0:28

if you haven't yet tried alternative

0:28

medicine is it because of the cost

0:34

in this episode you'll discover a

0:34

fabulous resource that will save you

0:39

money if you want to explore some of the

0:39

less common yet effective health remedies

1:07

my next guest is a musician singer and songwriter

1:07

with a passion for supporting and promoting the

1:13

arts - which is really important right now. She's

1:13

an artist and a poet who published her first

1:19

collection in a book called 'Hearth and Homework.'

1:19

She channelled her profits and passions into

1:25

a philanthropic venture that makes discovering

1:25

alternative medicine a possible reality for all.

1:32

The reason I asked her to speak with us today is

1:32

that I love what she's doing and I want everyone

1:38

to know that it's available. Please welcome, Lisa

1:38

Watson - Hi Lisa, Hi Debra. So how many years have

1:46

you been walking this journey? Oh a good 20

1:46

now i would say uh maybe 30 because you know

1:54

it kind of started with the idea of vaccinating

1:54

my kids and that just put the fear of God in me.

2:00

Even though I had been vaccinated myself and I

2:00

ended up vaccinating them because of pressure

2:05

you know what's going to happen to them if they

2:05

haven't and that kind of thing, which sort of

2:11

funnelled me into alternative thinking. Then I

2:11

followed the thread and here I am today. Well,

2:19

we're going to talk a little bit more about that

2:19

so you have followed that thread and you created a

2:25

venture and your venture is called Mirthwalk. Can

2:25

you tell us about it? Oh Mirthwalk was a bolt

2:31

of lightning. I struggled with depression. You know in this world I think that's what Covid

2:38

is doing now is making some course corrections for

2:38

us. We've been programmed to fail really I think

2:44

and uh so I struggled with depression and I

2:44

wanted to help with mental health because it

2:51

kind of made sense to me. I wanted to help and so I

2:51

investigated that and came to realize that it was

2:58

a bottomless pit that really didn't help, I

2:58

didn't think, in the immediacy of the problem.

3:05

Meanwhile, I had come to know a lot of alternative

3:05

healers that led to Mirthwalk, the development of

3:11

Mirthwalk, and so the concept of being your

3:11

own therapist, we need help to rethink where

3:20

we stand in the world and what it is we want of

3:20

ourselves and what we can do to contribute and to

3:27

to be better human beings. We're spinning on a bit

3:27

of a treadmill right now and I think Covid is

3:35

going to help us get off of it. We're going to

3:35

start seeing different ways of doing things.

3:40

Mirthwalk is a lead into that think. That's the

3:40

way we used to think, and then the industrial age

3:47

came in and we were starting to buy into, you know,

3:47

treatments for different things. The medical system,

3:53

medicine is great, science is great and we've

3:53

come a long way. I'm not saying otherwise for

3:59

sure i believe in the integration of

3:59

both the ancient and alternative medicines

4:05

proven medicines and treatments and new treatments.

4:05

The old ways of doing things have been lost and

4:13

Mirthwalk is a foot in the door to rediscover

4:13

things like oils and massage and spirituality and

4:21

there's so much out there right now it's fantastic.

4:21

There really is, there really is, and so some people

4:28

would consider this new medicine but really it's

4:28

original medicine don't you think? Yeah it's

4:35

proven. It's thousands of years of proof. I don't

4:35

know why everybody's so skeptical. So Mirthwalk was created because you realized that

4:51

the alternatives out there. What had you discovered

4:51

through alternative medicine? The biggest thing

4:59

that I've learned through all of this is

4:59

that the body is a self-correcting mechanism.

5:05

We're evolving every day. There's something new

5:05

that we have to deal with. If our systems are

5:12

depleted from lack of rest, too much stress, our

5:12

food sources are jeopardized, i think that it's

5:21

right and correct to take supplements. I don't

5:21

think we need to spend a fortune on supplements

5:27

but i think if we're depleted then we can build

5:27

up our systems. The body needs some help.

5:33

So there we go, we get our help, we start taking

5:33

care of ourselves, we get some regular exercise,

5:39

we meditate, whatever form that takes, because

5:39

I know, sometimes it's hard for people to

5:45

meditate and stop, but go for a walk or do a

5:45

you know, a running meditation or just escape

5:52

from your head you know and that, I think was

5:52

a big part of Mirthwalk for me was escaping

5:58

from my thoughts, you know stop beating yourself up

5:58

girl, start patting yourself on the back once in a

6:05

while, giving yourself some credit. We don't honour

6:05

ourselves and our abilities. You're not supposed to

6:11

do that, you're you're supposed to defer to other

6:11

people and I just think if we stop for a minute

6:18

and give ourselves a little bit of credit we

6:18

might feel a little bit better about ourselves and

6:23

that starts a stream of good health

6:23

you know right right so and sometimes we

6:28

just need to be shown how to do that. It's not

6:28

necessarily something that comes naturally and

6:34

there are many therapists and practitioners

6:34

that are skilled in helping you find yourself.

6:41

It was incredible to me. It was like I found this

6:41

huge pool of assistance you know. People say it's

6:48

okay you're you're not wrong, you're not bad. You

6:48

know I've got so many friends now, including you,

6:56

you know, you are who you hang around with and

6:56

I feel good about myself. I hang around with people

7:02

that are doing good things and have smiles on

7:02

their faces, and they trip often but they get back

7:09

up, they don't linger on the problem, they just

7:09

keep moving and smiling, and that's where I want

7:15

to be. So i hear ya and having knowing that

7:15

there's support out there for you that's the one

7:22

thing that some people aren't even aware of and i

7:22

think that's uh from what I know about Mirthwalk

7:28

that is your purpose, is to open people's eyes.

7:28

Well i said early going so it was my niece that was

7:36

had decided she was going to go to medical school

7:36

and that was a long time ago it seems like

7:43

now she was younger and i said you know, that's

7:43

great honey we're gonna need an army of healers

7:49

and to get past the belief system that is holding

7:49

us down, and lo and behold, i turn around in my

7:58

discovery and there's all kinds of healers

7:58

in the neighbourhood. You know they don't get

8:04

enough credit, they don't make enough money,

8:04

you know they're not paid for by OHIP and

8:11

that seems to be the way if it's not paid for

8:11

by OHIP then it's not credible you know

8:19

and that's often people's way of thought isn't

8:19

it that yeah, yeah and that's unfortunate because

8:25

that means that it's hugely underutilized. We could

8:25

be a lot healthier in our community if we partook

8:31

of this if they it would be really nice if OHIP

8:31

covered some of it and insurance companies

8:36

are starting to incorporate the likes of reiki

8:36

and that kind of thing. It's a pretty shy start but

8:42

That point of not being covered in OHIP coverage

8:42

that is sometimes a stumbling block for people

8:50

and therapies don't actually need to cost a lot

8:50

of money and there's a lot of different ways to be

8:57

able to accomplish it, and Mirthwalk is really

8:57

a forerunner in making that possible for people. So

9:05

what does Mirthwalk do? So if you are

9:05

interested in trying alternative healing

9:12

go to the Mirthwalk site. You'll see that

9:12

there are listings for local practitioners,

9:18

and if you already know a practitioner that

9:18

you're interested in attending you can connect

9:24

with them and have them sign up to the Mirthwalk

9:24

site. It's a 50 dollar leg up that I pass to the

9:33

practitioner to put against the the first meet,

9:33

which you know, can cost a hundred bucks or 150

9:40

bucks something like that. So it'll help you

9:40

get in the door and you can decide whether that's

9:45

somebody you want to work with or not. Generally

9:45

my feeling is that it only takes a couple or

9:50

three visits to somebody that you click with to

9:50

get your head straight and to point you in the right

9:57

direction around supplements and other things.

9:57

Like there's such a big world out there around

10:02

this, it's incredible, touch for health and reiki

10:02

and energy medicines of all kinds. It's a

10:10

huge pool of information. Mirthwalk only has

10:10

a few practitioners right now, i'd like to see

10:17

more come on board. It costs them $25 to have their

10:17

profile put up on the Mirthwalk site. So you can

10:24

study what they do. They're all locals, um there is

10:24

sorry there's a section for out of town

10:34

you know and it's okay even just to talk on the

10:34

phone to one of them because from my perspective

10:42

energy medicine is fluid and can be done at

10:42

a distance. That's an out-there thought but

10:49

it works for me. It's worked a lot for me. I've

10:49

had so much stuff it's been really my exercise

10:57

is trying all these things out it's really

10:57

hilarious and uh and fun, I've met so many

11:03

wonderful people through this. So Mirthwalk, look

11:03

up Mirthwalk, check out the practitioners,

11:10

look up some of the exercises or the tools

11:10

that they have and if you want to make a

11:16

contribution you can do that if you want to. Yeah

11:16

Debra, you made up the site and it's

11:23

incredibly easy to use, and I really

11:23

appreciate what you did for us. No, no

11:29

that was my pleasure and because I love

11:29

what the concept is so much and I've used it

11:35

myself with my own clients. So if a client is

11:35

inquiring about my services and finances are

11:43

an issue then I offer them the Mirthwalk funding

11:43

to cover their first, second, maybe even their third

11:53

session. So from my perspective what

11:53

I do is I apply online as a practitioner

12:01

to get onto the Mirthwalk website, and then when i

12:01

need to use the funds I put in an application and

12:11

Lisa reviews it. Usually, there's no

12:11

walls in the way and she cuts me a cheque

12:19

yeah I don't ask questions because to my mind

12:19

it's none of my business what's going on with

12:24

a client right and you know if the practitioner

12:24

deems it necessary I'm fine with that so yeah that

12:33

that's it's really wonderful, and then Lisa cuts

12:33

me a cheque which I apply to my client's sessions

12:40

and that's really all there is to do it's very

12:40

very simple and it's quite amazing. But Lisa where

12:47

does the money come from? So so far it has just

12:47

been from proceeds from my music and arts and

12:55

so on but contributions are starting to come in,

12:55

which is really great. I love that people's heads

13:01

are turning around it and that they want to

13:01

help. So there's a button for that a donation button.

13:11

The funding, there's limitations to

13:11

it so we're looking for more donations and the

13:17

funds that come in from the practitioner's fees

13:17

that goes right into the pot doesn't it Lisa?

13:23

Yes it does, yeah the practitioner's money is going

13:23

directly into helping people afford - so i

13:30

apologize yes, the practitioners are contributing

13:30

too yeah and that's fairly new that you know

13:36

the $25 annual fee, it's not much. I'm glad

13:36

that I don't need to ask much from the practitioners

13:45

but every little bit helps so i'm really grateful

13:45

to them for that. They already have the burden of

13:53

you know, not really being recognized and

13:53

and lowering their prices to help.

13:59

You know, they're really working from the

13:59

heart, I just love that. So yeah that's awesome.

14:05

So if anybody's interested in either receiving

14:05

the funds or being a practitioner, or donating

14:12

to the funds, go to Mirthwalk.com

14:12

check it out and take care of your

14:17

your own body, and Lisa, I really appreciate

14:17

you sharing this. Thank you for joining us.

14:24

Thank you for all your help around Mirthwalk

14:24

Debra, and I wish you the best of luck with your

14:29

projects for sure, I'm excited about them for you. Awesome, thank you so much, and so on behalf

14:35

of Lisa Watson and me, Debra Jones, we both thank

14:35

you for listening and take care of yourselves.

14:55

you