Episode 54 Even if you aren't going back to school, you can relate to this analogy of what's in your backpack applied to your lifestyle. This episode discusses the importance of having a routine and schedule in helping to regulate sleep patterns, optimize daily productivity, and ensure effective use of time. https://linktr.ee/livingwow

Episode 53 https://callyrae.com/

Today I want to introduce you to what my husband calls God's pharmacy and teach you how to recognize food as medicine and to think of food a little bit differently. Think of medicine a little bit differently. And as a result, empower you to be the expert in your body. We'll start with thinking about food differently. In the SAD culture, Standard American Diet and Lifestyle, we definitely think about food as calories in, calories out. That is deeply ingrained in our culture.That is not how we view food in WOW, in using food as medicine, using food as fuel. We're looking deeper. We're looking more broadly. Now we're going to flip the script on medicine. And instead of thinking of medicine as this quick fix. Masking.

This is the most delicious medicine you are ever going to experience. I guarantee it.That's a side effect of food as medicine is that you start to understand and realize how delicious whole food and healing food can be. It is not only nourishing, but it is delicious as well.

The last step of using food as medicine is the prescription part. Now you have your data. You know what your superfoods and what your personal poisons are. Now you figure out your personal script. Ratio. Frequency. Duration.

The bottom line is that food addresses the root cause. And when we address the root cause of our symptoms, then we're healing. And when we're healing, we're thriving. Understand that food is medicine. And if we use it that way, we understand how to put it into our bodies, analyze how it is affecting our bodies, and then come up with our personal script of what works best. You will be living WOW, you will be thriving and understanding that root cause and healing. That to me is what it's all about.

https://callyrae.com/ Living WOW On Purpose

Episode 52

So what does it look like to be intentional? It’s simple but it’s not easy. Simple because anyone can do it but not easy because most won’t.

The good news is that intention is found at the beginning of any change because you can’t change something you’re not aware of. So, if you are at the beginning of your transformation from surviving to thriving and WOW vs SAD is new to you this is still relevant.

This episode will discuss the aspects of SAD to be able to recognize it and get out of the current drifting away to surviving.

Next, you will explore the hidden WOW of intention and complete a brief assessment of your 8 systems of the Living WOW framework to become the expert in your body. This will help you identify the 3 areas of greatest need and help you put your feet down and begin to move out of the SAD current and intentionally move into WOW.

Finally, you'll learn how to maintain the thriving in Living WOW as the waves of life crash over you as they undoubtedly will. Just like a butterfly would never go back into a cocoon to become a caterpillar, why in the world would going back to surviving be an option? It's not.

There is a flow that is undeniable when you are thriving Living WOW. It is energizing and joyful. It is easy to love and serve, move and celebrate, learn and grow. When you experience thriving you can’t go back to living SAD.

https://callyrae.com/

When I was going through my first transformation that I wrote about in 8 Lessons Lupus Taught Me: From Surviving to Thriving with Autoimmune Diseases the big revolutionary findings were focused on epigenetics and the fact that we could turn on or off our genetic predispositions with lifestyle choices.

Now I am struck by the revolutionary findings of today which are focused on the microbiome and the emerging evidence that our lifestyle choices can support or sabotage our health based on the health of our “bugs” in, on, and around us.

What is the natural response for most of us when it comes to bugs? Kill em, kill em all! Pests! Disease! Unfortunately, we have not understood the role of the bugs and as a result have inadvertently created much bigger problems. The degree of damage is still being determined as the microbiome is being studied and revealed.

The most basic understanding that is widely accepted now is that we are host to trillions of biota that live in, on, and around us. Microscopic organisms that have various roles in our survival. Probably the most recognized are the microbiome of the digestive tract. Lesser recognized, but I would argue also extremely important are the microbiome of the skin.

The question is not as much where they are (just assume they are everywhere) but rather what is their role and how can we cohabitate for thriving together?

Year after year, study after study, the complexity of the microbiome is beginning to be understood. Now it is common to replenish and support the biome with prebiotic and probiotic foods and supplements if you do need to take antibiotics. Doctors do not prescribe antibiotics as quickly and broadly as they once did thanks to the superbugs that began to create a firestorm of terror in the medical community (especially hospitals and nursing facilities).

Some of the latest studies are linking our gut health (aka gut biome) to immune function and brain function. Interesting when you look at the amount of bug killing compounds in our foods and environment. Could it be causing the rise in autoimmune diseases and mental health conditions of all kinds in all ages?

We are making huge strides in understanding the biomes of the body, what some eat, how their waste is necessary to support our organs, how each one is individual and unique like a fingerprint. Western medicine is coming along in some ways but old habits die hard.

Just like epigenetics turned our understanding of DNA on its head, I see the microbiome turning our understanding of our bodies systems and physiology on its head. There is still so much to learn and understand but I believe that the statement that Living WOW is founded on rings more true than ever.

Our bodies are indeed designed to heal if we give them the environment to do so. Trusting and listening to your individual body so that you can become the expert in YOUR body is key while the scientists figure out the universal details for EVERYbody

Introduction to Breath Work

Breath work is one of my all-time favorite lifestyle hacks. I think it’s underrated by most people. Because we breathe all the time, we just take it for granted and you don’t realize the power that is in your breath.

There are a few reasons for that and today, I want to talk about intentional breathing.

Living WOW is an intentional lifestyle choice rather than SAD which is autopilot. Everybody’s doing it. It’s the way we were raised, our beliefs and all those kinds of things. So SAD is over here in this surviving bucket of autopilot and Living WOW is over here in this intentional thriving bucket.

Based on the choices we make and the little tweaks we do to our choices every day, little tiny steps add up to this intentional Living WOW. Then, the benefit of it is that we end up thriving because we get to the bottom of our dis-ease. We get to eliminate those triggers and recognize the things in our environment and in our lifestyle that either support a healthy lifestyle and thriving or sabotage it.

I’m a speech language pathologist by profession so I’ve always taught breath for the purposes of voice therapy and also for fluency. That kind of breathing you are probably the most familiar with is called diaphragmatic breathing or belly breathing. It’s when we’re breathing way down deep into our diaphragm.

So, we have diaphragmatic breathing, thoracic breathing, and clavicular breathing, but in the last 10 years I’ve changed my perspective of breath from this autonomic function that we have that keeps us alive to a more internalized, more spiritual aspect of our breath and how it supports our health. How it can create an environment for healing.

It’s interesting to think about breath. Without it you’re dead. It is your life and it is your life source. In Chinese medicine and healing arts they refer to qi as your life source and it is related very closely to your breath. You can move your qi as you move your breath.

I just explained to you how I understood and used breath in my practice and for healing. But it falls short!

The Significance of Breath

I don’t view my breath the same way I used to. I view it as my spirit so I can listen and hear. I can adjust what’s happening in my body as I work with my spirit. It’s become much more of an internal regulator and tool.

Today, I’m going to give you some strategies and perspectives that might change the way you use your breath to change your healing environment.

Breathwork is one of the most powerful ways to counteract stress. I have found that any type of stress response, be it positive or negative, can often be a catalyst for a flare. It’s the one thing that I still experience. Something will happen and it will catch me off guard and I will end up with a flare three days later.

What I have learned now is to be able to turn on my parasympathetic nervous system. Your sympathetic is your fight or flight and your parasympathetic is the system that calms. Your sympathetic system and your parasympathetic system are opposite so you cannot be in fight or flight if you’ve activated your parasympathetic system.

Activating the Parasympathetic Nervous System

Guess what the number one way to activate the parasympathetic is? Just breathe.

Because your body physiologically sends a message to your brain that says “everything’s ok”. All of the chemicals are dumping and creating all sorts of chaos inside, whether you have an outward stress response or not.

I’m going to teach you some strategies. Any of these strategies will interrupt that fight or flight. It automatically sends a signal to your brain that says, “We’re good. You can shut off”. It’s the number one way to stop stress in its tracks.

Breathwork for Health and Healing

I think it’s important to point out that a lot of times when we’re trying some sort of healing modality, we’re thinking that we’re not doing it right. With breathwork, you’re not going to do it wrong. There’s no wrong way to breathe!

Introduction and Changes in the Podcast

Welcome back to Living WOW Out Loud. I am your host, CallyRae! It has been a long time since I’ve downloaded a new episode or recorded a new episode, and I am back. I’m super excited but there have been many changes that have happened since I took what I thought was going to be a 3 month pause from the podcast so that I could get through that senior year of high school with my last daughter at home and it turned into a year and a half.

Transitioning from Surviving to Thriving

I’ll review some of the changes that have happened while I’ve been away and lay out the new season structure and purpose. Some announcements are made regarding new content coming this season as I move from transformation coach with 8 Lessons Lupus Taught Me: From Surviving to Thriving with Autoimmune Diseases and the Change Your Story Presentation. This season I function as a lifestyle engineer having created the framework to thrive with autoimmune diseases Living WOW and serving as your guide to become the expert in your body.

The Power of Lifestyle Choices in Autoimmune Health

I’m not alone and we now have scientific research coming out that’s actually giving the “why” I had the experience that I’ve had and that I’m not just a one-off, I’m not an anomaly, but that it is lifestyle and that our lifestyle really does affect our health and can change things. Yes, we have a genetic predisposition but that doesn’t mean that it’s set in stone. We are now starting to really understand why.

I’m talking about a lifestyle. I’m not talking about how much wealth you have or your fashion. I’m talking about the choices you make day in and day out for what you put in your mind, what you put in your mouth, what you put in your heart.

Right? Those choices you make. How you spend your time, the choices you make have an absolute direct impact on your health. Your lifestyle has a 100% impact on your health.

Building A Supportive Community

There is a second book coming but this is kind of a sneak peek here on the podcast. This will be more interactive, I hope. I really want to engage the community.

As I look around and listen to different narratives and different conversations, I think you need me too. Because I feel like you need the information and inspiration. You need to know that you are enough. You need to know that you’re not broken and in disrepair. Our bodies are designed to heal if we give them the environment to do so.

Inviting Stories and Questions from Listeners

I know that you feel alone. I know that you feel scared. I know that you feel frustrated. I know that you feel tired. I know that you probably have pain. I know that you’re probably saying, “whose body is this”? What is happening in my body because I don’t recognize it or I don’t like it?

All of those different narratives have run rampant throughout my autoimmune journey. You are not alone. That’s why I’m here.

Shout out to Jenna Rae my youngest daughter and previous assistant for all of the Change Your Story book tour and presentations. She is the product of Living WOW and I couldn’t be prouder as she releases her debut single “Life Inside My Head” as an indie pop artist on June 30, 2024. Follow her on Instagram and TikTok to see her amazing talent.

Don’t forget to follow, subscribe, get notifications, and share the podcast so we can rise above the noise of living SAD and bring the hope of Living WOW thriving with autoimmune disease.

The LivingWOWCenter.com website from season 1 has been replaced by CallyRae.com going forward so come subscribe and follow along for all the latest updates and content on thriving.

Last week I promised you that I would introduce you to some interpreters for Body Language. The crazy thing is that you are innately equipped to speak fluent Body Language but just like any language you need to learn, practice, and refine your communication skills.

Living in the modern world with access to information and technology on a continual basis has in many ways stunted our development and understanding of Body Language. Continuous and often loud or conflicting messages can be overwhelming to tune out and go within to hear and feel what your body is speaking to you.

The conversation starter questions I introduced last week can be paired with these interpreters to plug in, practice, and develop fluency in Body Language.

Recognize that this is an ongoing process and resist the urge to get frustrated or feel like you are not “doing it right”. Remember that you are innately designed for this language. Just like you learned your native language in your home rapidly in the first 5 years of your life you have continued to refine and learn throughout your life.

If you don’t understand all of the nuances of Body Language immediately that’s normal. It’s not that you can’t. Find the modality that works best for you and build on it. You will likely find that as you become more fluent, opportunities will present themselves for you to go deeper and learn more and heal more. Life has a funny way of providing opportunities for you to learn Body Language. Recognizing and showing up in class to learn is the hard part.

I guarantee if you show up, your body will reciprocate and you will thrive as the expert in your body.

Although this list is not comprehensive, it is foundational and powerful. I specifically chose the modalities that are powerful, easy, accessible, and possibly already familiar to you. Again, don’t feel like you have to use all of them. Start with one or two and explore to see how it connects for you. Just like you had a favorite teacher in school you will likely find that you will find a favorite interpreter. As your skills or communication needs change you may choose a different interpreter that you aren’t ready for today.

Here are my top 8 Body Language Interpreters!

1~Breathwork

2~Meditation

3~Tapping/EFT

4~Massage

5~Yoga

6~Qigong/Tai Chi

7~Energy Work

8~Ama Bodywork/Reflexology

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