Studio Chat
This is where conversations about self care and life happens, to help you to become an expert in your own life when it comes to self love and self care. To trust your gut and have your own back and to strengthen your mind/body connection."To fall in love with yourself is the first secret to happiness".
Studio Chat
Shamanic Healing & Brain Health with Laura Martinez
Laura Martinez, M.Ed. in Clinical Mental Health
Teacher on Insight Timer App | Featured on the Dr Phil Show
Laura is a multifaceted professional, seamlessly merging her roles as a Spiritual Healer, Author, Speaker, and Meditation Guide. Drawing on her scientific training and expertise, Laura enriches her approach with a deep understanding of shamanic practices, a legacy she inherited from her great-grandmother, the renowned healer Guadalupe Galvan Rivera (1906-1970).
Rooted in Mexiquito, Texas, Laura's ancestral lineage has been a wellspring of healing wisdom, with her great-grandmother, affectionately known as Lupe, being celebrated for her curandero practice and a unique blend of spiritual insight and holistic approach. Laura delves into the transformative processes that echo Lupe's practices, employing rituals, cleanings, and energy work to address internal obstacles, unraveling the intricate connections between negative brain imagery and neurological patterns that ensnare and haunt our lives.
In this episode we talk about shamanic practices and the importance of nurturing brain health as a cornerstone of self care. Much like a garden needs regular tending, our brains require ongoing maintenance through therapy and brain mapping. Laura also shares with us her unforgettable experience on the Dr. Phil show.
Instagram: @dfwspirituality
Website: https://dfw-spirituality.com
Facebook: dfw spirituality
Podcast: The Shamanic Healer on Apple Podcast
Welcome to the Studio Chat podcast, the podcast designed to be your companion in the journey of self-discovery. I'm Barbara Thompson, your host and a dedicated therapist. I'm the founder and owner of Self Care Studio, a private counseling practice With my clients and courses that I create. On this podcast, I'm committed to ensuring that you have the support that you need. I created this podcast as a space for you to feel a sense of connection and a reminder that you're not alone in this thing that we call life, this adventure. This podcast is your weekly reminder to trust yourself, live life authentically and embrace the path that is uniquely yours. Together, we'll explore ways to break free from people pleasing, overthinking, allowing you to claim your time and energy to live life on your terms. You'll be joined by myself as I take you through some episodes or, during the year, I'll have some special self-care experts as guests on my podcast. So, if you're ready to step into a life that's truly for you, join me on this journey. Let's navigate the twists and turns of life together and, more importantly, live your life for you. So thank you so much for choosing to spend some time with me today.
Speaker 1:Let the studio chat begin. Hi, everyone, I would love to welcome you back to another episode of the Studio Chat Podcast. So today is episode 125. And when I started this podcast, it's all about conversations about self-care, but that's kind of just the cloak of it. It's really deep conversations of coming to this podcast as a platform how can I take care of myself? What's going on? And today I'm so excited that we get to travel to one of my favorite places in the world. Texas. Fort Worth is where we're actually at the moment and I'm talking to Laura Martinez.
Speaker 1:Now we're going to talk about something, a lot of things. We're talking about science, spirituality, healing, but I think the overarching topic of why you've clicked on this is we're talking about healing ourself. Healing ourself through our body, nature, animals. And healing ourself doesn't necessarily mean that you go through a big event in our life. Like some of us have been through a traumatic event. We've seen something or we've watched something, we've heard something, we've felt something. But sometimes, when we say trauma or something that we've been through that we need to heal, the stuff that we even don't realize that we've been through is so habitual or something that's happened in our life that we think it's normal. So and I love everything about Laura, we've been just talking before I hit record and what I love about. Like on logo it says like the sacred life, but it's become an expanded version of yourself. It's like not keeping yourself small. Anything's possible. So I'd love to welcome you to my podcast, laura.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much for having me on, barbara. I am so stoked to be here and I'm so excited to have this conversation today.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I'm learning too. So anyone listening to this, I'm right alongside you learning about all these new modalities today. So one thing that we're going to talk about is the shamanic practices. I purposely I know of kind of what that is and most podcast hosts probably would actually research that and have heaps of questions to ask you. But I'm a little bit different. If I don't know something, I'm really honest and I sat with that and thought you know what I'm going to come to you. If someone else was listening to this podcast going, I know the word, I've heard of it I could probably pretend to you and say, oh yeah, I know it. I actually don't. So first of all, can you share with us what is a shamanic, what is a shamanic practice?
Speaker 2:So a shamanic practice is aligning with your most authentic self, with using all of the natural resources that are available to you. So this could be nature, your coping skills, your breath, anything that you feel that you have naturally in the world, animals. These are things and mechanisms to help you heal. So it is a very holistic approach.
Speaker 2:And medication, really besides plant medicine, pharmaceutical medication is what I mean when I say that is really this last ditch effort and in shamanism you really want to rely on everybody in your I call it your tribe, everybody in your tribe. You want to rely on your breath, coping skills, walking in nature, grounding, putting your feet in the earth, relying on the power of spirit, animals and going on internal journeys to help you heal and go inside. So it is deep, introspective work and a lot of the times in shamanism I'll use ceremonies and rituals and we'll talk about imagery that's maybe locked in your subconscious mind or in your psyche imagery that's maybe locked in your subconscious mind or in your psyche and just getting into a deeper state of awareness about who you are and what you bring into the world and healing on the level of the body, the mind and the spirit because everything's connected.
Speaker 1:That is so beautiful. Okay, how did this all? I? I do, I know a little little bit of this, cause I did have a look at your website, but I'm actually just going to ask you the question how did this all come about for you living this way? And obviously you're you're if anyone that doesn't know, you're also a licensed therapist. Um, so we have a bit in common of you know of what we do and our day job. Um, how did this all? How did this lifestyle, how did this way of living, come about for you?
Speaker 2:Well, it's quite interesting because I do have genetic ties to shamanism. My great-grandma was actually a famous healer in Mexiquito, texas, and I did not know that, though when I started my shamanic journey, I had no idea about her and what she did. I had a trip to Costa Rica. I like to do solo trips, and I've been doing solo trips since I was about 19 years old. I'm a big adventurer and kind of a gypsy heart To me. That's a very important part of me. So on one of my trips to Costa Rica, I stumbled upon and I'm doing air quotes if you can't see me for those that are listening, because I really do believe that everything is synchronistic and it was meant to be. I worked with a couple, a shaman couple, and I had this transcendental experience of seeing a peacock, and it was so intense and so unique, and I had never had an experience that completely shifted my perception in a short amount of time. And, by the way, I always say shamanic therapy sessions are almost like 1000 therapy sessions in one, because they're so deep and they're so intense and they truly do shift our psyche. So when I had that experience, I was forever changed. I wasn't looking back, and years later I started working at a mental health treatment center substances and addiction treatment center and I started bringing back the shamanic way to this treatment center and doing the work with clients and the therapist there, because I ran a department. So the therapist there were asking me what are you doing with the clients? Because they are having these magical experiences in your office and we just want to know what's happening. And it was because the sessions were just so much on a deeper level than anything they'd experienced before.
Speaker 2:So while I was doing this work, my grandma actually asked me. She said tell me what you do, like, what do you do at work? And sometimes and you probably can relate to this you give people the just half answer of I'm a healer, I work with clients. You don't really get into it, but with her I got into it.
Speaker 2:I said I'm doing the shamanic work and my grandma got so teary-eyed and she said my mother did that work and I always get goosebumps every time I talk about this. And she said my mother did that work and I always get goosebumps every time I talk about this. And I said what she said your great grandmother was a curandera, so in Spanish that's a healer, right and she had to do it in the middle of the night and she would take people to the mountains and do healing work with them. She said I remember when I was a little girl there would be people knocking on the door in the middle of the night wanting healing and she would have to leave the house and take them somewhere else and she just couldn't believe it. She was like you're doing the work your great grandma did. So it was a complete surprise and a complete, you know, just a shock to my system, and since then I've been doing work through her, kind of channeling her and being really intentional about inviting her in my healing sessions with me.
Speaker 1:That's pretty cool, yeah, dynamic duo, you two, that's so powerful.
Speaker 2:It is. It is so powerful. It's just there's something. It goes to show that there's something about your genetic code that is very invested in a spiritual way that even we don't understand or know about.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so when we say, like the shamanic practices in a session, let's just go with that for a second, or the retreats or anything that you hold, what's something that someone's listening to this that we could talk about, to introduce them to this practice?
Speaker 2:so usually if you go to a therapist office, you go in and you you sit on the chair and you just kind of have this conversation back and forth, right, and that's a that's a beautiful form too, because that's very healing as well. If you're going to do an intentional, intentional shamanic journey, there's going to be a mat laid out in the floor, right, right, and you might, you know, you check in with your practitioner before and then you lay down on this mat and you can be blindfolded if you want and you start the healing session and that can be doing energy work with the body and you don't even have to touch the body to do this energy work and you can do cleansings. So using different instruments, like the drum is my favorite, that's my instrument the drum, the rattle, sound therapy bowls, the Tibetan bowls, using sage herbs, using anything that is sacred that helps that person to cleanse their energy and to heal. So different types of shamanic practices are going to call for different things. So the shamanic journey, which is my favorite, is called the flight of the spirit or the flight of the soul, and what that means is you're giving permission for your soul to journey. So you're laying down on the mat and you're taking down this journey like a guided meditation, and then you know, you count down and you go into a trance state.
Speaker 2:So for my neuroscience people out there, what's happening in the brain is your brain is going into the theta brainwave form, which theta is that time in your brain whenever you go into high creativity and it's also whenever we go into REM sleep. So a lot of times these journeys they feel like very lucid dreams. That's basically what you're doing when you're journeying, and after I guide them I play the drum. The consecutive drum beat actually allows the brain to stay in the theta brain wave because drumming is powerful for the brain and so people go into having these cathartic experiences, but sometimes they're dark experiences too.
Speaker 2:Basically, anything that happens in the psyche needs to be brought up to the consciousness, into the conscious mind. So sometimes somebody comes in and their intention is okay, I want to do some inner child healing, which I do a lot of and we go in and something else comes up, like maybe they have an experience with an ancestor. I had a woman one time that had coffee with Jesus Christ and she was like I never even connected with Jesus Christ. This is something not even in my scope, right. So people can have these very intense spiritual awakenings, but they can also have these awakenings where something is brought forth that has been stuck in their psyche or their subconscious that they had no idea, like trauma you know that they were unaware of. So it's really important that when you work with a client, that you really know how to handle any kind of experience that comes up to the surface yeah, yeah, it's very special work, but at the same time, you really got to take care of that person with you.
Speaker 1:Um, yeah, so I'm just thinking is it something best guided with someone like you? To start with, if someone's listening to this going, I want to heal my body. I'm really interested in the spiritual side. I'm really interested in my getting to know who I am and understand my mind-body connection. Do you think these practices it's good to see someone like you, or can you like I know that you? I saw in your bio that you're a teacher on the insight time app and I'm a big fan of that app, so I obviously it's fantastic. So I reckon anyone listening to this like now, they're gonna go go find you. I mean, I guess that's one way of starting to tap into this is maybe starting with listening to one of those, one of your tracks on the app, maybe.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's a great way to get your feet wet and just seeing what it's like. I would say that I've had many clients who were just ready to do the deep work and because of that and they'd never been exposed to any shamanic type of healing before, but because they were so ready and willing to do that deep work, it was magical for them. And I always have consults with clients before I take them on and I tell them I'm more of an intensive healer. So if you're kind of just looking to talk about your issues but not really take any action, I'm totally not the practitioner for you. I'm not that person for you.
Speaker 2:Maybe start with doing work with somebody else or doing like self-help healing books, right, but I always tell people if you're going to work with me, it's because you're ready to dig deep. But if you're not ready to dig deep, I'm not sure I'm not your woman, I'm not your shaman shamanic practitioner. That's not who I am for you. So, um, so yeah, I I would say, if you're completely like a fish out of water and you're sad, I don't really know what this is, yeah, go do some meditations and you can find me on insight timer. Laura Martinez is my name on there. I'm the only Laura Martinez in the app, which is really nice because that's usually not the case. That's such a common name. But go on there and do a spirit animal journey or an inner child healing journey and just see, see what happens inside, see what shifts for you.
Speaker 1:Tell child healing journey and just see, see what happens inside, see what shifts for you. Tell me more what's? What's the spirit animal?
Speaker 2:journey. What's that so? Spirit animal in meditation? I mean in shamanism, excuse me, um, on the app, it's a meditation, but in shamanism there's a belief that animals are spirit forms and if you love animals and you get to know them and Barbara and I were actually talking about our dogs before we got on and if you know them, you know that they love you unconditionally. They just have that ability to love unconditionally automatically and for us humans that's a very difficult thing for us to do. To actually achieve unconditional love is hard. So shamans believe that animals are angels or spirit forms that are here to guide us and that we can connect to these different animals or spirit forms anytime we need to. So I'll give you an example of how that's helpful.
Speaker 2:In a session, I had a client one time and she was a powerful woman, or she is a powerful woman, but she was a CEO of a huge fortune 500 company, super adequate and powerful and strong, like, so strong in her masculine Right and every time she went to dinner at her husband's house with his family. They just did not. They were not like that. They were traditional women who were like more you know, homemakers and stayed at home, and she was just classy, clashing with her mother in law big time, and so she said I don't know what to do.
Speaker 2:And I said we need to shape, shift your energy. Said what kind of animal to you would be a gentle and sweet and kind? She said, well, a lamb. A lamb would be. And so I had her channel in the lamb energy and bring that calm, soothing, nurturing energy in. And I said I want you to visualize the lamb before you go over to your husband's home. And so she did, and she texted me that night and she was like, oh my gosh, the lamb worked. I was the lamb and I was received better than I ever have. So spirit, animal imagery can help us just shift into a different perception or in a different energetic awareness. And a thing about shamanisms is we believe that energy, any kind of energy, is available to us at all times. We just have to know how to shape, shift and get into that energy and become that energy energy and become that energy.
Speaker 1:I really love that example because when you think of any I know a lot of very high-powered women and strong women listen to my podcast and you think about when you're in that mindset and you're masculine and you have to take care of yourself and you have to get business done and you have that heaviness on you. You are carrying that masculine energy. But to be even to be open to you saying I want you to channel a lamb, I really get this feeling of someone in that position or anyone listening to this that's got that same energy. You'd be like are you kidding me? I'm going to channel an animal. Like I felt that energy. Like you know, did this woman ever question that or was she really ready to do the work?
Speaker 2:That's a really great question. She was perplexed for sure, and at that point in our in our journey together and our healing journey together, we had worked with each other for maybe three or four months. So all of the things that we were doing, she trusted me. She said I don't know, this seems so. I think she even used the term bat shit crazy. This seems bat shit crazy, but I'm going to do it. She said I don't know, this seems so. I think she even used the term batshit crazy. This seems batshit crazy, but I'm going to do it. She said I'm going to do it because I trust you and I believe you and I believe this can work. And so, yeah, it's kind of like. Really, I love using shamanic principles because it's thinking outside of the box and doing things that our brain is just not used to doing.
Speaker 1:But why not? Like really and all this stuff is really new to me too Like obviously we're on this never-ending. I always say to my clients, you know, when they have these breakthroughs, they're like how come I go forward and then I feel like I've gone 10 steps back and I'm like no, no, you haven't, and that's what. What? As a therapist, our job is to reflect back. Actually, the first time I saw you or if I reflect back to this session, you were feeling this, and now you're feeling this and they go. Oh, but what the thing is is I even remember my own therapy journey. Um, you know, I was, I was like evolving and growing, and then I just, you know, just feels like a knock after knock, because every step you get up, there's another thing to learn, there's another. And I remember saying to my therapist but I think I said, oh fuck. I said when does this end? Like, and she was like, she laughed, she smiled and shook her head and said never. This is lifelong it doesn't.
Speaker 1:I wanted that gold star. You know when you're a kid and you get the stamp on your hand or you get the gold star chart. I was aiming for that. Oh, the pinnacle. Yes, I've got there. No more therapy and I'm healed and I'm great. And I think, after so many knocks and I was breaking through and I was like, cool, yes, but something had happened and I felt like again like my clients reflected back to me all the time I feel like I'm not going forward. This is such a slog and when am I going to get better? Or when am I going to be fixed? And like none of us are broken. But it was interesting that I know personally. In that moment, you think, when am I going to get the thing, when am I going to feel that top feeling? And for someone to say to me, yeah, it's lifelong. I was like, oh, you're kidding me.
Speaker 2:Like I know, I know, and I get so amazed by my clients too, because I get to this point where we start like kind of weaning down when they see me which you know, cause you, you do this work and I say you know, I don't think you need to really come see me anymore.
Speaker 2:Um, you know cause you, you do this work. And I say you know, I don't think you need to really come see me anymore. Um, you know, you kind of, you're kind of good in this way that you can do this on your own, you can self self heal yourself. And they'll say, oh, no, no, I don't think I want to, I want to continue coming Right, because it's it's realize this is a never ending journey and having that support of someone who knows what they're doing is so special and so important. And I remember having that same realization, barbara, in my own therapy work, because I have my own therapist and I told her, I said I'm just going to become an E, you know, and I it's. Once you get to that surrender and you relinquish control, you're like, okay, well, that's, that's it, that's it's okay for me to be here for a while.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah and that's. But then when you come through, I don't want to say to the other side, but when you really, like, realized why you've, I think there's a really big aha moment in your life when you realize everything you've been through is for a reason. Everything is connected every conversation, every job, every human, every animal, everything that you meet connects you to the next thing, connects you to the next thing. And when you get that new job or you find that new partner, what happens is every experience and lesson you've learned brings you to that. I think anyone listening to this could reflect back. You know, I'll just think about a job, because a lot of people can relate to work. So say, if you've got this job now, I can guarantee, without even knowing you, the job that you've got now you couldn't have done unless you had all the other jobs beforehand.
Speaker 2:Exactly You're so. You just gave me goosebumps. You just really gave me goosebumps because you're so right. It's like a journey, and you know, I don't know if you've ever worked in the corporate world, but I felt like, oh, I just not, I'm just not meant for a box, you know, and I do believe, though, that my time working in corporate America really benefited me becoming an entrepreneur, and you know. So it's just looking at your journey, and looking at how different parts of your journey have been catalyst to get you exactly where you are right now that's right.
Speaker 1:I've never been corporate, I've been kind of on the my background's marketing, so I've always kind of been on the cusp, like in the middle, like working for a privately owned company, but there's still politics within the company, um, but no, I, I couldn't be told what to do. I the thought of even wearing a shirt. You know how you wear a shirt and a pencil skirt, like it was just the heebie-jeebies, you know. And the shirt. You know, if anyone could ever find a button-up shirt that when you sit down doesn't gape and show your boobs, I think a woman, no matter what size your chest is, there's a whole. You have the work shirt and you button it up and you sit down and it just has that game. And I always work in a male-dominated industry. So I would never be wearing a shirt because, uh, let's just say no, it's awful, I mean, it really is.
Speaker 2:and I still look at my closet sometimes, barbara and I see these like suit, pants, outfits and I said, why do I still have these? I just need to get rid of these. I'll never wear this stuff again. I'm like kind of like a dances with wolves motif, you know, with my shamanic stuff that I wear, and it's beautiful now that it sounds like you also get to be your authentic self at work, which is such a beautiful experience.
Speaker 1:yeah, yeah, it's, it's nice. Well, obviously I have my own private practice, like you do, like I work for myself, so I love it. I'm my own boss.
Speaker 2:Um, yeah, good and bad, that comes with that yes, yes, there is definitely some negatives, but, uh, the positives definitely outweigh it, for sure, for sure, for sure, there's something on here on your bio that I'm sure everyone, when you're a guest on everyone's podcast they're gonna ask you.
Speaker 1:You're gonna know what I'm gonna ask you. Um, but on your bio it did say the Dr Phil show, so I was just intrigued. Can you tell me a little? I could not let our conversation go without me just going oh, what was that about?
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, that's a good question. So the treatment center that I used to work with, they were in conjunction with the Dr Phil show, so we would receive the clients who had substance abuse issues from the Dr Phil show directly. And so, you know, I had the opportunity of going on the show and being in the audience. And it's a fun fact about live TV is the camera comes right up on your face. I mean, the camera is literally I could just poke it with my finger. Yes, and you know, dr Phil asked me a question like do you feel like this client is appropriate for your facility? And there's the camera and your heart is beating, you know so fast. And then you say why you feel like this client's appropriate.
Speaker 2:But yeah, I was able to do that gig and it was a lot of fun and um, but also had its challenges too, because on stage the client might say, yes, I will go to treatment, and then when the cameras are off, they're saying I'm not going anywhere. So you have to take the liberty of convincing and persuading them in very many tactical ways to go get on the flight, in the flights in an hour, you know, and you're in Los Angeles, california, where there's traffic. So, yeah, I mean there was a lot of stressful points, but for the most part it was. It was a very lively, cool experience and what's Dr Phil like in person he's super nice.
Speaker 2:Um. His wife is really really nice too.
Speaker 1:Um really had a lovely experience with being on the show, yeah that's nice, but I want to take my hat off to you because I couldn't. Um, I know my strengths and weaknesses and when you're dealing, when you're working with anyone that has some form of substance abuse, and it's really sad. Today I just saw the news I don't know if it well, obviously it's in your country, so you would see it. But with Matthew Perry it's all come out today that his personal assistant, the two doctors, like a doctor and he's a ER you call it ER doctor in America, emergency doctor In LA, really apparently well-known. There's a text message that he said to someone oh, let's see how much this moron will pay to have this drug. And he's like a practicing doctor in LA right now saying to another doctor oh, let's just see what this moron's going to pay. And they made.
Speaker 1:And it just makes me so sad because when someone's got any form of addiction, it is the. I truly believe there's the two hardest. We all have things to work through, but this is my personal opinion that I'm just going to say right now. I believe the two most difficult things to work through is leaving a toxic relationship and drugging out.
Speaker 2:Yes, I agree. I agree. Those two are really big bears and battles to fight and I have been in the fortune of knowing so many clients that are recovered, doing amazing, and it's almost like, since it was such a beast for them to combat, it's this catalyst that's just catapulted them into a higher realm of living. One of my clients from way in the past just received her PhD and is a clinical psychologist now, and it's just wow. I'm in disbelief at how inspiring and amazing people are that do fight these battles and I love them. I love working with addicts and alcoholics because they are so smart, they're so equipped, they're so crafty and creative. They're the most special people in the world and their brain has told them that they need to suppress themselves in some way, and that's when the addiction comes in Right, and they've learned this from usually a younger age. So I really the most special people in the world are people that are addicts and alcoholics.
Speaker 1:It's never anything with them, it's just it's such a strong substance and a strong abuse. And then, in the same way, you say to them it's actually so habitual that you actually enjoy doing it, even though you don't enjoy doing it. There's like that pattern of behavior that soothes them on some level.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, it does, and it it a lot of cases. It makes them feel normal. It makes them feel like they can fit in, you know whether it's alcohol, because they have, you know, a high intellect or a high anxiety. Usually I asked people when I worked in substance treatment I said what is the substance doing for your brain? What do you like about the substance, what is it doing for you? And let's find how you can replace that with something else in our, because I ran the neuroscience department so I really wanted to know, like brain functioning, like what's going on, why is the substance benefiting you? Right?
Speaker 1:I love that you worked on that, thank you. Thank you for helping all the people that you've helped um anyone that comes across you is very lucky. Um, I love talking about the brain, so, um, how can we anyone listening to this? Brain health you're the expert here. How can we, how can we take care of our brains?
Speaker 2:continuing to give your brain continuous attention. And what I mean by that is, I think, so many people, whether they're doing healing work or they're doing therapy work or they're doing anything that benefits their brain, reading every night, usually they start to feel better and they stop. And the thing about QEEG, which is a brain map of the brain and I knew this very well from working in treatment, because we would brain map our clients is, their brain would come in a certain way and it would look like this devastation of the brain, like the brain is just totally messed up. And then, with you know, 60 days or 90 days of treatment and doing all the things, their brain looks amazing, right, it looks like it's healing, it's awesome, you have all the functioning in the different areas. And then they're like oh, I feel so good, I don't need to do anything. And I tell them think about it like a plant, that you have to continue watering. You don't look at a plant and say, oh, it's so green, I think I'm just I'm not going to water it anymore, I'm going to let it be the way it is. You have to continue. It's like a garden. You have to continuing and do the work on your brain.
Speaker 2:Um, I just had lunch before this.
Speaker 2:Uh, we're on different, I'm on Thursday and she's Friday, so I think this is so great. But, um, I had lunch with my mentor, uh, dr Frank Lawless, who, um, was on the board for the Dr Phil show and he is in his 80s and he is sharp as a tack. I mean we're. He is telling me about projects and about wanting to open up a wellness center and doing all these things and he is so sharp and with it, and I was looking at him and I had I didn't even tell him this, but in my mind I said, oh my gosh, his work is so important to him because it is fostering and watering his brain. So I think, as we get into older age, like we stop doing the work for our brain. So if I were to give any feedback, I would say continue to foster and treat your brain like a garden that needs to be toiled and watered and fertilized and do all the things for your brain. You only have one in this lifetime. You have to take care of it and taking care of it.
Speaker 1:Like you mentioned some herbs earlier. I don't know, this is different because everyone's on different medications these days and everyone has different ailments of health. But is there anything? I don't know if you can say that on on in a podcast, but for brain health, I know, like all the mushrooms, like lion's mane or whatever like. Is there anything that anyone listening is like what could I, what can I eat or drink or how can I, on a nutritional level, support my brain?
Speaker 2:so, yeah, I definitely am not an expert or versed in nutrition at all my education's not there but I can tell you from my personal experience. I was diagnosed with ADHD from a young child and obviously I think a lot of people are misdiagnosed. And especially in the 90s it was like this over-diagnosis of ADHD. Especially in the nineties it was like this over diagnosis of ADHD. But uh, however, I know that I am hyperactive in my brain. There's no doubt about it. But, um, one of the things that was a complete game changer for me was doing a mushroom complex and it lines his main and ratio and, um, uh, cordyceps, and I have, I did.
Speaker 2:I'm the kind of person that if I'm going to do something, I'm going to put the research into it to see what people are saying. If there's research articles and there's such a large body of research that talks about mushrooms and clarity and focus, and for me it's like a huge game changer in my mental clarity and not having so much chaos. So you say that and I completely agree with you on doing that. But I also say sunlight, getting vitamin D, being intentional. Today I went on a nature walk. Even though it's 102 degrees Fahrenheit here, I went on a nature walk with my friend and we're getting sunshine and it's just like doing those things water, sunlight, air, you know, take your shoes off and put your feet in the grass like all of that has fed me so much energetically, so I think that's important too yeah, that's about 40 degrees for anyone that's working.
Speaker 1:We worked that out before, uh, and so you know, even now in Australia for sure, there's a big um woman that are 35 plus that are getting everyone's getting diagnosed with ADHD here and yeah, I won't go into that Like I'm not the biggest fan. I think it is over. It's just something. You know, the buzzword used to be stress, then the buzzword used to be anxiety, and now it's ADHD, and then I don't know what it will be and yeah. So with that, now it's adhd, and then I don't know what it will be, um, and yeah. So with that it's. Yeah, I think it's important.
Speaker 1:I just wanted to talk about that because some people are so interested in, like um health, as in weight or sleep or and people forget the brain's one of the most important things and just understanding that it needs to be nurtured, and it's something that we can't just block out. We can't just be so disconnected from ourselves because you know things will come up um, what, honestly, what an amazing conversation we've had today. If anyone's listening to this and they want to find you, know more about you, understand what you do, where can they find you?
Speaker 2:so you can find me on instagram at dfw spirituality. So, like dallas fort worth spirituality, you can also find me on my website, which is dfw-spiritualitycom. You can find me on facebook at dfw spirituality. I would love to hear from you. I I also have a podcast which is called the Shamanic Healer, so that's on Apple right now. So if you want to check that out, I would love for you to do that and send me a message if you would. I would love to hear from you.
Speaker 1:Yay, I'm definitely going to check out your podcast. Thank you so much for just having a bit of introduction to the healing and the science and the spirituality of all these beautiful gifts that you give us to the world, and it's been such a pleasure to speak to you today thank you so much, barbara.
Speaker 2:I love sharing space and time with you.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much for tuning into today's episode. I hope this conversation has added value to your self-care journey and inspired positive changes in your life. If you enjoyed this episode, consider sharing it with a friend who might benefit from this episode. Don't forget to subscribe on Spotify or on your favorite podcast platform to stay up to date on future episodes. Your support means the world to me. I genuinely love hearing from you, so please take a moment to leave a review. Let me know which part of today's episode resonated with you the most. Your feedback guides the direction of this podcast and I really appreciate each and every single one of you for being a part of this community.
Speaker 1:To fall in love with yourself is the first secret to happiness. To find out a bit more about the Studio Chat podcast, head over to my Instagram page, studio Chat Podcast. Or if you want to find out a bit more about my counselling private practice, head over to Instagram on self underscore care underscore studio. I'm really looking forward to seeing you on the next episode. Until next time, take care of yourselves and keep embracing the journey of self-discovery.
Speaker 2:Thank you.
