Hello, hello. Welcome to my wellness to success podcast. My name is Dr. Martine Canal and I am a self care strategist as well as a nurse for over 27 years. This is my expert opinion. It is no way, shape or form any medical advice. So if you feel the need to get medical help, please, please, please reach out to your medical professional. Now this podcast is all about self care, health, and wellness. Now today, I wanted to talk about this wonderful experience I just went through. It's what I called my journey to self care in the Amazon jungle. I just came back from the Amazon guys. This was such an amazing, amazing self discovering event for me in my life. You know, in our fast paced world, it is essential that we take back steps and prioritize self care. We have got to slow down and believe me, there's no better environment than to do it in the jungle because when I was there, I had to embrace It's The simplicity of nature, I basically left the hustle and bustle of modern life because I, uh, I was there living without electricity or wanting water. And believe me, for 15 days, I truly, truly could say that we can do it. We can live without what we think. are essentials in our world. So I embraced the simplicity of nature. Every day I was up with the sunset. I mean the sunrise. I was up with the sunrise and then back, go to bed a little bit after sunset because, you know, we had to use what nature gave us. Which was the light from the sun. And then, in order for me to, to cleanse myself, I had to bathe in what I call the healing river. The healing river, believe me, it has such a power. It has a power to not only cleanse my body, but also cleanse my soul. It was refreshing, and it was, Awakening my senses, invigorating my spirits, but there was something about those waters that helped me to just renew and refresh and feel like my body was healing itself. Also in the jungle, I was able to meditate amongst the lush greenery that was around me. And it allowed for me to just focus on practicing meditation at a more profound level. There was no distraction. There was no, you know, anything that could keep me from, from just. Embracing what I was doing at the time. So I was able to connect with my inner self and go deep and think about what Martine wanted. So it was just an amazing surrounding that I had to really focus on myself and meditate and let my mind just rest and focus on what I really wanted. what my next steps would be. One thing that I did, uh, in the jungle, which was my first time exploring, was plant medicine. My retreat included session with local shamans, which introduce You know, it was not, I was not there alone. I was there with a group of people that, you know, are like minded people that wanted to learn about, they call Ayahuasca. So I explored plant medicine and they, the shamans, introduced us to healing properties of plant medicine. And one thing, every time we did take the plant medicine, one step was after that we had to go and submerge ourselves. in the river, in the healing river, because that would help with our cleansing. So these experiences opened my mind to alternative form of self healing, you know, and as well as personal growth, because I was growing, I was learning new form of self care. And believe me, when I went to Iquitos, which is the, the town in, in Peru that, you know, where I started my, my retreat, there were a lot of other like minded individual there for the same thing. I didn't realize that this was a, such a powerful, powerful alternative, you know. form of self healing. People believe in this and also people like me are learning about this. You know, you have got to do your own research into that, right? And also you have got to get your medical advice from medical professional that is in your world. But for me, it was a lot of personal growth that was happening. And one other practice that I did, which for me, it was in the learning. stage was yoga. Yoga. I was practicing that in the middle of the jungle. It was such a transformative experience. Not only was I, you know, I'm a beginner in, um, the yoga world, but being in that natural surrounding helped me to not only find balance, but in a peace. As well as challenging me to stretch and focus on area in my body that I didn't know had such, such stiffness to it, but it was very, very peaceful and it transformed. I, I was able to do poses that, you know, for example, go on my head. with my feet up in the air. I was very proud of that. So I was able to cultivate inner peace within myself with, with yoga. Now, and again, as I told you that I was not there alone, I was able to connect with like minded souls like me that wanted to share a journey and learn about self care in terms of alternative practice and that enriched My experience because we know we were at different level of Of growth. There's some people knew a lot about Ayahuasca and just a few of us, you know, that was our first time and believe me the plant medicine I forgot to mention that about the plant medicine guys. It is not from the faint of heart It is the taste of it. It just let's just say is something that you get accustomed to It is not sweet. It is. I can tell you it is just bitter. And, and, and it took me a couple of sips for me, able to be able to swallow it because it tastes gross. It really, really doesn't taste good. But you know, you're there for that. So you have got to find in your, within yourself to be able to swallow it. And we had, I think we had six session where we had to, to drink the ayahuasca. And that allowed me to go through a new experience that I had never, um, gone through before. So I was able to go deep within myself and see things that I was trying to keep hidden within me. So I don't have to deal with the pain. I didn't have to deal with the fear. I didn't have to, to confront these areas of my life. Which were hindering my, my growth was hindering me reaching the next level. So now that I went through this experience, I was able to, to head on, confront them so that I can get to the next level that I want to get to. And being with like minded people, we were able to support each other. We created a sense of community and some. People in the group were going through very difficult, difficult time of their life, and they were able to share that, and there were a lot of crying, there were a lot of, of sadness. But at the end, we were able to support each other and figure out how we move on from that time of our life so that we can have peace, so we can have joy, so we can have happiness and we can reach the next step in our lives that we want to live. Because at the end of the day, as I always say, it's all about us living our best life. So part of this retreat, I was able to nourish my body with a very simple diet, which was vegan, no salt, no sugar diet. And that again helped to detoxify my body. And it also allowed me to grow because it encouraged mindful eating. And believe me, I think at the end of the retreat, my body was thinking me. I had never, I usually, you know, as a nurse, after so many years, as a nurse on being on my feet, my feet tends to be swollen at the end of the day. So that's why I have to wear compression sleeves to help me, uh, with, with circulation. During that time, during that retreat, I never, never, never suffered from swollen lower extremities. It was, it was wonderful. It was wonderful. And then you Can really think about, you know, what you put in your body as a direct effect on how you feel and what happens within the cells of your body. So since I, I, I'm not on that diet anymore, I could feel my legs. They're, they are swollen again at the end of the day. Right. And, uh, so I had to go back to my compression sleeves. So I was able to nourish my body in a way that now. When I'm at home, I have to think, yes, I have to decrease on the sugar. Yes, I have to decrease on the salt. And I have to be mindful of what I eat because I know it's gonna, it's a direct effect on how my body is performing. And I want it to, the Perform at the optimal level. So you guys have to really think about what you put in in your body and how It can affect the way you feel the way you act the way, you know You perform and be mindful of that in order to to perform at your optimal best. We were a One thing that we did over there. I was able to connect with the jungle. It's a very powerful energetic area because we did jungle walks And I was able to appreciate the beauty and the mystery of the Amazon. I was learning about different trees that grow in there and how powerful they were and how we have this connection with nature and basically the world around us. It affects the rhythm of how we live. And even the locals there, they have this rhythm with nature and it was just amazing to see how they let nature direct the way they live. So it was just, just amazing retreat that I had there. So incorporating this self care lessons that I learned. Over there into my daily life, what was truly transformative. So I really encourage you to find ways to connect or reconnect with nature and prioritize self care in your own unique way. They, what I talked about today was my experience in the jungle, but whether it's a trip to the jungle. Or daily meditation or just walking out in nature or walking out in your neighborhood or going by the beach or going swimming or taking deep breath. Self care is a journey that everyone, everyone should be on and is worth embarking on. Now, again, I said it's all about. Living your best life and self care will take you there. This is not a, a luxury, it's a necessity that you have got to perform on a daily, daily basis. So this was my journey. I wanted to talk about that. And remember it's all about living a productive, passionate, and joyful life. So sign up. I have this, uh, Facebook group, which is the Self Care Empowerment Circle. Join. Uh, our Facebook group is for women over 40 so that we can prevent long term health issues. And this is a growing community that have the same belief, the same. Wanting to be our best and live a most productive life and elevate to the next level. So it's self care empowerment circle. com to join our community. You know, until next time you guys take care of yourselves because at the end of the day, it's all about us living our best life. You guys take care.