0:00

Welcome to the Harmonize Podcast . We're going to

0:02

try something a bit different with today's meditational

0:04

thought . Since we're talking about health today , let's

0:06

connect that with today's Scripture thought . To

0:08

do that , we're going to do some breathing . So

0:10

I'm going to introduce the pattern for that and then I'm

0:12

going to start the reading . Just a note . This

0:14

will be an abbreviated version , so

0:17

feel free to stop and rewind as much as

0:19

you need to . The count for this will be four

0:21

, four , four . Basically , what

0:23

this means is that you'll breathe in for four , hold

0:26

for four and then breathe out for four . This

0:28

may seem a little weird at first and your

0:30

thoughts may race a little , but with practice

0:33

it may get easier . So remember that

0:35

. Breathe in four , hold four , breathe

0:37

out four . And, this is an example

0:40

of what that breathing could look like . Breathe

0:42

in . He gives strength to the

0:44

weary . Hold for four

0:46

. And

0:49

then breathe out . And increases

0:51

the power of the weak . Now

0:54

that we know what that looks like , let's begin . Today's

0:57

reading is found in Isaiah 40 .

1:37

Isaiah 40 is a chapter written to give hope

1:40

to God's people . And, it specifically references

1:42

the Messianic hope , the hope of the Savior

1:44

, the hope of that Savior to a people who

1:46

have been under subjugation both in terms

1:48

of the physical and the spiritual . We can look

1:50

back at verse one as evidence of this

1:52

, and as I think about this , two things stand

1:55

out . One , there will be times of struggle

1:57

, of stumbling , of falling . God doesn't

1:59

promise these things won't happen , but He does

2:01

promise He will renew us through them . One

2:03

of the ways He does this is in the context of

2:05

community , which reminds me of Ecclesiastes

2:08

4:12 . Though one may be overpowered

2:10

, two can

2:12

defend themselves . A

2:14

cord of three strands is not quickly

2:17

broken . The

2:19

devil still walks around like a roaring lion

2:21

, seeking whom he may devour . First

2:24

Peter 5: 8 . The spiritual warfare

2:26

that has existed even before our time

2:28

here on this earth , but not before God who

2:30

has existed since before time itself , still wages

2:32

on . The evils of racism and injustice

2:35

are the clothes they sometimes wear . And

2:37

as time goes on and it seems like we're

2:39

fighting the same battles that have always

2:41

been fought and having the same conversations

2:43

we've always had , and all of this starts

2:45

to wear on us . We have God's promise

2:47

that he will renew us . As Matthew

2:49

5:6 puts it: Blessed are those

2:52

who hunger and thirst for righteousness

2:54

, for

2:56

they will be filled . The

2:58

second thing that stands out to me is that

3:00

this chapter is written to the Children

3:03

of Israel , the very people of God

3:05

. God's people needed to receive comfort

3:07

. Sound familiar ? This thirst

3:09

for righteousness is blessed by God . The

3:11

comfort of God in the middle of both physical

3:14

and spiritual struggle is His calling card

3:16

. What steps can we

3:18

take to do likewise ? To walk

3:20

as children of our Father , ambassadors

3:22

of His kingdom ? Hey

3:45

, Voice of the Middle Ground Fam ! We're back , and

3:47

I'm here today with my friend Sarah Gallander . Holistic

3:49

Health . The fact of the matter is that this topic is super

3:51

important as we talk about diversity , community

3:53

and authenticity . The fact is , if we're not

3:56

healthy , we can't show up as our authentic selves

3:58

. You can't live your life according to the call

4:00

and design God has for you , and that's something that's really

4:02

important as we look at Voice of the Middle Ground

4:04

, our mission , values and really that Revelation

4:07

7 perspective . Now I wanna go ahead

4:09

and say some more things about Sarah , because I also

4:11

want everyone to understand more about her

4:13

and really her credibility for

4:15

this conversation . Sarah and I first met

4:17

when we were both living in the Phoenix

4:20

Metroplex area and we were going to church

4:22

together . That's when we first started to get to know

4:24

each other , and she also started to get to know some of my

4:26

health challenges , which , for those of

4:28

you who know me , health is something

4:30

that I really struggle with . Most people probably

4:33

wouldn't admit that , but with a topic like this , transparency

4:35

is super important . One

4:37

of the things that really stood out to me about

4:40

Sarah is that she really has this holistic

4:42

perspective to health that is so refreshing and

4:44

so different from at least what I've experienced

4:47

as the norm . And speaking of things

4:49

I've experienced as the norm , there's another reality

4:51

we need to confront . Health is one of those topics

4:54

that can be controversial in some spaces within

4:56

communities of color , as it relates to interaction

4:58

with the traditional medical system . Remembering

5:00

, of course , that communities of color are not a monolith

5:03

. And as we look at this , it's also important

5:05

for us to realize that there are

5:07

very real circumstances that have led to

5:09

this environment in such places as it does

5:11

exist . Think back

5:13

to the 60s 70s , the Proctor

5:15

Foundation for Research and Ophthalmology

5:18

as experimentation on native boarding school students with Trachoma

5:21

, The Tuskegee experiments and giving

5:23

syphilis to black men , and even James Marion

5:25

Sims and his experimentation on enslaved

5:27

women , who he falsely purported to not experience

5:30

pain to the same extent as others

5:32

. One of the things that I

5:34

heard from Sarah this mistrust of the

5:37

traditional medical pathway is something that's increased

5:39

across the board . And we'll get to that in a second . But

5:41

first let's rewind . It's really important

5:43

for us to further approach this topic of the effects

5:46

of the experimentation we mentioned just

5:48

a second ago Still stretches into today

5:50

, and that fact is something that I personally

5:52

can attest to , and I promise

5:54

that I'll get to Sarah in a second

5:56

. But I really do

5:58

wanna make this connection point

6:01

. I said earlier that I really wanted to be transparent

6:03

, especially as we're getting into a topic like this

6:05

, and so here's a bit more of that transparency

6:07

. With that commitment to transparency

6:09

, let me just say this for the next couple of minutes

6:12

this may be something that if you're

6:14

listening to with your kids , you might not wanna

6:16

have them in the room just for the next couple

6:18

of minutes , because this part

6:20

is not very family friendly . Several

6:23

years ago I was in college . At this point I

6:26

went to the emergency area of the hospital

6:28

. I have a history of anemia and that has really led

6:30

me to need , historically

6:33

, quite a few blood transfusions . Thank

6:35

you , by the way , to those who give blood , because it

6:37

really does make a difference . It was late

6:39

and I was feeling really anemic-y . If

6:41

you struggle with anemia like I do , you know what I mean that

6:43

tiredness , fatigue , coldness

6:45

, difficulty focusing and numbness in

6:47

the hands and feet , and for me it really also

6:50

gets into the area of blacking out

6:52

, getting dizzy , passing out , that kind of thing

6:54

, the kind of thing you

6:56

really don't wanna talk about because you know

6:58

I can freak people out . But anyway I go in

7:00

. They decide they wanna do an examination

7:03

and I don't really know if I was dealing with doctors

7:05

or nurses at that point . But for whatever reason

7:07

, they decided they wanted to do a

7:09

gynecological exam . So I get up

7:11

on the table . The next thing I know they're trying

7:13

to insert an instrument . It's really painful

7:16

and I'm letting them know . It gets even

7:18

more painful to the point where I'm crying

7:20

. Next thing , I know all three of the ladies

7:22

who were taking part in the exam are

7:25

making fun of me , assuming , based on

7:27

no information at all , that I was sexually

7:29

active and that if I can handle being

7:31

sexually active , I should be able to handle their

7:33

testing . For a bit more clarity , this

7:36

happened back in Texas , where I lived before I started

7:38

my trek northward . I won't

7:40

go any further into this

7:42

, but really what I want to bring

7:44

out is the fact that the research methods of the

7:47

past and the brutality of the

7:49

same those effects can really be seen even

7:51

today in the way that certain practitioners

7:53

practice traditional or , as

7:55

I think probably better describes it , hospital

7:57

medicine . Parents

8:00

, if you want , you can invite your kids back into the room

8:02

to listen with you . You're safe now . And, with that,

8:04

let's welcome our Special Guest today , Sarah Gallander

8:06

, Founder of the Wellness Matrix . You

8:09

can find out more about Sarah when you visit her website

8:11

at thewellnessmatrix . com . Go

8:13

ahead and click over to thewellnessmatrix . com

8:16

. Learn more about Sarah . Engage with her services

8:18

there and learn how you can take a stronger role

8:20

in advocating for yourself , taking a more holistic

8:23

approach to your health and owning your story . Hey

8:25

, Sarah . Welcome !

8:26

Thank you , Ruth . It's so good to see you . I have

8:28

missed you , my friend .

8:30

Yeah , it's awesome to have you on .

8:34

Thank you . I love

8:36

this mission that you've embarked upon

8:38

. I've loved this , I've

8:40

supported this from day one , and I'm so

8:42

glad it's still going .

8:44

Yeah , you really have . Thank you for that . So

8:49

I kind of mentioned earlier

8:51

one of the things that really stands out to me

8:53

about you , even

8:55

in relation to my own journey , is your holistic approach

8:57

to health . Can you tell us a bit more about

9:00

that holistic perspective and what really

9:02

helped you to reach more of that holistic

9:04

standpoint ?

9:05

Yeah , you know it's I love . I love

9:07

how God comes full circle . He

9:10

sometimes reveals to us all the things

9:12

at once and sometimes he never does , and

9:14

then sometimes it's . It takes , you know

9:16

, 25 years For

9:19

me . I was in college and I was

9:21

actually a pre-med student and

9:23

planning to go the conventional route . I

9:25

knew I wanted to help heal people . I knew I

9:28

wanted to be , you know , in some

9:30

type of healing modality and

9:32

I had shadowed a program

9:35

up in North Texas actually , and

9:37

I realized that they only had , you know

9:39

, two , three weeks of nu- well , not even

9:41

that like a unit on nutrition

9:43

, and I was a nutrition major at

9:45

the time and pre-med . So

9:48

I was baffled . I'm like

9:50

, wait , the thing that fuels every cell is

9:52

the things that we eat and the things that we

9:54

ingest . Yet we're not studying

9:57

that . It made no

9:59

sense to me back then , and that was in the

10:01

late 1990s , which

10:03

sounds like a long time ago . And

10:05

that's kind of when I realized , wow

10:08

, okay , this is a big problem . How

10:10

do we not , you know , look at this

10:12

as part of our health story ? And

10:15

then , you know , I was in , I think , for me

10:17

, I was in my biochemistry class and

10:19

at that point . I grew up in the church and

10:21

I grew up knowing who Jesus was . I went

10:23

to you know stories . I loved

10:25

Sunday school . I taught Sunday school was

10:28

an active youth group member throughout my high

10:31

school years and I went

10:33

through that . You know , when you're kind of embarking

10:35

on your own . Is my faith my own ? Is it

10:37

just because my parents told me to do this ? And

10:40

it was at that moment I was sitting in biochemistry , which

10:42

is the fusion of

10:44

biology and chemistry and lots

10:46

of like , really nitty gritty , fun

10:49

science , like down to the cellular level

10:51

, and I had this revelation

10:53

, like I really felt like God was speaking

10:55

to my heart at that point and saying how

10:57

can this not be divine ? How can this

11:00

, how can people not believe

11:02

in me when they see this ? And

11:04

it was page 376 of

11:06

my and it was CoQ10 is what

11:08

we were studying , which

11:10

means nothing to anybody else , but to me it

11:12

was like this aha moment . And

11:15

to couple that with you know I was

11:17

trying to figure out do I go to med school , do I

11:19

not ? I took the MCAT , did

11:21

not so great , or I thought not

11:23

so great , because at the time I was , you know , had a lot

11:25

of perfectionism issues and

11:28

that ended up like God closed that

11:30

door . He said , nope , you're not going down that road

11:32

so fast forward to

11:34

where I am now . I had to endure

11:37

a illness that was

11:39

Lyme Disease . That kind

11:41

of came about and we realized what it

11:43

was after, you You know 15

11:46

different doctors in the conventional medical

11:48

system . I worked for Big

11:50

Pharma . I worked for a pharmaceutical

11:52

company one of the big ones as a

11:54

drug rep . So I saw that side

11:56

of medicine and then I

11:58

experienced the patient side

12:01

where I was being and

12:02

dismissed to ld and . I

12:04

was crazy that no , there's

12:06

no Lyme Disease in Texas and I'm like what

12:08

the ticks see the border and they turn around . Like I

12:10

don't , I don't get it . But

12:13

I did grow up in Minnesota so I had

12:16

, you know , exposure to ticks but that--

12:18

it was just this really awful

12:20

feeling of nobody

12:22

hearing your story , nobody listening

12:24

to you , nobody taking all the pieces and putting

12:27

it together . And my husband

12:29

at that time he was

12:31

like fervently praying , researching

12:33

. I had no like brain

12:35

, my brain fog . It was awful . It was

12:38

a really--I had three small children

12:40

and so that really there was purpose

12:42

in that pain because I had to go through

12:44

this . What I knew in conventional

12:46

medicine that I had been trained in because I'm

12:48

trained as a dietician . I had been working

12:51

in that field and I was blown

12:53

away at it wasn't working , and

12:55

so then I've always done pro

12:57

bono nutritional counseling . I think anytime

12:59

you meet me , we have a conversation . Anytime

13:02

anyone we have a conversation

13:04

about your health , it just naturally

13:07

goes there . I think God gave me that gift and

13:12

I do believe very firmly

13:14

that he did call me to what I'm doing

13:16

today . So pandemic

13:18

hits and my kids are

13:21

now in a different space . I

13:23

was very sick for many years and

13:26

it was really difficult , but I

13:28

knew that it served some kind of purpose . I

13:30

kind of felt like Paul in prison , sometimes

13:32

finding the joy . Where's the joy ? There's

13:35

joy here somewhere . And

13:37

in 2020 , my

13:40

husband , John , who's amazing

13:42

and he's

13:44

my best friend and my biggest supporter . He was like Sarah

13:47

, you have a gift . You need

13:49

to be helping educate people on how

13:51

they can really be

13:53

stewards of their body like really understand

13:56

how their body works better , and

13:58

it's okay . If you start a practice and

14:00

monetize that , it's okay to do that

14:02

. Giving me permission and I

14:05

really have a . My mom purpose

14:07

was shifting and I

14:09

love educating and teaching people

14:11

how to be better stewards of their

14:13

bodies , the temples that we've been given , and

14:16

using it as an act of worship . It

14:18

is something that is divine and

14:21

I love how every single person , we have

14:23

all the same parts and pieces , but we're all

14:25

different and that is just a beautiful testament

14:27

to the deity of who God is . And

14:31

that's my practice started and the fun thing is

14:33

, as I was in this small little town in Texas

14:35

when I graduated from Stephen F

14:37

Austin State University in 1999

14:40

. And I had written out like

14:42

my mission statement to

14:44

my med school applications and my

14:46

dietetic intern applications , and

14:49

I really you know that , like I said , god closed

14:51

that door , went on this really winding

14:53

path , and when we actually moved back

14:55

to Nacogdoches in 2021

14:58

, not because

15:00

we were seeking it out , but again I feel

15:02

like God was calling us here for a bigger purpose

15:04

. And I found this box when you're

15:06

unpacking . You know you find boxes when you're unpacking

15:09

and it was my old applications

15:11

and I'm reading this statement

15:14

and it's exactly like , almost

15:16

word for word , what my mission and

15:18

values are now in my own

15:20

practice . And that was like God

15:22

saying see , I got you

15:24

, this is where I need you to be , and this and

15:27

it was in the same small town . It was just kind of that

15:29

whole full circle moment as I'm sitting

15:31

out on my porch with the quiet , looking

15:33

, you know , in my trees , going what are we

15:35

doing here ? And he was like I called

15:37

you here . So holistic health

15:39

, I believe , has been a journey

15:42

for me , but it's such a mission

15:44

and of mine , to help people own

15:46

their story , and what I mean by that is we

15:48

got to understand how God made us

15:50

, how he created us with intention

15:53

and purpose , and then how we

15:55

live that out is an act of worship towards

15:57

our response to him . And you can't

15:59

do that in silos , you have

16:01

to look at it as the whole picture . We

16:04

can't just look at oh , you have a high cholesterol

16:06

, okay , well , why ? It

16:08

always goes back to okay , but why ? And

16:11

I've always been the but why , girl . So

16:13

holistic health , I feel , has

16:15

three components and I feel like nutrition

16:17

in of itself is three components

16:20

. It's your spiritual nutrition , your

16:22

physical nutrition and your emotional nutrition

16:24

, and all three of those feed

16:26

off of one another and that's kind of where

16:29

my holistic health I always

16:31

had it in me , I think , because God planted

16:33

it in me , because that was , you know , that

16:36

was what his desire was , that

16:38

I latch onto , and it just , you know , 25

16:40

years later I figured it out .

16:43

Awesome . So it sounds like the holistic perspective

16:45

that you have comes from , really like

16:47

a holistic experience with your own life .

16:50

Absolutely , absolutely . And I think you

16:52

know , once we , you know , kind of gain

16:54

some spiritual maturity too , we can really

16:56

step back and look and see

16:58

how God's plan for

17:00

all of that really feeds into

17:02

that view . And again , you know

17:04

, I love that science

17:06

is so precise , right , like we

17:08

can do studies , and we can , we can get everything

17:11

really precise . But if it were and I

17:13

think of this , you know , going back to my bio-chem

17:15

class if everything was so

17:17

replicable and precise and

17:20

you know , every single thing happened and

17:22

it has to happen every single time

17:24

, every day , and the trillions of cells , all of

17:26

these things have to happen simultaneously . And

17:28

if you don't , if there's a mutation , if

17:30

there's a shift , if there's a cell death

17:32

, you end up with disease or you end up with death

17:34

. And for all of that to happen

17:36

in every person but we all have

17:39

unique qualities . That's

17:41

the part that says that there is , you

17:43

know , because otherwise we'd all be robots and we'd all look the

17:45

same and we'd , all you know , be the same . But that individual

17:48

soul piece is what sets us apart

17:50

, and I think that's where just the

17:52

beauty of God's sovereignty is visible

17:54

in His creation of His people .

17:56

That's awesome . So kind of rewinding

17:59

for a second . I mentioned a couple of like

18:01

instances earlier . Had you heard of any

18:03

of those before ?

18:04

You know I had to look up a couple of

18:06

them . I did know about the Tuskegee

18:08

Experiment , which is , again

18:11

, I hate how things get used in the

18:13

"for science . Well , that's

18:15

just . That's a terrible reason why

18:18

. But the James

18:21

, mary and Sims the

18:23

gynecological one was new to me . I hadn't

18:25

heard of the enslaved women , and

18:27

you know all of those have that common denominator

18:30

of , you know , taking advantage of a

18:32

population that should never . Whenever

18:35

a population is taken advantage of in

18:37

the name of science , we have to question why

18:39

, and we have to . Well , what is it really for

18:41

science , or was it a different ? Was there a different

18:44

motivator ? And that's

18:46

where , you know , I hate seeing any

18:48

of God's people taken advantage of , because

18:50

we all serve a purpose in His kingdom

18:52

, and this is when human sin

18:54

collides with being of the

18:56

world rather than being in it .

18:58

Kind of following up on that . When we spoke before

19:01

, one of the things that you brought up was the way

19:03

that that mistrust is growing between patients

19:05

and medical providers . Can

19:07

you tell us a bit more about what you

19:09

believe is leading to that ?

19:11

Yeah , you know , when I was thinking

19:13

about this question , I

19:15

have a bias personally because

19:17

of what I experienced and what you

19:19

know , even being trained in , you know

19:22

, conventional medicine and I believe that

19:24

there is a purpose for it . I

19:26

don't believe that there is . I think God gives

19:28

gifts to people to be . You know , have we not

19:31

discovered certain things ? You know , if

19:33

there's a , if I have a broken arm or if

19:35

my arm is severed and I need

19:37

to have like surgery , I want a surgeon

19:39

, like I want conventional medicine . You know

19:41

there's places , but I feel like

19:43

it's almost like tipped , the scale

19:45

has tipped way in the other direction

19:47

and I really feel like the

19:50

mistrust is because we're not heard

19:52

. We're being . It's

19:54

almost like it's a game that's being

19:56

played at this point and you go into your doctor

19:59

asking questions and you don't even

20:01

and it's not . It's not because they don't

20:03

want to answer , it's because they're held under

20:05

this you know insurance game

20:07

that they can only see you for 15

20:09

minutes . They only can do certain things

20:12

according to a diagnostic code . And

20:14

it's really kind of changed how

20:16

providers and conventional medicine

20:18

are allowed to even practice

20:21

. They're not even really allowed to

20:23

ask you more than a couple of deep questions

20:25

that come from you know , an intake , and

20:27

then there's no teaching , it's just

20:29

here . Okay , you have X problem

20:31

. It's like an X for Y . So

20:33

here's your problem . Medicine

20:35

has become transactional , is what I feel

20:38

, rather than the ownership of education

20:40

of okay . Well , does this make

20:42

sense ? What makes sense for me

20:44

? What am I feeling ? What am I experiencing

20:46

? What are the symptoms ? I always tell

20:48

my patients and clients like your body

20:50

has a conversation with you and if you don't

20:52

listen to it , you're going to just like communication

20:55

solves 90% of the most problems . If

20:57

you don't listen to the communication that your

20:59

body is telling you , you're

21:01

going to miss a lot of

21:04

pieces that may be revealing something

21:06

deeper that's going on . So I think

21:08

the mistrust is coming from not

21:11

because it's intentional on

21:13

the physicians or the nurse

21:16

practitioners or the PAs . It's their

21:18

kind of collateral damage from a

21:20

system of how they're trained . I

21:22

think most people get into medicine because

21:25

they want to help people . They genuinely

21:27

have an innate

21:29

desire to help people be better , and

21:32

then the way that they get trained is what

21:34

kind of destroys that . In my opinion and again

21:36

, this is Sarah's opinion on this and from

21:38

what I've experienced and

21:41

I have a lot of physician friends

21:43

. I've worked in a lot in healthcare

21:45

for 15 , 16

21:47

years and the

21:50

mistrust is because I think we've made like

21:52

I said , medicine has become transactional . You

21:54

go in , you get a prescription and there's no

21:56

further education . There's no . Or

21:58

my favorite is , oh , you're

22:00

overweight , or oh you have fatty liver , or

22:02

oh , you have type 2 diabetes . Well , just

22:05

eat better and exercise more . And how do I do

22:07

that ? How do I do that according

22:09

to my body , like they're not

22:11

to their defense , they're not trained to

22:13

do that , which is great job security

22:15

for me , but I think

22:17

we've just become a product of

22:20

greed honestly . In a

22:22

system that is broken , medical

22:24

care has become a big

22:26

business rather than advocate

22:29

for healing , and that's why I always encourage

22:31

people to like , if I'm working with someone

22:34

and they are going to a conventional

22:36

physician which I partner with a lot of physicians

22:38

and we've got a great working relationship

22:41

and so I'll help them , hey , maybe ask

22:43

a few of these questions . Here's how you

22:45

can understand how your body works

22:47

and how you can then make the best

22:49

decisions for your environmental

22:51

factors . Your how does your blood

22:54

work ? What is your blood work telling you ? That's one

22:56

of my favorite things to do is help people

22:58

understand their blood work , not from a

23:00

diagnostic perspective , not from

23:02

you have this disease , but how you

23:04

actually what your body is telling you

23:07

through your actual blood work . So

23:09

I think the mistrust is becoming because people aren't

23:11

being heard and they're being shoved and run through

23:13

like like almost like a factory and nobody's

23:15

willing to sit and listen , or they

23:17

may be willing but they're not being allowed . Maybe

23:19

that may be a better phrase and the mistrust

23:21

that's just leading to . You know , there's all kinds

23:23

of misinformation out there too . There's a lot of chaos

23:26

and a lot of noise . And then and

23:28

some people just don't know how to decipher all of that

23:30

so what it means for them , because it's not

23:33

a one size fits all , it's not just

23:35

eat more and exercise or eat less and exercise

23:37

more , like that's terrible advice . And

23:40

that comes into that holistic piece . Like how

23:42

do we take the overview of your

23:45

spiritual nutrition , your , and

23:47

think about that . In conventional medicine you're

23:49

not really allowed to talk about spiritual nutrition

23:51

. Really . I mean , that to me

23:54

is-- I always talk to

23:56

people about hey , let's talk about what spiritual battle

23:58

you're facing , because that usually is

24:00

what feeds the soil , and your soil

24:02

is like your emotional nutrition , and then

24:04

your roots of your trees are your

24:06

physical nutrition . So when we have an

24:08

emotional and spiritual storm that are

24:10

colliding , you're going to manifest physically

24:13

, you're going to have symptoms that

24:15

come about , and it's you know

24:17

. It's really important to look at all three . You

24:19

know , where am I not , where is the spiritual

24:21

battle coming from ? Even in people who don't

24:23

, you know , who aren't believers ? I mean , we're both , you know , Biblically-

24:26

based believers . So I , you know , I

24:28

love being able to be a witness to

24:30

that too , of helping people . You

24:32

know , from a spiritual standpoint , to really

24:34

, hey , what does God say about this ? Let's go to , let's

24:36

go to His Word . Where , where , where can we , where can

24:38

we see ? I mean , there's tons of examples of

24:40

, you know , the mind- body connection

24:43

.

24:43

Yeah . Al right , I want to pause for a second

24:45

here for those of you who are listening

24:47

. Do you have any questions or anything

24:49

about anything that's said

24:51

in this episode ? You can go ahead and text us

24:54

at 612-470-5419

24:57

, or you can message us on Facebook . The

24:59

link to Voice of the Middle Ground

25:01

Facebook Page is also in the description . So

25:04

kind of moving forward . Moving

25:06

forward with this overall central

25:08

concept of holistic health . What

25:10

is the role of holistic

25:12

health and helping people to be able to show up as

25:15

their authentic selves ? Or , on

25:17

the other side of things , how does not taking

25:19

this approach prevent or block that authentic

25:21

expression ?

25:22

Yeah , I love that . I love this question because

25:24

I'm huge on authenticity and I think

25:26

it goes back to that

25:29

spiritual connection component . Who

25:31

are you in Christ ? What is

25:33

your identity ? What idols are you worshiping

25:35

outside of the one true

25:37

God ? I think it goes back to the very first

25:39

commandment of the Ten Commandments , and even

25:41

further than that . One of the first commandments

25:44

that Jesus gave us was love

25:46

your neighbor as yourself . He didn't

25:48

say in spite of yourself , go

25:51

out of obligation , go love other people

25:53

and ignore yourself . He doesn't , and that's

25:55

not a selfish component . It is sit

25:57

in God's goodness and love for you

25:59

. Be overwhelmed and over-

26:02

consumed with the love that he has for

26:04

you that you're so filled up and know who

26:06

you are in Him . That's what spills out

26:08

and people see Him through you . You

26:10

know , I think of one of our favorite songs , Ruth , that we would

26:13

sing when we were

26:15

worshiping together at CrossWalk was

26:17

Goodness of God . It's one of my favorites , you know we

26:19

picked that one a lot , but it's like His

26:21

goodness is running after , it's running

26:23

after me , you know , and it's like just sit

26:26

, sit in His goodness . Be filled

26:28

up so you can love your neighbor and

26:30

you don't love them as yourself , as a selfish

26:32

love , as a , as a worldly self-

26:34

care , you know , not , not that kind of love

26:37

, but the love that is filled up with

26:39

knowing who you are in Jesus , who

26:41

you are in Christ , that identity , I

26:43

think . I think this role of holistic health

26:45

is is really helping people understand

26:48

how their body was made , the way that God

26:50

designed it , and that it was designed to

26:52

function well and designed to heal

26:54

, and it was designed to . And

26:57

when we , when we don't do that , on

26:59

the flip side of that , you know , if we don't take

27:01

this approach and we just go after the

27:03

high cholesterol or the , in your

27:05

case , you know , like a low ferritin and a

27:07

low iron , if we just focus on that

27:09

, we miss all of the parts that

27:12

are really contributing to that problem

27:14

. So we can silo things

27:16

, sure , but it's like putting , it's like putting

27:18

a bandaid on a gaping wound . If

27:20

we don't understand how the wound

27:23

happened in the first place , which

27:25

is usually multi- factorial

27:27

, it's usually , you know , more than one

27:29

reason . And when you look at a root system

27:31

. It's a big buzzword right now as root

27:33

cause . When you look at a root system , it's never

27:35

just one thing A root system that

27:38

sits in soil is there's a , there's

27:40

a big , massive system under there . So

27:42

, by being able to really address

27:44

all of the pieces that are contributing

27:47

to your symptom cycle you can't

27:49

just silo that , you can't . You can't

27:51

just and that's why I think conventional medicine

27:53

has , you know , gotten stuck is that

27:55

we just look at the silo , we just

27:57

look at the one thing , we're just focusing

27:59

on the symptom rather than the system

28:02

. And the system includes a

28:04

big spiritual component . Where's your identity

28:06

? Are you chasing after a diagnosis

28:08

? If you're chasing a diagnosis , you're

28:11

, you're , kind of worshiping a false idol . You

28:13

know . You're worshiping an idol of what's trying

28:15

to define you . I , you know , am

28:17

I ? I am Lyme Disease . I am , you

28:19

know , Anemic . I am , you know . Think

28:22

about the words that we tell ourselves when we've

28:24

been given a diagnosis oh my

28:26

gosh , I have Parkinson's , I have

28:28

MS . I am rather than

28:30

no . You are a baptized and redeemed

28:32

child of God who has been afflicted

28:35

with these things , and our strength

28:37

lies in Christ and it'll help us deal

28:39

with these external components

28:41

that we have . So I feel like we , if we

28:43

don't recognize the holistic components

28:46

, we'll get caught in a spiritual trap and we'll

28:48

also get caught in a physical trap that

28:50

won't go away if we don't identify

28:52

our identity in Christ and be filled

28:54

up with God's love , so that that's

28:56

what can spill out .

28:57

So just to kind of rephrase

28:59

what you were saying and

29:01

correct me if I'm wrong , but basically

29:04

it seems like when it comes to like

29:06

the diagnosis , like , for example , Parkinson's

29:08

or any of those things , the important

29:11

thing is the way that , the

29:13

way that we approach them .

29:15

Yeah , absolutely it , because illness

29:17

is going to happen . We live in a fallen world . In

29:19

fact , if we , if every illness was

29:21

healed here on Earth , we would never long for Heaven

29:23

, we would never have that longing to

29:26

cling and cleave to him . And it's how

29:28

we respond to the afflictions

29:30

that we've been given . And we have a perfect

29:32

example of that , you know , throughout the whole

29:35

New Testament . You know , Paul's entire

29:37

existence was constant struggle

29:40

and suffer , and yet he found

29:42

his purpose and calling , because he was

29:44

rooted in the identity of . Okay , Lord

29:46

, show me how to tackle this and show me how to show

29:49

me where You are in this . And we get caught

29:51

up in the diagnosis of , you

29:53

know , the and I'm not saying I'm not trying to minimize

29:55

that certain diagnoses are , you know they're

29:57

, they're , they're heavy , they weigh on you . But your

30:00

approach from a spiritual

30:02

and an emotional standpoint can help

30:04

understand the physical piece of it

30:06

and can help it's not going to totally relieve

30:09

it . Probably , and you know at , spiritual

30:11

healing is God's ultimate goal for us

30:13

, because we will be physically healed when we get

30:16

to heaven . But in this earth we , He told

30:18

us , going to be afflicted . So it's kind of

30:20

like well , we already know that . So how do

30:22

we respond in that crisis or

30:24

in that trial , in that , you

30:26

know , tumultuous , terrible disease that

30:28

we've been hit with , and sometimes we're relieved

30:30

of that and sometimes we're not , and we

30:32

wait until we win the race and get to heaven . But

30:34

how we respond to that here

30:36

on Earth is like God saying I

30:39

just keep trusting me . You know , keep being

30:41

obedient , keep trusting me , keep clinging

30:43

to me and I will give you that

30:45

. You know that hope and hope and

30:47

joy don't always necessarily mean

30:49

happy and whole . It it's a

30:51

, it's a state of being , and that requires

30:54

our approach and response .

30:56

So something that you alluded to earlier when

30:58

we were talking about the topic of trust and the

31:00

medical system was like the problem

31:02

of like the pressures with insurance

31:04

and some of the training there . Do

31:07

you think there's anything else that kind of lends

31:09

itself to a lack of trust within the medical system

31:11

or that there are other major contributing factors

31:13

?

31:13

I think without without

31:16

getting into a political

31:19

discussion there's there's

31:21

lots of things that

31:23

do contribute to that , and

31:25

I think a lot of it has to do with your personal

31:28

experience too . You know , it's

31:30

kind of like there's , you know , there's there's lots of , you

31:32

know , bad doctors , but that doesn't

31:34

paint the brush for all of them . There's a lot of

31:37

people working within the medical system that

31:39

are really trying , like I

31:41

, I know a lot of them and

31:43

they really want to do , they

31:45

want to help heal , and so then

31:47

they partner with people like me and are like

31:49

, okay , if you could just teach them . And like , okay

31:51

, yeah , let me be an extension of

31:53

you outside of our , outside of

31:55

your office , like let me be the one that

31:58

sits with them every week for an hour , because you're

32:00

not allowed to do that . And I really , you know , I

32:02

think we talk about healthcare reform

32:04

and I promise I won't go deep in that , but

32:06

I think it comes to insurance reform

32:08

and how , how are we structuring this

32:10

? How are we providing access ? That's a

32:12

big thing . Like , I feel like we should

32:14

spend most of our money on education

32:17

of how to prevent rather than

32:20

be reactive , because reactive medicine

32:22

is expensive medicine proactive

32:24

and prevention kind of , is a

32:26

little bit less expensive than when we have to

32:28

spend all the money on the medicines and all the money

32:31

on the hospitals and all the money , you know and

32:33

again I'm not saying that it doesn't serve a purpose

32:35

and a place . I think and this is where

32:37

I love I'm like I think there's a middle ground that

32:39

we can come to . You know , there's massive

32:42

extremes and I don't feel like

32:44

we should completely abandon

32:46

. You know , like I'm going to stand in

32:48

the middle of the you know the

32:50

grass and and and and chant

32:53

something and ask God to heal me , like

32:55

that's the . For other extreme

32:57

, you know , versus the extreme of conventional medicine

32:59

. There's an extreme of holistic medicine too , where

33:01

it's that you know I'm going to abandon all

33:03

conventional pieces . I'm like , huh

33:06

, where can we coexist of

33:08

taking the best pieces of each one ? And

33:11

I think that's where Jesus is , just like your

33:13

whole point . Jesus is in the middle , He's

33:15

, He doesn't live on extremes . I mean , in the middle

33:17

is in alignment to God and he is

33:19

the extreme . I'm like He is it . And I think with

33:21

medicine we've we've just made too

33:23

many extremes on both sides of the coin

33:25

on , you know , natural medicine versus

33:28

conventional medicine , and I think the holistic

33:30

approach is somewhere in the middle

33:32

. So it yeah , there . There's a lot

33:35

of things that contribute to that and

33:37

it's going to take . I don't know that it's something

33:39

that's ever going to be solved , because we live

33:41

in a simple world , I just I think . I

33:43

believe that more than anything , because it becomes

33:46

people's idols . It's a really great tactic

33:48

by the enemy to divide and destroy

33:50

, and until we can all

33:52

, until Jesus comes again , I don't think we're going to

33:54

see something . So that's why , teaching

33:57

and educating people of their own

33:59

personal temple , how does

34:01

you know what works for me , what

34:04

? How can I , how can I own and

34:06

know my story ? I'm really big about that

34:08

, and what I mean by that is how

34:10

do you understand how your history

34:12

played into , how your parents history

34:14

, generational history , plays into

34:16

effect , how that plays

34:19

into your emotional component , how it

34:21

plays into your physical piece , owning

34:23

what you know about you , not what someone

34:25

tells you of . Oh well , again

34:27

, you have high cholesterol , so you need to be on XY

34:30

drug . Well , what are the contributors , the

34:32

factors to that ? And I , and again

34:34

, I think if we could shift more

34:36

of the monetary focus

34:39

being towards education and

34:41

understanding of prevention . I think

34:43

have a great middle ground .

34:45

That makes a lot of sense . So you saying said

34:47

your journey kind of started

34:49

in the late 90s with

34:54

something else that came out in the 90s

34:56

was the Matrix movies , Sarah

34:59

Gallander: that's funny , I get this question

35:02

a lot .

35:03

That wasn't the genesis of the reason .

35:06

Yeah , Matrix movies are not what we're talking about

35:09

. Sarah Gallander: Oh no . Ruth Jefferson: So how

35:12

did you come across , like , how did you identify

35:15

and come up with like what the name of

35:17

your business , the Wellness , Wellness

35:19

Matrix , would be ?

35:20

Yeah , it's so funny that you asked , because there

35:22

really was a lot of intention behind this

35:24

and I'm like I won- people are going to think I'm talking about

35:26

like Red Pill and Blue Pill , like that's not what

35:29

I'm talking about . It

35:31

honestly it's . It's kind of like a

35:34

math nerd origination

35:36

. If you think of a Matrix . So

35:38

there's two components . There's the cellular matrix

35:40

, which is very complex

35:43

and intricate , and and then

35:45

you have a math matrix where you

35:48

shift one little number and it

35:50

changes the entire outcome of

35:52

that . Same thing with the cellular matrix . You

35:54

shift one little thing in the cellular matrix , you

35:58

can manipulate the entire cellular process

36:00

. What I love

36:03

about this is everyone has

36:05

their own makeup . A matrix is a

36:07

makeup of multi-factorial

36:09

components . It's a lot of pieces

36:11

of makeup . A matrix . It's not just one

36:13

column in one row . It's all

36:16

the things , and all

36:18

of those things we have . One

36:20

of my favorite sayings is

36:22

because people like to talk about their genes

36:24

and how their genes dictate their health

36:26

, like , oh , my dad had heart disease , I'm going

36:28

to die of a heart attack . Or my mom

36:31

had a thyroid problem , I'm going to have a thyroid problem

36:33

. When really genes load

36:35

the gun for lack of a better term and

36:37

environment pulls the trigger . In

36:40

your matrix you have a makeup , already

36:42

predetermined makeup , but

36:44

you also have all these external factors

36:46

that can really shift the outcome

36:48

of what you experience

36:50

from a symptom , an emotional and

36:52

a spiritual effect . The matrix

36:55

itself has to do with knowing

36:57

what your matrix is comprised of is different

36:59

for every person . I'm

37:03

big on little , tiny shifts . I

37:06

hate restrictions . I

37:08

think rules are rigid and frameworks

37:10

are flexible , and shifting tiny

37:13

making like parking your car

37:15

at the far end of the parking lot

37:17

and walking that little shift . Do

37:19

it enough times , you're going to have

37:21

a positive outcome . You're going to shift

37:23

something . So it really has to do with

37:25

the fact that a matrix is very complex

37:28

, just like our bodies are very complex and

37:31

every single one is unique . So

37:33

Ruth is different than Sarah , it's different than John

37:35

and Kira and all the

37:37

people that we can see . But you have

37:40

a lot of power

37:42

through intention and

37:44

through intuition .

37:48

Hey , did you know there's more to this episode ? Head

37:50

on over to buymeacoffee . com/ harmonize

37:52

. Discover exclusive content , like continuations

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of episodes just like this one . We'll see you

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