Primitive

This episode took me for a spin and was a good challenge. We took an unexpected sharp left turn into talking about politics and some controversial stuff for a good part of the episode - racism, white privilege, masculinity, and other things. My first time live on air talking about heavy topics without preparation. Something new.

I brought Alex on the podcast to talk about her path with veganism. She is the co-creator and co-star of the Oscar-nominated documentary Super Size Me, and while doing the documentary, she was leading a vegan community. After being vegan for 10 years, she started to become very sick, tried to reverse her deficiencies with sea vegetables and every other thing she could possibly think of, and it didn't work. She just became more and more sick. When she announced to her community that she could no longer sustain being vegan for health reasons, all hell broke loose in the form of hate mail and intense shame toward her. She lost about half of her community.

She used the experience as a rebirth, and she speaks on the judgment she received and how she used it to transform her life - something many of us can relate to as we try to put ourselves out there and find our authenticity in this age of vicious keyboard warriors.

Alex's work has been praised by Oprah, The Today Show, Dr. Oz, Goop, Martha Stewart Living, the New York Times, CNN, Elle, Marie Claire, USA Today, People, and the American Heart Association amongst many others. She hosts her own podcast, Her Rules Radio, educating listeners on wellness, cravings, sexuality, and more.

Watch this podcast: https://youtu.be/LVzbZ7h2sDg

Connect with me: IG/Twitter: @ashrothstein www.ashleyrothstein.com Think you would be a good fit for the podcast? Send me an email with your story. [email protected]

Connect with Alex: IG: @deliciousalex

Alex's website: www.alexandrajamieson.com (where you can find "How To Write Your F It List")

Alex's podcast: Her Rules Radio

 

I jumped on the podcast today, somewhat spontaneously, to share some version of ignorance I've been uncovering in my own life around an unpleasant event that surfaces from time to time: panic attacks. I've been asking a lot of questions that seem to be leading closer to answers, which is good. Even if you don't have panic attacks, you could use this thought process to uncover ignorance around your own patterns that aren't productive. Keep asking questions.

Connect with me: IG: @ashrothstein www.ashleyrothstein.com Think you would be a good fit for the podcast? Send me an email with your story. [email protected]

Tom used his diagnosis of testicular cancer as a catalyst to change his entire life and heal his mind, body, and spirit. He chose to forego chemo and radiation and heal 100% naturally. And…it worked. For those that know me or follow me, you know I am a HUGE natural health advocate, and frankly, I am shocked every single morning that I wake up to the fact that this stuff is still not plastered on billboards everywhere. Tom is also a natural health advocate, blogger, podcaster, and calls himself a "holistic entrepreneur."

Tom reached a global audience after his story spread virally across several social media outlets. He co-hosts the popular podcast "Talking Shift with Tom & Marianlea" with TV personality, Marianela Pereyra, and contributes to several well known blogs. He has also been a featured guest on several prominent podcasts, has been a featured speaker at several events, and owns Texas' first "Green", garden-themed preschool, The Lilypad Garden School.

Tom is currently writing his first book: "Awaken To Wellness," as well as launching his own brand of hemp-infused products, "TAO Plant Wellness." 

In this episode, Tom walked me through his entire story from his lifestyle pre-cancer, to diagnosis, to surgery, to literally being harassed to get chemotherapy, to then choosing to forego it and treat cancer the natural way, everything he did for that, and what his life looked like through healing, after, until now. He explained his entire protocol, focused largely on green juice, cannabis oil, meditation, and changing his perspective on life. He walked me through his "kitchen sink" approach to cancer, and how he believes that seriousness is the disease that no one is talking about. He was a really interesting guy to listen to, and if you love natural health, you will certainly love this podcast.

My damn microphone was having issues again, and at the beginning of the episode, I panicked and tried to fix it, but realized I ended up sounding like a munchkin, so I said "screw it" and went microphone-less, so you will hear an echo when I speak, but Tom sounds great as he's using a mic.

Tune into hear Tom's story!

Watch this podcast: https://youtu.be/3x_q6gCzwIg

Connect with me: IG: @ashrothstein www.ashleyrothstein.com Think you would be a good fit for the podcast? Send me an email with your story. [email protected]

Connect with Tom: IG: @thegreenhealthproject

Tom's website: www.tomarguello.com 

Tom's podcast: Talking Shift

If you're like me – a thinker with a brain rooted in science, logic, math, and reason, but open-minded in the sense of understanding that science doesn't necessarily give us all of the answers for the bigger picture – at some point in your life, you probably may have wondered what the hell astrology is. Is it factual? Is any of it scientific? Who the hell writes those horoscopes for your zodiac? Are they full of sh!t? Are there any valid astrological sources out there? What research backs astrology? Where did astrology even come from? Is there more to it than mainstream media portrays?

 

These are all questions I had, which is why I brought Matt back on the podcast. Matt is not an astrology expert or professional astrologer, but he's been studying astrology on his own over a decade, simply because it's a huge passion of his. It was quite interesting to talk to him about it because he is an engineer and like me, has a very scientific and mathematical mind…he was even pretty skeptical about astrology when he first began diving into research.

 

Matt and I had a very fun, open, and interactive discussion about astrology. He talked about what exactly it is, it's origins, how it differs from astronomy, and who is believed to have invented it. We talked about the constellations and their names and how they're relevant. He also brought up the fact that we actually have three main astrological signs – your sun sign (commonly known in mainstream as your zodiac sign, for me it's Scorpio), your moon sign, and your rising sign, and why understanding all three are important to the entire picture of your life. We talked about the elements, phases of the moon, the north node, what the hell a mercury retrograde is (since people seem to always freak out about that – I was very curious), how the days of the week reflect the planets, and why many zodiac sources are full of sh!t, and how what you see in mainstream media differs from a legit natal chart reading. We also go over a widely known scientific debate around precession, eastern vs. western astrology, some studies from famous psychologists and statisticians, and we close with Matt's opinion of how you can use astrology can benefit you, your individual productivity, and your relationships.

Open your mind and tune in!

Watch this podcast: https://youtu.be/S5io5xq9FRw

Connect with me: IG: @ashrothstein www.ashleyrothstein.com Think you would be a good fit for the podcast? Send me an email with your story. [email protected]

Connect with Matt: IG: @mattmaximum

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgYFlPkj1EV8RftoRJ66Omg

Email: [email protected]

Links recommended from Matt:

Birth/Natal Chart (simpler) - https://alabe.com/freechart/

Birth/Natal Chart (more detailed) - http://www.astrologycafe.com/free-natal-chart-report/

*** Need to know exact time of birth and location ***  

App Matt recommends for use on Android to see what sign the moon is in: Daff Moon (Android).

 

Want to hear a vegan and non-vegan have a civil/productive/educational conversation about food? All jokes aside…

Full transparency, I was a bit apprehensive going into this episode, mainly because of the personal stance we each hold on food (from a "label" perspective). Julia is vegan, and I'm not vegan. And for some reason in this current climate, it seems to be really challenging for vegans and non-vegans to have productive, educational, open, civil conversations about food (actually, it's more like a f#cking unicorn)…but having a productive and open conversation about food is exactly what we did in this episode. It was SO refreshing!

Julia holds a degree in biology from Hamline University and a plant-based nutrition certification from Cornell University. She's also a certified yoga teacher and currently works as a content developer for a plant-based protein company. She is in the works of applying for a masters program in health & wellness coaching from the University of Minnesota, and is the creator of the page @v.ganofficial. Julia recently just found out she was selected for a TED talk (huge kudos to her!) and she walked me through the concept she will be speaking about, which is focused on peas and their sustainability for farming practices in both a regenerative/restorative sense as well as how they contribute to sustainability of the environment. Very interesting.

We honed in on the importance of the individual awareness surrounding food choices…this goes for whether you are vegan, paleo, keto, or whatever. LEARN ABOUT WHAT YOU ARE EATING. I can't stress this enough. We take a deep dive into this concept in this episode. She also shared a lot of food awareness tips like the benefits of frozen fruits and veggies and the importance of sourcing locally. We briefly touched upon ethical hunting for food and population control purposes. This was more me than her because that's something I'm personally into. We also touched upon fasting, her personal process with eating (unique and definitely worth a listen!), a discussion on what "truth" is, a profound mushroom experience that showed her the importance of listening to her body, and at the end we touched upon some personal experiences we both had working as hospital and hospice CNAs, and how seeing people near-death really deeply affected us, but in different ways.

  Watch this episode: https://youtu.be/pdGuOgY5AQ8   Connect with me: IG: @ashrothstein www.ashleyrothstein.com Think you would be a good fit for the podcast? Send me an email with your story. [email protected]   Connect with Julia: IG: @jalbrecht32 / @v.ganofficial

When we were deciding on a central theme/topic for the episode, David approached me with a passion of talking about how addiction, in his words, is "a$$ backwards" in this country. We talked about things like the Rat Park Experiment, which is super interesting and will probably blow your mind (it certainly did when I learned about it), the misinformation around addiction being deemed merely a chemical dependency instead of focusing on the true deep-rooted issue a lot of addicts face which is the inability to bond or connect with others, decriminalization vs. legalization and what other countries are doing around addiction, propaganda that is initiated by addiction centers and spread for profit (trippppy!), and we also talked about David's personal experience with overcoming his addiction to binge drinking by taking the knowledge and awareness he gained from some experimentation with psychedelics, along with a concept that I LOVED…something he calls "radical self responsibility."   David walked me through his experience when he checked himself into an outpatient rehab facility. They told him things like "you need to drop all of your friendships," "you can never be around alcohol again," and all of these things that he just never felt were designed to TRULY solve the puzzle of addiction or get down to the root cause of WHY people become addicted to substance. Now, fast forward a few years later and after a huge period of self discovery and acceptance, he no longer craves alcohol and is around it often socially…impulse-free. In fact, he embraces his addictive tendencies and obsessive personality and has figured out a way to channel it into something powerful.   David is also a partner of Horizon Growth Partners which is a strategy consulting and investment firm, and is the President of Defend Your Home, which he uses as a platform to teach mindful sales skills and empower people from a vast array of socioeconomic backgrounds. He graduated from Virginia Military Institute with a degree in both psychology and philosophy. In the first half of the episode, we talk a lot about how important it is to hone in on your subconscious mind, the importance of a morning routine, how to get yourself out of a rut if you feel stuck, and the importance behind reprogramming and simply just allowing your thoughts. This episode is packed with lots of good stuff, but if you want to fast forward to the addiction stuff, I think we start talking about it around 50 min or so.   Watch this episode: https://youtu.be/SAV6p3r5hM0   Connect with me: IG: @ashrothstein www.ashleyrothstein.com Think you would be a good fit for the podcast? Send me an email with your story. [email protected]   Connect with David: IG: @dstaab2

Dan Vadnais holds a degree in both psychology and philosophy and is the co-founder of a rapidly growing spiritual health company called AscZend. Dan worked directly with Wim Hof on proper breathing techniques. He holds a certification in personal training and calls himself a "personal trainer turned spiritual leader." Dan was breaking records in eating competitions...to now living a life where he basically adheres to OMAD (a variation of intermittent fasting that consists of eating One Meal A Day). From eating competitions to fasting...quite an intriguing switch. He attributes this "life 180" to his discovery of fasting and a mucus-less diet.   We bounced around a lot during this episode. We started off with his recent retreat in Peru where he compared his San Pedro ceremonies to previous Ayahuasca ceremonies with a captivating metaphor: "Mother Ayahuasca as being a link to the cosmos, and San Pedro being a link to mother earth and nature." We also talked about fasting, autophagy and how it heals the body, the importance of blood sugar regulation (probably my favorite part of the podcast), juicing, mucus in the body and how it's linked to the lymph system, and we touched a bit on cannabis, food shaming, sungazing, moongazing, and breathing techniques. Dan actually led me through a live Wim Hof breathing exercise which was pretty unexpected. Full transparency…it was pretty damn intense…I feel like I fell into my heartbeat. And I'll just leave it at that.

Watch this podcast: https://youtu.be/ciDKXjJaT6Y

Connect with me: IG: @ashrothstein www.ashleyrothstein.com Think you would be a good fit for the podcast? Send me an email with your story. [email protected]

Connect with Dan: IG: @zenlifedan YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCubaGeoj2O8KrcmgeJxtqtQ

As an Emmy-nominated entertainment personality, Nicki has always loved the entertainment industry, but she grew sick of 'reporting' on other people's lives instead of living her own. Working for E! was the industry dream, but she had even bigger dreams herself.

In a world that is so damn serious, I think a lot of people are on a path of reverse engineering and figuring out how to be playful again, so I brought Nicki on the podcast to share her love for comedy and talk about how she does her best to overcome judgment when she puts out controversial parodies and spoof videos (which are awesome by the way – check them out!).

2018 was a transformational year for her - tackling her fears and "grabbing life by the balls and giving less f#cks." She did her first stand up comedy gig and actually up and left her job as a bartender simply because she believes in positive affirmations/self talk and "didn't want to start out 2019 as a bartender." Bada$$.

So now, like many of us, she has a blank slate and is trying to figure it all out. Nicki lives with a thyroid condition that she was born with, and we naturally fell into some good dialogue about western medicine. We exchanged personal stories about how doctors have failed us in the past, and how we took charge of our own health.

High level cues if you want to jump into certain moments that grab you:

3:30 Social media and human interaction   6:00 Nicki's story with the entertainment industry and red carpet interviews   11:45 Dealing with judgment   15:00 Dealing with criticism from family and social media   19:30 Nicki's first parody in high school/peer acceptance   26:00 Sexual humor and people getting offended   30:00 Not identifying with 'likes', and using your online platform for a purpose   41:30 Tackling fear and 'taking life by the balls'   59:00 Nicki's thyroid condition and personal stories with western medicine   Watch this podcast: https://youtu.be/XYhKg8Nyklc    Connect with me: IG: @ashrothstein www.ashleyrothstein.com Think you would be a good fit for the podcast? Send me an email with your story. [email protected]   Connect with Nicki: IG: @nickidtv Website: www.nickidtv.com

Based on a structural defect with the way that Anthony Hernandez's vagus nerve connects to his heart, he lives with the fact that his heart can stop at any moment of any day…take a second to sit in that.

As a model/actor for 15+ years, he thought he "had it all" – until an unforeseen event struck him out of the blue.

A transformative period (consisting of put his life on pause, heading out to the mountains to meditate like a monk, and diving within himself to find answers) coupled with a 4g psilocybin mushroom experience provided for an amazing story that frankly, I'm still processing myself.

If you're someone like me who has any weird phobias around loss of control or fears of death, this is a good one for you.

Anthony walks us through his story and the psychedelic experience that changed his life. Listen to this Harley-riding, longboarding surfer/boxer/painter (aka, artist at heart) that despite an insane amount of hardship and a life-changing medical condition that he lives alongside daily, finds a way to keep his chin up, shoulders back, and a smile on his face.

This was a long episode, so here are some high level cues if you want to jump into certain moments that grab you.

2:30 d*ck pics on Instagram…yes, you read that right

14:00 underestimating the awareness of children

22:30 acting and comedy, getting into a character, speaking your truth

30:30 letting go

35:00 depression, diet, and instant gratification

37:00 comparison, social media, and information overload

40:30 why some people 'awaken' and others don't

43:00 Anthony's story (introduction)

1:14:30 Anthony's heart issue

2:10:30 Anthony's psychedelic experience

Watch this podcast: https://youtu.be/wd6HDXbE-wM 

Connect with me: IG: @ashrothstein www.ashleyrothstein.com Think you would be a good fit for the podcast? Send me an email with your story. [email protected]

Connect with Anthony: IG: @outlawawakend

Matt Maximum has a Masters Degree in Electrical Engineering, and holds extensive experience and knowledge around intermittent and prolonged fasting. Matt coached me through my first 72-hour fast and provided some extremely useful information that changed my life when it comes my relationship/awareness around my addiction to food. Not only is he a seasoned faster, he also calls himself a jack of all trades in metaphysics – from manifestation and astrology to becoming the best version of yourself. While this episode is focused on fasting, we get into a lot of other cool stuff, and I personally enjoyed the segment on the interconnectedness between fasting and spirituality. Hearing Matt explain how you can be both grounded and elevated at the same time is a concept I hadn't grasped before, but intrigued me!

Watch this podcast: https://youtu.be/-Syh9mKXs7Y

P.S. I had some issues with my audio interface, so my voice sounds a bit robotic. Still working out the kinks.

Connect with me: IG: @ashrothstein www.ashleyrothstein.com Think you would be a good fit for the podcast? Send me an email with your story. [email protected]

Connect with Matt: IG: @mattmaximum YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgYFlPkj1EV8RftoRJ66Omg