Live Like a Girl with Dr. Mindy Pelz - An Herbal Journey: Exploring Mother Nature's Medicine with Doug Wolkon

Episode Date: July 10, 2023

During the last 15 years, through full immersion in Kauai-grown plant medicine, Doug Wolkon has been cleansing, rejuvenating and healing his mind, body & soul. On this episode, he shares with us everything he knows about plant medicine so we can bask in its power.  To view full show notes, more information on our guests, resources mentioned in the episode, discount codes, transcripts, and more, visit https://www.drmindypelz.com/ep185. Doug Wolkon is the Co-founder of Kauai Farmacy, a boutique, farm-to-table, herbal medicine farm located on the Garden Island of Kauai in Hawaii. Doug's journey encompasses a blend of entrepreneurship, sustainable living, herbal medicine, and a deep appreciation for the healing powers of nature. Check out our fasting membership at resetacademy.drmindypelz.com. Please note our medical disclaimer.

On this episode of the Resetter podcast, I bring you Doug Wolfkin from Kauai Pharmacy. So let me give you a little background on this conversation. We, my husband and I were in Kauai for a couple of weeks back in March. And we stumbled upon Doug's regenerative farm. And on a vacation moment, we decided to go and get a tea tasting and explore what he was, you know, his products. and what he was demonstrating that he's growing within his regenerative farm. But something magical happened when we showed up. There was a vibration change.

There was a calmness that came over us. There was a general lift of energy. Something magical was going down on this farm. And we had been on the island for a couple of weeks, so it was just a real energetic shift. We spent several hours there, really understanding his products and how they were. to the overall healing of the human body.

And I've been become so enamored with the concept of using high-quality plant medicine to heal us. And when I say high-quality, you're going to hear that in this episode. This is not what you will find in your grocery store. This isn't even what you'll find at your farmer's market. So in this episode, you're going to learn about how you can use something as simple curry powder or something as simple as Tulsi tea to be able to bring your cells back into homeostasis. We even talked about all different types of detoxing and how gentle detoxing through the

concentration of high quality plants like Doug is offering can actually gently detox you and bring your body back into balance after you have been living a life of high stress, high toxicity. how do we use plants to lovingly bring us back into balance? This is herbal medicine like you've never heard before. So I am so excited to bring Doug to you. He did such a brilliant job of breaking down what we need to know about plants. He did an incredible job talking about the differences between drinking it and putting it on our skin. And I really truly am excited to bring you this episode.

I feel like it's a true gift to give you because what he's up to is magic. So Doug from Kwai Pharmacy, I highly recommend you dive into not only this episode, but what he is offering the world because it's truly special. Enjoy. Hey, Dr. Mindy here and welcome to season four of the Resetter podcast. Please know that this podcast is all about empowering you to believe in yourself again. If you have a passion for learning. If you're looking to be in control of your health and take your power back, this is the podcast for you. Enjoy. Okay, Doug, for starters, I have to welcome you to my podcast. I feel like the first time I met you, I was in shorts and flip flops and now you're seeing the professional

version of me. So let me start off by just welcoming you. I'm so excited to have this conversation. Thank you, Mindy. Yeah, it's a pleasure. I know the first time you became kind of undercover on the farm. I didn't quite know who you were. I'm so honored to be here. Here's where I want to start this conversation because there's so much that I want my audience to understand about your products, what you're up to.

But I think your story is really fascinating because so many people are starting to understand it's time to slow down. So talk a little bit about how you went from a high-stressed life to being a regenerative farmer on, So that was quite some time ago. I used to do private equity real estate finance stuff in my 20s. So that was early 2000s.

And I left that world when I was 30. Not sure what I was going to do. I definitely wanted to change, wanted to see what else was out there. And then we had our first child. And my wife and I, Jenna, who we both owned together, Kauai Pharmacy and founded it together. We went to Kauai really to find just a journey and we were definitely on a healing, in a healing space for sure. We were both challenged.

I was 30 pounds heavier than I am now. And my wife had some challenges with her birth, our firstborn. And we wanted to just tap into something new and also really take responsibility for our health. That was important to us. So as that idea of taking responsibility came to fruition, I mean, Kauai was the place that had all this medicine. I mean, so we traveled to Hawaii. And when we got there, yeah, this medicine was being put in front of us.

And we first started with Noni Leaf and we were kind of putting it on our skin and making tea with it and realizing just, wow, this powerful leaf, you know, so profound in its healing attributes. and we didn't know such medicine existed. It was new for us. I mean, I thought all medicine came in a bottle. So, yeah, so this leaf, we would just put it in water and heated up and make tea out of it.

And we just started there. And the slowing down process, honestly, it was quite the unwinding and still is. I've been, it's been 15 years on island. We did a lot of work, and the first 12-ish years were more in the physical space, for me, at least. and I cleansed, you know, cleaned out a lot of the toxicity that was in, you know, in my physical being,

whether it be the wonder bread from my childhood or so much of the other foods that I had gobbled up during my life at that time. But, and then the last few years, you know, it became, the slowing down process became as much about just realizing activity, you know, this idea of like what, like being more and doing less, really is the idea or higher, higher production and lower consumption, right? So what does, what does that mean? And really leaning into that concept because that's where the power is for me. Yeah. That's where slow, that's how to, because slowing down, it can be elusive, you know, your mind can go. You know, your mind can go, you know, your mind can go the other way. Explain that a little bit more because I can tell you for my own self that I'm very

cognizant of the fact that I need to start to slow down. And even in some small little way, every time I do it, I feel like every cell in my body says speed up, stop sitting on the couch, stop slowing down. Like, I think our nervous systems become so conditioned to this modern world that slowing down actually feels like torture. So talk how did you how did you manage the feelings that came as you were slowing down? Slowing down is yeah not an ideal description of of the truth of it. It's really alignment, right? That's really what we're trying to find. That's what we're seeking is alignment. And you know, we're seeking alignment really with the universe and then within. the slowing down is more of like you know that's like the punishment part that's the pain and suffering

and you really ideally you avoid it you know you can you know um transcend the slowing down and and work yourself into alignment so yeah because like i said the slowing down can be a lot of pain and suffering yeah so you don't really because you don't really know you know you don't really know what to do So the question is how, you know, getting into alignment, you're refining your energies, right? You're refining your physical, mental, emotional, and energetic being so that it's in alignment with the universe. And as you do that, it feels like slowing down is the same thing as speeding up. And everything is ideally, you know, joyful, if you will. And you're able to take on the biggest tasks of the day and also get rest when rest is, you know, is calling.

Yeah, I love that that the slowing down feels like speeding up because it does. It really, I mean, and I'm only at the beginning of learning how to do this. So talk to me a little bit about this idea around plants being medicine and how that ties into the slowing down. Because I'll just tell you what I saw when I was on your farm. I definitely saw many blissful individuals, not just you, but everybody there seemed to have just a peace and joy about them. There was something magical when I got out of my car that I could smell all these smells coming from the plants that you have on your farm.

You could feel a vibrational shift in the air. And I've heard you say this many times. I've heard you say it today. I've heard you say it when I was on your farm, that the medicine, that this is medicine. And so talk a little bit about how you went from this high-stressed life to the Kauai farm to using the plants to start to heal your body. What is it about plants that we can use to help in the healing that we need to have from our modern rushing lifestyle? Big question.

It is big. There's so much to the plants at the same time, it's the simplicity, right? It goes, it's this, we're after. So it's like, you know, words like cleansing, detoxing are certainly there, but also, you know, words like life force and circulation are also part of the plant medicine. So there's no linear aspect. of it it encompasses all that mother nature has to offer at the same time you know it's holistic it's you know it's oneness and it's in its delivery so like you're you're accessing all the powers of mother

nature the full spectrum rainbow right so you know orange turmeric and red chili peppers and cacao you know magnesium and all the different vitamins and minerals and nutrients in the ground that aren't really accessible to human beings right now. Those rare spices and herbs that created the spice wars of yesteryear and the spice islands and the spice all of that. You know, even the Indian tea and spice company, basically the birth of global capitalism was birthed on the back of herbs and spices. And so people were after this life force. And today that life force has gotten homogenized. It's gotten fertilized. It's gotten, you know, stale, old. And so people look at herbal medicine, as I did growing up and said, that's not going to work. That's not going to work. Right. Because it doesn't.

Right. Because it doesn't. Right. Like, it's, but if you take the intention, and it's, it's as simple as backyard gardening, you know, I mean, certainly on Kaua, we're going to deliver another level of vitamins and minerals. It's, it's going to be kind of, you know, beyond the level you could do elsewhere, just given the soil and the air and the water. But in any case, freshness, intention, what you can do in your backyard garden, with herbs like mint and lemon balm, just drinking those plants every day, lavender,

so many, I mean, if you look at the herbs from, they used in the most powerful empires in the world, whether it be Greece, you know, the Roman Empire, India, Africa, all during those times. What did those cultures, how were those cultures raised to have massive populations? And their medicine, and thousands and thousands of years was plant medicine and it was fresh plant medicine and it was

plant medicine that was it was highly highly sought after and honored and so the the herbs they come into the body the beautiful colors and just like a beautiful river attracts beautiful birds these beautiful herbs come into the body and they and they clean you know and otherwise polluted self or if the body's clean they'll they'll help you know resonate and magnify an already beautiful being with more colors of the rainbow. And again, beautiful vitamins and minerals. You know, I love this word life force because I think it's really key to what you have created there. So would you say that when we're looking at the modern world, we're looking at the toxic food, the toxic thoughts, the toxic lifestyle, it's depleting

the life force. But when we come to plants and herbs, what we're doing is we're rebuilding the life force in the body. But what I've heard you say many times and why I think herbal medicine gets discredited is that the life force of these plants comes from the soil. So if the soil is depleted and doesn't have enough nourishment and energy and life force in it, what they're growing out of that is going to be depleted, which is perhaps why your products work so well. And the best way that I could explain it in my own personal use is those darn black peppercorns you gave me that almost one peppercorn lit my mouth on fire. I had never tasted a peppercorn like that. So is it that herbal medicine doesn't get enough credit right now because what we have access to is a weaker energy

source than what you're growing on Kwaii farm. Yeah, no question. I mean, like I said, we talked about the spice wars before. They traveled 18 months to two years. Christopher Columbus would travel from, you know, Spain to the spice islands and lose 200 men over a two-year period and come back with black pepper. Why did he do that? That's not what's on the table today. He did that because he went after, he was going after life-saving medicine. And if you look at the numbers, I mean, I don't really love to get into this, but it's got to be said. The spread between the money we invest in our herb plant medicine cabinet, you know, true plant medicine, and what we invest in so many other industries, but let's just call it pharmaceuticals for now,

because it's the most relatable, is just massive, right? You're talking like, like here's this little, I wouldn't even call herbal medicine an industry. I wouldn't even call it a, like it gets no money. There's no support. So you have people in Vermont, you have people in New Hampshire, people in Seattle, holding it down. San Francisco, outside of San Francisco, they're holding it down, the herbalism trade. You know, why to take care of their families, take care of, you know, their communities as a culture, right, the American culture, the Western culture, our investment, you know, we're not vested in herbal

medicine. There's no, there's no vestment. So not being vested, having no knowledge of, having no experience of is just so, it's such a big part and changing that story, rewriting that story, you know, the new narrative. That's what needs to happen. And what happens is, foundationally, you've changed, you've changed every molecule. in your body because the alkalinity in your, this is radical alkalinity.

So yeah, when you get your, when you get to pH, you know, seven, two, and you're this beautiful spring water and you can ease and grace through life, then that's great. You can eat salads and soups and you're cruising. But before that, you know, how do you, how do you interrupt a toxic diet?

it. You know, it's like, it's easy for me to rah, rah, you know, you've got to stop eating that food, but it's like, well, you've been feeding me this food since the day you gave me the milk. Yeah. Right? Right out, you've been giving me this toxicity and now you're telling me 50 years later, I got to stop. I'm hooked. Yes. So the radical alkalinity of herbal medicine comes in and and I can tell you it comes in the the genius of it it comes in as softly and gently as you would like you know and that's that's the brilliance of it and as it comes in so gently you know you can drink a half a cup you can brew it strong you can brew it light you can sprinkle a little bit on your food you can sprinkle a lot on your food what's the worst that can happen you detox a little more

you detox a little less. The side effects are a little headache. You know, that's kind of the way it rolls. It's not, you know, the side effects do not have to be told on a commercial. You know, that's not the type of side effects. Oh, so well said. That was so well said. So in any case, that's, you know, that's where herbal medicine holds the key is it's foundational

in its radical alkalinity. And that alkalinity is inevitably what's going to move. the acidity in the body to a pH that is more in balance. It's more in balance with the universe and with everyday health. I really like this idea of looking at our toxic lifestyle, whether it's physical, emotional, chemical toxins as polluting our body. So you're now in a polluted state which puts you more in this acidic state, which, you know, every cancer researcher, you know, Every chronic disease comes from this acidic state. So that, I love the terminology around that because I think we don't give enough credit to the damage that toxic living can do to our health.

And we don't give enough credit to the power of bringing the body back into alkalinity. So when we look at the plants on your farm and you're dealing with a polluted body. What is our first door in? And I know you have a lot of amazing products, but how do we begin the journey from acidity, pollution, to alkalinity, peace, and health within the body? So the name of our farm is Kauai Pharmacy. We have four acres.

We have about 20 people working on the farm, so gardeners, people crafting, so alchemists, and then people educating and doing fulfillment. We do everything from the farm. We started with the farm growing a small blend, like a blend of five different herbs. And it was our first product. It was called Wellness Tea. We called it Wellness Tea. It still exists today and it's five basic herbs. And these, you know, what we do is it's not revolutionary by any means. It's avant-garde relative to what's been going on in the last 50 years. But, you know, the ancients were doing this, you know, in their back

So and I and they're happening all over America in in backyards as well, which is taking herbs that they've been using all over the world, ginger, turmeric, lemongrass, Tulsi. Those are the four basic herbs that we believe should be in your diet every single day. Um, and so what is what are those doing? Lemongrass we used in 99, I think 98% of the world's lemongrass is used for house cleaners as a house cleaner. Wow. Which is, which is, and you couldn't source really good lemon grass. So that just shows you how backwards the Western world is, is that we're spraying or wet lemongrass on our floor, yet we should be drinking it. And yet in Thailand, it's in breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Interesting. Breakfast lunch and interesting. So. And what does it do? What is lemon grass? It's cleaning.

It's cleaning. Ah, you know, and and and, and listen, this is not about, you know, the detox is like, emergency, right? Like we, I know you talk a lot about, you know, you talk a lot about, a lot about fasting and you know ideally we get to a place and I know you talk about stages where we're fasting from a place of of innate weight you know it's like that's what's comfortable for us and the same thing goes with things like lemongrass they're in our our food every day and then as a result we're cleaning every day we don't have to cleanse we don't have to detox right that's a that's a lot of pain and suffering. I'd rather...

A lot. Yeah, it's a lot. And so we keep calling lemon gas. So turmeric, really, you know, sourcing the right tumouric. You know, Kauai grows amazing turmeric. Knowing where you get your turmeric from is key. All different levels of quality there. So it's really going to help reduce inflammation,

increase your immune system. In India, they use it for makeup, for the skin to keep the mosquitoes away. So it's renowned as a second skin. you know, in India, they have malaria there. So it's important. You know, these are, these are masks. These are, these are protective items. So immune system is not this like, this esoteric concept.

It's, it's an immune. You put a second skin on your body, right? So as you eat the turmeric, like you don't worry about things like radiation. They don't affect you because the tumourc's inside you, right? Protecting you. Protecting you, yeah. And it's like, oh, it sounds like, oh, I don't like to radiate. no, no, just eat the turmeric and you won't even be thinking about the radiation.

It's too, it's not there because you are building your immune system in real time. So that's turmeric. And again, the anti-inflammatory aspects of turmeric, you know, healing them, in my opinion, every physical ailment manifests through inflammation. So, you know, like when I eat inflammatory foods, I can feel it in my hot spots, right? So I have a little shoulder thing. So if I eat a little, you know, inflammatory food, just my shoulder just feels a little tight.

And if I keep eating those foods, I will continue to tighten up my shoulder. To the point, well, it'll begin to numb, and then it'll begin to grow, like we talked about, you know, cis or tumors or all kinds of stuff. And we begin to get numb from the feeling, which started, you know, started as a, as a small little inflammatory food.

And so, you know, moving forward to ginger, ginger's all about that fire, metabolism, you know, really helping, you know, we talked about less, less consumption, more production. Ginger really is all about that, really. You know, a lot of people are overweight, and they can't even get on a treadmill, or they can't go for a run, they can't exercise.

They have ailments. It might be too, you know, older. So the ginger is going to work for you, right? It's going to burn. It's going to burn. And, you know, integrating that ginger. And so it's also in this wellness tea. These herbs are in almost all of our teas, ginger, turmeric, lemongrass. And the fourth one is Tulsi. Tulsi or Holy Basil is an herb that they've been using in India for, you know, thousands of years and although i have experience with it it's people have much more knowledge of tulsi than me uh it's but it's been such an honor to grow and and utilize this plant for

awareness really um awareness so it helps with the breath it helps with opening up the respiratory system getting becoming aware of your digestive track um and and what's what's healing for you i i drank a Tulsi tea. I actually, one of the first blends I made was Tulsi. My wife and I were on this property that had a beautiful herb garden. And I was making a sage, lemon bomb,

Tulsi mint tea. And the Tulsi was so profound in this tea. And I could feel my awareness to like who I was, what was happening to me. I mean, I was 30 pounds heavier. My son was, you know,

running circles around me. I was 36 years old. And it was like, what is going on? like where is this, where is this headed? And I was drinking the tea and the Tulsi was just so profound in its wake-up call. It was such a wake-up call for me, spiritually speaking. And it was just like, it was the beginning, it was the first door to open for me in the spiritual realm,

yet so gentle in its ways. You know, and it's one of those herbs that's like, when I say awareness, like, how does it relate? to health will, you know, you walk into a cold room and you put a jacket on. Or you have to go to the bathroom so you don't hold it for, you know, an hour or two. Like you're thirsty and you take a drink of water. All those things that, like the awareness of them, sometimes, the consciousness, you know, next thing you know, it's two days gone by and you haven't had a sip of water. And you remember, you know, at one point you were on it.

You were conscious about it. Right. And now all of a sudden two days go by. Or you haven't rested or you haven't rested or you haven't. slowed down or those things haven't happened. So the Tulsi really helps solidify that awareness. And having Tulsi tea on the daily is critical. So that wellness tea, and again, across all our teas, you'll basically find ginger, turmeric, lemon grass, and Tulsi. So how to start, you know, I think, you know, from our farm, you can't really go wrong. There's a lot of blogs that we have going on our

website, a lot of videos on YouTube that we have going and drinking tea, putting it in the the fridge is iced tea, putting our superfoods, our endurance powder with our aschwaganda, having that in your smoothie. You'll just see a different level. I mean, I don't know of many, if any superfoods that you can access, you know, the source. And that's got a change. That's got a change. I'm proud to say that we, you know, you can access the source with us, but there's, there needs to be more sources like us. Yeah. And I can tell you just from being on your farm, Like after a couple hours there, when we left, we literally felt different. And my husband and I were trying to figure out what it was.

And there was also whatever that was coming off of the plants, there was a smell or like some molecule of healing that was coming off these plants. There was, it was just something I had never experienced before. So talk a little bit. And I really don't want people to lose this because I watch so many people. go down the herbal medicine path only to be disappointed. Why can't I listen to a podcast like this and just rush out and get some curry, organic curry powder at Whole Foods and sprinkle it on my food and expect the same healing result? Does it have to do with the soils in which it's grown in? Does it have to do with small batch versus large batch? Like how and how do we navigate whether something's

just a really intense version of perhaps an old spice we're used to using. How do we know the difference between a healing spice and one that may be more generic? Yeah, it's a wild concept. And I can't tell you that I truly understand. I'm going to kind of default to a little bit of ignorance here, because I don't really understand that industry except for, you know, the experience that I have with, as it relates to, you know, cinnamon and black pepper and things like that that you can get in abundance stevia i just look at those and and see um i don't i don't feel any medicine in any of those um yeah and i haven't for quite some time so but i think if i step back for a moment and just appreciate what it takes to

to heal oneself and use eat nourishing foods um You know, we all have professions and we approach our professions with such diligence and such commitment, such professionalism. It's just incredible. The commitment that we have to our professions, to how we keep our home, to the cleanliness of our cars, the cars we drive. I mean, it just goes on and on and on. But when it comes to the way we approach our food, there's this level of wax. Yeah, so well said. And we

we choose to not cross our T's and don our eyes. Yeah. But like a B minus or a B plus is you know, is not acceptable on our English paper. But it's totally, it's totally cool. It's totally cool to put a B minus

in our mouth. So well said. Right, it's totally okay. It's actually in fact, like live a little bit. Have a D. Have a D and an F. You know. Wouldn't that be interesting?

You just actually got me thinking, wouldn't that be interesting if we had some kind of health rating like that on every food so that you could be like, hey, this is an F in health. You might like the taste of it, but just know it scored an F. Like would that change because we're so success driven? We're so grade driven.

Like, would that change the way people would approach food? It's a really interesting thought. So and then and then the premise of just, okay, so and the why, right? You know, F doesn't feel good, you know, people know they're eating the bad food. They don't eat an F to tell them that they're eating the bad food. So now the question is the why and it's like, well, because the good food's going to make you feel good. And how do you trust that and how do you trust the process and what's the outcome and the fulfillment, right?

The fulfillment of your life, right? that you get to enjoy your life and then potentially explore other dimensions even, you know, and really make the best of this journey. So, I mean, that's the why. And so when you mention the A to F, you know, it's kind of funny because on one end, you know, I'm sure a lot of people would not appreciate that.

You know, and it's like, no. It's kind of serious. And it's like, but at the same time, the seriousness is kind of moving into a place in which you start to respect yourself more, right? Because the truth of it is you're hiding from, you're disrespecting yourself when you eat those foods and drink that liquid,

and then you're hiding in a space of, you know, lack of a better word in the party space, right? And you party only to have a crash later. And as you get older, as you get older, there's no avoiding the crash. The crash has become, you know, it's like the binges become shorter because you can't access them for,

you know, you can go on longer binges when you're younger. And so the lessons become shorter, and then it's like, why am I even doing this? It's only a one-day binge, and I get nothing out of it. So in any case, yeah, the idea is that you're able to create that foundation in which you can bring in those experiences on a consistent basis, and they add onto themselves and the A-like, you know, living, right?

There can be some B-pluses, you know, lots of lessons all over the place, always, right? I think the way you explain this is really beautiful because I believe as we age ourselves, not our mind or our spirit, but our cells become less tolerant of the abuse. And so what they do is they give you more fatigue. They give you more cravings. They give you more anxiety in your brain. And all of that is just a cry from your cells to stop physically, emotionally, chemically, toxifying them.

And so you really bring up a really interesting point where I think we have to look at the wisdom of aging as when you have these aches and pains in your body, when you're not, your mind isn't at that performance level. It's just your cells saying enough. I can't handle it anymore. You've got to do something different. And I can tell you with women that as we get over 40, we don't have that neurochemical armor of estrogen progesterone that used to protect us.

And so our cells are just so exposed. which is why I'm so intrigued as a 53-year-old woman by products like yours, because it feels like cellular healing. So talk a little bit. I know you've used a lot of products on women, a lot of products on women going through the menopausal journey. How can we start to use some of the herbs that you've grown, the plants that you've grown, to bring not only cellular healing back, to bring some balance to our hormones and maybe even our neurotransmitters back into balance as we move

through our 40s and 50s. You know, we bought the farm. So obviously, you know, my approach to plant medicines somewhat, you know, it's all about abundance, right? I love, I want to bathe in it. I want to immerse myself fully in plant medicine.

And as I immerse myself, like I don't, I don't, just like put a little thing on my wrist when my wrist hurts. If my wrist hurts, I douse, you know, my finger to my shoulder with, you know, the finest oil that I can find. And and I, as I move forward through the plant medicine, I just trust so much because you, you learn how amazing it is and the trust and the wisdom that's within the plants and the information. So we're drinking the tea, you know, consistently. We're sprinkling the spices on our foods.

We're putting them in our smoothies. We're using the sabs. We have a botanical body butter that's just beautiful. We have a comfy salve. Amazing. Yeah, it's got cacao. It's really good. I can attest to that.

Yeah, using Kauai beeswax. I mean, using macadamia oil. Those, like, really understanding where your, where your medicine's coming from. and then when you get the goods, you know, not hoarding it, using it. Using it on your body, like learning how to treat yourself, learning how to, you know, not play the victim, not rely on others, massaging yourself, right?

Massaging your feet on the daily, really practicing, you know, self-care and self-love in, you know, in order to build that respect, that self-respect up. And as you build that self-respect up and as you build that, you know, practice, in fact, it just becomes easier and your body actually requires less.

But certainly, you know, women in their 40s and 50s and having children, certainly lack of village-like communities that the Western world has been experienced. there's been a tremendous amount of pressure put on women, in my opinion, you know, that ends up becoming an extremely challenging mental and physical experience after, you know, once the child, children are born because of a lack of village and community that exists in our culture.

It's just, yeah, it's a topic. I have a tough time. It's disgusting. Yeah. So now it's for women, it's about, in my opinion, building that self-respect back up because they had to let go of so much. Yeah. Yeah. It's so well said.

So one interesting thing after we left your farm, the next day, I think we had told you that we were staying at the one hotel, and I went to get a massage. and they were using all your products. And there was a whole bunch of oils that they used in the massage. But when I got done with the massage, I was sitting on the beach

and I had this thought in my head, which was, I think I am the most relaxed I may have ever been in my entire life. Every cell in my body felt at peace. And so I actually went back to the spa and I was like, what did you rub on me? And this is my favorite product of you. yours and I want to talk about how I've used it because I think it's really revolutionary

in its use and that that's your kava serum. And so what I've done with the kava serum, and I can tell you as a 53-year-old woman, is I actually rub it on my sacrum at night before I go to bed because the sacrum is the root of parasympathetic, the parasympathetic nervous system. And I It has been a major tool in helping me sleep throughout the menopausal journey, which so many women struggle. So talk a little bit about what the, when we put something topical as opposed to breathing, smelling something, as opposed to drinking something, is that when we, like I drank Kava for a for a long time.

what is it about topical versus ingesting it that's different you know we just drive so much of our nutrition toxicity medicine all of it comes through our organs and it's like bleh you know it's like so much on our liver and gallbladder and pancreas and stomach and it's just a lot and so So when we have to like address an acute issue, to address it through the organs becomes really taxing on your mental and emotional health. So if you can address an acute issue for you, it sounds like potentially it's, you know, a sleep or restoration concept. And you can do it without having to go through your mouth, which is what we all immediately do, take a pill or take a, you know, drink of something. like I can only fix myself if I put it through my mouth. But once you realize your third, you know,

your third lung is your skin and it's the largest organ in the body, and you realize it through profound medicine, right? That's how you learn. Or jumping in a epically cold spring, you know, like a beautiful spring or waterfall. It'll literally detox you from the outside in. Yeah. And you can do it through meditation and breathwork too.

When you realize that you are this pulsating being and the idea that you can take in medicine through your skin, assuming that the medicine is on point, right? So then we're talking about a whole other dimension of relationship between plants and people. When you can access plant medicine through your skin, it's just a whole another dimension. So that's an amazing feat, you know, and you've realized that feat. There's just different ways, gentler ways to treat. And what you're doing with that kava,

I mean, kava grows, it takes three years to grow kava. Oh, wow. That's what's in that oil that you have. So we infuse it over a three-day process at a very low heat, 140-ish degrees in this macadamia. oil that is that is just luxury and and so medicinal in its own right and so the kava going in is extremely grounding and it you know to me i think that's what you're feeling is how

grounding the kava is and what the what the serum does as opposed to taking it internally where it you know that kava will go in my opinion goes right to your head um but it also goes to your body I mean, Kava's known to address the physical body in a more profound way and leave the mind alone for the most part, but then as you drink more and more, which I find happens a lot of times when you drink Kava, you end up drinking more and more.

It does start to seep into the mind. So with the serum, which is amazing, is it stays in the body and grounds. And it's amazing that you're tapping it into the way you are. And you're kind of bringing your body back into homeostasis. And I think that's what we're, what we are missing in treating symptomatology is all symptoms are as a body out of balance. So what I've heard is a general theme,

not only in what you're saying today, but what I heard when I was on Kauai was that it's, we're bringing the body back into balance using, using plants to do that. So, and it's such, there's always a gentleness in that, whereas a lot of detoxing is, is still a lot of extreme energy that's pushing toxins out. That's not what I'm witnessing from being on your farm and actually using your products is it just feels more like a gentle hug that brings you back into balance. And I love that and appreciate that. It feels really nurturing. I think it's actually a really brilliant idea. In fact, I'm even wondering if it could be used as

what I would call transitional medicine, meaning that when you're transitioning out of the stress of the day, could you put it on the bottom of your feet and just take 10, 20 minutes and just to sit in a peaceful place before you go into your evening routine? And maybe you do the same thing in the morning. But you actually had told, I'd clude into something. you had said when we were there, which is you put one of the salves on your face and then you go into meditation. And it's a beautiful way to use the plants to assist you in that spiritual healing. Is that just something you've intuitively come up with or is there anything that we should know about the spiritual part of these plants and how they can really shift us not only on an energetic

level but on a spiritual level? Yeah, well, like certainly are hydrosols. So we have a steam. distillation of the spirit water of the plant. They're called hydrosols. And like our Tulsi hydrosol, we could spare on your face. That's going to be an awareness experience. You know, it's a, it's a beautiful perfume, but also is a, is like an antidepressant. It has a happiness vibe to it. And, and certainly the oils are going to, are going to help with circulation so that when you, you know, through meditation and breath work, you know, you're, you're only going to drop in, in my opinion in a, you know, deeper place by, you know, burning that sage stick or, or rubbing,

you know, plant medicine on you. And, you know, all the, the plant medicine is a component, like in, in my coaching practice, you know, what I teach is, and also practice is the five components, which is plant medicine, nutrition, you know, and the plant medicine is going to call in, you know, more watery foods, more slippery foods, foods that are easy to digest. It's going to call, so nutrition, so herbal medicine nutrition, it's going to call in the yoga,

the stretching, you know, the expansion of the physical body to be more, you know, more postural and more in tune with Mother Nature in its posture. And then meditation and breathwork. So all five of those, you know, herbal medicine,

in my opinion, being a for me it was it was the interceptor it allowed me to intercept my nutrition and once i got those under wrap you know once i could get those under control um because i was out of control and so i i switched up my you know ph i got my alkalinity you know flushed out and kind of under control and then i was able to to start moving into you know my breath work and yoga yeah yeah and i love the idea of calling it in. That was so well said. And I think, you know, a big summary of everything you're saying is with each move towards a healthier body away from a polluted body, the body craves another move. And then it craves another move. And when we've become so disconnected from

our body, when we go to get healthy, we don't, it's hard for us to intuitively know what we want. But using something as beautiful as comfy salve on your on your on the bottoms of your feet or my one of my favorite teas that you have is the green energy tea drinking that in the morning and I feel like all of a sudden I know what's best for me whereas the every other like even a cup of coffee or getting up and rushing to my day now I'm disconnected and I don't know what's best for me So what I'm hearing you say is that the plants have a way of calling in the other pieces as you use them more frequently. Would that be accurate? Yeah, I mean, it's like, yeah, so accurate.

You're talking about foundation, right? And versus like a compulsive being, right? Where you're just going from place to place to place. And, you know, you might be like creating, you know, adding more money or adding more houses or making more friends. but it's like what what's the intention and and you know what's are you truly in alignment you know yeah what level can we get to as far as control and the herbs really help support that awareness or thoughts and emotion yeah so agreed well i i just love the way you speak of plant medicine because i feel like and and experiencing your farm also sort of saline

for me the power of the right plants grown in the right soil in the right environment and how healing that can be. So I just really appreciate you. I appreciate what you all have done there. I do want to end on two of my favorite questions this season. And I really have been focused on teaching people self-love this year, you know, especially women as we go through our menopausal journey. We need more self-love. So do you? have a self-love practice that you, I mean, it sounds like everything you do at the farm is self-love, but do you have a self-love daily practice? And my second part of that question is, what do you think your superpower is that you bring to the world? My self-love practice at this moment,

because it does change, I am loving my meditation. You know, it's, for me, it's a way that I close my eyes and I work on the two things that are basic principles of being a human being and that is breath and posture. And as I as I work on my breath and my posture, I fall into alignment with, you know, with me in the universe. And it's just, it's so simple. I love that. Yeah. So that's the self-love, although I do a lot of other things too but that's my day to day I love it and then other what was the other question

was what I could bring to the world the idea of sharing my wife and I have been on a journey my wife and I have a lot to share and we're excited to do so and you know the plant medicine but also our experiences and education so at the moment it would be

the experience that we've had and and be able to share it and hopefully, you know, provide some knowledge for people to help heal themselves. I think that is such a profound answer because experience doesn't get enough credit in this world, life experience. And I would agree, you know, the moment I stepped on your farm, not only could I tell there was a vibrational difference, but you and I chatted about this when I was there. It was like, I was drawn to you. I was drawn to you. I was drawn to what you're energy and what you were sharing and your energy today is an accumulation of all of your experience.

So I love that. That very well said. And I loved this conversation. And it makes me want to go downstairs into my kitchen and start rubbing all your products all over me again. So where do people find you so that they can experience this as well? Yeah. So the hub is at Pauai'i Pharmacy.com. So we are on the garden island of Kauai, and that's K-A-U-A-I-K-E.

And then pharmacy is with an F, so F-A-R-M-A-C-Y.com. And that's the hub, and we have Instagram at Kauai PharmacyT.com, and we have a YouTube. So there's lots to learn on our YouTube. And, yeah, those are the basics, those are the big spots. And then we do have visits to the farm. If you ever come to Kauai, you come visit the farm at the moment. And you can come for tea. And we have a retail store there as well.

So we have an apothecary, if you will, there. But on our website, this is all explained, and all of our products are on our website. And there's a ton of information. We blog every week. We have a newsletter that comes out every week. We do a lot of effort in that. Everything we do has a lot of intention all the way from. You can tell.

And I really recommend people go visit you because that will solidify everything that you learned today. So amazing. Amazing. Thank you, Doug. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for joining me in today's episode. I love bringing thoughtful discussions about all things health to you. If you enjoyed it, we'd love to know about it. So please leave us a review, share it with your friends, and let me know what your biggest takeaway is.