Developing a Healing Mindset with Dr. Habib Sadeghi

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Welcome to the JJ Virgin Lifestyle show with celebrity nutrition expert, Fitness hall of Famer and four time New York Times best selling author, JJ Virgin. JJ is a warrior mom whose knowledge and expertise have helped change hundreds of thousands of lives. With over 3.5 million podcast downloads and a appearances on Dr. Phil, Dr. Oz, the Today Show, Rachael Ray, Larry King.

Love Whoa, whoa whoa.

This show is about you, not about me. I want to help you find practical, real world ways to dial in your health and mindset so you can finally lose that weight and feel strong and energized. Stop settling for less than your personal best. It's time to find out how to look and feel better than ever. And I'll be right here with you the whole way. Welcome to today's show. We're going to be talking about detoxing today, but not like you think. We have an interesting, well, we, I, I have an interesting guest today. I've actually been trying to get him on the show for a while. We had some technical difficulties, but I got him on Sweetest, Sweetest Man Ever and just a really cool take on life. So he wrote the book the Clarity Cleanse. And by the way, we have a great, great gift for you at jjvirgin.com/theclaritycleanse so make sure that you grab that jjvirchin.com forward/theclaritycleanse and one of the things that you will definitely want to do is grab that. We've got a great excerpt from the book 12 Steps to Finding Renewed Energy, Spiritual Fulfillment, Emotional Healing. But you're going to hear about this journey that he started in medical school and then found out that he had cancer and where it took him. Habib Siddiqui is a doc and the co founder of the Beehive of Healing Integrative Medical center in LA and a clinical instructor of Family Medicine at Western University of Health Sciences. And he also wrote the forward to Gwyneth Paltrow's it's all good. And is the publisher of the health and well being journal Megazen. So really cool. Interesting conversation. We're going to weave in stuff about my son, about the mindset of healing with some key takeaways that you can use right away. Now, before we dive in, I want to do a shout out to Amb 1966. She says thank you. Five stars. Just listen to the AIP protocol episode. So much I could say as background as to the hopelessness, fear, sadness, etc and being diagnosed with my third autoimmune condition in 12 years. I've been doing so much research and believe wholeheartedly that I must love my body instead of fighting it because it's fighting itself. Gifting my body with good nutrition is the first step, but the information out there is overwhelming. Until today. I started crying at the end of the episode because now I believe I can do it. So thank you, JJ. Thank you, Dr. Valentine. Thank you for being warrior goddesses, leading the way for the rest of us to believe we are worthy of optimal health and happ. I have got to go pass that on to my buddy Sarah. That is just fantastic. We'll connect to that podcast too, because that's definitely going to tie into this interview. As you'll see what Dr. Sadeghi talks about in terms of autoimmune disease. It's kind of a shocker and I'm not going to tell you. You are going to listen to the interview to find it out. All right, Dr. Habib Sadeghi, about time I got you on this show. I've been waiting months. I'm really excited to share you with the audience. You have a very interesting background. So that's what I'd like to dive into first, because you started out as a family doc and then you went off to get more education. Can let's walk through that because I think that plays a huge role in where you're at now.

Thank you for asking. And I think Dr. Oz nailed it when he said that I'm a family doctor with a with a twist. And I think he's right. You know, I am a traditionally trained physician and I've, you know, I have a master's in spiritual psychology with emphasis in consciousness, health and healing. And I've spent, you know, nine years of my life looking at this connection between mind and the body.

Well, what. What took you there? So first you went to medical school, you were going to be a family doctor, and then you decided to go off to graduate school. What you do that, you know, I crossed the street.

You know, it just like I love.

The metaphor of crossing the street, I'm gonna, I'm going to use that from here on out because it is just, I mean, for in my life, Grant, crossing the street was such an inflection point for me and our family. So for you, when, when did you get cancer? What happened?

Second year of medical school, I, you know, I was diagnosed with testicular cancer. And this was the time where Scott Hamilton, the skater, died. Lance Armstrong nearly died. He lost part of his brain, part of his lungs. So it was scary. I thought that I was going to die and it really changed my whole life. And what I ended up creating was a mindset, a mindset of clarity.

So was that through? Because, you know, here you are, you're in medical school, which I've already heard, when people are in medical school, they tend to think they got everything under the sun anyway. Now you actually do have something that doesn't have a great survival rate. What was your survival rate that you were told?

I published it in the book. The. In my entire medical records was published. And they, the book had to be reviewed by seven physicians before the publisher could publish it. And they, they said that there were 70% chance of metastasis. What they wanted to do was a 16 hour surgery where they fillet you open, take out the entire gut and then radiation and four cycles of chemotherapy. And I just did minimal treatments. I chose not to do radiation or chemotherapy or the 16 hour procedure.

And you were in medical school. Did the doctors around you think you were crazy?

Yes, they thought, my family thought, you know, I was crazy. I mean, this was 70% chance of metastasis. They were saying, you'll never have babies. This is suicide. But you know what, I did it differently. And, you know, it was just sort of like, here you are and here's your son, 16 years old, and they're saying we are not going to airlift him because he could, you know, he's not going to make it. But you realize that even if it was zero to whatever percent chance that was good enough for you to take that chance.

As my son says, it's not zero. You know, it's not zero.

That's it. That's the miracle mindset. And that really what saved me so.

That, so it was looking at the 30% rather than focusing on the 70%.

You nailed it.

Okay, so you looked at the 30%. You decided not to go with the traditional measures you went through. I know you refer to cancer as cancer spelled C A N W S E R, like C answer. And why do you refer to it as that?

Because it was one of the greatest gift in my life. I wanted to become a neuro ophthalmologist. I was very goal oriented. I was competitive. I didn't have a spiritual practice, and it really pulled me out. I took a sabbatical from medical school. I ended up traveling through India, Europe, Mexico. I learned anthroposophical medicine. I learned about German new medicine.

Wait, wait, wait. What's anthroposophical medicine?

That's right. Most people, when you tell them anthroposophical medicine, they think you sneeze. They say bloodstream.

Yep. I've never heard that. What is it?

Right. So in Europe, anthroposophical medicine was started by a conscious clairvoyant, Rudolf Steiner, the same person that started the Waldorf educational program. So it's sort of an offshoot, a specific form of homeopathy that looks at the body systemically. You know, the traditional medical model. We don't look at the body in a. In a systemic manner. You go in, you have a system, you have a symptom. And they say, okay, let's give you a medication to get rid of the, the, the pain that you have. But they don't ask, you know, you, you're walking around and you're saying, he or she's the pain in my neck, or I can't stomach that. Or, you know, this is a pain in the ass. And. But no one connects it, that maybe your language has something to do with what you are. Somatic.

I love hearing this. I gotta tell you something really funny. You were talking about that, and I was thinking about. I was dating this guy who always struggled with his weight. And he would look at me and he'd say, I'm starving out of my mind. And I'm like, you're starving out of your mind? Like, start, like, really, you. You know, you're not starving. I said, like, watch that language. You're not starving out of your mind. You might be a little hungry, you know. Right.

Only mammal that we can use, the linguistic abstraction that affects our physiology. In other words, the language that we use, we give it a meaning and interpretation and it creates a hormonal, a physical change inside our body. And we know that.

Yeah, fascinating. So you had this. So you went on this journey and you and I. And I'm fascinated by, by what they do in Germany. I know that if, if I ever come up with cancer, that is where I'm going. And it's amazing. But what Then you went over and you went into a spiritual psychology program, correct? Yeah.

So one of the things that I did was I realized that. That I was incredibly strong and gifted when it came to sciences. My background, I'm a microbiologist, medical technologist with a minor in chemistry before even going to medical school. So, you know, I was a great diagnostician, and then I went to medical school. But I realized that I wanted to focus cultivating a spiritual practice and really understand it deeper and experience it. So I got a master's in spiritual psychology with a fellowship in consciousness health and healing. And that really made a difference for me in terms of connecting this idea that what we say, what we think, what we feel, what we emote actually influences our physical being.

So can you give me some examples of, say, someone coming into your practice and maybe they are struggling, they're pre diabetic, they're tired. What process do you take them through? How do you use these tools that you have? How does someone use them in everyday life?

Absolutely. One of the things that I love about you and what you stand for is that you were one of the first ones, JJ that actually understood that every physical body is unique. So generally speaking, I'll give you a couple of cases that I've had. For instance, a person that has diabetes, well, you know, they usually have issues with their pancreas. If you look at pancreas, if you look at the histology under microscope, we refer to it as islands of Langerhans. In other words, these are these tiny little islands that they're separated. You cannot become diabetic unless the consciousness that you have is. You feel isolated, separated from. From others. This is the whole pillar of anthroposophical medicine where we actually believe that consciousness precedes phenotypic expression. In other words, first, there needs to be a mindset that is diabetic before you actually create a diabetic symptom.

So with that, because, you know, one of the things that I've had to really work with my son on, it's very interesting, him coming out of a coma. And I kept saying, you're going to be 110%. You'll be better than before the accident. And I listen to some of his languaging now, and he'll say, I don't feel like I'm doing anything. Like he'll do. He'll be productive all day long. He goes, but I didn't feel like I did anything right. I didn't feel like I did Anything I said. But let's go back and look at the. Look at the reality of what you think, what you did, what you know you did. That's. Those are the facts. But yet if you don't feel you did it, you didn't do it. You know, thoughts are so powerful, they so create. So if someone. Someone feels like they're sick, like they can't get better, they can't lose weight, they're diabetic, how do you make that. It sounds like what you're saying is their mindset has to shift in order for them to get healthy. How do you get them to shift their mindset into a state of hope and belief so they. They can then get healthy?

Well, yeah, I'm. I'm not sure if I do anything. I think it's sort of like looking at the water and realizing that there are boulders that is preventing the water from you moving down. And these boulders are the judgments, the misunderstandings, the misinterpretations, mis, you know, misuses of our energy. And if we could work with that, for instance, the big one would be mind shaming. Human beings have a tendency, especially women, you know, that mind shame ourselves. When you look at autoimmune diseases, there is a gender predilection of 10 to 1. Let me say that again. So if you have 10 women that they get autoimmune diseases, such as lupus, such as auto, you know, autoimmune thyroiditis, Hashimoto's thyroiditis, rheumatoid arthritis, you know, for 10 women, only one man will get that disease. So this process of mind shaming, and no one teaches us, how do you metabolize shame? How do you metabolize guilt? How do you release judgment? How do you work with that? How do you use the language of forgiveness? So by teaching people first, really realizing what is their specific story in their biography, that is, dictating their biology and then helping them, giving them the tools. And the tools could be as simple as a way of journaling that I, in the book the Clarity Clints, I refer to it as Pew12P E W12 Purge. Emotional writing, 12 minutes a day, which is an unbelievable way of sitting, creating a cocoon or a revelation. Boots and just asking yourself, what's present for me? How am I feeling? Who am I pissed at? What are the judgments that they're present for me? What happened yesterday? Why am I so uptight right now? And by working with that, and, you know, a specific way of journaling that, you know, it allows us to be able to access, metabolize any, any unresolved issues, emotions. And as you remove these boulders, the water of healing flows.

I love that. So that is the Clarity Cleanse. And for everybody listening that the book is. And we'll link to this in the show notes, the Clarity Cleanse, the 12 Steps to Finding renewed energy, spiritual fulfillment and emotional healing. And I know that you're going to be giving everyone an excerpt and I do know Dr. Joan Rosenberg.

No, I'm gonna, I'm gonna hook you up.

One of the things I love to do most is connect like minded people. And this, this is the woman who, when Grant got hit, she would just come sit in the hospital with me. And you know, it was interesting as I was going through this journey with Grant because some people showed up. People I never would have expected to show up showed up. And people who I thought would be there didn't ever show up. And you know, first I was upset and then I realized no, people are doing what they're capable of doing. This is not, not everyone can show up. It's, it's, this is a scary thing for some people. But she would just show up. And one of the things that she teaches, she has a book called 90 seconds to a life you love. She teaches you how to feel these unpleasant feelings. And I think the two of you putting her work and your work together, I love hearing about this journaling. I think journaling is one of the most powerful things you can possibly do. But using it as a way to purge through these and get them out, it's like a, it's like a, you know, journal detox. Right. It's fantastic. And then you mentioned another thing and you mentioned forgiveness. So I've got to pull that out too because I know that is one of the most powerful things that you can do. There's two things I want to just address. So first one is forgiveness. I'd love your take on that and how you use that in your practice. Yeah.

When, you know, I, for six months I looked at under. Most people are unaware, but under Department of Justice there is a department called Department of Pardon. And it's usually headed by a PhD, JD, an attorney who has a PhD and if you want someone to be pardoned, you send them an application, they look at it. So what I specifically wanted to do do was to look at the language of past presidents who had pardoned all these people. And it was just amazing to say by the power invested in me as the President of the United States, I pardon X Y Steve John Whatever, Jill. And I said, wait a minute. Wow. Why don't I start doing that? So once I realized that I may have gone through, let's say, this process of cancer and some of the unresolved issues, some of the unresolved sexual experiences I had with an older relative and so forth, may be contributing, if not causing, what I'm dealing with. Why don't I go through forgiveness? So I created this ritual. Every single time I was under a shower and just about coming out, I would stand under the shower and allow it to baptize me. And I would use the language. I would say, by the. All the resources invested in my creation, I wholeheartedly forgive myself for all the judgments I may be holding against myself and updating my consciousness that as I learn better, I'll do better.

Do you have that written in your book?

Yeah, there's a whole.

That's beautiful. I'd like to. I'd like to model that. Habib.

My pleasure. I mean, really, the whole essence of JJ to writing this book was I lost my brother, who was the most intelligent human being on the planet. He graduated from USC School of Medicine, top of his class at the age of 21, and internist, cardiologist, interventional cardiologist. And he took his life. He had some challenges, and, you know, the whole book is dedicated to his memory. So part of what I. You know, the reason the impetus behind the book was to really give back, because I didn't want to be just for certain elite. You know, I want to be accessible, and I want to give everyone these tools that they can. That they can take on tomorrow and make a difference in their lives, because people are suffering.

Well, and the nice thing is, with these tools, they don't cost anything. This is something you can just put into your life. You can put journaling into your life. You can put forgiveness into your life. You can put affirmations into your life. These are all things that you. One by one, you put them into your life. And it's. It's. I mean, these are the things that, thankfully, I had in place prior to my son getting hit, because. And that was one of the key things I really thought about as I was going through all this with my son, is that, what if I didn't have this in place?

Bingo.

You know? Right. This isn't. It's not that the time to blow up the life raft is not when you're drowning. You know, you've got to have it there beforehand.

You're absolutely right. The COVID of the book is what you had the COVID of the book, the clarity cleanse is just an empty cover cup. See, if you want to. I mean, I can give you the most precious tea, but unless you have a cup, you cannot brew yourself a cup of tea. So here you were, you went probably through one of the most intense experiences of your life with your beloved son at the age of 16. But you had the mindset. The mindset is the cup. And that was really the results of working on yourself since the age of 21 to be able to have that cup and to be able to do and show up the way you showed up that I know saved his life.

Yes, no question. And made him better and the whole family better because of it, which was just a decision that actually gave us so much peace. Because if you thought this was just going to happen and we were going to be way worse because of it, then, like, what's the point? Where's the hope? I wanted to touch on one other thing because you mentioned a little bit here earlier about being isolated and, and what role do you see community and those you surround yourself with playing in.

All of this, with everything. I mean, you can just look at the name of the center that my beloved and I have. It's called Be Hive of Healing Hive Gathering Bee with 1e Gathering of Beings for the purpose of healing. We have an intentional healing community. We are social animals. Without community, we die. And I think one of the things that has occurred. Most people think pornography has anything to do with sexuality. No. Pornography is empty calorie social media is pornographic for, you know, for me, that's why I've taken a sabbatical 2019. And I'm not going to be on social media to discipline myself and then to take a look at my own blood work and to see how it affects me.

Oh, that's going to be a good one. I, I really think I love that line from Brene Brown where she says comparison kills. Joy stains your own lane. And I think that social media is. Just makes us all feel bad. It just makes you feel bad. You look in there and. And everybody seems to be better off doing more cool things than you and just makes you feel bad. It's just the only thing that I use it for now is for our groups so that we can communicate and support each other. The rest of it, it's like G. So I'm right there with you. That's a very interesting, interesting research project. I can't wait to have you back on to hear about that. So I want to let Everybody know you have the Clarity cleanse. You're going to be giving everyone an excerpt from that. You'll be able to grab that by going to jjvirgin.com claritycleanse and I will have more in the show notes as well. And I really appreciate your time today. I know it took us some while to get together here. We had some technology challenges, but it was well worth the wait.

Thank you so much for the invitation. God bless you for doing what you're doing and what you stand for. Thank you so much, jj.

I appreciate you. Now after the break, I'll be answering a listener's questions, so stay with me.

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Welcome back. This is the time where I answer listeners question. You know, I always like to connect them up to what we've been talking about on the show and this showed up the Other day in my Instagram, DMs JJ, how the heck did you get through that story with your son? I'm going through something similar and I just don't know how to face the day. And you know, the reason I wrote the Miracle Mindset, which became Warrior mom, was because I wanted to pass on these tools. And what was interesting was I wrote that book and talked about all of the things that I used, all the mindset kind of hacks I used to be able to get through that. And I didn't remember where I learned them because they were so much a part of me. Turns out When I was 30, I had a mentor who I literally lived with for six months, and she trained me on all of these mindset things. I thought she was teaching me business, she was teaching me life. And starting with these mindsets tools that literally, just like what Dr. Sadegi said today, you've got to have these in place because you never know when something's going to happen. And it's how you show up that changes everything. Here's what we want to. Here's what you want to do. Again, we'll link to Miracle Mindset. We'll link to this in the show notes as well. And we are putting those show notes again at jjvirgin.com forward/ claritycleanse. But I'm going to give you a little tool that I use that I used every day in the hospital that was super simple. Call it my jam. Chi for gratitude, A for appreciation, and M for miracles or little wins. Every morning, I pull out a journal. I write down at least three things I'm grateful for. I write them down with a pen. I don't put it into an app. I physically write it down. There's something about connecting your pen to paper that wires up your brain and really makes you get into that attitude of gratitude. So that's first thing that I do. Second thing, I use appreciation to manage my state. And there are times when I was in the hospital when I would get really scared, frustrated, angry. And there's times during the day now that I get scared, frustrated, angry. And so what I do is I pull out my phone and I text someone, I tell them what I appreciate about them. It is amazing how quickly that shifts your state. And you know what's cool? It shifts someone else's state, too. So it's a total win. Win. And then finally at night, I write down at least three things that I am that were my little wins of the day. Like what? What went well today what was a little win? Because we don't do that, right? You go through the day and you're like, nothing really happened. Well, you know what? You got through the day that happened, so that's a win. You're still standing, right? So what were three wins? What were three little miracles that you had that day? What was great about that day? And there's always something. And I call that my jam. It's how you frame the day. It's pattern interrupts, keep you in appreciation during the day. It's some gratitude in the morning, it's celebrating the wins at night. Super simple. You can do that. All right, I'll see you next week. And hey, one last thing. If you haven't subscribed yet, you don't want to miss the show, so make sure you do. All right, Ciao.

That's all for this episode of the JJ Virgin Live lifestyle show, which marks another step towards a healthier body and mind. Don't forget to rate, review, and subscribe to the show, and we'll talk to you next week.

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