The Root of Mental Health Disease (4:00)

• We experience mental health issues due to a deep disconnect between who we are and what the world tells us we are

• Ownership of a mental health condition diffuses our power of who we are

• As environmental toxins erode the barriers between our immune system and the outside world, mental health issues arise due to isolation and disconnect from the microbiome

• The more we foster biodiversity, the healthier we are

“We are in a pandemic of separation. The remedy to that is remembering a greater reality, remembering a deeper truth of who and what we are.”

– TJ Woodward

Dr. Nafisseh Soroudi discusses CBT and Ayurveda as effective treatment tools (15:30)

• Dr. Nafisseh discusses her extensive experience researching and working in the mental health space

• Her dissertation covered the journey of children diagnosed with ADHD and the chemical management of their conditions through pharmaceutical stimulants

• Medicine used to treat mental illness can be extremely addictive, and instead of treating symptoms, we should look to the whole individual to pinpoint the root cause

• We have a lot of work to do with our education system as it relates to coping with children with ADHD

• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is an effective psycho-social intervention tool that aims to reduce symptoms of mental health conditions

• Ayurveda — a science of life that guides us to actually live by following nature’s cycles — also offers a pathway of healing mental health issues

TJ Woodward Discusses the Coping Mechanism of Addiction and How to Heal (36:39)

• TJ discusses his personal journey with addiction and how it informed his current viewpoint of life and health

• He found resolve by looking at every person through the lens of wholeness and potentiality instead of brokenness

• We have separated from our true nature and the authentic human experience of being connected with one another and connected with ourselves

• Western medicine often diagnoses and treats symptoms and behaviors without getting to the root cause

• We are now in a turning point in history where our intellectual, emotional and spiritual reality are joining together through connection and curiosity

• TJ’s method, Conscious Recovery, looks at two aspects of the individual: root causes of addiction and healing modalities

• The root causes of addiction are unresolved trauma, spiritual disconnection, and toxic shame

• We must have love and compassion for ourselves so we can unlearn the strategies and coping mechanisms we’ve developed, and instead become present with a part of ourselves that feels wounded

“You cannot be alone when you are aware of your soul, when you’re aware of the greater self.”

– Zach Bush MD

Susan Olesek Discusses the Power of the Enneagram (54:48)

• Susan Olesek covers her experience in working with the Enneagram, beginning as a new mom

• The Enneagram covers nine different ways in which we come with a superpower like no other has

• Susan details each of the nine personality types within the Enneagram and the gifts that each brings to the world

• The more trauma we have, the more personality we need to keep our barriers up so we can feel OK inside of ourselves

• We veer away from the qualities of our true selves because we don’t perceive ourselves to be safe or seen

• As parents, we try to blanket our kids with protection in an effort to shield them from the stressors of life

Parenting as a State of Curiosity (1:18:21)

• As a parent, the most important things we can offer are openness and curiosity

• Negative behavior is an indicator of a separation from our true nature and each other

• We need to create space to reparent ourselves

Postpartum Support and the Rebirthing Process (1:22:46)

• Ayurveda can be extremely effective in postpartum treatment

• The first 42 days after giving birth is a sacred time of transition that requires immense support

• Strategies for women postpartum include allowing for nourishing recovery, warm oils and food to heal fatigue, sleeping with an eye pillow and a light scarf around the head and ears, and minimizing visitors.

“Our first prison was the one made for us in childhood.”

– Susan Olesek

The Root of Postpartum Depression and Anxiety (1:29:42)

• In the Western mind, it often begins with the mother believing she must give up her identity to her nuclear family

• Our sense of dominion over our children gives an unhealthy sense of scarcity

• The same way we should treat women postpartum through touch and nourishing foods is the same way we treat cancer patients

• To heal disease, we must not only reparent ourselves, but rebirth and nurture ourselves as if we were the mother that just gave birth to ourselves

Reparenting Ourselves (1:32:44)

• We can empower our children by recognizing that we own the problem of taking on our children’s stressors

• As parents, we wrongfully give up our own agency and our own connection to ourselves

• We enter the world as whole and perfect, but are programmed to believe that we’re broken, creating unconscious wounds that we then project outward

• There’s so much more than just being accountable for our behavior — our behavior is an indicator of something deeper

• When an internal wound is touched, recognize what you are experiencing, know it’s okay to feel that way, and be there for yourself

• In looking at relapse prevention tools, the number one tool is to learn how to be present with yourself in this moment

• No matter what emotions and feelings we feel, allow them to flow through to be able to feel them fully

The Path Forward During a Global Phenomenon of Polarization (1:42:21)

• We’ve been programed for polarized thinking

• The greatest gift we can offer the world is that of our own transformation; transforming the mind that believes it’s separate

• Collective consciousness of competition involves three steps: awareness of the programming, awareness of the greater reality, and awareness that the only thing that needs to change is our own perspective

• It’s our responsibility to realize we are each an overflow into our families, communities, roles and jobs, and we must keep our vibration at a certain level so we can continue to shine

“Can we embrace our full human-ness so that we allow life to happen? Because it’s going to happen anyway, with or without us.”

– Dr. Nafisseh Soroudi

Learning to Trust Ourselves While Dealing with Untrustworthy Information (1:45:55)

• We can trust ourselves by getting still to hear our inner answers and feel the energy of the earth

• Today’s polarization is not about the virus, but rather our inability to trust our own authority and know our own truth

• We have an opportunity to wake up and see how much we need each other

Learning to Heal Ourselves and Our Nervous System (1:47:48)

• We need to begin at a self state of recognizing the energy our bodies hold onto

• We must take 100% responsibility of the emotions we perceive around us as a narrative that reinforces the vibration we’re currently holding

• When we hold the frequency of something, we will see it everywhere

• We’re all projecting what we consider to be the truth; we can shift our truth by looking at what we want to anchor our trust in and by moving back into the awareness of the essential beingness of who and what we are

• Try using the formula “what gets created when I _____”. (i.e. “What gets created when I see the world as broken.” “What gets created when I see the world as a kind and loving place.”

• Everything outside of us is a reflection of some aspect within us, both the positive and the negative

“All human behavior is just an attempt to feel loved. And when we know ourselves to be loved, then all we see is love.”

– Susan Olesek