161: Herbology for Women with Teana David

Namaste, it's Sahara Rose. And welcome back to the Highest Self Podcast, a place where we discuss what makes you your soul's highest development. I know a lot of High Self Podcast listeners love herbs, which is why I'm super excited to have Tiana David here on the Highest Self podcast, sharing us all about herbology for Woman. She is someone who is so full of knowledge when it comes to this subject. She makes her own tinctures, she studied under an incredible herbal healer who she's going to tell us all about in this episode. And we when I met her, she works at the Deepak home base in New York where I had my book launch this fall and we met in person and literally geeked out for two hours over all these different kinds of herbs and the different ways to take them and their different properties and whether she believes that herbs have yin and yang, masculine feminine properties or not and how to incorporate them in your everyday life. And I was like, this is a conversation that my listeners will be all about. So we had another incredible conversation just like that, but going even deeper and asking all of the juicy, juicy questions about herbs. No pun intended. So if you're interested in healing Ayurveda Adaptogens, all that awesome holistic healing stuff, this episode is for you. Without further ado, let's welcome Teyana David to the Highest Self Podcast. And before we get started, check out these brands that make Highest Self Podcast possible. Adaptogens are all the buzz right now, but the thing is, most of us have no idea how to ingest them. Well, I recommend listening to episode 133 adoptions 101 with LOPA of Rasa after this episode and trying Rasa. Rasa is a delicious blend of seven different adaptogens and two medicinal mushrooms. They have three flavors. Their original Rasa, which I use on a daily basis their Cacao Rasa, which a dark, rich, chocolatey version and their dirty Rasa, which is a more dark, rich, balanced version which makes a really good coffee alternative. It provides your body with exactly what it needs when it needs it and balances most of the doshas most of the time. You can try it over at wearesa r a s a dot com and use code EAT FEEL FRESH for 20% off. Again, be sure to listen to episode 133 and then head over to we are rasa dot com and use code EAT Feel Fresh for 20% off your magical adaptogens. Are you interested in having a career focused on health and wellness? Well, if so, then the universe is calling you to become a holistic health coach. I am offering this incredible deal, a discount of $1500 off my Alma mater, Institute for Integrative Nutrition, which is the world's largest nutrition school with guest teachers such as Deepak Chopra, Chris Car Carr, Dr. Hyman, Dr. Andrew Whale and so many others. It is split between six months of health coaching programs teaching you hundreds of nutritional theories including Ayurveda, as well as six months of business coaching. And as an additional bonus, I am offering a webinar where I will teach you how to use social media to create a thriving career as a health coach. On top of that, I have created a private Facebook community just for the Highest Self podcast listeners who are becoming health coaches to connect with each other, meet up with each other and support one another on this journey. So if you're interested, send an email over to Sahara S A h a r aat feel fresh.com with subject iin again sahara eat feelfresh.com with subject iin and I will personally send you back the email that will allow you to get a fifteen hundred dollar off discount as well as my business coaching webinar and the private Facebook group. I'm sorry. So excited for you to begin your journey as a health coach. Namaste and welcome Teyana to the Highest Self podcast. It's so good to have you here, Sahara.

It's so nice to speak with you.

The first question that I would love to ask you is what makes you your highest self?

Oh, that's such a good question. And there's a few answers to that. I would say for me, spending time in nature is absolutely key to being my best self. I was just on Cortez island in British Columbia and I got a nice dose of nature medicine. Ocean clear lakes, old growth forest, red cedars and Douglas fir trees and eagles, hawks, whales and just fresh, fresh air coming off of the mountain. So I feel in a pretty good place. And I know it's because of just communing with the elements. So that's the first thing that bubbles up. And then one more thing would be working with herbs and plants and incorporating wild foods into my diet actually. So I'm a big forager. I'm a big proponent of eating a little bit of wild food every day, whether or not I'm always able to make that happen, especially in my life in New York City. Maybe not every day, but the goal is a little bit of wild food in the diet to just keep me connected to the earth and the plants. And I work with nourishing herbal infusions as well. We can talk more about those later if you'd like.

Absolutely. I love that. And I think that we were just talking about this earlier, but all of us humans are meant to be connected to Earth, and the fact that we are not is leading to the earthquakes and the orca whales that we were just talking about carrying their dead babies, and we need to come back. If we don't, we will be reminded in the most traumatic of ways.

Mm. You're so right. And I think those seeds need to be planted from a young age. You know, if you fall in love with Mother Earth from the time you're young, then as you grow older, you know nothing else. But to be a guardian of our Mother Earth, you naturally are a protector if you have that love relationship fostered.

Absolutely. So I would love to talk about something that you specialize in and have studied, the Wise Woman tradition and how it relates to herbal medicine. And just what is this Wise Woman Traditional?

Yeah. So about five years ago now, I apprenticed for seven months with Susan Weed, who is really carrying the Wise Woman tradition into today, along with some other fantastic teachers. But she has been my main teacher. And the wise Woman tradition works with nourishing, abundant herbs. Herbal medicine is the people's medicine. And often that medicine can be found right outside your door. So that's a major component of this way of working with plants that they're not things that you might order in from another country or have to search far and wide for some sort of rare herb. They're actually, to be honest, they're weeds. A lot of them are considered weeds. And what I so appreciate about the wise Woman tradition is that it encourages a shift in perception. These plants that sort of, I don't know, sometimes are looked over in favor of the, you know, the real, quote, unquote, real plants that you've planted. Actually, those ones that you've looked over and step on without paying any mind, those are the medicines. And it's sort of like, wow, it's just been here in front of my eyes the whole time. These dandelions, for example. Gosh. You know, I grew up with my parents wanting to get them out of the lawn and pull them out and mow them out. And those were pests because they interfered with this lawn. And over the years, my thinking about these types of plants has really changed. They are healing plants so often, and they're common. They're everywhere, and they're just wanting to help. And so if we can only just open our eyes to the medicine that is all around us, there's a tremendous amount of nourishment to be had. You know, another component of the wise woman tradition is ritual, I would say. So there's a way in which you're working with the plants in your hands. So we don't put herbs in capsules. In the wise woman tradition, we actually encourage as much as possible to grow the plants yourself or in a foraging situation, pick them yourself, dry them yourself, tincture them yourself, make salves yourself, make infusions yourself. When you're making those infusions, you're squeezing the herbs with your hands. It's a very intimate relationship with the herbs. And for me, those processes are ritual, where I get to be up close and personal with these plants and know them and feel their gifts, feel their spirit, their energy field, and just they get to know me as well. It's a relationship that's building that's so beautiful.

So I'd love to know, do you recommend that we go around and we pick weeds and we eat them? Should we know which ones to eat?

Yeah. Yeah, Good question. I mean, obviously, yes, you have got to positively identify any plants that you're working with in the wild, and that's really, really important. I can't stress that enough, of course, for safety. Now, yes, there's online resources, but that's not really the way to go. You should find a wild edibles teacher in your area, wherever you live, and go out with them on a plant ID walk maybe a number of times, and maybe have somebody, a mentor or someone who certainly knows and has worked with the plants themselves to help you identify the plants as you get familiar. And then pretty quickly it does become second nature. And, you know, the ways. You know, I'll write St. John's Wort. Okay. If I pluck a leaf and hold it up to the sun, I can see these little perforations. That's why it's called hypericum perforatum in the little leaf. And so that tells me that it's different from another plant. And you learn the key ways to identify. But certainly important that you work with someone to help you do that. And then we want to be responsible. There are some plants that are endangered. And so as you get into this world more, there's plenty of books that will tell you which plants, certainly not to harvest right now because there are only a few left in the wild. And I love the foraging teachers these days. They're really just articulate about, let's all band together and protect our Ecosystem. And the general rule of thumb is only to take 20%, up to perhaps 20% of, say, a patch of mullen that you come across. If you come across 10 mullein plants, just be mindful only. Only to harvest one or two of those. Common sense.

Yeah, that's a beautiful way of thinking about it because it's so true that. I mean, the way that the agricultural revolution has happened is you grow everything to take everything. And it's definitely no reverence to, you know, only taking a little bit so the plant is still able to survive off its own. It's like you wouldn't want to if someone had a meal, you wouldn't take their whole meal. Maybe if you were hungry, you would take a small portion of it. So looking at plants with that level of respect.

Oh, my gosh, you're so right. It's counter to the exploitation ethos, if I can even call it that, that has been ingrained in our society that everything on the earth is for us to take, for us to control. So you're right in that way, too. It's a total shift of perspective. And gosh, it feels good to be in harmony with the plants in that way. You know, some people ask permission even, and I would say in my own way, I do as well, energetically. I certainly, I just feel out the situation and not only using my eyes and other senses to see exactly how many plants there are and be responsible in that way, but there is a communication between me and the plants of, is this okay right now? And are you interested in helping me? And I just wait for that? Yes.

That's so beautiful. And are there any kind of resources or books you recommend for people who want to be able to kind of dissect what are forageable plants and what are not?

Yeah. Well, any books by my main teacher, Susan Weed, I recommend. And Susan spells her name S U S U N to have the sun in her name. And then, yes, her last name, her actual last name is Weed. W E E D so check out any books by Susan Weed. Her first book, the Wise Woman, the Herbal or something like that. It's a green cover. That's a real classic. That will give you a really good start. And then there's a woman named Dina Falcone, and she has a book about foraging out that you should check out as well.

Okay, beautiful. So I'd love to kind of delve into making tinctures. So how can someone begin that journey?

Okay, so tinctures work with a specific process of osmosis. All plants have chemical constituents in them and many of them are poisonous, what we would think of as poisonous so that insects don't eat them. You know, little creatures don't want to eat them so readily. Now, tinctures are kind of magical because what we are doing with them is drawing out just a little bit of those poisons to in some sense strengthen our systems. So we want some of those chemicals from the plants in order to help us, but just the right amount. And the way to do that is to work with your menstruum, which is your liquid that you'll use to make the tincture as 100 proof vodka. So different herbal lineages will work with different menstruums. But in the wise woman tradition, we work with 100 proof vodka and those can be found that is not always readily available in liquor stores. But you know, it is around and it can't be 80. I can't stress enough. It needs to be 100. And that's just in order for the chemical process to work correctly. So get some of that and then let's see. I'm trying to think what we want to tincture first. As an example, okay, let's say elderberries. Okay, so elderberry tincture, an antiviral. If I feel myself at all getting sick with the flu or any feeling under the weather, feeling that tiredness that happens a day or two before you get sick, I load up on elderberry and it saves me every time. It's absolutely incredible. So let's say I am in my backyard and my elderberry bush is fruiting. There's berries and there's deep sort of purple, black. And I'm going to pick them and I'll have a jar, let's say like a little mason jar, like a tiny one. Okay, Just for the purposes of this explanation. And I'm going to put about pretty much full with those elderberries because they're fresh. They're fresh berries. So I'm going to fill the jar and then once the jar is full, I'm going to pour the 100 proof vodka into the jar till it's really, really full. I'm going to take a toothpick or some sort of object to poke and make sure that the vodka is all in between and around all of the elderberries. And then maybe there's a little more room after I poked. So I'm going to fill it totally to the top with that vodka and then I'm going to lid it. You should see me right now. I'm doing this and mining it in the air. It's pretty funny. And lid it really tightly, and then very important is to label it. So you take any kind of label, put it on the lid, and just say elderberry tincture and the date that you're making it. And six weeks later, at least six weeks later, you can undo that lid. And if you wish, you can strain the elderberries out, and then you can put it in a little dropper bottle and take it around with you. You can make some for friends. I love tinctures as gifts, especially elderberry tincture for, like, around the winter holidays. Just that it's such a good time to gift this remedy. So that's an example when you're working with fresh plant material. But if we were working with dried elderberries, like, not everybody has an elderberry bush in their yard. So you can order dried elderberries, dried organic elderberries, and think about dried fruits. They take up less space and they're going to reconstitute. So in this case, we can't fill the jar all the way full like we did with the fresh berries. We can fill it about halfway full. Okay. So in general, if you're working with dried roots, dried anything, and really there's only a certain a few instances where you would work with dried. We tend to work with fresh for tinctures. But berries, it's okay to use dried. And so halfway full, same deal, vodka all the way in the jar to the top, poke it around a little bit, put the lid on, label it, wait for six weeks. Can be more, too. Gosh, I've waited for two years with some tinctures just because I didn't get to them. And that's totally fine because, of course, the alcohol will preserve. And then, if you wish, strain it out or not. I know people who just keep their tinctures soaking, soaking, and they just take a little dropper and put it into that mason jar and use it like that. So that's the general rule of thumb. Does that make sense?

Totally. So how do you know if you're supposed to use fresh or dry? Is it just if it's berries, or are there other rules?

Yeah, good question. So basically, roots and berries are okay, dried. So if you're doing an echinacea root tincture, you can also work with dried or burdock root. You can also work with dried. So roots and berries, dried is okay.

Okay. And can you share a little bit about what are some herbs that are good for various type of hormonal imbalances, such as pcos being estrogen dominant, can you just name a few different situations and what herbs are good for that?

Yeah. So in the wise woman tradition, it's really about allowing your daily practices to stabilize you and really let your own immune system, your own body cosmology, be at its best. So we are simply providing space for your own self to be its strongest. I just want to say that because it's not so much like there's something wrong and then you're going to take something and then it will be better. And that's a really neat, great, helpful system of working with herbs and working with medicines, like western medicines, too. But this is more like, for example, if someone was having hormonal issues, what I would recommend from the wise woman view is to work with infusions. And infusions are so full of minerals, which we are sorely lacking, that they just help us come into harmony and aliveness on a daily basis. So I rotate between five nettle, red clover. When I say nettle, it's stinging nettle, comfrey, linden, and oat straw. Now, the one that I would emphasize if I was having some hormonal issues as a woman especially, would be red clover. And red clover, sometimes known as crimson clover, are those clovers that you see just out on your lawn or in the wild often, and they're just like the little white clovers, except they're a little bit bigger, right? And their leaves are just those three clover leaves with the little white designs on them. And what you do is you take an ounce of red clover to a quart of boiling water and you steep that red clover about eight hours or overnight. And then in the morning, you strain the plant material out and really squeeze the red clovers so that you get everything out. And then I like to put that infusion into the fridge and just let it cool or drink it over ice. Some people will want to heat it and drink it as a hot tea. But either way, over the next couple days, I'll be drinking that red clover infusion. And that is one of the best things that I know of to cure any sort of hormonal imbalances in women. And it's in the same family as lentils. And so those, all the plants in that family are incredibly, not only cancer preventative, but they will help bind any extra estrogens that are not serving the body. So in this day and age, with all of the plastics, the soft plastics and other things in our environment, you know, from what I understand, we're being flooded with these chemicals that are sort of masquerading as estrogens, and they're not actually, but our body recognizes them close enough. And so they get into these estrogen receptor sites and can wreak havoc in the body. So what red clover does is it provides phytoestrogens, just plant estrogens, which many of our foods do, but in quite a good bioavailable way. And so those plant estrogens are the ones that we want. Those are healthy estrogens that will come into those receptor sites and stop any of the fake ones from getting in there. So I feel very supported when I drink red clover probably once a week. So if I rotate through the five and I, you know, I'll make enough for a couple days and keep it in the fridge of stinging nettle. And then once the stinging nettle is done, I'll move on to the red clover. And it doesn't matter which order you do them in, but they are worked with on their own. So we don't generally mix too many herbs in the wise woman tradition.

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Right. Okay, so first, just to clarify, because there's so many different ways in which people use the terminology. So tincture is when you're working with alcohol, like we talked with the elderberry tincture, but when you're working with this dried herb and steeping it overnight, it's called an infusion. Right. So people might think, oh, yeah, this. And the full name that Susan gives it is Nourishing Herbal Infusion. Yeah, I know. It does sound like work, doesn't it? And it took me a while to get into the groove of it, but now that I found my groove, it's been like, I don't know, four or five years that I do them really regularly, and I noticed just such positive impacts. So the first thing I would say is, you know, let's all take a breath and kind of slow down enough that we could actually use do a little plant ritual before bed every couple nights. You know, that just to really open our minds and hearts to consider that we could do that for ourselves, and that it might actually be really enjoyable and nourishing and interesting. And so that's step one. And then if for some reason, your lifestyle just is just really not conducive to that, then the second thing I would go to is just lessen your frequency. Can you do it once a week? Can Sundays be your nourishing herbal infusion day? And maybe you work with linden one week, and you make a couple, two or three quarts of linden on Sundays and keep them in the fridge. And over the next three days, probably is the max that you would want to keep those in the fridge to be drinking, then maybe you can drink them, and they're great to share with friends. And then if you really just can't, the question about tea is that it's just not the same thing, because tea is a small amount of herb steeped for a small amount of time. And you just, just don't get the high mineral content. As much as I love teas, and they certainly have their benefits, it's just a different thing. So the infusions, again, you're going to work with an ounce of herb, which is quite a lot. It's almost like, could be like a cup kind of thing. Although important to do the weight measurement. So an ounce of herb to a quart of water sitting for eight hours. So in those eight hours, that large amount of herb is really having a chance to. To transfer its minerals into the water. So tea, unfortunately, won't cut it in this situation.

No. Very true. And I love what you said about really reconsidering your schedule, because that's so true. And it's like, I think we're all like, well, how can I make this work? But I don't want to change anything else. And it's like, yes, you can have it, you can do this. But if your life is not allowing for your hormones to flow, fall into balance, that's really what you gotta be looking at first. And I love how the wise woman tradition like that is the paramount, and that is the first thing you look at. And then everything else is almost secondary.

Yes. Just having time to be in nature and connect with the plants and then take them into your body in such a way that is really a nourishing ritual is. It's just a very special thing. And the benefits, once you get into the groove of this are just incredible. So there's no going back once it's hooked you. I promise that, Effy.

Yes. So I'd love to talk with you about feminine and masculine herbs. I think a lot of people don't realize that herbs almost have these qualities, more yin and more yang. I know ashwagandha is very, very popular right now, but it is a more masculine herb, and shatavari would be a more feminine. So can you say, speak a little bit about the energies behind the herbs?

Yeah. You know, in my tradition, I have to say all plants are called she, which is really like, I don't know, it's just kind of funny. And it's something actually that took me a while to get used to. And I really questioned, like, why are we calling every single plant she can't some be he? And of course they can. It's totally up to the individual to, you know how you feel with a certain plant, like yellow dock, for example, which can be very supportive of the liver in iron uptake. I always thought about yellow dock as Sort of more male, but truly I think they're all androgynous, beautiful beings made up of both feminine and masculine. So sort of a wise woman and tayana perspective, but in terms of the properties of kind of what we might think of as traditionally masculine and sort of maybe pointed and faster acting and kind of more like a hammer rather than a softer, gentler way. And those are total masculine stereotypes, by the way. But you know, it depends on sometimes the part of the plant that you work with. So let's talk about valerian, for example, as a sleep aid, which doesn't work for everybody, but many people do find it effective. So I could make a tincture of valerian root. And because it's root, it could be fresh or it could be dried, right? And if it's fresh, I would fill up the whole mason jar or whatever container I'm using with the root. But if it's dried, I would only fill it up halfway because it's going to expand. I would then cover it in that 100 proof vodka, lid it, label it and let it sit for at least six weeks. And then I would start working with that tincture and I might find that, gosh, that valerian root tincture makes me sleep not just for the eight hours I need, but for like 12 hours. And then I wake up and I'm kind of out of it. And so that is kind of a heavy handed herbal remedy for me. So then I might think, what is a more yin part of the plant? Perhaps, what about the flowers? What if I tinctured valerian flowers? And so I would do the same thing. And of course they're flowers, so we would work with them fresh. And I would fill up the jar with flowers and I would put the 100 proof vodka in, lid it, label it, let it sit for six weeks, strain it, put it in a dropper bottle, take it before bed. Yes. Helps me sleep for just the right amount of time and I wake up and I feel pretty alert and all right, I found my perfect potion. So that's kind of the way that we look at it. At least the way that I've really interpreted the wise woman tradition of male and female, it can be about the actual parts of the plant.

Ooh, I love that so much. And it's such a great perspective of looking at it. And the flower is more feminine and so with the root kind of be the more masculine part.

You know, in this case I am making that correlation because simply because of the sort of, the heavier sort of more potent, you Know, effects of it just. It's kind of stronger. Like, simply put, it's stronger. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And I even like that it doesn't, because sometimes we genderize softer feminine, stronger masculine. And I like how the tradition is not trying to do that either.

Yeah, it's really not. And I really questioned myself about these assumptions that we've made and that we sort of all seem to culturally agree on. Like, what are masculine traits? If you said that to a room of people, people might yell out strength. Sure. Like, all of these things. And I think we need to just actually kind of erase the board on that and totally rethink. Consider what those energies actually are, you know?

Yes. I mean, a woman and her birthing experience. What could be more strong and wild and powerful and messy? And, like, all of the traits we would call masculine are a woman in her most feminine process.

That's so interesting. I was just thinking about that as we were talking about it. I mean. Yeah. You know, the strongest muscle in the body in a male or female body, is not the heart, it's the uterus.

Wow.

So there's some strength for you. And. Yeah, just the courage and the tenacity and the. Gosh, just everything that it takes to carry a child and give birth to a child, not to mention raise the child. So, yeah, I think it's a really interesting conversation right now, especially that we could all just open our minds and kind of just perhaps just look again kind of thing.

Absolutely. I so wholeheartedly agree. I've done episodes about my frustration with that terminology as well.

Yes, yes.

Because a lot of times in the spiritual world, it's. So every workshop and book is all about the masculine and the feminine, and we've just put these labels on them, and it's kind of going back to the patriarchal times of. To be in your feminist is just to sit in this full reception and that. Yes, that's part of it, but that's not its entirety.

Oh, my gosh, you're so right. And I mean, the yin yang, right there it is. The masculine has the feminine in it, the feminine has the masculine in it. So we are all whole beings.

Yes. Yeah. And I think, you know, people could look at them like the doshas, for example, the vata could be the more airiness, but why does that have to be feminine? The pitta can be more fiery, but why is that masculine? The kapha could be more earthy. Why is that feminine? Why can't we just look at them in the terminology of elements?

Yes. Sahara. I Fully hear you there. I think that's something really worth exploring.

Yes. So a lot of the work you do is more than just the herbs. But I want to talk about the spiritual practices such as Taoism and Buddhism and how we can connect them with Mother Earth.

Yeah, you know, Daoism and Buddhism, especially through a few teachers like Thich Nhat Hanh is one of my favorite guides in the world of Buddhism. And both Thich Nhat Hanh and Lao Tzu, who of course is known to have written the Tao Te Ching, there's so much written about nature. It's absolutely foundational to their spiritual practice. And that's why I think I resonate with both of those teachers. And you know, Thich Nhat Hanh will simply say, if you're feeling stressed out, if you're feeling anything other than your highest self, touch the earth. Actually take your hands down to the earth, kneel on the earth and touch the earth. And you will feel better. You will feel in harmony and at peace. And I mean, it's so simple, isn't it, Sahara? But now we have studies coming out about forest bathing and how, wow, they've studied that cortisol levels go down and people report a feeling of well being and gratitude when they walk in the woods. And I just sort of chuckle to myself because of course, I mean, do we really have to measure this scientifically to know that what people have been doing for thousands of years just being, you know, quiet in nature, is healthy and soothing to the body, to the mind, to the spirit. And I love that it's, you know, making the rounds of the magazines now as the latest trend to, to go forest bathing. But it is, it's a little bit, you know, silly in a way, isn't it?

Because it's so prescriptive now. It's like, okay, you do this and then you have to walk 20 minutes and it has to look like that. And then all these technologies that are trying to mimic the earth and mimic the sun, it's like just we have the real thing, it's free.

You know, I'm just actually just looking at a little Thich Nhat Hanh book right now and I just want to share something if I could.

Yes, absolutely.

Okay. So he's talking about mindfulness. He's actually quoting a Zen master, Linji, and he says, the miracle is walking on the earth, not walking on water or fire. The real miracle is walking on this earth. And then he goes on to say, a step taken with mindfulness can lead you to the Kingdom of God. This is possible. You can do it. Today, life is too precious for us to lose ourselves in our ideas and concepts, in our anger and our despair. We must wake up to the marvelous reality of life. We must begin to live fully and truly every moment of our daily lives. So walking on the Earth can really engender presence and mindfulness. And it's so simple. But like Thich Nhat Hanh is saying, it's actually a total miracle to be able to take a step with 100% presence. And I think we sometimes get ahead of ourselves or we want the things that are flashy and exciting. And I'm such a fan of getting back to basics. And beginner's mind, you know, in the expert's mind, the possibilities are few. In the beginner's mind, the possibilities are many. And so no matter how much you know about a subject, just, I find it very helpful to always tune back into that beginner's mind, which just puts a sense of wonder and awe in my being. And from that place, I really can be receptive. And I learn so much more, you know?

Yes. And so much of what he's saying in that quote is just how we are so focused on going to Mars and learning about this and doing that, when really the most elated, evolved path that we can take is just to be here as humans.

Oh, my gosh, you're so right. And to be in mindful awareness of our bodies, our breath, of other people, we're just, you know, we're moving so quickly, aren't we? And it's too fast. I wonder if even the master that he is, Thich Nhat Hanh, could stay as mindful and present if he were moving at such a fast pace as many of us, he probably could. He very likely could. But I know that I'm helped by just slowing down a little bit. I can really give my core of my being the attention that it needs to function at its best and most loving. And when I'm rushing and when there's too many things going on in my life, I don't think I'm my best self, to be honest. How about you? What do you think?

Absolutely. You know, I'm planning this wedding right now, and every single time that I'm like, okay, let's just get this done. Let's just say us this first.

Let's just go.

Let's just hurry up. Let's just do it. I'm like, okay, that is coming from my ego, because there is no rush. And the intu and I'm like, well, it's a sign because this spot just opened up and it's the perfect place. Let's just go for it. But the intuition never speaks to you in that voice.

Yes. Right.

So it's just a reminder that there is always time. In the moments that you think there isn't enough time, you're in your own illusion.

Oh, my gosh. That's good, Sahara. That's a good little rule of thumb. Yes.

So I'd love to also talk with you because you teach Pilates and mindful movement, and it's something that I'm super passionate about. You lead retreats on it. And I got injured, my wrist got injured about a year and a half ago and I used to be like a die hard yogi practicing every day. And I had to totally stop yoga. And that's what brought me into Pilates performer and Pilates on the mat. And I love it because it gives me that mindfulness that I thought that only yoga could. But it doesn't injure my wrists and in fact, I'm able to connect with different muscles in my body that I actually was never able to in my yoga practice.

I'm so happy you bring this up because I find that a lot, when people have joint injuries and risks do come up a lot, they have to stop doing yoga or they can't take up a yoga practice. Because unless it's a very specified restorative yoga, one on one with a teacher who really avoids any weight bearing. In general, when you go to yoga class, there is some weight bearing on the wrists. That's not for everyone. Pilates mat practice, most of it is not weight bearing. In fact, much of it on your back has a swimming feeling. And it of course focuses on the muscles in the center of your body, the muscles along the spine, and then all of the abdominal layers. And more than that, on an energetic level, it brings your awareness into the center of who you are. And that's what I love imparting with my Pilates teaching is it's so much more than just a physical exercise. And it is that. But that's sort of the wonderful side effect of getting to know the core of yourself more intimately. That's the lens that I teach through. And it's fun. And we breathe deeply, we breathe into all parts of our bodies. We wake up all of the cells from the inside out with the breath and with sensation, and we start to move through the world differently. You notice once you've connected all of your limbs into your Core. And you realize that. That the center of yourself is how you can walk through the world. Life starts to change. And your centeredness, you're not living in the future, and you're not living in the past. You really find yourself on your axis, the axis of the present, the axis of your spine, which, in my theory, keeps you aligned with the divine. Ooh, I'm just making rhymes here. But so it can be a very deep and mindful practice, depending on the teacher, I think, especially. And in terms of the work on the reformer Cadillac and the chair, such cool equipment that Joseph Pilates designed back starting in the early 1900s. He was tinkering away with these springs and pulleys, and it's just kind of, wow, what a feat of simple engineering that has survived. And Pilates is still very popular and getting more popular because, like you say, so many people who maybe can't do other forms of exercise can do Pilates. It's very adaptable as well. And then also, it's just. It feels good. Even if you can and do do other sports, it can support everything else that you do. Carola Trier, one of the Pilates elders, she said pilates is like the carpet underlay. That layer of foam that you put under carpet that you're putting in your house, say it's that. So maybe you do run marathons, and maybe you're a New York City Ballet dancer or a cyclist. But if you also have a Pilates practice, it provides the underlay that allows the carpet to really last a long time. Be soft, all of it. I thought that was really accurate, actually, from what I witness as a teacher.

Yes. So very true. And I do notice that when I'm just sitting in my car, instead of, like, letting my belly all flop out, I'm just being more mindful of it, or, you know, your posture and these little. These little things that you're doing. It's not just isolated in that practice, but it's taking that practice into your entire life, which is what really any practice should be doing.

Yes. Practices. The best, right? Those steady, steady commitments.

Yes.

Support your life. Yeah.

Well, thank you so much for sharing all of your amazing wisdom with us from the wise woman tradition and the great spiritual teachings and Pilates. And I love how you incorporate it all and really just have so much wisdom. So where can listeners connect with you? Go on any of your retreats and learn more from you.

Yeah. Okay. So my company that I founded in 2014 is called Six Petals Retreats. So that's S I X petals like flower petals P E T A L S retreats plural.com sixpetalsretreats.com and there you'll find info about my upcoming retreat in the rainforests of Costa Rica in March. It'll be my fifth year taking a group there and it's just, I have no words. It's absolutely fairyland. Gorgeous green heart, nourishing earth. And we do a day of silence in the middle of the retreat. We meditate and do Pilates and other mindful movement and it's just so deeply nourishing. I hear nothing but fantastic things about people's lives after they partake in this week. So you can find out more@sixpetalsretreats.com about that. And then in terms of the work that I do at Deepak Home Base in New York City where I co curate and produce events around consciousness and the environment and social justice and health and wellness. You can go to www.abchome.com and then click on the Events tab. Yay.

Well, thank you so much again and we all look forward to connecting with you in the meantime.

Oh yeah. Thank you so much for having me on Sahara. It's been so nice to connect with you and just know that we share so much in common, our views and our love of plants and the earth. So thanks for doing what you're doing.

Yes, I'm going to definitely start making some tinctures.

Oh great. Good, good, good. Yeah. All right.

How amazing is Tiana? I mean, I could literally just talk to her forever because she has such profound knowledge about these herbs and it really allows us to go back to this, you know, medicine woman tradition that is in our DNA to just connect back with the plants and listen to their properties and use them to heal our minds, bodies and spirits. So it's so refreshing to have conversations like this and I'm really excited for the new paradigm of speaking about this in a more, you know, normal and everyday way. So it doesn't have to just be this like one off conversation, but something that we talk about on a daily basis. And be sure to check out Tyana's yoga retreat over on her website as well. I have it in the show notes. She is someone that you will definitely want to learn from. I hope that you enjoyed this episode and if you loved this episode, I would love to share with you the first half of my unreleased book Eat Right for your Mind body type, which is different from my book Eat Feel Fresh. It is my unreleased, never to be released book because it is now part of my Eat Right for your mind body type program. I would love to send it to you absolutely free. All you gotta do is leave me a review in the itunes store, take a screenshot and email it over to me@saharaetfeelfresh.com Again take a screenshot of the review and email it to me@saharaetfeelfresh.com and I will send you the first half of my unreleased book Eat Right for your Mind body type. Namaste.