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Who On Earth?
Who On Earth?
Opening with Mama Cacao: Marjory Carrero on Venezuelan Heritage, Heart Rituals & Unblocking Emotions
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Some people chase trends. Some people brew coffee. Marjory Carrero? She channels the ancient magic of Venezuelan cacao into pure, soul-stirring wellness.
A mate down in London wouldn’t shut up about her Amazonik Cacao, so I hit up Marjory, sampled the goods, and bam—I was sold. Had to partner up, stock it in my Meditation with Michael store, and spread the love. (Pro tip: Those nibs on porridge? Game-changer. And the husk tea? Cosy as a hug.)
In this chat, we unpack her wild pivot from Olympic and World Cup hustles to reclaiming her roots amid Venezuela’s turmoil. That 2017 retreat where cacao yanked her back after 15 years abroad? Pure turning point—turning crisis into joy, healing, and grassroots vibes. We get real on bridging Venezuelan heritage with UK life, ethical sourcing, sustainability, and those ceremonies that nurture body, mind, soul, and a cheeky spark of intimacy.
Fun stories on blending cacao into everyday rituals, raw feels on distance and belonging, and that warm pull of purpose. No fluff—just heart, hustle, and a reminder that connection starts with a sip. Open your heart to Mama Cacao.
Connect with Marjory Carrero & Amazonik
Website | https://www.amazonikcacao.com/
Instagram | @amazonikcacao & @marjcarrero
How to use/enjoy cacao
https://www.amazonikcacao.com/how-to-enjoy-amazonik
Connect with Michael Hill
Website | www.meditationwithmichael.co.uk
Linktree | https://linktr.ee/meditationwithmichael
Instagram | @meditationwithmichael
Facebook | MeditationwithMichael
TikTok | @MeditationwithMichael
This episode is sponsored by:
Aether Herbals which you can find on the Meditation with Michael store!
Definitely cacao is an antidepressant. Talking about depression, it's an antidepressant. He produces serotonins and endorphins, which are you know natural mood enhancers, chemicals, neurotransmissors that we can produce in our brain. It's also really good for your cardiovascular system because it helps with the circulation. From a spiritual point of view, because of all these combinations, serotonins, endorphins, the magnesium, and that kind of like circulation helps to unblock emotions because you are kind of like more tuned, you know, like it really helps to feel integrated. So there is download of information when you're drinking cacao. Like the things that you think and you meditate and you reflect, it helps to unblock emotions.
SPEAKER_01Hello, my friends, welcome back to Who Unearth. I've been away a little while. I had um a health condition, a panic disorder, um, and then a lot of chronic fatigue, a lot of chronic pain, and still a lot of that's here, but I decided one of my ways of rebuilding would be to get back to a bit of normality. I thought, well, actually, I recorded an episode of Who Unearth before I don't know if I remember, I don't know if I told you, I can't even remember if it's been, it feels like a lifetime ago. I went to an ancient forest to go and be with myself and really take time and spent 10 days there, and lots of stuff came up. But before I did it, I'd recorded episode 13 of season two with a really cool person from Venezuela who um I've started working with on the Meditation with Michael's door, bring in this beautiful cacao brand, and there's four different types there's um Cerdilago, there's Kiagua, Canaboa, and another one that always flips my mind. But then they also have I've like the nibs on my breakfast in the morning and these husks, and you can actually have cacao tea as well, so it's a bit lighter, and I really wanted to get her on. So the person that's gonna be starting Who on Earth all over again, kind of the way it's been going, is Marjorie Carrero, such a beautiful person, and uh it shows um she used to be more in the corporate side of things, she was in doing work with like the World Cup in Brazil and uh the Olympics, and then she had it like a shift and realised that she wanted to work in alignment with a true self, and then as all things do, little serendipitous moment where she was in a cacao ceremony and everything just clicked. And Venezuela is one of the best growers of cacao, and she's from Venezuela, and she's got this link in London, and it just felt like it was right for us. So I'll let her do the talking, she'll obviously tell her story far better than I can. Now, if you are new to the show or you've just so happy to see that with that because you love the other guests, could you just drop us a like? It really helps. Where I don't, I'm not really into doing all the stale stuff, I'll be honest. I can't be bothered with it, it's not my jam. Please like me. So your like, and if you subscribe and you want to see other people, it just tells the algorithm, hey, this is a show worth watching to other people, and they'll also get to see beautiful guests like Marjorie. But we have a new sponsor. I'm not gonna do anything at the start, and I'm just gonna throw in. Well, you guys have heard me speaking about Ether Herbals, right? With the Dream Healer one, which you take before bed for like lucid with the dreaming with the blue lotus, and also um the spray Agua de Florida, and we've got a new one coming out called Beautiful Morning, and I'm gonna put a little advert in the middle. Not even gonna have an advert at the start this time, and we'll just let you guys enjoy the show. How about that? Alright, peace and love, enjoy it. Well, thank you for coming on the show. Uh, for those who don't know, Marjorie's actually part of a bit of a collaboration I've been doing with Meditation with Michael store where uh you got this beautiful cow cacao, not cow, beautiful cacao that straight away blew me away. Um massive cacao boy myself, so I'm a bit of a connoisseur, and this has been for me my favourite one, and that's why I was so passionate. And then when I met Marjorie, who she was as a person just resonated straight away. And I thought we'll get you on the show, tell your story. But I always like to start with giving the guests a chance to just show a little bit about what they are. So, do you mind just letting the audience know what we're gonna be doing and then we'll go from there?
SPEAKER_05Well, Michael, thank you so much for having me for the space, the time, and the energy today. So, I'm I'm really, really grateful for that. And hello everyone. What I would like to do today is just to initiate our conversation, just to do a little bit of grounding and intention. Um, it's a great way to honor Mama Cacao and to honour ourselves as well, and the time that we we give ourselves um for intentions and grounding. So I would like just to share a little bit of lavender oil. I do love lavender. Yeah. And so just keep it in your yeah, in your wrist. First, what we do is think of an intention that we're going to ground while drinking the cacao. But this is gonna just bring some calmness to ourselves just now.
SPEAKER_01So we also invite the audience don't I don't like doing anything blindly. Don't live through the darkness. No, I I think everybody should have an intention. So, one thing you'd like to maybe bring into the podcast episode and then make it simple, feel the emotion behind it rather than empty words, and you can do it with us. So I'm gonna have a little schmella, lavender. Hopefully, it comes through guys.
SPEAKER_06And then we can, yeah, just have another deep breath and another round and let the lavender just kind of integrate and touch our soul.
SPEAKER_05And what I would like to do now is I make some cacao with 100% cacao from Venezuela, from my homeland where I'm from. And this is kind of like a median dose when we talk about ceremonial and just a daily dose, we go from 20 grams up to 50 grams, so this is 35 grams, which kind of like give us a really nice um energy, uh sustained kind of like mood enhancement, and so I would like to ground our intention with some cacao.
SPEAKER_01Um maybe we could even invite the audience if they've got a cup of cacao or if they don't put this on pause right now. Go get Mama cacao and get your 15 sweaty grams and join us. Yeah. Cute little cup, by the way. For those who can't see, by the way.
SPEAKER_05So, yeah, so these cacao I made with love and intention, and also apply a little bit of Reiki as well. Uh, normally I I kind of like take my time when I prepare cacao, especially when I'm going to share it with other people. I love to kind of like I hope that or I wish that the cacao that the person is going to drink brings and materialize any healing or any dreams or any intentions that they might have.
SPEAKER_01So there is an extra kind of like And for people who don't know what Reiki is.
SPEAKER_05So Reiki is just um kind of like an energy, it's a technique, it's a Japanese technique to heal through hands and just to bring a channel, some healing connection from the universe towards uh and it could be a person, it could be a thing, it could be a drink, so uh it could be even a photo, but it's just how we we connect that energy from from the universe.
SPEAKER_01Well, everything is energy, right? Exactly. Nothing is separate. There's no there's no little us shaped cut out and then the universe. We're all the universe.
SPEAKER_03True, yeah.
SPEAKER_01People always like people think of God or universe as something separate, as if they just exist outside of it.
SPEAKER_06True.
SPEAKER_01We're all part of it. Yeah, we are all part of it, we're one with the universe as well. And uh I think even the NHS have brought in Reiki. There is a power to the world.
SPEAKER_05Oh, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, that's true. So this cup of cacao also has a little bit um of orange essence. Um, unlike I always invite people just to try and be an alchemist because some people might like it just pure, you know, like like an express or 100%. Some other people is like, just give me a little bit of I'm one of the other people.
SPEAKER_01Exactly, yeah.
SPEAKER_05So obviously, we invite people not to have any sugar um and and try to do it maybe like a natural sweetener. So it could be a little bit of agave, a little bit of honey, a little bit of coconut sugar, that is also quite natural. It's got a little bit of knockmak and cinnamon and that touch of orange. So I love chocolate. I hope you enjoyed it. I hope you enjoy it. So we can ground and maybe just close our eyes for like 30 seconds and bring that intention. And I invite the audience. Why are you listening on listening to us today? What would you like to come out of this experience with? Umledge, it's just filled the calm. So just bring an intention here and now, and if you have that cup of cacao or maybe something else, but it's just to be grateful as well for the time and space. So thank you everyone for listening to us today, and thank you to Michael for having us. Gracias.
SPEAKER_06So we can have a little smell, we sense the smell, and then by you probably to have a first and just let a cow navigate through your mouth without swallowing first.
SPEAKER_05And just connect with any haze feelings that you might get. Is it pizza? Is it sweet, you see? Okay, reach, you see, I think connect with maybe what sort of emotions and feelings are in here.
SPEAKER_06I love when I when I do the experiences and we know that cacao and chocolate's made of cacao and obviously this is this is a new invitation for something healthier, right?
SPEAKER_05So a lot I love when people connect and I bring them into a connection with a inner child because normally chocolate is a memory of childhood.
SPEAKER_01My advent calendars.
SPEAKER_06And it's like people have it like, oh yeah, like I remember my grandma, I remember memories from when I was a child, and it's great.
SPEAKER_05It's like, okay, let's connect them maybe with the happiest moment of your childhood through cacao, just to bring that empowerment.
SPEAKER_01And the orange as well. Because you've got this is one of the things that excited me. You actually have four different options, right? You've got the canoe, you've got the cedal lago, but there's there's four, right? Which one do we have currently that we're drinking, right?
SPEAKER_05This one actually, you know, trying to be an alchemist, I have a combination of sur del lago and canoe. So I took a piece.
SPEAKER_01You're playing with me. I've never why have I never considered to mix them? I don't know. And you even have um you have the husk so you can make a tea with it as well.
SPEAKER_05Uh yes.
SPEAKER_01And then we also have the cacao nibs if you want to put it on some stereo or yogurt.
SPEAKER_05Exactly.
SPEAKER_01The variety, I don't know anybody else helps, anybody else who does that amount of variety, and then to the level of quality, the fact that you're from Venezuela is a lovely touch because that means you understand from an experiential level deeply the roots of that country, which we'll touch on as well.
SPEAKER_06Yes.
SPEAKER_01And there was always a song that um I quite like, I'll share with the audience as well.
SPEAKER_02So it's Mamma Kacao Gracias Por Sum Medicina Mamma Kacao Gracias Po Medicina Mamma Kacao Gracias Po Sum Medicina Mama Kacao Gracias Po Sum Medicina.
SPEAKER_01And we'd usually do that for about five minutes. Gradually rising, gradually rising, and then coming, coming, coming.
SPEAKER_06I got good thumbs, you know, like yeah, I mean the pronunciation, everything is beautiful.
SPEAKER_01Well, I feel like you have to feel sometimes people think that the words are enough, but if I describe Venezuela to you, it wouldn't feel like Venezuela, it wouldn't smell like Venezuela, I wouldn't see the trees and the cacao, it's just the direction. Michael, Marjorie, it's just the direction. Don't get attached to the labels. So I know we're a bit short on time because you've got you've got a few things on. So um, whilst we're enjoying this cacao, um, I'd like to start with could you just tell the audience where you're from? I think we kind of just hinted at it, but what was it like for you growing up?
unknownYes.
SPEAKER_05I'm originally from Venezuela. Okay. Venezuela is the northeast point of South America. So our our north, all the north of the country is the Caribbean Sea. So it's a very warm and lovely country. Um, yes, I was born and raised there until I was 22 years old when I decided. Hopefully, yeah. Uh we like to think that, but yeah. So yeah, no, growing up, I I my city is called Valencia, like Valencia, Spain. Um, Venezuela was colonized by its final years back in 1492. Um we have an inherit inheritage, will you say?
SPEAKER_01Sorry, everyone, about my yeah, that your heritage comes from that. You speak English a lot better than I speak Spanish, don't worry.
SPEAKER_05Well, it's been a while, but you know, like because now I'm back and forth between Venezuela and uh and and UK. Yeah, then sometimes you know the accent just gets gets in the in on the way. I like it, I like it. Yeah, yeah, it brings some authenticity, yeah. Exactly.
SPEAKER_01Sorry for the accent.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, no, it's okay, it's okay. So, yeah, no, I was born uh in Valencia again. I was there for 22 years, um, 23 more or less, and yeah, childhood, great, like nothing major really. My family comes from the Andes. So, so both parents they come from the Cordillera de los Andes, which is you know, it's the starting point of the Andes, it goes all the way down to Chile. So um Patagonia and all that, Peru, like you know, the Machu Picchu, etc. So, so yeah, they they come from there, so the the the relationship with their culture is like they are very down-to-earth people. So we were my I call three siblings, so we were all educated to give a lot because that's where my parents come from. The culture is just to give up, they be very hospitable.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_05So yeah, we grew up with that.
SPEAKER_01It's kind of how she wants to. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05And it helps, it has helped tremendously in many cases. In some others, it's being a good opportunity to grow because we know nowadays, you know, it things should be in a cycle. You give, receive in it in a way, and you have to work with uh boundaries as well. Otherwise, people take you for granted. And so it's being a massive, you know, opportunity.
SPEAKER_01Sometimes it's not reciprocated. I don't know about you, but I have parts that start becoming bitter, and then it's no longer about the giving, it's about this obligation to reciprocate.
SPEAKER_05So it's I can understand. So, and and you say again, it's not about giving people, it's more about having, you know, my own boundaries and giving from a place that yeah, I'm not waiting for anyone, and but especially I'm not sacrificing my own mental health just to accommodate and please people. So, anyway, that's part of probably one of the key things about my education, just being generous, honest, transparent, and and be a giver. So, um, so then yes, um, after a few years, I graduated back home. I'm an accountant, but background, so completely different.
SPEAKER_01So, why did you get into the accountancy?
SPEAKER_05Well, this is a funny, yeah, this is a funny story. So when I finished high school, uh I got like the best grades in chemistry, math, and and physics, I think.
SPEAKER_01Someone's a little smart pants then, eh?
SPEAKER_05So I got the best grades, and I don't know, I love it. I love science. So then I remember my chemistry teacher, he said to me, like, you should consider going for chemical engineering because you're good, you love it, you're passionate about mixing things and you get it all right. So, anyway, I talked to my dad, and my dad had, you know, like he's quite he knew a few people in Valencia. Valencia is a city of about 1.3 million people. So you get to know each other quite quite quickly. So anyway, my dad is like, is that what you want to study? Yes, okay, I know someone in the university that maybe can help to find out how you can come into the university. And you know, and I I don't have to say that you know, in Venezuela, when you know people, things might things can happen. Okay. So my dad knew someone, the dean of the university, and he spoke to him.
SPEAKER_01That's the headmaster to the English.
SPEAKER_05Okay, so the headmaster. So then he said, Okay, have you taken the the test, like the national test, and then he checked, you know, like the grades, etc. And he was like, Yeah, you got the grades, but you've been allocated to a different career. So let me see what I can do internally to reallocate you to this career.
SPEAKER_01So you get allocated careers.
SPEAKER_05Well, you choose, like you have to pick like 10 careers.
SPEAKER_01So you got to pick, though. It wasn't picked by you.
SPEAKER_05Yes, you got to pick, but I got like the the first option was another career that was accountancy. Not accountancy, no, it was um administration.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_05And it was an engineering. So what he tried to do was like, let me take internal leave rather than going to the accountancy, you come to the engineering. So, anyway, what he said is like, I can't do anything. You know, like I can't do the system, but what you can do is just go to the um the how would you say the introductory course. Find out if you really like the career, and then if you like, maybe you just take the test and wait another year while I help you, whatever. So, anyway, I went I went there for one month, and I used to wake up at four o'clock in the morning to just to study because I was so passionate about the thing. And and and I was told that between four and six o'clock in the morning, your brain is a sponge. So you can absorb any information.
SPEAKER_01See, I'm a night owl, so that I wouldn't know.
SPEAKER_05And I love, and I'm not a night uh morning person, but I was so just I mean determined that yes, I'm gonna make it happen. And also I love partying, and you know, at that time I was just very, you know, enthusiastic and adventurous. And so, anyway, I was doing that for a month and I was hardly passing the test that they were giving us, and that was the introductory phase. And my dad came to me one day and sat down, and he was like, Dot, I'm seeing you that you're putting a lot of effort and dedication. And I'm worried because you are very enthusiastic. You like partying, you like dancing, you like parranda. Parranda is like I want to say, like dancing. And I just see yourself like suffering because you're gonna take a career that is not gonna give you the results you want, and you're gonna be sacrificing part of your youth. So, why don't you just consider something different? So maybe just take the career that already you got from the from the test and just take it from there. And I was like, okay, so anyway, I just you know slept on it, and then I said to my dad, I think you're right, and I think I'm gonna do that because I can see myself probably struggling a lot in the future. If this is an introduction and I'm barely passing, imagine the rest. So anyway.
SPEAKER_01You'd have to put a lot of extra effort in.
SPEAKER_05And and I think it was funny because now it's a memory, like imagine, like I wouldn't have lived all the life I had because when I did accountancy, I was able to study, to work, but also to enjoy life. So I was like parting, but I was very responsible.
SPEAKER_01So anyway, I was So you were responsible, yeah. You weren't like me then.
SPEAKER_05No, I was super like, yeah, no, I I don't know, like I think I've been quite well structured.
SPEAKER_01I was gonna say, is that where the grounded? You said your family are quite grounded.
SPEAKER_05My parents, they were very much like putting responsibilities on us since we were kids. So for example, weekends, my brother will be like washing the cars, like in the garage. Um, Marjorie, you will be in charge of the bathrooms. Um, my other sister, you'll be in charge of the food. So everyone had a responsibility, and that was since we were.
SPEAKER_01That's brilliant though, because that the way I see it is being a parent isn't just keeping you alive, it's guiding you on how to successfully navigate this experience we call the human experience.
SPEAKER_00Exactly.
SPEAKER_01And it sounds like your parents were doing that from the get-go, but quite responsibly. Yeah. Not putting too much on you, but enough to sort of give you this sense of independence, which then probably gave you self-respecting yourself and blossom from that.
SPEAKER_05My mum was the you know, the lovely one. My dad was the kind of like, you got to do this and that. So there was a little bit of a good balance there. But I remember my dad was the one giving us a lot of a structure. So, for example, when when I finished high school, he was like, Okay, you're going to university. I used to give you imagining eight. Gave me monthly, I don't know, let's say a hundred pounds. Yeah. And when you go to universities like this is not gonna be enough. I'm going to university now, like more expensive. And he was like, if you really want to have more, you I'm just gonna keep the 100. Anything else you want to do, you have to work. So I started my first job outside the family business when I was 17. I was like, definitely I need the money if I want to party. It was in a fast food chain. Okay. Like imagine um Kentucky fried chicken. Uh Kentucky KFC. Yeah, KFC, like the Venezuelan version. All right, then. And I was just frying chicken. It's called Arturos. Arturos. Arturos. And it used to lie just four or five hours per day for five days. And so after university, university 7 to 11 in the morning, straight 12 to 4.
SPEAKER_01So you're a grafter. You put the work in.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, yeah. But also I enjoy it.
SPEAKER_01I don't want to say do you party to make up for it? But I enjoy it a lot.
SPEAKER_05I would be like, okay, until 4 I'm working, then go home, take a little fies, 7, 8 p.m. Yeah. And if I was studying, I was using the evenings to study or the weekends, but then Friday or Saturday, I will just go out.
SPEAKER_01What's a nightlife like in Venezuela?
SPEAKER_05Crazy, it starts really late. It's similar to the city.
SPEAKER_01I noticed that when I went to the hot countries, people are on the beach with the children, and it's like 11, 8 p.m.
SPEAKER_05And I'm like, Yeah, we're not used to that. No, no, no. So yeah, in Venezuela, you you normally you will go to university and then you will go home, lunch two hours, you have a siesta, then in the afternoon you will do other stuff. But then around 5-6, people will come together and get around in another area. Um, like we have a sort of like an avenue, and people with the cars will come around and just hang out for a bit, then go home, have a little bit of tina, sometimes another siesta, take a shower, and then the party will be probably from 11 onwards that you will go to a club or to somebody's house like 10. Maybe somebody's house a little bit earlier, but a club.
SPEAKER_01Pre-pre-drinks.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, exactly. 11, 12, until you know, if you were home like three o'clock, that was early.
unknownOkay, okay.
SPEAKER_05So five o'clock. And then people after clubbing, they will go, and there is a place called like for arepas. Arepas is our like our traditional dish. It's like a cornbread that you fill with chicken, beef, or bake vegan, etc. So people after partying because of the alcohol, they will go and have one. And so you go home, you rest, and then the following day you wake up like really like stable, like nothing.
SPEAKER_01It doesn't sound like my my we would be having kebabs, dirty, horrible kebabs or chicken. Well, similar butties or something like that.
SPEAKER_05Similar, yeah. But I mean, same, same, same thing.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_01And what was the so I'm curious, obviously, a lot of the audience won't be familiar with the background of Venezuela, especially at that time. What what was it like in the actual country? What was going on at the time?
SPEAKER_05It was back in the uh up until probably cut it quite sure, is like up until 2000, things were great. Um, we had the change of um system, uh political system around 1999, 1998, 1990, 99. But before that, I mean things were really good in terms of like security, safety, jobs, uh, really rich country. So in the 80s, Venezuela used to be called like the Saudi Arabia or the Dubai of Latin America, like because we are really rich in oil. Right, also it's probably one of the biggest reserves in the world in Venezuela. So obviously the country was just depending or just took for granted, and I think this is where also you know Amazonic comes into place. The country or us as a population, we took for granted what we had, and we didn't learn enough on how to diversify risks and how to kind of like be self-producers at the same time. So we were giving oil away and receiving everything else, you know, back like from the United States or from Europe, etc. So we didn't have enough knowledge on how to like agriculture, so just very basic. Okay. So we didn't prepare the country to export, for example, any of the agriculture and so on, or just to produce for ourselves. So there started to be limitations, and when there was a new system coming up, things changed because I mean, I don't want really to make this podcast like to talk about politics.
SPEAKER_01I just wanted to give a little bit of an understanding of where margarines come from.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, but um, but yes, it was super rich. So we we really enjoy life. I mean, in my case, um up until 2000, and then 2003 is when I when I uh when I left the country. So my family had an oil, um not an oil, a petrol station, so a business industry in the industry. So I was really close to that, like seeing the situation, and at some point my parents were like, maybe best if you just go and try to learn something different, maybe English, and then come back, and maybe things are different, but they were not. So that took me from there, and now it's been 22 years since I left the country, and obviously the journey has been pretty intense, especially the first 10 years.
SPEAKER_01Well, let's get into that then. So we would do an accountancy.
SPEAKER_05Your parents have told you to go and no the accountancy, I think, you know, this is interesting as well. When I was finishing high school, my my parents were like, you should or actually I was asking, I don't know what what I want to study. So I went to see like a sort of like person in psychologist that guides you to make a lot of tests, tests to see where you are good at. And so I really like health. Like I wanted to be a doctor at some point, and I like this kind of like touch and connection with people and be able to heal them because I was playing that when I was uh a kid, but I remember having a when I was eight, nine years old, I was seeing a kid being like with the blood, um receiving a blood test. So I just saw the kid when a doctor was just taking the blood, and when I saw that and the kid was screaming, I fainted, and I was and I had a trauma because I fainted, I hit my head and I was in hospital for a day, and I had like how you call it concussions, and so that was horrible. So obviously I rule out like no, I can't see any blood in my life.
SPEAKER_01So I rule out a little bit queasy with that way, yeah.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, and so when I did this test, this lady was like, Yeah, definitely you're good for medicine or via dentist or administration, accountancy, nothing really creative as such. So, anyway, out of all the careers that she listed, based on my results, I was like, Accountancy, and you know what? Because accountants in Venezuela, they just charge people for signature. And at the time, I have to say, I was like, that's pretty appealing. Yeah, I just checked people's numbers and reports, and if they look okay, I don't need to make them, I just need to audit them.
SPEAKER_01Seemed quite an easy win.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, and so I just signed them, and then it was it was a better job categorized wide compared to uh just a manager, an operations manager, administration, that sort of thing. So I was like, okay, let's go for that.
SPEAKER_01So how long were you doing the accountancy for?
SPEAKER_05So university was five years. Five years, five and a half because then there were riots, and I I decided this is a nice uh memory as well. Go on. I decided to go for public education. Having said about my dad and how well structured he was, um, he was like, Okay, I can put you in private education, but then you have to follow certain rules, and and from there I was like, I need to be free. Like, I just can't.
SPEAKER_01You don't do well in the cage.
SPEAKER_05No, I'm arius.
SPEAKER_01I do what you do.
SPEAKER_05I'm Arius, I'm fired, and I was like, no, I need to get away. Like when he said, if you want more money, you have to work, okay, I work from the age of 17. Okay, if you want education, private education, you need to sort of follow these rules. I was like, mmm. So because I had they I had approved my test and I got the the place in the public university. I was like, you know what? This sounds like he's gonna be give me the freedom because then he's gonna be probably threatening me, like I'm not gonna pay the, you know, the my dad. Sometimes he used to be a little bit like like that, just to put a little bit of pressure. Yeah, we'll be like, no, no, I'm not giving you the money, or anyway. So I thought, you know what, I'm just gonna go for the public and and I'm gonna tell him just save that money, and probably later you can, you know, sponsor me another type of education. Yeah. And so that's what I did.
SPEAKER_01He didn't want to weaken you by just giving, giving, giving. He needed to sort of go look pressure.
SPEAKER_05He had a massive saving, you know, because normally it wasn't about the money, it was about making sure his daughter was competent in life. Yes, true. Which I haven't.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so you so far I've noticed that there's been a lot of uh everything seems to be going to plan. Is there any sort of storage you've got that because nothing goes to plan? Have you got any any little side bits that just would like a little bit more? It's gorgeous.
SPEAKER_05So so yeah, no, the the university that was supposed to be five years, uh it was fine, and that's why thank you. And that's why I was explaining because the system riots, and sometimes we couldn't go to to to lessons to the class to the classrooms because there would be people on the street like you know, protesting and things like that.
SPEAKER_01Was it scary or was it quite well?
SPEAKER_05It was scary because there would be the little bumps that they throw. But the bombs that make you cry, you know.
SPEAKER_01Oh tear of gas.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, things like that.
SPEAKER_01Oh, really?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, and that was the students, yeah. Students like maybe from like 18, 19 years old and up until like 23. Yeah, not necessarily. But still young, no. So they were protesting. So anyway, that sometimes they have to close uh classrooms, everything, and that calculating took me another half a year, and then summer that could have taken me six years, but because summertime, I was like, okay, they were opening a special uh windows of people to take extra like a little summer school sort of thing.
SPEAKER_01Exactly.
SPEAKER_05I was like, let me take two. Every summer I was like two, two, and then I could probably reduce the time from six years to five and a half.
SPEAKER_01Any story of things that didn't go to I'm just curious because um a lot sometimes guests can get stuck in just telling us what happened in terms of the successes, but that doesn't help the audience necessarily relate because we all have adversity as well, and actually, when someone does let us know about maybe a bit of adversity, they also let us know what they've done to overcome it. And I always think that's a lovely thing to share, not trying to maybe paint a picture of perfection.
SPEAKER_05No, exactly. No, that that's absolutely right. When I was in Venezuela, definitely there were a lot of adversity. So I have to say, um, again, the political situation. Um so, for example, I started a job with an early company, and probably that's not the most relevant one. I will go to the most relevant one in a minute. Uh, and then at some point halfway they said we can't pay you guys anymore. So you just have to be reduced to part-time, and that was the start of my career. So that was my first job in corporate, and I was traveling around Latin America, etc., as an auditor, and they were like, we can't pay you anymore. So I was like, Okay, I what do I do? So luckily I was living with my parents, so I wasn't really under financial pressure. Uh, but still, it was just uh how you feel like internally, like your self-esteem is like, what do I do here? What's gonna happen? And at some point they were like, actually, we have to just retire everyone, uh, just yeah, redundancy to everyone.
SPEAKER_00How was that for you then?
SPEAKER_05Because it's your first my first job, and it was actually really nice in a way because it was traveling, audit um earling companies, etc. etc. But yeah, so so that wasn't good. Obviously, leaving my country, it was probably the hardest. No, it was the hardest when you talk about adversity, it's when you leave your country, and then the massive adversity is when you think like I'm gonna be back in six months, and that's fine, I'm taking a break, great, and going to the UK, and then you're not able to go back. I mean, you you start to you need to start really surviving or trying on the go to come up with a plan and resilience to kind of like how am I gonna deal with all of this?
SPEAKER_01How was that for you? Did that bring up some painful emotions? Of course, I imagine.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, now you're touching a part of my life that it's so the first 10 years. So, yeah, so I came here in 2003. Okay, and again, having lived in Venezuela nicely, etc., then you have to come and really be resilient because you don't speak the language. I didn't speak that language.
SPEAKER_01The weather's shy, it's always cold, it's raining, and you're not that because for us.
SPEAKER_05No, because it was it's a new culture, it's a new country, it's something that in Venezuela we used to see like that so far away. And the royalty, and you know, all the things that you see on that you watch on TV. So that wasn't really a problem. It was actually, wow, we're gonna get to experience a new weather, even if it's raining.
SPEAKER_01My girlfriend was from Australia, and when it started snowing, everybody else is like that in Manchester, and she's like, ah, like she's amazed by it. And it shows that the object the objective reality is then like it when you make it subjective, your your point of view, your perspective is what the like first day the masochist actually enjoys painting, whereas you don't like it, it's just the way you're looking at it. So you were looking at it through a lens of like, this is new, this is exactly it's like it's still you're not at home.
SPEAKER_05Well, yes. When I arrive, and I have to say it was super easy to get to get here in terms of like the ticket, the uh the school, and and that at that time you didn't need a working uh visa. Oh, okay. Because we providing a um a letter of the school, like a full-time course, whatever, you were in at the airport, you were given a stamp to allow you to work 20 hours per week. And that was like for Venezuela. I was like, wow, we can just go to the UK, it's easy. We just need to save the money for the course and obviously for the accommodation. But anyway, coming here, the accent completely different because even that I was kind of like from one to eight, I I arrived with a four in English, so I was more able to read, uh listen and speaking. No, but read and write, I could defend myself. But then, yeah, coming here and living in a place with more people. Luckily, I when I arrived, I was with friends.
SPEAKER_01Okay, so you weren't totally isolated then?
SPEAKER_05Because that could have been completely no, I actually came with a partner. Um yes, and that and he was the the the motor and the drive, the drive or the driver uh to kind of like yes, um, he he's half Venezuelan, half British because he was born here when his parents were doing a postgrade in medicine.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_05So he was born here.
SPEAKER_01That's helpful then, right? Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_05So then he had his dream all his life that after university he wanted to come and spend time in the in the land he was born. So um, so he said to me, That's my dream. And I said, like, yeah, fair enough. And at that point I didn't see myself really coming here. But then reconsider it, we've been together for a while, okay, let's do it. Yeah, and then I think yeah, the beginning, tough because you just have to adapt a completely different routine, and it's so many things new. Yes, it's so many new things that you have to deal with at the beginning that I think, yeah, emotionally speaking, my breakdown was 2005. Okay, what happened then? So I was kind of like, yeah, studying fine, working in Starbucks coffee shops. I was a nanny, so I had to do like three nanny. Nanny, yeah, of a three American, uh three American um kids.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
SPEAKER_05And I used to go to so you you couldn't miss a school because you in order for you to keep the visa, you have to attend 80% or 85%. Otherwise, you will be deported. Like you you have to go.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
SPEAKER_05So I have to go to school first. I was in Wimbledon, so it was one hour 15 commute to get to school nine till 12, then one, two, three or four, I can't remember, Starbucks, and then the 90 until eight.
SPEAKER_01So I was pretty much working.
SPEAKER_05Until 8 p.m., 8:30. I was full on since six o'clock in the morning. So obviously, you don't have time to process any emotions. You just are just kind of like going and surviving. And I think that's where my major adversity came when 2005, then relationship broke after seven years.
SPEAKER_01Okay, that's tough that then. It's quite a long way.
SPEAKER_05Tough, exactly. And then, okay, so what do I do now? And do I go back home? Do I stay? And I was like, no, I winter stay. I have already built something here. Okay. I was already working for Kistna University, accountancing a little bit, and then more time over the weekends in the Starbucks. But anyway, it was just a hit, emotional hit. Not gonna disclose what happened, but it was fine. It was pretty intense, pretty like broken, completely broken. And so then it's just to lift yourself up. And obviously, I can't, I couldn't be like, I'm just gonna take a week off just to cry and it's needed. Because of the situation in Venezuela, my parents were not able to send any money here. Even if they had the money, we were not like rich people or anything, but even if they had the money because of the system there, there were no bound transfers at all. So you couldn't you couldn't share. So you really caught off by this point to have to be here, work here, pay my bills here while I was grieving a breakup. So um, so yeah, that was that was really tough. Then I remember my mom, and it was the best advice she could ever give to me. She was like, What are you gonna do? And and I said, Well, I don't know, I would love to do a master's and do something for my career. So she was like, and that was probably like a little bit a year later, and she was like, I think we can help you. So go for it. But the only thing is like they could pay only the fees and not the the maintenance, like you mean food, accommodation, just ways of living, yeah. Exactly. When I went to university, they said to me, You you should only work 10 hours per week because it's gonna be a lot of work. So I took a master's science in international business in the University of Burbeck in 2001. My mind is it's very, yeah, a citizen of the world, and I love traveling and meeting new cultures, so I thought like definitely I need to put that uh in there. So that came from there, and it was a full year, and when they said 10 hours per week, I was like, What am I gonna well talk about the lessons? Yeah, in the evenings, three times a week. Oh, yeah, I should be able to handle that. And I was already working for Kingston University as an account manager 30 hours per week. When I made the numbers, I couldn't reduce my hours to 10 because I didn't have the money to pay for the bills, but I had the money to pay for the fees. So I had to make tough decisions, and I was like, Well, what do I really want to do? Well, I want to really finish this, and that was the only way for me to stay in the country. There was no other way.
SPEAKER_00Right, okay, so it was pretty much that already.
SPEAKER_05The students, as like just English students, that had reached the capacity or the availability to do more years of that. So the only way was doing a high education, master's, etc. So anyway, I went for that one. So it was a full year sacrificing like Saturday and Sundays, nine to nine at the library.
SPEAKER_01I've seen a lot of sacrifice that you put in. This world has this universe, has the um there's a price for everything. The polarity means it almost be balanced. If you want this, fine, but then this is the price. It seems like you're someone who's willing to pay the price.
SPEAKER_05Yes, yes. I think I have have already come to a little bit of a balance in life because at some point I realized like how much, how much can someone really and you know, to be honest, it's like no suffering horribly, like you know, health, it's there, etc. But I think at that time I wasn't really aware of mental health.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it wasn't quite as big as been the last year. It's really come up, hasn't it?
SPEAKER_05Exactly. So definitely I had a breakdown. I went home and literally the doctor, you know, examined and and all my hormonal balance was, you know, completely wrong. I had had I had had a depression for quite a while without knowing.
SPEAKER_01How did that manifest for you then? Because depression is quite a blanket term.
SPEAKER_05The party thing went up like three times. So we just drown in ourselves, and and you know, like I wasn't looking after myself. So I was really like from Thursday to Sunday, I don't know, like, yeah, let's just go out. And and the way for me to take it out was just dancing, dancing and drinking, dancing and drinking. And to a point, yeah, fun, but there was a point that yeah, it was like uh this is not sustainable, I can't do that anymore.
SPEAKER_01And I imagine with your work ethic, that's burning the candles at both ends as well.
SPEAKER_05In what is that?
SPEAKER_01Uh burning the candle at both ends means basically the work is burning the candle and the play is so we're getting our actual emotional state is getting d- d- d. Yes.
SPEAKER_05So at some point definitely I collapsed. And that's when I went to Venezuela just by chance it was Christmas. And I was like, I got gastritis, and I started getting panic attacks. Right. So I was at home and sometimes like my heart.
SPEAKER_01Nothing's happening, and you just start.
SPEAKER_05I couldn't sleep, and it was all the worries and everything. So definitely was a really intense few years. So I th I would probably say from 20 2005 to around 2010, 11, that I wasn't knowing what was going on. I was just surviving. Boom, boom, work and do this and do that until I yeah, I got to Venezuela. Yeah, and and then they actually prescribe antidepressants. And I was like, I haven't ever taken that. So I really pushed myself. Like I think I did it for a month, and then a good friend, and she said, Doctor, she was like, Marjorie, don't like get out of that. Try, I mean, you are a strong person, you know more, like try to do it differently.
SPEAKER_01So obviously, the challenge was would you notice any different effects when you were taking the depression medication?
SPEAKER_05Of course, because you know it was like New Year's. And then I said to the doctor, but can I have a drink for New Year's? Because it's New Year's. He was like, Well, I wouldn't recommend it, but it's New Year's, so maybe have one or two. I have more than that should. So that was irresponsible.
SPEAKER_01So because I know when I had the depression tablets, um, I looked at the side effects and it literally said may cause suicidal tendencies. And I'm like, well, it's probably the worst thing to give somebody who's depressed, right? And then I started realizing depression, this isn't at the time, but later in my life, the depression's a friend. It's a part of you that's saying too much.
SPEAKER_06Too much.
SPEAKER_01Too much, too much. And when we then nullify that with Medicaid, of course, if there's a chem, some people have a chemical imbalance that is needed. I'm not saying that's not the case, but far too many people are just given these without really much even scrutiny on why they should have it, when really it was all down to a mental, an emotional, a spiritual, a physical imbalance that came from lifestyle, yeah, came from behaviour patterns. And a pill was never gonna change that. And I was just curious how it works.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, because the pill is just we call it in Spanish like a pañito de agua tia. It's like a a really like nice and you know warm um towel that when you know, like soothing towel, like you put it there, but barber did it yesterday when he put it on my bed, it's like exactly. And that's soothing fun, but it's not really like fixing. It's just covering the source. So we call it like for me, antidepressants is just that, it's just a soothing like warm towel. But then you really need to go and get deeper. And I think that's what probably the start of my you know, healing kind of like wellness journey. It started when I was really young, actually. Okay, doing a course five days that I think you know, an ex-boyfriend took me to, and he we we broke up, and then he's like, Yes, please do this course. He had done it, he it had been great for him, and then he thought, like, well, maybe if I give it to her as a gift, we will get back together. That wasn't the case. But actually, I'm very very grateful. I'm very grateful because that was the first awakening when I was 18 years old. And I think that's probably gave me the drive that you've been listening about university working, and then I think when I came, when I came to the UK, so that gave me the drive for a few years, and when I came to the UK, then obviously I had to attend other issues like making money to pay the bills, you know, like just try to understand the language, get adapted to the culture, so many it was a like extreme change of culture and structure, you know, like going to the beach every weekend, like I had an easy life, and I have to say, and that's why I probably say, like, yeah, tell me some some adversities, yeah, when I came here. Definitely I I felt I grew up, but I'm so grateful. Like for me, UK, London is second home. And I describe it like London has given me the drive and the structure, determination. You know, it has made me someone really strong, like in foundations. But then when I go back to Venezuela, it's that opportunity to connect to my essence, my my emotions, my feelings, and then have that balance.
SPEAKER_01It seems very feminine and masculine.
SPEAKER_05Totally.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, because I think people get really confused. Feminine and masculine energies in all of us is amplified, so it's exemplified through, say, the feminine quality of nurture, through fertility, through creativity, balance. Totally. Whereas the masculine is very structured, organized, problem solving, and neither are separate. We're just the embodiment of it, and some people might just channel that differently. So I would say you're not necessarily masculine or feminine, you're both, but you're just channeling one more. Exactly. And it's the issue can be coming when you identify with it.
SPEAKER_05Exactly.
SPEAKER_01Because you're both.
SPEAKER_05Exactly. And it's having that awareness, totally right. So that's why I'm I I I mentioned that I was here for 10 years and I got lost. I lost my essence completely. I got out of touch of my feminine side, and and that was tough to become to that realization. And okay, we got to do something about this because definitely depression, a lot of drinking, a lot of partying, like excess everywhere, and not looking after myself and my self-esteem, like down. So I was still driving, like the upside, like, yeah, she's working, she's you know, able to keep up with things.
SPEAKER_01Are you a bit like me where you can keep it up but to your own detriment? Yeah. I do have that superpower of I can be feeling awful and no one can tell, uh-huh. Especially since the meditation, and now I'm very balanced. But inside it's like, like I told you, I'm about to go to a forest for 40 days and 40 nights because I just believe we should all be taking that time for ourselves. Not necessarily so extreme, but I have the capacity to be able to do that. Yeah. All right, my friend. I'm gonna take a moment from the episode to just tell you about something that's really important to me. It's one of my main passions right now. So for starters, anyone who's seen Breaking Bad, I want you to imagine Walter White, the chemist genius, but he went into the wellness centre. Well, that's Bobby the Forager, who is actually my genius, who brings us not only Agwed the Florida spray, oh, it's so nice as well. Oh, struggling with the bottle. There we go. If you could smell it, you'd know why I like it. And then also the dream healer. Now, the dream healer, if anyone's interested in the dream world, we do it for eight hours a day if you're lucky. This has got blue lotus flour, it's got bobbin starna, it's got rose petals, and it's also got from our land mugwater, and then it's mixed with apple cider vinegar, so that there's no, Bobby likes to say, no poison with the medicine, yeah? And you take that before you go to bed, and it really helps with bringing in the lucidity of the dreams, the vividness of the dreams, more restful. And if you work with it steadily, I promise you, you're gonna. I've had some interesting experiences, especially when I was in the ancient forest. And then the spray, you're spraying that, not to clean you can't cleanse your aura from outside, that's ridiculous. It's got stuff that we've worked on that we know will have um the fragrance will have an emotive reaction, the chemicals get released, therefore the emotions are more positive, and your aura gets cleansed from within, you know, you know, like uh the fresh um smell of um the beach, you know, you straight away you just calm down because you remember those nice beach holidays you had, stuff like that. I'm not at all, I'm not on phone right now, don't you judge me? So if you want to get either of them, you go down to the Meditational Michael store and you can get them. And then we've also got a beautiful morning. Now, this one I'm really excited for. I could do with it with the chronic fatigue that I've got right now. I need a little pick me up. I don't know about you. But the mornings can be difficult, especially if it's Monday morning, you've got like nine to five, and you have this beautiful morning, just give you that big pick me up. So I'll delve more into that one when it comes. We'll get a fresh advert for you for that one as well. Otherwise, guys, if you want to support a local company for two guys who mean well, I want nothing but to help you heal your dreams and cleanse your aura, go check out Ether Herbal's, one of my be one of my passion projects, really. I really do love this. And now that I've done the little sales bit, sorry, forgive me, I'll let you carry on with the episode. Peace and love. So you where we were up to was your friend was saying, just these pills, you're stronger than this. Yeah. So did we did we get off the pills then?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, yeah, yes, yeah. Like right after, like I think it probably had to get for a month, and that was starting in Venezuela like that Christmas time, that that that New Year's. I remember was like awful, like the hangover everything, and and even the behavior, the behavior. I remember my brother saying like you were euphorical like until six o'clock in the morning. Like that wasn't you, so no. And obviously, I didn't have the awareness, the information. I felt like it's just appeal, like, because I didn't have any any issues with the pressure in the past.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
SPEAKER_05So anyway, came came here, and this is and I was sharing uh rooms with his rooms now, the flat with his friends, and one of them was a doctor, and she was like, You can do this, like get out. And then I started like trying to exercise and do other things. Still, I have half half-term of the half-term six more six more months of the masters to finish. I was like, well, keep going. And after the masters, I just took a break, and you know, I just started to be more aware that no, I'm not gonna do these pills um anymore. I was um just you know, like eating healthy and keeping up.
SPEAKER_01It's not that complicated. People are like, what should I do? And I'm like, meditate, breathe, yeah, yoga, exercise, nature, have a bit of purpose in your life. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05I have to say that I wasn't also like meditation. You're gonna know I think maybe I I had barely knowledge of the techniques and the tools I could use. And I think probably it was more like go home after the you know, the university, the the library, yeah, rest, watch a movie. Just kind of calm down a little bit. Maybe gym every now and then. I started seeing other people as well to try to talk about different things. Uh yeah, that's how how I got. And I think I started to pray to the universe. Like when I get to you always pray, I believe in God. Okay, yeah, and I have conversations with God.
SPEAKER_01What's my well God could be man in the sky, it could be Shaktei, it could be it's a soul, it's a yeah, it's a wee thing.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, it's an energy, it's a soul. And and uh obviously I was raised Catholic. Okay, so yeah, it that for me my vision is is what we what we were shown when when I was uh I was baptized, you know, holy communion and everything. Nowadays I don't follow the religion that much. I have a few opinions of things I have seen, like about going to mass, following a priest. A priest is a human being like us, so everyone's fallible. Exactly. So I really believe in the energy in God, and I I definitely have experience like God has done things and guided.
SPEAKER_01Universal energy.
SPEAKER_05Universal energy could be, but yeah, if if you ask me, do you put a picture, a figure there? Yes, I is it's just the one that I was shown when I was when I was a kid.
SPEAKER_01I went to church and school as well, St. Michael's, so that was it's hard to shape the narrative.
SPEAKER_05Exactly, exactly. Now what we what I do is that I just complement that because I know he's yeah, it's tongue in cheat. He's God, but now I also you know trust and belief in other, you know, the things that will complement my my belief and my essence, you know.
SPEAKER_01So how was that then that you started bringing that in? You said you started praying.
SPEAKER_05So yeah, it's also praying as like the power of prayer.
SPEAKER_01I used to scoff at it because I was a rebel, I didn't like the school, I didn't like church in the slightest. So for me, God was a G-word. Oh so I threw the baby out with the bath water, and it was later on when a laughing yogi said to me, Um, like one of the holistic health points is spiritual health, and I don't do religion. I didn't mention religion, I spoke about spiritual health, and then when I understand that, oh wait, no, that was just a man-made structure, and that was their way of interpreting it for whatever reasons, nefarious or benevolent, but actually I can look at spirituality as my connection to a source greater than myself. And I was just curious when you pray, you I I I feel like you um you communicate with something that's just in touch with more than my 34 years has been able to do, and it gives me this wider knowledge, and it also gives me this comfort of feeling held, and when I feel safe, I can relax.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01So I was curious about how it works for you.
SPEAKER_05Absolutely. So the the way I pray is not like putting hands like that, it's just the meditation and the visualization. Okay. So for me, praying is not like repeating the sentences that we were given. It's not just blind words, it's just a chat, but a genuine and felt chat where you feel it. It's important that you say that. Yes. I remember like one priest that I really admire back home, he he made a difference. It's different when you say like what the book, the Bible tells you, and you just repeat it, and the and he was challenging people coming to Mass and just saying the same thing all over again. It's like if you don't feel it, it's pointless.
SPEAKER_01It's like I said earlier, you could describe Venezuela, but it isn't Venezuela, it's just the words, it's just the direction.
SPEAKER_05Exactly. So then when I have a chat with God, it's like let me connect and really have that feeling and that connection with that universal energy. And that's how I describe it myself. And when I close my eyes and I'm meditating, I in that course I mentioned when I that I did when I was 18 years old, we were given the opportunity to create a sanctuary. Sanctuary?
SPEAKER_01Oh sanctuary. Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_05And and that was a unique place that we were guided for like an hour and a half meditation, beautiful. And that's a place since I was 18 years old. I still go. It's like whenever you have a problem, whenever something happens, you can go to that place. And it could be outdoors, it could be a house. And that place has different like spots where you can connect with different areas. So, for example, you connect with your spiritual self, you connect with your child self, you connect with your adult self. And so, if I was to an exam, for example, I would have a room, that knowledge room.
SPEAKER_01So I like that. It's beautiful because then your mind will just slip into it a lot easier. The neurological pathways know when I'm here, this is where I go. Exactly. And it's less forced.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. And I'll tell you what, like when I was in university, very difficult exam test, I would go to my santra like 10 minutes before going into the classroom. And I remember they saying, like, there is a room for costumes, and there is a mirror. So do the meditation where you are changing the costumes and you are empowering, embodying what you need. So I was like, I'm embodying like the knowledge of blah blah blah because I feel confident.
SPEAKER_01Embracing the archetype that this is costume represents.
SPEAKER_05For example, yeah, and then obviously I will go to the room where I I meet my higher self. So in that soundtray, I have God as well. So I have a sound tray that probably has an outdoor area to the sea, and I and I imagine sometimes myself when I'm in trouble, like and I need, and I just imagine God just holding me like that, like it's okay. And it's just and I do that like also I bring to my soundtrack people I love. Sometimes it's like I really want them to be happy and just give that energy, so I have these visualizations that we are just being held by this beautiful energy of God. And for example, my you know, family. When sometimes they are you know in trouble, it's like let me bring them to this sound tree and just feel together.
SPEAKER_01Really help you just drop this masculine need to solve and fix and protect.
SPEAKER_05Oh, yeah, I can do it.
SPEAKER_01If something else is, it's just like, oh, I can melt, I can soften.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Um, I'm mindful that you do have other stuff that's coming on, and we haven't touched on which I think the international business is quite important. You you go to quite a few different bits, and I also do want to bring in the cacao as well. Yeah. Um, obviously, we we can have you on the show for different other deep dives, but do you think there's anything we've missed until we move on to those two subjects at all?
SPEAKER_05No, I think I think we can, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Okay, so we're international business woman now. What do we do? Where do we go? What's happening? I remember you telling me something about working with the World Cup in Brazil. Yes, so big football fan.
SPEAKER_05So actually, yeah, this is this is a nice, you know, kind of like transition. So telling you about these 10 years, like I got lost and everything, um, I pray to God. Like when I complete what I have to complete here in the UK, which was just to become a citizenship citizen, sorry, because I was like, even if I study here, I have been given and that brought to what my dad said to me, like my youth. So 10 years of my youth are here in the UK. I can't just bye, thank you, and then go back home and then have your identities now with that. Exactly. And the fear of like going back home, and then if things were not right, where do I go? So I was like, okay, I'm giving the country, paying all my taxes, giving my energy, paying education. So I was like, I have contributed also to this economy. So I deserve, and I'm gonna work for it. You already describe it.
SPEAKER_01You work for things. You've not come here to just take.
SPEAKER_05No. And I thought, like, okay, what do I need to become a citizen? So then that will be the goal. And when I reach that, that then I can be free in the world because then I can I can go to Venezuela, and then if if I can't make it there, I can still go to Europe at the time, no Brexit. So let that we're not going down that line. Exactly. Yeah, let's not. No comment. So uh so then I pray to God, like please, when I when I achieve this, please give me a break. Give me a break to and I get emotional, give me a break to go back to my essence. And that was beautiful because then I had another massive breakdown at work. Okay, and I was working for a really good company, etc. And I had and I was being harassed or bullied like by my manager, and I had to leave that job and with uh with no savings because at the time it was just I was maybe 27, 28, so that mentality of saving money, you are still kind of like building up. And I started here from scratch. I actually got here when I got here, I got here with a luggage and 800 pounds. That was it. So that's probably I missed it at the beginning. So I had to build myself from scratch, just and I always describe it. I got here with a luggage filled with dreams and for and 800 pounds, and that was giving me just about two months of living here. If I didn't have a job in five days or a week, then I don't know, like, because again, my parents couldn't send any money, and my dad was like, You are going, you're going. It's your decision, you are already 23, 24 years old, you know. And I think he was broken, but he was doing it for the sake of giving me the the right the right example. Okay, so anyway, uh going back, so so yeah, I was okay, let me achieve this, and then after that, I just I just need a break. Went through that massive uh breakdown also work-wise, and it was again, it was a cultural, massive cultural clash, and again, because I was free myself and maybe a little bit not as responsible as I should be. So I don't know whether I can't figure out like if I wasn't doing things right, but rather than being told like you are not doing things right, it was more about giving me a hard time. And at some point I was really put on the spot and I was kind of like harassed, and I was like, I can't do this anymore. So if you don't want me in the job, you respect yourself too much, exactly. I was like, just tell me, but but don't don't put me in this situation. So anyway, I had to leave the job with no savings, etc. And I started again working, just giving away flyers. So after working corporate as a already management accountant, etc., I was like back on the street, giving away flyers for a gym, getting it.
SPEAKER_01I've done that myself, by the way.
SPEAKER_05And and you know, it was great, it was great skills is how you can go up and down quickly, and then you just adapt and just get on with life because that's so much all is for the best as Volta, I would say. Five pounds, five pounds per hour, I remember.
SPEAKER_01I remember breaking it in.
SPEAKER_05And so, anyway, so right like when I was really down, and this is probably when I mentioned about the the tablet uh depression 2005. We are here now in 2008, nine.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
SPEAKER_05Then a job arise and it's Coca Cola. And so I started working with them, and then I remember like within the first two or three weeks. I see this advert of like, ah, we're doing the Olympics. If you are interested in me in part, just sign up or whatever. And then I remember just meeting the right guy at the right time, and he came to do a lecture about the Olympics and activate engaged employment employees. And I went directly talked to him and was like, I want to do, I want, I want to be part of your team, etc. And he was like, Oh, yeah, well, send me the CV and we'll see what we do. Right at that time in Coca-Cola, they were like, Okay, you are ready for a promotion. And you can build a career in Coca-Cola for the years to come. And you know, like I was in that spot, and then I talked to this guy, and he was like, Yeah, I'm happy to take you, my team, come through the selection process. So this was just to go like that in my career with Coca-Cola. This he said to me, it's only two years contract. After that, I can't guarantee. But you're gonna work for the Olympics once in a lifetime experience. So I had this, you know, like decision making. Anyway, I was like, my heart was just beeping so like you had about 50 grams of cacao. And I just went like that and I took the risk, and I was like, I think the universe sees that. And so to make the the long story short, best job ever. Okay because I was managing the activate the money for the activation for the whole Olympics in London 2020.
SPEAKER_01Also, it was in London, yeah, of course.
SPEAKER_05It was in London at that time. So, anyway, I think what really inspired me was the purpose of the Olympics. So it's about union, it's about communities, about collaboration, healthy competition, healthy competition, expression of culture, values, international, and just being part of Coca-Cola, the the experiences they do to celebrate, you know, people's achievements, and and the athlete was like every day it was just waking up like so full of energy. And I was managing the money for the marketing team, so I was in all the events, music, production, artists, it was amazing, amazing.
SPEAKER_01So, did you meet Mr. Ball?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I was very, very close, and then the tennis players. So obviously, we were working during the Olympics, like filling up, you know, like uh we were helping to fill up the the fridges.
SPEAKER_03Okay, absolutely.
SPEAKER_05So for example, in Wimbledon, I was there, and then I was seeing this guy, Murray, like who was very famous at the time, and you know, like um Nadal Federer Djokovic. Federer, Nadal, I don't think I saw that too early for them. Yeah, I saw Nadal in Brazil, but anyway, I will I will come back. But just feeling like and and you're just seeing like the application, like, hello, like just kind of like getting all the the sweats and everything. So it was amazing, and I think that year for the Olympics, I got my citizenship. I got well obviously to work in the best job ever, and then I remember like putting myself goals to get that break that I pray for. I was like, I need to have something that I can invest here in the UK that gives me a little bit of a base. So anyway, I achieved that and then I started a second career because with the master international business, I wasn't really going anywhere because it was like too general.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
SPEAKER_05So they were like, if you're an accountant, you're better off to something called Charge Rate Management Accountant, which is a global qualification, and you will be in a better position to apply for jobs because you are not from here, the English, there were a lot of limitations that you're like, oh, really? Okay. So anyway, when I got and I reached all of that, like citizenship, a little bit of an investment, like at home, um, and then the career, then Olympics were finished was finishing, and then my boss said to me, Why don't you just go to Brazil now? They're gonna do the World Cup and the Olympics. Just go there, and you've done an amazing job here, so just go. And suddenly it was like, you know, this is a break.
SPEAKER_01This is gonna be This was what you'd been praying for.
SPEAKER_05And that was yeah, that was how was it? Paid holidays, amazing, and that's where the whole healing process started.
SPEAKER_01That's where do you care about football or is that just a multi event and the the grand?
SPEAKER_05I really had a great time. It was again going back to the.
SPEAKER_01You didn't need to like football for it to be a massive Man United fan and a massive EL or a huge football. I threw a lot of stuff away that wasn't serving me. Football's like the one thing I've kept where I've removed this toxicity of division and needing to be better than people and using it to sort of let my emotions out that I won't be with, and now I can just appreciate the sport. Hard to do that as a Man United fan right now, it isn't going well, but Brazil, I could just imagine that because that is the team when you think of international football, Brazil. So to actually be in that carnival atmosphere.
SPEAKER_05Ah no, incredible.
SPEAKER_01I'm so jealous, I'm so jealous. Amazing, and again, glad you got to experience it for yes.
SPEAKER_05It's about believing, trusting. I think trusting is probably the word. I probably just send it to you, yeah, faith.
SPEAKER_01That's been one of my buzzwords. I had three words at the start of this year. It was calm, certainty, not fracturing my energy, because where your energy goes, is what you're gonna manifest, but also faith. I've struggled with faith my whole life. That something's looking out for me. I think I just thought I had to take the reins, whereas it feels like that was a big part of me. Yeah, no, absolutely. It's like you breathe when you know it's not all on you. Yeah, something else cares.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, yeah, no, absolutely, absolutely. Well, it was um because you say again, conscious a little bit of time, but yeah, Brazil was then that opportunity to reconnect with my essence and working with the World Cup and the Olympics. I was there for five years, make an amazing family there of expats that today, 10 years, 12 years later, we're still really well connected. And so, my the the way that Brazil kind of like helped into the whole you know, transition, health, etc., was like at the time I had to leave Brazil to come back to the UK, obviously, it was five years of joy. There were adversities as well, but we can talk about that, you know, otherwise, yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_01And and actually that's a completely whole episode because you'll be a friend of the show now, so there's the way I have it is the guest coming on, gives us a bit of a summary. You can't summarize a human in one or two hours. So, right, let's let's have a subject that we actually look at next.
SPEAKER_05There are so many learnings and insights from from my time. For me, that's another life chapter. Stay tuned. Exactly. There was so much to share. But I think the key point and connecting that to Amazonic was that when I had to come back to the UK because the contract was finished, then I decided to go to this retreat in the coast, in one of the most beautiful coasts in Brazil, and it was yoga music and yoga music and surf. So yeah, I want to learn surfing, etc., and meditate on yoga. And so one of the experiences was a cacao ceremony, and this is back in 2017. 2017. And that's exactly where boom, that you know, the download and the message was clear. I went to that retreat with the intention of finding purpose because after working for eight years for a company like Coca-Cola for these events, I was like, I don't see myself going back to corporate 9 to 5 being an accountant. Like, no, like I was going back to depression again in a way. I was like, I need to find something that really fills my heart.
SPEAKER_01Connection to purpose. Because Gabo Mate says healthy humans, he says, must be connected to themselves. Exactly, must be connected to others, must be connected to nature, but also connected to purpose because purpose is your north light, gives you something to follow. As long as you're not attached to it, then it gives you something to guide the path. Exactly.
SPEAKER_05So went to this retreat, beautiful, first cacao ceremony, went with that intention. Venezuela 2017 was going through like one of the how you say, highest or big as my comment. It was it was a really hard moment for Venezuela. No, it wasn't good at all. So yeah, it was one of the most probably um not traumatic, I would say, but yeah, hardest times, hardest times ever. So I remember I was like, what do I do? Do I go back to the UK? Obviously, I could go come back here because I had my citizenship. But then do I go back to Venezuela? Like, what do I do anyway? So that that whole thing brought me to what about if I build a bridge between the two. But anyway, that came when I did that cacao ceremony. That again, going back to my party's behaviors, etc. Then when I try cacao and it's with a trans dance, and we are all blindfolded, we are all guided, and you know, through the the mama cacao with 50 grams of cacao. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01I've done 50 grams. You know, we spoke about Liam Brown and he did one, and it was just like 50 grams is another level.
SPEAKER_05It's another level. Well, I was like non-stop dancing for two hours, but I could feel the music because we were blindfolded, and they said you do whatever you want. If you feel a mat, that's that's your sign to kind of like step back. Okay. But we were 80 people dancing, and I couldn't feel anyone blindfolded. I don't know how they did it until like today. I have no idea.
SPEAKER_01I'll be the DJ.
SPEAKER_05I mean, that that was that was and we had like drums and live music, and we were like upside in the like not in the beach in a noka, but we were like with the sea, like it sounds and a river. And I came out of that and the river, like you have the river and then the sea there. I could see these like things that they light up in the they light up in the in the water.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, they lantern things.
SPEAKER_05The feeling was incredible. I was like, hang on one second. Country going through a lot of you know, like hard time. Me going back to the UK. I know the UK already has been 12, 13 years. I know Venezuela. I want to be close to my roots. I have just discovered the most amazing medicine in the world, and the production is in my country. So I can help my country give back, but also because it's not safe right now, I don't have a lot of opportunities right now that I can still go back to London, but just make that bridge and just bring the medicine, and then I'm helping my country, etc. And so that's how Amazonic started. Just an invitation for 100% cacao, and just to integrate that as part of the you know daily routine. And right now we are we are definitely, you know, like growing. So right now I'm between you know UK and Venezuela, spending more time with the farmers, lending, learning more from the land to bring the authenticity, that trust, and that credibility to our consumers here in the in the UK.
SPEAKER_01I think that's important that it's um coming from somebody who does understand the land, not just conceptually, but they live it. That's their heart, that's their ancestry, and they really understand what they're bringing to people. And there's nothing wrong with somebody, say like a Lean Brown bringing it over and working with it and with reverence, but I do lean towards, if it's possible, somebody who just has that deeper connection with it. And I think it's beautiful. Like you I mean I also notice that you have an eye for sort of like the business side, quite it, it's well packaged, everything looks fantastic, the way you speak about it, even like your little setup here, is that everything's done with class, but this little Venezuelan flair.
SPEAKER_06Touch, yeah. I really love that.
SPEAKER_01So is there anything about Amazonic and the different because you there is four or five different ones if you wanted to just maybe touch on like because I know you spoke about the how long it's roasted, if it's grown nearer to the sea, or if it's in the mountains, and I just thought maybe it'd be nice somebody who understands it to that level, if you could just give us a bit, the audience, a bit of an idea.
SPEAKER_05So at the moment we have four four origins or four um yeah, for different different origins, yeah. So Sur del Lago is from the west, west, northwest of the country, and that's kind of like it's it's close to to an area that is close to the Andes, let's put it that way. Okay, so it's not kind of like mountain, it's a combination between mountain and and and a little bit hot. So that's yeah, that's probably the first origin. Uh that's yeah, uh, it's probably I would say in terms of taste and quite rich. Uh it's not too bitter, not too sweet. I would say it's kind of like medium. Okay. All the cacao are normally like dry and roasted. Um, we can't say that it's fully, fully raw because there are so many different definitions about raw. What we know is that it hasn't got any sugar added. So and the and the process is very natural. So from getting the beans, fermenting them with the banana leaf, then you know, drying, roasting them with the with the sun, and then passing from the process of separating the beans from the nips, and then you know, making the nips a paste. That's basically what it what it is. So the first one is lago, is how we're how we started, okay, and we work with people from Venezuela uh as well, and just to make that here in London. So we have a collaboration here in London, uh, someone that um processes the beans. The second one, um the other three are definitely, you know, direct relationship with the farmers, um me curating the the actual bars, going to the farm myself and learning from the farmer where he comes from, etc.
SPEAKER_01I'd love to come and do that also.
SPEAKER_05Yes, please, no, absolutely. Uh that's coming. Organizing visits and retreats. And because I appreciate that people might feel like Venezuela, that's one of the reasons.
SPEAKER_01I mean, you want to show that it's not just that.
SPEAKER_05No, and and also I want to make sure that people who decide and trust us to come to the land, they're safe. For me, that's paramount. So I'm not gonna be, yeah, just come, everything is fine. No, let me make sure that for the people who are coming, definitely we have all the infrastructure to be for me safe. Like, you know, I I go there, spend six months, come back, etc. It's fine. But I appreciate that for some other people who are not from there might not be the case. So we'll make sure that yeah, we we got all the infrastructure necessary. So the other three origins is Cuillawa. Cuyawa is the one that is close to the to the sea, as well as Chuao is the second one. So those two are kind of like the same sort of coast. Uh Chuao is the paramount one, is the well worldwide known as the finest cacao in the world. Okay. Because the climate and also it's got the ancestrality. Like there are so many, you know, like histories around that. And like people, there was a combination of people coming when the Spaniards came over, and there were people coming also from Africa. They the a way for them to to kind of like stay connected, they were put to just to harvest the cacao, they used to sing to the cacao.
SPEAKER_02Mamma cacao.
SPEAKER_05There is a special song there.
SPEAKER_02Oh, and I can I can play it.
SPEAKER_05Um uh is a si, it's like that. Que viva, que viva, lo dejo sembrado, Dona Catalina, El Cacao de Chuao Que viva, que viva. El cacao de Chuaoque viva, que viva. Uh-huh. Que viva, que viva, lo dejo sembrado, Dona Catalina.
SPEAKER_00You're gonna have to teach it.
SPEAKER_05So people in Chuao, they actually sing to the cacao. There is a ritual there just for harvesting the cacao.
SPEAKER_01Sound vibration, all is vibration, energy. Everything is vibrating at a certain frequency. Well, if you sing to it, it then matches with that.
SPEAKER_05And there is something about that cacao that makes it so special. And so that's one, and that's by the sea. And for you to reach that land, you have to go by boat. Okay. There is no way to get in any other way. And yeah, it's it's kind of like very reserved. It's not like it's a massive land. So maybe I don't know, two, three hundred hectares. Don't don't take my word for granted. Uh but you go and you get in a boat, and then you get in a pickup, you know, like this these rustic, you know, um, cars that you go like open doors and you just sit at the back, and you are just going with people. And it's just a road full of cacao trees, like maybe like about eight kilometers. Like, and then you're talking to people, and they are so hospitable, like they just open arms and come and meet, and there is a little school, so it's a little village, probably maybe I don't know, a thousand people, maybe, and the other ones also kind of like growing the cacao and everything. And then Cuyawa is kind of like on the same coast, but on another side, and that probably I would say chuao is quite bitter, it's quite a strong cacao, it's earthy, you know, you can feel the texture. Whereas Cuyawa, it's a little bit different, it's just because the the way it's harvest is around like orange, uh trees of oranges, you know, um banana leaf, etc. Then that kind of like integrates with the beans. And so the flavors change.
SPEAKER_01So every farmer each one I've had has been like every farmer will have a different.
SPEAKER_05So for me, what is important is the additions that I that I offer and invite people to have. I have been to the farm and I know what's going on and I know how they grow it. You know, like I could be offering many, many different varieties, and it's like, no, I just need to connect also with the values of the farmer. Yeah, lessons. So when I have this story and I have this connection, and we have the and I also, you know, take the content just to share with people there is real, there is a real story behind it. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01It's not some heartless factory, just churning up. I won't say the name so we get sued.
SPEAKER_05And I've been to other farms, and it's like, well, maybe it's not that they're doing anything wrong or right, but it's maybe I don't feel the alignment, so it's kind of like maybe not now, maybe in the future.
SPEAKER_01Maybe somebody else, but just for me. I can see that heart and mind has to align with it.
SPEAKER_05So for me, it has to be, yeah, it's one of the criteria to do what we're doing. Not just anybody. No. And then we have canoa, which is grown in the in the mountains, in a valley, 800 meters from the sea level. Beautiful is close to my to my home, uh homeland, would you say? My yeah. So um Beautiful is a is a family-based business as well. Uh, they've been doing it for 15 years. They really care not only about the land, but also about the village there. So I think they're probably around, I don't know whether it's a thousand, maybe a little bit less, but they also help people like with the schools, giving locals uh employment, etc.
SPEAKER_01You not just get MR cacao, you're actually helping sisters out.
SPEAKER_05So for me, that's all, you know, really, really keen that you can.
SPEAKER_01I mean, the only I mean, like I said, words are great, and we're doing our best, but words are clumsy to describe and experience, it doesn't come close. Exactly. So um, we've got everything on the Meditation with Michael website. If anyone wants to check it, we've got the nibs, we've got the husks for the cacao tea, different weights, different options. You've got like the coins for those who can't see, obviously.
SPEAKER_05The coins are great for like it's like a one or two drink. Yeah, it's it's expressed because you don't need to cut it to measure it. Like, I think the art is really good for people who want to really spend the time and connect with the with the plant. But then we know that not everyone probably has.
SPEAKER_01Not everyone's yeah, you've got kids who've got work, we've got hundred jobs like you on the go.
SPEAKER_05Exactly. So then, you know, a coin of 30 grams is a medium dose, boom, just 300 yamls of water, just carnish as you wish, and as your heart tells you, and then and you've got little recipes as well, aren't you? Yes, they are all at the back of the bar, they're on the website, they're everywhere, and also we are available for people to, you know, for any questions.
SPEAKER_01So, um, is there any I know we're coming towards the end. I would love to keep on talking. Is there anything you feel like you've not shared with the audience that's really important to you?
SPEAKER_05Uh just probably I would say for people who are new into the cacao, like just give yourself give yourself the opportunity to experience it and and and come with an intention. I was about to say, intention. It's an experience, like an intention with experience. It can just, you know, and I will probably also invite people that when they do that, they can come to a group and a group of experience, you know, like yourself, you you can all of that, but also something that we can integrate in our daily life just with ourselves. Like we don't sometimes, it's been ritualized a lot. Like you have to do a cacao ceremony. I don't call Amazonic like, oh, we offer cacao ceremonies. I prefer to say we invite people and we offer experiences with cacao that help people to, you know. Transform their life or just uh support their their wellness. I leave this ceremony more a little bit for the ancestors and you know the shamans and and I'm not there.
SPEAKER_01You're not trying to claim that you can do that. Um I respect very much the the I know we had Liam on last time that he spoke about some of the health benefits. Um people who haven't seen that episode, I was just wondering if you could share some of the health benefits as well because we're talking about connecting to the heart, connecting to the plant, our ancestors, but there are just scientific aspects.
SPEAKER_05Science science facts that definitely cacao is an antidepressant. Talking about depression is an antidepressant. Tony how you felt. Yes. Because uh the cacao, the teobramin, okay, the teobramin is the main ingredient of the cacao. It produces serotonins and endorphins, which are you know natural mood enhancers, um, chemicals, neurotransmissors that we can produce in our brain. It's also really good for your cardiovascular system because it helps with the circulation. Exactly. And that's why it's like it's a it's a medicine for the for the heart.
SPEAKER_01So they say it's a heart opener. Exactly. The heart must be open to receive what the universe is.
SPEAKER_05Exactly. But it's more about the circulation. It also helps to decrease the risk of diabetes.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
SPEAKER_05Uh, it's really good to as an anti-inflammatory, it's called magnesium zinc, potato potassium. So it's really good also for people uh post-workout recovery because you can drink that and even pre-workout because it's a natural energizer.
SPEAKER_01So it's a great small bit of caffeine, right?
SPEAKER_05No, it's the over mean it's the overall. And the flavanoles, so there is no caffeine in cacao. So that's why I wouldn't I don't have anything against coffee because yeah, but coffee is really lovely. But it's the right way, maybe. But yeah, but cacao provides a more sustained.
SPEAKER_01It's gentler, it's more balanced in my opinion.
SPEAKER_05The coffee gives you like really good energy and then exactly goes down. Whereas cacao gives you very well sustained energy. She knows what she's doing. Yeah, and then you know, you have this kind of like when I drink cacao and I drink it with intention, I get clarity, I get focus, get productive, and then I feel good. And then any challenges that I have during the day, I don't know, like I take them differently because my serotonines and endorphins are there. Sometimes things that I will be like, I'll be very frustrated. It's like, yeah, I'm still frustrated, but the way I'm handling is completely different.
SPEAKER_01So it doesn't matter about that as long as um you have this state of equanimity and balance. Like people think that zen is you on these rocks with the trees and the birds and the what no no, zen is being able to sit in the fire and smile back. Exactly. Exactly. Smile backly, smile back.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, yeah. And of course, you know, from a spiritual point of view, because of all these combinations, serotonin, tender things, the magnesium, and that kind of like circulation helps to unblock emotions because you are kind of like more tuned, you know, like it really helps to feel integrated. So there is download of information when you're drinking a cow. Like the the things that you think and you meditate and you reflect, it helps to unblock emotions. So many people have manifested like when I drink a cow and I'm in a meditation suddenly and I hear a song, a music, I just get tears. And it's a it's a sign of like the body cleansing.
SPEAKER_01When there are tears naturally tears literally carry toxins out of the body, it's a clean. Never mind the emotional reverberations that happen. It actually shakes out the serious, the rigidity, the blocks. Yeah. So um, be mindful of time then. Um so you can find all this on the Meditation with Michael. We've got a beautiful collaboration which is only gonna grow after I've had my little trip into the ancient forest, which this will be coming out after that, anyway. I'll be a different person by then, maybe. But um, how can people find Amazonic?
SPEAKER_05You've got Instagram, you've got Instagram, Amazonicacao, then yeah, we got the website, it's AmazonicKacao.com. And yeah, those probably are the the two direct um places where you know we we can we can connect. But uh yes, any any questions? Yes, yeah. It's not yeah, it's it's about connecting actually.
SPEAKER_01We're calm, we're it's not it's not very come and say hello.
SPEAKER_05And thank you so much for your time today and for the space. I really enjoy this this conversation.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, give a shout out to the Treehouse Hotel, yeah, beautiful spots, very accommodating for us.
SPEAKER_05And I would like to say thank you also to my brother, uh Raphael, who made this happen as well. So, this this hotel is part of where he worked, and and he kindly accommodates.
SPEAKER_01Shout out to Raphael as well. Yes, as a good name.
SPEAKER_05We love you, Rafa.
SPEAKER_01Well, thanks for coming on the show. Uh, hope you hope you guys got a bit of a taste of Amazonic and Marjorie. But if anyone wants to find out more, they can go on those details otherwise. Thanks for joining us and uh thank you. Peace and love.
SPEAKER_05Thank you for having me. Peace and love. Thank you.
SPEAKER_01Well, there you have it. Who on earth is back? And why don't she such a lovely guest? For me, Marjorie was just such a pure intentioned person that it just the second I met her, because I had a friend who um had met, funny enough, I was a meditation teacher at this philosophy festival, and she was a yoga teacher. And the friend was like, You gotta try Amazonic. Amazonic's so good, you gotta try it. And the woman who runs it, oh I love her to bits. So I was like, go on, go on and I had a little chat with Marjorie, and I was like, straight away, I was like, This is a person I want to work with. Got all the yeah, the T's crossed and the I's dotted, got a nice little free sample, so I could obviously gotta try it before you put it on your store. And I was like, this stuff is beautiful. And we've got already William Brown, who's been you know, bringing the cacao people, aren't they? He's such a cool guy, bringing that Manchester humour, that relatableness, that authenticity, and then you've got Marjorie, and I felt like they were quite a good, almost yin and yang vibe, eh? So we bring them both together, we help a lot of people get off that coffee train, stop stimulating yourself into insanity, have a nice cup of mama cacao and open your heart. So if you want to check out Amazonic, I'm gonna put all the links in the description. And you want to see about more, you want to get in touch with Marjorie, I'll put her um Instagram as well because she's such a lovely person. Next episode I'm gonna be doing is um I like going to these more conscious festivals. You know, I used to be a party, Manchester Party boy drinking drugs, all that sort of you know, the shift. And um I go to these conscious festivals and went to six last year. It's no wonder I've got this burnout, this chronic fatigue, this chronic pain that's come up because I was pushing myself too hard. But this one was worth it. It's called Soul Revolution, and it's um this beautiful guy called Alex, and it had been growing and growing, and then I'd heard echoes of it. And then when I finally went, some of my favourite guests they had Marcus Gard, go check him out. They had Sam Garrett, who was such a top face. I'm gonna try my best. Antarmous him, and I'm gonna try my best to get him on. He did say he would come on, but I'm sure he's a busy man, and loads of great guests. Ether Wood were there as well, and it was such a good festival, but it was really you could tell it wasn't just about hey, go and enjoy yourself, it had a deeper message to it. So I wanted to get Alex on the show. So as of recording this, I'm actually going to interview Alex tomorrow. I'm pushing the boat out. I'm gonna go down to Wolverhampton, use up what strength I've got, and make sure we get this guy's story. So that should be episode 14 for you. If you did enjoy the episode with Marjorie, like I said, the links will be there so you can try Amazonic's beautiful, caca beautiful cacao yourself. But if you were able to support getting more guests like that on, like I said at the start of the show, can't be bothered doing the sales finger. If you liked it, could you like it? If you want to comment as well, I'm always down to hear what people think about the guests. If it might have touched you, something that Marjorie expressed that you just really felt, ah, I need to say something, then get into the comments, man. I want a community, I want people who are talking to each other. And then if you don't want to miss guests like Alex that's coming up, and trust me, might not have a lot of energy right now, but I'm gonna be bringing it either way, just maybe a bit more slower than I was doing. So I'm not promising um an episode every two weeks like I was doing. I'm just gonna tap into my intuition, which says, right, it's right. Right now I have a rest, right? And hopefully by doing that I will build my strength back up. But there's subscribing, it helps support me. And if you like my vibe, you like what we're about sharing the stories, who on earth are we sharing this bloody planet with? Yeah, anything that you do to support the show is much appreciated. I don't want to feel like I've been too on phone, but I'm kind of over that nowadays. This is the real Michael who just wants to share a bit of love, a bit of connection with other people. And if you're about that, I appreciate you staying until the end. Um, oh yeah, the advert as well, because we've obviously now got the Ether Hurtbull stuff. I should have mentioned in the advert, which I've still got to record, so it's weird time lapse. I'm doing it now. Um, if you did want to tap into them, they're on the Meditation with Michael website, so I'll put the link there for you. And the beautiful morning one that'll be coming soon. I can't wait to try it myself, to be honest. And yeah, I could do a pick me up in the morning. So I'll put all the links for the Meditation with Michael store, which is on the website, Meditation with Michael, all the links for Marjorie so you can catch here. Otherwise, guys, thanks for staying until the end. I appreciate the love and your time is the most precious thing in the game, it means, and that really means a lot. Until next time, peace and love.
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