Shayna Taylor: Healing Chronic Anxiety and Gut Inflammation by Returning to Nature | TUH #161

In Italy is like insane. They love food, they love community, they love long meals. Even me, before I move there, I could go and eat all the pasta and cheese I wanted and it wouldn't affect my gut and my skin. Most people have their own garden, produce their own olive oil. You know, it's normal for them. That's their life. And they appreciate the ingredients because it.

Is back to the basics. There's your grass fed meats, your raw dairies, you know, all of the things that in Italy are just the norm and here they're the exception.

Food became transactional, which is our biggest problem. You go to the market, you have no idea where anything's from. You buy it in plastic, you check it out, you pay for your credit card and you go home and you eat it.

If you walk in your grocery store and they have a health food section, what does it say about the rest of the store?

As Americans, we're so spoiled in the way that things are quite easy for us to do.

We're so disconnected from mother Nature and we're actually disconnected from each other.

I find it so cool to learn about how nature used to work before we manipulated it so much. This kind of started my journey not only in entrepreneurship, but also this journey of like, I'm ready for something new.

Talk a little bit about what led you here and what inspired you to put this together and like, what does it entail?

It's a great story, but I'm going to share the honest part of it because I think everybody needs to know.

Hey, guys, welcome back to the Ultimate Human podcast. I'm your host, human biologist Gary Brea, where we go down the road of everything, anti aging, biohacking, longevity, and everything in between. And we have a super treat for you guys today, a really, really unique guest. I mean, my wife is in love with this guest and so is my daughter. And I think so many of you know who she is, and I think she exemplifies everything about society today when you reach the point where you just say the heck with it. And you know, you hear me talk all the time about how my favorite thought leaders in our space, anti aging biohacking specialists, scientists, researchers, functional medicine, doctors, they're all getting back to the basics. So today is going to be an amazing podcast about getting back to the basics. So welcome to the podcast.

Thank you, thank you for having me. I'm so excited.

Your journey, so it's so unique, but I want to say it's like, it's inspiring because I think you probably have A lot of people go, gosh, I wish I could just do that. You know, my, my, I'm stuck in this job or this relationship or, you know, my kids are in school or whatever it is and they just don't have the gumption to do it. I wonder if you just share your story with my audience.

Yeah, of course. I actually get those messages every single day.

Yeah, we were just talking about it.

Yeah, yeah. Every single day I have people write me about how they wish they could move or it's a plan that they have in a two or three years to move to the countryside somewhere or to Italy specifically. But yeah, so my journey is a wild one. So I'm born and raised California. I got into the health and wellness space in my early 20s when I went to culinary school for college and became really passionate about food. I also was a model for many years which was very counterintuitive to each other.

Right.

But that's what kind of like pushed me towards wanting to be more on the health side of things versus a traditional chef. And then I had a lot of of my own health problems, especially related to like gut health and know specific things around skin and childhood stuff that I felt I just didn't unravel because I was just in survival mode. And through that process I, my drive to want to leave LA and go live a different life just became stronger. And then I, my family knew I was thinking about moving so we decided to spend Christmas there for holiday. And I had this attachment and in spirituality you start to learn about non attachment. So I was in the process of learning non attachment at the time and I had an attachment to my house because it was my first house I ever owned. I like made it exactly how I wanted it. It was a content creator's house. And I was building my social media following then and building all my recipes. So I was like, wow, to leave this house feels like very daunting, but like it doesn't make sense for me. Then I was like, do I rent it? But then I was like, no, because then I can't invest in a property in Italy because you know, it's like I needed to sell it to then have this dream. So I literally like, I'll never forget, I woke up one morning and I was journaling and meditating and this was very new to me at the time. I was like, started with a five minute journal and it took me like months to integrate it into my life because I was so used to waking up and just like going straight into my work. Running away from my underlying anxiety.

Yeah.

Which I learned later in life. I didn't realize that I was just, like, running on the crazy cycle because I was trying to run away from the underlying anxiety I had. But I just, like, woke up one day and I was like, you know what? I think I'm ready to sell this house.

Wow.

This was October. I was supposed to leave for Christmas. December. So I was like, if my house sells before Christmas, you put this parameter. Yeah, I will go. I'll just like. I'll just basically, like, go on a whim, so. And not take anything with me except for three suitcases. So I put my house on the market, and it sold two weeks later. And I was like, okay.

You know what's funny is, like, you either get buyer's remorse or, like, you're like, shoot, I didn't ask enough.

You know? Exactly.

I should have asked for more money. Sold too fast. But that's amazing.

So I was like, okay, either I'm leaving L. A For sure. And my second option was Nashville. I was thinking, I love Nashville. I wanted to leave L. A. So I was like, okay, I'm going to move all of my stuff to Nashville in storage, and I'm going to go to Italy with three suitcases, and I'm going to really explore the, like, idea of living in Europe. So I don't recommend this is the way people should do it because they're. I didn't. Like. I went there, decided to stay, and then had to figure out my visa process. So I was flying back and forth and wasted a lot of money and time because I did. I didn't, like, prepare myself. And, you know, I was really on a whim, which is very much me. Like, I love spontaneity. So I was just, like, living a spontaneous life. But, yeah, I. While we were there for Christmas, I. We stumbled into a real estate office, and I wanted to look at how, like, properties for fun. And I wasn't really sure what I wanted and what I was looking for. Like, a bunch of land or maybe later, or just like, a small house or a retreat center. Like, I didn't really know. And so I started looking and they sent me some properties in Umbria region. Specifically. Specifically because I really love Umbria because it's still the raw, authentic Italy. Like, Tuscany is amazing. It's beautiful. And I do spend most my time now in. Outside of Florence, but it's so touristy and it's. Everybody knows about it, that it. It's just not as authentic in Umbria. Like, good luck finding an English speaker. And I like that. You know, it's like the authenticness of Italy. And it's so beautiful. They call it the green heart of Italy because it's literally the center. And it also gets a lot more rain, so everything is so green and lush all the time. Whereas Tuscany gets very dry in the summertime. Umbria stays very green. So it's stunning. Really.

Four seasons. Is it? Or is it? Yeah, but it's temperate, right?

I mean, it's not like winters are not drastically winter. Like, maybe it snows for like two days and then it melts.

Okay. And that doesn't have that like seasonal affective disorder period where you. It's all really gray and not really. No. Because. Awesome.

It honestly, like, the climate of Italy, especially, you know, southern Italy is even better. But like, where I'm. We are like central. Ish. It's. The seasons are really nice. They're becoming shorter now because the whole world is getting warmer and summers are really hot sometimes. But I have to say, like, I. Winter was very chill, nothing crazy. There was like two weeks where it was like kind of cold.

Only because you.

Yes. So back to the story.

Full commitment.

Back to the story. It's actually kind of a. It's a. It's a great story, but I'm going to share the honest part of it because I think everybody needs to know the. The goods and the bads of when you do something like this, because as Americans, we're so spoiled in the way that things are quite easy for us to do. Everything is hard, don't get me wrong. But like, starting a business, anybody can start a business. Buying a home, like, it's. To get a loan and all these things, like, it's actually very easy compared to other countries. And when you have this mindset of, like, anything is possible, which is the mindset I had. And then I decided to be a single woman, like turning 30, and move to Italy on her own and try to buy a property and land and like be a farmer. I got so humbled.

Wow.

So humbled. Because the way that we do things is the opposite of the way Italy does things.

Wow.

So to build a business, to start a business, to do things right. So you have tax write offs. Like, even as, like, I lost so much money because the. The original accountant that I got introduced to didn't tell me any of these things. So I had to unravel myself out of like using like on for us, for instance, like a small example, if you use your personal Amazon but you use your business card, right? For something you can justify it for, like, for tax reasons or for stuff. In America, it's always, of course you should open a business Amazon account. I'm not saying not to do that, but like, that's a small thing that I've never had to think about because it's easy for us to justify it in Italy, even though I'm the owner of the business, it was the business credit card and the, you know, it was under my personal Amazon account. They take it as I stole money for my own personal buyings from Amazon from the company. So I personally had to wire the money back to the company to justify the money when I never spent it.

Wow. So you own the business?

Yes.

You used a business card for personal things?

No. And business card for business things.

Business card.

So like I use my business card, but it was my. Exactly. So it was like, for farm stuff. It was like, you can, you could clearly see it was like stuff for the chickens and like random farm supplies. Like, I would never use that. It's for it. But they literally, it doesn't matter because I used it on my own personal Amazon. They consider it that I stole money from the company. So I had to wire all the Amazon accounts, like whatever I spent on my Amazon back to my agriculture company to pay it back for the books of finance.

Wow.

And I was like, this is a small example, but like, you just don't think about those things, you know? But anyway, so I'm going to tell you in, in short, like a little bit about this story. So I started looking at properties with my family when we were in Christmas and I stumbled upon this property which blew my mind. I. The energy. I'm very sensitive to energies of places and this energy of this passion place was magical. So I was like, I know this is it. But my logical mind was like, you can't buy the first place you look at, Shayna. You need to like look around a little bit. So I, my friends were coming for New Year's and I remember the, the house. They, they're not, they're foreigners as well. So they said like, we also rent it for vacation rentals. One of the houses, because it was two with two different owners. And so they, I decided like, oh, can we rent it for, you know, New Year's so like, so I can live in it and see what it's like. So that we rented it for a week. And then during that week in meditation, I was like called to rent it for a month. So I rented it for the whole month of February. And that allowed me for it to be the base which I could go and look at other properties around the area to be sure this was the one I wanted to put an offer on.

Right.

And in that time in February, I also started asking questions because the olive grove, so it was only 3 hectares with the houses, and then the olive groves used to be attached to outside of the fence. So I was like, who owns the olive grove outside of the fence? And they were like, I don't know, let's find out. So they find out. They go, I go to find out that all the land around it is also for sale.

Wow.

And so this is when I was like, this has to be the place because this is like the farm dream and also the retreat dream. Like this was like the both tied together.

Yeah.

So then I inquired about buying the land outside. So it was a different transaction. And long story short, I moved into these houses. They let me move in before I bought it because the houses didn't pass the inspection. I was supposed to sign the houses in August 2022, when the euro was equal to the dollar.

And we're just coming out of the pandemic here.

Exactly, exactly. Yeah, exactly. And that is very new, very fresh.

Yeah.

And they were supposed to be done with the works that needed to be fixed by December 2022, which then turned into June of 2020, you know, or sorry, yeah, December 2022 then turned into June 2023, which then found out more works that needed to be done, which turned into July 2024. So I, I was supposed to start the project to refurbish this house because it was really old and start hosting small gatherings so it could pay for itself. This was an investment property. It wasn't for me to like live in Gallic around and I made a mistake of starting to invest money into the farm and chickens and all these things. And before, you know, I bought this house because I was like certain that this house was going to be purchased. But then three years of my life goes by and I realize, like, oh my God, like the a road was going to be erected and then they would like, like there was so many discrepancies of this property that were on. Not that they didn't tell me. And I don't think that the owners are like bad people. I just think that they didn't have their paperwork in order and to. In order to see sell a house in Italy. Unless it's like really written that you, you know, everything is whatever, like Transparent. You cannot sell something. So the commune is crazy. They check every single detail of every little thing of the house to protect me as a buyer. But long story short, I was just like draining money without being able to make money. And so after this road got erected and all these things and I realized the value that I paid was just not the value that I should have. So I also got taken advantage by the real estate agent and the owners because I didn't know I was an American thinking like, wow, this is so cheap compared to what I'm used to in Los Angeles.

Yeah.

And I didn't do enough research and really got over.

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So then I decided to back and as a.

Not to break your story, but as an American citizen, you can you just go over and buy land there? You don't have to be no native or get any kind of special visa or you can just own land there.

Yes.

Okay.

You don't need a special visa. You actually can get a special visa if you own land there.

Okay, so once you got it, then you could.

Yes. You're an American. Yes, exactly. I have a self employment visa because I also have a company there, the agriculture company. So in the end, in the, in the meantime, I bought the land all around it, which is where my olive oil comes from.

So you're. I don't know what your resources were, but it sounds like you drank a lot of resources at this point.

Yeah, yeah. Drained a lot of resources. It was very humbling. I made scary. Yeah, very scary because all this money that I would have never had from this house, I was like putting it into, you know, investing into this project that was supposed to make money. And I ended up losing like so much of it. And now when I backed out because it had been three years, the owner said that they spent the deposit and they won't give it back to me. So now I have to go to court.

Oh, my God.

Yes.

On the land that you so Currently own, but are trying to give no.

So the land is separate.

Okay.

So the land I own outright and land is owned by Shayna Agricola, which is my agriculture company. It was just the houses that I was trying to buy, which is in the middle of the land that I own.

Oh, my God.

So it's like I own 88 hectares or 88 acres of land, and the houses are in the dead center of it.

And you got to get out of that. That's what you're trying to get out of.

That is what I'm trying to get out of, is the house situation. So I was trying.

Because you overpaid.

And, yeah, I was trying to just renegotiate with them, but they weren't willing to budge. So then I was like, okay, well, then just give me my money back so that I can, you know, go on with my life. You guys wasted three years of my life because you didn't have your paperwork organized, and you expect me to just, like, take the brunt of it. And they said no. So it's there. Unfortunately, there's nothing else left for me to do than to. And it's not like in the States where they hold the money in escrow. They released it to them, so they spent it. So they're saying to. They're telling me they don't have the money to pay me back. And then. So now I have to. I'm literally filing with them in court because my lawyer is like, you. You have the right to have the money back because it's. They didn't do the. Like, they were supposed to finish the work as of December, and you were so kind to wait two and a half more years for them to finish the work, and it didn't. So, like, you. By law, you. You do. You are supposed to get reimbursement for the. For the deposit. But, you know, for. In Italy to go to court is like, it's a minimum of four years for this to be resolved.

Oh, my gosh.

Yeah.

Wow.

Yeah.

So.

So, you know, I. Listen, I love what I do, and I love my land, and I love producing this olive oil. And, like, we're going to do so much more with the land to make more products to sell because it's so magical.

The.

The land there and the olive trees are, you know, 200, 300 years old. So it's why they have such high polyphenol count, because the older the tree, the deeper the roots. And that's where the polyphenols come from, is the nutrient Dense soil. So it's like, I'm so grateful and I wouldn't change anything also, because I think I needed to be humbled coming from Los Angeles and, like, thinking anything's possible. Like, I. I'm happy that I went through that spiritual humbling. It was obviously very hard because then I, like, all this dream of everything I thought I had figured out just got totally taken away from me. And I had to figure out, like, okay, well, what is my life now? And I met my fiance in. In the. In the mean, in the meantime, like, through moving to Italy. Italian. We just got engaged.

Oh, congratulations.

Thank you. On New Year's.

So you didn't know him when you were going and buying this land?

No, I met him like a year and a half after I moved.

That's cool.

Yeah.

How's your Italian?

Not very good.

Al's is English.

Great.

Good. Okay.

Yeah. He lived in New York for like, five years.

So.

Yeah. No, my Italian is like, I can. I can understand a lot, but for me to talk, it's like, very basic. I need to, like, go to an eight week course, but I, like, don't have the time.

Right.

And then I also speak in English all day because my companies are based in America, so I'm still doing Zoom calls all day in English. And then I have a translating assistant in with me in Italy who, like, helps me translate everything. So I'm pretty much crippled myself to learn Italian at this point. But I will learn, especially before I have children, because he's gonna. They're gonna know more Italian than me, and that's not exactly, you know, I'm gonna have a code language.

He's obviously fluent, so he's gonna. Exactly. And growing up from, you know, when they start out being multilingual is easy. It's almost like they don't know the difference. But learning it as an. As an adult is tough. So do you. You're living in the property that you're trying to get out of now until you figure it out, right?

No, I moved out.

Or. Okay, it was just vacant.

Yeah.

Yeah. So when you say move down, are you on the property now?

So. No, I moved to Florence area because my fiance works closer to Florence. So I actually moved before it kind of went sour because I was like, okay, I'll move out of the Umbria property because it's gonna have to be totally redone anyway, so we moved in together, like, a couple a year and some change ago outside of Florence.

Okay.

And so I already kind of, like, moved, so I was like, perfect. I can commute to Umbria, like, while the project's going. And then we live together here, so it's easier for him to go to work because I don't have to go to work every single day. He has to drive to an office every day.

Right.

So that was kind of our compromise. And I moved him out of Florence city center because I refused to move back to a city. I was like, this is our compromise. So now we live like 20 minutes outside of Florence, still in the countryside in. In a town called Impreneta.

That's awesome. And how far away is that from your place?

It's like an hour and 20 minutes drive. Yeah.

So, you know, what's fascinating to me is so I have. I have a dream of. Of eventually selling my concrete jungle and starting a regenerative farm. Like, I want to ride out my years on a regenerative farm. I even have a piece of property that I really like. I've sort of picked out in Colorado place, you know, for grass fed cattle and pasture raised eggs and free range chickens and, you know, hydroponic microgreens. Really nutrient dense microgreens. And. And. And I grew up on a farm, so I. What was really weird is when I left high school, I wanted to get as far away from the farm as possible.

Of course.

And then the further I get into adulthood, I want to get back to the farm as fast as possible. And we kind of had that talk before the podcast. You know, sometimes we just miss that connection with mother nature. We just miss the basics. Just grounding sunlight.

Yeah.

Breath work, eating whole foods. I mean, the food in Italy is very clean.

It's amazing.

I mean, I'm sure you could find bad food. I mean, it's. It's westernized there too. But. But for. For the most part, I mean, it's. It's real. Whole foods and olive oil is arguably one of the best things you can put in the human body. I do a shot of it every day. Thank you for the bottle, but.

You're welcome.

But what fascinates me is not only how bold and intimidating and scary it must have been just to relocate your life there, especially as a single woman, is. I can't imagine you had a skill set in regenerative farming or anything. Right. You need to learn how to raise all the trees in L. A?

Honestly, I. Chickens?

You didn't learn in New York? I mean.

No, no, I didn't. I knew nothing.

Yeah.

I only knew from fascinating obsession. I only knew from research on my own. I mean, we're really lucky to live in our the time that we live now because so many things are available to us on the Internet and books and you know, all this stuff. So it was more of an obsession of like wanting to learn all this stuff and then the best way to learn. And I say this for people in business, like, business school is amazing and it does teach you a lot of things that maybe I wish I when I started on entrepreneurship, but what really teaches you how to run a business is running a business because there's nothing that school can teach you other than real life scenarios. And it's the same with anything. Like I was like, I will figure out how to do this and the best way for me to do it is just business. Like business school is amazing and it does teach you a lot of things that maybe I wish I had when I started on entrepreneurship. But what really teaches you how to run a business is running a business because there's nothing that school can teach you other than real life scenarios. And it's the same with anything. Like I was like, I will figure out how to do this and the best way for me to do it is just to immerse myself in it. So that's exactly what I did. I went there and I figured it out as I went and I've learned so much. I got really into biodynamic farming. That was what I wanted to to do was biodynamics and using the ecosystem of the area and the farms. And I find it fascinating. I find it so cool to learn about how nature used to work before we like manipulated it so much. So yeah, it just came from pure passion and throwing myself into it.

Wow, that's amazing.

Yeah.

And, and so you were, you know, I mean, how to raise a chicken, how to like.

Yeah, exactly.

And, and you literally went out there and I don't even know where you get a chicken. I mean, start research.

Because I also was like, I need to make sure I have chickens that are organic that were never fed corn. That also, you know, it's like there's a lot of things that I'm obsessed with. Like I will never eat a corn fed chicken because I have a huge allergy to corn. So it's like then I had to find specific farms that were also believing in that in Italy, which are, luckily you can actually find them, you know, know, often I don't know if anyone. Probably more, yeah.

More common than not.

Italy is the most sustainable agriculture in the world.

Yeah.

They invest so much money into organic agriculture.

I Was in Medellin, Colombia, a year and a half ago. And I just remember I was at a restaurant and I was reading the menu of the steak and the, the. The waiter came over and I was like, you know, do you mind if I ask if this is grass fed steak? And he looked at me like, I said, he's like, what. What else do cows eat? I'm like, oh, my bad. We actually have to ask that back in the States, you know, and he was like, so confused. Cows don't eat chickens. I mean, like, what's your. What's your question? Like, the corn. No antibiotics, no hormones. No idea what I was talking about. So it's cow in a field. But it's, you know, it's. It's just so funny because, you know, they don't know any other way. But here you have to try to get around them. The system with all the processing and everything. And this brings me back to the conversation we were having before the podcast. Because truly, I believe that nature heals. And I truly believe, because I've seen it in both clinical practice, my own life, my family is that we're so disconnected from Mother Nature and we're actually disconnected from each other. You know, meaningful relationships, just conversation. In my previous podcast, that guest that I had on, she was talking about how we're human beings and not human doings. And can you just be like, I'm sure you had a lot of alone times on this farm when you first got there. Overwhelmed, not with an exact road map, probably going to sleep in Italy. And there had to be some nights where you're like, what did I get myself into?

Oh, yeah.

And so talk a little bit about. I mean, I'm talking about before you had a relationship and someone to share ideas with and things. But like, you know, when you were that single woman by yourself, foreign country, just bit off this project that you probably think it was more than I could chew. What were, what were you doing? Actively to just reassure yourself, not get into that panic state, you know, not sort of just collapse from.

Yeah. You know, from overwhelm.

Yeah, from overwhelm.

So I have to say that all the spiritual work that I did before, and this was like the beginning, actually, I learned way more in the process of me moving. But I had some basic tools of learning how to be okay in my own body. Like, home is your vessel. It's. It's your body. Home is not a place that you live. And if you feel home in your body, then you can essentially be okay in any environment. And this was ultimately, like, the biggest realization I had of, like, I can create home anywhere. It doesn't need to be in Los Angeles. And so I'm gonna sell this materialistic thing, and I'm gonna go try and recreate it in a different version in Italy. I'll never forget, though, I was staying in Paris, in London, before I finally, like, got moved into the place in. In Italy. And let me mind you this. These country houses are old. They're like 30 years, you know, wear and tear. And there's no kitchen cabinets on the thing, and there's like, you know, I had no furniture at all. So I had the house manager guy who worked for the owners before, just buy me a mattress. And, like, I had a mattress when I arrived, and then he gave me, like, you know, a table and some chairs. So I came with my three suitcases, and that was it.

You're like, what's the WI FI password? He's like.

He's like, no, WI Fi. By the way, the, like, WI Fi house owners did have set up, didn't work at all. So of course, I, like, had to go get Starlink and then try to figure out what, you know, how to use Starling. So I remember I arrived, and at this time, I already kind of stopped drinking alcohol through my spiritual journey, but I would still occasionally have, like, organic wine here and there. And my girlfriend, bless her. So my. One of my best friends, Olga, I met her actually in Italy before I moved, and she helped me actually feel comfortable to move there because she was like, she lives in Paris now, but she was living in Rome at the time. And she just became like a sister really fast. And so on my solo trips, her and I used to hang out. And so when I finally made that decision, I was like, at least I know I have one friend that is close by, you know, in case something goes wrong.

Right.

I also have, like, one of my best friends in Denmark, but she's a mom of three, and it's not like she can just, like, leave and help me, you know?

Right.

So I got to the houses, and I, like, somebody I like, was just sitting in the kitchen. And you're like, it's really isolated. Like, I'm not like, this is also to my. I'll tell you a side side story after, too, which is so funny about my fiance, but I just sat in my kitchen and was like, oh, boy. Like, what did I just do?

Here I am.

I had no car. I had no. I had no car. And I was in the countryside. So I was like, how am I gonna get groceries? Like, I need to, like, like, what is. What is my game plan here? So, luckily, I had Mateo, who was, like, the guy who was the property. He, like, watched the property, you know, for the owners before, and so he, like, really helped me manage everything. But, like, you can't buy a car as a foreigner in Italy. So I had to go buy a car in another country. So I had to go fly to try to find a car to then drive back to Italy so I could have a car, because I was, like, wasting money on leasing a car.

You can buy property. You can't buy cars.

No.

Wow. No. See, like, that's the stuff. No, nobody tells you.

No one tells you that. No one told me that. Yeah, so I. Yeah, I. I just had this moment where I, like, almost had a meltdown where I was like, okay, I know you're really, like, a bold woman. Like, you're an Aries, and, like, you know, you've done a lot of things in your life. You just go for it. But, like, this one. This one is, like, next level. So. I literally have never drank alone in my life, but I poured myself a glass of wine because I was like.

I. I think my whole audience has already forgiven you for a judgment free zone now. Yeah.

And I remember my girlfriend, Olga Blazer, she literally calls me, and she's like, how's it going? Like, how are you doing? And I was like, well, I'm just, like, having a glass of wine. And she was like, you having a glass of wine by yourself? I was like. And she was like, okay, you want.

To talk about it? Like, I'm coming over.

And she's so sweet. She literally surprised me and flew the next day because she knew I was unwell because it's like, I don't drink in the first place, and then I'm drinking by myself. It's like, really? Something's wrong. Something is not right. So she literally came and surprised me next day, called me at, like, 9am and was like, guess where I am? And I was like, where? She's like, I just landed in Florence. I'm coming to you. And, like, yes. And literally came and helped me just, like, get the basics. She was like, let's go get the basics so you can feel comfortable. Because I was like, what do I need to make myself not feel like I'm in a complete panic? So basic needs. So I went and got, like, kitchen stuff and knives and cutting boards and, like, things that made me feel, you know, I love to Cook, and I'm in the countryside. So, like, I don't have, you know, I can't go to a restaurant down the street every day. They're not even open every day. So I, like, had to get myself in, like, this country living, you know, vibe. And then, of course, all of my spiritual tools is what actually, like, helped me and grounded me. Like, having my feet in the grass and actually grounding myself every day and hearing the nature and having the view and, like, going outside and being like, what was the reason why you did this? And reminding myself why I was there and just, like, continuing in my spiritual practices of, like, figuring out, as I mentioned to you before this podcast, like, it. It wasn't until I landed in Italy and I had to sit in silence that I realized my underlying anxiety was chronic, like, really intense. And it started bringing up all these feelings and all this stuff. And then I started realizing how much grounding my energy, like, physically grounding my energy and also visualizations and meditation helped me actually start to combat and. And realize when my anxiety was okay and when my anxiety was heightened. And so I just, like, that's when I started promoting a lot in my journey of, like, putting your feet in the grass and how important it is and how it's such a big, free tool that we have. And it doesn't. If you don't have grass, it could be sand, and if you don't have sand, it could be dirt. And if you don't have dirt, it can be leaf. Like, you know, it doesn't really matter what it is. It's just grounding in nature in general. And so this whole process and, of course, spending time with animals and, like, buying my chickens and, like, when I started to really develop out this dream that I had, like, it just made me feel so grateful. Like, I was just like, how blessed am I that I'm able to. To do this? And also, you know, the cost of living in Italy is so little compared to here, it's, like, traumatizing. When I come back to the States now and have to go to the coaster, I swear, I'm like, I'm playing. I'm paying six pints for a freaking blueberry. $6 for, like, a thing of blueberries.

Yeah.

And, like, I like, what I can get for €6 at the grocery store in Italy is bag worth of fresh ingredients.

Wow.

Like, I just did this grocery haul because I want to tell people to. Want to show people the comparison. And I bought. I'm not even joking you, like, huge. Three huge bags of vegetables. So many different types. Like six cucumbers for my juices and four celery things. Bunches of celery and like two kombucha things and onions and garlic and all this everything. €51.

No way.

€51.

If I went to air, definitely not at Erewhon.

When I go to air.

€100.

Yeah, exactly. When I go to ER1, it's a minimum of 250.

Yeah.

Wow. For like half of that.

Right? Yeah. And you know why? Because Erewhon is not the readily available grocery item. I mean, right. It's the specialty item.

Right.

Because it is back to the basics. I mean, there's your grass fed meats, your raw dairies, you know, all of the things that in Italy are just the norm and here they're the exception.

Yeah, I know.

You know, know, I remember Max Lugaver saying one time on a podcast, he's like, you know, if you walk in your grocery store and they have a health food section, what does it say about the rest of the store? Yeah, it says everything it needs to tell you. Right, right. So true. And then the health food section is the most expensive. It's a tiny little area. It's like, you know, the shelves are kind of off on, on the side. And you're the exception to the rule, I think. You know, which is why I'm so excited about this Maha movement, because I feel like, like it's not gonna happen overnight. But, you know, going back to supporting our farmers and local agriculture, there are apps now that will tell you where your local farmers markets are. Where, where can you get raw cheese and raw dairy? Where can you actually get locally grown chickens? And where can you get, you know, eggs from a hen house, you know, twice a week that are not so commercial? I think, you know, us getting back to the basics, I mean, number one, you're nutrifying the body. Yeah, right. I mean, you're getting the minerals, the raw materials, vitamins, amino acids, and number two, you know, just, you're sort of reconnecting with nature. We didn't even think about shopping outside in a farmer's market. You know, we think about under big fluorescent lights in a warehouse. Exactly.

Well, food became transactional versus actually being like a relationship you have with food, which is our biggest problem. You go to the market, you have no idea where anything's from. You buy it in plastic, you check it out, you pay for your credit card and you go home and you eat it.

It. Yeah.

And like that's the disconnect. Between the relationship with food and human beings and obviously city people feel that the most. And it's another huge topic that I'm really passionate about is connectivity with food and how if our children were raised to understand where food came from and the, the joy that it is to watch a seed turn into a sprout and then a sprout turn into a plant and then a plant that gives you something you can eat.

Yeah.

Is even for an adult. You know, even 90 year old grandmas in Italy find it incredible. I mean the relationship that they have with food in Italy is like insane. They love food, they love community, they love long, long, long, long, long meals.

And they really do.

They love growing everything. I mean most people have their own garden, produce their own olive oil even if it's a small amount and they like, it's, you know, it's normal for them. That's their, that's their life and they, and they appreciate the ingredients and they tend to the soil. It's like why the food is so good in Italy and why people, you know, even me before I moved there, I could go and eat all the pasta and cheese and it wouldn't affect my, my gut and my skin versus like I was gluten free. Gluten free, Dairy free, refined, sugar free.

Yeah.

Corn free. Like I wouldn't eat anything being in LA and I was more inflamed than when I was eating the food there is because they've been passing down generations by family owned farmers. The old way of farming. And yes, of course some of them did. You know, they do have pesticides, it's still there in Italy. But like generally speaking it's family owned businesses and they've been doing the old regenerative practices forever. So they never, never felt the need to change that.

Right.

And so the food has more nutrients because the soil is not over tilled or over poisoned. And so when you eat the food you're actually absorbing the nutrients that your body needs versus feeling like it's just inflamed and you're not getting the nutrients. It's like an apple in America. You eat one and you, you actually only get the nutrients that is like a quarter of an apple. And then so you have to eat six apples in order to get the nutrients of one apple. Whereas when you go to Italy and you eat a tomato or an apple, you're like, whoa, this like tastes, tastes so good. And it's like, well yeah.

And it's nutrient dense. Because it's nutrient dense which actually releases GLP1, which is Ozempic, naturally in your gut. Right. I mean, it's a. Yep. It's a hormone we make in response to nutrient density. I mean, and so many people are on the highly processed diets, and so they're not releasing a lot of this satiety hormone that says, hey, stop eating. Which is why in tons of different studies, you see people giving equal caloric density diets, one highly processed and one a whole food diet. The people that are eating the whole foods will eat less calories because they're more satiated, because there's more nutrients and people that are at the process. Do you notice, I mean, when you come back to the States, you actually notice the difference. I'm sure you're militant about trying to control what goes in your body, but at some point you gotta eat. And so do you. Do you actually feel that difference? Everybody I know says, yeah, gosh, I go to Italy, I have a bowl of pasta and I have a basket of bread, and I actually feel fine. I lost weight eating pasta bread. Yeah, that was an olive oil and drinking wine in Italy.

Yeah, it's. It's totally like that. Yeah, it's so accurate and so many people do.

Yeah, because you're regular.

Yes. And. And listen, like, I. Because Italy is not into health and, well, like, I can't go down and get a green juice like, you know, down the street or like, go. You know, I miss. I miss some of the biohacking, wellnessy stuff that we have here in America, because I do love that stuff. And so when I come here, I like, totally go to, like, you know, all the juice places and get all my smoothies and, like, you know, versus having to make it for myself every day, which, by the way, is the way of, you know, I preferred way. But of course it's nice when you don't have it. It's like these, these conveniences of America I miss sometimes because we live in the world of convenience.

Right.

And Italy is the opposite of that. It's like, how unconvenient can things be? I'm not kidding.

Really?

Yes.

It's just so bad.

It's so the opposite of how we are, are. It's. It's actually wild. Which, by the way, it's amazing because it's why Italy is Italy. Right. It's 100 years back in time. And so people love to go there to experience that. But, you know, there's. There's a pros and cons of everything. Right?

Hi, guys. Gary here. I want to take A few minutes of your time to invite you to my Ultimate Human VIP community. This is a private community with front row seats to my most advanced health protocols, exclusive monthly Q and a calls. A private podcast where you can ask my guests and me your most pressing questions. And my own personal wellness blueprints and everything you need to optimize your health. You'll connect with like minded folks in this community. You'll get firsthand access to cutting edge insights and enjoy special discounts on products that I trust the most. And here's the best part. Membership is just 97 bucks a month, a fraction of the cost my private clients pay for the same deep dive guidance. If you're ready to supercharge your wellness and skip the guesswork, I'd love for you to join us. Head to the ultimatehuman.com that's theultimate human.com VIP right now to become one of my ultimate human VIPs. This is your fast pass to better health, so don't miss it. Now let's get back to the Ultimate Human podcast. Yeah, I want to talk a little bit about some of the projects you've worked on, the Inner Alchemy and, and your, your gut healing course, your online gut healing course. I, I think we agree because we talked about it before the camera started rolling about, you know, everything comes back to the gut. Yeah, I mean, if you heal the gut, you heal the biome. And I think only recently has modern medicine even begun to shine a glimmer of light on how important gut health is. I mean, it really is only one single cell layer separating us, our outside world, from our inside world. Yeah, I mean this, this system that we call the gut, you know, the colon, the small intestine, the stomach, esophagus, all of this areas is technically outside of the body. And so it's as much a barrier to keep things that shouldn't come in correct out as it is a gateway to let the things that should go in in. And if you think about the sophistication of, you know, before you even understand any of the physiology, like this stuff shouldn't come in and this stuff we need to let in. If we let enough of this in, we're healthy. If we let some of the things that we shouldn't, we're unhealthy. And in the connection not only to our immune system, but to our emotions, to our mood, to so many different aspects of being optimally healthy. I believe so many people that are diagnosed with a mental illness just throw that category out there or mood disorder actually just have a lack of mental fitness because of the gut. So talk a little bit about, like, what led you here and what inspired you to put this course together and, like, what does it do?

Yeah. So I agree with everything that you just said. I, of course, where I, where I started this journey was my own health problems. I had so many weird health issues that I could not figure out what was causing them. From skin problems to chronic bloating to cystic acne all over my back to, like, just, like, weird things. Constipated. Like, I thought being constipated for, like, three days was normal, you know, like, and it's just. It's just not. Nothing about that is normal.

Super not.

And, you know, I was in. I was on a quest to figure out how to heal myself naturally. And I would go through these phases where I would, like, get a little better, and then I would go backwards five steps, and then I would get a little better, then I would go backwards five steps and. And I went to 11 different doctors, all different types medical doctors, holistic doctors, like, all these different types of weird, you know, Chinese medicine. Doctors to, like, organ, like, measuring your organ. Doctors to, like. I was literally like, I'll do anything to figure out what is wrong with me and not live in this. Like, I had also chronic, like, brain fog and memory loss and so many things that I was like, I, I don't understand. I'm the healthiest person I know. Like, how is this possible? I ate all the right things. I didn't eat any gluten. I didn't have any dairy. I didn't do I at. I was literally like, I work out every day. I don't understand.

Right.

And it wasn't until I met actually, Dr. Joffrey, who is my partner in inner alchemy. And when I met him, we became friends first. I was actually going to him for, like, chiropractic in New York. I met him through Kelly Ripa.

Oh, wow.

Yeah.

Because he's in Naples.

Yeah. Now he's in Naples, but he was in New York originally.

Oh, he was in New York originally. I think the world of him, too, by the way. I, I, I use. Is his acid kicking off.

Get off your acid.

Minerals.

Yeah, exactly. I use minerals.

I take his vitamin D3.

Yeah.

Every morning.

Yeah.

No, he's amazing.

Yeah. I've been taking his stuff, I think, for, like, seven, seven years that when we met. So when we met in New York, he was helping me with my scoliosis. And then that turned Into I. He was like, all into this. All this other stuff, gut healing and whatever. And so I was, like, starting to pick his brain about all of it and asking all these questions. And then he was like, we have to do testing. Let me help you. And he was the first person that was like, we should do a GI map and test your gut health. It sounds like it's a gut problem. And I was like, h, cool. I don't know what that means, but, like, that sounds good. It was, like, the first time I actually felt like I was. I got it as something that made sense to me. Right. He, like, tested my blood, live blood cell analysis. He, like, did all this stuff that, like, no other doctor I went to did. They didn't, like, ask even the. The top medical gut specialist in la. Like, I did a colonoscopy and the other oscopy, and, like, everyone was like, you're fine. And I'm like, well, I'm not fine, so I don't, you know.

Know.

And, yeah, so I. I did a GI map with him. He was like, oh, girl. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I had, like, everything under the sun for Candida overgrowth parasite. Like, all the bad bacteria were, like, 10 times higher than the good bacteria. I had H. Pylori. Like, I. I basically had, like, the perfect formula of, like, a very up guy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so through that, you know, know, doing a whole protocol with him. And at the same time, I also. So this is why we came together. So I was doing these protocols and they were helping me, but I had so much underlying stress that it was making it go backwards. And it wasn't until I got my stress under control and I moved to Italy and, like, realized all this stuff spiritually that I actually was able to heal my gut. So it took me six years to, like, get to where I actually was, like, like, healed. And it wasn't because of what Dr. Joffrey was giving me. It was because I had so much chronic underlying anxiety that it was wreaking havoc on my gut, and that's why I couldn't actually fix it.

Yeah. And it was just like, the genesis of Serene Soul retreats. Is that how.

Okay, yeah. So I host retreats, wellness retreats that happen. When I moved to Italy, I. It's one of my favorite offerings I've ever done. We do week retreat retreats with women, and it's. It's amazing. And then now I have a Shayna Serene Circle, which is an online community that kind of brings the retreats to everyone because Obviously it's not everyone can come for a week or can afford a retreat. So I also launched this platform online called Shayna Serene Circle, which is like everything I cover on the retreats because we do food, relationship with food, spiritual work, fitness, and then of course like enjoy Italy at the same time.

Wow. So. So women come from the States and go to Italy.

Yeah, they come from all over the world. But a good. I would say like half of them are from the States. Yeah.

How big are these retreats were?

Between 10 to 16.

Wow. And do they stay at your farmhouse?

So that was.

You're trying to get.

That was the original plan was for them to stay at my farmhouse. But because everything started to be delayed, I ended up collaborating with other luxury properties around Italy. Yeah. So I've done a couple other properties in Italy and then now we're trying to do weekend retreats and then I want to do event day events on my land. So we want to do like. Have you. Do you know the brand? Like Outstanding in the field. Field. Have you heard of them?

Yeah.

So I want to do like that on my land. So huge table long dinners where people come and do a wellness day. So we do like a day retreat on my land. So people can actually be in the olive grove. They can like see the land. Because so many people are invested in this land. So I want to give them the opportunity to come. And even though the house is like tbd, what happens? Like I could end up giving, getting them in the future anyway. But for now, like it's just in the. The loop of whatever at least allows them to come and like be in the olive groves and feel the energy of the land. Because the energy of the land is everyone should feel it. It transformed my life. Transformed my life.

Wow. And so you host these retreats for women. When you say a day, it's like breakfast, lunch and dinner. Do you guys hike? Do you?

Yeah, so we do some sort of. Yeah, it'll be different per event. We'll. We'll see. We haven't done any yet. We're planning them now for this year.

Okay, cool.

But we want to do come like a little bit in the later afternoon. We do some sort of phys. Physical activity. So whether it be yoga, hike, Pilates or whatever. Then we move into some sort of spiritual work. So whether it be sound bath or meditation practice or whatever. Then we do a long table dinner and then we want to do a afterparty with a dj. So it's like a summer.

That's so cool. Yeah. That's so amazing. So. So you're on this journey with Dr. Geoffrey, who's. Who's technically working on your God. When I say technically, like, he's. He's a technical technician. Right. He's like, this bacteria is low over the sibo, you know, H. Pylori. So we're. We're addressing all of these issues. And. And he. He has an amazing gut protocol. I actually did a get challenge with him, and it was. It was one of the most successful challenges I've ever had with 30, I don't know, 5037, 000 people online. It was. And it was amazing. And. And I also find him, which I think is. Is important in a practitioner, just very intentional and very caring.

Very.

Right. Like, when he engages you, you feel like you're his only client. And we used his greens, and then we put together different recipes with, like, fermented veggies and everything.

Yeah.

So you're on. On. On this protocol. And then what did the spiritual journey work look like for you?

Oh, man. Yeah.

Started with, like, journaling and. And if you don't want to talk about it.

No, no, no.

I'm happy to share because I feel like a lot of. A lot of people are. Are spiritually devoid.

Yes.

And when I say spiritually devoid, it's not that you don't believe in Allah or you don't believe in Jesus or you don't. It's like you don't have a calling other than your job. You really don't identify with the purpose. You know, interestingly, when. When you look at the blue zones, I talk about this a lot. There wasn't continuity that ran between diets. The only thing that's. That were not exceptions were mobility until later in life, basically exercise. And it wasn't, like, intense. You know, these centenarians were not doing hits.

No, they were walking.

Yeah, Walking, Gardening. Yeah. Garden. Exactly.

Swimming.

But when they garden, got down on their knees, squatted, you know, biting it, stood up, carried a bucket.

Carried a bucket.

Yeah. Yeah.

Like a sack of potatoes.

But the other was a sense of community and purpose. And is that sort of what you're getting at?

Yeah.

Oh, okay. Like, what's my purpose? Yes.

So in my own journey of diving into spirituality, I realized that all the things that we want in life, like empowerment or setting boundaries with others and attracting abundance and having our dream job and attracting the right partner, all of these things. In order to get the real version of what you dream of, you have to do the inner work and understand Your inner world world. Because if you don't understand your inner world, you have no idea why you're attracting different things into your life or why you're not attracting different things into your life. And the only way you can figure that out is if you start to have a better relationship with the soul within yourself. And through my own journey, I realized how completely disconnect I thought I was. Like, I was an intuitive person. I was like always into health and wellness. I was always, you know, I loved crystals. And like, this was like, like the surface level of actually getting into the inner work of, of myself and understanding where all of my triggers came from and how I actually was a very reactive person in life and would react to small that didn't matter. Right. Or get angry or annoyed or like, even if I didn't snap at someone else, it was like I. My internal world was reactive. No. And it wasn't until I was like, oh my God, like I don't have to live in reactivity. I can actually live in peace.

Peace.

And the only way that I can do that is by figuring out where it comes from and why I would become reactive over something that like, essentially doesn't matter. And even if it is something that would upset you as a human being, it doesn't mean that you get to choose how it affects your well being. And on my anxiety journey that was the missing link, is that I was letting everything affect me at such a deep level because I was so used to being in survival mode and like a warrior, you know, chick, and just like ready to like fight a war, you know.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

That everything hit me like it was the worst case scenario, even if it wasn't. So obviously I was attracting different things into my life. Like, I've been through so many crazy things and it was because my energy was waiting for the worst case scenario. Because that's what, what I was used to since I was a kid. And even though I've had so much good in my life, it all came with some debilitating challenge to get over. And it was, I literally was like, what is this and why? Like, it can't just be like, because.

Right.

You know, because I, you know, it's 100 something inside myself. So what I love about spiritual work is that just asking journaling is like, people laugh at journaling, but like, it's one of the main starting points of being able to ask yourself questions because we don't ask ourselves enough. How do you feel today? People don't actually ask themselves that. And like, how is your internal world? Like, is something off? Like, what emotion do you feel did that? Like, people are so reactive and move forward in life so fast that they actually forget the connectivity with themselves. And our phones don't help because then we're looking for instant gratification through social media versus, like, having, you know, these. It's like dopamine hits. Right? It's like we're looking for every dopamine hit we can find.

Yeah.

In society, whether it be friends buying something, Instagram, whatever. And instead of, like, finding the happiness and the. The light, the, like, joy that we have, the happiness that we're supposed to have, the abundance that we're supposed to have have in our energy every day, because then those dopamine things aren't necessary because you're just embodying the energy of all those things with you all the time. But in order to achieve that, you have to dig deep within yourself, in your inner world and figure out what parts of yourself you don't understand.

Yeah.

And we're so, as we discussed before on this podcast, like, people are so disconnected from themselves. They're disconnected from the others. They're disconnected from so many things because we're. We're going into this virtual world of, like, everything is, you know, a. A different real than the present moment, than from nature, than from. It's crazy when you think about it. And we can't escape AI.

Right.

We can't escape this technology. And, like, it's great. We have a lot of it, and it's amazing. Like, I love using some certain things for business. I think it's amazing. But we have to find the balance between the inner work, the connectivity to nature, the caring about, you know, planet Earth and the food we eat and the wholesome, you know, ingredients that we have, and caring about, sourcing and building a relationship with food again and ourselves as well as, you know, if you want to dabble in that stuff or if you live in a city, like, you can have both, but you have to care about yourself and what you put in your body and your inner world. And, like, going deep. And yes, meditation is a really good way to do that. And yes, journaling is a good way to do that. I worked with many healers in my past to help me understand things better. Now I'm in a place where I feel I don't need that. And healers are amazing because they do help you, like, transform different energy. But at the end of the day, it's you that transform it. It's never the Healer, healer. So people should never look to healers as if they have some sort of like, it's you that you choose, it's you that true. You transform yourself. They are just a guide to help you through that process. And I love, and don't get me wrong, like I've worked with some amazing healers. I bring them on my retreats to work with the retreat members when they need like an extra ump and feel comfort and like transform energy within themselves. But yeah, it's, it's really coming back to where we used to be and how we used to live before all of this modern day day world. And the Europeans have more connectivity to it because it is still they're 100 years behind, whereas in America we really struggle with that.

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No one works.

Be like a closing on a real estate project, you know, like, oh, we're Signing it tomorrow. Oh, my vacation just starts to mile. Well, that's fine. Just sign it. On vacation. Nope. And. And they zero unplug for a month and they take it seriously.

Seriously, like, don't go to a city in the summer in Europe because no one's working.

No one will wait on you. It's like, it's. No, I think there's like kind of an you know, really interesting beauty. Like the. The more my life has grown and expanded and even socioeconomically becoming more successful because that's how society judges it. I can't wait to reconnect back to the basics. We have this little like ultra not fancy log house in. In Colorado. I talk about it all the time. It's like my favorite place on earth. We. We went there for the. In in the middle of the winter and. And it was the first time we went in the dead of winter. Which kind of reminds me of your trip to Italy because I was like, what the hell do we do? Exactly. This seems so cool on Instagram until you're in it. And then like, you know, we had to take a snow cat up there. And when the contractor left, I realized we were like, legitimately stuck there. And. And there's no electricity, there's no running water, and there's no heat. And it was 15 degrees and the temperature was dropping.

Firewood.

Yeah, we need fire to take down for firewood and put it in there. And then, you know, you walk over to wash your hands. Sink doesn't work. You're like, I'll just take a shower. Oh, you can't take a shower. I mean, maybe I'll just boil some water. We got snow and boil the snow. But it was just something super magical about it. You know, it's funny because when my wife and I woke up, it had gotten so I had a. Started a fire. So the whole cabin war warmed up and then we went to bed and piled under the covers. Well, of course the fire goes out every night.

So you woke up freezing.

So it's like 5:30 in the morning. It's like 15 degrees in the cabinet. And she's like, why don't you get up and start a fire? Good. Why don't you get up and start a fire?

Exactly.

Everybody's dead out here. Every man for himself. But it was. No, it's just. It's just amazing. And there's. And sometimes those connections. And I love the fact that you're doing this for women because. Because, you know, another common theme and a sad fact about autoimmune disease is that it is. The majority of it is in women. About 82% of all autoimmune disease affects women. And I think it has a lot to do with the journey that you were on. You know, I mean, here you are model, and you're living in la and you're gluten free and you're dairy free, and you're probably running in the right circles and eating really clean, and things are just all wrong. It's really the getting back to the basics that.

That healed me.

Yeah, that healed you.

And I mean, going back to inner alchemy and kind of why Dr. Joffrey and I decided to partner is because it's important for people in their gut health journey to have a scientific person like Dr. Joffrey, a real doctor who's going to explain, you know, why things are the way that they had all the technical things. And he's like, insanely passionate about the amount of, like, what supplements you should be taking and, you know, all this stuff. And so that is so important as part of the journey. But he also understands from his own world and also, also from my journey is that the. Of course, he really. He touches a lot on the food. He's a very healthy guy and, you know, eats extremely healthy. I do the whole chef portion of it. So we have like a whole cooking segment where I teach you, like, the basics in the kitchen and how to make a bone broth and like, we talk about the gut balancing plate. So, like, everything that you should. How your plates should basically be, you know, organized when you're thinking about food. I also have a. We have a huge section about stress management and how to unpack trauma and stress and different tools that you have in your. Your life and going back to the basics of grounding your feet in the grass and getting sun in your face in the morning and actually having peace and learning what joy is again, like, I was living life so much without knowing what thing, what actually brought me joy in life. Now I do ceramics, like, on my, you know, downtime and like, when you're an entrepreneur too, I was over. I was like, I'm not working enough, you know, like, what more can I do? And then I realized, like, Shayna, when you do that, it actually depletes your energy field and you get drained, and then nothing happens. Attracts to you versus having boundaries with your team and your job and everything. And, like, being efficient in what you do and then spending time doing things that bring you joy. And Italy really taught me that because they don't overwork at all and have so much balance in what they do. And so I started, you start to be like, oh, this is actually okay to live like this. And it's when you're not in this rat race of feeling bad because everyone else is in the rat race and you remove yourself from it, you're like, holy, holy crap. Like, okay, now I understand the balance of what life is supposed to be like.

Yeah.

So now I've been able to find that balance. You know, I'm not saying you have to move to Italy to find that balance. You can do it anywhere, right?

Yeah.

But so yeah, Inner Alchemy is basically a. It's a very extensive 13 module online program.

Wow.

That covers all of these topics that now we just actually we're about to break it up into three different phases. Because it's so much information. We realized that it would be better if we broke it up into phases and also makes it a little bit more affordable for people who don't want to buy it all at once. So we're doing three different phases now. And yeah, within those phases we cover like lifestyle choices, supplementation, diets, chef school, the science behind gut health, all the different gut related, most chronic symptoms that people have. So whether it be Lyme disease, autoimmune disease, brain fog, fog, you know, depression, Sibo, wow. All basically we cover all those things.

So what's it, what's a basic daily ritual for you look like? I mean, I know that you're a big believer that you need to have rituals, Right. What does that look like for you if you're in Italy or when you're here because you're traveling? So how are you maintaining, maintaining this on the road? What are some of your non negotiables?

I have a few. So my morning ritual is, is the key to everything for me. How I start my day is the most important thing and helps me embody the energy of which I carry out for the entire day. And when I started stressed or rushed or not grounded or not listening to some sort of spiritual wisdom or whatever, like I really feel a difference in how I deal with things, how my anxiety comes back and just how like neurotic I feel. Feel. So my non negotiables are I, I don't care how early I have to wake up, I like to have two hours before I have to do any sort of work. So it used to start with five minutes and then it turned into 10 minutes and then it turned into 30 minutes and then now it's two hours.

I mean, you say starting work before you get on your phone, before I.

Touch my phone, before I look at emails. So I. I'll touch my phone. Because I typically listen to some sort of spiritual wisdom in the morning for 30 minutes. It's how I like to start my day. So I. I wake up, I have my bone broth, I drink my. I have my olive oil lemon shot. I literally travel with my olive oil because I, like, need to have it every day.

I love it too.

You're welcome. I have my matcha instead of coffee. It's. It's actually how I started my first brand. Shayna's Kitchen was I created a Matcha brand because it helped me so much with my anxiety to switch from coffee to matcha.

Wow.

And got really passionate about finding the best quality. We also sent you some matcha to it to try. Oh, awesome. And so I got obsessed with finding the best tasting quality matcha you could find on the market. And so then when I found it for myself, I ended up creating a brand. That's actually how I started being an entrepreneur was through selling matcha. And I called it, I call it Morning ritual Matcha because it was a huge part of creating my morning ritual because I used to make my matcha and then sit with my matcha, and that's when I would journal and meditate. And it was part of my, like, ritual. So in the morning, I always ground. So even to this morning, I mean, Miami is a great place because you can, you know, walk down to the beach. So my grounding was out to the beach. And I Woke up at 5am Because I wanted to work out at 8:30. So I do have my time. So I always meditate, I always journal, I always do gratitude instead of thinking about the negatives. It's really easy to wake up and think about all the things you need to do and get stressed about it. But instead, I always try to think of all the things that I'm really, really excited for and grateful in my life, which obviously helps set up my day in a sense of gratitude versus lack or a strength stress. And then I always listen to 30 minutes of some sort of spiritual wisdom. So right now I've been really into Kabbalah. And so I've been listening to a lot of spiritual practice related to that just to like something new to educate myself on.

And is this like a guided meditation or is it just verbiage?

Verbiage.

Okay.

Yeah. Meditations. I used to do a lot of guided in the beginning. Now I do meditation on my own, like in my own guided head, you.

Know, I think a lot of people like me find it really, really hard. I mean, I think there's so many thoughts that start to creep in when you start to quiet the mind.

Yeah.

It sort of wakes up.

Yeah.

And all the things that didn't get attention are now viable for attention.

Oh, yeah.

Meditation's a learned practice too. I mean, it's. It's like anything. It's like building muscles. I mean, you have to consistently work at it for them to grow. And I am committed to learning how to meditate, mainly because some of the people I. I look up to and respect the most meditate regularly. And I've never met somebody, somebody ever that has committed to truly learning how to meditate. That's done. So that's regretted it.

Yeah. Not one person.

Not one person. And. And I know hundreds of people, and every one of them will say it was life changing. And these are, you know, a lot of the folks that socioeconomically, you. You. You would really say, okay, they're at the pinnacle of success. And they'll tell you that meditation is one of those things. So I'm. I'm definitely still committed to doing that.

Yeah, you should. I mean, the. The biggest misconception about meditation, I think, is that. That you think you're supposed to think about nothing.

Yeah.

But the reality is it's actually the opposite. Yes, of course, you're not supposed to think about your anxieties and your stressors, but, like, the amount of downloads and information that I get about my business or about something that I should do or about a friend is always in meditation. So, like, you have to learn how to, of course, like, go into your inner world, which can be a scary place for most people. But once you're able to tap in and release yourself from, like, all the other these, like, needs of things you need to do that are over here and tap into this, like, soul calling of information of peace and tranquility and like, all the things that you want to think about from this side. That's where the meditation is actually like, the sweet spot. Because, yes, whenever breathing practices are amazing way to meditate. Guided meditations, of course, are amazing because visualizations allow you to be distracted enough to go into a different world, which is also your inner world. And people think that, like, medit. Like visualization. Like, I thought I was. I couldn't visualize anything when I first got started. I was like, it's impossible for me to visualize anything. Like, what do you mean? Now I can like, it's insane what I can visualize. And it's not about being able to see a clear picture. It's not, that's not what meditation is. It's being able to understand the essence of what you're trying to visualize and like be able to be in that essence of it. So maybe you don't necessarily see the details of a falling rainfall or like a falling waterfall.

Right.

But you can like get the essence of if you were standing in front of one and like in that moment with the waterfall and the energy of which the water is giving you.

Yeah.

And that's where you kind of want to like, you know, drop into that place because that's what actually, you know, gets your body to, to drop into relaxation and, and, and you get the mental break. And when those thoughts come in you just say thank you so much. But like I'm not doing that right now. And like come back to, you know, it's just like thank you so much. But like that's not what I'm doing. And it happens so much.

Me.

Yeah, yeah, it happens to me still to this day. You know, sometimes I'll like think of something that's stressful and I'm like, I, right now is not the time, so like I'll think about that later. Like put it over there in the box.

Yeah, it's so good. You know, I, I struggle with it so much. You know, years ago I started doing CrossFit and what was amazing for me is I every, after every CrossFit workout I felt so amazing. Not like muscle body wise, but just mentally like any kind of intense exercise. And it could be anything hits cardio, just weight training or yoga. But when you're done, done, you haven't for at least a period of time thought about anything other than that. Like an inch. If you've ever done CrossFit workouts that, you know, you don't think about anything but just trying not to die. If you don't want to quit at some point during the workout, you're not doing it right. But then afterwards there's this eerily like meditative state that you're in where you're just clear and you're cognizant and you're awake. I actually crave that post exercise window like a rat to cheese, kind of like cold plunging. For me it's like one of my drugs of choice. That's one of the things that's non negotiable for me and it's, I'm not A crazy workout person. But I exercise every day because when I'm done, it's like my transition into the day and I'm like, just super aware and I, I'm gonna add. You're gonna, you're gonna be the one that's gonna get me to add meditation.

So, yeah, 100 million. I mean, you can, you'll be able to get something just as good. It'll be different, but it'll be very similar to that. When you're able to like, really embody meditation in your life, you'll, it'll be the same thing. It's like, for me, I need it every single day, even if it's for five minutes. Like, it's essential because I know how much it grounds me in my well being and like, gives me certainty in my day and like, relieves me from the, the crazy, you know, spiral of the trauma, you know, the, the stress loop, the fear loop that we all can get ourselves into, right? And it's not about, you know, running away from it or trying to control it. It's about, like, understanding it and giving yourself the tools and learning the tools that you can use to get yourself out of it and back into the present moment. Because the fear loop and anxiety loop comes. It doesn't come from the present. So if you can bring yourself back into the present, and that's what meditation is, is in the present moment. It's, you're, you're just present and nothing else. That's when you can, you know, really release and let go of the stress and anxiety of the world that we have on a daily basis.

Shayna. Amazing. We're going to go into my VIP community now. These are like, my VIP community is like the community that I'm really trying to build to really, really kind of changed the world. Really pouring myself into educating and trying to inspire them to build an army of people that are doing a lot of what you're doing. So before every podcast, we let the VIP community know who's coming on. So they have, they have some questions for you. So we'll go into that room in a second. But before we do, where can my audience find you?

Yes, so you can find me and everything I do on social media, which is my full name, Shayna Therese Taylor.

S A Y N A.

S H A Y N A. Yes. And then of course, you can find all my offerings that I have, like olive oil, matcha and retreats on shaynaskitchen.com and it's amazing.

By the way, I will link all of the stuff in the show notes for you guys. And we always wind the podcast down by asking every guest the same question. What does it mean to you to be an ultimate human?

What does it mean to me to be an ultimate human? I feel like my whole body just relaxed when you asked me that question.

I saw that.

Did you see that? Yeah, I saw.

I literally saw that.

The answer is to be fully grounded and present in the current moment and, like, really happy and uncertainty. Because I feel like when you asked me that question, it, like, it actually grounded my energy.

I literally did see that.

Did you see that?

I did. I was glad you.

I felt it.

That was wild.

So, yeah, I mean, I would say being somebody that suffered a lot from underlying anxiety and being completely ungrounded. I mean, I remember I was. Went to this Irish psychic reader, and he literally told me I was like, cut in half through, like, he's like, spiritually, you're like, cut in half, and to the world, you look like a swan, but underneath you're like this.

Yeah.

And I. When he said it to me, I was like, yeah, that's basically how I feel. And so learning how to not live like that and being in the place that I am right now in my life. Life, and knowing what it's like to be grounded and knowing what it's like to be happy and of joy and love, what I do and remove the. The fear loop from my life is, I think, what it means to be an ultimate human.

That was amazing. Well, thank you for being on the podcast today. We're going to follow your journey. Excited about your partnership with Dr. Geoffrey? He's a good friend. He's a great practitioner. He's healed a lot of my community, and they know them very, very well. So, guys, if you're interested in becoming a Ultimate Human VIP, just go over to theultimatehuman.com and sign up to be a VIP and join us in these private communities where you get to spend time with the podcast guests, where we get to have open dialogue. Q. And as special challenges, there's all kinds of benefits. I really pour myself into this VIP community. So I hope that I'll see you there. And until next time, that's just science.