Discover Mayim Vega's Path From NASA to Becoming a Naturopathic Herbalist

In this episode of the Inspiring Journeys podcast, Mayim Vega shares her incredible transformation from a high-tech career at NASA to her calling as a Naturopathic Herbalist and Holistic Life Coach. She opens up about how a personal health crisis became the turning point that led her to embrace holistic wellness. Drawing from ancient healing practices and the wisdom of traditional societies, she reveals the powerful connection between modern health struggles and the fast-paced Western lifestyle. Mayim introduces her holistic detox program, offering practical tools to address the toxic elements of modern living and achieve balance, vitality, and a deeper connection between mind, body, and spirit. This episode is a treasure trove of inspiration and actionable steps for women seeking to thrive in midlife and beyond.


Key Topics:

Mayim’s Career Transition:
Journey from NASA computer scientist to Naturopathic Herbalist and Holistic Life Coach.

The Role of Early Influences:
How her mother's emphasis on whole foods and fresh ingredients shaped her perspective.

Modern Health Challenges:
The impact of Western lifestyle habits, including processed foods and sedentary routines.

Holistic Wellness Practices:
The interconnectedness of mind, body, and spirit in achieving wellness.


Key Takeaways:

Health as a Journey:
A personal health crisis can be a powerful catalyst for transformation and self-discovery.

The Power of Natural Living:
Returning to whole foods, mindful movement, and traditional wellness practices can combat modern health challenges.

Holistic Approaches Work:
Integrating mind, body, and spirit is essential for achieving lasting wellness and vitality.

Empowerment Through Action:
Midlife is an opportunity for reinvention and growth, with tools like detox programs and holistic coaching to support the journey.

Mayim's Bio: Mayim Vega is a dynamic Speaker, Author, and Holistic Life Coach dedicated to empowering others through holistic health, wellness, and success. She advocates for holistic living and a success-oriented mindset. With expertise in health, coaching, and business, Mayim offers a transformative approach to achieving balance and thriving in body, mind, and soul.

More About Mayim:
Website: mayimvega.com
Holistic Health & Life Coaching FREE Session
Holistic Healer Certification Program
HolisticPreneur FREE Guide 

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Chapters

• 0:00 Holistic Healing and STEM Careers
• 8:22 Exploring Health and Holistic Healing
• 18:01 Natural Holistic Healing and Wellness

Transcript

Lauri Wakefield
00:00
Hi, welcome to the Inspiring Journeys podcast. Thanks for joining me today. I'm your host, Lauri Wakefield, and I've invited Mayim Vega to be my guest today. Do you want to say hi, mayim? 

Mayim Vega
00:20
Hello, Lauri. 

Lauri Wakefield
0:22
Mayim is a naturopathic herbalist and holistic life coach. Her career after college began as a computer scientist and engineer at NASA's Ames Research Center. In 2005, she sought holistic healing for herself after suffering from an illness that wasn't getting better through conventional medicine. This led her to pursue her own career in holistic healing. So that's what you're doing today. So let's go back and talk about in your childhood we talked about how your mom was focused on more like on whole foods and things like that. You want to talk a little bit about that, 

Mayim Vega
00:49
Yeah, absolutely. so. My mother. She had me when she was in her mid-40s and maybe after that she had two miscarriages and then she had menopause. So that was the last baby that she had and she menopause shortly after. And so she was older. 
01:09
She grew up in the Philippines and they were poor and so there wasn't really access to McDonald's and chips and cookies and like all these junk foods that we have today, these highly processed foods that can live on your shelf like almost forever and still be edible. She cooked everything from scratch Rice. Every meal had rice breakfast, lunch and dinner. That's just how it is in the Philippines and I think most Asian countries as well China, japan, things like that and every meal also had meat fresh meat from the butcher. Not a lot of meat, but there was meat at every meal, and most meals they were stew, so they had broth, which is also very healthy, and also vegetables. So every single meal had meat, rice and vegetables. And then dessert was fruit, like fresh fruit that she either picked herself from down the road or on her own property coconuts, mangoes, things like that or bought from one of those street vendors. They just go up and down your street selling coconut water or mangoes or whatever is in season. They just go up and down and through the neighborhoods. Instead of ice cream men, ice cream trucks had fruit fresh fruit trucks. So it was just a healthier life, a healthier environment, a healthier community. Overall, everything had to be made fresh. 
02:37
And we came over here when I was around three years old, maybe a little bit older. And when we came over here around three years old, maybe a little bit older, and when we came over here, she kept doing what she was doing. She kept on cooking healthy food. When we would go out to a fast food restaurant let's say we went out as a family to the mall and then it wasn't. We'd get hungry, so we'd get some fast food. We'd only eat a little bit and then, as when we went home, we'd eat a real meal. 
03:04
Like my family never felt eating fast food. That couldn't be a real meal. We just eat a little bit so that we're not hungry anymore, and then we go home and eat the good food. And that's how she raised me and I was a pretty healthy child. I hardly ever needed hospitals or doctors or anything like that. Once in a while she would take me, but I didn't really need much. I think that goes for a lot of people's backgrounds. We all come from backgrounds that thrived and survived on very natural, healthy foods, and we didn't need the kind of medicines that we have today because our food was healthier. 

Lauri Wakefield
03:42
You're talking about, like years ago, before and before all these processed foods started coming out right. 

Mayim Vega
03:46
Yeah, before the industrialization of our food system.
 
Lauri Wakefield
03:51
Yeah, you said that your mom occasionally used an essential oil for healing. What was the? 

Mayim Vega
03:58
essential oil? I don't remember what it was called, but it was a Chinese oil and we still use it today but one of the main ingredients is eucalyptus Okay, and so that's in Vicks Vaporub as well. So people have been using eucalyptus for breathing and respiratory issues for a very long time because it works.

Lauri Wakefield
4:16
So just out of curiosity, like when you got a little bit older and moved out of the home, went to college and stuff like that, did you continue with the natural or the whole foods or did you deviate from it? 

04:31
I deviated a little bit in college because I started feeding myself and I wanted what was quicker and more convenient, so I did start eating out more, but then I entered into a religion which was not what I grew up with. I grew up as a Methodist Christian and I went into a different religion which was not what I grew up with. I grew up as a Methodist Christian and I went into a different religion which promoted veganism, and so I started going vegan and I thought that it was healthy, but eventually it was actually what led to my first health crisis, which got me really sick in the emergency room and the doctor thought I had a brain tumor, but it turns out that it was not a brain tumor, but it was partly due to my vegan diet. I was like a vegetarian aspiring vegan. 

Lauri Wakefield
05:16
Okay, like you were missing or deficient in certain vitamins and minerals. Was it like B vitamins?

Mayim Vega
05:22
Yes, it was B12 primarily.
 
Lauri Wakefield
05:25
Okay. So when you went to college, what was it that you studied? 

Mayim Vega
05:30
Oh, computer science my first profession was computer science. 
05:35
My first job was at a restaurant. I was a host and a waitress, but my first job in the computer science world was at NASA. So, yeah, I've always been into computers and logic and building things with technology. And back in that time, when I meet other people who are in the STEM field who are around my age I'm going to be 47. When I meet people around my age, they say the same thing that when they were going to college they were like one of the only women in the field. And so I think I remember one other female in my computer science classes besides that it was all men, and the female was me and was an Indian lady, but she didn't want to be there. Her parents are forcing her to be a computer science major why are you doing this? 
06:31
you don't like it. You're not very good at this

Lauri Wakefield
06:32
because my parents made me do it. 

Mayim Vega
6:37
Yeah, yeah, she's a fashion designer. 

Lauri Wakefield
6:40
yeah, so your career at NASA? That that sounds interesting, did you like that? 

Mayim Vega
06:50
Oh, I loved it. It was research. We were helping other scientists and researchers conduct their experiments on the supercomputers that we had at NASA. So our application, which is called iLab it was used to help test prototypes of other things like new rockets for outer space or for aircraft or for earth. It was used to test nanotechnology that would be used in medical applications, nanobots that would be released into your body and monitor your levels, which are being used right now, tested at the very least. I'm sure they're being used to some degree. Yeah, and also I had a coworker who worked on the Mars rover, so he helped to program it and he monitored it while it was gathering data and then he would collect the data and the pictures and things like that from the Mars rover and then send it out to different scientists and researchers to analyze the data. And we had talks by a lot of different great scientists and thinkers. They would come maybe once a month. We had a different talk, a lot of brilliant people. It was a lot of fun.It was a great environment to work in research. It wasn't corporate pressure or anything like that. 

 
Lauri Wakefield
07:55
Yeah, it must have been hard. Once you left it, you must miss things about it. You still keep up on the news related to that stuff or talk to people who,

Mayim Vega
08:02
Yeah, I have a few friends that I'll talk to, maybe like once a year or every other year. Not very often. We'll chat a little bit online or send emails to each other Not very often. I definitely love to keep up with what NASA is doing. I love all the photography in outer space and I like what Elon Musk is trying to do trying to do but they already said that we by now, they used to say. I remember back when I was working at NASA, they used to say that by this time we would already be living on the moon, and so, whatever Elon Musk's projections are, I don't think they'll come true in the time frame that he's thinking about, but I don't think that means that we should give up and not try. I think it's nice. What he's doing. 

Lauri Wakefield
08:53
Actually, I don't know too much about what he does. 

Mayim Vega
08:55
He wants us to live on mars in the future and I'm like there's a lot of, there's a lot of land on earth that are is still uninhabited. Why would we go to mars, which is even more difficult to live on. You might think so. 

Lauri Wakefield
09:08
You would think so, just like the, whatever the gases are in there, and would you have to wear like a mask or something to be able to breathe in. 

Mayim Vega
09:17
Yeah, you'd have to manipulate the air, the gravity. 

Lauri Wakefield
09:19
Yeah, wow, sounds like a lot of work, right?

Mayim Vega
09:22
There's no food there. You have to start from scratch. 

Lauri Wakefield
09:47
Yeah. So anyway, you ended up after you had that health crisis and ended up in the hospital like where conventional medicine just wasn't getting rid of the migraines, right?

Mayim Vega
9:57
So I left NASA is because I wanted to be a stay-at-home mom. I wanted to work from home. So I started a business helping high-tech companies like cybersecurity, network packet inspection, big data storage. People who need big data are like Hollywood need big data or scientists need big data storage, things like that. So I'd help them, I would develop apps for them or do digital marketing for them, and that was a very easy transition from NASA computer science to developer and digital marketing for high-tech companies. And then that's when, as I was building that business, that's when I became really sick and I went to the emergency room. I thought that I was on my deathbed and the doctor thought that I had a brain tumor. 
10:43
And then they did tests on me and they said, no, you don't have anything that we can find, you just have a bad headache and we don't know how to help you. Right, that's it. I was like, wow, that's crazy. I was like, if they're and I'm first of all, I'm religious, so I believe in like a benevolent god that wants the best for us number one and wants to heal us and wants us to be healthy, and number two, as a computer scientist I believe in. It's like those they do these experiments with children in America versus children in Asia and they give them an impossible math problem intentionally. And the children in America, they give up very easily and they're like I can't solve this, I'm giving up. 
11:28
Children in Asia. They will keep going. They will keep trying to solve that problem until you tell them to stop. They believe they are maybe overly confident in themselves that they can find the answer, and so perhaps that is also how I approach holistic health and healing. I believe there is an answer and I believe I can find it and I don't give up until I do. And that faith and that determination has really helped me to overcome every single health obstacle that I have faced, and also it's helped allowed me to keep my whole entire family doctor and drug and hospital free. They're vaccine free. They don't even have antibiotics. They never had prescription antibiotics. We don't have regular doctor or doctor visits. We don't hardly ever see that go to the hospital. The only time my children have been to the hospital is either to visit someone else in the hospital or two of them broke their bones. One of them broke their collarbone, another one broke their elbow there you go. And so one of them had to get a cast and we had to get x-rays. 
12:34
I don't have an herb yet I can do those things right, but besides that, everything has been holistic and natural and I've been good oh, I was just saying and I've been able to help my students as well deal with chronic issues that they couldn't find answers for, and through the system, yeah, okay. 

Lauri Wakefield
12:50
So, after you had the incident in the hospital with the migraine, what did you do? Did you go to a doctor? Did you start seeking, like alternative
 
Mayim Vega
13:02
I went to the doctor in the emergency room and they couldn't help me and they didn't have any referrals Like nothing. It was like a dead end. And so I started studying nutrition and herbalism, holistic health and eventually also life coaching, and I bet you want to know what exactly I did to fix my problem? 

Lauri Wakefield
13:24
How did you find out that it was a vitamin B deficiency? How did you find out? 

Mayim Vega
13:28
Back when Google was first born. That is unbiased, like a true baby and it came up with an article that gave me a few herbs and supplements. B12 was one of them and another one was feverfew the herb and I found that B12 worked really well. It worked better than any prescription or over-the-counter medication. As soon as I got a migraine, I would take B12 and it would just go away, but it didn't completely stop the migraines. It worked as my new Tylenol, and so I kept studying because I'm like, oh, I might be B12 deficient. 
14:00
And through my nutrition studies, eventually I realized that it was because I was trying to be vegan and so I had to start incorporating eggs and fish again. I wasn't ready mentally to start eating meat again, like in terms of chicken or red meat, but I did. I started doing eggs, dairy and fish, and that was then. I didn't need the B12 anymore and then. But then the question to me was because I was trying to approach it very rationally, logically, scientifically why are there a lot of vegetarians and vegans out there who aren't having the same problem? 
14:31
Why am I having this problem and then, through further study, I realized that it was my stress levels. My stress levels were causing my B12 and other things also to be depleted, and I needed to chill out with my business and trust God more with the process, basically, and not spend sleepless nights or be so anxious and worried, because building a business is like being a farmer you have to plant the seeds and wait and hope and pray that there's no bugs or bad weather that destroys your crop.
 
Lauri Wakefield
15:05
Right, I was just going to say and you're very driven too, it seems like it, and it seems like you like to accomplish things and you like to figure things out and you like to and you enjoy building a business and just so. Those are things that you probably had to just maybe modify maybe

Mayim Vega
15:22
I had to. Yeah, I had to moderate myself because with NASA, you just nine to five and that was it. But now it, especially as a mother, I have nine children now that I take care of. It's like my, my, my schedule is spread out throughout the day. I don't necessarily work eight hours. I probably work less than that. 
15:39
But it's like a little bit here then cook, then do some homeschool, then a little bit more work and then dinner and then go out for a walk and then more business, things like that. 

Lauri Wakefield
15:48
Yeah, I know what you mean. It's hard because when you're at home it's like you have things to do at home, so it's hard to sometimes separate the two. But anyway, okay. So with all that, like with your, you're trying to understand what was going on with your own body. Then it led you to get certified as an herbalist.
 
Mayim Vega
16:03
Yeah, I did that through. It was a school in California. It's not. It's no longer around, unfortunately. It's called the Global College of Natural Medicine and I took their certification programs in nutrition, herbalism and holistic health. Those were the three certification programs and I later went on to get certifications in coaching and also business coaching, NLP, different things that are helpful Because when you're doing health coaching, it's not the standard medical model where the doctor knows everything and he gives you a pill and it fixes everything. 

Lauri Wakefield
16:32
Exactly, it's not that model.
 
Mayim Vega
16:34
The model is education and support, and so you really have to understand how to motivate people to make the change. You can give them the knowledge, which is important, but the other part is getting them to act on it, and so that's coaching. 

Lauri Wakefield
16:48
Yeah, and I think, too, every body is different, so what works for somebody may not work for another person. I'm not talking about like everything, but there are certain things that some people just naturally need more of this or more of that. You know what I mean Because I've found that out through. I did. I don't know if you've ever heard of the test, the Nutrition Genome test where it's actually a really really good test, like it'll go into all the genes that you have, all the genes that you carry, and it'll go into. It gives you a report about different things that you might need for that to help prevent. like you have genetic weaknesses and genetic strengths and ones that are like neutral. But it's really interesting and like for my body, I need more choline than some other people, I need more B6 than some people, and other people may not eat more foods like that or supplement with that. They might not need that. 
17:35
So, yeah, it's really interesting. But so then, like when did you start working as an naturopathic herbalist? 

Mayim Vega
17:45
I started my practice in 2009. That was after I got my first. I did the first three certification programs and then my. So that was when I started health coaching, helping people, and my certification program started around COVID and the COVID years. 

Lauri Wakefield
18:01
That was a crazy time, wasn't it?
 
Mayim Vega
18:03
Yeah, that's. I really felt you know what people need to be empowered at a greater level they need. I just felt like they need to know what I know. It would have saved a lot of people's health, lives and sanity. Yeah, it's totally a very strange time, yeah. 

Lauri Wakefield
18:16
and also, the healthier you are, the healthier you are generally the less likely it's going to be that you're going to get something or you're going to get it really bad.
 
Mayim Vega
18:25
Or that you're going to even just worry about it. Right, worry about it. That was a big part of a lot of people's problem is the stress that it caused with the mental health. Yeah, yeah.
 
Lauri Wakefield
18:34
So just talking about, like, how you work, you probably don't work with just women, you probably work with men or women. But anyway, since this podcast is for women in the, I would say, 40 to 50 plus age group, are there a couple of things, just a couple of tips that you can give to them that may help with them going through these those phases of their life.
 
Mayim Vega
18:54
Yeah, actually most of my students are women around that age. So most of my students are even if I do have some students who are male, but a lot of the women are also helping their male husbands through what they learn. I would did I have I told you yet the story of Dr Weston A Price.
 
Lauri Wakefield
19:10
No. 

Mayim Vega
19:11
Okay, I think this is very telling because there's a holistic doctor and he authored the book Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, which is available on Amazon. And he was a doctor and he was a dentist and what he did was he traveled all around the world and he studied different native people groups and he observed their health and their lifestyle and what they ate and in terms of their health, he found that they were in excellent health. They didn't have the same kind of diseases that we get here in the Western modernized world today. They didn't have heart disease, diabetes, cancer, high blood pressure, etc. And they had excellent dental health. Their teeth were straight. They had no cavities, even though they didn't brush their teeth. 
19:52
And the women who were around 40 and 50 years old when we are getting menopause around that age or perimenopause they were still fertile and having babies At the ages that we in our Western society we normally start retiring and getting menopause. And the men, they weren't on a ton of medications and weak and feeble and things like that. They were still hunting meat for their food. They ate primarily meat and they also foraged a little bit fruit and vegetables that they can find a little bit of honey, not too much sugars beyond the fruit and honey and absolutely, of course, no processed foods. And so the men were healthy and hunting and vibrant and they're mentally intact. 
20:30
Still they weren't getting like dementia and Alzheimer's and all these things. They were being looked up to for their wisdom, for advice by the younger men, they were guiding and counseling the younger men and then he also saw that when people, when these native people started getting away from their native lifestyles being out in the sun and fresh air and nature and hunting and foraging and things like that and when they started adopting a Western lifestyle and getting into the modern world being indoors, eating processed foods, junk foods, packaged foods that live on the shelf forever and ever that they started contracting the same types of diseases that we in the Western world have today Diabetes, heart disease, cancer, high blood pressure, infertility,
 
Lauri Wakefield
21:14
autoimmune disease

Mayim Vega
21:16
Yeah exactly, and that speaks a lot, that story. I don't have to tell all the morals of the lessons. Just think about that story. And you can understand that we need to get back to the ancient ways. Modern technology has brought a lot of conveniences, but it has also caused us to lose a lot of things that are precious and valuable to our health and wellness. 

Lauri Wakefield
21:39
Right. So getting back to just like, maybe one or two tips that you could share with this age group that could help.
 
Mayim Vega
21:47
Yeah, some tips that I would derive from that story is move, get outside, move. It's so important. They say that sitting is the new smoking. Okay, so move your body Like I'm at my computer. I'm at a stand-up desk, right now. 
22:02
I don't have to be sitting the whole entire time so I can be moving and hand gestures and everything and be outside and nature gets sunshine, not so much that you're going to get burned, but so as much as you can stand without getting burned. It's probably going to be your optimal health level around noon or around noon or a little bit earlier. That is the optimal time. And another one is to eat real food and you might find relief if a lot of people in their older years they start having autoimmune issues. I would say look into the Carnivore Cure. It's a book by Judy Cho and explains how a lot of plant foods may have a negative effect on you. I'm not saying this is for everyone but if for certain issues it could be very helpful. But basically you don't have to go carnivore, but just going natural and getting rid of all the junk food, fast food, and I'm not saying being a purist and never doing that because, that would be mentally stressful. 
23:00
I'm just saying the 80-20 rule right 80% do the healthy and then 20% do the cheating. So move, eat naturally and personal and spiritual development I think is very important, no matter what how you find your sources for that is good. 

Lauri Wakefield
23:17
Okay, so let's talk a little bit about the programs that you offer. You did say a lot of the life coaching and the health coaching. Is that group coaching or is that one-to-one coaching or do you have like a combination?

Mayim Vega
23:29
It's a combination. I can't get away from the one-on-one because definitely people need one-on-one support. So yes, I have a detox program and it's not just about like an herbal detox or juice cleanse or fasting. It's like the total holistic detox. What's everything in your life that could be toxic to you from the water? What kind of water do you drink? What kind of environment do you live in? What? What kind of water do you drink? What kind of environment do you live in? What kind of mindset do you have? What kind of relationships do you have, as well as what kind of food you eat and what kind of herbs and supplements? 

Lauri Wakefield
24:03
You have a certification program that you. It's called the Aruka. 

Mayim Vega
24:09
Yeah, the Aruka Holistic Healer Certification Program that's available at wwwarukacom. That's for like just getting deep. That's everything basically. In that program I'm trying to give you everything that I know in terms of naturopathic herbalism, holistic life coaching and online business and marketing from my many years of doing digital marketing and then the, the detox program. To get to that one, you would go to do this, detox, that dot com, okay. And then I also have my main website, dot com. It's my name and that links. That basically links to all my programs. 

Lauri Wakefield
24:42
Right, and then I also saw that you're that you have. It's a free gift that you offer for people who are in business. The Holisticpreneur Blueprint, right? yes, so that's yes.
 
Mayim Vega
24:55
That's for people who are already in holistic health. Maybe there are doctors that are holistic, or health coaches or massage therapists I've worked with acupuncturists, physical therapists, all sorts of different types of holistic professions and if they want to create a online health coaching business to either supplement their existing practice or create a new business, I help people get off of that,
 
Lauri Wakefield
25:21
Okay. So I'll link to the free guide and I'll also link to your two websites. 

Mayim Vega
25:25
Or if you just link to mayimvega.com, that goes to all of the rest of them. Okay, yeah, okay, I think that will go to. That goes to all of the rest of them.

Lauri Wakefield
25:31
Yeah, okay, I think that's going to wrap things up. Did you have anything else that you wanted to add? No, thank you so much for having me, thank you for being here today and thanks so much for everyone else for joining us today. If you'd like more information about Mayim and the products and services she offers, you can visit her website. I'm going to actually even though you said just the one, I'm going to actually link to both of them. So to visit her website at aruka, that's A-R-U-K-A-H dot com, or Mayim Vega, which is M-A-Y-I-M-V-A-G-A dot com. 
26:04
If you have your own business or are interested in starting a business, you can grab her free HolisticPreneur Blueprint, which we were talking about, and I'll include links to all three of those in the show notes. If you'd like to see the show notes for today's podcast, you can find them on my website at inspiredlivingforwomencom. And if you'd like to join me as I continue my conversations with other guests exploring topics for women over 50, please be sure to subscribe to the Inspiring Journeys podcast. Also, if you have your own inspiring journey to share and would like to be a guest on this podcast, you can reach out to me using the contact form on my website. It's on the podcast page, but I'll also link to it in the show notes. Thanks again and have a great day. 

Mayim Vega
26:58
Okay, bye everyone, shalom.