Brace yourself for an enlightening journey with Kat McDonough, owner of Sun Tribe Wellness. We navigate through her experiences with microdosing and cannabis, and how they contributed to her journey towards self-authenticity. We discuss the challenges she faced due to familial expectations and her pursuit to reconnect with her authentic self.
Kat opens up about her experience with ADHD and how she discovered alternative ways to manage her symptoms through cannabis and microdosing. She discusses her intuitive protocol and the impact microdosing has had on her creativity and spirituality. We also unpack how her relationship with alcohol has shifted since her healing journey.
And finally we highlight her journey with Sun Tribe Wellness, a holistic self-love company, and the transformation it has brought in her life. She teaches us more about the fascinating world of yoni eggs, and the significance of understanding our bodies. How emotional and physical trauma can be stored in the womb, and how her crystal yoni eggs can help release these tensions.
Tune in for an educational, inspirational and thought provoking episode.
Follow Kat here: https://msha.ke/katmcdonough/
Use code OTHERSIDE for 10% off here: https://suntribewellness.com/
Colors
Use code OTHERSIDE15 for 15% off of our favorite mushroom gummies!
Our Website:
https://linktr.ee/seeyouontheothersidepodcast
Brace yourself for an enlightening journey with Kat McDonough, owner of Sun Tribe Wellness. We navigate through her experiences with microdosing and cannabis, and how they contributed to her journey towards self-authenticity. We discuss the challenges she faced due to familial expectations and her pursuit to reconnect with her authentic self.
Kat opens up about her experience with ADHD and how she discovered alternative ways to manage her symptoms through cannabis and microdosing. She discusses her intuitive protocol and the impact microdosing has had on her creativity and spirituality. We also unpack how her relationship with alcohol has shifted since her healing journey.
And finally we highlight her journey with Sun Tribe Wellness, a holistic self-love company, and the transformation it has brought in her life. She teaches us more about the fascinating world of yoni eggs, and the significance of understanding our bodies. How emotional and physical trauma can be stored in the womb, and how her crystal yoni eggs can help release these tensions.
Tune in for an educational, inspirational and thought provoking episode.
Follow Kat here: https://msha.ke/katmcdonough/
Use code OTHERSIDE for 10% off here: https://suntribewellness.com/
Colors
Use code OTHERSIDE15 for 15% off of our favorite mushroom gummies!
Our Website:
https://linktr.ee/seeyouontheothersidepodcast
Welcome back you guys. In today's episode we talk to Kat McDonough.
Speaker 2:Kat is the owner of Sun Tribe Wellness and they are a holistic, self-love company.
Speaker 1:Which, I will admit, before we talked with her about what she sells. You've ever heard of yoni eggs or yoni ones? It's a very hippie thing, I think. When you first learned about them and I was very, very scared of this conversation why were you scared? Not really scared, just didn't know much about it we were very curious, going into this, like what the fuck is a yoni egg for and is it safe? What does it do? What is the purpose?
Speaker 2:Right and now, after interviewing her, we have yoni eggs in right now?
Speaker 1:No, we don't, not yet we're going to. We just bought some. We totally did so. If you would like to check out her website, sun Tribe Wellness, we have a discount code for you guys. The discount code is other side and that will get you 10% off any purchase. You don't even have to let us know what you think after you. Try and keep it to yourself, if you want, or you can tag us whatever. Tag Kat. But aside from that, just talking to her in general was really just not what we expected.
Speaker 2:Well, first of all, a fellow ADHD. It was nice to talk to her and her experiences with ADHD and her struggles with ADHD and relate to somebody on that level yeah, but what else did we talk about?
Speaker 1:Just her healing journey in general and I think what was really cool is we went into this with probably 20 questions. We didn't use any of them. We didn't use a single question because the conversation was just like it went, without us even having to force it. But her healing journey, her experience with micro dosing, how she left the corporate world and how she got into where she is now Really just like finding out about how she found herself again.
Speaker 2:And those are my favorite in your interviews when it doesn't feel like I'm reading a list of questions, I feel like I'm just having an organic conversation that happens to be on a public platform. Yeah, and that's how I felt this interview was.
Speaker 1:I haven't. There's a part of that interview where, in the very beginning, we weren't even recording it.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah.
Speaker 1:And that night is when I went to go watch the Barbie movie, oh yeah. But I was like remember, I was like there was like a theme of the week and like just our conversation just was like on theme with what I was going through in my life and it just kind of really resonated and helped a lot.
Speaker 2:I have loved meeting women in this space.
Speaker 1:Mm, hmm.
Speaker 2:Because I think you know, sometimes on this journey it can feel, even though you've gotten more peace, it can feel very lonely. Or you can almost feel outcasted because the people you love your family, your friends may not understand what you're doing and they probably won't understand it ever, and that can feel really lonely.
Speaker 1:But finding people who are like minded and the conversation is just organic and it can flow very, very easily, that's what fills my cup up now I'm having, like you, and I have talked about how, like we left that conversation where, like dude, like what we do is fucking therapy man, it is like what we do is therapy for ourselves, and I'm hoping that our listeners get that same thing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's an innovation.
Speaker 1:I really hope that, like you guys we say it all the time we're not the experts, you know, we're the ones who talk to people, but we're getting as much out of these interviews as I hope that you all are. So I think that that's really cool, because we're all just kind of winging it and doing our best, and it really does feel like you're part of something bigger when you realize you're not alone.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And you can relate to a little bit of everybody on this journey and you can hear parts of yourself and the people that we interview along with us.
Speaker 2:I also am very grateful to all of our listeners that we get to show up on this platform as our imperfect selves and they're just watching us grow, learn, heal and evolve. Make mistakes too along the way, yeah, and I think that's incredible.
Speaker 1:So hopefully you guys get as much from Kat as we did to integrate into your lives. Maybe you'll learn something about some yoni eggs. Maybe they're not for you and that's okay too, but next time you hear from us, you hear me like.
Speaker 2:Do we know? Do we have Yoni eggs right now, when they're talking to us? Maybe, the answer is probably.
Speaker 1:Maybe, maybe not. We'll never tell. I'll probably tell.
Speaker 2:I know I'll probably tell them too.
Speaker 1:Actually, yes, so you guys check her out. Kat McDonough, here she is. How do you want to be Received?
Speaker 3:Yeah, no, that's honestly. I'm so excited because I have a hard time introducing myself and I feel like I, if I explain this back to you, maybe what you echo back to me will We'll bring me some clarity. So definitely the owner of Sun Tribe. So that's, it's my main gig. But I think I read someone talking about when you're a part of this new creator economy, when you are in the making money on the internet space. It's really difficult to explain what you do, because I do a little bit of this and a little bit of that. I've.
Speaker 3:I was in software sales for seven years, had a full career in that and just kind of walked away from it to to walk into uncertainty. I've done content creation for brands. I've done brand reworks, built websites, copywriting, like you name it. Just growth strategy. Really, I like to help companies make money that that do positive change for the world. So I've done a little bit of this and a little bit of that for the sales and marketing arm, like the growth side of things.
Speaker 3:But Sun Tribe is definitely my, my main thing and I actually was pretty heavily leaning into content creation and getting some traction there and then started to hide from that a little bit earlier this year when I was like is this what I really want? Is this how I want to show up in the world? And I'm kind of like leaning back into that now because I realized that like it was just so flattering I've never been interviewed on a podcast or anything before and just to feel like my story is something that can help other people and I've had people in my life recently be like do you realize how much you've changed my life? And I just I don't even realize it sometimes. I don't see myself that way. So I'm like I do have important things I need to share and I feel like this is a great kind of kickstart back into sharing some more. I just clipped that.
Speaker 2:You did yeah.
Speaker 1:Okay, good.
Speaker 2:I try to clip parts where I'm like we need to remember that part. Yeah, when the other person is who we're interviewing is talking, and I just love what they're saying.
Speaker 1:I love everything that she's saying, because I do feel like, see, this is where we struggle, because I'm like are we, are we doing the episode right now? Not trying to be, but like I think a big thing that's happening right now is women finding their voices and realizing how powerful they are and how much impact we have, and for so, so, so long, we were taught to keep it quiet, and why would you share that and don't tell people your business and you?
Speaker 1:know, you don't act like you're hurting. When you're hurting, you know, you act tough and you keep it in. And I think that there has been a shift happening and I was literally like in my car this morning thinking about it, like there's so much power in the female women community right now and I'm like do other women feel it?
Speaker 3:100%.
Speaker 1:Yeah, like, is that weird Cause? I'm like it's not just like women power, but it's like, oh, something's happening, there's a shift.
Speaker 3:Yeah, for sure, and I think, um, like the internalized misogyny side of me would be like, no, I'm not in this women power movement, like back in the day, and I feel like it's just this new, this new way of us showing up in the world, of like this is who I am and showing up authentically and just the feminine energy is so necessary in the world right now. I was just going to say that, yeah, and I think that, like the overload of masculine energy is obviously not working very well. There's a lot going on that I think everybody can agree, men included, needs to change, and so I feel like it's the perfect time for women to to step into our power, and our power is a different type of power than masculine power. Right, it's not this harsh stepping on other people and pushing to get your way. Like the power and the strength of vulnerability is something that I've kind of had to to relearn.
Speaker 3:I really feel like honestly, like I was thinking about this, because it's hard to track, when you make so many changes in your life, like what is causing this transformation, but I really think it's. It's been so cyber. That has opened my mind because when you think about it, we all know, like we know who we are, we know what we should be saying and what we're meant to bring to the world, but we've been taught to discount that and to try to do things the way that everybody else does. So it's like I think that what you guys are doing is so incredible and I feel like it's going to have such positive change for so many women around the world. So, yeah, I'm so excited to be a part of it.
Speaker 2:I think you're incredible.
Speaker 3:This is already like we weren't even really good, we weren't, even.
Speaker 2:we're starting.
Speaker 1:I know this is it we started. I'm sorry.
Speaker 2:But your energy is just really. It's beautiful, Like your vibe is so beautiful. So I was going to say that it's. I feel like the shift has changed because I feel like myself personally. I was in my masculine for a really, really long time, so I think using my voice has been very different, especially after I did mushrooms, because I maneuver in a much different way, just like what you were saying. So everything you were saying I was like yes, yes, yes, Right on the money.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's crazy because, like I think back to my professional career and I just I was getting incentivized to to be more masculine, like I would come to a meeting and I'm like you know, this isn't really motivating me when you're like, when you're saying XYZ and I'm doing all the right things, but you're still talking to me like I'm not, it's hard on me psychologically and so I want to be able to show up and do my best and continue to crash these goals for you.
Speaker 3:I was in sales and I would get feedback from, like, my management or when I would go to my sister or my friends to prepare before one of these conversations, and they would be like scrap everything you're saying.
Speaker 3:Don't say the word I feel like be logical, be to the point, don't bring your feelings into it, and I'm like I feel more deeply than anyone I've ever met in my life. So if you want to manage me well, it's very important that we talk about my feelings and, again, I also think that not talking about them makes everyone's feelings more present, because it's just this weird elephant in the room and we're all walking around bumping into each other when just leaving this part out of the conversation, this complete rejection of the feminine, but also of just our emotional life. It's not benefiting anyone. And so it's interesting like to to feel within yourself that, like I know intuitively that I should be doing things differently, but to feel that empowerment from everybody, kind of picking up this energy at the same time, like this divine feminine uprising, if you will, I feel like it just encourages, encourages us, encourages us as individuals to to know we're on the right path and like there are other people going through exactly the same journey that we are.
Speaker 2:I never thought about it in that way, because Lee and I have very big feelings as well and have struggled in work situations because of that, and I never really put that together until you just said that.
Speaker 1:Well and also this isn't your typical feminine or feminist pussy power power of the pussy. I am woman, hear me roar Like. It's very different than that. This is like a softer like. No, I'm a woman and I feel things deeply and I also know how to hold space for other people and their feelings and let's talk about these things Like that's. To me, what's different about it is we're we're more, we're being more vulnerable about it.
Speaker 2:Maybe that's such a healing energy. Yeah, I think women are in their feminine.
Speaker 1:So let's hear, let's start from the beginning.
Speaker 3:Obviously I jump around a little bit. That's kind of how I operate. So thank you. Yeah, tell me, how do we get started?
Speaker 1:I think we already started, but I kind of want to know you said it, you said a few seconds. Well, like a minute ago it all started with psilocybin. Kind of give us like a little bit of a history not a history I don't want to go like all since you were like born, but who and where you were before psilocybin and how that journey came about and how it got you to where you are now.
Speaker 3:Yeah, absolutely. And I think the most beautiful part of it is that psilocybin really returned me to who I authentically am, because my parents always said it, like when I was a kid. My dad always says you knew who you were and you had your values and you were just. You were your own person and you weren't going to let anybody make you feel differently about that. And just as time went on, starting like late elementary school, middle school, like I started to be othered, and just not really othered, because I think that's a really interesting part of my story is that I always was fitting in and I was always accepted, like I didn't have this hard time, I wasn't ostracized, but I noticed that because I'm so empathic and I can sense people's reactions to things, even when they can't. Sometimes when I would do things that were weird or quirky, I would get different feedback than when I was presenting myself in the way that they wanted. So again, not knowing that I had ADHD, this looks a lot different in hindsight, but I was just. My sense of self was never like. It got weaker and weaker as I went through puberty and then got older and I really lost touch with myself, and the more that I lost touch with myself, the worse that my mental health got. So in high school I was like still doing really great. I had my parents to keep my structure in place. So I didn't like that's a major thing with ADHD, where you grow up and your parents are taking care of all the boring administrative stuff that you don't ever think about. I didn't really suffer too too much, but I did start to. I don't know I had two separate identities really at that point because I was like field hockey captain, hung out with like the athletes and like the cool people, but then I like moonlighted as a theater kid. So I was doing community theater. I was in some cases even getting paid to do theater. Like theater was, it was my life. And I ended up going to a theater high school half the day in 11th and 12th grade, which was like literally splitting my life down the middle. And then I went to my one school and it was like my jock life and you know that whole scene. And then I would go hang out with my theater friends and be really just lit up and excited and and passionate about what I was doing and I always thought like I wanted to pursue musical theater. That was my goal.
Speaker 3:And then I got a little bit older, I started to realize that if you don't make it, make it, then that's a really tough life. And I was raised in a middle class upper middle class family where, like my parents just were honest with me. They're like we don't know if you could do the starving thing. And so, as much as I believed in myself that I could make this happen and I got so much support from my family, like everybody believed in me. But I almost started to look at the world and be like, am I being unrealistic for thinking that I can make it? And what if I go for this? I go away to a four year university, I have a degree that I then can't do anything with. And then I would say the major turning point was I was auditioning for colleges.
Speaker 3:I got into the University of Miami's theater program but as their first waitlist spot and that really like made me question. Like I had been the lead in all these shows, like on Long Island I was. Everybody was like, oh my god, cats gonna make it. I was most likely to be famous in high school. Like I. Just that was my identity.
Speaker 3:And then I realized like what if I'm just a big fish in a small pond? And it just kind of made me question things and the program. They were like someone will drop out in the first semester, like you will join the program and we're so excited to have you. But to me I was like well, you're not excited to have me because I didn't get into the program and I made like a pretty wild decision to go to Miami versus NYU, which was my other top school, because I had a bad breakup with my first sociopath that I dated. So did you say first the first one? Oh yes, it was a common thread in a lot of people that I found myself drawn to, which, like I'm sure you guys can relate to from the whole empath.
Speaker 2:I loved a toxic man, yeah, but I don't know if I've ever dated a sociopath.
Speaker 1:I feel like it's like it's a toss up between a narcissist and a sociopath sometimes like sometimes. I feel like doesn't matter which one you are. Yeah they're both like, pretty toxic.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's toxic as fuck yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so you were getting away from that.
Speaker 3:Yes, I wanted to get away from that and I was like, let me reinvent my life. And so I had made the decision to go to Miami. I stayed on the waitlist but at that point I kind of knew like I probably won't major in theater and I'm going to go start fresh, go start a new life. And I was really excited about it and in a lot of ways it was great. But I also lost touch with my creative energy and my creative side, which I'm coming to realize now was so damaging to me to not have that, that part of myself, to have an outlet to express it. And when I started school I was like doing some open mic nights with my guitar I would still like dabble.
Speaker 3:But the further and further I got into college Greek life party scene it just it fell away from my life and I got into a whole new world. That was really. It rewarded conformity, it rewarded being like everyone else and I was smacked straight in the face with the fact that I just I can't. I can't conform like I'm not, I'm not good at it. So college was like simultaneously such an incredible time of my life, but also I was deeply, deeply hurting, drinking way too much and just feeling like there was something wrong with me. But again, nobody ever knew like high functioning mental illness is. So it's such a tricky, tricky animal because, like the the things that typically trigger the pack to come help the person in need Like that doesn't happen because I'm masking so well that everybody thinks that I'm happy and have it all together and I would put on a show I was still performing, just not on stage, shit, yeah, that that was mushroom, mushroom realization. But yeah, I really just kind of lost touch with with what I wanted for my life. Like I read my journals from when I was younger, I was always like I want to change the world, I want to change the world and I realized that I had no idea really who I was anymore but didn't see a path to to fix that. So I graduated with my degree in psychology, which I really loved. I love the human mind and I love kind of analyzing that.
Speaker 3:But then I went into sales because I was good at talking to people and everybody told me I would be good at it and my mom did sales and so I just kind of stumbled into this career and was successful. But I was like there's got to be something more. I'm 22 years old and I can't. I can't believe that this is what the rest of my life is like. There's no, there's no deeper meaning.
Speaker 3:And my parents the story that you guys shared on your Instagram today, by the way, that was like your parents can be great people and still hurt you because they're unhealed it was like exactly that scenario. They were like you don't need everything, doesn't have to have meaning. People don't love their jobs. Like my dad was an electrician and my mom worked three pharmaceutical sales jobs. She was like look, just get your job, do your thing, enjoy what you do to whatever degree you can, but then your life outside of work is supposed to be where you get your joy. And for me, I'm like I'm spending eight hours a day and my first job was 12 hours a day plus a commute. Like it was really intense and I'm like this is the majority of my life.
Speaker 3:But again, I was kind of questioning like, do I really know what's best for myself?
Speaker 3:And I had started to dabble with like freelancing and just like learning on my own online to learn different things, to basically start my own, my own path, but I didn't feel confident about fully jumping in until I started micro dosing and it honestly, experimenting with cannabis and psychedelics in and of itself were such massive leaps for me as a people pleaser who has always waited for other people to tell me what to do and approve of me to the point of saying I feel like these drugs are not the damaging, dangerous things that they're made out to be, and I have to trust my intuition that I know it's best for myself and do the research and if I feel comfortable, then to take the risk.
Speaker 3:And it was like that that started this whole path of self sovereign T and just trusting my intuition, believing in myself. And it hasn't been like I started micro dosing and life's been up and up because I've definitely had some bumps in the road since then, but I think just the way that I view the trials and tribulations and the challenges in my life, the way I bounce back and the way that I'm able to really trust myself and make decisions that align with the person I am authentically and who I'm becoming and what I want from my life and what I want to do in this world, it's night and day, honestly.
Speaker 1:So I want to say something really quick because I feel like so many people have this misconception that like depression is because you're sad. I feel like it's okay to be sad and it has nothing to do with being depressed Because you're saying like your life still has its ups and downs and you know as as far into our healing journey as Christine and I are, and probably you like you know that there is going to be ups and downs.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we're living an experience waiting for the up or for the down to go away, because you know there's going to be an up and I think to me, in my experience, depression wasn't the downs. The depression for me was being so out of touch with who I was authentically, and that's what made the down so debilitating and so hard to climb out of, because I feel like the further and further I got into touch with myself, the easier it was to climb out and to remember that there was another side, that this was just a pendulum and this was a swing and there was something that was going to come out of it Does that make sense?
Speaker 3:Oh, absolutely 100%. I hate to say that, by the way, I so many of the things that I've heard you both say, like I've been binging through your episodes and obviously following your social content, like what you just said right there. I have literally said the same thing in in different words to people in my life and I feel like a lot of people are like I don't really, I don't really understand it, but it's so true. Where you like depression is a spiritual, like mental health in general, like I've completely changed my outlook on it, on you know, am I seeking a diagnosis? I've been diagnosed with so many things and like put on medication and it's just a matter of is this like a forever problem or are there actual things going on that would make sense?
Speaker 3:Why I'm feeling this way, like we don't need to pathologize everything and also it's a sign that you can, you need to make a change to to make sure you don't get back into this position again. And I feel like a lot of people are, like a lot of people are starting to change their view on on depression and on anxiety and mental health and like what that actually, what that actually means and what that source actually is because you could put someone on an SSRI and throw them back into the same life that made them depressed in the first place, and you're going to get back into the same situation. And just upping your dose of Lexa pro is not going to change the fact that you are deeply disconnected with your purpose and your passion and what you're meant to do in this world. So totally agree, so good.
Speaker 1:I want to take it back to your parents and not I was gonna do that, do you were going to do? Yes, because I want. Like the way that they viewed things to me is the way that a lot of not, I don't even want to say older people, because I don't want to put anybody in this box but it's the way that society views a lot of things like why does there have to be a purpose? Why do you have to have meaning? Like you just do your job, you go to work, you go to school, you do your job. And it's exactly what you said. Like the thing that makes you happy is the things you do in your free time. But I just think that that is a misconception and I wanted to ask if they were spiritual at all or if you think that you kind of had that in a land you yeah, that's a great question.
Speaker 3:My parents were not spiritual at all and I think I started to look into Buddhism, like literally when I was in middle school, high school. I was like I think I'm a Buddhist and they were like, where is this coming from? What's going on? But I had this innately within me that I knew there was a bigger picture and a bigger purpose. And I will say about my parents that they believe that your purpose and your mission on this earth is to love your people and to build things with your people and take care of your people. So they believe it's similar in terms of the root belief, which is that the meaning of life is love. Right, and I learned that from them and I saw just healthy love, just people taking care of one another, people deeply cherishing the experiences they shared together. So they were like spiritual kind of, but didn't really know it because they're like the meaning of life isn't what you do for work, it's to love your people, which is so true. But I think, when you think about that generation, at least in my family like we didn't have the abundance to have choices that you could like what you did. It was more important to provide that security for your family and they had to make different choices because it was a different time.
Speaker 3:There's all this talk about technology and all the negatives and there are certainly many but there are so many positives that you can really create your own path, your own career, you can create your own life in a different way, and so I don't blame them for not seeing things in the same way that I do. But it definitely did cause, and still causes, some friction sometimes when, like, I've always been a dreamer and I've always just thought that it was going to work out. I didn't know how and I didn't know when, but I just I knew deep within me that if I went out into the world and did what I was feeling drawn to do, like if I was just living by my values, living by my virtues and just continue to follow what lit me up, that I would figure it out. And I feel like for your parents, that's a really scary thing to be like. My child is taking this weird uncharted path like leaving stability and leaving all of these really concrete things for the unknown, which it's scary as hell for the people who are doing it too.
Speaker 3:But yeah, it's really, it's interesting and it seems to be generational, like I don't know if you guys have like dug into just the stats on how many people like millennials and Gen Z are not talking to one or both of their parents, and it's heartbreaking and it's just, it's a fundamental difference in the way we see the world and I'm going to get a little emotional, but I I've had struggles with disconnecting from my parents because they have been triggering at different points in my healing journey and it's I think it's one of the biggest issues that our society needs to to solve is to remove this disconnect, because a lot of people's parents are not. They don't have ill intent, but they're just not able to relate to you and the worlds in the same way that you do.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, we're talking about this the other day, and so Leah and I come from a background of a lot of trauma and it wasn't a secret, and it's like how we talk about narcissism, how there's overt and covert. Ours was over, it was just trauma. Yeah, our trauma was just a known thing, you know, being it growing up, poor me having a single mom, both of us experiencing different kinds of abuse, like there was no elephant in the room. But what we were talking about is a lot of millennials. Now they become adults and they think that they had this picture perfect life because their parents made money, their parents were together, they weren't physically abused.
Speaker 1:They weren't abused or neglected.
Speaker 2:They weren't like they got to do the activities you know. Their parents had good jobs, whatever it was. But then it's almost like they become an adult and they start their healing journey and then they start to realize that maybe their childhood wasn't as perfect as they envisioned. And it really throws people for a loop because it was not overt, it was more covert and it wasn't intentional.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so a lot of these parents.
Speaker 2:they were doing the best they could with the information that they had at that time. Well, we have new information now, and so a lot of these adult children are realizing like, oh shit, my parents ignored my needs or, you know, I didn't get to express myself or I got to do things. My parents or my parents would pay for things, but it was only if they did, if I did, exactly what they wanted me to do. It's like these little things that people are starting to wake up and realize that, oh my gosh, I love my parents and they love me, and I know that. But maybe my childhood wasn't as perfect as what I thought.
Speaker 1:Have you ever heard?
Speaker 1:There's somebody who said this, and I'm blanking on, who said this to us or to me?
Speaker 1:It was a friend of mine, but she said she doesn't like to use the word trauma because so many people see it as this, like big, giant thing, and she uses wounding instead. And so when you think about it like that, like okay, sure it wasn't like blunt force trauma, but like there were like little, tiny little pokes and over time those pokes made you who you are and gave you these I don't want to say gave you issues like it fucking gave you issues, whether you realize it or not. So yeah, I understand what you mean and there's a lot of disconnect. I would love to look at, like, the statistics on that and see how many people are disconnected from their parents, because I think I, for me personally, what would help with that connection would just be a little bit of accountability and understanding that what I am saying isn't saying you're a bad person or saying that what you did was like evil and awful, and I'm just saying you stepped on my foot and it hurt.
Speaker 1:I know you didn't mean to, you didn't know, because your mom stepped on your foot like it's okay. I'm just saying this is why I am the way that I am, and instead of like that never happened, I never did that and you know what I mean Like I think that's where that disconnect happens. A lot is we're not being heard.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Or validated yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, 100%, and like this is so, so relevant. I had a very long talk with my dad last night. I'm visiting my family right now, staying with them for a week, but it is so true and I look at our journey with my family through this past couple of years and I would say the major turning point for us was I actually had very overt trauma. I was in an abusive relationship and it really shook things up with my family because things that I was able to let roll off my back and just kind of internalize in a way, I started to have to set boundaries and explain. This is affecting me in this way and I would appreciate if we talked about this in a different way and just their growth, like watching their growth over the past couple of years and the accountability they've been able to take. Because, again, like you said, it's not like an attack or I'm blaming you for this is the way that I am. It's truly I understand that.
Speaker 3:I've been in therapy since I was 14 years old. You guys did not have those resources available to you. My sister's a parent now. She reads so many books on intentional parenting. So just putting down our weapons and saying this is not a fight. I'm not here to fight with you. I'm here to understand one another better, because I want to make our relationship better in the future, so that I feel seen and heard, moving forward.
Speaker 3:Because I think when a lot of people, like a lot of parents, will feel attacked, like we're blaming them for issues in our lives, and it's just, this is what happened in the past and we're going to dig into that and it's more of I'm trying to course correct so that in the future, we're able to have this really incredible strong bond and get closer.
Speaker 3:And it's just like this morning I was getting ready for this podcast and my mom was drinking her tea and talking to me and she was like you really have just opened my eyes to thinking about things in a different way, and I was thinking about how my mom and some of the things that I experienced when I was younger shaped me in the way that I am and she was doing her best and she was doing the best that she could with what she had and I never doubted her love for me or anything. But there are certain things that really did shape me and so it helps me to understand when you talk to me about things like I fully empathize with you in a different way now, and so we've had like multi-generational healing going on, which is it's been really yeah it's been awesome.
Speaker 2:Does she know you're recording right now? Yeah, she does she does yeah.
Speaker 1:So what were you going to ask about her parents? You said you had a question about her parents.
Speaker 2:Oh, it was just more the covert and overt thing and how it's almost like the covert. It takes longer for people to realize because they have this idea of their childhood in their head and it kind of just throws them off their game a little bit.
Speaker 1:Okay, it's no secret, both of you struggle with ADHD, right, yeah, like you do too, kat, right, okay, yes, okay, okay, I'm going to take this in a direction. Okay, let's go. You were talking about how you did cannabis and you started microdosing and how you did your own research, and I want to talk about that because I think that critical thinking is something a lot of people struggle with. And I remember looking this up and sending it to my husband at one point because I'm like you're not using your critical thinking skills and he's like what does that even mean? And there are like five steps to critical thinking and I don't remember them now, but I think I did at one point but one of them is like do your own research, make your own informed decision.
Speaker 1:Like, don't go based on what other people are saying. Look at the evidence. Do your research, what do you believe? What do you think? What do you feel? Like those are skills. And said I think a lot of people are like well, they said that it's dangerous, so I'm not touching it. So I want to go into, like, what conclusions you came to when and how you started microdosing and how long that's been happening for you.
Speaker 3:Yeah, absolutely. And I think the thing that made me start really reconsidering drugs and making my own decisions on them was just my relationship with alcohol and just realizing that it was damaging to me and everyone that I've ever met. And it wasn't that every time I drank something bad happened, but anytime something bad happened, alcohol was definitely involved. And I also just looked at the people around me and I was like, if this is the one drug that they approve for us, I don't really trust their judgment. And I had also been cannabis and mushroom adjacent my whole life because I was always drawn to people who were interested in these substances. Interesting, cool. Yeah, like my boyfriend in high school sold weed and I never smoked. So I was always like I was always interested in these things. But I was told like these are bad and wrong and you're going to lose your mind if you ever do psychedelics, and so I never even I'm such a rule follower. I never even thought to question it. The way I relate to that, yeah, I mean, it's just I didn't want to break the rules and that was a rule. And so I was like, okay, and I think we're not really taught to think critically, but I saw in my own life that alcohol was not working and I was struggling with anxiety and my mom was actually the one who sent me something about CBD and she said I think that this might really help you. I've been reading about a lot of people and again it was anxiety which was really undiagnosed, untreated ADHD. But she was like you should try out CBD and it was life changing and so I was like wait a minute, like if this is really therapeutic.
Speaker 3:And I had smoked weed a couple of times in college and whatever. But I wasn't. It wasn't a big part of my life and I was an adult now. So I took CBD and it helped and I just opened my mind to the thought of smoking again and I was like weed is fairly harmless, so it was like a gateway drug, if you will. And I just realized like on a Thursday night, if I had wine with my friends, I would go home drunk, text my ex, eat like a massive McDonald's meal and wake up with a headache and go into work with the worst anxiety ever. And then I would smoke and I would do a little skincare routine like go to bed early, make sure I got in my comfy pajamas and like wake up well rested and feeling amazing for the next day. So I was like, hmm, is that Christine's?
Speaker 1:MO. That is a hundred percent, christine. 100%. I feel like an outsider in this conversation right now.
Speaker 2:Not really not literally so much of what you have said about ADHD.
Speaker 1:I've been like oh, because it's no secret, like I call.
Speaker 2:I don't call her out on it, but I'm like your ADHD is showing Like we know it, we joke about it, but Well, and what's funny is tonight Leah is going it's like an early premiere of the new Barbie movie and so she is texting me and another girl and asking like okay, the movie starts at seven o'clock tonight. Are you guys coming? And I just stop responding because I'm like, absolutely not. I'm going to take my edible and then I'm going to do my night routine and get in my pajamas and roll my face and that is like I like. Like I really like structure. So when things get thrown off, I really don't like it. I really struggle with night things people ask me to do.
Speaker 1:So when you said all of that, I was just like, oh gosh, that is literally me yeah. Yeah, I mean it gets you something and I love that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean it's so funny because, like with ADHD, you inherently hate routine, but it's so good for you, so it's like creating one. That that you love is, um, it's really just life changing, and that that started with cannabis. Look at me staying on track here, Um, and then, after my experience with cannabis, I was like, okay, well, what else? What else are they not telling us the full truth about? Because cannabis is a gateway drug and it's going to do all these bad things. But I don't know. I'm I'm doing yoga and like just chilling on my couch having a good time. So I started to open my mind to other other ways to to relax, unwind and also to heal. Like when I started smoking, alcohol just started to like dwindle out of my life, because I realized I didn't like the way that it made me feel and I started to be more mindful of the way I was feeling. And when you have ADHD, something like alcohol which throws your dopamine levels off, it's just. I realized I was not doing myself any favors and I just started to be more open-minded.
Speaker 3:Um went to a Kava bar, actually for the first time in 2020. So this is a big part of my, of my current landscape. Um, but that's where I was introduced to micro dosing. Um, my mom again, my mom being my like weird, uh, shaman who doesn't do drugs herself she had watched unintentional shaman, yeah, literally, and she always like listened to Howard Stern interviews with these celebrities and she's like they all do ayahuasca. So she was like interested in psychedelics but would never do them herself. But she had watched have a good trip on Netflix and was like I think you would love this show where they introduced have you guys seen it? Yes, yeah, Um, and she was like I think you'd love it and we watched it together and I was like this seems awesome. Like why, why am I so afraid of this? Look at all these really successful people who are talking about I. Just I feel like it just blew the doors off the whole thing for me and I was like all right, I'm interested, but I'm going to do my research first.
Speaker 3:So I then read how to change your mind. Um, I read it in like a night. I was just fully, yeah, I was just amazed. I was like how is it that I've been struggling with my mental health and everybody's struggling with their mental health, and yet we're not talking about these incredibly therapeutic options that that could really change lives. So I was bought in at that point and then, as most things in my life tend to be just completely random and serendipitous, I was at the Kava bar I've been hanging out at, which is plant medicine, Kava, cratum, so already kind of in that scene, and I was reading about micro dosing. That day this guy came in and I heard him talking to another guy there and he was like yeah, I got these micro dose tea bags.
Speaker 3:I ordered them from this place online, Sip, and I'm not going to say the name, but it's like super reputable and I was like tea bag seems like a really a really nice, smooth way. Like I won't feel like a delinquent because I really did. I still felt like that deep seated shame, even about cannabis and I still sometimes do but I was like tea seems like an interesting, an interesting way. So I went online. I bought them right away. Yeah, yeah, it was like. I was like this is classy, this is totally not drugs.
Speaker 3:I got the tea bags and I was so excited but so nervous. So they sat on my counter and I looked at them every morning before work and I was like I'll get into you one day. And then, finally, I just decided to do a quarter of a dose of them, Like I boiled the, like I made the whole pot of tea and then I split it up into very small doses because I was so nervous I didn't want to lose control or lose my mind and I was shocked that I didn't feel any major differences. But I felt so uplifted, Like the colors were brighter. I walked outside and I heard the birds chirping, Like I was just mindful and present, Like I had just done a meditation, but just without, without doing a half an hour meditation, Like I just it made me more mindful in my life and so I was just sold kind of right away, and this was back in 2020.
Speaker 3:And then, since then, I have been micro dosing on and off. I don't follow like a regimen which is kind of on brand, but I do it in an intuitive way where I will take mushrooms a few days, I'll take a few days off and I'll do like phases of a couple months where I'm using them and then I do a couple months off where I just take a break. And I think what's been so fascinating is just how the integration work makes the change last, throughout the times when I'm not using mushrooms Like I, genuinely I feel like there's so much opportunity to heal people in like a long lasting, sustainable way, instead of feeling like I'm broken, I'm going to be on medication my whole life. Like the change that I was making on every level mentally, physically, spiritually, professionally I was just taking risks. I was more comfortable with fear and the unknown and just trusting myself and returning home to who I was and, yeah, I think I think it's just been probably the most impactful thing that I have added to my healing journey mix.
Speaker 2:I love that so much, then. Has it helped you with your ADHD symptoms? Cannabis and microdosing yes, how so?
Speaker 3:100%. So I didn't get diagnosed until I was 25 and my ADHD is pretty severe. So looking back, it makes so much sense. What do you mean by severe? Like I'm so easily distracted by things, like I can hear the lights. I can't pay attention to you in this room if there is a fan on upstairs around the corner. Like sensory perception very intense. My executive function is a challenge. I definitely meet resistance, even on things that I want to do, and then I think a lot of people don't realize about ADHD, which I'd love to hear if this is your experience as well. But there's a huge emotional component and Struggling to manage emotions.
Speaker 2:Struggling to manage emotions.
Speaker 3:Yeah, just struggling to manage them and just sensitivity. It's rejection, sensitivity and emotional dysregulation.
Speaker 1:Yeah, interesting.
Speaker 3:But I noticed before I got diagnosed I was smoking and I started to realize that I felt so much better when I was smoking that I started doing it sometimes during the day. And then I realized that if I took low dose edibles, like 2.5 milligrams of THC, that my ADHD was so calm and it was better than what I was getting from CBD, because the CBD relaxed me. But the THC gave me that focus and that energy and it was really the only thing that helped me to. I think that the cannabis is what helped me to see clearly enough to go get a diagnosis Wow, Because I couldn't even focus enough to do so beforehand.
Speaker 2:So we have talked about this before, but Leah saw it in real time. So we got sent THC and it was like a lemonade packet and both, you know, leah drank one and I drank one. And then we had a meeting and Leah sat there and like, she just sat there and it hit her like and she just couldn't focus. It helped me focus so much, so so much and so a lot of times, you know, and I do edibles too and I've, you know, given them to friends and they don't have the reaction that I have. It helps me focus. I feel very, I like getting deep, I feel like my thoughts are much more clear, like it, it's almost. It makes me feel closer to myself.
Speaker 1:But this is why I feel like these are medicines and not drugs, because the medicine for you works in a very different way than it does for me. I don't like feeling high anymore because it shuts me off, to the point that I am shut off to everything, like I am literally that girl who's like melted into the couch.
Speaker 2:But it's like what Kat said. No matter what amount the right dose.
Speaker 1:Right right right.
Speaker 2:It really matters Because sure I can and I have taken too much for it than I am like, so stoned out. But when it's that right amount, I can do some shit.
Speaker 1:Well, and she said the two and a half milligrams back in like 2020, I think it was 2020. Like, I went to one of the first dispensaries in Chicago that opened, like when they first opened to recreational use, and I got these little two milligram capsules Maybe they weren't capsules but they were pills and that was like the perfect amount for me. It was just enough that I didn't have anxiety, but it didn't mess with my ability to like focus or anything, because I don't have a problem focusing. Like so I don't have ADHD. No, the way you all do.
Speaker 2:No, you don't have it at all.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean, I think it's the same way that there's such a stigma around Adderall because people who don't have ADHD when they take Adderall they're like, yeah, I wrote an entire 15 page paper in an hour and a half and I'm like there's a meme. That's like I took an Adderall and I made dinner instead of eating peanut butter from the jar, like it's just a completely night and day difference in how it impacts people. And then I forget which one of you said this on one of your episodes. But with micro dosing, I find that the change that and it's not the same effect, but I find that I'm getting the relief that I get from cannabis for my symptoms, but it's longer lasting and this earlier this year. My ideal situation. I would take my Adderall as needed and then micro dose and use cannabis. So definitely a little hefty lineup there, but which I feel shame about. But I'm working through, so do.
Speaker 3:But come January I wasn't able to get my Adderall and it was crazy. Like the first couple of days I didn't understand how I was supposed to function, moving forward and, for whatever reason, I stopped smoking and using mushrooms as well, I think because I just felt so defeated. But if it were not for mushrooms and cannabis, I couldn't get my medicine for five months. I don't know how I would have functioned, and it was really incredible to see that I could manage my symptoms and it was a different way of managing them.
Speaker 3:My ultimate goal now is to get off of Adderall in the long term. It really, really helps me and I've been through quite a bit in the past couple of years, and so I'm being kind and giving myself grace. But I realized when I was just taking mushrooms and smoking that my creativity and my connection to the divine and my spirituality I had lost a lot of that in the few years that I had been on Adderall, which I had gotten more accomplished and I was able to start my own business and start freelancing and do all these things that I never would have had the executive function to do. So I'm super grateful. But I stopped writing music and I wasn't writing poetry and I wasn't doing all the things that I really love that connect me to my creative energy, and so I've learned that I think I need someone to help guide me through, like how to utilize them for ADHD specifically. But I yeah, I really want to.
Speaker 1:I have so much to say about that that might help you, because I've been taking several classes over the summer. I've probably taken like four classes on microdosing.
Speaker 2:I have a suggestion too.
Speaker 1:I think it's probably going to be the same one. I'm going to tell you why. So you said something earlier about like intentional microdosing and an intentional protocol, like you're not really following a protocol. Christine and I are the same way.
Speaker 1:And when people ask us what protocol we use, we're like I mean, we don't follow one. It's kind of like an intentional like and what is the word? An intuitive protocol, and I don't know how to explain that to someone who's never done it. But then after taking these classes, I'm like oh, intuitive protocol is a thing Like. It's a thing Like there's the Fatiman protocol, there's the Stamets protocol, there's a couple of other ones, but one of them is an intuitive one where it's not recommended for beginners. But it's if you know your body and if you are feeling like connected to yourself and you know what it's doing for you, you can use the medicine intuitively. But for beginners it's better to start following like a protocol, because you're not feel you're not home yet. So that makes sense. And then another thing that I learned and I think this is where Christine was going to go and I'm sure you're open to this where you are but microdosing LSD is great for ADHD and the reason that is.
Speaker 1:So I, one of the classes I took, was talking about microdosing psilocybin versus LSD and when to know how to switch. And it was saying for microdosing psilocybin it's really about processing internally, so it's like feelings, emotions, traumas, wounding, and then for LSD it's an external processing, so it's really good for focus, creativity, like anything external. Christine loves microdosing LSD. I prefer psilocybin. Yes, it really really helps you stay focused and it's not very like. It's not like you kind of still get the like oh, the birds are chirping and it's beautiful outside, but you're able to kind of hone in on the creative side of things. So Silicon Valley was built on LSD, not psilocybin. Like it's like Really yes. So use your critical thinking skills. Go down that rabbit hole after this.
Speaker 2:Do your own research, advocate for yourself, but I think she will Right. Microdosing mushrooms I love doing it when I go to the beach or whatever, but with day to day things and when I know I have to do things that require structure for myself, lsd 100%, like 10 fold more. I think that would.
Speaker 3:This is so helpful. Like and it's funny I have done LSD twice. Set and setting were all wrong, and so I knew that I liked it. I knew I liked the feeling once I had it, once it had set in, and I only did one tab each time, so it shouldn't have rocked me as hard as it did.
Speaker 3:But I'm very sensitive to to any substance and I have been intrigued by it. But it's almost like I haven't given myself permission because I'm like, okay, well, cannabis grows from the ground and mushrooms grow from the ground. And it's like I feel like this conversation is so timely because, you know, we shouldn't let the shame of what people might think or the shame of using these illegal substances to support us stop us from making choices that are going to ultimately be the right ones for us. Like that's, that's what I'm doing. It's funny because I think that I get over it in one area of my life where I'm like I'm doing what I want to do, but it's like letting the shame of. Is LSD a worse drug? Like, it's definitely not, and I don't know.
Speaker 3:I've, I've considered it, but I'm, you guys, I'm, I've got to do it.
Speaker 1:It still comes from the grounds. Like it's, it's derived from air gut, which is it's grown on wheat. It's like a fungus, it's just separated from the air gut.
Speaker 2:I'm so glad you're wearing those glasses today.
Speaker 1:Do I look so nerdy and smart?
Speaker 2:You are sounding and looking so fucking smart.
Speaker 1:Am I not speaking in crayon? Am I speaking in permanent marker right now?
Speaker 2:I love that. Usually we say we speak about down in crayon.
Speaker 1:We dumb things down a lot and today we heard a thing that was like I speak in crayon and I was like, oh my God, that's literally what we do. But it grows from the grounds. They just take the air, gut and separate, really remove it from it. So it's. It's not fully synthesized the way that, like MDMA is. It's not fully synthetic the way MDMA is.
Speaker 2:It's just removed from something and separated Does that make sense, yeah, that a lot we can, we can, we can message it. We'll talk later okay, so you earlier said something about your company.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:Let's get into it so you own Sun Tribe. Explain what Sun Tribe is, because Leah and I are fascinated. We can't wait to talk about this.
Speaker 3:Yeah, very excited to share. And so Sun Tribe is a holistic self-love company, a spiritual wellness brand, if you will, focused on Healing of the mind, body, spirit and really just returning home to yourself. So it is kind of like everything that that I'm passionate about embodied into a company. But what's interesting is that I did not but I did not found the company. I'm the owner, but I'm not the founder.
Speaker 3:I bought the company from another female entrepreneur who had built it with her heart and soul and it's been such a crazy journey and such a big part of my own healing journey, like when I bought the company I didn't know anything about Yoni eggs, yoni wands, I didn't know anything about womb healing and how we store trauma in our womb, like it Actually unlocked parts of my healing journey that I would not have found anywhere else.
Speaker 3:So it was so serendipitous that that it fell together in the way that it did, and it's really crazy to to think back to when I Would dream about the day when I could have a company that I could put my heart and soul into and and use the skills that I had acquired in my professional life to actually help people heal and In a way that they they wouldn't really find Otherwise. It's like this wisdom. I feel like they talk about how Back in ancient communities, they had these feminine mystery schools where women the older women would teach younger women about the magic of their cycle and about their womb and all of these, these things that were passed down from generation to generation and We've completely cut that off in our society because now women are Are in competition with one another and we're disconnected from our bodies. So, like it's just been a really cool Unexpected path that I've taken and it's yeah, I'm super excited about it.
Speaker 1:No, that so it sounds like a witch school and I am not mad about it.
Speaker 2:Yes, I'm because.
Speaker 1:I joke with my kids all the fucking time that I'm a witch and I'm like I'm not joking. I'm not joking like I don't want you to think of a witch as like this, like evil character from a fairy tale, like this is like powerful and what did your but?
Speaker 2:that's why I call me a green witch. Yeah, but and she is a green witch too but that's why those characters from TV were created, because back in the day, the witches were the actual healers, right, and they didn't like that. They didn't like that because they took away.
Speaker 1:So witches were getting so earned at the stake. When she told me, like I, we, we share our Instagram and our TikTok, but I I'm gonna be honest, like Christine is probably more active on it than I am. And when she told me about what you sell, I was like hold on, I have heard of these, but it was pre witchy Leah. It was like before I was on my spiritual healing journey and as soon as I googled it because I've always been like a Researcher type person, like let me do my own research as soon as I did, the first thing that I saw was like gynecologist, I say no. And then, where I am now, I'm like my gynecologist says a lot of shit that I don't agree with, my gynecologist gave me meds same.
Speaker 1:That's who put me on right and I depresses same yeah in like a 10 minute appointment that I see her like once every few years. So, anyway, that's now. I'm like fuck that I haven't thought about yoni eggs since I googled this like fucking years ago. Tell me more.
Speaker 2:I don't know what really yoni eggs are kind of either.
Speaker 1:I just know bare minimum. So I think this is gonna be good, because I need you to speak in crayon for us.
Speaker 3:Yeah, 100%, and like the craziest thing was I bought this company and I I didn't feel like an expert. So this has been my, my passion for the past Year and change to make sure that I'm not selling something to someone that is going to be dangerous. Like again, I saw the same Google searches where it's like this is dangerous but there's no actual documented Danger. It's kind of more of that the typical fear mongering around the Dangerous cannabis and psilocybin and all the other stuff that we're finding out.
Speaker 1:It's not dangerous at all.
Speaker 3:All right, so I can see yeah precisely.
Speaker 3:So, yeah, yoni eggs are. So we sell yoni eggs and yoni wands. So yoni eggs are small egg-shaped crystals that are inserted into the vaginal canal and Essentially they provide a ton of benefits for mind, body and spirit. People have advertised them as like a fancier Cagle weight, but I don't see it like that at all. I think that the, the spiritual benefits are far beyond the physical, but the physical are pretty, pretty cool as well. So essentially, a lot of women who struggle with sexual pleasure, or even Women who don't, we all store so much trauma in our bodies and specifically in our womb space, and a lot of people will lose the ability to to feel within, like inside of their bodies, and it's just a major problem that nobody talks about. So, from a sensitivity perspective, you're really just reawakening that area of your body that hasn't really gotten love and you've never been taught to, to mindfully Bring attention to that. It's really like a meditative exercise which, from the physical side of things, increases pleasure, sensitivity, lubrication, so it's really great from that perspective. Also, you can strengthen your pelvic floor. There are exercises you can do, you can wear it as an active practice, but I think they're really interesting and kind of the witchy side of it is bringing your energy and your energetic balance back to your womb space, because, for women, our energetic center is actually in our womb, around our sacral chakra area, and so many of us are disconnected from the true seat of our power. And I Don't sell anything I don't believe in, so went on my own journey about this and realized that the more that I tuned in to, to my womb and to Just connecting with that area of myself that had been so neglected, um, my connection with the divine has deepened in a way that it, like it's escalated my spiritual journey like a rocket ship where, um, I feel like pieces that didn't really fall into place have come together, because I feel like a deep seated wisdom, if that makes sense. Um, like it's.
Speaker 3:It's just, it's a very interesting way to get out of your head and into your body, um, and it also has a huge feeling of reclamation of Of your body and having sovereign tea over your pleasure and realizing that it's not like dirty or shameful to to touch yourself or to explore your own body, like the.
Speaker 3:The narrative around female sexuality is very, very interesting, because we're simultaneously hyper sexualized and everything is about sex and our attractiveness and how people see us, but yet we're never really taught to explore ourselves and deepen that connection with our own bodies. So it's, it's really just. Yeah, it's a holistically um Healing type of practice and one that I've been really glad to to incorporate into my own healing journey and just to like get by this company, and we've already had Thousands of customers who I'm reading their reviews of how these products have changed their lives. I was like you know what I need to dive in and, um, yeah, it's been amazing. I get to collaborate with other female entrepreneurs on on different partnerships and it's just, it's been a really amazing um Discovery that I don't know if I ever would have dug back into yoni eggs had I not come about, had they not come into my life in this way.
Speaker 1:It's very serendipitous. So your sacral chakra that is like is that where your like, that's like where your divine feminine energy lives, yes, but also like isn't that where your confidence is like your self confidence, so like your self worth, like all of these things that we struggle with as females, as women and yeah, and struggle with that stuff too. They also have a sacral chakra. So, but this isn't for them. This Can't, you can't use this right like they can't. So Dis is this kind of like um bin wall balls, like you know how you like you put them up inside your vagina, right?
Speaker 2:Are we going there? I'm just thinking vagina.
Speaker 1:She's just making fun of me. Um, okay, so you put them inside, um, and you, you just like, are you? Do you have one in right now?
Speaker 3:I do not. It's very personal, sorry, I'm sorry. No, no, it's, it's. I am an open book. Um, it's definitely like there was a whole element of how purchasing this company uh Made my family feel for a while. So that was uh, um. However, um, I Find that when I'm in a regular practice with them, it's really just grounding. It's incredible and, um, um, basically, you can wear them for exercises only, so put them in and do like a mindful practice where you're Moving the egg through, like up and down in your body. You're just feeling it like, yeah, there's a lot. Your pelvic floor is really incredibly strong. Um, and it's really insane, um, how much, how much opportunity there is to to expand. Um, I'm mine getting blown right now.
Speaker 1:Are you trying to do it Right now with your kegel muscles? I'm like, do you move it up and down like this? Like, do you know what I'm doing right now? Are you doing it?
Speaker 2:You don't have to do it with your eyebrows at the same time.
Speaker 1:Okay, I'll turn the eyebrows down. Um, okay, so we need to get one. Are we gonna get two? Are there? Directions yeah that's like Like how many times a day are you allowed to do it? Like obviously don't wear it during sex, right? Like Don't wear them during sex?
Speaker 3:Yes, that would be bad, yes, um. So, yes, I In general you want to start with about 30 minutes a day, three days a week, so just to get used to it, because a lot of women Just have not Exercise their pelvic floor muscles in this way before, so you don't want to overdo it, you don't want to Push it too hard out of the gate, but, um, really just kind of wearing it within your day, just having that it within you and kind of just moving through your day and whatever it. You can go for a walk, you can do yoga. A lot of people like to belly dance, do yoga and like other um ways of tapping into that feminine energy, that sacral chakra, and also like to feel Mindfully, like feel that area of your body and have a mindful presence and a mindful awareness of how, again, this, this energetic center of your body, is really driving you and connecting you to yourself in the world around you. Um, so, yeah, you start with like three days a week, 30 minutes a day, but you can wear it for up to like six to eight hours. Wouldn't recommend longer than that, wouldn't recommend sleeping with it, but, um, it's a really cool way where, when you are wearing it for a longer period of time, you can just be out in the world.
Speaker 3:Let's say you're in a meeting, that you're, that you're stressed about, and maybe you have a moment where you're like Doubting yourself for you're disconnected, just to remind yourself and bring that energy back to your womb and feel Centered and grounded and empowered in this, this feminine power. Um, it's, yeah, it's really interesting and I think it's also helpful to note that, like, this is an intuitive practice. So there's definitely directions, there's Guidance, and there's a lot of women who speak on their experiences with yoni eggs. Um, but you'll notice, similarly to to micro dosing, you feel into what works best for you. Like you'll, you'll learn how to work with it. Um, and people have described the relationship that they have Developed with their yoni egg as one of, like, a deep connection to yourself, because you also have, like, the crystal Properties I don't know if you guys are crystal people Um, yeah, yeah, so it's, um, by choosing, like you choose a stone that you want to work with that has the healing properties that you're looking to To bring to your life. So the rose quartz is really great for self love, self compassion, which a lot of people Need, and I recommend starting with the jade or the rose quartz Um.
Speaker 3:There is amethyst, which has psychic and intuitive healing properties, and really deepening your connection to source um and tapping into your own divine power. There's obsidian, which is great for healing trauma, and I think that's something to touch on is the trauma that is stored in our womb space. Um is often a deeply it's like the emotional drunk junk drawer of your body. That whole area like if you think about everybody's got tight hips sitting in pigeon pose feels so good like this whole area is just Our junk drawer. It's where all of these painful memories and experiences are stored.
Speaker 3:And to to free, kind of free up that trauma and bring the, the energy of that crystal in an intentional way where you can work through like a lot of emotions will come up during your practice. It's really like a meditative Practice in itself and you'll find different things coming up which can be a little like scary at first when You're wondering how is this bringing up all of these memories? Um, but once you get used to kind of the, the way that that feels, it's really incredibly healing and feels like a practice that you're bringing just like a self care practice, like it became a part of my self care routine in the same way that a gua sha or my skincare routine is, and when you think about it, it's pretty crazy that our sexuality and our relationship to our self and self pleasure Is treated as anything but that, because there's nothing dirty or shameful or wrong about Connecting to your body and exploring all of yourself.
Speaker 2:Like we only get to live in these bodies one time, we should get to to know ourselves deeply and fully you are so right and even talking about this now, there's like I'm squirming a little bit and like I'm I'm really curious and fascinated and I have like these questions in my head. But there's still like that little piece where you're like oh, you don't talk about that. You know, you don't talk about that, you don't, we don't, we don't, we don't go there.
Speaker 1:So the ones that you have. How is that? Probably like a step up from the yoni egg Like? Is that more of like a yoni eggs or like beginner the ones are more intermediate, or are they used completely different?
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's again kind of whatever you feel drawn to. I would say. The eggs are not like an active pleasure practice, so it is a little bit less intimidating. It is more of meditation, bringing awareness and kind of a much less invade, like a less intense way, I would say, of getting your feet wet.
Speaker 3:The wands can be used like any other pleasure product, so they're multifaceted. If you want to just use it for straight pleasure, and it's just a beautiful product that has that powerful energy. But there's also the opportunity to release tension in a more manual fashion. So in the same way that you have knots in all of your muscles, if you think about it, especially because most people have not explored this area of themselves before, there are physical areas of numbness and tension from physical and emotional trauma. So the wands are a really great way to physically work with that tension and you can.
Speaker 3:There's Yoni mapping, which is to just explore and feel what different parts of your Yoni feel like. So you put either a wand or you can use your fingers to basically explore Like you go around like a clock, from all the different hand positions of the clock and you sit at each one and breathe into it and feel? Do I feel numbness? Does it feel good? Are there any emotions coming up? And sit with that and explore it and feel the differences in different spots and it's just really fascinating to explore that and to release. And you'll notice that as you continue to work with your Yoni you'll release a lot of that tension. The pain or the numbness will go away with a lot of work in a lot of cases. But you'll really start to feel more pleasure, and not just when you're using a wand but when you're like in sex with your partner or sex with yourself, like it's. It opens up the capacity for deeper pleasure because you're removing those blockages.
Speaker 1:Wow, I know, wow, I just learned so much and I'm so excited because I'm like this was like I didn't want to dig deep into this. Sometimes I do that a little too much before an episode and I'm like, well, I know everything and you know, but I'm like, no, I'm coming at this literally from an outsider's like tell me more.
Speaker 2:Well, and I've I've been vocal about um. I've always had struggles with UTIs and they've actually gotten so much better and have kind of gone away since I've started my healing journey, which is crazy to think about. But there's I still have this like mind thing where I go to the bathroom all the time and when I'm nervous I go to the bathroom. When I did my first mushroom journey, when I was trying to stall, I would go to the bathroom. It was like what I did. So now I'm like really curious to use this, but with like some intention, cause I didn't realize that it could. Everything can be used so intentionally, literally, including some Yoni Hicks Never did.
Speaker 3:I think, and isn't it like the the mind, body, spirit connection is so fascinating when, like you realize that something like a UTI that could be cleared up by your healing journey, like how many other ailments and how many other things that people struggle with, have like a deeper spiritual meaning behind it, like it's really, it's really fascinating. And as far as, like I think, psychedelics have been a major part in what even made me comfortable enough to purchase a company in such a stigmatized space that I knew would get me into some uncomfortable conversations and people will comment things on the TikTok and stuff, and it's just I knew I was entering kind of like a space that was a bit of a tough one, but I just felt intuitively called to do this because I I know you guys are into human design. I am three five. So my, yeah, I meant to like upset people. We are three five.
Speaker 1:We are three, fives, we are. Both of us are three fives.
Speaker 2:That's so crazy. What are you?
Speaker 3:Yeah, what's your type? I'm a manifesting generator.
Speaker 2:Okay, a manifesting generator and a three five, wow, wow, two, three fives with ADHD, wow.
Speaker 3:Wow, yeah, but that's that's such a great point that you bring up too, because I've been trying to identify less with diagnoses Like, yes, I have ADHD and it's 100% a part of me.
Speaker 3:But I've been trying to lean into maybe like the bigger picture, like the human design thing, when I read that I'm a manifesting generator, I'm a three, five. Everything in my chart is always telling me do things your own way. Do things. When you do things the way that other people do them, it's not going to work for you and I've tried and tried and tried but it really doesn't.
Speaker 3:And so the the more that I lean into these alternative explanations for why we are the way we are and I'm actually working with a really great therapist right now who her approach to, to personal growth and development that's really her approach to therapy is like to help you grow as a person instead of constantly trying to to diagnose or to medicate or to just to put you in a box, really to identify like what are you experiencing and how can we make your day to day experience a positive one, and and align your life and your choices with who you are inherently, to set you up for success and just kind of embracing our own differences. Yeah, it's just. I don't know. I feel like it's all interconnected it is.
Speaker 1:I also think that when you are on a healing journey, you hear all of this stuff so differently, like you always hear like don't conform, don't you know, don't fit into a box Well, not always, but you hear that. But then I kind of feel the same way, like with the human design and even with, like the astrology reading that we just had, because I never related to astrology Like I'm like oh my God, this makes so much sense. I don't like labels, I say that, but I like understanding. And so if I'm going to put myself, if I'm going to label or diagnose myself with anything, I'm going to understand it more than anything. Like it's not just a oh, I have ADHD, that's it. Like I want to understand why, I want to understand the symptoms and I want to understand how I can work with these instead of against them. I want to work with them and not against them. So to me, a label is important for that reason. But just that, and also because those types of labels can change.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I really feel like in the healing journey that I've since I've started, there are things that probably looked like ADHD. Sarah used to say this. My best friend used to say this about me Like you were very, very like ADD not ADHD, but ADD and since my healing journey those symptoms have kind of started to dissipate and I'm like I think it's because I'm letting go of a lot of things.
Speaker 2:Were you ADD or were you just?
Speaker 1:disconnected from yourself. That's what I mean. Like, does it matter? Like if I was? Does it matter if I was? Like saying it with you? Know what I mean? Yeah, because do you have anxiety, or are you just anxious in certain situations, or do you have depression or are you just disconnected from yourself?
Speaker 1:So to me that label is really just more about we're using the labels wrong, if that's a better way to say it, like I don't want to be labeled, to be labeled and diagnosed. I want a word to understand myself and how I can move through that.
Speaker 2:Because still going to very much. So have ADHD in certain situations, right, right.
Speaker 3:I mean I think too, like the I 100% agree with pretty much everything. But both of you say so. I'm not shocked. But I think it's like I will always have elements Like I used to watch television as a child in a handstand doing, doing handstand pushups. Like I obviously have been hyperactive for quite a minute. Like I that's not going to go anywhere and that's not that wasn't learned, that this is me.
Speaker 3:But it's like I think the like micro dosing and cannabis. Like allow me to view the differences in my brain and the way it works and my just inherent state of being. To view them as like traits and not flaws. Like view them as this is this is who I am and and work around it. Like I followed this girl on Tik Tok who she's. Like I put a treadmill under my desk, I'm just leaning into the ADHD thing and I am the most productive I've ever been. Like I just when you learn, you need to learn yourself. Like you're totally right, the labels are not inherently problematic because it's so important for us to understand ourselves so we can shape our lives around things that allow us to thrive.
Speaker 3:But seeing that like I think, in modern day psychiatry, it's like, oh, you're depressed, you'll be on an SSRI for the rest of your life and that's that's that.
Speaker 3:And it's like, okay, I'm depressed, what could be causing this? And how can I make my life allow like, how can I form my life around my purpose and reconnecting to that so that maybe I won't be feeling depressed forever, like I just think it's a? It's a different approach to to mental health and it's been really inspiring to talk to. I've had a lot of a lot of therapists, because it took a really long time to figure out what not what was wrong with me, but what was going on and it's been really inspiring to hear. In the past couple of years, I've met so many incredible practitioners who have such an amazing way of viewing mental health and really connecting like the mind, body, spirit components and and the whole person view, and I think that's what. That's what's needed in society at large and, yeah, it's just a matter of how we get these ideas to the masses, which is why things like this are so important.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. And also using those flaws, reframing the word flaw to a tool like how can I use these things for me? How can I utilize these things Like your ADHD comes in handy a lot, it really does.
Speaker 2:I needed to hear that. So did yours.
Speaker 1:Like, because I don't think that way. I can't. You know what I mean? Yeah, like, and so the things that you think are flaws, like, I look at and I admire them. You know what I mean, like. So hone in on it. As, like this is, this is a gift that I was given. I just wasn't taught how to use it and people told me it was bad. So I don't even know how to close this out, because I just want to keep talking to you and I could I know literally the rest of the day.
Speaker 3:But we saw you're in Miami, okay, so yes, yes, I'm in New York this moment, presently, but yes, I live in Miami.
Speaker 1:We live in Miami. We're going to come see you, is that okay?
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:So here's the thing.
Speaker 2:Okay, I've been engaged for six years. I finally decided that I'm going to start planning my wedding and I want to have my bachelorette party in Miami. I'm like could you come to my bachelorette?
Speaker 1:We need you to show us around, show us the ropes. I'm assuming I'm invited here. Here I am like, assuming I'm invited.
Speaker 2:Well, absolutely, Because I'm like who am I going to invite? Who's okay with what I'm going to do?
Speaker 1:Right, Because we don't want to drink. Like we don't want to drink, but like we want to have fun. We want to go to a club. We want to maybe do some psychedelics.
Speaker 2:I'm totally kidding, but I'm not Like, if you're free I would love for you Seriously. We'll be in touch.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean, I am happy to pull me up, but I will definitely guide you. There is club space, which is like their 24 hour club. Well, on Saturdays they do 420 space yoga, where it's like, yeah, it's a very psychedelic yoga. I'm telling you, miami has a whole side that people don't know about, so I think it's a great place for you to have your back. We are for sure going to my house.
Speaker 1:That's where it's in. Canadelic is happening there Will is happening there this weekend.
Speaker 2:I know somebody asked me to go, I know.
Speaker 1:I'm here. Okay, thank you. We love you. We love you for everything. We will put your information on the bio of this episode, because we're going to be signing up for some yoni eggs immediately after this call, probably going to be wearing them in every episode from here on out. I'm going to be like you got your yoni egg in because I got mine in. I love this journey for you. We're going to stay in touch, though, because I want to check in with you after you start microdosing some LSD.
Speaker 3:See how that works, yeah, 100%. Thank you guys so much for having me on. It was amazing chatting with you.
Speaker 1:All right, thank you. According to all of you presenters stay curious and we'll see you guys on the