for listening in. If you liked what you just listened to, please do a five star review on Apple podcast and on Spotify. Please follow us on YouTube, on Instagram and on Facebook, and a big shout out to Stephen Clark, our sound editor. He's a huge part of this team. That is unseen. It's eight nine barbers. Our first sponsor Look good, feel good, be great. That's two locations Orange, california and Long Beach, california. Book your appointment online. Eight nine barberscom. Bye everybody.
