We discuss in this podcast the emotional and physical well-being:

• Connecting the emotional and physical aspects of well-being
• Opening up to a 360 degrees vision of life
• The role of food in the process
• Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) and its symptoms
• Colitis, ulcerative colitis and the importance of gut health
• How the Paddison Program can help in these cases
• Avoiding incorrect common knowledge about diseases
• Ways to treat stress, even a positive one
• Qigong as a healing technique

Clint – I am really excited to have a special guest in this episode. We have Rachel Singleton. She’s calling in from the north of England, the beautiful part of the world that I have not been to. But she tells me she’s in a glorious part of Europe. And she’s going to go for a bike ride after this. Today, we’re going to talk about IBS and colitis. Two things that she had struggled with over the years and also some great results with. So we’re going to delve into that. We’re also going to explore the connection between the emotional and physical aspects of well-being of which she is an expert. And so I’d like to welcome Rachel to this episode.

Rachel – Thank you, Clint.

Clint – You know, you’ve been helping people for many years to improve their wellness and their mindset and so forth. Regarding working on emotional aspects of well-being. Can you tell me and our audience, what that involves and what you did?

Rachel – So I really got interested in health 20 years ago when I first started to have health problems, which will we talk about. But what I think the question that’s been driving me the last 20 years is, what is health, and what is well-being? And it seems to me that the more holistic our vision of that is, the more potent other results that we get. And for me, what I do is, I’ve trained in various complementary therapies. But essentially what I do is I work with people to connect back to that. That place within where we always have well—being. Where we know what that feels like and that when we are seated in that, and we connect with that, we can make decisions about what to do to help ourselves. But it’s on (Inaudible) we land in that place, that quiet place inside where we’re feeling what we need, it’s hard to see the next step. It’s hard to see what’s the right thing to do. It’s hard to see the wood for the trees is so much information out there. How do we discern? How do we find our path through it? So what I do is create a space to help people really listen in to that. What’s right for them and their body, and how do they know that because of what their body does in response? And because of their emotions doing a response to it. They type this in a dialogue with the deep self, I call it. And it’s really beautiful work.

Clint – Yes, I was almost transfixed listening to you. Now you have a very soft voice and you have an apparent deep wisdom that comes from you, and it’s fascinating. So, I’m looking forward to hearing more about some specifics that we might be able to do a little later in this conversation. And some ways in which we can connect on that deeper level. And I loved what you just said about the more holistic the approach is to health, the better the outcome. And that’s so true. I’ve picked up things over the years on how, we need to just, the whole stop and smell the flowers kind of angle, which is just to have the angles of appreciation for our environment, the love for our life, the exercise that we get, our connection to the divine, and whatever it might be. But all of these things add up, isn’t it? They all do have a cumulative effect. It’s not whether we take that supplement or not. It’s all the other aspects that have such a profound impact.

Rachel – Yeah, absolutely, and that’s beautiful. I think it just got more we open to our own wholeness. Then the greater our access actually is to that. I think of being able to live in a small slither of your 360 degrees potential. It’s like we get caught in that little place where our focus is just on maybe getting through the day because things are so hard. And anything that we can do that just opens or eases and takes us back into more and more of that 360 degrees level of living our life and reclaiming that, is really powerful. So, if we get our sleep back up or if we get to be able to be out in nature and loving that. And walking in that or if we get to feel more love and friendship and support, all of these things have the most phenomenal impact. And of course, food. Foods that shoots the fastest. But, we come to work on so many levels at once. If we go for like a conventional diagnosis, we’re kind of told you’ve got this sort of medication, and this is going to be your prognosis. But when we look beyond that and we look at ourselves as a living organism and part of a living ecosystem. We’ve gotten much richer resources than that would seem to suggest. And that doesn’t mean that it isn’t useful. But knowing that we can look at things in a different way and come to it from different angles. It can just open doors that make our healing journey something deeply personal and deeply spiritual.

Clint – Yeah, absolutely. Well, let’s start to move into some specifics now and talk about IBS and colitis. There are a couple of reasons that I was excited to have you in this conversation. Firstly, I wanted to have you on as an expert from the point of view of what we’ve just been chatting about in the 360-degree aspect of healing. But also because IBS and colitis haven’t been handled sufficiently on our show yet. We haven’t had a lot of information on how to get on top of these conditions being shared. And I wanted to have you on to talk about that.

Clint – So with that pre-frame, can you explain IBS and colitis in general terms to some people who haven’t had those specific symptoms in their life? And then also to go on to explain how you were affected personally by these two conditions and whether or not you had a variation on the typical responses.

Rachel – Thank you. Just as an aside, I remember when I first connected with you a couple of years ago. And obviously, yours is a rheumatoid arthritis program. But what I saw was that the basis of your work is healing the gut. And I hadn’t found anything to that point that was really addressing that. So I contacted you saying, would you mind if someone who doesn’t have RA comes (Inaudible). And I didn’t want to take up space, but I was just thinking this could absolutely great for me. And it really has been.

Rachel – So in terms of IBS itself, and so IBS can have a whole range of symptoms, but it’s an irritable bowel syndrome. So you’ve got irritation in the gut somewhere along the gut, and that can show up as diarrhea or constipation. It can be going between the two. It can be very sudden. It can also be very debilitating. There’s often a huge amount of pain that could be cramping spasms. It could be and bloating like really serious bloating and dissension at the abdomen. It can also be a whole host of other things like reacting to food, swelling, and other parts of the body, as water kind of just collects. Basically things just aren’t going too right. They’re not going through the body Right, and through the digestive system right. And then what that can bring is the longer that that goes on, there’s a lot of malabsorption. Because the food’s coming in and it’s coming in a way that’s really challenging for a highly sensitive and inflamed system. And so, to get some food to go down smoothly and quietly. It’s a real achievement without there being pain or some kind of massive reaction.

Rachel – So then colitis is like a next step on from that, I guess. And that maybe happens with some people as it did for me with so many years of IBS. That the gut just gets so damaged and then you’re getting much more severe inflammation. And that can show up as things like mucus and instills and eventually blood in the stools and again, extraordinarily debilitating. And if it becomes ulcerative colitis, then this actually ulcers in the colon. And so that is then incredibly painful. If you think of that kind of burning raw pain and you’ve got that every time food goes past, it’s like it’s aggravating that. So it’s a really nasty thing.

Rachel – For me personally, I had the first symptoms of IBS in my late teens, early 20s when I was at university. That’s kind of the first I knew about it. And it was always related to tension and stress, and then it got worse and worse. And I guess what, I didn’t have like a typical day at that time. I would wake up quite early and within moments of waking at being petty. So we doubled up with severe cramping and spasming, really kind of cutting pain right in my abdomen. So, it is like there are waves of that pain coming through me. And then I’d need to rush to the toilet and I’d go to the toilet and then I’d fast after that. But then since I did get loads of bloating and then a while later that would come back into cramps and spasms. And then I’d get rid of that and then would be ok for a bit. And then on the gums. There was pain, meal after meal. So I didn’t know what to eat. At one point somebody probably at our mid-twenties. Somebody suggested I did have wheat, so I cut out all wheat. And I guess just not having all that refined food that wheat has too was, actually really good. Whether or not it was the gluten, just that side of it was really good. And then I cut out dairy and then eventually sugar. In each of those things had a good effect. But I was still eating meat and I’m still doing this on the other.

Rachel – And then eventually, I was going backwards and forwards to Egypt (inaudible) and training. And at the time, that’s when all the troubles were kicking off in Cairo when I was working in Cairo and it was really stressful to be there. And in each trip, it is much more challenging, even though the group was wonderful. And I came back from the last trip of that and I was in a really bad way. And I was, I started to just have this sickness and diarrhea going on at night. Where I was spending most of the night on the bathroom floor just to get to the toilet as I can be. And I was just lying there shaking and freezing cold. In between these bouts and just absolutely debilitating. And that went for a few nights, and then I’d get a break and I’d be ok again. But meanwhile, I was losing weight massively quickly and it was December, so here in the UK, that like, it was really cold. Then one of the days we went down to the local GP surgery and I was particularly bad at that point. And they were trying to take some blood to do some tests. And I was shaking so much and then they gave me everybody’s jackets to try and keep me warm. And I was just so thin and so kind of malnourished at that point. And then they sent me to the hospital, but they sent me food to get checked for pneumonia because they were worried I was actually going to get pneumonia at that point.

Rachel – And whilst I was there, I had my lungs X-rayed, but they never checked to see what was going on in my gut. And then this guy eventually came around, said, oh, you’ve got (inaudible) and sent me off on my way with some antibiotics. And I already knew from one of the other doctors that it was suspected ulcerative colitis. And the last thing I should be taking was antibiotics. Because the last thing you want to do is take out the remaining gut flora that you’ve got. So I knew better than to take that dismissive diagnosis and believe it. And I thought, right. I need to find an alternative way. So I actually went to macrobiotics for a while. And that’s a vegan diet, and that really helped and I was able to start putting weight back on. And then I just kind of went back to normal eating and I didn’t really think much more about it. And went back to my normal IBS. Because that’s been so much the norm for me in my life that I just kind of thought I was always going to have it. I didn’t know I could go any further.

Rachel – And then things started to get bad again and I started to look deeper again. And I thought the only time when my digestion has been absolutely tame for me, was when I was eating a vegan diet. So I thought, I don’t want to go back to macrobiotics. Because it’s far too complicated. But I do want to look at Whole Foods this time, and so I did. And I when hopefully plant-based and I got a lot of improvement and a lot more energy, but I was still in pain. And so it was April, probably about two years ago now when I contacted you and at that point I had a really bad month and I felt like I was really going downhill again. And I just was at my wit’s end and I didn’t know what to do. I thought, God, I’ve tinkered with my diet as much as I can. I’ve done everything I can. I just don’t know what to do.

Rachel – And then, I started the 10-day reset and the first few days were actually quite uncomfortable. And I just felt really weak and tired and cold. And then things started to improve, and also my symptoms just fell away. They just disappeared and it was quite incredible to me. And then bit by bit, my energy came back. My body started to feel like it was scything for the first time in years. It just felt such good because the play when I was admitted to the hospital, I literally couldn’t walk outside the garden. I couldn’t get more than 10 steps. I was walking like a 90-year-old. I was so weak and it was absolutely awful. (Inaudible) To just be leaving all that behind. And now I am never going back there again.

Clint – Absolutely fantastic. So, how long into the program did you experience these really good results and results that you had not experienced really your whole adult life?

Rachel – So within the first 10 days.

Clint – Within 10 days.

Rachel – So I would say it was probably by about day six that everything kind of calm down in terms of bowel movements and things like that. And probably by about the tenth day, I stopped having the pain in the morning. And then after that, what was sticking was just my energy levels. And that took longer, but I think (Inaudible) was a lot of years, if not getting the right stuff. And there was a lot of work to do. But with my digestion working smoothly and with that lack of pain and inflammation. Then I knew that I was on the way. And then it was things like if, I went too fast and looking too far ahead in terms of what recipe. Then I’d just leave on a bit too far and that that wasn’t helpful. And also, I’ve always had a problem with fruits. I don’t know why fruits and tomatoes. I need to stick to vegetables for whatever reasons. And I just learned that. Same with salt. I can have some miso if I have to and I adore it. But if I had too much, then it’s just not great for me. My body just says, no, that’s not too much. But conversely, if I don’t have any, then there’s something about the substance and the groundedness of miso that I need. And some, but not too much. And it isn’t just this real listening. If I eat too much light at night and it was something I notice you put in your notes, I was going back and reading them last week. And thinking I missed that. But if I eat too much late at night, I’ll see that the next morning.

Clint – Yeah, absolutely. How do I ask this question? It’s not personal, it’s just what I’m trying to formulate. What I actually really want to know. And what I want to know is, there must be so much conflicting information about the correct approach to treat IBS and colitis. It must be well debated online, just like it is with rheumatoid arthritis and different diets and so forth. What incorrect common knowledge do you feel that there is, that needs to be kind of shut down or what is it that most people get wrong about trying to treat this condition?

Rachel – So I guess there’s a couple of things. I’ve heard people saying that doing like the (Inaudible). I’ve not tried it myself, but that to me seems to really well, it takes out things like onions and stuff like that, which to me feels really impulsive and really important foods. And there are things like. What I (Inaudible) that people are doing. So people saying that they shouldn’t have certain things like Quinoa and all the pulses because there are things in there that will aggravate your digestion. And yet these are people who are still going to be keeping in the white flour. Well, I was just going to say, I think it is crazy confusing for people. And then I say to people, look, you could be having this turned around in 10 days. And then I know that there’s no way you must have had it as bad as me.

Clint – And that’s so infuriating, isn’t it?

Rachel – Oh, just that people are so. Something about your food. And for some people, it can feel like it’s the last competent goal. And it’s deeply personal and they don’t want to get out. And they’re not going to change that for anyone because it’s far too much hard work. I actually think that’s the biggest obstacle. And when something really ready to look at that, then they’re ready to change and they’re going to have fantastic results.

Clint – Yeah, absolutely. I wonder if the reason for that is partly because they have the fear of they might not be able to keep it up. And then almost the fear of failure of something that everyone else says might work is too great to want to start it. Or is it that they just don’t know how and it’s all a bit overwhelming? Or do they just need to have encouragement around them from people who can assist them? There’s a lot of reasons that people might not proceed to go down the path that you did when they are experiencing the same symptoms. Even when you can present yourself as a wonderful case study for how this can always amaze me. The reluctance of people to make changes when the evidence is so strong. Not just the physical evidence of the person in front of them who’s telling them to do it. But also the published scientific evidence around. Particularly with rheumatoid or inflammatory arthritis and in the foods we eat, which is well published now that a plant-based diet. With the exception that they say with perhaps some fermented dairy products, meaning like yogurt. But you know that the summary of the scientists is clear. So there’s a lot going on. And it takes a special person with some adventurous minds, some confidence and pain as a great motivator to go down this path. So, and well done. It’s a huge outcome that you’ve achieved. It’s sensational. So what happens if you now decide that you want to expand your foods a lot? Do you find that symptoms start to show up? And are you playing the tightrope balancing act, where a little bit too much, go back the other way. A bit too much. Is it always a bit like that?

Rachel – No, it definitely varies. So there’s a lot going on in my life, and life is tipping towards being a bit more stressful, even in a nice way. Do you know what I mean? Like when you just got lots going on and you’re busier and you may be. Not quite as much time to just settle and be quiet inside, which I think is one of the key things for me. Then I’ve noticed that those times I have to be a lot more careful. That my body is less tolerant of me moving into things that might be a little bit on the periphery. Like, I love Salvado. I love coconut milk. But if I have too much of that then, I know that I’m taking myself also potentially. And there are times when I really need to be on tip-top form. Then I’ll just stick with what I call my peasant foods, which is just really staying with the grains with the three grain in particular, I love that. I just find that deeply soothing. And the celery and cucumber juice is amazing how soothing that is to the digestive tract. My goodness. Just like one of my best medicines for sure. I will always be grateful for you to assure me that one. And then, pulses and loads of greens and loads of vegetables. I was listening to Chris Wolak, I think. Is it the guy who does Chris beats cancer? He was talking the other day about how he had something like fifteen to twenty portions of fruit and veg a day when he was really trying to kill himself. I kind of sat down and talked it up, but I had no idea. Yeah, it’s around fifteen portions a day. But it just makes you listen. So, there’s a sense in which that feels so good now that I’m actually not interested in moving away from it. You know, and it’s probably more a social thing that I will have something a bit more mainstream and that’s still (inaudible) plant based. But I’ll do that with people that the rest of the time my food choice is just the stuff that just makes me feel great.

Clint – Well, that makes sense, doesn’t it? I mean, who wants to feed the body something that has more challenges with? We have enough challenges externally let alone putting challenges internally. So some things that you mentioned I really like this. This is something that is a… It’s something for me to keep in mind when you said that, even when our stresses come from something positive, it’s still stress. Like you see people like Elon Musk for a good example right? So that guy every time I see that guy is always extremely busy and promotes working every hour of the day or something. I don’t think he sleeps. I’ve heard that he slept in his office. And I mean, the guy just works, works, works. Obviously, he loves what he does. He is driven and he’s passionate. But all of that positive stuff is still stressful on the body. Right. It’s still taxing on the body. So that was one thing that I think’s a great thing for us to keep in mind, even when we feel great. Let’s still not take things too far for ourselves and push out. Let’s not become overwhelmed with positive stressful things as well. I mean, you also said that finding that deep connection. All that quiet place within yourself and that’s what I’d like to find out. How do you do that? What are your mechanisms for finding your quiet place within? And what would you recommend other people do if they’re just getting started to try and do this?

Rachel – Yeah. I mean, what you’re saying reminds me of something that I think in terms of yin time and yang time. Certainly think of the yin yang symbol and that balance. That kind of Chinese philosophy can really see that we need it and it has everything. So I think we live in a world that’s yang. Where it’s all about the outpouring, what we’re doing, what we’re producing, how busy we are, and how successful we are. And a lot of people are going to bed each night having no yin time. So no time when they’re just in quietness and reflection and in receptivity rather than productivity. And go where there’s a space for gentleness, contemplation, pottering, wonder, gazing, hope, and daydream. There’s a lovely story about I don’t know whether, North American Indian tribe. But some researchers are watching a tribe and they’re kind of working out how they live. And one thing that they see them do as a nomadic tribe, they hunt and gather food. And one of the things I see them do is every so often during the day, they’re just all as a group. Just stop without any warning. And the stock in the silence and the research is all going well. What’s going on? Are they looking for prey? Are they wondering if this is a good place to camp? You know, they are scouting something out. And eventually, they ask the chief and he said, that’s the time we stop ourselves. And something about that story always gives me shivers. It’s that sense that there’s this deep part of ourselves that’s just trying to frantically catch up with busy doing human. Doing and forgetting that part of ourselves. And when we quiet and it really is a very personal thing that we just find our way to. What makes you feel quite, and what gives you that. For some people that might be meditation. For some people, it’s just walking. For someone it’s having a lie in or reading and just being quiet journaling. But when there is something going on, you get a chance to listen and more deeply. And as we do that I think of when thinking’s very busy. It’s like when you see a pond that’s being – disturbed, and the water goes on murky. And when we let our minds quiet. And we let things settle, that settlement still jumps to the bottom. Then it must basically clear again in the mind. Just as the body can regenerate and we put good stuff in it. Our mind also has it inside and it’s got clarity. But we need to let it settle. We need to give it that space so that it can arise. And we can get our best insights and our best take on something. You often hear that phrase, put it on the backburner. I’m going to let that salt percolate way down in the background until I get some clarity around it. And we don’t really give us space for that. And this something might be healing in there.

Clint – That’s fantastic, I love that metaphor of the stirred up pond. And the particles settling for clarity. That’s a really good one. So you’ve told us some really good reasons why we need to do this. Do you recommend different specifics for different people, when you’re working with them? Do you ask them questions like, what makes you feel calm, or what do you probe and find out? And then just recommend that they continue to do that. I mean, because people get sick of hearing, you should meditate. That really becomes a hard sell. And I can tell that you have a way around that, which is to say, hey, you can get the effectiveness of connection to yourself without having to sit, close your eyes and repeat a mantra. You can get it in other ways. And that’s nice to know that.

Rachel – It’s nice to know that it’s actually already within us. And in a way, there is no technique. So what I’m doing with people is, first of all, they know that when they’re coming to me. Then what we’re going to be spending time with is that deep wisdom. So we’ve already set that aside intention together. And then as we’re talking and that can be about what is going on for them or whatever they’re struggling with or whatever’s happening in their lives, whether it’s physical or emotional and whatever level. Then we’re creating a space together where we’re going to listen for when the head’s coming in. And with all, should’s, could’s and have to’s and out driving kind of insistent almost desperate energy. And we’re going to recognize that when it comes in. We’re going to notice it on what it says and how that feels in the body. And then we’re also going to see what happens when we’re not doing that. When we select that (Inaudible). And there is a lovely book called The Untethered Soul by Michael Singer. And then he talks about how we have this voice in our head 24/7, that’s constantly critiquing our life. You know, it’s there analyzing and telling us what’s what and who’s who. And if you really listen to that, then some moments he’s telling you you’re fantastic. And other moments it’s telling you are the pits. And also the same for the people in your life or the quality of your life or what your work is. It’s horrendously erratic. And if we had somebody like that on the outside talking to us like that all the time. We would sooner or later shut them in a cupboard and walk away. I would not be listening to them and I would not give that credence. But somehow, when that’s happening in our own head, we think we have to believe ourselves.

Rachel – And actually, the quality of the feeling what we’re having in our body is indicative of the quality of thoughts that we’re having. If we’re having stressful thoughts, we will have stress in our body. But if we’re really listening to our wisdom, what we feel is calm and at ease and at home. And that’s the place to listen to them. That’s the place to live from. So they sessions themselves that I do. It would be an experience showing the journey through that. So that the person gets better and better at recognizing for themselves, oh, god I’m in cloudy, murky thinking here. I’ve got the confused pond water. And if I just back off from that and don’t get involved in that. It’s not that I’m going into positive thinking, it’s that I’m recognizing that isn’t helpful. And that there’s another part of me I can access.

Clint – Yeah, I love it. Absolutely. Yeah. It’s fantastic. I love this stuff. This is just as fun for me as the technical problem-solving solutions for the pain sort of stuff. It’s because it’s yeah. It’s more of a connection to who we are, which is really so powerful.

Rachel – And this pain just falls away as we are living. So much pain can escalate when we are scared off and tight and tense in our thinking about that pain, and we get more and more concerned. And that pain is escalating in our body. And also those hormones are escalating in our body in response to that. So the moment we can see that for what it is losing its power. And just seeing itself does the job, there is no technique. And then, we can relax into something much deeper and truer. And we can find our way back to our house with that.

Clint – You have used walking in Qigong as a technique to help yourself heal. Can you speak on those two topics for me?

Rachel – Yeah. So, I really got from you just how important exercise is. It wasn’t just about food. That’s not what the Paddison Program is just about. Because there is so much more. And so for me, we didn’t have hot yoga around here. And to be quite honest, the thought of it terrifies me. And what we do have is I live in the mountains. So I’ve got walks in every direction and I love walking and I’ve got my dog. So walking became my first thing and then I was doing some running. But running didn’t feel as great for me. I love running, but it just didn’t. My body would get quite exhausted from that. So I knew that wasn’t good for me. So I remembered that a few years back I used to do Qigong and I used to be already way strong on that. So I went back to that. And there’s a beautiful teacher who teaches online called, Mingtong Gu. And I think it’s chicenter.com or something. It is his website and he does a beautiful online course. And so I started daily practice. And I have been following his instructions. And that’s just been amazing for my body. And I can get up in the morning and feel if I have eaten too much the next day. I’ll be something a bit wrong saying or I’ve over-exercised or whatever it might be. And I can get up in the morning until very stiff, achy, and queasy. And those would be the worst symptoms I have now. And so if I had something like that, then I can go and do a half-hour of Qigong and I’m like a different person. It’s just all gone and it’s just incredible. It just goes and then I’ve got loads of energy for the day, my stamina, and my resilience. They’re just all going up and up and up. So I really like Qigong. I think it’s beautiful and I also love it because it’s all about the balance of yin and yang. And it’s such a spiritual and flowing practice. And it looks graceful, it feels graceful, and yet it really strengthens your body. So that’s been priceless (Inaudible).

Clint – Rheumatologist Neesha Manek, who I’ve had on a podcast in the past. Also, one that’s about to be published shortly. It will be published by the time this is released. And also, who has come on and helped out rheumatoid support members doing QnA recently. She’s a big endorser of Qigong and she has believed that’s a very, very powerful strategy. And she encourages all of her patients who see her in a rheumatology clinic to do Qigong.

Clint – And further, I have a friend, one of my best friends, actually who was the best man at my wedding, Joel Osborne, a fellow Australian comedian who has been doing Qigong. I want to say for the last 10 years and when he first started doing it, tell me about it. I had never heard of it. Because it was very unusual. But he’s so passionate about having the habit of doing it each day. I’ve been at airports with him and he just says, I’ve got to the bathroom for 20 minutes. I haven’t done much Qigong yet. And then he does it in a cubicle at an airport because he has to get his Qigong done. And I’m like, dude, you’re hardcore about this Qigong. And he’s like, oh, you know, I’ll see in 20 minutes and he doesn’t. He comes back and he’s just ready to go. So, it’s obviously something that has a profound effect on the feeling.

Rachel – He should do it in the middle of the airport and everyone what be doing it with him. That’s what they do in the parks in China. They just all go and do it in the park and everybody does it. I was walking through one of the parks, Regent’s Park in London a couple of weeks ago. There was a whole Qigong class going on in the park there. It’s just beautiful. But yeah, it’s got such deep roots and there’s so much knowledge about it.

Rachel – It’s a wonderful thing and I’ve seen it with teenagers, with panic attacks and acute anxiety. I mean, I’ve just got them doing 20 minutes of Qigong in the morning and night. And my goodness, they just come back to grounding so quickly as a result of that. And people with very poor circulation in their extremities, they can see massive improvements there. And elderly people whose bodies are stiff. And so, yeah, it’s incredibly gentle.

Clint – Right. You know, I’m gonna look into it. I’m going to definitely give it a go. Tell us finally about the stress down approach, the three principles by Sid Banks. That you were telling me about before we started here.

Rachel – Yeah, that was what I was talking about. So Sid Banks and the three principles, which is what his work has come to be called. It is about understanding how our thoughts are our use of our consciousness creates our experience. And so how if we are really caught in those gnarly, knotty and tense thoughts, that we are actually experiencing. And look out through that window and everything will be colored by that. But we also have within our consciousness, we have our awareness, our conscious self, wise, quiet, and deep compressing. And then he has beautiful writings and beautiful teachings. That there are available out there. There’s a lot of it available for free on the internet. If you just look up Sid Banks, there’s a website dedicated to him. And that’s got lots of his stuff online and you can just listen to for free. And yeah, if you’ve kind felt like I’d been around the block and tried everything twice at least. And I came to him and I thought, no, this is something different. So I would definitely recommend if you’re feeling stuck on the emotional level of the mental-spiritual level. Any of that or your physical progress isn’t quite happening as you want it to. Then, go and take a look at that and just sit, chill out and listen to Sid and see what happens.

Clint – Well, I’ve got some homework here. I’m excited to go and check out some of these new things to just to learn more. I’ve been blessed to be able to have this show and to learn from people like you as well.

Rachel – We never stopped learning.

Clint – No, we never stop learning. I just also feel the same. I feel compelled to acknowledge Dr. Hawrami Shinya, who was the original source of my testing of the three grains pseudo mix. That made up the baseline of the Paddison Program, the Emirates, quinoa, and buckwheat. This comes from his discoveries over the years and his recommendations to patients. Patients that are recovering from cancer. So this is colon cancer. So that combination of foods is the source of wisdom for that is from a gastroenterologist. And so his knowledge around what is most gentle for the bowel is why that is the foundation of the baseline foods. So, it all comes back to science on that front.

Rachel – Now, that totally makes sense to me. It’s me as well. I came across the most fantastic recipe that uses buckwheat and quinoa. Where you soak them for 24 hours. And then mix them up in a blender with a few other things and you make this delicious bread. And it’s got oats in and its got chia seeds. It’s got all of our good food in and that we have this is absolutely beautiful. And it’s on YouTube, the whole plant-based cooking show. I don’t know whether you’ve come across that lady, but she makes this beautiful bread soaking the buckwheat and the quinoa. And you kind of start to release the enzymes. You’ve soaked it for so long that when you then make ah, it’s beautiful. That’s become a real staple for us in our household.

Clint T- hat’s great, isn’t it? It’s amazing when we can start to eat bread and just have different sorts of textures in our mouth and variety, it’s great. Well, thank you, Rachel and this has been awesome. I really enjoyed chatting with you. You’ve got a website Rachel Singleton.com. I’m sure that you’d welcome anyone who’d like to have a chat with you. About their current situation and see if you could help them.

Rachel – Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Just get in touch, for sure.

Clint – Well, then I’ll know everything you’ve achieved with your health and also all the wonderful work that you’re doing with people. Thanks, so much for sharing.

Rachel – Thank you, Clint.