Close your eyes, breathe deeply, and direct your attention to your neck area, especially around the base of your throat. How does it feel? Does it feel like there’s something stuck in there? Or is it swollen or painful? So now imagine speaking your truth, an absolute free- flow of your self- expression. Expression without fear is liberating, right? And a bit scary too, for sure. So does expressing our truth need always to be verbal, as in the spoken word? Do we have to get it off our chest! It seems not…

Vishuddha, the Sanskrit word for ‘pure’- here is referring to the Throat Chakra - the 5th of 7 chakras in an ancient Hindu system. It’s function - I speak. 

It’s of course so relevant to this podcast Toxic Silence - as the throat chakra is the gateway for clear and truthful communication. It demands we stay true to oneself, to articulate thoughts and feelings with honesty, authenticity and integrity. It represents expression of our truth without fear of judgment or punishment. 

When it’s out of whack however, it can show up as throat and neck-related problems and blocked creativity. Gossiping - yep, another huge imbalance in this chakra.

So let’s dive in and discover more about the Gateway for Authentic Communication - with Kinesiologist and Transformational Coach Joanne Farrell. After over 2 decades working as a solicitor specialising in medical law, she quit the law to answer her call to help others discover why they were getting sick in the first place, and to guide them to their own True North, to help them improve their lives from the inside out. She is a committed seeker and has spent decades training with energy healers, masters, and shamans around the globe.

Joanne practises from her hometown of Byron Bay, in person and on-line; and also at many retreats internationally. 

Joanne has kindly shared with us a pdf of the chakras, so please enjoy. 

Visit Joanne:

The 7 Chakras | http://www.joanne-farrell.com/

PTSTD or Postnatal Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder could in many situations be avoided if the mother had been heard. Instead we have too many women being diagnosed with PTSTD, stemming from a less than ideal birthing experience. 

PTSTD is a type of anxiety disorder, also known as birth trauma, with symptoms including vivid flashbacks - feeling that the trauma is happening right now, not being able to show affection to your baby, feeling isolated and blaming yourself for what happened, and terror around the thought of going through labour again. 

Not so long ago, birthing our children looked very different to how it does today - in a hospital, in some cases with a midwife - you’re only just meeting for the first time, and a team of other professionals - strangers - coming and going, often taking the baby away from the mother soon after delivery. Never addressing the often hellish events that have just occurred. 

Shhhhh new mum. Now go home and look great, have an abundant flow of milk, and do not complain about pain or sleeplessness, about potentially not bonding with your newborn, and make sure you’re feeling and looking pretty goddamn sexy very soon as otherwise your partner may take a new lover. Oh my goodness, the pressure! The fear.

Sequoila Glastonbury is co-mother of the Not For Profit Hygieia Health  - a charity she co-founded with 3 like-minded women focusing on preventing and healing birth trauma, by supporting gentle births. Their highest vision is to create a private birthing sanctuary open to the birth choices of all mothers, creating a system that supports not just mothers and their babies, but also their families and care providers. Sequoia holds the vision of the Healed Sisterhood.

Over the past 14 years she has been a teacher at the School of Shamanic Womancraft, having apprenticed and co-taught with Jane Hardwicke Collings. Sequoia teaches the school’s 4 Seasons Journey in Byron Bay and is the hearth keeper (or operations queen!) at the school.

Sequoia Can be reached at School of Shamanic Womancraft.

Click here for the Toxic Silence Playlist.

The interaction between the mind and body was first put forward in the west about 500 years ago by the French philosopher and mathematician René Descartes. Descartes believed that the mind was non-physical and permeated the entire body - interacting via the pineal gland, (also known as the ‘third eye’). And indeed we now know that the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis is stimulated via the Vagus Nerve through its different fibres, kind of like octopii tentacles- to release cortisol by the adrenal glands. Um… this last piece of information has already sent my mind into a new place of wonder and a thousand questions - so imagine how we’re all going to be feeling after an hour with Dr. Camilla? The pineal gland/ third eye bursting wide open I imagine.

Vagus is the latin word for wandering, due to its meandering nature, as it travels from the brainstem down to the abdomen, reaching into most of the body, including our throat, lungs, heart, stomach, liver, spleen, pancreas, kidney, and gut (both the large and small intestines), and is the largest organ in the body’s autonomic nervous system. It has also been described as the Home of the Soul, or SOUL NERVE.

My guest today Dr Camilla Cameron is the only Japanese Acupuncturist in Australia who is also trained in non-invasive Vagus Nerve Stimulation. Dr. Camilla is the founding Director of Happy Healthy Clinic, an allied health clinic based in Brisbane. She has 23 years experience as a Doctor of Traditional Chinese Medicine, coupled with 6 years expertise in vagus nerve stimulation. With a remarkable track record, Camilla has administered over 30,000 Japanese Acupuncture treatments and 9,000 Vagus Nerve Stimulation Treatments. Camilla truly believes VNS is the missing link in many patients’ health recovery.

VNS has become her ultimate passion, and has developed a comprehensive at-home VNS system, which has been utilised by over 500 patients worldwide. Camilla is one of Australia's most experienced & respected natural Women's Health experts.

Visit Dr Camilla's website:

happyhealthyclinic.com.au/vns-home-program/

Click here for the Toxic Silence playlist.

Janella Purcell is a pioneer of the Natural Health industry. Her role as a respected and awarded Naturopath, Herbalist and Nutritionist with almost 25 years clinical experience, and a whole-food chef with 5 best selling books, has shaped the way Australians view the connection between food and healing of the body-mind.

We'll discuss the root of individual disease, how it can and does attach to different places in our body-minds, and discuss with experts how my guest's symptoms can be traced to a specific trauma and/or conundrum they’ve lived with, after choosing attachment over authenticity.

Click here for the Toxic Silence Playlist.