#6 The Body and Wellness Episode

🌿💫 Healing, Health, and Self-Discovery: Transforming the Body & Mind 💫🌿

In this episode, BatSheva and Chelsea explore the powerful connection between body and mind. They discuss their personal health transformations—from overcoming chronic issues to embracing practices like fasting, yoga, and conscious eating. The conversation dives into how we can heal and strengthen our bodies, move past old habits, and thrive at any stage of life. ✨💪

🌱 What’s covered:

• The impact of breath, movement, and mindfulness on physical health
• How to nurture your body when you’re under pressure (work, motherhood, etc.)
• The science and benefits of fasting for cellular repair and clarity
• Finding balance and support when transitioning into a healthier lifestyle
• How small habits can create big changes in wellness

Plus, Chelsea shares the story behind SoulScription cacao, a holistic superfood that supports the body’s natural healing. 🍫💖

Whether you're looking for clarity, healing, or simply a reminder to prioritize your health—this episode is packed with tools to inspire your journey. 🌟

#BodyMindConnection #HealthTransformation #WellnessJourney #FastingForHealth #SelfCare #SoulScription #CacaoMagic #BalanceInLife #Healing #HolisticWellness #Fitness #HealthyHabits #EmpowerYourself #Mindfulness #Transformation

Transcript

Chelsea: 0:00

Hello, and welcome back to the Brighter podcast. My name is Chelsea.

BatSheva: 0:04

Hi, I'm Batsheva,

Chelsea: 0:05

My life is brighter. Thanks to Batsheva.

BatSheva: 0:08

and my life is super brighter thanks to Chelsea.

Chelsea: 0:10

We love sharing all of our tools and techniques, stories, and other Things in our life that help us along the way. And so we're excited to share another perspective today. But before we do that, let's take a few deep breaths, center ourselves, come into the moment. So breathing in through the nose, calming, quieting energy, and breathing out anything that's ready to go. Another deep breath in the nose, filling up the belly, the ribs, the chest, and exhaling out the mouth. Releasing all that's ready to be released. Last breath on your own through the nose, filling all the way up and exhaling out the mouth. Amazing. it's amazing what the breath can do. And today we're going to be talking about some other things, but. Breath kind of is the first thing that comes into our body. This is going to be the body episode and how we view and use health and diet and exercise and other modalities like cold plunging and pain and injury and putting ourselves through. Experiences in order to come out on the other side, more connected, more liberated, more in tune with our bodies and healthier overall.

BatSheva: 1:38

Love, love, love it. And as everyone who's heard our first episode knows, Chelsea and I met at a 10 day silent retreat. So she and I kind of bonded initially over, the journey of breath and Consciousness. So this is now bringing it to the physical, before we hit the episode, Meat and Potatoes, we wanted to share with our listeners, regarding last episode, which was about choosing a word. Of the year for ourselves, something that's personal and resonates with us that we can go back to time and time again through the year, like a North star, help us stay integrated with the path that we want to choose for ourselves. So Chelsea, how did that go for you so far?

Chelsea: 2:24

so far for me, it's been going really well. My two words are trust and balance and I got the opportunity to have a pretty, feel like intense is the wrong word because to me, intense seems kind of like cringy, but it was intense. It was emotional. It was deep with my mother and allowed coming back to my words, like trust and balance reminded me to just trust that there's a reason to trust that, you know, we are in each other's lives. Like there is something there and to just trust that everything that's happening, all these conversations that we're having, that it's for a reason and then balance. To kind of recognize taking the time, I don't know, I guess I kind of viewed it in a few different ways, like balancing my time with myself and what it is that I feel and. Is right for me, like deep down and also the voices of others, especially parental roles in my life has been huge, you know, always wanting to make people proud or for them to approve for them to. Like and love, all the things that I'm doing, but the balance comes in and that kind of balancing the time, balancing the time with myself and balancing the time with others so that I can really hear my voice here. What's right for me, because I believe that everyone is different and it really is tuning out the external. Noises, whether that be media or stuff you're taking in or other people and really just tuning into your own heart and listening and discovering what's right for you. So that's kind of where the balance part of it played in for me.

BatSheva: 4:16

I remember in an episode, you had only chosen balance and I had chosen love. And then later, I think when we spoke or in the dubs, the daily W's, um, you mentioned that you added that second word trust. And then I replied to you and I was like, yeah, I'm going to add that second word trust too. Cause it's just so amazing to think about all the time, trusting in the universe, trusting in the process, trusting in the universe. And I was really aided by the word love in particular and trust just over the past week or so since we recorded that last episode. I had been fighting off and on with one of my daughters, just really difficult, like teenage stuff, not agreeing on, you know, her studying or not studying or different attitudes and It was feeling very raw and intense for me to use that word. And when I remembered, Oh what's my word, love love love. It definitely softened me. and it definitely affected the way I communicated with her and the way I became a little more open, a little more relaxed. And that made a big difference. We did not end that communication. And it happened a couple times with as much intensity, not even close to what had been happening between us. And I also remember using it for, like, a difficult email I had to write to a family member. And then I remembered love, and I thought, no, it's not difficult. I'm just going to infuse love. And I had, like, really divine inspiration how to write the email right after I, Remember the words, so yay for the word of the year. And if our listeners chose a word and it's not helping them yet, either try to bring it in more often, or maybe, you know, you're welcome to, switch up the words. So you don't have to choose one. That's really going to work for you and help you.

Chelsea: 6:06

Exactly. Exactly. Yes. You're allowed to change your mind. You're the one that's making your own rules here. And so you can change those at any time. speaking of rules, I feel like that along with the body, Batsheva and I have both, embarked on a five day water fast today is day one.

BatSheva: 6:24

Yeah. Day one for you and day two for me, and we are coming to you live in the middle towards the beginning, but the middle of this five day water fast. So that's pretty unique experience.

Chelsea: 6:36

Yeah, we had come across another podcast that we like to listen to the know thyself podcast and Dr. Mindy Pelz was on there and we are all for all the things women and she's talking about the benefits of fasting and I've done multiple fasts before and But this time it feels like I know, I know more about it and it's for different reasons. And I've really taken the steps to prepare for the beginning of it and also coming off of the fast, which is something different that I'd never done. Kind of, I had a misunderstanding, I guess, that I thought. why people were so strategic on how they broke the fast was because their stomach couldn't handle just like having food right away. Which I was like oh mine can like it's no problem. but then I recognized how important is to be reintroducing the correct bacteria for your microbiome. And so I'm just really excited to be doing this and having a little bit more intention and attention to the details and also not like I'd always done lemon water, which I was really diving into the autophagy part of it and the ketones and everything. And recognizing that it can affect it, like even just lemon. And so I've had cacao before in the past and coffee and tea. And I think that at this time, as of right now, anyways, this time I'm just doing strictly water with salt. I did get some trace minerals, drops that you can put in. And I did get some magnesium, like all unflavored, nothing in it, but that just to help with electrolytes. But no other things are in them. And so, yeah, I'm really excited to see as Dr. Mindy said, who are one of the stories she is, was excited to see who I am on the other end of these five days, who I become.

BatSheva: 8:52

I decided to, I am drinking coffee and tea because I remember she had said those were okay during the water fast. So hopefully they'll keep me in autophagy. But just to be clear to our listeners, we aren't doing this because of some fad or some weight loss. We actually heard the science behind it. and these types of fasts regenerate stem cells in the body. They can eradicate chronic illness and pain. They can avoid disease from developing in the body. Not to mention, as Chelsea said, give us clarity and help us answer questions or understand a concept that we were struggling with. We're approaching it for those reasons And we'll definitely have an episode on the other side of it to let everyone know how the full five days goes. But in the meantime, we wanted to talk to you guys about all of this because Chelsea and I were similar, although we didn't know each other in our teens and wild twenties, I know that she, like me, I mean,I used to party and drink, and I would do drugs here and there and eat whatever I wanted. And had a great metabolism, so I literally ate a bunch of junk all the time. cool thing I see it with my teens now. I mean, they actually are healthier than I was, but. I just didn't care about my body back in my teens and my twenties until I started, unfortunately, getting chronic conditions, insomnia, irritable bowel syndrome, headaches, jaw clenching, and like, Other issues and then therapy help with a lot of them, to be honest, but it also made me, got initiated my interest, which is now lifelong into feeling into what is going to help my body, not someone else's body, but my body be its most radiantly healthy and balanced.

Chelsea: 10:54

Yeah, I can remember it almost being like a badge of honor, like an award of whose body could withstand the most torture, who could do, you know, Oh, I only got this much sleep or I only got, this is all I've eaten today. Or I had this many shots and it's just. Oh, I think about it now and I'm like, Oh, thank you, body. Thank you for withstanding all that I put you through. I promise for the rest of our time together to be as nourishing and nurturing to you. And I'm just so grateful for the body that I have. Dr. Mindy talks about the feast or famine, you know, that we weren't always like our tribal ancestors did not go to grocery stores. You know, they had to like go out and hunt and gather. They were not eating all the time, like we are in present day. So just recognizing the way that our bodies work and the innate intelligence that's inside of our bodies to repair and replenish and restore. All of ourselves is just so fascinating. And then for me, yeah, the clarity and the creativity that comes through is, and even energy, like some people, and I used to think like, Oh, I had to eat to have energy, but actually it's kind of opposite sometimes. It's definitely dependent on what you're eating and everybody is different.

BatSheva: 12:22

I know that you did soccer growing up and in college, and I always think about the fact that I didn't. I wasn't very physical at all growing up. My sister was a professional dancer for a long while. And I had this competitive bone in my body where I just, I love my sister. She's amazing. And she supports me with everything. But growing up, I was just like, that's her thing. She's a dancer. So I'll do everything else. I'll act. I'll write. I'll do great school. I'll blah, blah, blah. But she's the dancer. So I didn't really move my body or learn to move my body. I did play some soccer and some sports. So I had the desire to be athletic, but I didn't have like amazing natural skills. So I never developed it and cut to my twenties when everything started to go south after college. the way I was not taking care of myself at all. So the chickens coming home to roost included going to therapy, I started looking into . Chinese herbs at the time, and I discovered yoga. And for me, yoga was this portal that combined everything. I hadn't been a spiritual person either, but between, as you mentioned in the beginning, the breath and the stretching and the yoga I was doing was also very intense. So it was an amazing workout. And I started to, for the first time in my life, be able to release. I had a lot of releases, emotional releases and pain, as you mentioned, even sometimes injury, but then on the other side healing because I was finally on a path of healing. So healing in the correct way. And that was in my late twenties. I'm now in my early fifties And I feel like I'm just getting started with my dancing and my physical fitness. And then to hear Dr. Mindy Peltz on that podcast say that post menopausal women are supposed to be the most fit of all the different stages of women's life. I mean, that blew my mind and also was fucking awesome to hear. Cause I'm like, yes, I'm in a workout class with an 80 year old and she's in incredible shape. She's actually my Tai Chi teacher. Just allowing ourselves to step into this new role of caring about and loving our bodies. It's exciting and it's, it's great to leave behind the crazy wild teenage and twenties. It's well, some kids are precocious and they hit it earlier and I bow to them, but many of us don't get the memo until a little bit later. I'm wondering how you transitioned from soccer girl, party girl into. Caring about your health. Oh, and you were a nurse, which means you were not sleeping much for many, many years.

Chelsea: 15:12

Yeah, it's definitely been a ride of, you know, taking care of yourself enough to play sports. But even then I feel like there was, I was doing a lot of things to my body, depriving it, not feeding it the right foods, maybe You know, running on zero fuel, like zero fuel. And then, yeah, nursing was kind of the same deal. Like just fully giving my body and all my energy to my patients all the time. It was almost a competition then of who waited the longest to take a bathroom break or who was able to scarf their lunch down the fastest. so many different unhealthy things or how many hours, how many 12 hour shifts in a row you worked and then how long you were out there later charting. And then, you know, by the time I got home and got things done, it was like, got, six hours of sleep and it was always just. I said, like a badge of honor of who could treat their body the worst, like bragging rights going to work and it was almost like seeing who could one up the other one with who didn't take care of themselves. And in retrospect, you're like, how, like I'm preaching here trying to get these people that are patients to take care of themselves yet. I'm not doing that myself. I'm. Giving away all my energy, giving away all my power and choosing to try and fill other people's from like an empty cup. So, it just really didn't make sense to me or it doesn't make sense to me now like looking back on it then I was like, so I didn't even care. But now looking back to it, it just like, wow. Respect for people who jump on the health train sooner.

BatSheva: 17:04

That environment in the competition like who can be the craziestI definitely recognize that from my own college experience, which was super duper intense. But I remember one of my friends there, she had been in the New York city ballet and she was, I think 19 or 20 by the time she got to Yale, she had taken a few years off to do the ballet and she hadn't had her period in years and years and I guess had sort of been some version of anorexic. Due to the ballet and when she started to get healthy again in the school environment and eat and, you know, transition, she would tell us stories about how the ballerinas would basically encourage each other, like, Oh, I just had only a half a grapefruit all day. And that was like the coolest thing, you know, I mean, it's just these environments that people get in I mean, the ballet is this incredible, beautiful place.

Chelsea: 17:58

I definitely have a friend who she was a ballerina she was a ballet dancer professionally and school and stuff. And she said that the mental toll. That it put on her was insane. She's now a therapist and a lot of getting there had to do with her journey. And then you see the movie, you know, black Swan, it's like, Whoa,

BatSheva: 18:26

So my question to you is what can we tell people? How can we support other women listening to this podcast who are Right now in somewhat intense environments, be it work environments where they really are called to work in an office or in a hospital or in some environment full time, or even over time, and or mothers like a lot of people I work with as a coach or friends I have, they are younger mothers, and they Legitimately struggle. I mean, they couldn't do a five day fast. You know what I mean? Or maybe they could, but they're funny. As I say it, I'm thinking they, they totally could, but I would want them to have the right support along the way, because it might not be easy, you know, in the beginning. But what would you advise people like that who really have to balance that pressure with trying to take care of their bodies?

Chelsea: 19:26

I think that that's just a balance is you have to prioritize and carve out the time or at least like surrounding whenever you're in those environments, like trying to surround for me, it was trying to surround myself with things. Like I remember whenever I was out in California doing some nursing and it was during COVID and, you know, there was the. overall vibe and energy was not healthy, you know, and I would take my breaks and I would listen to books and I would spend my, you know, whenever I had a day off, then I would be in the ocean. I would be in nature. I was making sure that the things that I was eating were healthy. And then hanging out with other people and finding People that are interested in the same thing that want the same, you know, have the same goals as you, because like you're saying, even with the ballet dancers, if you have a support system, it makes it so much easier. I mean, for this fast, we have five, it's a group of five of us and we're doing it. And three of the five people. are doing the three day fast and Batsheva and I are doing the five day fast, but it's just having that group a for accountability and B for being able to tell them what you're feeling, where you are and to receive that support back of, you know, seeing you witnessing you and encouraging you to make the right choice for yourself., Whether that be breaking the fast or continuing, or, you know, taking care of yourself, like whatever situation you're in, just having support.

BatSheva: 21:07

I love those suggestions so much. I want to repeat them because I feel like they are so important. They are having books and or audio materials or podcasts that light you up and support that journey. You said going to nature, which is amazing. It's so true. Even if they don't live by the ocean, we can all go into a yard or a park or take a hike, surrounding yourself with the right support. Amazing and leaning on that support when you need to, I mean, that's kind of everything. And then you can gather up other tools like journaling, voice journaling, ways of being able to talk to yourself, even when you have no time, because I would find in my car, I can Push record on my voice memo and talk to myself. And it turns out that can be really therapeutic outlet or, taking a walk without even your phone or music or anything. I just read an article the other day. I've been doing it for years. I remember reading about it in the artist's way by Julia Cameron years ago, and I adapted it so, and I love it. And I tell my clients to do it. And we take the walk without a dog, without distractions, without a phone or music. And the thing that does is it reconnects you with your body's rhythm and with the sorroundings, and hopefully nature too., BatSheva: even if you're super duper busy, these are little tiny things that can make a big difference. And it sort of opens up that whole of your own space. Like Chelsea said, wider and wider and wider. which is just going to make you feel better and happier and more healthy. And that's going to reverberate in my experience and in my life that happens on still to this day

Chelsea: 22:57

Same. You have to fill up your cup or take care of yourself before you can take care of those other people. Because even if you are, you know, even if that does light you up, like there comes a time where. Like, maybe you're, maybe you're doing it for other reasons or then you feel obligated or then you get to a point where you're like, you're not even able to anymore because you just really haven't paid any attention to yourself. So, I dont know self care for me is huge, huge, huge, huge, because for a long time, I did think that it was all about, and I'm still all about giving, but it's giving, making sure that I'm, what I'm giving is quality and it can only be quality for me whenever, what I'm putting into myself is quality.

BatSheva: 23:46

Well, I have to plug the cacao that you sell right now, even though we will do a whole episode on plant medicine, but Chelsea also has a company Soulscription, and she sells cacao that she made sure to go the distance with her research and it's heirloom. I mean, you'll tell them all about it, but I have to bring it up because when you talk about supporting the body, it's with physical activity and it's what you put into it, as you said. And I always put in the highest quality organic coffee. Now I do decaf because I don't do well with caffeine. And I learned that. With my whole journey owning a coffee shop with my ex husband, who's like a coffee genius. And so I went down the rabbit hole with the research and found out how actually high quality coffee is one of the best superfoods you can put in your body. And then when Chelsea introduced me to cacao, I'm now hooked on the cacao. Why don't you share a little bit about it since I brought it up?

Chelsea: 24:43

Well, it is also a superfood, one of the highest Nutrient dense superfoods, it's loaded with minerals and vitamins magnesium, zinc, copper, iron. It's got flavanols and it helps to lower blood pressure. It's got anandamide, which is considered the bliss molecule. And. encourages feelings of happiness and also relaxation. It also has theobromine in it, which is considered the food of the gods, and it helps with mental clarity and focus. for me, it's like this heart opening, just incredible experience every time I have it. It's funny because we're talking about the body and kind of, you know, what we have done to ourselves and I went through a point where I was like, Oh, I, it was like, almost like I had to do something to earn to get the cacao. Like, Oh, you have to do this for so long or something, and then you can have your cacao. And then I would have the cacao and everything would just be easier. And like, More gentle and blissful and my communication, which right now I haven't had any, and I feel, I honestly feel like it's harder to have this podcast without it, but part of the thing, part of the journey for me at this time. Um, I mean, it's good to take a break, at least a day or two break a week. But, yeah, it's amazing. I feel like whenever I have tough conversations or even intimacy, it's a plant, it's medicine, it's euphoric. It's amazing.

BatSheva: 26:20

Oh my God, you are making me miss it right now. Maybe I shouldn't have brought it up during the fast.

Chelsea: 26:24

I know. I know.

BatSheva: 26:27

I love that cacao. Oh my God, the bliss molecule, no wonder, because that totally is what I experience when I enjoy my cup of cacao every day. And by the way, I don't take two to three days off every week. So what did you just say? am I supposed to?

Chelsea: 26:42

one to two,

BatSheva: 26:43

No, I drink it every day like my coffee. I didn't know. I was interesting.

Chelsea: 26:48

I mean, well Chelsea: they say like experts say, doctors say like even supplements, you know, things that you take, you know, whether it be your vitamins or whatever, just to give your body a rest, which is kind of like what we're doing with this fast I mean that's what we're, we're giving the body a rest, like allowing it to just do what it does without all the things that we are adding on top of it or adding to it.

BatSheva: 27:14

our listeners are going to be able to hear how we survived, whether we survived and what insights we gleaned from this whole journey and fast, adventure, on a future episode. But for now, we're going to wrap the body and wellness episode. And before we go, Chelsea and I have decided we're going to have a fun little daily W tagline at the end of each episode. Just to remind you guys about this brick and awesome technique, which is every day coming up with three wins, three wows and three wishes. The three wins and three wows have to do with that particular day, or it could be the day before, and then your wishes can be. From wishing for a good night's sleep to world peace and everything in between. So we decided we'll have a little fun with this technique and, Chelsea, do you want to do maybe one win one? Wow. And I'll do a wish.

Chelsea: 28:08

Okay. So my win for the day so far is that, actually been doing this meditation every day. It's like a seven day prayer chanting meditation with these Tibetan monks. it's a Qigong meditation and it's offered for free online. And I think. It's called spring forest cheek on, the win is that I've gotten to do it for the past three days and it's been amazing. The energy that I can feel from it and the vibrations. And it's something that I'd never experienced before, so I'm really happy and grateful or just happy that I've gotten to do it all three days and while for me is that we just got a ton of snow in Missouri, but the wow is that I'm really grateful. We didn't get as much as they called for. We were calling for like 14 and 20 inches. And I think that we ended up getting like six, which is manageable. Still can get out in the vehicle, can still shovel all of that. And so, yeah, I'm grateful for the weather. The snow has, allowed to come in and be cozy and kind of slow down. Like, All of the neighborhood, the town, the city that I live in, everything's kind of slowed down. And so I'm grateful for that slow pace and also to have not gotten the full 20 inches.

BatSheva: 29:34

Love, love, love those. Thank you. And Chelsea shared that Tibetan monk meditation with me, and it's really cool. So thank you for sharing that with me. So my wish is. Got to be regarding my son by the time this episode comes out, he will have already gone through his ankle surgery, but I'm taking this opportunity anyway to wish that my older 20 year old son's surgery, which is happening tomorrow, goes beyond the surgeon's wildest expectations and keeps him safe and repairs everything that needs to be repaired and that his recovery is smooth, smooth, smooth. Thank you. Chelsea: Beautiful. Yes. Thank you all for joining us. Thanks for tuning in and for giving us the opportunity to share our lives and all of our stories and everything with you. In order to make your day brighter. We love you. Bye.