Thrive with Cate Stillman Podcast

Culturally, we are moving towards higher levels of division and speed. Everything in our world is getting faster and faster and thus we are having to split ourselves up into smaller parts to get everything done. This disrupts our physiology as we have to process more sensory input than we ever have before; the acceleration and distraction we have created in today’s world causes us to be anxious, fearful, depressed, or scatterbrained.

Yoga Nidra is a practice that allows us to do the opposite. By lying down and using the healing power of Divine Sleep, we feel both a sense of unity and a slowing down; we feel wholeness once again. The practice of Yoga Nidra allows us to slow down while making us more unified both individually and collectively.

On today’s podcast, world renowned Yogi, Rod Stryker, tells us why Yoga Nidra, the yoga of Enlightened Sleep, is such an important and effective methodology in our world. It is healing not only on a physical level, but therapeutic to all five of our koshas. Listen in and gain insight on this practice that could possibly change and heal your life!

• What is Yoga Nidra?
• Why is Nidra so important and so effective in our daily lives?
• How can Yoga Nidra benefit you?

• Rod's website
• Rod's facebook page
• Discover more about Body Thrive

• 1:15 - We as humans have lost the ability to relax. Rod Stryker tells us why Yoga Nidra is so important and effective in our lives today. Culturally we are moving towards higher levels of diffusion and division- we are speeding up in life to accomplish more, and at the same time being split up into smaller parts. This leads us to fear, anxiety, restlessness and the inability to relax.
• 11:10 - Rod talks about the beginning of Yoga Nidra- where and when it came from and the ‘krama’ or sequencing of Nidra and how it progresses.
• 17:20 - We hear a bit about each of the 5 goals of Yoga Nidra- healing, improvement of cognition, and transformation. Tune in to the second half of this podcast to hear the final goal of Yoga Nidra.

• “The more focused you are, the less conscious you are of the big picture.” -Rod Stryker
• “Sleep is a transition from minutiae to expansiveness.” -Rod Stryker
• “The more you let go, the more you are supported.” -Rod Stryker

Yogarupa Rod Stryker is a world-renowned yoga and meditation teacher, guiding and sharing his wisdom for 40 years. He is the founder of ParaYoga®, the author of The Four Desires: Creating a Life of Purpose, Happiness, Prosperity, and Freedom and the creator of the app Sanctuary, a vital resource for the practices of meditation and yoga nidra (also called Enlightened Sleep––the ultimate science of deep relaxation). Rod has dedicated his life to improving lives through his lectures, writing, practice, teaching, leadership, service and family life. Contact him on his website and facebook page.

What do you need in your life- Deep Rejuvenation or Peak Performance? Today I talk about the tough stuff that we can all encounter along our paths to health such as sourcing our energy from Ego instead of the Universe, the failure of the intellect, and the Disease Tree. It’s easy to become overwhelmed, tired, scattered, or anxious in our action packed, overstimulating lives. It’s time we pull our energy back, give more time to ourselves and deeply rejuvenate.
I talk to everyone about how to root yourself in order to rise upwards; how to ground yourself deeply with healthy habits in order to heal, to grow, and to thrive in your day to day life. I dive into the 10 Body Thrive habits and discuss how working together in a group setting allows us to move into thrive more quickly and with more integrity and ease. Did you know that a small 1% change in your habits over time will help you to move into your healthiest, most productive, and most conscious and expansive version of yourself?

Listen into to today’s talk and learn how to take care of yourselves on a deep level, to heal and rejuvenate, to thrive, and to reach your full potential.

• How do we orient towards thrive?
• How do you measure deep rejuvenation and peak performance?
• What are some habits you can implement to experience health?

• Discover more about Body Thrive 

• 2:45- How do you know if you have arrived? How do you measure whether you are in peak performance or in a deeply rejuvenated state? How do you move into the growth and into the depth of peak performance or deep rejuvenation?
• 11:30- Deep rejuvenation is a SLOW process. We have gotten so far away from consciousness, which does the healing, that it will take a long time to pull ourselves back. We talk about ego energy vs. universal energy and how to avoid burnout and exhaustion.  
• 25:45- In order to rock deep rejuvenation and peak performance we need to be in a group that is into transformation and identity evolution, so that we can move on this path together. What current culture is doing, is not this; current culture is regressing. Some of the most powerful experiences you can have, are with a group.
• 29:10- Equal and opposite energies that allow us to root to rise. The rhythm of waves and of energy and the spanda that keeps us pulsating throughout life.
• 33:00- The disease tree- what is it, how does it pertain to us, and what does it stand for?
• 45:00- What does it look like to be in a situation where everyone is helpful everyone be their healthiest selves? And what do the healthy habits look like that a group may be doing together. Cate tells us about the BT habits she adheres to and teaches in her course.

• “When you start a new habit it should take you less than 2 minutes to do.” -Cate Stillman
• “The more we want to do, the more we have to source Energy from the Universal.” -Cate Stillman
• “Root down to rise up- the basic principle of universal energy.” -Cate Stillman
• “When we are in our natural state, which is health, we experience an orientation towards the positive, not towards the neutral.” -Cate Stillman
• “I don’t think there is anything wrong with regret. I think all of the emotions are totally amazing; they all have purposes and one of the purposes of regret is to say ‘What did I learn?’”

I love these juicy conversations with author, lecturer, and yoga instructor, Kate O’Donnell. Today, we jump right into how our awareness expands and changes as we dive deeper into the studies of yoga and Ayurveda, and how we can expect ourselves and our physiology to change and evolve on our growth paths.  There is a greater sensitivity that we begin to notice in our bodies as we move into a deeper attunement with nature and the universe. We intuitively begin to move away from over processed foods, scary movies, loud music, late nights, and over indulging in the things we used to find pleasurable. We learn what it feels like to be truly healthy at a deep, cellular level and what it means to be seated in the self. We learn that some resistance to new routines can be a good thing and that the clear, peaceful, grounding of energy of sattva is much more nourishing than the fast-paced and stimulating energy of rajas. Join us today in this fascinating podcast to learn about your growth path and where your yogic path is taking you.

• How can you expect to evolve, as someone who practices yoga and Ayurveda?  
• What are the gunas and how do they play a role in our lives?
• How a bit of mental and physical resistance can be a good thing.

• Kate's Website
• Kate's Facebook
• Discover more about Body Thrive 

• 1:45- Cate Stillman and Kate O’Donnell discuss how life can change and what can be expected on our growth paths as we continue to practice and study yoga and Ayurveda. The body’s sensitivity changes and expands as we age and gain life experience; our tastes for food, drink, movies, music, people, etc. morphs as our physiology uplevels and the word ‘pure’ takes on a new meaning.
• 18:15- In order to fully learn something, sometimes we need to take 2 steps forward and one step back. We chat about the ‘gunas’ and what the qualities of sattva, rajas, and tamas mean and how these energies play out in our lives.
• 26:30- The energy of tamas and its tendency towards complacency. How a sattvic, calm, still, peaceful state of mind is different from a tamasic, complacent, or lazy way of being.

• “Your physiology has the technology to live in such a high level of resonance that you can tell if something is a fit or not a fit immediately. ”-Cate Stillman  
• “True confidence comes from being seated in the self.” -Kate O’Donnell
• “Paying attention to how we eat actually is a spiritual practice. It’s part of our evolution“ -Kate O’Donnell
• “Who do I want to become more of that is so fully resonant with who I am, and who am I meant to be next?” -Cate Stillman

Kate O’Donnell is an author, lecturer, and senior yoga teacher. She wrote two popular cookbooks, The Everyday Ayurveda Cookbook and Everyday Ayurvedic Cooking for a Calm, Clear Mind. A nationally recognized Ayurvedic Practitioner and Ashtanga yoga teacher, Kate is a founding member of the Boston Ayurveda School and adjunct faculty for Kripalu School of Ayurveda. She continues her travels to India annually for study and teaches internationally.
Connect with Kate on her website and facebook page.

I have a fantastic conversation today with yogini, spiritual guide, and visionary, Vivianne Nantel about the importance of the yogic path and our movement towards Self Realization. Many people around the world are entering into more subtle levels of awareness as they shift their thoughts, actions, and patterns from gross to the subtle. Vivanne, AKA Devi, and I chat about what we are waking up to and how we are waking up on the path to Oneness; what is happening as people realize their potential as blissful, omnipresent, pure consciousness and their true nature as spirit? What does it mean to be one and to co-create with the universe? How does it feel to walk this spiritual path towards Samadhi? As we move in this direction, we discover our own powers, we realize that we are Divine, that we have no limitations, and that we are all One.

• What does it meant to dive into the more subtle aspect of yourself?
• How are we waking up and what is happening as people are waking up from their old patterns?
• How to continue on the sattvic path.

• Vivianne's Website
• Vivianne's Facebook
• Discover more about Body Thrive 

• 2:00- Cate asks Devi what she thinks is happening as people are waking up to their own patterns? Devi tells us about how people identify themselves, the patterns they’ve learned throughout life, and what they are taught to believe about themselves. The things we believe about ourselves are astounding, and at the same time, what we can let go of as we learn about the science of Yoga, is even more amazing.
• 10:00- Cate talks about the realization that who we are or have been up until this point, has served us for a period of time, but that time has passed. We are ready now to be less attached to who we were and more open to moving into a place of pure consciousness, peace, and potentiality- a more sattvic realm.
• 13:45- The beauty of yoga is that we can take it to the level that we want to. Not everyone’s goals are the same when it comes to yoga; not everyone wants to dive as deep into the spiritual world. But with yoga and the practices that come along with it, people can choose how far they want to take it. Cate and Devi talk about diet and the yogic path to health and recovery from illness and the natural falling away of old habits when one embarks on this path.
• 21:20- Advice and tips for those who are waking up to their true selves and for those who are moving more towards this sattvic, yogic path.

• “We are a unique wave of Divine ocean coming into the physical realm...we realize that we are not the wave; we are the ocean. “ -Vivianne Nantel
• “Most people are limited by their personality, their ego; they put themselves in a little tiny box.” - Vivianne Nantel
• “Who I’ve been up until now- awesome. That worked for some purpose. But, wow there’s more. There’s more that I can become.” -Cate Stillman  
• “ When one has a deep longing to know the truth, to emerge, then it’s unavoidable.” -Vivianne Nantel

Vivianne Nantel, who is often called “Devi”, is a yogini, spiritual guide, visionary, mystic, vocalist, humanitarian, speaker and author of Becoming The Light: Realize Your True Enlightened Nature.

As a published writer and poet, Ms. Nantel’s work has appeared in Yoga Magazine, Poet’s Paper, the National Literary Journal and Animal Wellness Magazine, among others. In addition, Vivianne is a visionary artist and prolific painter whose artwork has been exhibited in museums, fine art galleries and private and corporate collections.

Articles about Vivianne Nantel’s work have been published in the San Francisco Chronicle, The Independent Florida Sun and Alaska’s World magazine. In addition, Vivianne has been interviewed on various television talk shows including Earth Advocate and Bridging Heaven and Earth and appeared in the documentary film Harp Seals by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. Vivianne has also volunteered for many animal welfare initiatives. She has spoken at the National Animal Rights Conference, in Washington, DC, and collaborated on special projects with the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) & Humane Society International (HSI).

As part of her passion, Vivianne spent more than two years studying music composition with Elinor Armer at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Devi is committed and dedicated to helping others spiritually, and will continue to raise consciousness and be an instrument of grace. She will also be offering soon multi-media recordings of her guided meditation, books and chants. She hopes many more projects and plans will materialize soon. Connect with Vivianne on her website and facebook page.

For most of us kitchen magic refers to our ability to make tasty and nutritious food. We live in such a consumer society but even those of us who have managed to ditch the processed food still trot off to the drugstore or the health food shop to buy out skincare essentials. In this podcast episode Militza Maury talks about the ah ha moment when she realised the outbreaks she was experiencing on her skin were related to her internal thoughts. She shares how she started making lotions and beauty products for her family as she began to realise how questionable the ingredients in the products she was buying. As time went by she began to share the results of her experiments in hugely popular workshops.
In Western cultures we are fed the idea that only expensive ingredients are effective. Militza talks about visiting many different spas in Bali and learning that in the land of relaxation and pampering great pride is taken in recipes for skin handed down through the generations. Learn how some of the best ingredients you can use for your skin are probably already in your kitchen cupboard.

• Why you should be cautious about using essential oils in food 
• How to customise your skin care products for your Dosha 
• How to make a gorgeous hydrosol for your skin and not spend a penny

• Mountain Rose Herbs 
• Rosie's Website 
• Militza's Website
• Discover more about Body Thrive 
• Body Thrive Book

• 18:10 - There is no reason to spend lots of cash on skin care ingredients.
• 20:00 - Sort out some basic pantry essentials and you will have everything from soap to body mist. 
• 35:45 - To top it all off you will be given some insider tips on where to buy the best skincare ingredients.

• “Skin care is not just about what you put on your skin - feed yourself with more loving thoughts.” - Militza Maury 
• “The Balinese understand the symbiotic relationship we have with nature.” - Militza Maury

Rosie Tait is a former lawyer, raw food chef, autoimmune thriver, and member of the YHC community. Having "dropped out" of the mainstream corporate life to maintain her own health, Rosie is committed to sharing the simple-habits message in support of women who are courageous enough to remain. Women are the changemakers. Connect with Rosie on her website and facebook page.

View all of Rosie’s podcasts and articles.

Apply here if you want to get exposure, learn about blogging and become a Yoga Health Coaching Blogger.

Militza Maury is the green-living expert behind the eco-friendly website, Little Green Dot. Frustrated by misleading marketing messages and the chemicals found hiding in her skincare products, Militza began to make her own simple, safe & effective natural products. Now Little Green Dot reaches 150,000 monthly readers who want to lead happy, healthy and green lifestyles. In this episode she shares natural skincare recipes, actionable advice and green lifestyle inspiration. Connect with Militza on her website and facebook page.

In Japan, the concept of Ikigai means our purpose in life, or our reason for living. This idea is very interesting to observe across the world, especially in the few blue zones, where people live the longest. On the isolated island of Ojima, many centenarians report their Ikigai as supporting those in their small communities. In fact, Elise emphasizes that one thing that the blue zones have in common is strong community bonding and involvement - especially across generations.  Cate explains that ethos is not just what connect us to ourselves, it is what connects us to each other, and having everyday access to these connections gives us purpose in our lives. Mixed-generational households are very common outside of western society, and they provide support, enrichment, and educational interaction between friends and family of different ages. These kind of communities promise life-long, wholesome interaction and resilience against the guaranteed struggles of a lifetime. Other interesting factors in these communities is the tendency for regular social interaction and long walks, and lack of prescription medications from doctors. There is plenty we can learn from these blue zone communities and their lifestyle habits that we can hopefully incorporate into our own live to experience healthier aging. Tune into this podcast episode to discover these ideas for yourself!

• What factors contribute to healthy aging
• Why we should appreciate mixed-generation communities
• What Ikigai can teach you about aging gracefully

• Elise's Website
• Elise's Facebook
• Super Ager Book
• Discover more about Body Thrive 
• Body Thrive Book

• 4:05 - Ikigai  is a concept that comes from Japanese culture, and it is your individual purpose for living. The island of Ojima is one blue zone where people report their ikigai as supporting their community and those included.
• 8:50 - Most of the few documented blue zones in the world are very isolated, apart from the community of Loma Linda, California. This particular blue zone is a profound example of a supportive, tight-knit community that has formed in non-isolation, showing us that it could be possible for all of western society.
• 21:40 - In Ikaria, Greece, another blue zone, there are no doctors to put aging people on prescription medication like we do in western society. Yet, the island of Ikaria has the best change of survivorship of middle age, even without these prescriptions.
• 28:00 - In western society, there are lots of people that start getting into Ayurveda and yoga in their mid 50s and later. More people are getting interested in expanding their social networks to include people with healthier states of mind.
• 30:40- Mixed generational communities are a big factor that we are missing in western culture. When generations aged 0 to 80 are living under the same roof, there is a lot of educational information that can be shared and incredible growth and fulfillment can be found.

• “Purpose is never something that is happening alone.” - Cate Stillman
• “We don’t need more isolation.” - Elise Marie Collins
• “Isolating against what’s not working is a really powerful strategy to leverage what is working.”- Cate Stillman
• “We want to look to role models in our community.”  - Cate Stillman
  

A visionary yoga teacher for over twenty years as well as an inspirational content creator, Elise uses the tools of Ayurveda and scientific research to uplift the planet by shifting old paradigms that have kept humans stuck. Guided by her teachings, her students are empowered to embrace their authentic selves as well as their true life’s mission. Elise is committed to helping people all over the world move out of darkness and into light and has touched thousands through her yoga instruction and publications. Elise has authored three books on healthy living. Her latest, Super Ager, inspires readers to optimize their well-being for longevity in the 21st century and beyond. She is currently enrolled in the Master of Gerontology program at University of Southern California. Check out her website and facebook page

We often find ourselves in situations where we react with frustration. Mary and Cate chat about the potential that we all possess to transform our frustration into a much better alternative: amusement. The truth is that we all have “buttons” that trigger emotional responses in a patterned way. By taking the initiative to become aware of our triggers and reactions, we can encounter a new perspective. Mary discusses her own experience with developing a new understanding of her own negative reactions. By knowing her own triggers and what made them worse, she discovered the possibility of redirecting that negative energy into amusement instead. Cate addresses the fact that we often are engendering those negative emotions with foods that bring out the worse. There are many factors that influence our reactions, and the more that we do to minimize those factors, the more likely it is that a change in perspective will make a positive impact on our level of frustration

• How we can better deal with frustration
• Why our diet can influence emotions
• How our perspective impacts our reaction

• Mary's website
• Mary's facebook
• Discover more about Body Thrive 
• Body Thrive Book

• 31:40 – In modern life, we are often pulled in so many different directions that we don’t have time to just sit and relax. We have an opportunity to build strength in our core and get more grounded and centered by simply changing our perspective.
• 35:55 – When it comes to our very intense emotions, stirring them up can reveal a deep reaction pattern. We can take advantage of this realization to become more aware of what it is that is triggering us to react in a certain way.
• 38:30 – Everyone walks around with “buttons” that can easily be triggered by those around us. We must become aware of those triggers that exist in order to address our reactions.
• 40:40 – Emotions can be addressed by looking at our diet patterns. By avoiding foods that engender those negative emotions, we can gain more control about how we interact with the world around us.

• “We just get tired of going in so many different directions.” – Mary Thomspon
• “It’s always already available.” – Cate Stillman
• ”I think so often we think that something outside of us is causing our frustration.” – Mary Thompson
• “If I am still blaming someone else for my emotions, there is something that I don’t know.” – Mary Thompson
• “It goes from frustration to amusement to amazement.” – Mary Thompson

Mary Thompson has been teaching Ayurveda for more than 20 years. Driven to find answers after a health challenge, Mary found them in the Ayurvedic principles. She then committed to sharing these principles with others so they, too, could find a path to better health on all levels.

Smoothies, soups and sweet treats, Oh my!!
Listen in on the Cate and Kate show today and learn how to create new and exciting meals and desserts with Kate O’Donnell, author of The Everyday Ayurveda Cookbook and Everyday Ayurvedic Cooking for a Calm, Clear Mind.

We chat about delicious, nutritious Ayurvedic recipes that are easy to make this winter season for yourself or to give as gifts for the holidays! It is so important in today’s society to spend some quality time preparing your food or to get your hands a little dirty as you create meaningful and healthy gifts for your loved ones.

We talk about how nourishing hibernating in the winter feels and how moving in tune with this inward season is so good for us. It is so important to stay connected to nature, to move with the seasons, and to not over stimulate ourselves with the hussle and bussle of the holidays.

Listen in on our warm, wintery podcast and learn how to embrace this beautiful season by drawing inward, cooking with love, and enjoying winter’s stillness and simplicity.

• How to live more simply this winter.
• Which foods and recipes help you to thrive?
• Is fruit okay to eat for dessert?

• Kate O’Donnell’s Website 
• The Everyday Ayurveda Cookbook
• Everyday Ayurveda Cooking for a Calm, Clear Mind
• Discover more about Body Thrive 
• Body Thrive Book

1:20- Kate O’Donnell is working on some recipes for a new collaborative cookbook specific to dinacharya, daily routines, time, and substances. Contribute to Kate’s book with some of your own favorite home remedies and local recipes!
7:45- How did people live in Medieval times without too much sugar, too much shopping, too much? Were they healthier and more grounded, more in tune with nature?
15:00- How to stick to your routines during the holidays when friends and family try to push you off your game.
18:00- Recipes for smoothies, soups and baked apples! Delicious and nutritious recipes to mix things up in your kitchen this winter...turmeric, kale, fiber, beets, and more! Try eating all the colors of the rainbow to keep yourself energized, warm, and vibrant.
25:45- Food combining- which foods are okay to eat together, which ones are not, and why!? We also discuss some delicious dessert and fancy treat recipes for you to try!

• “The Pagan holiday has been made into a consumer runaround- you have more stuff to do that draws you out, instead of embracing just being quiet and being still. In a relatively short time of year, embracing darkness is a big part of it.”
• “Fruit, in Ayurveda, is either eat it alone or leave it alone.” -Cate Stillman
• “Getting back into the tactile and into the sensual is what we all need… get your hands messy and experience the joy of that!” -Cate Stillman

Kate O’Donnell is a nationally certified Ayurvedic practitioner, Ashtanga yoga teacher, and author of two books: The Everyday Ayurveda Cookbook: A Seasonal Guide to Eating and Living Well, and Everyday Ayurvedic Cooking for a Calm, Clear Mind: 100 Sattvic Recipes. She has made twenty extended trips to India, and continues to travel there annually for study, as well as teaching Ayurveda internationally. Kate is the director of a morning yoga program in Boston, co-director of The Boston Ayurveda School, and contributor to many publications. She teaches trainings, cooking classes, seasonal cleanses, and retreats when she isn’t practicing yoga or having a chai. Connect with Kate on her website  and facebook page.

When it comes to getting better sleep, Ayurveda has a lot to teach us. With more than 20 years of experience learning and teaching Ayurveda, Mary Thompson has a wealth of information to share about how we can utilize Ayurveda to address the rampant sleep issues we are seeing in our society. Sleeplessness and sleep issues are now not only an issue in adults, but also in kids. How can we address this detrimental and widespread issue?

Cate and Mary chat about the culmination of our various lifestyle habits that lead to sleep deprivation, especially regarding electronics and diet. Most of the serotonin that helps us stay asleep is produced in the gut, and when we disregard our digestion, we face disruptions in our sleep. Stimulants like coffee make this issue even worse and only add to the loss of sleep over time. Adding technology makes the issue even worse. Overuse of bright screens on phones and laptops, especially late at night, disrupt our natural sleep rhythm.

Mary identifies habits we can use to address these issues in our lives, rather than masking the issues with sleep aids. Tune into this episode to learn how you can take the step to get better sleep!

• How habit formation affects sleep
• Why diet consistency is key to improving sleep
• How technology affects sleep

• Mary Thompson’s Website 
• Discover more about Body Thrive
• Body Thrive Book

• 1:55 - When the lights go down, not everyone finds it easy to get a good night’s rest. Modern lifestyles often lead to an imbalance in our serotonin and norepinephrine level, which can make it difficult to fall asleep and stay asleep.
• 5:30 - Ayurveda maintains that health issues begin in the gut - and disordered sleep is no different! If our diets are not conducive to our health, then we will not produce enough of the chemicals we need to fall asleep.
• 10:15 - The light from our “sticky” addictive electronics target our pineal gland, which is what produces melatonin. With this light exposure, our brains still think it is daytime!
• 17:50 - When we reach for stimulants such as coffee, the downward spiral in our sleep continues by causing an acidic gut for the probiotic population. This unhealthy environment makes it even more difficult to produce the chemicals we need for restful sleep.
• 23:55 - When it comes to change our diets, the best advice is to start with consistency in one meal. We increase our chances of success and the potential to thrive by not making too many changes at once.

• “What am I doing that’s creating the imbalance?” - Mary Thompson
• “Whatever tendencies we have get aggravated or they get emphasized.” - Cate Stillman.
• “Who do you really wanna be, how do you really wanna show up?” - Cate Stillman

Mary Thompson has been teaching Ayurveda for more than 20 years. Driven to find answers after a health challenge, Mary found them in the Ayurvedic principles. After her attendance at the California College of Ayurveda, she served as an intern in Pune, India with the International Academy of Ayurved. Mary was an officer on the founding board of the California Association of Ayurvedic Medicine and is a practitioner member of the National Ayurvedic Medical Association. She has done extensive work with the Ayurveda Experience to produce two programs, “The Ayurvedic Woman” and “Sattvic Mind.” She has committed herself to share these principles with others so they, too, could find a path to better health on all levels. Connect with Mary on her website,  Facebook and  Twitter.

Craig Dubitsky started his entrepreneurial career as an investor and was fortunate to be involved in the beginnings of both companies Method and eos. Today, he still looks back at the networking opportunities that he had and the steps that have brought him to his successes with gratitude. He began Hello with a great idea and a group of really motivated people that wanted to provide honest products for everyone. Now, their charcoal toothpaste in available in everyday retail stores including Walmart and Fred Meyer.

Craig credits these successes not only to a great product that is easy to sell, but also to the powerful team he has and the working environment they have created together. Hello ensures that all employees are not limited to one position, so that they have opportunities to contribute in all areas of the company.

With rapidly growing technology and chemistry, we are better able to make green and natural products available to wider audiences. The processes are getting cheaper and scientists are discovering ways to harness benefits from sources were weren’t capable of before. Hello is utilizing these new capabilities and a society of people who are interested in having better products surrounding them in their lives. This market environment has made it easier for Hello products to pave its way into the consumer environment than it would have been years ago.

People are finally demanding better stuff that is more affordable and accessible, and Hello has begun to make this dream into a reality.

• What is different about Hello
• How to make products more widely available
• What you can do better as an entrepreneur

• Craig Dubitsky's website
• Body Thrive Book 
• The Surprising Power of Liberating Structures Book

• 1:40 At Hello, the goal is to make their products available for everyone. Craig not only wants these products to be natural but he also wants them to be truly effective for consumers.
• 6:35 - As an entrepreneur, having a good product with results that were easily proven and honest ingredients really aided in getting Hello products into common retailers. These retailers, just like any consumer, want better stuff to offer!
• 17:00 - When it comes to the fluoride debate, Hello chose not to a pick a side. They offer cavity-fighting fluoride and fluoride-free products so that they can support the consumer’s right to choose what they use.
• 32:05 - “Green” products used to mean to people that things that were natural, but that their efficacy was in question, and that the price point was prohibitive. With the growth in technological and chemical development, the ability to make natural products easier is leading to decreasing the price of natural “green” products.
• 34:10 - People these are day are actually interested in looking at the ingredients in their toothpaste products - and Hello tells you what each ingredient does. In the past, these were not conversations that we would have been capable of having.
• 36.33 - Green used to mean making compromises in your products. Now, entrepreneurs have helped bridge the gap by making “hybrid” options where people can have the best of both worlds. These options are becoming more accessible and more reliable for everyone.

• “I wanted to make products for the 100%, not the 1%.” - Craig Dubitsky
• “The dentist is going to drill, fill and bill you.” - Craig Dubitsky
• “There’s better stuff to put in bodies, your body matters.” - Cate Stillman
• “It’s not just save yourself, save the world, its have more fun.” - Cate Stillman
• “Whole body health and oral health are inextricably linked.” - Craig Dubitsky
• “And if you love what you’re doing, you've already won.” - Craig Dubitsky

Jello’s friendly founder, Craig, is obsessed with design, checked shirts, transformational brands, and making stuff that elevates the every day. If you’ve read something from us that made you smile, there’s a pretty good chance Craig wrote it. That last sentence wasn’t very funny, so maybe he didn’t write it. Craig started hello because he was tired of oral care brands that preyed on fear and shame, that were filled with unfriendly ingredients, that tasted yucky, and because he thought crinkly toothpaste tubes were fugly af.

The range recently received two of the most prestigious and highly recognized design awards in the world, the Good Design Award and the Red Dot Award, and achieved Leaping Bunny status, the highest certification of friendliness with respect to animal testing. In addition, hello was named to Inc. Magazine’s annual Most Audacious list as one of The 25 Companies That Are Changing the World.

He was an early investor and board member in Method, the co-founder and creative lead at eos, Dubitsky was named one of Brand Packaging Magazine’s 2014 Brand Innovators, and to The Internationalist 100 as one of Most Inspirational Marketers in the World. In January of 2015, Advertising Age named him to The Creativity 50, their annual list of the most influential and innovative creative thinkers.

Craig’s ongoing involvement with revolutionary consumer packaged goods spans category lines: strategizing with green home care brand Seventh Generation on innovation and design, serving as CMO of Popcorn, Indiana, one of the fastest growing salty snacks brands in the US, and advising OTC brand Help Remedies from his role on its Board of Directors.

He’s an Entrepreneur in Residence at Babson, and a founding advisory board member at the University of Rochester’s Ain Center for Entrepreneurship at the Simon School of Business. Skype him now, he’s psyched to say hello, and to show you one of his plaid shirts or play guitar for you (have your earplugs ready).

Connect with Craig Dubitsky on his Linkedin, Facebook  and  Hello Products Website.