Ep. 76 with Rachael KraMer | Founder, Owner - Shekinah Wellness

From Nursing To Holistic Healing

What if true healing begins in the “soil” of your life, not at the surface of your symptoms? Kelly sits down with Rachael, a former RN turned holistic health practitioner and author, to trace a winding path through young motherhood, nursing on the front lines, and the moment she realized her patients needed root-cause care that honored body, mind, and spirit. The stories are vivid and practical: a patient thriving on a simple regimen only to be steered back to what wasn’t working, the “tree and soil” model that reframes Western vs holistic care, and the quiet confidence of building a business around school drop-offs, field trips, and family dinners.

We get specific about the daily levers that change your health trajectory—morning routines that set your cortisol awakening response, how cooking at home jump-starts digestion in ways restaurants can’t, and why coffee often masks fatigue rather than fixes it. Rachael explains cravings through the lens of acid-alkaline balance and shares a realistic philosophy: remove irritants fully for a season to reset, then reintroduce with quality, frequency, and sourcing in mind. Along the way, she shows how trauma unwinds when the nervous system shifts from constant “go” into “rest, digest, and heal,” and how simple practices—breath, grounding, sound—find deep roots in scripture.

Faith threads through everything here. From David’s harp to daily prayer, Rachael describes a practice where science catches up to scripture and healing becomes possible when the spirit is invited to lead. We also talk about marriage and parenting: communicating roles, honoring different decision styles, modeling entrepreneurship for kids, and the unmistakable joy of becoming “Gamma” while staying devoted to meaningful work. She and her husband are now building a new ministry focused on health, marriage, and finances—proof that slow, values-first growth can still create bold futures.

If this conversation challenged your view of “normal” health or sparked a shift in your routines, share it with a friend, subscribe for more, and leave a quick review to help others find the show. Which root-cause change will you start this week?

Resources:

• Get Rachael's Book: Happy, Healthy, Healed - and want the same for you

Connect with Rachael:

• Website: Shekinah Wellness
• IG: @shekinah_wellness
• Facebook: Shekinah Wellness

Contact the Host, Kelly Kirk:

• Email: info.ryh7@gmail.com

Get Connected/Follow:

• The Hue Drop Newsletter: Subscribe Here
• IG: @ryh_pod & @thekelly.tanke.kirk
• Facebook: Reclaiming Your Hue Facebook Page
• CAKES Affiliate Link: KELLYKIRK

Credits:

• Editor: Joseph Kirk
• Music: Kristofer Tanke

Thanks for listening & cheers to Reclaiming Your Hue!

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome, Mission, And Guest Intro
• 1:05 How Kelly And Rachel Connected
• 3:30 Rachel’s Book And Core Message
• 4:50 Motherhood Before Career
• 7:45 Nursing Years And Limits Of Western Care
• 10:35 The Pivot To Holistic Health
• 13:10 Education Paths Into Holistic Practice
• 16:00 Building A Practice Around Family
• 19:40 Western vs Holistic: Treating Roots
• 24:30 Medication Pitfalls And Real Risks
• 28:40 Launching A Practice Slowly On Purpose
• 31:40 Kombucha Business And Exit
• 34:20 Household Health Culture And Roles
• 38:10 Eating Out, Digestion, And Cravings
• 42:20 Alkaline Water, Cleaning, And Unlearning
• 46:20 Modeling Entrepreneurship For Kids
• 50:30 Becoming “Gamma” And Grandkid Lessons
• 54:30 Faith Journey And Integrating Spirit
• 59:20 Trauma, Nervous System, And Practices
• 1:03:40 Coffee, Energy, And Vitality
• 1:07:10 Resilience, “Not 100% Forever” Philosophy
• 1:10:20 Marriage Dynamics And Communication
• 1:14:10 Bringing Faith Into Business
• 1:18:00 New Ministry: Health, Marriage, Finances
• 1:21:00 Advice, Morning Routines, And CAR
• 1:24:00 How To Connect And Closing CTA

Transcript

SPEAKER_02: 0:10

Welcome everybody to Reclaiming Your Hue, where we are dedicated to empowering women to embrace and amplify their inherent brilliance. Our mission is to inspire mothers and entrepreneurs to unlock their full potential and radiate their true selves. I'm your host, Kelly Kirk, and each week my goal is to bring to you glorious guests as well as solo episodes. So let's dive in. Good morning, Rachel. Good morning, Kelly. How are you? Good, how are you? Thanks for having me. Uh, my pleasure, and I am doing very well. Thanks. I am so excited to have you here. I'm so excited also to dive into your book as well. There's many things that I know are gonna come up in this conversation and intersection of motherhood and entrepreneurship. A lot of it is talked about in here, which is really cool. But before we dive into all of that, can you share with the listeners how it is that you and I got connected?

SPEAKER_00: 1:12

Yes. My wonderful husband, Tom, he he mentioned me to you at an event that you two were at. He actually has told me oftentimes that he finds himself talking about me and my services and what I do. I'm a holistic health practitioner. Yeah. So with other people at his networking events, often, whether it's because it's a like-minded person or because there's a lot of sickness, illness, struggling, suffering. Yeah. If it's in their own home or a family member, there's always someone where it just comes up. And he is all about natural healing and he's seen it himself. So he's my biggest fan. Yes. And so he talks about that a lot. And so he came home, told me about you. We connected. He, like I said, talks to others often about me at his networking things. And oftentimes it, you know, I make the connection, but then some a couple times it's gone somewhere and oftentimes it doesn't. But then with you, then when we connected, then soon after that, I went to your event. Yeah. And I was just so pleasantly surprised and felt like this is where I should be. It was such a blessing to be part of it.

SPEAKER_02: 2:24

Well, and you showed up to that event. Like here I am, kind of bringing all of you women together, right? Like all of the women who have been who at that point had been on the podcast and then any future guests, right? I'm like, I gotta bring these women together and also celebrate the anniversary, hitting the anniversary mark. And frankly, hitting a huge goal of mine, which was at the start of all of this, I was like, I am going to either interview or post a solo episode every single week for a year.

SPEAKER_00: 3:00

Wow.

SPEAKER_02: 3:01

And I hit that year mark.

SPEAKER_00: 3:02

Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_02: 3:03

And I'm like, you know, what's so interesting is I'm booked out at that point. I was booked out for months.

SPEAKER_00: 3:08

So for have you, did you meet your goal as well? Or every so every week for that year? I did.

SPEAKER_02: 3:14

And I'm still going. I am now at this point in this interview. I'm booked until February of 2026.

SPEAKER_00: 3:24

Yeah, but you booked this in the summer.

SPEAKER_02: 3:25

I know. I know. Anyways, you showed up to the event, and I was so, first of all, so taken back. I was like, I had this conversation with this woman who on that phone call told me that she's a grandma. She has grandbabies. And you showed up, and I was like, the math is just not mathing. It's not mathing. But you showed up with this wonderful book. And might I just share real quick with the listeners what the book is? Yes, please do. All right. So it is, well, I'm gonna read it all. Leap from defeated to victorious, happy, healthy, healed, and want the same for you. So it's Rachel's insightful story of the contrast between the world's healing solutions and God's true healing. I love it. Thank you. Now, so not only are you a holistic practitioner, correct? Correct. But you're also an author. Yes. You marry you wear many hats.

SPEAKER_00: 4:26

Yes, motherhood, don't we all?

SPEAKER_02: 4:28

I know. So um, you know, motherhood, and then also an entrepreneur, and also taking the leap into writing a book, because I've had a couple other individuals who have written books here on the podcast in conjunction to what their entrepreneurial journey is. And I'm like, hoofd, I can't even imagine. So um, so let's share with the listeners what came first for you. Was it motherhood or was it entrepreneurship?

SPEAKER_00: 4:57

For me, it was definitely motherhood. For one, I was a young mom, so my career wasn't even started or even thought of at that time. But looking back, I would do it that part that way again, motherhood first, because motherhood does come first for me. It always has, always will, still does. Um, I stayed home most of the years with the kids. I always worked little odd and in things here and there around their schedule, family members babysitting. But the majority of their years, I their years at home, I was home.

SPEAKER_01: 5:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 5:31

And then when I realized I wanted to go back to school for nursing, I thought, well, it's only four years. But then I thought, four years, that's almost a quarter of a child's life at home. That's a lot. Do I want to spend a quarter of his time, a quarter of the time being distracted and pulling away and busy? So I thought, no, I don't. And so when he, my youngest, started preschool, then I took one class. When he started kindergarten, I took two classes. So I went to school as he was going to school, I got my degree, and no one even knew I was gone. Um because I did it around them and their stuff.

SPEAKER_01: 6:08

I love that.

SPEAKER_00: 6:08

Uh so for me, motherhood definitely came first. And let's see. But that doesn't let's see. Oh, sorry about that. Just a pause. But my um then when I did go back to school and became a nurse, uh, then for the first four months after that, I worked full time. So I worked full time for four months, and I said, I just can't and don't want to do that. My daughter even said she was older at the time, she's my oldest, and she was saying, I know it's just like I'm running in and out the door saying hi and bye, but I miss that because I was gone. And I realized I don't want to go from being a stay-at-home mom doing odd-in things while they were uh you know, gone or around. But I didn't want to go from being their primary caregiver to being absent and like not getting them off to school, not being home when they get home from school, missing their sports and their events. And I told my husband who um was runs his own business that he can't show up for work and do his job, but then also worry about changing all the light bulbs and cleaning the bathrooms and making sure that they have light bulbs to put in. Like he can't do both roles. And I was saying I can't take care of the home and my kids and the family to the level I want and be gone. I just can't. So motherhood has always came first. I love it.

SPEAKER_02: 7:40

I love it now. So to piggyback off of that, when did like for how long were you working as a nurse?

SPEAKER_00: 7:53

I was working as a nurse. Oh gosh, I have to go back in time to think. Um somewhere in probably the five to ten year range, I was a nurse.

SPEAKER_02: 8:04

Okay, okay. And you do share a lot in your book, which I'll make sure to drop in the show notes for individuals if they're curious to learn a little bit more about the background of Rachel, because you dive into a lot of like the why behind getting into holistic work and then also just you know the the healing process that has gone along with that too. And so when did you make the leap from being a nurse practitioner, nurse practitioner, correct? I was an RN. An RN to what you are doing now in the holistic space.

SPEAKER_00: 8:45

Yeah, good question. And so a lot of people that know me or have known me all my life, they were surprised when I was going into nursing because I've always had more of a natural bent. Um, but then I had a daughter that passed away and she was seven weeks old. And the nurses that helped me through that, they were just angels. They were there, of course, all hours during the night, answering my questions, helping me, guiding me, and I wanted to do that for someone else. So that's why I went into nursing in the first place. And I think because I was always a little more natural, I I realized practically day one on the job that I can see why everyone questioned why am I going into this. Yeah, as I, you know, I was uh in a um nursing home. Everyone there was, I mean, constipated is a common thing there. But they're not looking at their diet, their exercise, their water intake. Instead, it's a pill for this, a pill for that, rather than looking at lifestyle.

SPEAKER_03: 9:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 9:42

Or how else can we do this? Um, but anyway, I stayed with nursing, went to you know, different nursing homes. I became director of nursing. And then you asked, how did it switch from nursing to holistic health? Actually, the the smallest thing is what made that final, the final straw, the big decision.

SPEAKER_02: 10:03

I feel like it's not this like big, glamorous, like, oh, I'm gonna go into entrepreneurship now. You know what I mean? It's sort sort of like the slow etch. Right. Until you're like, okay, the push has come.

SPEAKER_00: 10:17

Yeah. And for me, it was the smallest thing. It was, I was helping this man, this gentleman, he was constipated. He was doing what the doctor said as far as taking senna, do what he needs to for his digestion there. And I suggested something else. I suggested psyllium husks, abdominal massage, a warm cup of some water on his stomach, um, a twist. I suggested this regimen that worked for him. And his doctor told him to quit doing that and go back to metamucil. And he did it just because the doctor, so he quit doing something that was working to go back to something that wasn't working just because his doctor said. So I realized then, like, I am swimming against the current. And how am I really going to have an impact if I can't even get someone to do something that they see as working?

SPEAKER_01: 11:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 11:04

So I made the decision there, went back to school for holistic health, and then gradually made the change.

SPEAKER_02: 11:09

Oh my gosh. What does that process look like? I'm going a little off script. So, what does that process look like when you're going into more of a holistic space in terms of um like education that you need to take? What does that look like? Tell me. I I I truly have no idea. So I'm very curious.

SPEAKER_00: 11:30

Yeah, and it can be different for it can be it, there's a wide range how how that can look. I mean, someone can actually, I really think people, what I see when I see patients, people, they don't actually come to me and say, What's your degree? They want so they don't. And so a lot of people, I bet you they don't even know if I'm a registered nurse or that I have a holistic health practitioner degree. Yeah. So for you can someone could be a coach. They could all the so it there's a wide range. So for me, what I did is I did go back to school and I got um some of my credits accounted for because of my nursing degree, like anatomy and physiology.

SPEAKER_03: 12:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 12:11

So I went back to school, but that's not always necessary, or to even have the full complete degree is not necessary. It could be like, does someone want to help someone with this specific thing rather than a wide range of things? Sure. So there's a lot of um variety in there, and there's a lot of variety in there, but then also I think through motherhood entrepreneur, where I was already at, there's so many things that are woven together. Because how did I go from nursing to holistic health and entrepreneur? Well, one thing is even before I was an entrepreneur as a holistic health practitioner, I prior to that had a cleaning business. So, like I cleaned houses and I did my own business. Yeah. So the reason I even did my own business with that was because motherhood comes first.

SPEAKER_01: 13:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 13:01

And I wanted to make sure I could make it to their school things and get them off to school and be home when they get home from school and create my cleaning schedule so I could take a day off if they had a field trip.

SPEAKER_01: 13:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 13:12

So I already had some of that entrepreneur mindset. And then when I went to nursing, realizing this isn't fitting for so many reasons, whether it's life, home mindset on how something should be addressed. Um, and then I went back to school for holistic health and went into my own practice instead of working for someone. So I could do it my own way, as far as if someone is going to or from work, maybe they have this amount of, you know, a limited amount of time. Or if they're really struggling and need more time, I can take that time where I'm not set on this appointment as 20 minutes. I also wanted to be free to pray with them if that was, you know, if that was if they were there. Um, the other part that I wanted to do with making sure entrepreneur, my own schedule with the kids, that's part of it, um, while they were home. But then the other part is what I see in holistic health is the Western medicine looks at the body. So they look at physical. A lot of new age, like what I uh some of the stuff I do, I'm not new age, but I mean some of the stuff I do as far as sound therapy, breathing techniques, that's viewed as new age. So I'm not new age and I'm not just focused on the body. Yeah. So that's why I want to have my own practice to be able to bring in the spirit, where it's the mind, body, and spirit. And I see healing out there as one or two modalities. Right. One is the body, which is Western medicine, two is this the soul, the emotion, the new age stuff, but then they're leaving out the spirit. So the mind, body, spirit.

SPEAKER_02: 14:50

Yeah. Oh, that is so good. I have so many different avenues that I'd like to potentially go down, but I think one of the avenues that I do want to explore is just the real and raw differences between the the Western, I'm air quoting for the listeners, and the Western medicinal practices, right? And just how that has massively shifted over the last even like five to ten years. But you're speaking even back when you were in the RN space and in the nursing home. And I have to imagine like even then they were implementing. So it's I do feel like not to like completely poo-poo on the whole healthcare system. I do feel like at some point, like they truly felt like they were doing the right thing. Like they didn't know what they didn't know. Well, and or maybe they did.

SPEAKER_00: 15:55

When I yeah, well, when I was a nurse, I really thought, um, so one thing, the pharmacy company makes the medical books. So the pharmacy company makes the medical book medical books. So when a nurse or a doctor or a nurse practitioner is trained how to treat this, whether it's high blood pressure, blood sugar, diabetes, anything, whether it's when they're looking at how to treat this, it's that and it's this medication. So that the pharmacy company makes the drug book. So when I first was done with school out there in the field, I thought the same as you. Totally thinking they they're they are doing what they believe is best. This is just what they believe is best. But part of my role as a nurse was to do long-term care assessments. And I did long-term care assessments for doctors, for other nurse practitioners. And when I would do their long-term care assessments, they were not on the this long list of medication that they would have their patients on. So instead, they were on fish oil and multivitamin, but their patient were patients were on, you know, 20 different medications, causing the need for 20 more medications. Then I started thinking, they do know the detriments of these medications because none of them are on it. So my mind shift changed a little bit with that mindset of they're doing what they know is best. When was that? I wish I could remember the year. I mean, like rough. Um, 2007 or 10, somewhere in there.

SPEAKER_02: 17:27

All right, just let letting that sink in with the listeners because how long ago. Yeah, like that was that was back in that time point, and think about it now. Right. And how it has become worse now. I mean, I frankly, Rachel, as I was reading through your book, I was like, I should just go and see Rachel. And because I I've now come to a point, and my husband is gonna end up listening to this and just being like, what the hell, Kelly? But like I haven't taken Maddie back to the pediatrician because I'm I question now, like people are gonna think I'm so woo. But I don't think it's woo at all. The more I just keep like you if you follow the money, right? Right, you're gonna find out pretty darn quickly that a lot of what has been thrown at us from the healthcare system is garbage.

SPEAKER_00: 18:23

Exactly. My kids were raised without a doctor, not that everyone needs to do that. I didn't know about a lot of the good resources that are out there now, which my kids use for their kids. But there is New Kingdom, there are other places out there that are more like-minded. But I don't know if you can say that part in there, but I will. Okay, yeah. So there are, so I didn't know of those resources. So for me, my kids were raised without a doctor, and I just always had that, that, that fight. Not that I was fighting, but that that very obvious, not like-minded way of addressing something.

SPEAKER_01: 18:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 18:56

And I explain it to people. I don't know how if I did it in the book or not, if I described it, but when I do holistic uh health practitioners, sorry, when I do holistic health presentations, I have a picture of a tree up and think of the tree. Did I talk about that? Okay, so think of the tree like a body. Should I explain that now? Yes. Okay. So please do explain it. Think of the tree as the body. And regular Western medicine doctors, if there was a problem with the tree, like if the leaves were dying, um, the wet regular Western medicine doctors would put spray the leaves or cut off the branch. They would do something focusing on the dying leaves. Where holistic health is looking at the soil, what's causing the leaves to die. So the soil, and also the the is that is there too much sun, not enough sun, how's the wind? So the environment. Yeah. So it's not just even the soil, but the environment. What kind of environment are they in? And what's you know, what's the soil like that's causing the leaves to not flourish? Where Western medicine is focusing on the leaves, and that's Western medicine with our health, they're focusing on the symptom.

SPEAKER_02: 20:01

Yeah. That when I read that part in the book, I was just blown away. Yes. What a beautiful visual for better understanding and better context, to be frank. And so I I think you're spot on. I don't think, I know you're spot on when you focus on what what's what else is happening around you. You know, what's what's sort of internally happening within your body, i.e. the soil, and then how are you surrounding yourself?

SPEAKER_00: 20:37

Exactly. And all of those things have to be considered. Like if someone went to a doctor for anxiety, depression, acne, I'll just pick one. So anxiety. If someone went to the doctor for that, they would say, here's an anti-anxiety med. If someone came to me with anxiety, I would help them work through the symptom, but then also work on internally what's going on, looking at their adrenal glands that creates cortisol. But then also not neglecting to say, you know, what's going on in your environment, your home, your whether it's marital stuff or finances or work or whatever it is, but you can't neglect any of them if you're addressing anxiety.

SPEAKER_02: 21:15

Yeah. And that medication, by the way, is in my humble opinion, a band-aid.

unknown: 21:23

Okay.

SPEAKER_00: 21:23

At best. A lot of times people don't even feel so at best it's a band-aid and then it's making other things worse. Right. Just like you're not supposed to keep a band-aid on a wound because you're gonna have bacteria grow and it's gonna make w make it worse. Right. Having a band-aid on a source of something you're trying to heal is actually making other things worse as well.

SPEAKER_02: 21:43

I want to make a really interesting tie here, just in regards to um medications. So I recently had it was it's by and large, is one of my more interesting episodes. By the time our episode airs, this one will have already aired. And it's um with three other widows. And one of them, um, her husband, was uh diagnosed with anxiety, prescribed medication. And this was back a long time ago before they even had the warning labels on medication. After that happened, she was like her husband committed suicide. And when it happened, she was like, This is like there was no note left, there was nothing. It was just like that. And she was like, This is not like my husband was happy, like, and there were just a few things, and her his doctor after going was like, Hey, you should take this medication, Zoloft. And after that happened, she started diving in and asking questions and wanting to get answers. Like, why was he prescribed something like Zoloft that had all of these like impacts, these other symptoms, right? Where I'm going all with all of this. Her name is Kim Witch, and she has been the sole advocate, and the reason now that there are the black warning labels on medications, and she continues to be an advocate for it. And so I only bring that up because you know, as we're speaking to the difference between call it Western medicine and holistic approaches, like do you want to actually solve the problem? Right. And if you're if that is what you like, if you want to get to the root cause of it, and so that's the simplest way to put it, right? And you did you painted the beautiful picture of a tree with roots and soil and stuff. If you want to get to the root cause of it, you have to start to explore these other things rather than just going, I want to take this medication that's gonna cause other symptoms, then prescribe another medication. I mean, I know too many people, you know, close to me, not close to me, where that is the case. They are prescribed a medication.

SPEAKER_00: 24:11

Right.

SPEAKER_02: 24:11

And then all of a sudden this other symptom comes up. They go to the doctor and they're like, uh, what is this? Okay, sorry, the church. Doctor's like, Oh, sorry, here, you should probably try this also. And before you know it, you're just like walking around like a zombie because you're you're like popping pills.

SPEAKER_00: 24:29

Exactly. So it's like if like I was just saying, you don't put a keep a band-aid on an open wound, a band-aid talking about prescription medication. If you were to put a keep a band-aid on an open wound, it's gonna cause an infection. Right. So instead of saying, let's take the band-aid off, and they're gonna cause an infection and then give something else for the infection, right? That's exactly what it is. And I saw it with big and small things, big things like anti-anxiety meds and antidepressants and psychotropics, and so big things, but then also small things that people small but big health problems, and they just don't realize the effect. For example, someone would go to the hospital and end up coming home on, let's say 325 milligrams of aspirin, and it never got switched, lowered to 81 or taken away, and so they hemorrhage, and then or like omeprazole, someone has um heartburn, acid reflex. I would have a different approach with how to address that, but their approach was to give them omeprazole, which is making the symptom feel better, but the problem worse. But it even says on the box not to take it for longer than two weeks, and people would be on that for years, years and years, forever. And so when I was in there doing home care for them, when they would come home on that, I would circle it on the back of the box and say, okay, this is the date. Like it says no longer than two weeks. So two weeks is up on this day. I'd put it in their calendar and say, now talk to your doctor about going off. So they are with like big and small things. We're small which with big problems, or the bigger drugs also.

SPEAKER_02: 26:07

I could go down like a huge rabbit hole with you on all of this, but let's let's keep the the main thing, the main thing. Right. So when you went into your practice, how old were your children at that time, at that point of time?

SPEAKER_00: 26:24

Yes, when they were uh, let's see, when I was done with school for holistic health, then my daughter, so there's six years gap, and my son was in middle school, and then my daughter was in high school. So that's when I started for my holistic health um practice. And then I practiced in the home, I have my practice set up out of my home. And so then my appointments would be during their school hours while they were gone. And then I also started um making uh my goodness kombucha. So I made a kombucha brand and then sold that at farmers markets, but I also didn't even do the farmers markets until my youngest graduated because I didn't even want to miss his stuff.

SPEAKER_02: 27:10

Farmers markets are Yeah, they're on Saturday and Sunday mornings, right?

SPEAKER_00: 27:14

So the one in my neighborhood is also on Tuesday, and I didn't want to miss his football games. So I waited even for that part until they were graduated because I really wanted my my business stuff to be done when they were at school or when they were busy. I um so yeah, they were in middle school, high school when I did that, when I started, I mean, and then made the kombucha business, grew that, and then last year sold that business. You did?

SPEAKER_02: 27:39

I did, yep. I sold it all the boomer. I was like, I need to ask Rachel when she gets here, like where can I get my hands on the kombucha?

SPEAKER_00: 27:46

Well, good question. I sold it to a local person. Okay. It's 100-acre homestead, and she's still at many farmers markets. Okay, and she's still and she sells my goodness kombucha. Oh my gosh. So I still make it for home for us, but I'm not at markets selling it. Okay.

SPEAKER_02: 28:01

So I have, oh my gosh, so many different questions. The one that's sticking out to me is so let's let's talk about the time that your holistic like the time frame of starting your holistic practice to when it's starting started to like really rev up. Did you find that kind of going slow when it making these decisions based off of schedule, right? The kids' schedule, that it there was like a hindrance in what you were doing with your holistic practice in like ramping up sales, right? Sales. Or ramping up your revenue, yeah, so to speak.

SPEAKER_00: 28:44

Definitely. Definitely there was. It was a slow start for me. It was a slow takeoff for me. Yeah. It was, I when I was done with holistic schooling and starting my business, there was six months of me doing stuff during the daytime only, you know, going to networking things, and and it wasn't working. And I was telling my husband, it's not like I'm just sitting here hoping someone finds me. I'm out there, I'm doing stuff, it's just not working. Yeah. But then the very next day, I got my first patient. And so it took it was a slow start, it was a slow takeoff. Um, so there was hindrances there with ramping up or um sales that there was hindrances there. But I personally have never regretted that as far for so many reasons. One, when the kids are home, it's a small fraction of time. Like I am so much, I'm so busy now. I work way more than I ever did when they were home. Yeah, and and I can, and I'm not missing out on things. And so part of my what would I tell my younger self is slow down. It will it. Will happen. It's okay. Go slow. Yeah. So good. Yeah. Slow down. Like you only have this small, like what you're doing right now is the most important thing. And in the other stuff will unfold because you're doing what you're doing right now. Like, I actually started Rachel's Remedy, an essential oil blend, to help my son with his sinus infections, which he's never had since now. It's been 20-something years, but that wasn't a business plan. I was just doing life. And so I was just doing life at home. And then also, so many of those foundational things from the decisions I made are still such a core of who I am. As far as the remedy blend that I made for him, or because we made the decision to have me home or home more working very part-time, because of that, we we made decisions like when other parents were bringing kids lunches during their sports thing, I would pack a lunch. When other kids would have concession stand and just money given to them, I would bring carrots. And so it really set up just this huge foundation as such, and that's such a core of who I am and what I do and what I help others do. But it came out of necessity because we couldn't afford this or that. So at the time it seemed like we were making these sacrifices, which I am so thankful for now because it's just who I am and who like what I help others do.

SPEAKER_02: 31:28

Well, I'll tell you what, when I met your husband Tom, I was like, this guy's real fit. You know what I mean? And he, I mean, after I met like after I met you, and I'm like, okay, well, that that makes sense, right? It makes sense what you're doing with your holistic practice that that's also going to eventually stick and as you're modeling, right? Like you're modeling it, and it's going to uh make waves around you as well. There has to be buy-in, right? Exactly. But so Tom, let's talk about Tom. Shout out to Tom, by the way, because he deserves a worthy shout out. He made this connection. He I periodically I'll get like LinkedIn messages from him, like, hey, have you considered this person for the podcast? Hey, you know, think about this. He's wonderful. He is, he's such a connector. He he is. He was also an entrepreneur. So you two have a a unique circumstance, right? Both of you are entrepreneurs. Or I should say uh Tom's probably always going to be a little bit of a couple of things.

SPEAKER_00: 32:38

I was going to say he still is. He's he's retired from Kablooey, but we're starting another thing. So he's still an entrepreneur, he always will be.

SPEAKER_02: 32:45

Yes.

SPEAKER_00: 32:46

Oh, are we?

SPEAKER_02: 32:48

Sneak. Well, sneak, we don't have to dive into this. The reason I wanted to bring up Tom is because the two of you have a very unique circumstance. And I want to speak to this for some of the listeners who are tuning in right now and going, yeah, my husband has a very similar mindset. He's also an entrepreneur, he has a business. And you just talked about leading into all of this about how there had to be sacrifices, right? That takes communication, right? And as individuals working together, you know, not working together, but living together, you're married. You have to have this foundational communication about how is life gonna move forward, right? Talk to myself, talk to the listeners about how you guys approached these conversations with one another so that it was at that moment in time, it was the best thing that you knew to do, right? It was the best thing that Tom knew he needed to do for business over here. This is the thing that I need to do for Rachel's business over here. More importantly, how is our family gonna move forward and how are we gonna collectively do it? I want to just get a little bit of intel into the Kramer family.

SPEAKER_00: 34:12

Yes, yes. Yeah, and so Tom and I are very like-minded on the big things. So, you know, the big, big topics of life, we are like practically clones. We are just so like-minded on the big things. But then on smaller things that maybe don't matter quite as much, or some of the smaller things, we're actually a little bit opposites, but we're both in the middle of something. So we're both, so I'll use introvert extrovert as an example. Sure. He is a little bit more on the extroverted side and I'm a little bit more on the introverted side. You don't say. Yes, exactly. So we're both like it's not like he's an extreme extrovert and I'm an extreme introvert. We're both kind of in the middle. He's just a little more on one side and I'm a little more on the other. And so that's the truth, that's true with a lot of those small topics with us. We're on the opposite side, but in the middle on the small things. But that's actually a strength because it it's a strength for us, because his way benefits me and my way benefits him. Where he's very, as any entrepreneur, and I say any, but most entrepreneurs, because I'm not that way, but he's very quick decision, quick to respond. Yes. So he's very quick, and I'm very slow.

SPEAKER_02: 35:24

And I'm with you. Yeah. You and I are very similar. Like I I have realized, and I was just talking about this with um somebody else yesterday. I was like, I have come to the understanding as I am interviewing all of these beautiful women who own businesses, that the shorter you can like the shorter you can make that time frame of making a decision, the better.

SPEAKER_00: 35:53

Yes.

SPEAKER_02: 35:54

Unfortunately.

SPEAKER_00: 35:55

Usually. But though but what I so that is true. And the the part that so with Tom and I that I've we both try to bring value to the marriage, the relationship, the family, is to see the value in how God created the other person because he is very quick to decide. But then sometimes you need to count the cost. You need to think, is this a good decision? But if it were up to me, maybe we wouldn't move anywhere because I'm slow. Yeah. So it is big picture good to make quick decisions, but we it is important to look at the other person and what value they bring to it as well. So with that, kind of setting the stage there, that we're very like-minded on the big things, we differ on the small things, but it's uh very much a strength for that for us. Um, and then with how to approach health and those things within our marriage, he um he was a he he's often an example I use with the people I'm working with because he was not on board. And it, but then I see him at home, like his struggles, his his cheats, his the realness, because he can't do every you know, he it takes him time. And then he sees the success in it, and then he's ready to do the next thing. And so it's been a I can use many examples, well, whether it's eczema, allergies, any, you know, multiple things that he has walked through and seen success, but it didn't happen overnight. Yeah, and I really had to. There's a couple uh ways to inside look at Kramer House, like you were saying, a couple ways with approaching that. One is I have to wait till he's ready. Like I can tell him, but I don't tell him too much, otherwise I'm just a nagging wife. Yeah, and so I can tell him, but I don't tell him too much, and then I so I plant those seeds and then wait till he comes to me and asks for more help. So that's one thing.

SPEAKER_03: 37:47

I love it.

SPEAKER_00: 37:48

Because I can't force him to change, I can just tell him, and then he eventually does. Sometimes it takes a month and sometimes 10 years. Um, but he eventually does. So that's one part. And another part is we do have we do talk about roles in the in the home, as far as I am more responsible for for meals or for supplements or for how the kitchen runs or for how the home runs. So he benefits from that. Yeah, and then he is more responsible for like how the garage runs or how maintenance stuff runs. So I'm not going to come in and and reorganize the garage, and he's not going to come in and reorganize the kitchen. So I have like the ultimate say really in our food stuff. Yeah. So that benefits him.

SPEAKER_02: 38:30

I want to piggyback off of this. When we so when my husband and I first started dating, you know, he was um divorced with his two boys, living in an apartment. And, you know, as things started to progress with us, I was spending more and more time with him, which meant I was there having like meals and stuff. And I I'd be like, you know, I as a single woman, I understood, I've long since understood the importance of like taking care of your body. Interestingly enough, just as like a sidebar to that, as I have continued to age and just hitting my 40th recently, I'm like, it's even more important, even more important. But coming into this relationship, I'm sorry, Joe. Like, there's white rice, there's white bread, there's all it's just all the stuff that you know, cereal and you know, potentially potato chips, like lots of sugar, lots of sugar. And I'd ask, like, have you ever considered wheat bread?

unknown: 39:41

Right.

SPEAKER_02: 39:41

You know, at the I didn't know what I didn't know until you know, now I know, but like wheat bread, brown rice, uh, you know, maybe kettle chips or just like those little subtle improvements. And at first it was hard to know. Right. And then all of a sudden, just little integral changes. When we got married and we moved into this house, he had always been the person that went grocery shopping and he would do all of the cooking and stuff because he enjoyed it. I was at that, you know, the point that we met and our lives started to intersect. I was a single woman, which for any of the women who are listening right now who just by chance are single women, it you're not cooking for many people. You're cooking for yourself, which means chances are you're probably eating out a little bit more than you are actually at home. You know? But I'm like, fine, that's fine. I don't cook that often, that's okay. And especially the girl, like, no, thank you. That's still an area of opportunity for me. But when that shift happened, and he was like, You can go grocery shopping if you want, if you want to have some of the healthier stuff in the house. All right, sounds good. Things have shifted dramatically in our house. Yeah, still areas of improvement. You know, we've got three kids under 11 years old. Yeah, three kids.

SPEAKER_00: 41:17

Oh, yeah, because of his two.

SPEAKER_02: 41:18

I think and then my daughter as well, our daughter together. But it's it's pretty incredible when you when you sort of have the reins in terms of being able to be the CEO of the household, so to speak. That's that's the hat that I always like to say that I wear, and it's one of the most importance because mom falls underneath that. But you can have that control of like, this is really important to me in terms of health. I want this to be really important to you. So here you go.

SPEAKER_00: 41:52

Exactly. Yep. And they were and they actually really for the most part embraced that. Maybe if my kids heard me say that, they would be like, oh no, I didn't. I mean, but they it's just the way it was, and there wasn't another option. And for when my kids were younger, it was out, like I said, out of necessity because we couldn't afford to eat out. So I really didn't eat out. I I didn't because I, you know, I couldn't afford it. Yeah. But that's such a blessing, too. Because part of eating out, even if someone eats where they think they're making healthy choices, you're skipping. So so for one thing, it's almost impossible to make healthy choices and eat out. Sure. Because of, you know, did they get it organic? Where what kind of salt are they using? What where did they get the you know, all the things that go in, the ingredients, just all of the things. But then the other thing that people don't realize is when they eat out, they're skipping process the a process in the digestion that's just key. So when you when you're cooking, when a person is cooking, they're they're thinking about it, they're starting to cut the food, they're preparing it. That prepares the body for what they're about to take. So you you start secreting digestive enzymes that helps you to digest the food. When you go out to eat, you're skipping that process. So you're a lot of people are deficient in digestive enzymes because their body is just not used to preparing the food. And then another part is like when you eat, when you eat at home, after you eat, you get up and clean the dishes. Movement tells your body use this food for energy. When you go out to eat, you get up from the table and go sit in your car and drive home. So you're skipping even the movement part, like use this food for energy. So it's just hard to eat out and be healthy.

SPEAKER_02: 43:33

You learn something new every day. And we talked about this off air. Like, I don't do video at the current moment for the podcast. And so I want the listeners to understand like I'm shook. Uh that makes so much sense. It really does. Like in my head, it makes so much sense. But I'm sure for some listeners, they're probably feeling like, whoa, okay. Um, maybe I don't eat out as much anymore, or maybe it's just like one day less. Right.

SPEAKER_00: 44:12

Right? Exactly. And your body starts to crave what you give it. So when a person eats sugar pop candy McDonald's, they crave sugar pop candy McDonald's. When a person eats salads, beets, kombucha, kimchi, that's what they crave. And part of the science behind that is acidic or alkaline. So if your body is the first sugar pop candy McDonald's, that's making your body more acidic. And that's where pathogenic organisms grow. And the body is just craving that, so then you feed it more of that. But when your body's alkaline from beets and kombucha and kemchi and salad, when your body's alkaline, it longs to be in that environment. So when it dips out of that, so like if you're traveling and you're not eating the same as you used to, you end up craving beets and a salad and the food that your body's used to. So you really do, it's hard at first, and then it becomes easy because it's what you crave.

SPEAKER_02: 45:08

Interestingly enough, I want to just hang here for a moment with the the alkaline versus acidic. So I just to go kind of in line and parallel to what I was just speaking to, when I owned my townhouse over in Woodbury, I purchased a water system, a water filtration system, right? Yes, water filtration system. Um, I'll have to show it to you because it literally alkanizes your water for you. And there are like I can do a sanitation water that like technically could replace uh Clorox because it is like so acidic. Um I'm still a little nervous about that, given having a toddler running around and you know, kids that are off to school and bringing back germs, but we can talk about that off-air. So we have like the water that I'm drinking right now is um 9.0.

SPEAKER_00: 46:08

Okay.

SPEAKER_02: 46:09

So I have like I can do different kinds of water, like a 9.0, an 8.5, an 8.5.

SPEAKER_00: 46:15

Do you have air water life? It's I'll have to look at that. But yeah. We have a similar thing where it's alkaline ionized. Yes. And then we collect the acidic water in a separate container where I can use for cleaning.

SPEAKER_01: 46:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 46:29

And like you mentioned, you're nervous about it with little, with little ones and the germs they bring home. With the, you know, going back to the Rachel's remedy that I created, when I first was realizing like, well, this works for uh physical things. Does it work for you know other things? Like, what about cleaning? And my son didn't want our dog to be in a room with our cleaning stuff because we used to so we'd keep the cleaning stuff in the laundry room and that's where the dog was. And so I started making my own cleaning supplies, but I was nervous about it. Like I would use my cleaning supplies and then I would go back and do something else. Because it's like, what if that didn't really get it?

SPEAKER_02: 47:05

I remember reading this in the book and going, okay, Kelly, if if Rach is doing it in her book, like it's gonna take some time to unwind that, like build back the onion layer.

SPEAKER_00: 47:16

Yes, but yes, yeah, that's so eventually I got there where it's like, okay, this works. I haven't re-cleaned it with something else, and we haven't got sick, it's fine.

SPEAKER_01: 47:27

Yes.

SPEAKER_00: 47:28

Oh my gosh. But you do have to unlearn those things.

SPEAKER_02: 47:31

So we talked about you and Tom as being two individuals in this household that are both in this entrepreneurial world, right? Let's fold in the motherhood piece and with your children. How do you feel like that has modeled for your children? Do you see them um it because they're older, right? And uh I'm not sure if one or two or two, two. So if both of them have their own children, they do. They do, okay.

SPEAKER_00: 48:08

So they both have their own children and they're both entrepreneurs. So they both so that part, it that part there's a lot in the end, we you know, what not the end, but once you get to they move out and you're done with that part of their motherhood, um, there's always things that you wished you could have done differently, or you realize like, oh, if I could do it again, I would do that part differently. I'm glad I did what I did mo you know for the big part. The they both are entrepreneurs, so I love that to see that in them. I do see that my my daughter does put a lot of stress on herself because uh stress on herself with what it's a good thing. So I'm not saying that as a negative thing. And when someone brings that up to her, the stress on herself to be this or that, she says, You don't know my childhood. Yeah, like my mom, which she just said this again recently, and it brings tears to my eyes that she thinks that highly of her childhood, but to think like you know, we went on picnics and we did it all this time, so she she wants to have that time with her kids, and she's an entrepreneur, so and she's a very s good at what she does. So she has a lot of stress on herself with that in that sense, but they're both entrepreneurs. We have a wonderful relationship. They um I see them on a regular basis for family night, just getting together for dinner. I babysit the kids on a regular basis, so it has spread into the it's you know, those ripple effects has gone into their life.

SPEAKER_02: 49:40

Now you've got the title, grandma. Do they call you grandma or nana or what's your official they call they call me gamma? Gamma? Gamma. That's a first. I don't think I've heard gamma. That's really cute. Okay, so you're you have title of gamma now. How does that play into the way that you're navigating through being an entrepreneur as well?

SPEAKER_00: 50:05

Well, I still a lot of the same, like my core principles with family first. I block off my calendar when I know they need me to babysit. I babysit, I babysit the grandkids on Mondays usually. And uh, and so I block off Monday to babysit. And then I do an overlap sometimes for my if my son needs me for an hour or two, and so I block off my calendar ahead of time with that. But it's so neat, it's such a blessing to see my kids become parents and then me be able to be such a part of my grandbabies' life, and and I can actually I see I learned so much more from being a grandma than I did a mom because I think as a mom, I was so busy. I felt so busy and so much I felt stress from just as moms do, yes, all the different things, and so I felt you know busy and stressed and trying to keep up and and without now that that's kind of gone. I mean, I still feel busy and stressed, but it's a different way, and it's it's very different once the kids are out of the house. I can actually I just learn so much more when I have them, learn about life and what I'm feeding into them and what they're getting out of it, and it's it's wonderful.

SPEAKER_02: 51:25

Well, it's I'm not there yet, obviously. I've got a toddler that's totten around right now, so I am far from you know, taking on a a different kind of title, right? But I can only imagine that it's the it brings a different sense of joy, right? And a different sense of meaning and purpose and understanding in life. And then also that you don't have to keep them at your house.

SPEAKER_00: 51:56

Oh, yeah, exactly. You know, like you know, the funny thing is I don't have to hand them back. Yeah. I always thought I was going to be the grandma that that gave, you know, gave them cookies and did this and did that. Cause it's like I didn't do that to my kids, and now's my time, is what I thought. As soon as I had one, it's like, oh no, I can't do that. Like I cannot just give them sugar, and I can't so I but it is nice to be able to not think that every single decision I make has this long-term forever, like where you're just overthinking everything. Yeah. So it is nice to have them and give them back. I love that.

SPEAKER_02: 52:27

Well, I sort of feel in this circumstance too, Rachel, you have a very clear vision of what your core values are in all of this. And so wouldn't that really at the at the essence of all of it go against your core values?

SPEAKER_00: 52:48

Yes. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 52:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 52:50

It it would, it would. And and I love it. Like my oldest granddaughter, who's six, she is just adorable with they I mean, I could have story after story with even just feeding into her, and then what I see the results from that be. But like we went blueberry picking this summer for her birthday, that's what she wanted to do. And my daughter was going to make blueberry crumble. And then Meadow was saying, um, well, let's just make it healthy. We don't have to add sugar. And so she's telling her mom, like, yeah, let's use honey instead, or let's use maple instead. And just to see her. And then now she she, since she was two, has wanted to be own a food truck selling ice cream, and she still does. And then she still does. And so she actually, this is a whole I won't even get into this whole thing, but she has this cute little business plan about making this healthy ice cream with like just healthy ingredients. And then she wants to go sell it. And Mariah's like, Well, I don't want to crush her dreams, but I also don't want to go sell this at the park. It's kind of odd. And then anyway, Meadow has gone and sold this to neighbors, and she just has this cute little entrepreneur plan and business plan. And she's saying, like, well, the kids will want it, and the moms will say, No, you can't have it because it has sugar, but it doesn't, it's good for you.

SPEAKER_02: 54:09

You know, I love that she's she's taking this very smart approach by the way of going, I'm fine, I'll just go to the neighbors. Like, we don't have to go to the park. Fine. Well, I'll just I'm gonna bob around. I had somebody else on the podcast who she had a very she came from an entrepreneurial family. And she had shared, like, I I wanted to do like a lemon, I think it was like a lemonade stand, and her dad was like, Well, uh, how are you gonna purchase the lemonade? And like literally went through like all of these like different questions, like, if I'm going to like as a dad, if I'm gonna supply, like what's my return on it? So like she was literally forced in that circumstance to like start to really think through the ins and outs of what this was gonna look like so that she could go and sell the lemonade, like from a very business entrepreneurial mind.

SPEAKER_00: 55:08

It is so cute.

SPEAKER_02: 55:09

How old is that little one? Well, sh this, so this woman is now like I she just turned 40, so she's my age, but she was speaking to like her past, like who she was in her younger years, and how that has really played into where she's at now. You know what I mean? So the reason I bring that up is like literally your your grandbaby is going to be an entrepreneur, most likely.

SPEAKER_00: 55:31

Yeah, exactly. I mean, she's had this like since she was two and then has continued on with it, and now she's actually starting to do it. And even when, you know, she wanted to go sell it at the park, and Mariah's like, I don't know if I want to go sell this at the park, but I don't want to crush her dreams. And then Meadow's like, Meadow was saying, Well, let's go sell it to the neighbors. And Mariah's also thinking that's gonna be odd, but okay. And then she said, I'm gonna go get Wilder, the younger one. And when she got wilder, she was already out selling it to neighbors. And um, what was I? Oh, then Wilder, her brother, little brother, wanted to get a table to sell the stuff at a park, and she was saying, Well, we can't use all the money on supplies, so I can't buy a new table when we have a table, but I'll get you a blue tablecloth. So she was so like smart. Honestly, yeah, like she is being a good one.

SPEAKER_02: 56:19

I wanted her to come and just help me out. Yeah, so it's so cool. Now, how how old are your grandbabies?

SPEAKER_00: 56:29

Uh six, four, two, and six months. Oh my gosh. So every two weeks. That's a spread. Yeah, six four, two, okay, and then and then Tom has um kids with grandkids too, and so then those are twelve and ten. So then there's a couple more in the mix. Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_02: 56:50

Yeah. So you guys are kind of busy bumblebees. Yeah. Right. As as grandparents.

SPEAKER_00: 56:57

Yes. And I was saying how much I just enjoy the grandparent part because I think when I was raising kids, I I loved it. I absolutely loved it, but I did, like, as it explains in my book, have a lot of unresolved trauma that I was still working through myself. I mean, I had my first when I was so young that I hadn't resolved that trauma yet. I hadn't worked through it yet.

SPEAKER_01: 57:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 57:19

So I was having her, I mean, I was raising her without having that resolved yet. So I didn't really have the time to just like think and ponder or just where I do with my grandkids. And I like even walking, holding, you know, holding their hand one time, one of them at the beach, thinking, you know, where she was in the water, I was on the sand, and just thinking of how much that's like holding Christ's hand. Like she is holding my hand, she doesn't have to worry about where we're going, she doesn't have to worry about the end destination. She can trust me. I've got her. She's in waves where it's a little bit tough, but I've got her hand. And then if it got too tough, I'd pick her up. I mean, that's just such a relationship of our parent-child relationship with Christ. And I didn't have those when my kids were young, I was just busy and you were just kids going along to get along. Yeah, exactly. And then with the grandkids, I can really think about how wonderful this is.

SPEAKER_02: 58:12

Yeah, that is a perfect segue into talking a little bit more about the faith piece for you because you talk about it a lot in the book itself, and how this is, you know, it it took you some time to get to this point where faith plays an integral role, and it's it's a part of your business as well. So can you share a nutshell version of where you started and where you're at now, and sort of some of the the gold nuggets in between?

SPEAKER_00: 58:49

Yes. So I was um raised Jehovah's Witness, and so the a lot of my years raised at home Jehovah's Witness, and I I didn't have a relationship with Christ then, a personal relationship with Christ. It was a lot of just rules and a lot of unknowns, like don't celebrate holidays, don't celebrate this, don't celebrate that. But it wasn't about a relationship with Christ. And then my parents divorced, and my book was into a whole lot of trauma that went with that. And I had um no relationship with Christ, no religion in my life at all. And then, of course, my one of my biggest, darkest moments in life was the death of my daughter. And through that is the first time I as an adult then turned to Christ. And looking back on my life, he was always there. So he was always there speaking to me, answering my questions, but I wasn't listening. And then when I first turned to him is when it started to unfold. But then the sanctification process happens. I still had a lot of baggage. I wasn't all of a sudden I turned to him and next day I'm this changed person. So I still had a lot of learned behavior, a lot of learned thoughts, a lot of baggage there. That over time changed. Just like I was talking about with earlier, with when you don't have certain things, you don't crave certain things. It's the same thing with our sanctification process in Christ that our thoughts are worldly, our heart is worldly, our head is worldly. And when we turn to Christ and through sanctification, he starts to undo that desire for worldly things and then fill that spot with him. And like I was saying too, with the Western medicine or holistic health new age part, it does leave out the spirit part. So my the part of my business is where faith, scripture, and science intersect. So that's the mind, body, and spirit. And the spirit is the part in us that God gave us. It's him in us. Just like we are from our parents' DNA, I mean, you have a gene from mom, a gene from dad. We have spiritual DNA, and that's the spirit in us that Christ gave to us, him in us.

SPEAKER_02: 1:01:00

I do want to talk a little bit in the vein of trauma and how the body holds on to it. You talk a lot about that in the book itself. And so out of curiosity to tie this in with the faith piece, did as you sort of went through the massaging of your faith, so to speak, and how in doing that and turning to Christ and sort of the slow etch, did you start to see shifts in your body as well, in conjunction to having a very firm understanding because of the gifts that you were given, right? And the understanding and the knowledge that you have around the body holistically. Did you um like what did that process look like in peeling back the onion layers, so to speak, and then revealing and then removing of the trauma?

SPEAKER_00: 1:01:58

Yeah, great question. So the the science part of it would be the sympathetic or parasympathetic pattern in your body. So that's your autonomic nervous system, your breath, your respiration, your so autonomic has the parasympathetic or sympathetic. So sympathetic pattern is where your foot's on the gas pedal. That's go and that's fight f fight, flight, freeze. Parasympathetic is where your body can rest, digest, and heal. Your body should alternate between the two, but when someone has had a lot of stress, whether it's emotional or physical, emotional stress is like what you just described, physical stress is autoimmune conditions or dietary um restrictions that they're continuing to eat. So whatever it is, stress in the body, then their body starts to get in the pattern of sympathetic. And to undo that, I really think it was just Christ speaking to me and me listening. Because so it was Christ speaking to me and me listening because I started doing things that I didn't really know the the reason why or the benefit, as far as like sound therapy, for example, or breathing techniques, for example. When I had, I mention it in my book, but I had a friend that asked um a friend that I've known my whole life, and she was asking if I have ever been mad at God for a lot of the trauma that I've went through. And no, I never have, never was, and in fact, I actually think it's drawn me closer to Christ because I was telling her, like when she she'll ask her parents like about college or about what car or about her boyfriend, she'll ask her parents these questions. Me not having parents, I would just pray about it. So I really just developed this. He is my father, he is my friend, he's my companion, he's my provider, he's he's everything. So I go to him for everything. I mean, everything. And the and the answer is always in scripture. I mean, it's always there. I do it whether I use scripture as my guide, whether it's talking about what food to eat, how to preserve something, or my health, or I mean, it's just the answers in scripture. Even when the fad was sugar and then artificial sugar and all the other things, my whole time I've stuck with honey because Jesus ate honey. It's like science is always gonna catch up with scripture. And fascinating, huh? Yeah. So science will always catch up with scripture and eventually. And then when it comes around, it's like, yeah, I knew that. It's it's in the Bible.

SPEAKER_02: 1:04:31

You're like, I hate to say it, but I told you so.

SPEAKER_00: 1:04:34

Exactly. So it will always come back around and be understood. But so I really think a lot of it a lot was doing things that he just led me to do, I did it, and then realized later how the science behind why it worked. Even with sound therapy, a lot of people think that's just new age weird stuff. But when you look at scripture, when Saul was in turmoil, David played the harp. That's so that's sound therapy. There's a healing frequency in that harp that David was using for Saul that cured his anxiety. So there's sound therapy in scripture, and then breathing techniques. I mean, he breathed his life into us. There's life in breath. And so a lot of I just started doing it because Christ led me to, and then I later realized the benefit of it. And when I was first starting to make the changes in myself, me being a holistic health practitioner, I was doing the things like functional lab work and hormone testing and all the different things, taking vitamins and supplements, trying to get my whatever back into normal range, and they were improving, but inside I still didn't feel how I wanted to feel. So my numbers were improving, but I still didn't feel settled inside. Once I started doing things Christ led me to sound therapy, breathing techniques, grounding, some of those things, that's when science and when they came together. When it came together with my body is changing, my soul is changing, and my spirit is changing.

SPEAKER_02: 1:06:00

Fascinating. Interestingly enough, and we can talk about this off-air, but I am just gonna drop this in here as well. The spirit for me is it's such an incredible journey that I have been on, especially over the last year. And I will again say, and I've I've mentioned it a couple times on the podcast, but I've been discipling. So I have a disciple, she's uh probably going on 80. She looks fantastic, by the way. She's like you, like she's going on 80, and I have seen such dramatic change, and it's also like had an impact on how I show up for the podcast too, right? I do try to lead with love and um have a different kind of energy as I'm having the conversation with my with my guests, but I have had these thoughts as, and especially as I've been reading your book and hearing about your jer your journey personally about like the labs and stuff. I'm like, I just turned 40 and I am ready to like let this be my best year yet in terms of health and wellness. Because guess what? There is so much of this like chirpy chirpy chirpy that happens from the outside world that goes, Oh, just wait, your body's gonna slow down, your metabolism this, that. And I'm like, no, it's gotta be better than this. It's had to be better. It's gotta be. And and I do want to just take a moment and share with the listeners some of the conversations that we were having before we hit record about coffee, for instance, right? Like, I do I think I never thought that we would bring this up, but here we are, you know, and in terms of energy, and I just had sort of this like aha moment of okay, I've been having these like weird sort of ebbs and flows of like I've been drinking too much coffee. Why am I having coffee in the afternoon? Why am I doing this? And then all of a sudden I start to pull back, but I sort of feel this like pull pull back to coffee. And interestingly enough, you're like, well, yes.

SPEAKER_00: 1:08:16

Anyone that drinks coffee is they're tired, they're dehydrated, they have that afternoon crash, and then they're looking for a pick-me-up, and that pick me up is either more coffee or sugar, right? So they coffee and sugar is their afternoon pick-me-up. So they're tired, they're running on a low vibrational frequency, and they think that's their norm. And when they quit coffee, then they have this higher energy, and then no one realizes like, oh, coffee is depleting my energy. Yeah. So people that drink coffee, they're they're tired, they're dehydrated. Dehydrated doesn't sound like as big of a thing as it is, but when you're dehydrated, you actually water brings nutrients to your cells and gets rid of toxins. So it delivers what you need and takes away what's causing problem. And when you're dehydrated, you can't, so if you have a cup of coffee, you're not going to replace it with a cup of water. It's not one for one. Because when you have coffee and a diuretic, you're losing so much more nutrients than you can replace with a cup of water. So your people that drink coffee, especially every day, they're tired and they're dehydrated, they're functioning at a low vibr, low vibrational frequency.

SPEAKER_02: 1:09:23

So I I do want to just let the listeners know. And for the guests who have been on the podcast, they know I always offer either coffee, water, or tea. Whatever you want. It's it's up to you. And Rachel was like, after I read this in her in your book, like you don't really you're like, I'll have a cup of coffee. I was like, really? Really? Okay. So the reason I bring this up is just simply to help the listeners understand, like, you don't have to cut it cold turkey.

SPEAKER_00: 1:09:52

Exactly.

SPEAKER_02: 1:09:53

You can still have it. And you you shared, like, it's just sort of like my little treat here periodically. It's like my like warm, cozy cup of warmth.

SPEAKER_00: 1:10:02

Right. Now, if I'm helping someone quit coffee in or quit anything, whether it's sugar, coffee, whatever it is, in the beginning to quit 100%. Yeah, cold turkey. 100% of it out. So when I first quit coffee, I was the most addicted person to coffee you've met. So when I talk about that, I'm not saying it from a stance of I don't like coffee. I love coffee. But when I did quit coffee, I didn't drink any coffee for probably two years. And then now I do as a treat or as a, you know, I do sometimes, not on a daily basis. Yeah. But you know, I actually do some things that I don't have my pay that I tell my patients not to do because I take such, you know, I take such good care, like big picture stuff, that those little cheats don't affect me as much. Right. And you're in that really the goal. And your body is able to bounce back. Exactly. Exactly. Bounce back. So that's a big part of what I work with people on. Their inner vitality, their inner vital force, their inner terrain. So when you have a strong inner vitality, inner terrain, yeah, things that you expose yourself to don't set in, they bounce off.

SPEAKER_01: 1:11:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 1:11:11

But when you have a weaker disposition from chronic stuff that you're doing, things that you're exposed to set in more and they take hold. So I actually I'm not gluten-free, dairy-free, all this stuff that I encourage people to do to make change because I cry, you know, I've done a lot of the other stuff.

SPEAKER_02: 1:11:30

You've you have done the undoing. Right, right. Exactly. And so now you are in a position with the vitality of your body that you can have these things. And but I'm certain that you probably um you tell me, do you take it a step further if it's like in the realm of dairy, for instance, like how, like where it's sourced from and all that stuff, like you do a lot of research. Oh, for sure.

SPEAKER_00: 1:11:59

Okay, like when I say I'm not this or that free, I don't think people need to do things 100% because that's not sustainable. But in the beginning, when I'm having them do something, it is a hundred percent. And the reason why in the beginning is I use the example, if you were going to sit on, if you were sitting on 10 pins, that would hurt. If you removed five of them and sat on five pins, it would still hurt. So you have to first remove all of it to undo that. But when I do have things that I know maybe wouldn't be the best for me, I it is either organic or um organic, or where's it from? Like raw cheese from Costco or organic creamer or just I all those things are thought through, or even like gluten. I'm not gluten-free, but how often do I have gluten? Not often, but I'm not gluten-free. Yeah. And when I do, I'm careful, like I buy it from I make sure it's I I would prefer it to be from Italy because they don't use the chemicals and the sprays that we do here. So I'm mindful of what I was going to do. Yeah. So I'm mindful of ingredients.

SPEAKER_02: 1:13:01

It's so awesome. And let me just say, I all I keep thinking about is like how incredible for our listeners, and selfishly for myself, to have somebody like you in their and their lexicon and their Rolodex as a resource because of the wealth of knowledge that you bring to the vitality of your body.

SPEAKER_00: 1:13:24

Well, thank you so much. And yeah, you know, a neat realization that I had just a few weeks ago that I was telling Tom that, like what you just said, uh people have said to me having me in their back pocket type thing where they can just message me and ask something. And I it was just like this aha moment that I realized that Christ is that for us. Like he is always with us. I can ask him at two in the morning or five in the morning, or I can ask him anything, any answer. He's just always with us.

SPEAKER_02: 1:13:52

Yeah, it's so cool. I love, I loved the story that you shared, you know, about walking in the water with your grandbaby and just that connection to how that Christ is exactly like that for us, like holding her hand, he holds our hand. It's so beautiful, it really is. And um, I I can imagine that you you have a lot of these like epiphanies. So it's so many with the grandbabies. I do have a sense though, and this is something that you and I can speak to because we're both faith girlies, so to speak, but the more you get to know God and the Lord, you you sort of have this like it's like this intel, this insight, a different kind of intel and a different kind of insight. And then that allows you to be able to show up differently for let's, you know, first case scenario is your family, right? And then it's your extended family, and then it's the community, et cetera, et cetera. Right. It just it's it's very interesting, and this is some of those profound circumstances that I'm starting to experience as I continue through the discipleship and just continue to like etch away at who I am as a person, right? First, it's coming to understand who God is, and then that helps me understand a little bit more about myself, but then coming out too and then showing up in a different way, leading with love.

SPEAKER_00: 1:15:30

Yes, that's beautiful. Oh, thank you. Yes, that is beautiful, and it's so true. The more it's in you, the more the spirit is in you, and you respond to that, the more it grows. And then, and he comes to us with a still small voice. It's not in the crashing waters, the heavy winds, the waves, the it's the still small voice. So to hear that still small voice, we have to be intentional with our time. Yeah. Where we set aside time and get to know him and listen to that. And and then that does change us and starts to mold us, and we're continually, continually being molded. Just like you said, you're 40 and you're not going to accept that this is changing, that's changing. Like, no, this is this can be your best year yet. And then where I am now with Christ, that's not the end. I'm gonna be better next year and the year after it's a thousand percent closer and growing and stronger and more in tune, and he speaks more into your life, and you hear it and respond.

SPEAKER_02: 1:16:22

A thousand percent. How was faith within the home setting too? And then um talk a little bit beyond that, how that shows up in your business as well.

SPEAKER_00: 1:16:35

How was faith in the home setting growing up, you mean? Like with the kids for your kids, yeah. For the kids growing up. They well, like I said in the big a while ago, that when I had my daughter, I was on doing a lot of things. So it wasn't there in the beginning. It wasn't she wasn't born into that. But then when my daughter, my daughter that passed away is when I turned to Christ. So my daughter was young when I did start my faith journey, so she was young enough. Yeah, and and honestly, to answer that honestly, I know in the beginning years of kids, I made a lot of mistakes, like any parent probably can say. Oh, and I actually just I it put all of my trust in the Lord that He is bigger than my mistakes and He can undo that. So, where was Christ in raising the kids? It was just like within me, a slow build. Okay, and so it was a slow build, it was always there. Um, but I do think that the kids probably had to they I I would guess I haven't asked, they haven't said this, and I haven't asked, but if there's any confliction as far as mom says this, but then this, you know, and my daughter has said she realizes like the life that I came from, and then other people have said to her, How can your mom because I was a strict parent, so then other people have said to her, How can your mom expect this of you when she didn't live that herself? And then my daughter said, Well, just because she did this or that, she can't then condone that, right? Because she made that mistake, she can't say now you can go make it too. Right. So I think there's a lot of I guess in their growing up, then the part that I'm very thankful for that they probably learned is love, mercy, and grace. And no one's perfect, and we're all becoming a better version of ourselves. So, where was Christ? He was always present and he's always but it continues to get stronger. Love it.

SPEAKER_02: 1:18:32

And how about within your business practice as well?

SPEAKER_00: 1:18:35

You know, within my business, I um started my business, like I said, so I could do those things. And my the business name is Shekinah Wellness, and Shekinah is the glory of God. So the Shekinah, the Shekinah glory led the Israelites by cloud by day, by fire by night. So it's being led by God. And the tagline is applying biblical roots to print applying biblical roots to health and healing. But I have noticed through the years that it's not as present as I would want it to be. It's not as present as I set it up to be. And I I pray with them, I I talk to them, but I think a lot of it, why it's not there as much is people like I was in the beginning are looking for can you just make this better? Like this, either my vitamin D or my thyroid or this autoimmune or this eczema or whatever it is. So they're looking at can you make this thing better? And they're not looking at necessarily the spiritual component of it. An example of that that's easier to understand is let's say anxiety. So eczema, you know, that's a skin thing. But then anxiety. I know someone personally where she wanted my help with dealing with her child's anxiety, and she wanted a supplement because she didn't want her kid to go on an anti-anxiety med. Okay, well, that's a great step, but let's talk about the trauma. Like, let's talk about the trauma that's in the life because I can't just, I mean, if they want a supplement, I'll do that, but I don't have a lot of hope for that without addressing the trauma.

SPEAKER_01: 1:20:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 1:20:07

So that is part of what when I mentioned in the beginning, how Tom and I are starting a new thing, another thing. Um, that eventually, like it's in the works, but it is all in all ministries. And it is really getting more to I love what I do with people and I love working with them one-on-one. But what I'm growing into is I want that, what I do right now, to be a portion of what I do, and even a smaller portion because I want the bigger portion to be the spiritual ministry.

SPEAKER_02: 1:20:39

Wow. That's incredible. Well, you'll have to keep all of us posted on how that continues to progress. Have you guys set like a date for one that might just, you know, all of a sudden come out? Oh god, I have to believe that Tom is like working behind the scenes, like yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 1:21:03

He is, and even when I've told my kids, they're like, Who set that date? It's like, who do you think? Yeah. And we right now, in it's July. I mean, not July, January.

SPEAKER_01: 1:21:14

Okay.

SPEAKER_00: 1:21:14

And so January. And I've said to the kids, like the pressure that that feels right now is as if he's saying, Can you go read 400 books, get all the nuggets out of it, and go write four books and have that done in four months? I mean, so he's not really saying that to me. That's just the press, you know, the what I feel. Yeah. And when I told him that, he said, you know, I just threw a date out there. It doesn't have to be that date. So it may or may not be. It's just good to have goals. For sure. I think once we, you know, we're gonna we have a goal, a big picture goal, and then what we really need to do is look at all the steps that need to happen to make that goal and to see is Janu January realistic or not. Yeah. So all I really know is it's in the pretty near future.

SPEAKER_02: 1:22:00

So cool. And it's so cool that the two of you are coming together as a united force with faith as the foundation. I'm so excited. You are leading. I'm sure it's just gonna allow you, the two of you, to be able to show up in such an incredibly different way that is leading by your spiritual strengths. Oh, it's so exciting.

SPEAKER_00: 1:22:26

The big picture of it is health, marriage, and finances. So health, marriage, finances, and having God and all of that. Yes.

SPEAKER_02: 1:22:34

Oh, so cool. We're gonna start to land the plane, as I like to say. Um, so I've got just a few more questions. The first one that I'd like to have you noodle on and then share is what's what's a piece of advice that you would give a younger version of yourself, knowing all that you know now? I think you had mentioned something earlier on in the interview. So forgive me that I'm asking you to repeat.

SPEAKER_00: 1:23:00

But yep, I did. And it really would be slow down, enjoy the moment. The what you're doing right now is the most important thing that you need to be doing. And what I realized about myself as I got older is that I really works was a lot, a big piece of how I found value in myself. And so I would undo that. When Tom used to say, What did you do today? I would give him this long list because I felt such my value was in my works. And really, God wants us to just be present. And so now my answer is very short to not short to him as far as what did you do today? I enjoyed the day, or I sat out in the sun, or something like that, rather than my long list of tasks. So, what a little note to myself would be really enjoy the moment you're in. Because what you're doing is going to help build the other stuff, and it will happen, just like you know, Rachel's remedy. That wasn't a business plan.

SPEAKER_02: 1:23:58

Yeah, it just came out of what you were already doing innately as a human. What's a piece of advice you would give a woman listening right now that is I want to tie it in with what you do. They are an entrepreneur, hustling and grinding, know that they need to slow down. What would be a piece of advice that you would share with them, like the first step that they could take to get a little bit more order with their body?

SPEAKER_00: 1:24:39

With their body. So, like so are you saying physical health? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 1:24:44

Okay.

SPEAKER_00: 1:24:45

One thing would be a morning routine is so important. I have a lot of self-care habits, self-care routines, a lot of things that I do. But the one of them that I just cannot do without is my morning routine. And that is my prayer time. So your most people's day is just on autopilot. They they go without throughout their day without thinking, and everything just swirls around and piles on top of them. But in order to break that autopilot, it has to be intentional. And so starting the day with that, even if it's 10 minutes, starting the day with, and when I have my when I do my prayer time, my for the beginning of my prayer time isn't me praying and asking for this or even thanking them for this. It's actually trying to quiet all my thoughts. So I'm quieting my thoughts, all my distractions, all my to-do list, all my requests, all my my everything. I'm quieting that and then asking God to show up. And then once I can feel his presence, then I pray. And so, really, what I would do if someone said that they just feel swirling of busyness, and even with their um the body, the physical healing, would be to start with their morning routine. And their morning routine, it doesn't have to be long, it can be, you know, uh a few minutes of prayer time, a few minutes of stretching, sunshine on the face, because that sets up your cortisol, your um CAR, your cortisol activating response. What you do in the morning determines how you sleep at night. What you do in the morning determines how your day is going to be as far as your cortisol awakening response. So that's probably the most important piece.

SPEAKER_02: 1:26:19

I'm so glad I phrased the question the way that I did. So that was amazing. Thank you so much. And it's affirming for me that I am on the right path with my morning routine. So um, well, what would be a good connection for either you right now with your um with your practice or for you and Tom and your new adventure as well?

SPEAKER_00: 1:26:44

Well, thank you for asking. The um a connection, I would have two different types of people or people groups that I'm thinking. And one is I don't even know the the name or the title or how to phrase it. So if I explain it in just a minute, maybe you'll be able to know what I'm trying to say. So I have a lot of like the information in my head that I want to get out. So that's what I bring to Tom and I, what we're doing. Tom is actually really good at you know, graphic design stuff and creating creating something. So taking my information and his creation, then but neither one of us are that great at technical stuff. He's better than me. I'm really it's not my strength. He is good at it, but it's not it's not his thing. Okay. So as far as putting like audio over a like if I were to speak in audio and he were to create a PowerPoint, how to get those to converge. Or if we are doing something, it's not his, he doesn't know by nature how to snip it together or take pieces out. So kind of that technical stuff.

SPEAKER_01: 1:27:46

Okay.

SPEAKER_00: 1:27:46

Whether it's a person or like, oh, I know this meetup you could be part of to learn more about like how to create sales funnels and automated messages and all that kind of stuff for business. So that's one. Okay. And then the other, if you knew people that wanted to make a business out of turning their passion for health and wellness into a business, that's part of what Tom and I are going to do with others, the course that we're creating is if they want this information just for themselves and for their family, or do they want to make a business out of it?

SPEAKER_02: 1:28:19

Ah, that's really cool. Okay. Super intrigued. Super intrigued and cannot wait until you officially launch that. And maybe we'll be able to just maybe drop some information into the show notes by the time this episode drops. Yes. Let's see. That would be great. Um, how can our listeners get connected to you?

SPEAKER_00: 1:28:44

Yeah, my website, shekinawellness.com. So s-h e k I N A H wellness.com, or buying my book. All my contact information is in there. Happy, healthy, healed, and want the same for you. It's sold on Amazon or in Barnes and Noble. It's like when like an actual bookstore. Um those otherwise social media, Instagram, Shekinah underscore wellness, Facebook, Shekinah Wellness.

SPEAKER_02: 1:29:13

Beautiful. I will be sure to drop all of that into the show notes so that um they can just quickly click and it'll take them directly there so that they can connect with you. Rachel, this has been such a treat. I could literally talk for hours and hours and hours with you. It's it's becoming more and more evident to me, just like how passionate I am about health and wellness. And to your point, also that spiritual component too, and just like how everything points to the Bible. I'm like, duh. The answers are all there. So lean into lean into the faith. But I'm so grateful for bumping into Tom when I did the conversation that unfolded with him. That led to us meeting one another, to the podcast anniversary event, and now having you here in my home. Yes, like face to face. So I am certain that our conversations will continue off air. And I hope you have a great rest of the day.

SPEAKER_00: 1:30:16

Thank you so much for having me.

SPEAKER_01: 1:30:18

Yeah, you're welcome.

SPEAKER_02: 1:30:19

Thank you. Thanks for listening. And if you enjoyed this episode and know of any inspiring mamas who are powerhouse entrepreneurs, please help connect them with myself and the show. It would mean so much if you would help spread this message, mission, and vision for other Mompreneurs. It takes 30 seconds to rate and review, then share this episode with your friends. Until the next episode, cheers to reclaiming your hue.