Today's Heartlift with Janell
Sometimes the story we tell ourselves is not really true. Sometimes the story others tell about us is not really true. On "Today's Heartlift with Janell," Author, Trauma-informed, board-certified marriage and family specialist, and Professional Heartlifter, Janell Rardon, opens conversations about how emotional health and mental fitness effects absolutely every area of our lives. When we possess and practice healthy, strong, resilient emotional health practices, life is so much better. Read Janell's newest book, "Stronger Every Day: 9 Tools for an Emotionally Healthy You."
Today's Heartlift with Janell
The Secret to Truly Nourishing Your Body with Meredyth Fletcher
What if the secret to truly nourishing your body isn't just about what you eat, but how safe you feel when eating it? This transformative conversation with nutritional therapy practitioner and author Meredyth Fletcher reveals the profound connection between our mental state and physical health in ways you've likely never considered. In her newest book, "The (Good) Food Solution: A Shame-Free Nutritional Journey to Food, Freedom, Spiritual Nourishment, and Whole-Body Health," Meredyth helps us make the divine connection between body, mind, and spirit. She shares, "Our bodies are always scanning and asking, 'Are we safe?'" This is definitely a life-giving, life-changing conversation.
Visit Meredyth's website: Karpos Wellness
Order her new book: The (Good) Food Solution
Work with Meredyth: Get Started Today
Begin Your Heartlifter's Journey:
- Visit and subscribe to Heartlift Central on Substack. This is our new online coaching center and meeting place for Heartlifters worldwide.
- Download the "Overcoming Hurtful Words" Study Guide PDF: BECOMING EMOTIONALLY HEALTHY
- Meet me on Instagram: @janellrardon
- Leave a review and rate the podcast: WRITE A REVIEW
- Learn more about my books and work: Janell Rardon
- Make a tax-deductible donation through Heartlift International
As I've listened to the stories of thousands of women of all ages in all kinds of stages through the years, I've kept their stories locked in the vault of my heart. I feel as if they've been walking around with me all through these years. They've bothered me, They've prodded me and sometimes kept me up at night. Ultimately, they've increased my passion to reframe and reimagine the powerful positions of mother and matriarch within the family system. I'm a problem solver, so I set out to find a way to perhaps change the trajectory of this silent and sad scenario about a dynamic yet untapped source of potential and purpose sitting in our homes and churches. It is time to come to the table, Heartlifters, and unleash the power of maternal presence into the world. Welcome to Mothering for the Ages, our 2025 theme. Here on today's Heartlift. I'm Janelle. I am your guide here on this heartlifting journey. I invite you to grab a pen, a journal and a cup of something really delicious. May today's conversation give you clarity, courage and a revived sense of camaraderie. You see, you're not on this journey alone. We are unified as heartlifters and committed to bringing change into the world one heart at a time. Welcome to this beautiful summer season. Ah, just the sounds of the words summer, season, season it gave me a big deep breath. Go ahead and take one with me as we begin our summer series. We're going to continue all year long with our mothering for the ages and all kinds of stages and phases, and today we have with us a beautiful woman inside and out who is going to help us think about our bodies. I know, Go ahead, Take that deep breath. She brings to us her book the Good Food Solution the good food solution with good in parentheses. Meredith is a nutritional therapy practitioner with a master's degree in clinical mental health counseling, as well as theological and biblical foundations. She's the founder and owner of Carpos Wellness, where she combines her extensive knowledge of the body and mind to help clients of all ages here we are with health issues, trauma, anxiety, depression and eating disorders to find the root causes that may be driving their unwanted mental and physical symptoms. Whew, she believes and you're going to hear it so passionately that God created our bodies to know how to heal themselves, and she studies the brain and the gut to work with clients holistically from a biblical, foundational perspective to achieve healing from the inside out. You can visit Meredith at Karpos K-A-R-P-O-S wellnesscom. She and her husband live in Texas and they just love hanging out with their two young sons, Meredith.
Speaker 1:And I recorded this moons ago, many moons ago, and I think it's just right on time At least that's what my heart's trying to believe, because I should have published this a long time ago. But you know, in the world of podcasting, I did not go to university to learn how to be a podcaster. It has just been jump in the water, try to learn how to swim, put on floaties, and I've made a million mistakes, will probably make a million more. But the blessing is I have had so many incredible thought leaders and luminaries bring their books to me and I've recognized I cannot bring them all to you. So I have to figure out a way how to enjoy this bountiful feast of tremendous authors who are bringing these tremendous books and thoughts. And that's what this is really about. It's not about the books, it's not about really the writing process although I, you know, I'm an author, so I love that but it is really about the stories under the stories and the words under the words, and I just love, love this work and passionate about it and, as I said, I didn't go to school to do this. I do it all myself, I'm a one-woman team, but today you're in for a treat, so welcome with me, Meredith, as we really talk about body shaming and learning how to love the body that we are living in.
Speaker 1:Currently, I'm in my seventh decade. I have serious struggles with the middle of my body that just seems to have showed up as I turned 60. And I think all my years of pageantry and dance and theater and being on stage, being in the public eye. I definitely deal with body shaming and I tried to guard my two girls from it and they seem to be doing so well and I'm so miraculously grateful to God for helping me not put that on them. And they've said to me mom, I've never heard you talk about your body so much as now. You know, just love your body, accept your body. So now the tides have turned and they are encouraging me to just love this body that I am living in.
Speaker 1:So here we go. I can't wait to hear what you have to say. Please, please, please. Let's have a conversation that keeps on going here on Instagram and over on HeartLift Central Substack. Here we go. Hello and welcome. Welcome to the show, my new friend, Meredith. I'm so happy to have you here, hey, yeah thank you, I'm so happy to be here.
Speaker 1:Forgive my raspy thing. It's not my new vocalization.
Speaker 1:I just am actually battling the thing that's going around but I was so happy to have this slot of time with you, thank you. Thank you so much for carving it out. I've already told my community all about you because I just want our time to be our time, so that we can get to the heart of what you do. Your newest book is the Good Food Solution and you have good in parentheses and as an English nerd and an author myself, I'm so curious why there's a parentheses around that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's a great question. It's kind of twofold. There is meaning behind it, but also I really wanted that to stand out. It does when someone puts their eyes on it. I wanted them to see oh, it just kind of stops them to see oh, that's, that's interesting. So that initial kind of all right, let's stop here. And then behind it is the idea and the hope and the dream to have onlookers or people who are interested to stop and think about the word good. In the book we talk about good as far as it relates to food and how we nourish our bodies, but then good because we serve a good, good father and the solution is the good food that the good father has provided to nourish and fuel our bodies wholly and completely. So yeah, it's just kind of.
Speaker 1:So good. Good is a word very near and dear to my heart because a few years back now, god redefined good in my life, that word. I asked him for something good that morning and everything crashed that afternoon. Wow, wow, I love it. I'll put that link in the show notes because my community already knows. But for those of you who might be joining, because Meredith is with us, I definitely know if I was walking around a big box or Barnes, noble or Target or whatever, I would stop because I would go. What does she mean by good? Okay, so take it a step further. I'm so curious as to your passion. A lot of what we talk about here in this community is where did you know? Where does passion come from? How do we know it's to be act upon? When is it a passion led by God or, just like me, a visionary who gets a lot of ideas? So where on earth did Meredith decide I want to foray into talking about nutrition, nutritional health, holistic health so curious, yeah.
Speaker 2:Okay, I love, love, love, love this Talking about it, I think. So starting there initially, starting there, yes. So a couple of things. I'll start with sharing kind of where I'm at now and what I do and a little bit of the backstory as to how that happened, because I think that will help give context.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:So I have been a holistic nutritionist and I do all the clinical lab testing for clients, one-on-one, for nearly a decade, over a decade. At this point, and a few years ago I was realizing with my clients the work that I was doing with them with nutrition. We were seeing, okay, the impacts of health are far greater when they also have that emotional and mental support. So I kept finding myself referring clients out for, you know, talk therapy, mental health care management, like tools that I at the time was unable to go beyond my own opinionated capacity, and I was continuously referring clients out. And then it would. It would, over and over, time and time again, enhance our work together around the physical, supportive healing around the body. And so I just started noticing this trend in other people outside of myself, because I'll get there in a second.
Speaker 2:When we look at healing, when we look at the way that God created our bodies and wired our bodies for healing, it's not just the body and the mind, it's both always, and it just kind of depends on where a person's at, where they're coming from, what they've dealt with. Do they have a history of trauma? Do they have a history of, you know, these stored experiences that they need to allow a place for processing and release, whether that's with the Lord, whether that's with people, whether that's with trusted community and with, also, someone who can look at their lab work and say, okay, let's increase your nutrients here and let's look at um, let's look at all of your your.
Speaker 2:Let's look at your gut, let's look at your microbiome because your your microbiome actually fuels your brain and it's going to make or break in some cases how often and how well you're able to kind of show up for your own life, and so I do that. So a couple of years ago, when I started realizing that I started getting going to school working towards a master's in clinical and mental health counseling, with a master's in theological and biblical studies, so why don't?
Speaker 1:you just put it all on there. Oh my heavens.
Speaker 2:I know some. Sometimes I'm like am I crazy?
Speaker 1:No, you're just hungry.
Speaker 2:I cannot get away from any of this and you just you can't separate any of it. You absolutely just can't. And so I love working with a team of people. I love working with OBs and PCPs and mental health counselors and family therapists and trauma informed therapists, and you know we work together as a team of people to support people on their own healing journey. But I was, I am like, okay, what, what can I like? What all can I know to at least help within the capacity that I'm able to?
Speaker 2:So that's kind of what I do now and pull in that faith piece of how did God create our bodies? What? What is he saying about rest? What is he saying about your body? What is he saying about food? What is the theology of feasting? What's the theology of fasting? How does that combine with how he wired our bodies for healing? And I think what led me to that is several years ago, early mid, like I don't remember, I would say probably in the mid 2000, like 2010, 11, somewhere around in there I was actually going to a nutritionist myself and I was also in a season of my own therapy, my own therapeutic work, and I just started noticing I was able to better show up for myself. I was able to wake up from my quiet time Once I started implementing all of the nutritional aspects of healing. I was like, oh my goodness, and I felt that I saw that and so that kind of started the drive. I've always been, I've always been into food and nutrients and learning what I can there.
Speaker 2:I was curious about that impact, yeah, of that in my life I decided, okay, this is what I want to do. I want to work with people one-on-one, because around the time people were noticing and they were saying, hey, write me a meal plan, write me a workout, and I'm like I don't know what I'm doing, so let's go get some kind of certification or something, so that's how it? Started.
Speaker 1:Okay, it was just a hunger, it was like a yearning, it was.
Speaker 1:Like you saw, I always love when it's organic, in the sense that your passion meets, you know the needs of others and then, all of a sudden, you, you realize I want to, I want to know more, right?
Speaker 1:So truly, just truly treating the whole person. And I really love what you just said about being with a team, because I have done that and then I've been on my own and I do know that the more depth that you go into with working with trauma-informed clients, a team is vital. It's vital for the caregiver, for the clinician, for the therapist, as well as the client, because, like you said, it's like well, when did you last have your blood work, or when did you have the metabolism check, or when did you have this, or when did you have that? So I applaud that. I'm so, so stinking proud of you because you look so young, you know, and you're just putting everything in the right place. So then, how did that passion lead you to then become an author, in the midst of all the master study, and a mama and a wife and all the things that you are?
Speaker 2:Yeah, Um, well, my first degree of all time was English. I've always had a passion. I've kind of always I've kind of always had that in me to write a book, and that's just. You know, that's always, that's always been somewhere in the depths of me and I think it just in God's timing, in the right timing, in in general, like just with career, it all just sort of unfolded as it, as it should, yes, and I think, I think, practically speaking though, I launched a gut healing protocol just casually like on the internet.
Speaker 2:I was like, hey, I'm going to do this group If anyone wants to join. And I had like three or 400 people sign up and I was like today, yes, it's like oh. I know, do this.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I was gonna that's all I was like.
Speaker 2:I want to get to that for sure, and so here we are here we are, because I want to sign up today yeah.
Speaker 2:So you just okay, let's randomly put out there okay, I'm gonna do this, gut health, yeah, yeah hundreds of people, so the hunger is there and share and share and I was like, okay, so there might be something here. Yeah, as far as like interest, because I'd already been working with clients, I knew my clients were passionate. I knew that. I just didn't realize that anybody else had it on their radar as much as I did. You know how it is being in an industry. You just think about that's what you know, but you don't realize, like, looking out, sure Other people who are interested, slash, available, whatever. So I launched that. We went through that, had a lot of great feedback and then I had a lot of interest for one-on-one clients, which is one of my favorite things that I do. But as you know, working with clients, you can only serve so many people per week. So that's kind of how the book birthed.
Speaker 1:Mine too, yeah, same thing.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So it was like, okay, how can we at least, while you're on the wait list or in your own therapeutic process, you can take this book with you, work through some of the stuff, because at the end of the chapters there are some questions, some deep dives that you can work through with, you know, your own practitioner, your own counselor or whatever that looks like. So in the meanwhile, while we're waiting to work together, at least put something in people's hands so that they can at least start gathering the knowledge of the information. That's kind of how it is.
Speaker 1:It's beautiful, I love it, so I know that you can't divulge all that's in the gut protocol because we need to take the course or get the book. Which heart lifters will and but why? I know the gut is the third brain. Heart lifters will, and but why? I know the gut is the third brain. You know we've we've just had so much advancement in the field of interpersonal neurology, all of these things. So we know, right, we even. We know the gut has 500 billion Am I right Cerebral cells in the brain, has a hundred billion times, yeah, five times what the brain has. And that's critical to me. And as I'm aging and I have a lot of heart lifters in the boat with me, I'm seeing the gut become more precarious and something that I have to really pay attention to.
Speaker 1:How did that evolve? I'm asking a lot of evolving questions today because I think it's really important, like was that in your own gut Did it? Was like it was just hearing all of your other clients or just your personal research?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think it was a combo. It was definitely a combo. Just the more I learned, the more I researched, the more I experimented, the more I saw my own healing the more I saw healing in people that I was working with. That's when I realized that. That's when I started realizing okay, you, we absolutely cannot separate the mind and the gut.
Speaker 2:So let's, let's look at like how they are connected and just like you're talking about that neurotransmitter pathway, like our body, our brain talks to our gut and our gut talks to our brain and our nervous system is constantly scanning our environment to tell us what to what, to tell the brain and the gut to tell each other, yes, so it's all working together.
Speaker 2:So your nervous system and your brain is a lot of what you're doing in that mental health, emotional health, that spiritual health work, uh, being still being quiet, let's, let's process how to emotionally regulate. But then when you're in those state, also known as the parasympathetic state, then your brain is able to send positive signals through the neurotransmitters that are connected from the spinal cord all the way to the gut to say, okay, I feel safe enough to digest, let's start there. And then your gut environment can scan and say let's start there. And then your gut environment can scan and say, okay, I have the capacity to absorb nutrients and eliminate toxins, or I don't. And so, just as the brain talks to the gut, the gut can talk back.
Speaker 2:So how we're fueling our bodies, the foods that we're eating, um, you know, billions and trillions of microbes make up our gut, our, our gut environment in that garden of flowers and weeds, and we want them to be balanced. We don't want to pull out all the weeds, we don't want to pull out all the flowers. You don't want to go to a garden and do that. You want to. You want to balance it out. You want that energy?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so you want it to be unique and exactly, and so you have that and you have, you're eating. You know what your body needs, which is not the same for every single person. Oh, I need you to say that again.
Speaker 1:I really, really do, because that is, that is a truth that is not said enough. It's like how many women go. Oh, I'm doing this and this is how I mean. Right now, we are in a weight loss explosion with the drugs and all of these things, and all these celebrities lose so much weight.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:Okay. So I mean honestly, who doesn't want to do that and lose 20 pounds if they need to? But uh, you know, there's just so much emphasis on that and I feel like you just hit the nail on the head, because it comes back down to our personhood, right To our identity. I am different than Mary Jo, who's sitting on my right, and Nancy on my left. It's not a one thing. It's not a one pill fixes everybody.
Speaker 2:Right, right, and I think that's hard, that's hard for people to grasp because it's a hard. It just is Right, right, and I think that's hard, that's hard for people to grasp because it's a hard. It just is rightfully so, you know. I mean, I get it, I understand that, it's what we've known, it's what we've heard, it's what we've seen. But whenever you pull back and you think about everything that makes up who you are, so your genetic predisposition, the lifestyle that influences your genes and whether or not you can turn them on and off, the foods that you're eating, the lifestyle, the okay, there were two things.
Speaker 1:I really have to stop, because I know that you know I'll just forget. So I don't want to forget. Yeah, that's great. Two things, yes, maybe three. One is you talked about the gut. Actually, I like to personify things, so the gut, especially my body, body keeps the score. So I like to talk to my body and embody it and go hi, how you doing today. I love you. You're gaining that six pounds, girl, I don't know. So we have to feel safe. You said the word. You said the word that is nearest and dearest to my heart and my community's heart about feeling safe.
Speaker 1:Because why did I not know this? Why did I not know this in my 20s and 30s? Why I was always on edge, why I was anxious, why I was nervous? There was nothing available. What does that actually mean and what does that look like? Because I have a lot of people, a lot of clients. I've written the last two books and people go. I don't know if I agree with the fact that my childhood atmosphere in my home, that the emotional, mental atmosphere in my home, had any effect on me, and I'm like I will pound the table over that one. So I'd love to hear your voice on that. What?
Speaker 2:does that?
Speaker 1:mean, what's that look like?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, um, I think so. Great, great question, definitely so. Your, our bodies are constantly scanning our environment to say to, to tell our bodies whether or not we are safe. Meaning, you know, um, are we maxed out stress wise? Are we so? For example, here, here's a. Here's a practical perfect love it.
Speaker 2:We are driving in the car, we're going down the road and you look up or you, you know you're looking out the window or whatever and then you look and suddenly someone in front of you, even if they're like five feet, five feet or whatever and they slam on their brakes. And then you slam on your brakes and your heart races and your cortisol rises and that's your body. In that moment is like like sinking up to say, hey, I'm not safe. Like, do something. That like like syncing up to say, hey, I'm not safe. Like do something. Ah, that's what you want, that's what we know as the paris, the sympathetic state.
Speaker 2:Yes, so that's where our body?
Speaker 2:god gave us that protective mechanism and he did that on purpose for us to um be able to respond quickly to threats, if you will. And threats can come in all form of forms, ways. They can come in like a simple explanation, as what I just said. They can come through relational trauma, abuse. They can come through food sensitivities, they can come through toxic environment, they can come through lack of water. They can come through multiple different ways, and it's the things that our body needs in order to optimally function. If our body feels threatened that it's not going to receive that, then our body's kind of protect, if that makes sense.
Speaker 1:Oh, of course it's going to stand up and go, Whoa Right Right.
Speaker 2:So everybody, everybody's capacity for threats or safety or stress is different. So that's what's unique about the healing, the healing process as well, because, um, you know all of those things combined in life experiences. It's like where does the body? You know that you have that experience. And it's like, are you actively working to release that cortisol? Like, are you taking a moment? Are you practicing breathing? That's a massive one, are you? Are you practicing? Are you practicing breathing? Are you practicing mindfulness? Are you practicing connecting with God's creation and grounding and sunlight and stuff? Sunlight will reset our circadian rhythm to get us on the path of that parasympathetic living.
Speaker 2:And it's like all of these different things that are just constantly saying, hey, give me some sort of outlet to provide safety, because all of these things that are just constantly saying hey, give me some sort of outlet to provide safety, because all of these things that you experience impact your gut microbiome. You do Um and you get a stomach ache, or you get this, exactly, exactly. So yeah, if you get nervous before a meeting or anything like that, you're like oh my goodness, I gotta go, I gotta, you know, run to the bathroom or whatever it is.
Speaker 2:Um, what is actually happening which I think that you also really find this fascinating is that from our spinal cord to our gut, we have those messengers called neurotransmitters that actually loop around their little, tiny, tiny little, like finger thread things, if you want to look at it like that. They're actually wrapped around the entire gi tract, from top to bottom, and they're constantly scanning, scanning internally and externally, to stay like what's the message, what's the signal? Are we safe, are we not?
Speaker 2:and gosh, it's so good or in that parasympathetic mode, the neurotransmitters will actually grip themselves around the gi tract and stop food from moving through optimally. And so if you ever have those feelings after a meal, like if you ever notice like you're eating on the go, or eating in your car, or eating like in front of the TV, or eating running around chasing your kids, and then 30 minutes later you're like I cannot function because my stomach is in knots, or you get bloated or whatever.
Speaker 2:It's, because the body prioritizes digestion so much that when you're eating it will actually not digest until you get into that parasympathetic state. It holds on to the food in the GI tract and then, when you get to a position where you are safer or calmer, then the GI, those neurotransmitters, will release their grip, food will move through and your body can digest. And that's how it's all kind of working synergistically.
Speaker 1:I am gobsmacked as I say. There's no English word that does it.
Speaker 2:It's really cool. I think it's so cool how God made us.
Speaker 1:I think it's just. I mean, I have a condition called achalasia. So my esophagus does not work. It stopped working in 2015, just completely, so I'd have a, you know, experimental surgery, and so it means failure to relax achalasia, which is the minute the doctor said you know, yeah, yeah, I have achalasia.
Speaker 1:It means failure to relax I was like it's funny. I can't tell anybody what it means in here, you know, because they'll just laugh at me, but it's not funny. And so I don't think in all of my history with GI and all of these this, you know time with this, and I've been a dancer my whole life, so I've been holistic. I raised my children holistically homeopathy, all of the holistic things that people thought I was crazy. I milled their bread, I did all those things I have never really heard anyone teach on the safety issue, and I think that's why I'm kind of like pitching a tent here, and also that the digestive process needs that safety. We need to be in a parasympathetic state in order for my food to do what God created it to do.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly Am.
Speaker 1:I correct on that, can I like? I'm just. It makes me. You know I already pound the table with everyone in my life and in my practice you know, for stillness, silence and solitude, but I am telling you it is just the last thing most want to do.
Speaker 2:It's hard this is hard yeah.
Speaker 1:I don't want to go sit under a tree or hug a tree or it just sounds so woo woo and I'm like but Jesus created woo woo, like he just did. He created it. I'm an aromatherapist. I work with the sense of smell to heal childhood trauma. You know it's like who, who?
Speaker 1:knows, that's crazy, right, right. But so I just really wanted to make sure that we got that piece of information on our gut and on our digestion, because I think no matter what you put in your body, then if I hear what you're saying, no matter what good food I put in my body, if I'm in a you know, not in a mindful, peaceful state state, perhaps when I'm eating, my body's not going to digest it.
Speaker 2:Well, ding ding, ding, ding ding I think. I just had a massive life shift. I'm so glad.
Speaker 1:Thank you I mean I?
Speaker 2:I feel like, yeah, I feel like I feel like that happens to me every day. I'm like oh my gosh, wow, wow, wow, wow, Every day.
Speaker 1:I'm sure I can't wait to see what unfolds in your life, meredith. You're being so faithful If I can just take a moment being so faithful as a young woman to to put your hand and put your mind and put your time and energy into something that's so beneficial for the kingdom of God. I appreciate it so much, thank you, thank you. So, then, that was one Second which I don't want to move from. That. But second is your subtitle is what really got me initially, because perhaps my second passion is about shame, and so your subtitle is a shame free. Yeah Well, lord, god, almighty, if I could just become a shame free person by the day I go to be with him would be amazing. A shame free nutritional journey to food freedom, spiritual nourishment and whole body health Wow.
Speaker 2:I want people to know that where they are didn't just happen overnight Correct and their gut microbiome or their inability to see physical results or their mental health needs are not anything to feel shame about or to feel like they put themselves into this place and you know, there's either no hope or nothing will work or anything like that. I want to really just kind of convey that and share that in a way that brings people hope that no, this isn't another, this isn't another fad diet, but let's talk about not really even the word, but it's not another bad diet. Also, at the same time, it is a, you know, a very unique way to approach physical healing and it doesn't just include food. I think people are quick when I don't want to make assumptions about anybody, anybody's life, but it would be something that I could assume, that or think or surmise maybe surmise.
Speaker 2:When, when someone is like, let's say, they have a physical goal, they're like okay, I'm just going to follow this plan, it's going to work and it's going to be perfect. But they're forgetting the other couple parts of who they are which are massively impactful to their ability to physically heal. And so I want people to know there's no shame in that and no shame in okay, if you've tried something that doesn't work, hey, that's fine. If you've tried things, try it on. If it doesn't fit, put it away, you know no shame in it.
Speaker 1:It doesn't fit right now. Right now it doesn't fit.
Speaker 2:So the, the hope and the dream is to bring others into this place of peace and just share, okay, here, here, like whatever you're bringing to the table, whatever you've come to the book with in your mind and your body and your soul. Let's just talk about how did God make your body? Why, what are some potential reasons that we're here, what are some potential obstacles? And it really lets the reader kind of explore those things on their own, for themselves and they get to a place of okay, this, maybe these elements are, you know, the different combinations of mind, body, soul that I can like, pull into my life practically wherever they are. However, they can do that.
Speaker 2:We don't leave out the, the, the, the faith, piece of. Okay, god created our bodies to know how to heal themselves, if we're, if they're given the right tools, um, so I teach people okay, here's the science of it, here's what your gut is doing, here's how God made your gut. And then let's talk about the theology of food and what you know. God gave us one thing to show up for our lives and to fully like, feel our bodies and feel our best, and that's food. And it's the very first thing that the enemy uses to be like nope, we're going to not feel well from the gate.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 2:And so, you know, I just want to teach people about what. What is food? Where did we start? How did we get here? Why, why is it so hard? Why doesn't a fad diet work, you know?
Speaker 2:and so, yeah, I think that so many things that people have known, they've read, they've tried on, they've you know, yeah, with and for sure it's exhausting, it's tiring and I want this to be a place of reprieve and hope and just say goodness, wherever you've been, let's look at it all and let's just ask God for that invitation into our lives and into our healing journey. And then I lay out the steps of like. How do we do?
Speaker 1:so powerful, so so good. So meredith for just as we close, which, yeah, so tough so tough.
Speaker 1:I love this so tough, so tough, because it's so good. Gotta get this book, gotta begin this practice. I just think it's a practice. I think what you're offering is giving me another tool for myself, for my family and for my legacy and for my clients. But I think, where do we then? This is always such a tough question because I feel like when we're talking mind, body, spirit, it is multi-layered, right, it's synergistic. So, okay, what's the first step? Oh, my goodness, that's such a big question. But for those of us that are here, yes, get the book, read the book, but where I have a first step in mind, I want to see if it matches your first step. I have a first step in mind, I want to see if it matches your first step. Where might be a very good? Okay, I cut off my whatever. I'm listening to the podcast on and I'm just sitting in silence going. Everything she said is just resonating with me. Where might I go from there?
Speaker 2:Oh, that's a good question. I think it's important to allow yourself the freedom to ask questions to yourself good, I love it.
Speaker 1:Self-interest like introspection. Absolutely. What do I need most?
Speaker 2:yeah, I think. I think the first thing that I would do is ask the lord into this area of your life and to shed light and to and to bring insight. And then, where in your life are you maybe expanding or exposed to too many areas of stress? Stress could be again, like we mentioned, food, um, food sensitivities or, you know, intolerances. For some people, it can be environmental toxins.
Speaker 2:It can be, it can. It can be that our water needs to be filtered. It can also be relationships that are not serving us well how are? You leading people looking at boundaries we talk about that in the book like looking at healthy boundaries, giving and taking, giving and receiving appropriate, hopefully looking at the love of God and giving and receiving that appropriately. And looking at things like where is the stress?
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Where are the boundaries? And really start asking yourself OK, what? In what ways can I relieve some of these areas of stress? Okay, what? In what ways can I relieve some of these areas of stress? If that is for some people, maybe we need to leave the office an hour earlier. Maybe we need to start, you know, stop eating processed foods, or maybe we need to.
Speaker 2:It's just, it's not an over, it's not a bed earlier, or yeah, yeah, just, they're very simple right like get a, get a moisturizer that makes you feel good and put you in a safe space, like whatever makes you feel safe and emotionally regulated. Start there, because that is where. That's where you're going to start seeing your body and your mind and your soul begin to receive the invitation you're giving it and just slow down and there we go and in whatever way.
Speaker 1:Notice, be aware, yeah.
Speaker 2:Be a noticer. Be a noticer.
Speaker 1:Great book, by the way, I'll put that link. There's a book called Noticer, that's so good by Andy Andrews. It's so good. It's so good, it's so good. Such a brilliant writer, but it is. It's called the Noticer and I just think yeah, if you really want to. You know, in therapy world we would call it attunement and awareness.
Speaker 1:You know it's like being a noticer is what I say is where you start, like I. I recently asked my clinical psychologist, my therapist, whatever. I just went back to therapy myself and I literally asked him this question Is it possible for those of us who have been born into childhood trauma because you're also talking about people that have been in a traumatic childhood situation little T, middle T, big T, and trauma is just anytime. The emotions are too big for our body to carry, so we disembody and we find other ways to manage and cope? Is it really possible for someone like myself, who's been born into that in the womb, to actually ever be able to access a healthy nervous system? Because I have sincerely been doing so much of my own personal work and it just seems like I can't come away from hypervigilance on the cellular level? And he was like absolutely, absolutely, and you're telling me the same thing. Yeah, and I think that's where people are. I guess maybe my world, because I work so much in the trauma-informed world.
Speaker 1:I've just had clients get to a moment where they go. I don't know what this feeling is Like, one sitting right over here one day, just leaning back and going. I don't know what this feeling is. I think it's peace. I think it's peace, I think it's ease. And she went oh my gosh, I never want it to go away, yeah Right. So at that moment, that's where I say sit with it, drink it, let it pour over. We're not talking, just let absorb it. And you know, like I'm looking at my front porch, the daffodils are blooming. I'm just going to go sit on my front porch. I'm going to give my body five minutes, take some deep breaths, look at the beautiful daffodils, cut them, bring them into the home. I think that's what you're inviting us into.
Speaker 2:So good yeah, absolutely Absolutely. And I think, just just as a little like just one quick little no, give us nourishing your body on a cellular level and your nervous system. There are physical things that we know as therapists, that we can do in training myself, that was a few if you wouldn't mind, just to remind us there. So the breathing, breathing techniques, and you can do the grounding, you can do mindfulness tapping.
Speaker 2:I love tapping those things can really help, like in the immediate physical. But there's also supplemental herbs that you can bring in and there is, there are. There are supplements for your cells and your cell membranes that defend against unwanted pathogens and seed oils and stuff that come against our cells. So even like thinking about okay, we, we from the ground up, are the very, the very bottom core of who we are ourselves. Yes, that from the ground up. If we can't get all the way to the cells in the immediate, you can supplement in the meanwhile while you're working on it, and I can help bridge a gap as well.
Speaker 1:That's why you? Know, and we have some of those in the book too, and on your website. Your website is so thorough, it's so good, it's just really so helpful. And that's what we need in this day and age is practical help, and it's not just la-di-da and it's, it's just very, very practical. And I'll just give you all a tip that I found out recently. You may already know lemon balm tea is kind of like nature's Xenex, so I was like six boxes of that.
Speaker 1:And even, you know, on the general, like I had someone say the other day to me that trauma is really like the new mission field and I thought, wow, I I know that in my core, but to hear someone actually say that, because the whole world seems, you know, there's a PBS masterpiece, world on Fire. It's really good, by the way, and I just think that the world is on fire and we do not have to be. And so, regardless, heartlifter, just lean in for a moment. I know what Meredith is saying, that no matter what situation you're in, and sometimes good stress can even bring hypervigilance, you know.
Speaker 2:And sometimes good stress can even bring hypervigilance, you know.
Speaker 1:But no matter what state you're in, no matter what place you're in, if there's a relationship you can't get away from, you can I like to say the lesson I've learned the most is I have to take care of the three most important people in my life me, myself and I. Two years ago, five years ago, 10 years I would have never said that because that sounds extremely selfish. So necessary though, who else is going to do it Right? So, meredith, thank you from the deepest part of my core.
Speaker 2:From my gut. You're so welcome. I've loved here.
Speaker 1:I appreciate it, I love you being here and thank you for being a Daniel 12, three woman, radiant, helping all of us learn how to live a righteous life. I'm just grateful, Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Meredith writes.
Speaker 1:Our bodies hold on to the unprocessed events we experience. The resulting thoughts, feelings and emotions are first captured in our brains and then felt throughout our entire bodies, even if we do not recognize this happening. The body is so smart and there is constant communication between systems. The brain, gut and immune system signal back and forth all day long. When something happens to us that is traumatic or too much to process at once, the body prioritizes survival, activating the flight or fight response, while holding on to our pain until the body feels safe enough to deal with it. Lean in. Just as we learned that our bodies need to be in a parasympathetic state to optimally digest food, the same is true of our emotions. Our minds cannot process them until it feels safe to do so.
Speaker 1:We begin this process one simple practice at a time Practice awareness, Practice noticing. Practice your breathing techniques, Box breathing In four out four. Practice sitting for a spell, listening to the birds, cutting off the TV, your phone and practice feeling safe inside your body. Let's keep this conversation going. It is imperative and I want this to be a summer of calm. I'm excited to announce my very first June online group coaching cohort. This is a great place for you to start HeartLifter. June 10th, 17th, 24th, from 10 to 1130 am Eastern Standard Time, we will meet via Zoom and we will learn and meet a new best friend. Her name is Calm. Please join me. All the links are in the show notes. Until next time.
