Healing Through Community

Hi, everybody. I'm Dr. Sandhya Moldovan, periodontist and nutritionist. Welcome to the Holistic Dentistry podcast, the show that gives you the tips and tools to detoxify your mouth for a healthier body as we explore together the.

Root cause of disease.

Remember, you're not healthy until your mouth is healthy, so take care of it in the most natural way.

Hi, everyone.

I'm Dr. Sandha, your host of the Holistic Dentistry show. And with me today is Sabeli Bossi, who is not only the founder of Sabia Circle, but also a very dear patient of mine. So welcome to today's show.

Thank you so much for having me. Dr. Sandra. I'm so very excited to be here.

I'm excited that you're here because, you know, you've kind of. You've gone through the journey of holistic dentistry and holistic oral health as well. And you've shared with me, right before we started recording this episode, a little bit about your experience, what it meant for you to achieve oral health and basically decrease inflammation, what it did for your health. So share with us a little bit about that.

Sure. As I was mentioning before we start recording, I struggle with gut health for a very long time. And I went through a lot of testing with a functional doctor, very expensive testing, supplements, different diet changes, and literally after starting treat my gum disease and doing all the procedures that you told me to do and being more diligent about it, but, you know, just really paying attention to my gum, my gut improved like 90%.

That's pretty amazing. That makes me so happy to, you know, to hear that, because really what we did is reset your microbiome so that it's a friendly bacteria in your mouth, not just kill everything, or you help to regenerate some of the bone there and decrease inflammation and had an overall good effect on your whole body. So that's awesome. But today we're here to really talk about community and the healing power of community. And you started Sabia Circle to help people with that. So what tell us a little bit about what is Sabia Circle?

Sure.

And how you got started with it.

Sure. So Sabia means stewards. One is a bird that, according to the myth of the rainforest, when you hear the singing of this bird, you hear good news is coming. And the second meaning is to know, the Portuguese word to know. So. So I love that those two meanings into this word. Zabia Circle is a wellness brand focused in bringing together thought leaders and facilitators that bring the embodiment piece with somatic movement and other practices that you embody. We aim to gather people in nature in a communal space where there's a safe container for people to go through healing, learning and connecting. So that's our mission also. Big part of this mission is to work over relations in the rainforest. I'm very passionate about the rainforest, so we always support different people in the rainforest. Right now I'm working with the Kontanawa nation and we're building a school there.

That's amazing. So you visited the rainforest?

Yes, during the pandemic, I had the opportunity to go there. We spent 10 days and it's life changing. Wow. Yeah.

What is one of the things like that was really an awe moment for you while you were there?

The community aspect. That's why I go back to the community. Everything they do is all about community, is about togetherness. So let's say you, Dr. Sanda, you're not feeling well. The entire community is going to be gathering around your wellness. People will be making tea for you, looking for herbs for you, praying for you, massaging you, singing for you. It's just this whole, like, effort into making you feel better and to the community, it's how you like all work together, you know.

That's pretty incredible. Yeah, because that's not what happens today, you know, especially, you know, after the pandemic, a lot of people are suffering in silence by themselves, isolated. And even when it comes to, you know, let's say oral health, I have people that come in with cavitations, with root canals, brain fog, and they really don't have a supportive community to help them through that. So how does Sabia Circle hopes to change that? How do you hope to change that with Savia Circle?

Thank you for asking that. So I believe that community is the way to build this bridge for the change that we seek. Because if we're isolated in our own space cocoon, and if we don't seek for help outside of ourselves, it can be very sad, very depressing. There's this disconnection and we aim to create more connectivity with people in places where they can feel safe. We can be supported and touching base about the oral health. I struggle for many years by myself with oral health, with shame, with guilt, with various things that the moment I decided to look for help and I found you, thank God, I felt so supported by you and your team. I think you guys are amazing. I do feel that there's this community in your team.

Thank you. That's actually one of our core values. We have five core values but community is actually one of them.

Oh, that's beautiful. I do feel that from the moment I walk into the office, when I talk to everyone, I know everyone by name, at least a third to know everyone here then.

So you know that.

But it's just this feeling and it. And once I started this journey healing my mouth, I felt so supported. I was fabulous for it. So I love that we can bridge this two together, right?

Yeah. I think community, especially when it comes to healing, it's not something that you can replace through taking pills, you know, reading a book or just, you know, being on social media. I think it's important to have that, you know, community or friend that you can touch and feel a hug and feel love from.

Yeah.

There's just so many things that a community gives. So what kind of things are you doing with Savia Circle in order to cultivate this community feel for people who feel lonely out there?

Yeah. We want to bring people together and explore various topics. So for instance, the next event I'm doing, we're focusing on connecting to your emotions to create the life you desire. I feel that the fast paced world we live right now and all the distractions with substances, digital technologies, kind of pushes away from really deeply connecting to truly what we want in our lives. And in order for you to create the life you want, you really, truly need to look into yourself, right?

Absolutely.

Yeah. So this specific event we're going to focus on in support people to go through this process of connecting with themselves. And during the day, it's like an immersive day, there'll be practices that will support this immersion. And then at the end of the day, they're gonna leave with a clear mind, feeling connected. They will connect with a community. They will connect around food as well. We have beautiful food served at this event and it's just the start. So we're going to be building into this in the next events that we're doing.

Yeah, yeah. So let's say somebody's listening, they feel isolated, they feel lonely. What tips do you have for them to, to find a community that they resonate with?

Sure. I think the first thing is truly finding activities and things that you enjoy and looking for spaces that offer those activities so you can start engaging with people. Get off the, you know, the phone, the computer, really go. If you like gardening, maybe join a group of gardening. If you like dancing, find a conscious group or a dancing class that you like to do. So there's ways that you can do activities that support this connection with other people. And we want to create like a community where people can connect and be themselves with no. You know how sometimes you go into spaces and people just talk about work or who you are, what you do. This is all good stuff, but in a deeper level, we just want to be yourself. Right. You want to show up and be seen. You want to create a space where people can just be seen for who they are. We don't need to know your credentials, what you do, all those things.

You know, I think that's a great idea. You know, especially in some of the major cities like la, it's so much about who you are and what you do. And that puts a certain amount of stress. I mean, we already live in a stressful environment. You know, stress is real and we know that when people feel connected, they have less stress. So I think it's just getting in touch with what's important to you as a self, as a person. Right. Like that's important. I think that's what you're trying to do here, really help people get back in touch with their inner self. What is it your soul is searching, like, for me, I know that I'm here to change traditional dentistry, to make people aware of the power of holistic dentistry and what it can do for someone's body. And with that, you know, I'm hoping to connect to the whole world. So, you know, I really encourage everybody listening to really look deep, take that time, maybe even visit you. When is your event? At the end of June, I believe.

Yeah, June 30th in Vista. San Diego is just about an hour and 40 from LA and it's going to be a beautiful day. We're going to be on an 80 acre avocado farm in nature.

Yeah, yeah.

I'm really excited to spend this day with wonderful people, to heal, to connect, to learn and.

Yeah, yeah, I love it. I mean, I love spending time in nature. I do organic gardening myself. We actually have avocado trees that my husband and I planted. And it gives me such, you know, relief for me to be in nature, to just observe nature and, you know, the bugs that live there and, you know, how my tomatoes are growing and how things are developing and the worms that are in the dirt. It's really such a disconnect. And everybody needs that disconnect. Everybody who's stressed and clenches and grinds their teeth. You definitely need to take the time.

To go in nature, AKA me in a path.

Yeah.

Not long ago I was living in la, Santa Monica, which is a nice city, but you Know, I was working back and feeling very stressed, very disconnected. Although I'm immersed in wellness, I had this disconnect. Part of me. I transitioned and moved to Topanga. I'm in nature now full time.

Beautiful.

So I get to wake up with the sound of the birds. I get to step outside barefoot. So talking about benefits of nature. So it's proven. There's several studies showing that it regulates your nervous system. If you go into nature, just touching the soil, putting your feet on the ground, just listening to the birds. So it's just basic, simple things, right?

Yeah. Grounding. I mean, there's old books written on these, on the grounding theory. You know, when we walk on carpets and, you know, inside buildings, we're positively charged. We really need to put our feet on the dirt in order to release some of that positive charge so we can feel better, less stressed, more positive, less depression.

And it's so funny. Two things I do. I do your. Your oil. I do like the oil pulling in the morning, so I've been doing that barefoot in the grass. I love it.

That's great. Natural oral health and well grounded. We're starting a new trend. What, did you make this transition for yourself to go from office to Topanga?

Is it so just literally in January. Wow. Yeah.

Okay.

Yeah. I was, you know, working in tech for seven years, and I. I don't know, one day this voice just told me, you have to make this transition. And I was very afraid because it's like the certain. Right. The certain everything, certain paycheck. But, you know, when I looked at the artificial light and I saw the timing, and I was like, okay, I have to do this. So I did. And I already was working in this project. It was supposed to be, like, going slowly, but I was like, you know what? I'm gonna go all the way in, because I think the world needs more of this. We need to create more safe spaces for people to learn to heal, to connect. And I want to heal myself as well, because I'm feeling disconnected in this environment that doesn't support me. And if I have to walk my walk, the things that I believe and do, I have to go all the way.

Basically, January, they just said, okay, I'm gonna do this, and jumped.

Yes.

Both feet in.

Yes.

And I know there's some people listening who are thinking, wow, I wish I could do that. So what advice do you have for them?

Sure.

You know, looking back, now that you're.

Here, fear will be always by your side. It's very important to do this Integration, work, have support. I have support. I have a coach that I work with. Friends, family, therapists.

That's right.

Community.

Community.

Because when you're doing something that it's like beyond the know, when you go into the unknown, your nervous system tries to protect you and really hold you into that safe space. That safe space that you know that. That paycheck, the house, whatever, that job, and now you're going to the other side. And as survival and a survival mechanism, we're trained to feel fear to protect us. So you have to go beyond that fear. Right?

Yes.

So the support of the community is really important.

Yeah, I agree. Yeah. Speaking of community, I know you're spending some time with some indigenous leaders. When did you start that?

Yeah, so I basically started my connection with the Amazon in 2008 when I went to Brazil. I'm from Brazil originally, and I did a plant medicine ceremony that opened me and expanded me to various ways beyond my imagination. And I changed my entire lifestyle because of that and got into holistic everything. Then in the last few years, I was connected to a friend with a chief of a nation, and I was invited to be the official translator to this nation, to a film festival in Santa Barbara and to the tour that they did here. And I got to connect with them more and get to know the chief, the wife, the stories. And then I also went to the Amazon during the pandemic and spent some time there. So I got to hear more the stories and the things that it's happening there. And, you know, that's just how the story goes. And now I'm working with other people as well.

I know there's a lot of indigenous wisdom that unfortunately, we have lost throughout the years and, you know, the evolution of, like, modern age, you know, the modern life that we have today. So what are the indigenous leaders saying about the times we live in today? What do they see as the hope for our future?

So, number one is the stress and disconnection. As we talked about oral health and grinding, all effects of stress.

Right, Exactly. As a dentist, I'm just looking at the side effect of the disconnection. But the root cause is really that disconnect, I think.

And the stress, the disconnect. And this disconnect starts when you start just thinking about yourself and getting out of the community, out of the circle of support. Right. Because everything they do is connected, is together, and the healing of the world is going to happen together. Connected. Right. So I think one thing that they stress a lot. I just came back from a five Day gathering with a lot of elders is that we need to come together to create the change that we want to see. We can do this alone. So number one is connection, and number two is just this ability to be nature, to deal with nature, to listen to nature, to respect nature. Because according to their knowledge, everything is in nature.

Absolutely. You know, that's why I'm so passionate about, you know, toxic products and, you know, the toxic mercury that goes in people's mouths and, you know, the toxic toothpaste and everything that, you know, is going eventually back to nature. So we're really making this nature sick. Yeah, like dumping all these toxins there.

We dumped toxics. We also dump our emotional toxics in nature. They talked a lot about how we got so disconnected that we don't see mother nature as part of us because we are part of mother nature and mother nature is part of us. So also our emotions connect with mother nature.

Reminds me of Avatar. You know when they used to plug in.

Yes.

Those extensions.

Exactly.

Trees and really heal.

Yes. And see, same way.

Yeah, yeah. A lot of symbolism in that baby.

Yes, yes. Well, he went to spend time with them in the rainforest to learn from them. Oh, fun fact. When I was there, I stay in a hotel. There are like two or three hotels in this tiny little town on the border with Peru. And the owner of the hotel told me how everyone from Avatar came and stayed here during the time he was learning from the tribes here.

Amazing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm glad that we're going to keep this indigenous wisdom alive. So what kind of last words of wisdom do you have for people listening about either your events or something that. An advice that you have for them, especially now that you've transitioned out of that.

Sure. Thank you. Yeah. That fear will always be around, but you have to befriend your fear because you can't do anything without the fear.

Yeah.

You just have to become friends with your fear and transition becomes a little bit more smoother. My event, I am very hopeful and excited to hold a container for people to, you know, heal, connect, expand and support important cause, which is the rainforest cause. So, June 30th Vista, San Diego. It's going to be a beautiful day again.

And for those of you listening, we're going to post a link to this event in the show notes below. And just remember, if you're feeling stressed, you're feeling disconnected, find a community, find a group of people to support you that have the same kind of interests, because a night guard is not going to fix your grinding by itself. You really need to go to the core, which is really having that sense of community, having the sense of connection, so you live a better, healthier, happier life. Sobelli, thank you so much for being here.

Thank you for having me, Dr. Sonia.

Everyone check out Savelli's event at Savia Circle at the below link. And until next time, stay grounded.

Thank you so much for joining me this week. Please make sure you check out the show notes for any links mentioned in the show. If you like today's show, please invite your friends to listen as well. That would mean a lot to me. Do you have a question you'd like me to answer? Message me on Instagram. Rsanda, this is Dr. Sandha. And remember, your mouth is the gateway to your health, so take care of it in the most natural and best way possible.