42. Your Mind Is the Missing Link to Healing—Here’s Why… with Jim Curtis

Welcome to Rooted in Wellness with me, Wellness Advocate and holistic nutritionist Mona Sharma. Together we will take a journey to discover natural healing practices from imbalance to balance, guided by ancient wisdom and modern scientific insights. I was raised living summers on an ashram, so I learned early on that Food is medicine, and your kitchen is your greatest source of healthcare and prevention. After facing two heart surgeries, anxiety, and weight challenges, I discovered that just because your symptoms are common doesn't mean that they are normal. Together with some incredible guests, we will explore the power of our mind, body, and soul connection, returning to our roots to rediscover our greatest wellbeing. We've been taught that healing is about what we eat, how we move, and the supplements that we take. But what if real, lasting transformation has less to do with green juice and workout routines and more to do with the way that we think, we feel, and how we process our emotions? This week, I'm sitting down with Jim Curtis, a healer, a hypnotherapist, and an expert in neuro-linguistic programming, which is NLP, to explore how our subconscious patterns, emotional inflammation, and unprocessed trauma affect our health in ways that we don't even realize. In this episode of Rooted in Wellness, we dive deep into the mind-body connection, why chronic pain, illness, and anxiety are often symptoms of stored emotions, and how shifting our inner world can change everything. Jim shares the science behind hypnotherapy, NLP, which I love, and somatic healing breaking down how these tools can help to rewire our subconscious, release old stories, and create space for healing to begin. We also unpack the most common limiting beliefs that keep most people stuck in their wellness journey, and how to finally break free. Plus, we get into why healing isn't just about habits and discipline, but about frequency, about energy, and learning to shift into a state where transformation flows effortlessly. Jim Curtis is a leader in the space of mind-body healing, with a background in nutrition, functional medicine, and behavioral psychology. His work bridges the gap between science and holistic healing, helping people reprogram their minds, regulate their nervous systems, and step into their highest potential. Jim Curtis, welcome to Rooted in Wellness.

So happy to be here.

Yeah, I feel like I manifested you.

We manifested each other, right?

Exactly. Yeah, learning about your story, there were just so many synergies between you and I. I read this Maya Angelou quote about when you feel that you're healed, go out in the world and heal other people. And that's what came to mind when I was hearing about your story. Yeah.

I have these groups that I run, and as I run the group and the people are in the group, and one of the things that I always say is that too, you're gonna, want to heal other people when you're done with this group.

Yeah.

You're going to want to go out and do something. And two, every time I run a group, I heal a little bit more.

Yeah.

That it's almost as much for me as it is for them. I'm realizing as I'm teaching that. That I'm healing at the same time. Absolutely.

Yeah. Yeah. It's kind of like the evolution, I feel, of my healing is often Guided by the work that I'm doing with my clients, which feels really good. It's a gift. All right, before we dive in, I was sharing with you that this podcast is all about ancient wisdom in our modern world and really how Confuse the two together, but I'd love to start out, what are three things that cause you to feel more rooted either in yourself and who you are or your healing or your life? What are those three things and why?

You were kind enough to give me these beforehand. Yeah. Which I loved, because it really, I don't think about that stuff. You feel it. And so as I was thinking about it, so the three things are one, my family and my dog. If I don't speak to them, I mean extended family, sisters, father. And if I don't speak to them for a while, I feel like I'm adrift.

Wow, most people don't say that about their family. Just saying.

They ground me. They ground me. They're great. And certainly animals, but most importantly, this sweet little mutt that I have. I just, I die for this dog. And without him, I feel a little adrift.

Yeah, beautiful. What about practices? Like as a practitioner, people imagine people like you to, you know, have some set, checkpoints every single morning. Do you follow those things or do.

You- yeah, I need a lot of alone time. So almost a contrary to like needing my family and animals, I need to spend time alone where I meditate or, you know, just write or catch up or just do work alone where I can think. And that's a big one for me. So I spend hours a day alone.

It's interesting because we think that in order to feel rooted, we often have to be doing something when often it's nothing at all.

Mm-.

And I think a lot of people, myself included, it's hard to stay still.

Yeah, I don't have, you know, I don't have a problem staying still. Sometimes I have to be like, all right, get up and get out of the house. It's been 24 hours, it's time to go outside.

I hear you. Yeah. So on the flip side, I'm sure you've worked with people like this. When it comes to wellness these days, treating our wellness rituals becomes like a checklist. It's habitual. Yep. So for a lot of people, it's like, you know, every day, all right, meditated, did my breath work, woke up, did my red light, whatever it is, but they're not dropping into the experience. so are they really rooting them or are they uprooting them?

So, oh, that's interesting.

Yeah. Do you have practices that you notice when you drift, you're uprooting yourself from feeling great?

Yeah. When you position it that way. So food for me, right, is something that I'm particular about. Because although we'll get into it, I'm sure, but you can, yeah, I always say it doesn't matter how much green juice you drink. If you haven't done the inner work, you're going to be unhealthy and miserable. But food for me is something that I pay attention to. and a lot of attention to. And it becomes a thing where I don't even know that I'm eating sometimes. I have the food that I eat and I like, I got it set and I like get that over with and go. And what I realized that when I just kind of sit down and actually think about chewing and think about like, oh, how grateful I am to have food and like how this is nourishing my body and sometimes even like a blessing for the food that I'm eating, it changes things. But that's one thing that I uproot with is around food.

I love that you brought that up. No one said that before. And one of the key things from the ashram, when I was there, whenever you go to an ashram, there's no electronics on the table at all when you eat. You're sitting in community, you're chewing your food. Often there's no conversation because it's eating is this sacred act for the body and people acknowledge it as so it's so powerful. And then we get distracted when we come back to to the real world. So that's an important one.

I did a retreat recently in Petaluma, California, where all meals were silent, right? And you had a focus and you had to sit down and eat. Some people you could see were really struggling because they were like, yeah, sitting down to eat and actually being, so you had to count your bites and chew and you had to be silent and no, definitely no electronics anywhere. And it made such a profound effect. It had such a, like, it was almost, meditation.

Absolutely. And do you feel like that's become you? Like, do you feel like it's something that you're conscious of when you're not practicing? No, no, no. Yeah.

No, that's still one I struggle with.

Yeah. Right.

Because I'm like, all right, what else do I have to do? I have these clients, this work, this physical activity that I want to get in, and it's like, okay, let's eat. And so when I don't focus on it, I become uprooted, and then I have to bring myself back to let's, let's. you know, like, let's get a little, let's get a little bit more mindful of it.

Yeah. I would say that example exactly is a way that I catch myself when I'm drifting, when I know I'm, I'm catching myself saying, you know, that there's a better way to do this and you're not doing it.

Right.

Yeah. It, it's, it's disruptive. Let's put it at that.

Then do you have shame?

Yeah. I feel there's a lot of guilt.

Right.

If you're a wellness practitioner, and this is why these these questions on this podcast are so important because I feel like people have the expectation that we've got it figured out. That every single day our life looks glorious, we're in alignment, we're eating in stillness, there's no distraction, which isn't the case, right? We have these principles that we're trying to guide us in this really chaotic world.

Yeah. And that's when I'll have to soothe my own guilt and shame that if I didn't do, I know that I should be doing this, and I probably tell people to do it. And then when I don't do it, I have to go back and be like, that's the shame.

And where does your shame come from? Like, it's obviously it's triggering something within you that's a learned memory within you.

Yeah.

Have you done the introspection to understanding?

100.

Yeah.

100.

Yeah.

All of our shame comes from the childhood stuff, right? Way back when. And mine was always, I am bad. You know, with a difficult father with a kind of a family relationship that was chaotic and, like, punishments were severe. There was this feeling of guilt around abuse and that I, as a child, learned that I must have been bad. And so when something comes up where I think I'm not meeting someone's expectations or perhaps I've set an expectation that I'm not following, then that shame comes up.

It's self-imposed at this point.

100%. And then you have to realize that that is a construct of identity. And that's just a program.

A program. We're gonna talk a lot about programs. For me, I would say last year, the most ironic lesson that I learned, the shame that came up for me, if I'm not meditating every day, if I'm not eating an Ayurvedic style meal, if I'm eating with distraction, all the practices at the ashram, then like you, then it brings up shame. But the twisted thing, like the intention of the ashram was good, the intention of your father obviously stemmed from love. But at the ashram, I learned that in order, if I was doing those practices, it was to become better. So I'm meditating to become one with God or to achieve freedom or liberation.

Right.

And I do these practices every day in order to become that. So if I'm constantly trying to be better and do these practices to be better, then I'm never fully happy with who I am.

Yeah.

And where I am now. And that was like the biggest, ah.

That's so good.

Thank you. Yeah. So now I just, I give myself a little bit more grace. So my meditation might not be sitting for 30 minutes. It might be something in the shower where I'm, you know, experiencing gratitude or out for a walk, but just showing to myself that I can decide how to not feel.

That's one thing that I say to everyone. I say it to myself too. And that's a great way to put it, giving yourself grace. But I always say you're not doing it exactly right. You're not doing it wrong. And in every meditation I lead or every hypnosis that I lead, it throughout it, I say you're doing it exactly right.

Elevate.

And it's life, right? You can't do it wrong. You're meant to screw up.

And this is part of the reason that I was so excited to meet with you because I would say the common thread over all the clients that I worked with in the past 15 years is that it's never just about the food, the diet, the supplement protocol, or the movement practice. There is this entire emotional body and spiritual body that's begging to be expressed and to be heard. And so often when we address those things, then all of a sudden, choosing the right foods becomes easy, right? You're choosing because you're in alignment. So let's talk about this concept of frequency first. This is something that you speak to with your clients a lot. Vibration is something that you, that you talk to a lot. How do you describe it to your clients in a way that they're not, you know, thinking that it's this woo-woo concept, that it's actually grounded in science?

Yeah, I go pretty woo-woo with it. I'm not afraid of the woo-woo stuff. We go down rabbit rabbit holes of like, whoa, your mind is like, you gotta believe in something bigger than yourself. But if scientifically, and a lot of people are studying this, like the Joe Dispenza's of the world, where once it was woo-woo and it was, you had to be a yoga teacher or someone to talk about chakras and the energy that you're emitting. Now we know that we have an energy body and we have meridians and frequency. And when we meditate, it can be measured that our energy expands and contracts. And so if we can focus on that, When we focus on feelings of love and gratitude, it's been measured now that our energy actually expands. Our heart goes into coherence with our mind, and then the actual rhythms that they're tracked even out and become smoother. And so when we get there, the woo-woo is, oh my God, yes, of course I'm made of energy. Every part of me from the atom down is energy. and just think that I'm separate from everything else, that I'm not the energy of the universe, that I'm not the energy of nature, that I'm not the energy of a wave, that I'm only separate from that. We start to realize that there's oneness and that we're not the wave, we're the ocean.

And do you, would you say looking back, your healing journey and your story kind of fueled your muscle of belief around this?

Yeah, it necessitated it. Yeah, I did.

So maybe share a little bit with the audience about your healing journey.

Certainly. So I was an athlete and I was, I didn't, I guess growing up, I came from a blue collar working family in Boston, Massachusetts. We weren't talking about energy. We weren't talking about emotions. We weren't talking about any of that. We were talking about, you know, get to practice on time and do your schoolwork. My father used to say, There's no swim team at Bradley's.

Do you know what Bradley's is?

I've heard of Bradley's. All right, it's like Kmart. Kmart, yeah. So that was his way, a very fast way of saying, you know, you're not going to have the luxury of being able to do these athletics if you're trying to make ends meet at Bradley's, go to school. Right, right, right. And so that was the mentality. So at 20, when I became really ill and couldn't figure it out, I 20, 21 years old, and I just stood up one day and was getting out of the shower and I couldn't feel heat on my left side. I couldn't feel heat on my left foot. And I was like, that's really strange, but I'm going to ignore that.

Yeah.

Yeah. I'm going to just. Let's push that. You know, nothing's wrong. Nothing unusual here until that started to move up, up my leg, up into my thigh, up into my stomach. And I started to feel pain and just really get sick. And so I told my mother, who was an emergency room nurse, and she was the type of woman that worked in. Boston emergency rooms, not the type of woman she worked in Boston emergency rooms. So she was dealing with gunshot victims, like extreme wounds. Yeah. Yeah. So she never got rattled.

Right. How great do you ever. Yeah.

Ever. She had, like, nerves of Steel. And when I told her, oh, by the way, I felt this numbness going up my leg, and now I'm. I have some pain. I'm feeling sick. She freaked.

Wow.

She knew there was a real issue. That doesn't just happen. That's not a pinch nerve. So I started to get all these MRIs. And what I found was there was a lesion on my spinal cord. They couldn't tell if it was a tumor or a lesion or what it was, but it was there. And so following that, I went through months and months and months of trying to figure out what it was. What was it from? What was the reason? And at this time, I was becoming more and more ill and more and more disabled. and to a point where I was in a wheelchair. And so we just tried to figure out what it was. And there was never a diagnosis.

Come on.

Yeah. There was never a diagnosis. And to this day, they say transverse myelitis, which you. There. That's. That's a fancy term of no diagnosis.

Yeah. Inflammation. Yeah. Yeah.

Like, what could it be from? Well, who knows? Just. That's what it is. So often. that creates everybody who's chronically ill wants to give their illness a name. They want to give it a name. And that's because one, you know what you have, and two, perhaps you then know what the treatment is. And three, it's like you don't have, like the anxiety settles because you learn how to treat or live with, et cetera. But when you're in a constant search of unawareness, trying to figure out what the diagnosis is creating anxiety. And that became like a real teacher for me. Because how do you live in a state of uncertainty, which is life? We don't know when we're gonna die and we're ignoring that fact. So we're constantly living in a state of uncertainty and that drives a lot of us subconsciously. And so this illness, not knowing what it is or what's gonna happen to me or if I'm gonna get sicker or better, became like, okay, what do I have control over? Am I controlled or higher power? Am I controlled to something greater, more energy, and my inner world, that I'm not my body or any of this other stuff, really gave me such a profound power, more freedom, more experience than anything else that I've ever done.

How could you trust that at such a young age?

It took years. But what I did do is I started to travel around the world, going to 200 different healers, from Ecuadorian shaman to grandmasters of kung fu to like, the Mayo Clinic. And what I recognize from that is like, some people are going to take advantage of you in the wellness world. And other people have such a profound power to transcend the natural laws of the world and they don't have Instagram profiles.

Right, absolutely. Yeah, off the grid. Were you in pain when you were traveling?

I was in a tremendous amount of pain until a couple of years ago. Chronic, crazy pain.

So I want to know about that. But in this journey with the healers, the people that could kind of transcend that for you, I can imagine that they weren't the people preaching that there was one way to heal your body and that was the way. I can imagine that they were probably open to your spiritual body kind of needing to be heard and there could be a few things that needed to be addressed.

100%. A lot of people worked with energy and like this idea of energy. And then there was like the, the most mainstream folks like Tony Robbins had a profound impact on me. When I first realized that, oh, this thing called neuro-linguistic programming can change your life because you're changing your identity. So I went to one of his events and I'm like, Yes, this is it. And I made a goal, I'm going to work with Tony Robbins.

No way.

Yeah, and 10 years later, I got a chance to work with Sage and Tony Robbins directly on a project and it's just so nice.

How beautiful.

Yeah, things progress.

NLP came up for me too after going to Tony Robbins, and I realized very quickly working with people, the quality of their languaging and their personal beliefs dictated all of their decisions throughout the day. Yeah. Despite their best efforts and choices, really, really smart people, really committed to healing, but there was something within them that was just prevent, it was like a lock preventing them from changing. And then it became about dismantling that.

Mm.

You do a lot of this dismantling in your world. And a phrase that I love that you use is emotional inflammation.

Yeah.

I feel looking back, you know, when I was sharing my story, the doctors never, they just wanted to know how much you smoking, how much you eat, eating out, how much alcohol is there. And that was it. They never asked about my emotions. They never asked about sadness. They really didn't even ask about my environment. So can you describe what this means from your eyes, what it is and how we can heal from it?

And that's, I love that you brought that up. I just went for a checkup with one of the best neurologists in New York City just a little while ago, and he said, boy, you're doing great. What have you changed? What are you doing? I was like, well, I've really regulated my emotions, and I stopped eating sugar. And he's like, no sugar at all. Are you like, how do you live? What do you eat then? And I was like, oh, I don't eat grains and bread either. And he's like, oh, then why do you like, oh, you're And so he kind of scoffed at that and I was like, oh, oh, but emotional regulation, right, controls your energy and all the best pharmacy in the world, all the best drugs are within us. And our pineal gland is a wonderful access point for all these. So our emotions control the chemicals in our body. We all know this and I'm no expert on that, but I can recognize is that when I'm in a state of stress, When I'm in a state of fear and concern, when I'm in my ego, most of all, that I'm creating an environment within my body that is completely inflamed and am shrinking the energy around my body. And when I can shift into the higher self, the spirit self, the one that says, I am not I am this. just this as I am, that one, I immediately feel better and my body feels stronger. And the other day I was swimming. That's what I do for exercise now. I do a lot of swimming. So I'm swimming, swimming, swimming, swimming, right? And this little pool in the basement of this really gross building in New York City in the East Village. There's not many beautiful pools like in California, like in the East Village of New York City. So I found this pool I'm swimming in. It's in a basement. And I started to think about all the stuff that I had to do. And I'm like, oh my God, I forgot to call that person. They're gonna be upset. And it's like, oh, I didn't respond to that email. And I hope this client is getting what they need. And I really hope that I'm helping them and I don't know if they're... And I found myself standing up in the middle of the pool. I had stopped swimming without even knowing it. And I felt so weak I was standing up in the middle of the pool. Oh my gosh, yeah. And I was like, oh, okay, I can change this. How do I change this? So I started to think of the beautiful things that I'm grateful for. I started to think of sunsets and sunrises and like holding hands with a lover. I started to think of all the potential that I had in the world and people excited about being helped. I started to think of all those beautiful things, right? And I could feel myself relax and then get excited. And I was swimming stronger than I had been before. And like that just emotional regulation, smoothing out, like taking out the inflammation of my emotions created such a profound effect.

I love that. And people talk often, we focus so much on the mind, oh, that was the power of your mind, but I think it was also the power of your body. Because when you were imagining the gratitude and the love, you came into your body, right? You kind of turned down the distraction of the mind and the thoughts that you were having to come into what felt really, really good. And I like that concept. And I think that this is something that we need to keep anchoring in over and over because we live in a world where we were taught to seek happiness Outside of ourselves and peace outside of ourselves. And now people get sick. Oh, I need to go away somewhere, or I need to go to see somebody. I need to go back to my healer instead of even acknowledging the potential that like, oh, maybe that's just within you first. And what if you were taught that your source energy was within you and not somewhere else? Yeah, like everything. It's a really big deal. I hope you understand simple stories like that. They're a really big deal because people, we hear things and we kind of just like flippantly toss them like, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. That was, that's nice. That's, that's a nice story, but that's not what I I can do, but maybe it's something that we think that we can't do because we were never taught. So you talked about the power of your thoughts. We talked about the power of emotions, but how can this really influence our physical health over time? Like if people were to really own in on this, and maybe this is the power of NLP. So maybe talk a little bit how, how are you using NLP with the people that you work with as a modality before you get into somatic experiences?

Yeah, quantum hypnosis, therapeutic hypnosis, NLP are all kind of those things. that give you the access to break free from those patterns, programs and limiting beliefs that will stop you from making your buy. And I always talk, I tell these stories that I talk in stories because your subconscious mind lives in story, right? It lives in questions and it lives in stories. So when I ask you a question, like, or I pay you a compliment, just, just say, I was talking about this yesterday, but if, if you have trouble receiving compliments for some reason or another, Maybe you immediately think that's not true. Yep. Does Craig have trouble receiving compliments? All right, Kregor. So if you have trouble receiving compliments, and I was to say, you,'re so good at that, or you look so good, or like, boy, you're the best, or something like that, and your subconscious mind will start to go, but they don't know this about me. They don't know the real me. They don't know the real me. That's not true. And like, oh, I can't possibly accept that. My hair looks terrible today, and I know that. Or maybe you get lucky and it's something they actually believe, like, I believe that I have beautiful eyes, therefore I... So if you start to ask in either story or question, like, I wonder if you know how good you look in that dress, then your subconscious mind will be forced to answer the question in the way that it was formed. I wonder if you know that you look so good. And then you start to find reasons why you know. I wonder if you know. It doesn't say, no, I don't. It doesn't work in no. It will say, okay, I wonder if I know that I look so good. Okay, have I ever looked good in a dress before? Yes. Okay, I probably do look good. And it just gets into your subconscious mind. So that's how NLP starts to get out of the, what we call the critical mind, which is analysis, analysis, analysis, analysis, protect, protect, protect, fear, fear, fear, fear, story, story, story, story, story, and you get little holes in it. So you sneak into the critical mind, start to talk to the subconscious mind. and that's why I speak in this rhythm. You may even notice the rhythm. Sometimes I have to pull myself out of it because I'll put people into a trance just listening to this. I didn't go to sleep. So that's, I speak in a rhythm that everybody that even comes to my social media page, my goal is to immediately emotionally regulate you. And all I have to do is have a cadence that will speak to your subconscious mind.

And so if people are willing then, because When you ask that question again, it dropped me out of my head into my heart thinking and feeling like, oh, well, when is the last time that I felt like I looked beautiful in a dress?

Yeah.

Like it kind of turned down the distraction of the mind. So what you're calling out are these programs that people have, right? An analogy that I use is, you know, if people are going out into the world and they wear glasses, but the lens that they have is yellow, everything's going to look yellow and they will believe that everything looks that way because their lens is always yellow.

Yeah.

And let's call that that yellow frame anxiety. And so their frame in which they live in the world is this frame of anxiety, right? And they're affirming every day, looking for situations that are also affirming who they are. So I think that there's an understanding of these programs. People are catching on, like, yeah, I have been like that since I was a little kid, or they're noticing patterns that they've lived with since they were little. But how do you work with the subconscious to understand that they can actually be free of them? and feel freedom.

Right. I love, so there are mind traps. And that was an awesome story which made me understand confirmation bias perfectly. Like the yellow glasses that you told, like that's a perfect story that makes me understand, oh, okay, now there's this thing called confirmation bias that I have a belief and I'm going to go find everything to protect and support that belief. I'm going to confirm that belief everywhere I go. So how do you start to change this stuff? First is recognizing the truth, that we are all just a program, even our identity, right? When we were born as a child, we are innocent, we are free from the program, we're just a computer without anything put into us yet, no software. And so we have to recognize that we learned everything up until this point. Everything has been inputted. And so if it has been inputted, we can start to change it. So how do we start to change it? And some things you don't want to, they're incredible programs that make you super successful. But other programs are like, okay, what do I need to change? Well, let's look at the results in my life. Oh, I'm having a really tough time dating. I keep finding these people that give me breadcrumbs or love bomb me and leave or whatever it is. Okay, then what is the belief there that perhaps you're not worthy enough or that you're not lovable? And then how do we change that? Okay, so we can go into hypnosis, experience different experiences of love, of being able to see yourself as a child and how beautiful and innocent and lovable you were, and making that so emotional it becomes real because the subconscious mind doesn't know the difference between reality and fantasy. And then come back into this world in a feeling of renewal and then being aware that you have to work on it. So it's not a silver bullet. There was one woman who had, I worked with that she had a really difficult experience with her father. really difficult. And she said, I only wanted my father when I, you know, this one particular time where he was abusive and scared her and really created a difficult situation for the rest of her life. This one traumatic emotional relationship rooted in her subconscious mind and was coloring everything else in her life, the decisions, the relationships, everything. And so I said, what would have happened in the best case scenario? If this didn't happen and it did work out well, what would have happened? She said, well, you know, he would have hugged me and loved me and told me that I can't do anything wrong and showed me how to do it. I said, okay, and what words would he have used? And she told me the words he would have used and how would that feel? She told me how that would feel. And so we went into hypnosis, into a trance state. We literally, quantum leap back to that time when she was relaxed and excited, and we went a little bit deeper, and then we re-experienced that episode in the way that she wanted to. so profoundly that she couldn't the next day remember any other story except for the story of how that happened when her father was supportive. And going forward, that changed everything for her. Yeah.

Just feeling into the difference of what it could have felt like and making that a reality. She just needed to feel it.

Yeah, she needed to actually, she had to embrace a new story, right? Because all, it no longer exists. It exists in her memory. and in her imagination. And the only reason it's creating inflammation in her body and her energy and her emotions is because she's revisiting an old story that doesn't exist. So we changed the story and it became more real than the old story. And therefore her future was completely different.

Fascinating. Yeah. Fascinating. In NLP, did you practice timeline therapy? So we never did. I never went deep into hypnotherapy at all. But in timeline therapy, there's something I remember my teacher She cued words like, imagine you as your adult self going back in time to this memory of you being a child. And I wonder if becoming an adult, the challenges that we face sometimes just feel so overwhelming, but the gift of now being an adult to kind of go back and save yourself as a child and just like owning that, that you can do that for yourself.

Totally.

So powerful.

That child's still within you.

Absolutely.

That's waiting for you to come back and be like, I got you.

Yeah.

So I call it quantum leaping, but it is timeline therapy. Yeah.

Yeah, okay, there you go. Let's take a quick break to talk about something that's made a huge difference in my skin health lately. A product called One Skin. If you're like me, always on the hunt for a wellness solution for optimizing your skin's health and longevity, you need to hear about this one. Most skincare products focus on surface level results, but One Skin goes way deeper, working at cellular level for lasting results. Their amazing all-woman team of skin longevity scientists developed OS1 after testing over 900 peptides. It's the first ingredient scientifically proven to interrupt cellular senescence, a core aging process. As we age and get exposed to UV rays, our skin cells enter senescence. They stop rejuvenating and producing collagen and elastin like they should. And even worse, they release harmful inflammatory chemicals and cause neighboring cells to become dysfunctional too. It's like a domino effect that makes our skin age faster, with deeper wrinkles, thinning, and sagging what we all want to avoid. But one skin's OS1 switches off these senescent cells, getting to the root cause of skin aging. It helps our skin stay younger and healthier, and since skin is our body's largest organ, the health of our skin is absolutely critical to our overall health. That's why I personally love one skin. I've noticed a real difference in the resilience and youthfulness of my skin since using it regularly as a rooted in wellness listener. You can get 15 off your first order with code Mona at oneskin.co slash M O N A. I really believe one skin is something that can benefit all of us on our journey to optimal skin, wellness, longevity, and just aging, feeling our best. Definitely, check it out and see the difference it can make for you. Remember, go to oneskin.co slash Mona. That's O-N-E-S-K-I-N.co slash M-O-N-A. Use code Mona for 15% off. Trust me, your skin will thank you. So you explained how this client of yours could then change her reality, right? And her identity. So powerful. Have you worked with clients and if you put the lens of health specifically? Yeah, so... It started with me. Illness, yeah.

Yeah, it started with me. So I don't have any pain. I don't have any chronic pain anymore. And even in the last year, I've been able to eliminate it. So there's a real possibility of eliminating your pain.

Mm-. Okay, so I wanna break this down to really own in on this and the power of your mind, right? Because we still live in this world where people are looking for the protocol, okay? It's still the number one question that I get in any interview. Mona, just tell us what to eat. What's the best diet, right? And I don't even start there anymore. Like diet's actually not the first thing. It's so important.

So important.

What you put into your body is so, so important. But it's really your belief system that shape your entire world and your health. Yeah. So I'm gonna put the yogic lens on this.

Okay.

In yoga, growing up, my dad would always talk about storing energy, right? These energetic system or nadis within the body that would become imprinted, right, with memories and the importance of processing them through things like yoga, right? I don't think you have to be a yogi to do this, but can you just maybe put into context when you're explaining this to your clients, the concept of accumulation, like everything that you accumulate from the time that you were a child and how that could be something that's attributing to your, your health setbacks or your symptoms. Yeah.

And I'll use the story of myself. So everything that accumulates, all the programings, all the identity, all the beliefs that get stored in your subconscious mind, right? Where 95 of everything's happening and you begin to have this, the barometer, this homeostasis, everything in our body is homeostasis. When we get too hot, we sweat, when we get too cold, we shiver, when we breathing, everything's in homeostasis. It keeps us medium equal. So our homeostasis of what we believe we are is based on our beliefs, right? If we all of a sudden start making too much money, we lose it, we spend it. If we get to a place where we think is above our station or above our ability, then somehow we sabotage it. But if we get too low, like, you know, we find ourselves like not being able to make the rent or just in a relationship that's totally against our grain, we'll break up or we'll find more money so we can get to that middle ground again.

It drives us.

So all these things build up to create this homeostasis, but it also builds up to create the friction too. So we have to start to actually unfold it and understand what that is so that we can start to release it and either raise our standard or start to change how we're actually feeling. And so to go back to your question, which I've deviated from a little bit.

No, I'm with you.

To go back to your question about how you can start to change this. And for me, it was I was feeling pain because of so much pain of I'm bad or I'm worthiness that I wasn't even, I would say I'm gonna go really do some physical therapy this year. And I would look at my journals and my New Year's resolutions. And for 10 years, I was saying the same.

Oh, wow.

I'm gonna do physical therapy this year. I'm gonna get out of pain. I'm gonna do physical therapy. And then people would be like, why haven't you gone to physical therapy? And I'd be like, stop. I'd get into what they call as the backfire effect. I would start to support my false claims. Like a double down. I'd be like, I have a spinal cord injury. Stop. pressuring me, you don't know, right? And this is just what life is. And because the reality was there was something that says I deserve that. And therefore I wouldn't even go to physical therapy. Never like, and then I'd be in more pain. Not only guilt and shame for not doing it, but the pain of not supporting my body. And then the emotional pain, it just got worse and worse and worse. So when I started to realize, okay, Why do I believe that I'm bad? And then what's the truth? If I was to cut my body open, look in my brain and my heart, what I find bad? Okay, so it's a belief. And so are those beliefs true? No. Beliefs are a fabrication of our programming. So what else could be true? Oh, I'm trying really hard and I'm pretty good. And then what am I willing to give up to have what I want? A life with no pain. Oh, I have to give up this story, this bullshit story. And am I ready to give it up? Because what will life look like in 10 years if I don't give up this story? Oh, I'll be in a wheelchair and I definitely won't be experiencing life. Okay, so am I going to do it now?

Oh, my God, that is so beautiful. It sometimes takes the people that we love saying things, doesn't it? My brother, I'll never forget, he said he asked me to be part of a triadventure. which he's the triadventure guy, the cyclist, the long-term everything. And when I wrapped my heart surgeries, he said, well, come do it with me this year. And I said, no, I can't. My heart. And then he looked at me and he said, how's that working for you? How's that story working for you?

And that changed everything.

He's insightful.

He's insightful. He knew.

That's NLP, by the way. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And it made me question everything. Like, why am I identifying with this illness? Why am I identifying with the sadness? and to your point, it was that same asking of questions and introspection that changed everything. So your story then, and now sharing somatic experiences with your clients using things like hypnotherapy, tell us a bit about hypnotherapy for people who just think they might not just grab onto it. They have an idea of what it is, but they're saying it's not for them. Tell us about hypnotherapy and how you use it with your clients.

I say this a lot, but people like hypnosis, that's mind control. Yeah, exactly.

What are you gonna make me do?

Yeah, it's like, absolutely, it's mind control. you're like, people make videos about how it's not mind control.

Yeah.

And it is my, it's 100 mind control. But I'm not controlling your mind. I'm showing you how to control your own mind, your subconscious mind, which is completely running without your control. And so through trance-like states, when you can get into a Theta state, you can start to actually reprogram and control your subconscious mind a little bit. Because every other day you're not in control. Yeah, that's the truth. So hypnotherapy doesn't like talk therapy and other things. It doesn't, let's rehash the past.

We'll understand it.

We'll take a look back in the rearview mirror, but we're not driving and looking at the rearview mirror, you know what I mean? So with traditional therapy, when you're rehashing all those old neural pathways, telling that story over and over again, making it more and more real, how painful and terrible it was for you, then we kind of believe like that's detrimental.

You're living it again.

Yeah.

Over and over and over again.

Over and over and over again. Because you don't talk about it once. You go to therapy for six years and tell it over and over again. So we believe that you don't, you take a look in the past to see what the belief is, how it was created, and then resolve it and then focus on what the future is, the potential of the future. But, and that is by allowing yourself to get into a state where you can get through unlike meditation where it's clear your mind, be here now. A thought comes up, let it come and let it go. With hypnosis, there is something that I say that will put you in hypnosis that is like your thoughts may wander or wander, but that's 100% fine. Let yourself go. And the difference is when you get into that trance state, we can actually use suggestion to change things so that you start to feel, believe and see things differently. And then if you take it a step beyond, which may not be for everyone, if we have this natural Theta state that we can get into and it's kind of on the same resonant frequency as the quantum itself.

Yeah.

Then there is this Quantum hypnosis, like Dolores Cannon and all Joe Dispenza does, is that will allow you to touch that energy and start to get into the true creation of I am, which is source. And so anything's possible when that happens.

For me, hypnosis has been so powerful in my healing journey.

Oh, really?

Yeah. For me, a lot of what has happened though, I get these visualizations, like random things will come up out of the blue, but I've always experienced it as a sense of feeling safe enough to bring all that stuff up with a practitioner that I felt safe with, and she would kind of help me unravel it and make understanding of it. And sometimes that practice on its own was that was the release. That's what I needed to remember in order to give myself forgiveness or peace.

That's an amazing way to put it. I haven't heard of it. That's an incredible synopsis. Yeah, that's really good. I'm going to use that. And that's why people come to me that have OCD or like, and it's not the work I really do most anymore, but some will come out of a fear of flying and we'll get into a really safe place and experience walking on the plane, sitting down on the plane, having the plane take off. and how do you feel? Oh, I feel fine. Okay, so we'll lock that in with an anchor, you know, and then the next time they fly, they'll wear the anchor, whether what have we put on it, like a bracelet or a color or something, and they'll fly away feeling safe without any anxiety. That's a perfect way to put it.

Beautiful. Yeah. And let's put this through a health lens. Do you work with anyone with specific.

Yes, so many studies.

Yeah.

Even healing bones. I have clinical studies that I give to everybody, like hypnosis. When you'd get the Mind Body Connection.

Yeah.

Like your bones heal. chronic pain, it works wonders for because when you take out the inflammation of emotion, all of a sudden, you know, your pain lessons. So you can even use self-hypnosis for that. But the thing that I benefited most myself, and I see other people benefit in terms of their health, is getting into a place where you want to take care of your body. So using NLP and hypnosis and so that you feel so good that you wouldn't put McDonald's in your body. Instead you're like, oh my God, yeah, I'm feeling so great. Of course I want to eat these macros and these macros.

Why would I do that to myself? Right.

Yeah, yeah. It gives you the ability to have space to go out and do the good things.

Beautiful. So I'm sure listeners are wanting to know then, okay, they want to take the first step into hypnotherapy. Is it going to YouTube? Can we trust those videos? Is it finding a practitioner? Is it looking for someone who deals.

With a specific cause that you might be relating to?

What's the first step?

That'S a great question. And I think that hypnosis is not... What's that? There's lots of hypnosis on YouTube.

Is there?

Yeah.

I've never looked. God bless YouTube. But I just, I think there's a time and a place for hypnosis and I think you should trust where it's coming from.

That's my two cents. I'm gonna let you answer. I like that two cents. I like that two cents. I know that I am a firm believer that hypnosis is not detrimental. because our subconscious mind is going to protect us.

It will know.

Right? So if someone's like trying to hypnotize you to give them money or to like covertly take advantage of you, something's going to be like open your eyes.

Yeah.

You're not like under that much control. But there are people that you can trust for sure. And I think that it has to be someone that you kind of can trust so that you can allow yourself to go deeper. And you'll know who those folks are pretty easily.

This kind of ties into quantum and entanglement and stuff like that. So sitting with you right now, so often I love the in-person experience because there's this energetic exchange and flow. And I think if you've ever worked with a healer in any modality, it's often the energy of the person giving and receiving that means so much to the journey. Do you feel like, are you going to specific practitioners yourself when you feel called to feeling a certain type of energy or healing?

Yeah.

Because I'm sure people go to see you for that exact reason because your energy is very open, it feels supportive, and you've got the experience and to be able to speak to healing and your suffering and now being free from that.

Yeah. And we've created a little energy bubble right here. Do you feel that? Yeah. So I go to people, yes. And I have some, there's a fine line because you can self-help forever. And there's a fine line when you have to say, oh, I want it, do this on my own. Because for a long time, I was addicted to the emotional high of the next retreat. Outsourcing my spirituality to the next best practitioner. And now I have a few people that you wouldn't know. Sometimes the best folks is like, you don't find them. They're so powerful that when I'm with them, they're either giving me acupuncture or they're speaking to me in a way. or it's hypnosis that I'm able to go deep. And so I went to this school in California called HMI, the Hypnosis Motivational Institute. So claim to fame was Joe Dispenza went there. And there's a few students that I studied with that I will contact and be like, oh, cool. I need a little rearranging in my mind. Can you do that? And then they're the big names that I've been so lucky to be able to have access to. Yeah. And I'll do that.

I asked this question. One of the first questions I ask the people that I work with is who would they consider are part of their care team? And I think that, again, getting caught in this Western trap of finding the one doctor or healer or modality, people get stuck when, I mean, if we open it up to energy healers, I think that we understand this concept of integration and how there's people that come into your life at a certain time that could be supportive for that part of the journey and then somebody else for the next part of the journey. So just to be open to finding the right energy that maybe your subconscious feels really safe with in order to open the door to healing.

Yeah, that's great.

Yeah. What other somatic practices then do you practice?

I'll do tapping.

Okay.

I'll do a lot of tapping. I really like the idea of opening up my meridians and putting in a really positive affirmation.

So tell, explain what tapping is. For me, tapping, I feel I will only do it if it's being guided. I can't find the understanding behind it, or I can't get myself to the experience of the freedom on my own. So tell us a little bit about tapping.

I can understand that. So tapping is an emotional freedom technique, and it's the idea that we have these meridians that when we tap on, we can start to lower our nervous system and reprogram our subconscious in a calm, natural state. And it's by the way that I learned it anyway, is that you can say the thing that's bothering you. while tapping and your nervous system is getting a different signal. So the thing that's bothering you no longer becomes a trigger. And so, like, you know, like, even if I would, I did this a lot for pain. So you can tap on the top of your head and on your. Above your brow and on your collarbone, your nose, underneath your nose, collarbones, arm, and then here. And what you say is, you know, I'm in so much goddamn pain. I can't even. I'm so angry with this terrible body that's always so painful. and I am in so much pain. I'm so mad about it. This. My back is so broken. And all this pain in my back, it's so broken. And all of a sudden, all this pain in my back is even getting better right now, and I don't even really feel it. And then as you keep tapping and you go three, four rounds, you lower the trigger and you regulate your immune system, your nervous system, and maybe even change your energy a little bit, and it has miraculous effects.

And the specific points that you're tapping though, those are the meridians, right? That are special.

Yeah.

And looking back, I'm reading a book on MarmA points right now in Ayurveda, so points on the body that you press and you stimulate, which ties into the same concept.

I think it sounds like the same thing.

Traditional Chinese medicine and acupuncture ties into the exact same concept. There's just so much wisdom in turning on the body's ability to heal itself. I don't understand why they're just not so mainstream, right? Like if there could just be that integration.

Because it can't be monetized as much.

Yeah, probably a whole podcast, right? On the monetization of all of it. Right. If we teach people to become their own healers, then yeah, then there's possibly no need for prescription drugs, right? But I think it's also the openness to learning that your body has that power, right? We need to make those stories go mainstream. Have you ever read Quantum Healing by Deepak Chopra? Yeah. Yeah. So he re-released it, right? Because I think he was let go from faculty at a university, but re-released it with all the science that people were asking for, documenting cases of people, case after case of people curing themselves from diseases like cancer, right? Just the power of the body. And of course, nourishment. Yeah. Do you think that the nervous system has to digest our life? Does that make sense?

That's a great point. I haven't, yes.

I've been thinking about this lately. So when I read books like Quantum Healing, there's a little bit about digestion. So digesting the foods that we eat is so important. A food is information. But if our nervous system has been turned on since we even arrived on this planet, it must also be digesting.

I love this. That's really good. I haven't thought of that.

I only thought to ask you because you work around people's nervous systems. It's something that I'm thinking of because if it's digesting and we're not eliminating or if we get stuck in a certain state, it means that it can't process. Processing is a state of digestion, right? So the modalities that I'm hearing you talk about are a way of our nervous system being able to digest. Next level.

Okay, we'll do a podcast on that. Put that down for the next podcast. But quantum, I mean, Deepak was talking about this. I mean, he led the road for, you know, Dispenza and others.

Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah.

It's incredible.

Yeah.

Okay, so we're breaking down this concept of your emotional state, how your emotional state can dictate your health and also your thoughts and the lens that you're going through life with. Talk to us about how we code a new consciousness. I love this concept from you. Yeah. What does it mean and how does that tie into our healing body?

I did this little workbook with, social media can be bad.

Yeah.

But it can also be so good. I just was scrolling social media, I saw this woman and I was like, she was doing like these 10 minute videos, like really heavy, deep, like education. Yeah, yeah. Science. And I was like, this woman's blowing my mind. Her grasp of these concepts and her being able to like tell you an entire book in 10 minutes was so good. Then I contacted her and I said, let's do a workbook for people. And we called it shift. and we said, this is really coding a new Consciousness because Consciousness can grow. It's not like we have this one Consciousness in it. Yeah. If we focus on it and we find the codes to allow it to expand and grow. So it's a. Just a. If there are 12 notes in an octave.

Yeah. Right.

And we're on, like, the third note of our Consciousness. as we start to look within and to start to expand into the energy around us, and we say, oh, my body, this plant, this table, this podcast is all a fabrication of my senses. Then when I close my eyes and I can feel some energy or heat or something else, then I know that there's something more. And if there's something more, what is that? And then what is voice or the awareness that's asking what is that? And so how do I explore that? And so we can start to explore that through different forms of trance and meditation. But as you do, even in the I am Mantra, as you do, you start to realize, oh, I'm growing my Consciousness up on a different note in this octave of infinity, right? That we. That is potential. And so we can start to code. And once we have those realizations, within our body, things change. And so there are tools that you can, you know, there are tools that you can do, whether it's meditation or writing prompts or just experiences of that truth.

Let's put this in, you know, if you have to give somebody two takeaways to start practicing right away, you said journaling is a great way to practice.

Yeah.

What else? How do you acknowledge, like, the note? How do you tune into your frequency? Like, how do you prescribe that to a client that you're working with.

Okay, so here is, if you want to go back to Deepak, and this was like, I, it's so transform transformational for me. So he would say, you know, ask your, ask yourself, who am I? And, but don't try to answer it. And now just sit there with that.

Yeah.

And then ask yourself, what am I? And don't try to answer, just sit. Now ask yourself, who is asking yourself, who and what am I? And then start to focus in on this idea of I am as the creator of all things. And that you are not, like I said before, you are not the wave, you are the ocean. And just that concept can be mind-blowing. But then when you just close your eyes and just sit with it without trying to answer, you start to be like, oh, I can almost feel my energy expanding. And then let me try to contract my energy. I'm going to think about this camera and I hope that I look good on it. And I hope that I am smart when people listen to this podcast. And what if they don't? What would that mean for me? And I can feel myself getting back into my body. It's starting to contract. And I'm like, oh, someone is going to resonate with this. on the frequency of energy that this is resonating with. And someone that hears me say, you are the ocean and not the wave, is going to resonate and like, okay, now I'm expanding again. And now my consciousness realizes that I am more than this. And that's, you know, it's a little obscure, but that's where you start.

Would you say in understanding that, so sitting with that question, that was the one question from the astron that we've had since I was little. who am I? Who am I? Who am I? Who is the voice? And it wasn't until I was older and I mentioned I had gone to India and I understood, okay, here I am. I'm feeling my healthiest. I'm feeling my happiest. I have no things. There's no belongings. There's no car. I'm not identifying with a job or people or place or things that I have. And here I am feeling my happiness. And then that moment is like, Oh my God, it's that feeling of expansion. Life is good. I'm so happy. I don't think that it's a coincidence that I felt healthiest in those moments.

Right, yeah, totally. Your body is like, yay, I'm so happy that you feel happy.

Do you think it's possible to live every day like that? No.

And that's okay. That's why we're having this human experience.

Yeah.

Right, there's suffering. And it's okay. And so then people will say, well, you know, like, does that mean that I have to like go live at the ashram? And yeah, if you've invented an ashram in Malibu, it's expensive. Yeah, I want more than those almonds that they're giving me. And so it's like, okay, no, that's not it. It's being able to touch that ocean of like love and consciousness that says, oh, I can be more in abundance. and therefore less attached to the things that I have and more like when in doubt focusing out and helping people and my human experience becomes that much more well-rounded and when I have an issue or when I can't figure out where I want to live, it's not at the end of a world, the world. It's a new experience that I'm going to overcome.

And trust.

And trust. And by the way, yeah. And like, and when I get depressed, I'm not going to eat. you know, a bunch of fries until I can't get out of bed. There was a time in my life where I almost killed my dog.

Oh, yes.

Yes. Excuse me, I was just gonna use terrible language, but this little guy, he's a big guy. He got pancreatitis because I was feeding him like Shake Shack and like, which is, you know what Shake Shack is?

Yeah, the burger.

We have IN-N-Out Burger here. Yeah, I was never a fan of IN-N-Out. I was like, in my sadness, and like I would, never mind exercise. I would be like, I would just be in the house eating Shake Shack, like burgers, fries and like milkshakes. And I would be feeding my buddy.

Yeah, thinking he was fine.

And he literally got pancreatitis. And I'm like, why is this dog a pancreatitis? He's like, does he have a high fat diet? And I'm like, oh, more than that. I've been poisoning my dog. And so when I realized that like, when I started to remove that sadness and when I started to like really touch and like, oh, the expansiveness of love, I just naturally ate better. Right? And sometimes that difficulty, that real fear was a wake-up call. Yeah.

It's a profound lesson to go through. Something like that obviously is very drastic, right? And it was poisoning your dog. It caused illness within the body. And I think it's really easy to just kind of dismiss the things that we've become so accustomed to eating here or a way that we have become accustomed to living. Stress, for example, right? You had mentioned stress. I think we're more stressed now than we've ever been in history. And that's why I think that work like this is so important because what we're seeing outside of us is broken. But here we are sharing experiences of how we've gone inward and we felt the feeling of healing without any of the exterior needed.

Yeah.

Right? So this is a perfect segue to tie into manifestation.

Great.

Another category online, which you see, you know, so many people talking about how to do it, how to manifest, and it's unfortunate that it's typically around things like wealth and acquiring things and stuff like that. instead of just like the feeling of abundance and that expansion, right? So talk to us about how you teach manifestation to your clients. And really, ultimately it's hypnotherapy and visualization that tie into it as well.

Yeah. I can remember one of the biggest aha moments I had a realization, and this is gonna a long way to lead up to your question, so maybe not that long. I like it. But do you know Tal Ben-Shah? Okay. He was a Harvard professor who wrote the book Happier.

Oh yeah.

And I don't know, maybe 12, 15 years ago it was like a bestseller. And so maybe longer than that. Anyway, I picked up, I went to like Miraval. And I was like, I'm going on my, this is like my healthy spiritual thing. I'm going to go to Miraval. Which people would be like, if you look up Miraval, perhaps that was like the bubblegum version of like healthy spiritual. But anyway, I went and then I brought Tal Ben-Shahar's book around. And I started reading it and I had this kind of realization. And the realization was the ultimate currency is happiness and joy. And we're buying it with working 60 hours a week so can we have enough money so that we can buy a vacation so we can experience happiness and joy. And we're like doing all the things so that we can buy happiness and joy. When the ultimate currency is that we can just go to happiness and joy.

Yeah.

And perhaps you don't need the mega yacht. that you've always hoped and dreamed for, even the fancy car, if you were already happiness and joy, maybe you don't need it. Maybe you want it, maybe you just get it. So the way that I help people in manifestation is to say, okay, manifestation is out here. This is something that you want. And realization is an integration within you. When you realize something is true or that a part of you, whatever happens, whatever needs to change, and you have that aha moment, like, oh, aha, the ultimate currency is happiness and love, and I can just get it right now. Or it is, Aha, I can be in abundance with this and that will foster me in alignment with the energy of other things and it'll just start to flow. And so we focus on the law of assumption, which means what I assume to be true about myself, I will manifest. It's not what I want, it's what I am. And so if we can have an aha, a realization about what we're assuming to be true about ourselves and change it, then naturally what we can change that assumption to, I am bad, not worthy, not lovable, to I am lovable and worthy, and therefore there's my new girlfriend or boyfriend, or perhaps I don't even need that right now because I'm feeling really in my zone on my own, everything changes. Does that make sense?

Absolutely.

Maybe that was a little bit of a convoluted way to say it.

No, I think it makes total sense. And what it's making me think of this concept of, you know, like spiritual bypassing, right? Yeah. So you and I, through our healing journeys, we probably have to, I don't, I know for you, going through things, like going through the turmoil and the sadness. And when I'm, I'll speak for myself, when I'm in the suffering of it and not feeling good and waking up with anxiety and feeling like I'm not connected to the, the river of love and joy and happiness, I judge myself. I easily go back, this is it, this is my life. And then I become aware, oh, here I am doing it again. I'm manifesting my reality based on how I'm experiencing my everyday life. And here are those common threads over and over and over again, right? And it's so easy to just say, nope, well, screw it. I'm gonna work harder, I'm gonna do more, I'm gonna hire the right coach, and I'm just gonna get there, right? Yeah. I'm a big believer, though, your state really matters, right? Your state of being, if you're trying to manifest, matters.

Can you speak more to that? I believe so too, right? So the state and how you're feeling, right? If your energy is low and you're down and you're feeling down, you can see what you'll create more. It's like vicious, it's a vicious cycle.

Yeah.

Yeah. Or self-perpetuating, it will just continue. And if you start movement or start to change into a different state, but you start to step into the energy of what you want, but back to your spiritual bypassing, Does that mean then we can't ever feel pain, anxiety, or sadness? And I believe the answer is no. You have to tell someone with trauma that they shouldn't be feeling their trauma or depression. That you should just, there was no, like I've heard people say there's no depression. I was like, I'm pretty sure that person's feeling pain and depression. And so, you know, one of the things that I learned most was you can take that pain and depression into a cave.

Yeah.

And wrestle with it. And there's probably a bear in that cave too, and it's gonna attack. Or you can take that pain and depression into a tunnel because there's something at the end of it. There's a light at the end of that tunnel. And so you can feel it and move through it as opposed to living with it in a dark cave with a bear.

Right, right.

But one has to have acceptance and then you have to move your state. And it's, I mean, that's difficulty for me because I had that physical issue for so long that, you know, your body perpetuates kind of your emotions if you go there first.

Yeah.

And so when you're in pain physically and you're not moving, then you're gonna be emotionally in pain. So you want, you have to have like extreme power to start to change it and you can, it just A little bit of motivation at first.

Yeah. I'm really interested in this, especially because of the rates of anxiety-related disorders with adults and kids. Like they're continuing to go up despite what's becoming aware on mindfulness practices and stuff like that. And hearing you speak, I wonder how much of it is affirming. For the longest time, I was constantly affirming, Anxiety is my blueprint. Anxiety is my blueprint. Anxiety is my blueprint. So I was just affirming that I was always going to be anxious and that was my norm. So if there is someone that's listening who has anxiety or depression, is there a first step that you would take with them? Is it the recognizing of the identifying of the label?

Yeah.

Is it experiencing the feeling of peace?

Yeah, well, there's both. One is, if I speak to you in a cadence like this and I say, All you have to do, there's nothing they have to do except for listen to my voice for just one moment, and as I do talk and you do listen to my voice and you start to notice that perhaps your shoulders settle a little bit. And if you can feel even the tiniest bit of relief from that, then you know that you have a chance of overcoming your anxiety. That's the first thing. The second thing is I don't say that I am sick or I am an illness. My body, you know, like my, you know, my body has a difficulty or my, you know, don't make something your identity. So I am is like the most powerful mantra, spell, whatever you want to cast. So you can start to say, I'm not my anxiety. You know, you can start to say things that will reaffirm that you, this is something that you may be experiencing in this moment. But even with a small, simple exercise, you can start to diminish it. That means that it's movable. and something different is achievable. And the third, when you disidentify, that's even a word, when you start to stop identifying with it by saying, I am not, I am not my anxiety, things just start to change for you. Because if you're not your anxiety, then what are you? Well, it could be something better, bigger.

I took a big exhale as you were speaking, so I'm sure a lot of people who are going to listen to this will do that too. Yeah, it's an important, a very important point. And I wanted you to kind of hover on it for a second because I feel like healing for different people is going to come in different ways and acknowledging at different set points, like how are they going to enter into this world? But just hearing you speak was really great advice. I want to take a quick break today. share something that's become a game changer in my personal wellness routine lately. It's Ancient Nutrition's Multi-Collagen Advanced Lean Supplement. You all know I love natural, science-backed solutions to feel my best. So let me tell you about Ancient Nutrition's approach of combining ancient wisdom with modern research. Their mission really resonated with me, creating high-quality supplements that harness the power of time-tested nutrition. What I love about their Multi-Collagen Advanced Lean formula is that it contains not just one, but 10 types of collagen from 10 real food sources. We're talking a full spectrum, bioavailable collagen powerhouse. But it gets better. This blend is supercharged with clinically studied ingredients to support healthy weight management, fat loss, and lean muscle growth. The older I get, the more I feel those aches and pains creeping in, especially in my joints. well, collagen is like the glue that holds our bodies together, and supplementing with it can make a noticeable difference in joint comfort. Not to mention it's amazing for skin, for hair, for nail health, and hello, a really youthful glow, which I'll take. Since I started taking this supplement consistently, I've noticed that my energy is more stable throughout the day, my skin looks more plump and more radiant, and my joints definitely don't creak as much when I wake up in the morning. It's not a miracle fountain of youth, but wow, the difference is real. So if you're looking for a clean, powerful way to support your body's natural regeneration process and feel your best at any age, I highly recommend checking out Ancient Nutrition, especially their Multi-Collagen Advanced Lean Formula. In fact, they're generously offering our Rooted and Wellness listeners a special deal. 25% off your first order when you go to ancientnutrition.com/Mona. that's ancientnutrition.com/mona for 25 off your first purchase. This is something I believe can make a meaningful difference for all of us in our wellness journey. Head over to ancientnutrition.com/mona and treat your body to the nourishment it deserves to thrive. So, and I'm asking this again because of the people want to know. So for the sound bite then, how can people begin to build a new code of consciousness for themselves?

First, I want you to start asking, is that true? And if it is true, this belief, this story that you're telling, if it is true, where do I find it? That's the first step. I want you to start to start challenging your stories and beliefs. Second step is I want you to start to write down the five stories that you tell most. The five things that you're talking about most, the story that you keep retelling someone about your abusive father or about the toxic narcissistic ex. Like, what are you telling over and over again? Because you are that story. And so that's recognizing the cage that you're in. based on your programming beliefs and stories is the first, the very first step in coding a new consciousness. Because when you realize that's a construct, if you ever saw the Matrix, the first rule is to realize that there is no spoon. So if you realize that that's the cage you're in, then, you know, awareness is the very first part. Like, oh, look at that cage. I'm in it. Yeah.

Right.

Instead of like, oh, I'm in a fishbowl and I've just been swimming around the ocean, but really you're in a small glass of water. So that's the very first part is to start challenging some of these things and to build awareness around it by first saying, what's writing down? What stories do I tell most? And it's like, oh, okay, are those helping or hurting me?

That's powerful because I thought you were gonna say the story in your mind, I'm not good enough, I'm not smart enough. But if you have to tap into the story that comes up over and over and over, that's your identity. And like, that's your true identity.

Yeah. And so, those stories that you're telling other people, that is the language of your identity.

Right?

That's the language of your identity because our subconscious mind speaks in stories. And so if we keep telling the story of our pain, we're identifying with it.

Right.

And therefore, I want you to look at like, what are the five stories that you tell you most? And usually, yeah, so that's awareness. The second thing is take off all your clothes, sit in front of a mirror, and stare at yourself until those whatever thoughts come up. Just let all the thoughts come up.

Wow.

Let them all come up and write them down. And then take them away and start to read them and look at them and see, like, be really super honest with yourself about what those thoughts are. And don't stop them. Just allow them, even if it's difficult. And so that's the first step in starting to code your awareness because you're starting to realize and bring awareness to coding your new consciousness because you start to realize and bring real intention around the cage that you're in that's based on your beliefs.

And would you say, I'm just thinking as a woman doing that exercise naked in front of a mirror, you can imagine a lot of emotion can come up for so many of us. Forcing yourself to do it again, are you working to get to a point where there's acceptance, where there's no emotional aspect to it.

Yeah. Eventually you want to get to it, right? So of course, if it becomes too emotional, ground yourself with a good friend or a good book or going out in nature or something like that. But what the first real step is, before we get to all the other things, which is Nikola Tesla's 369 method, the theory, Einstein's theory of time and a multidimensional universe and how there's expanding our realities are expanding forever. All those things have to start with some awareness about the cage that we're in. And the cage that we're in is based on the terrible things that we say to ourselves every day when we're with ourselves looking in the mirror and building awareness of the stories that we have and our subconscious beliefs that they're based on.

Would you say that manifestation was part of this healing journey for you as well as tuning into your consciousness?

Yeah. So I've changed my identity. At first because I didn't want to. I was an athlete, I was like strong macho dude. And I was in finance, trader on the floor of the stock exchange. And then when that's taken away because you can't walk anymore and you can't play sports and you can't be tough and all that stuff, then your identity is forced to change. And it's a blessing and a curse because it's like, okay, what am I leaving behind, but also what am I stepping into this potential? And then it's changed from entrepreneur to, you know, to therapist to all these things. So this is the manifestation. your identity changes and your manifestation changes. And most recently, my focus on my oneness, the I am statement, has been the most profound thing for me.

The word oneness also is a big one. When we think about the world of quantum and healing and entanglement, as we kind of wind things down, can you put a lens on the healing that you've done and the fact that you and I are connected? the healing that you in this beautiful way are guiding your clients to heal the impact that that means when they go out into the world. Yeah.

So often there is this, well, first I say there's a sheet. Just put a sheet, put your hands onto the sheet, put your two fingers up through the sheet, and on top of the seat, you see two bumps. Are they separate or are they one? They're one. They're connected by the sheet. It just has the illusion of two bumps being separate. And that's us. We are the resonant energy of everything. You know, there's no, it doesn't die. And it's that we have the same energy, just a different frequency as that plant or this table. So that means that, you know, we're experiencing the same as everybody else. And so we have the same energy as animals in the earth and other people. so we're not separate. So the things that separates us are stories, beliefs, and programming, and also our ego that says that I have to protect all that stuff. So when you start to say, I've been really hurt by that ex, if you start to say, I am them, and everything starts to change, you almost, you can't be mad anymore.

Yeah.

And it's not to say you shouldn't get really far away from but it's to say that you can free yourself from the cage that you're in by recognizing that this is a manifestation of life itself of you. Or if you see a homeless person on the street that you want to be like, oh God, this terrible person on the street. I am that. I am her. I'm him. This woman in one of my groups, she broke down because she had a liver transplant saved her life, and she found out the man was homeless. -Oh, wow. -And it had a profound effect on her because she's very wealthy and she had looked down so much upon... And now she has a liver from a man that was living on the street and this is what's giving her life. And quite literally she is him. And everything has changed for her. -Everything's changed for her.

-Yeah.

-So, yes, so this idea of oneness and connectedness will free you from a lot of the biases, fear and pain in your life.

I wanted to put that lens in the wisdom and the way that you relay everything because I think a healing journey, when we look at it through like a standard way, is often really selfish and self-absorbed. And often we can get lost, like we're just lost in all the things that we need to do in order to feel good. But often when we pull back, and often you and I, if we can work with communities of people or individuals one-on-one, there's a feeling of expansion and it becomes outside of ourselves and all of a sudden we're not as in our head It's more a feeling of encouragement, like what a joy that I get to do this and help to elevate the person beside me or across from me or who I'm working with.

Yeah. And because we're one who's also going to help you. It's going to help me, I should say. If I'm helping you, it's also going to help me. Yeah. Yeah.

All right. So such an honor to sit with you today. It really is. Tell us a little bit about where people can find you.

You can find me on Instagram. It's a good way.

You're so good there. You have so many greats.

Jim Curtis won.

You look like you love social media.

I'm not gonna say I have trouble making content.

Yeah, same. I'm great in person and one-on-one.

I'm like, oh my God, what am I gonna say on this piece of content? But I'm grateful that people support me there. I'm really grateful.

I'm really grateful that you paint a lens then. that true healing is so much more than biochemical. Yeah, there's so many aspects and part of ourselves that we need to consider in order to feel true happiness and freedom. And you've said that word freedom a few times today. And I think that your healing journey has certainly given you a sense of freedom. So thank you for that takeaway. Okay, to wrap this up, some quick rapid fire questions. Got it. What are some of the most common mistakes or misconceptions that you're seeing people make with their health?

Green juice is gonna heal you.

But it's not that easy.

I mean, green juice could heal you. You get celery juice every morning. I don't know. Yeah, like, so these are rapid fire, so I'll stop there.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. That's great. What's your favorite ancient healing remedy?

Acupuncture. Love it.

If you had to pick something about modern medicine that excites you, what would it be?

I love all of these biohacking things that are happening. I'm doing hyperbaric oxygen, I'm doing cold plunging, I'm doing red light therapy. I'm about to go to Novosibirsk to work with a functional medicine doctor on peptides. I really love all of these advances.

Yeah, is your house like a healing sanctuary? Have you built in these things to your home?

I have a bunch of these. I have the Beamer, I have all these PEMFs and lights and all sorts of things.

Very cool. If you had to give people one powerful daily habit to radically shift their health and mindset, what would it be?

It would be 20 minutes of self-hypnosis or trans-hypnosis work.

And before we leave, can people find a recording of that from you to get a taste of self-hypnosis?

I may have, yes. I actually posted a class on my YouTube channel. I'm just starting to do a YouTube channel. Yeah. So I posted a class. It's like an hour and a half, and at the last 20 minutes of it, we'll go into like a guided visualization.

Beautiful. Okay, Jim Curtis, he's got, you have so much incredible content online to guide people. You're such a great teacher. I can't wait to have you back in the future.

I'd love to come back.

Yeah, thank you so much. Such a joy.

Thanks.