A Healthy Curiosity

Dolphins and lions and bears, oh my!

And don't forget the wolves. In Episode 47 of A Healthy Curiosity, host Brodie Welch, L.Ac. talks with Dr. Michael Breus, author and Clinical Psychologist, about what we can do to get good sleep. The USA is totally yang-addicted: we prioritize action and doing and achieving over rest, relaxation and recuperation, but at what cost? Dr. Breus shares his top five tips for getting good sleep, plus some warnings about what could happen if you're deprioritizing rest in your life.

In this episode, we explore:

• What is good sleep?
• Sleepy driving vs. drunk driving
• What is a chronotype?
• Does our screen time affect the quality of our sleep?
• Sleep myths

Resources:

• Dr. Breus' Website
• Dr. Breus' Chronotype Quiz
• Dr. Breus' book, The Power of When
• Lighting Science Group
• Swanwick
• Nightshift App for Android

Do you know what your brain is capable of?

In Episode 46, Brodie talks with Shonte Taylor, Author and Neuroscientist, about what our brains are capable of when we take good care of them. Neuroscience tells us that things like sleep, healthy eating, and meditation can literally grow the part of our brains that helps us stay calm and make good decisions. Meanwhile, poor sleep patterns, processed sugars, and excessive stress can grow the amygdala (remember the lizard brain encouraging fight or flight responses to things as simple as asking for time off from our bosses? Not helpful…).

In this episode, we explore:

• The amygdala brain vs. the pre-frontal cortex brain
• The fight or flight response
• The best foods to feed your brain
• Learning to change and control the way your brain responds

Resources:

Shonte's Website

Shonte's Facebook

What do tantra, wisdom, bliss, and Jesus have in common?

In Episode 45 of A Healthy Curiosity, host Brodie Welch, L.Ac. talks with Katie Silcox, Yoga Teacher, Ayurveda Practitioner, and New York Times Best-Selling Author of Healthy, Happy, Sexy: Ayurveda Wisdom for Modern Women, about tantra and making the wisdom of the ancients accessible in our modern lives.

In this episode, we explore:

• What is tantra?
• What do tantric teachings have to do with Jesus?
• Moving out of your brain and into your body
• How do you access the bliss body?

Resources:

Katie's website

Katie's Book, Healthy, Happy, Sexy

Brodie's newest offering, Eleven Weeks to Level Up Your Life

Do you ever have a hard time making choices? Like someone will ask you where you want to go for dinner, and you just can't bring yourself to choose?

Have you ever wondered why that is? In Episode 44, Brodie talks with Sarita-Linda Rocco, Wise Earth Ayurveda Practitioner, Sadhaka Adept, and E-RYT500 Svaroopa Yoga/Meditation Teacher, about how living in our truth helps us making choices in congruence with our values. Living authentically may not be easy, but the intuition gained through knowing yourself and your values is freeing.

In this episode, we explore:

• The definition of congruence
• What keeps people from making choices?
• What does it mean to live in your truth?
• The value of integrity
• The freedom in vulnerability

Resources:

- Eleven Weeks to Level Up Your Life, Brodie's group coaching program designed to help you up your self-care game and live in greater alignment with your values

Do you try to change your habits again and again, only to fall back into old patterns?

In Episode 43, Brodie talks with Grace Edison, Studio Owner, Yoga Teacher, Yoga Health Coach, and Brodie's friend, about what it takes to make big changes in our health habits. Grace lived with bipolar depression and addiction for years, even though she knew everything she needed to do to start feeling better. It wasn't until she joined a course about habit change and experienced evolution alongside peers that new habits began to stick.

In this episode, we explore:

• Why we have trouble seeing our own hang-ups
• What's different about a shared evolution experience?
• What are the benefits of changing one's habits alongside peers?
• Why does our culture seem to think it's ok, and even normal, for people, and especially women, to self-medicate?

Resources:

Grace's Website

Grace's new Yoga of Money Course

Brodie's new group program, Eleven Weeks to Level Up Your Life

When you talk to yourself (which, let's face it, we all do), are you kind?

Do you speak to yourself like you would speak to a friend, or do you have a tendency to resort to name calling? Do you use words like stupid, lazy, or failure?

In Episode 42, Brodie talks with Catherine Polan Orzech, MA, LMFT, about being kind to ourselves. Many people, and especially Type As (you know who you are), treat themselves more harshly than they would ever want to (or dare to) treat a friend. Catherine wants you to take a lesson out of your own friendship book and turn that treatment inwards to promote peace and compassion within ourselves.

In this episode, we explore:

• What is mindful self-compassion?
• What is the inner critic? What effect does it have on our overall well being?
• Does our inner critic affect our physical health?
• Speaking sweetly to ourselves
• How stopping to notice a moment can spur lasting change

Resources:

Catherine's Website

Dr. Kristin Neff's Website

When someone asks you to tell your story, what do you say? Does the story you tell represent the person you want to project out to the world?

Maybe you haven't noticed, because you've never thought about it. Perhaps the answer comes so automatically it's as though you're on autopilot. In Episode 41, Brodie talks with Tracey Duncan, writer, yoga teacher, and transformation coach, about telling our stories consciously and authentically.

In this episode, we explore:

• Telling stories consciously vs. unconsciously
• The difference between a story and a collection of things that happened
• Telling the story you're in, not the story people want to hear from you
• How we go about projecting different versions of ourselves to the outside world
• Changing the arc of the story

Resources:

Tracey's website, More Yoga, Less Bullshit

What's in your first aid kit? If all you've got is band-aids, antibiotic ointment, NSAIDs, and antihistamines, you could be missing out.

In Episode 40, Brodie talks with Tiffany Carole Pollard, MS, L.Ac., LMP, about how to use essential oils for first aid. Tiffany is currently in Sri Lanka preparing property for a retreat she's creating, and she's been glad to have her essential oils travel kit to aid in healing from ailments ranging from cuts and bruises to allergies to indigestion and beyond.

In this episode, we explore:

• 6 (+) essential oils to keep in your first aid kit
• Various maladies that can be cured or curbed using essential oils
• The various uses for essential oils both inside AND outside the body
• "As without, so within"

Resources:

Tiffany's Website

E-mail Tiffany

We've all heard of stress eating and emotional eating, but could you be exhaustion-eating?

In Episode 39, Brodie talks with Katrina Ubell, MD, a pediatrician turned certified life and weight loss coach, about the ways mindfulness can be a helpful aid in the weight loss journey. Katrina lost 50 pounds using a variety of weight loss methods, but when she reflects on the process, mindfulness and truly listening to her body really stuck out as catalysts for success. She's now a full-time coach for busy physicians, as well as the producer of the podcast Weight Loss for Busy Physicians.

In this episode, we explore:

• Different kinds of needs we try to suppress with food
• The ways mindfulness can help us understand our cravings
• How our cultural food habits don't align with the way our metabolisms evolved
• The ways group programs can add an extra layer of support to weight loss

Resources:

Katrina's Website

Katrina's Facebook Page

Katrina's Podcast

Brodie's Inner Knowing Healthy Eating Meditation – a tool for those looking to lose weight but encountering difficulty on the journey

In Episode 38, Brodie talks with Jodi Cohen, NTP about the power of essential oils and aromatherapy. Jodi first discovered essential oils after going through an emotionally strenuous time in her life, and the practical knowledge she garnered during her healing journey spurred her to found her aromatherapy and essential oils company, Vibrant Blue Oils.

In this episode, we explore:

• The biochemistry behind our sense of smell
• The function of the amygdala
• A few essential oils and their various uses
• The power of intuition in aromatherapy

Resources:

Jodi's Website, Vibrant Blue Oils

Vibrant Blue Oils on Facebook