The Rich Roll Podcast - How Do You Define True Health? Plus: Ruminations On Aging, Death & The Importance of Open Communication

Episode Date: July 9, 2015

I'm hitting a groove. Although I definitely have some sustainability concerns about posting two weekly editions of the show (have I said how much work this is?), I'm keeping my promise. So here we are again with another installment of Ask Me Anything — a twist on my typical guest interview format where we answer questions submitted by you, the listener. But this week it's a twist on that twist. In addition to entertaining a few listener inquiries, I gave Julie the latitude to raise a few issues and themes currently on her mind. I think the recipe worked — it's quite a revelatory exchange. This conversation explores: * Appreciating Diversity Among RRP Guests * How To Define True Health * What It Means To Live In Balance * Eating In Harmony With Nature * Perspectives On Aging * Mindful Ruminations on Death * Cultural Objectification Of Women * Successful Marriage & Open Communication The show concludes with Mother of Mine, written and performed by Julie (aka SriMati), accompanied by our sons Tyler & Trapper Piatt. I sincerely hope you enjoy our discussion. How Do YOU define ‘True Health”? Let me know in the comments section below. Peace + Plants, Rich

Only you can tell the world what is locked inside your heart, what is yearning to come out. And, you know, eating plant-based and becoming healthy and understanding that you can clear yourself and connect with your authentic self by, you know, eating vital, vibrant, healthy foods and taking care of yourself is the beginning step. That's Julie Pyatt, and we're back with another edition of Ask Me Anything on the Rich Roll Podcast. The Rich Roll Podcast. Hey, everybody.

Welcome to the PODCAST. I'm your host, Rich Roll. Back at you again. Another episode of Ask Me Anything. Actually, we're going to do a little bit of a twist on the Q&A, Ask Me Anything. Are we not, Julie Pyatt? Yeah, I'm going to ask you anything that I want. Is that what you're going to do? Yeah, we're going to go off script. do yeah i mean we're gonna go off script we kind of are yeah we're already like in our second edition of this since we announced we're gonna do two episodes a week and we're already varying on the theme that's right you may you may be come up with some very specific uh topics but i'm actually

gonna just rogue off of those and start asking you right well basically i just asked julia i was like why don't you come up with a couple things that you would like to talk about so it's ask me anything from the prism, you know, perspective of Julie, as opposed to the readers, which is not a reflection on any kind of dissatisfaction with all the amazing questions that you guys have been sending in. Although, we could use some more. So keep keep them keep them coming. Yeah, keep them coming. For sure. Because now, you know, look, we're going to be cranking these things out. We need content. Like every other blogger.

No, we've got plenty. I've got a whole stack. I printed out all the questions here. We're not going to run out of things to talk about, but I thought we could focus it a little bit by bringing up a couple subjects that maybe are percolating in your consciousness today. percolating in your consciousness today. We're brought to you today by recovery.com. I've been in recovery for a long time. It's not hyperbolic to say that I owe everything good in my life to sobriety. And it all began with treatment and experience that I had that quite literally saved my life. And in the many years since, I've in turn helped many suffering addicts and their loved ones find

treatment. And with that, I know all too well just how confusing and how overwhelming and how challenging it can be to find the right place and the right level of care, especially because unfortunately, not all treatment resources adhere to ethical practices. It's a real problem, a problem I'm now happy and proud to share has been solved by the people at recovery.com, who created an online support portal designed to guide, to support, and empower you to find the ideal level of care tailored to your personal needs. They've partnered with the best global behavioral health providers to cover the full spectrum of behavioral health disorders, including substance use disorders, depression, anxiety, eating disorders, gambling addictions, and more.

Navigating their site is simple. Search by insurance coverage, location, treatment type, you name it. Plus, you can read reviews from former patients to help you decide. Whether you're a busy exec, a parent of a struggling teen, or battling addiction yourself, I feel you. I empathize with you. I really do. And they have treatment options for you.

Life in recovery is wonderful, and recovery.com is your partner in starting that journey. When you or a loved one need help, go to recovery.com and take the first step towards recovery. To find the best treatment option for you or a loved one, again, go to recovery.com. I appreciate you wanting to know what's inside my mind. We do, yeah. I do. Thank you. This is my only way of getting at it. Well, it's good.

It's great. By broadcasting. I know. We get to talk again for the second time in one week. In one week. Yes. Any parent who has a bunch of kids and there's a lot of chaos and running around, hopefully can relate to that. It's awesome.

We always say, if you want to increase the quality of your marriage, start a podcast together. Well, but it's sort of like if you're having problems with your relationship, it might explain. It's sort of like, oh, having a kid is going to solve your relationship problem. You know, it could just exacerbate it and explode it. Like if you started a podcast with your spouse and you're forced to sit across from them and converse, it might just blow the whole thing up. No, if I had to bet on it, I would bet that it would be a positive thing because you are opening up a forum for communication. And I always advocate in every situation, communication is king. Right.

Well, but I think inherent in that is the idea that you have the willingness to be open and honest. Because I think there's a lot of people out there who it's just like, hey, we're doing a podcast. Hey, what's going on with you, Julie? It's radio talk time, top of the hour. What's the weather like? You know, it's easy to devolve into that. So I think it's actually hard to... To be vulnerable.

Of course. Yeah. It's hard for anybody to do that in any context, in a blog post, in a conversation. That's true. But doing it behind a mic when you know there's going to be a lot of people listening, that's a frightening, intimidating thing. I guess it was easy for us because we were at an all-time not all-time low point we had nothing to lose we had nothing to lose so at that point it was easy right well it's kind of like the the arc of it's similar not as not quite as dramatic but but you know what's interesting

is the arc of mark maron and his wtf show because he started his podcast at a very desperate low moment in his life where he actually thought his career was over as a stand-up comedian, as a broadcaster, like he was unemployable. And he had nothing going on, you know. And he started the show in his garage out of desperation and actually just not knowing what else to do. And he just spilled his guts into the mic in a very vulnerable and human way. And that's what captured the interest of, you know, the audience that has now grown to become one of the most popular, if not the most popular. So people responded and now he just had President Obama in his garage. Not only did he interview Obama, but Obama came to his house and sat in

his garage, which is kind of the most amazing thing about it. And, you know, I listened to the interview, we listened to the interview, and I got a lot out of it. I thought it was really cool that they had a conversation. But I just thought what was bigger than the conversation itself was just simply the fact that it was happening. Yes. And what that means to podcasting and kind of this shift in the paradigm towards direct-to-consumer media. And also, I actually enjoyed the episode after the Obama episode more because it's Mark's retelling of how,

with his producer, Brendan, of how it all came to be. And you get a real sense of the flavor of Mark Maron and kind of the insanity of his mind, which I certainly relate to. Like I sort of identify with how his, you know, emotional body operates, because it's very similar to my own. I think we have very similar demons that we combat. But anyway, if you haven't heard that, the Postscript episode is well worth checking out. And I think it's why Mark is the best in the business and why I always say that I try to model this show in certain respects after, you know, kind of what he does. Like I aspire to that level of vulnerability.

on the show, I'm much less interested in making sure that I get the information that the guest is there to convey than I am in just having an authentic moment or a connection with that person, because I think that that is where the magic occurs. And that's why I don't do Skype interviews. Right. And also, it's just, it's really beautiful that we have this medium available to us to actually, you know, speak honestly and truthfully and openly about, you know, topics that are important to us as human beings. And that there's nothing filtering that or nothing between us. So, it is very significant. It was a very amazing day, you know, when I heard that Mark was interviewing Obama. It is, it's amazing. It's, it's a, it's a wonderful tool. And we appreciate everybody who tunes in and everyone who writes us and everybody who is supporting us in our own version of this expression, because it's literally

changed our lives completely. Oh, in every, in every possible way. Yeah, it's been an incredible experience. And, you know, the emails that flow in, not just the Q&A emails, but just the fan support and the feedback that we get. And, you know, the connection that we have to you guys in the sense that, you know, it is being received positively and impactfully and that it's, you know, been instrumental in helping other people, you know, make instrumental in helping other people, you know, make significant changes in their life is that's why we do it. Yeah.

And also, I want to just, you know, give you a little shout out for the level of quality that you've upheld on the show and the amount of time and care and detail that you put into it. And also want to just note that, you know, in order to present a wide array of perspectives and to keep things balanced and to keep it real, you know, you've made decisions to have, you know, certain guests on that, you know, may not have been the safest or may not be people that, you know, that that are going to please everybody every time. But you know, the your courage and your commitment to just presenting a lot of

different perspectives, I think is extremely healing because, you know, we all are together on this planet having this life experience. And at an ultimate level, there really is no us and them. There's only one. So, every time we can bridge a gap, every time we can reach out and connect with somebody else, we're doing amazing work. You know, it's really not a black and white world that we live in. No, it's not. And, yeah, there's definitely been some controversy as of late. You know, Tucker Max was definitely a polarizing, controversial guest that I had on recently. And I stand behind that interview.

You know, we had a really interesting talk. And, you know, we don't see eye to eye on everything. But this show is not about just having people on that I agree with on everything, because what is the point of that? So what's interesting is when you can sit across from somebody who has a different perspective or experience, at least attempt to find some common ground and mine from that something that can be of service or helpful to other people. And it's not going to be, look, not every guest is going to be everybody's cup of tea. Like, I get that. And I'm willing to roll that dice and take that risk in the interest of trying to, you know, attract the widest audience possible and bring, you know, a panoply of opinions to the table to have, you know, interesting, compelling conversations.

Yeah. And as listeners, you know, we have to be careful, you know, in our life, you know, I have a, I can compare this to my spiritual practices. You know, you have to be careful not to throw the baby out with the bathwater. So, you know, not every guest is going to be exactly, you know, you're going to agree on every single point uh but we have to remember that it's about the overall content and trying to as we used to say um you know click sort of pick the flower from each episode and create like your own garland that makes sense for you like please take what is useful for you and then dump the rest but but don't get angry at Rich because he had somebody on the show that you don't agree with one week and then you're completely bummed because he's like working his ass off for the show

and with really, really a true intent and integrity and commitment and everything. So we can't be so black and white about everything. We have to calm down and we have to take a breath. And you're allowed to not agree with everything that, you know, we propose. Yeah, I had an exchange with somebody who reached out to me after I posted the Tucker interview, who said something along the lines of like, I've been with you for the beginning. I've been like a diehard. I've read all the books and I've listened to all the podcasts, but you know, I just can't get behind this guest and I'm done with you.

I'm unsubscribing. It's over. We're breaking up. And usually I don't engage. I don't get very much vitriol aimed at me on the internet. And I'm a sensitive guy. So when it does come, I can't resist the urge to engage. And I just impulsively sent him an email back that was like, really? I've put out 155 of these, like 350, 400 hours of free interviews.

I've written two books. And just this one interview, now you're going to punt on me. You're going to throw the baby out with the bathwater. And you're completely done with me. And I've lost all credibility. Is that really what you're saying like if that's if that is then you know go on in your experience and you know i i wish you well on your new path but please you know maybe understand that that you know i'm the one who's reading this email and you know i'm

a human being and and i recognize and and embrace idea that not every guest is going to be everybody's cup of tea. But come on, man. Give me a little credit. Just maybe next week you'll like the person. But it's so similar to sort of what we do as human beings when we get in relationships. It's like you meet somebody and you fall in love and you kind of project your idea of who they are onto them. And a lot of that might not be really be rooted in any reality. And so then, you know, when, you know, then when the

person that we've projected this idea onto then steps out of that framework of what we think they are, then immediately, you know, we're like, I hate you. Well, that's the nature. I mean, that is like, you know, the essence of schadenfreude. It's, you know, especially in our celebrity driven TMZ culture, you know, we like to pick a hero, put them up on a pedestal. And then as soon as they get huge, now it's time to tear them down, you know, because they're not doing something exactly the way that we would like them to do. And that's just that's the nature of it. Yeah, but I mean, what we're doing here is we're not participating in that paradigm, and we're doing something very, very different. So we're being very authentic, very transparent, and it's not that energy. So be careful not to bring that energy into it, because the person that will lose the benefit is the person that makes the extreme judgment and then splits. Or like this sort of dualistic, like it's one way or the other way.

Yeah, like why does it have to be? I mean, we're trying to just say, okay, we know that there's a lot of differences in the world and we're trying to bridge those gaps. And it's the same way with the Plant Power Way. It's like, you know, our cookbook, it's for everybody. We didn't make it for vegans. We didn't make it for plant-based people. You know, I had, we had our dear friends over for Fourth of July. They eat meat and I cook plant-based and we all were together and we're learning from each other. We're exchanging, we're experiencing life. Yeah. And I think,

you know, just to be clear, I'm fine with feedback. Like if you have a critique of anything that I'm doing, like I'm happy to entertain that and hear that. Like I'm not against criticism. Like I understand I'm fallible and I'm trying to do this as best as I can. And I have a lot to learn and I can continue to get better. So I'm not saying that I'm just saying, what am I saying? I don't know what I'm saying. You're saying just understand that, you know, that you're going to be presenting as wide of a perspective as you can find. And if you find a guest that you find a morsel of truth in or something, you know, redemptive or something transformative in that person's journey, you're looking for people that have had transformation in their lives. And that is over a wide spectrum of scenarios.

I'm just looking for anything that interests me about anybody. If somebody has something compelling to contribute, and I feel like I can elucidate that, if I can bring that out in a conversation, then that intrigues me. Now, I remember what I was going to say, which is that, look, not every guest is going to be the most amazing guest. I can't hit a home run every single time. I'm going to try. You can't. I try. We expect you to. I put that pressure on myself.

But, you know, what are we on, 157 episodes or something like that? I think the track record is pretty good. Yes. But, you know, I understand that it's not an even keel. It's just not black or white. There's going to be different flavors. You know, there are different flavors in creation different colors different things people like you know and we had another another letter along the same the same uh same lines and someone had

wrote in and said that you know they didn't like the daniel pinchbeck you know episode so she had made a decision to stop listening to the podcast and then she came back and heard the q a last week and it opened her heart and she was so grateful But she was so sweet to thank you for being so transparent and so honest with your process, because we learned from that. So, you know, we're glad you're back. And, you know, we're glad that you had that process. And, and we're just we're just happy that by sharing some of our experience, you know, it's giving you a little bit of support and a little bit of inspiration along the way. All right. Well, we didn't even plan on talking about any of that.

I told you it was going to go off. I know. But why don't we like sort of kick it into gear and embark on perhaps a subject matter that, like we said earlier, is percolating in the forefront of your consciousness. So can I introduce this one? Yeah, go ahead. So Rich asked me what I might like to talk about. And I was really sort of feeling what was relevant right now, at least in my life and what I've been hearing about is the idea of what is true health. And I think that there's a lot of

people, you know, including us who are talking about different kinds of diet, the plant-based diet or paleo diet or this kind of diet or butter in your coffee or whatever it is. And, you know, there's a little bit of an illusion that some diet is going to stop, you know, or make you immortal or stop any of the other conditions that happen to us as human beings to occur. So, you know, looking at what is overall health, you know, is meditating on, you know, of course, it's, you know, spiritual connection, we always say we're spiritual beings having a human experience. And it's also environmental, it's ancestral, it has to do with, you know, where you you live in the world what you're exposed to what

is your lineage what is your genetic makeup and all of these things can be overcome you know through spiritual practice through a plant-based diet and there are even more reasons why you should you should care about what you're putting in your mouth because we're all subject to these other conditions that are happening but you know i do have some you know friends conditions that are happening. But, you know, I do have some, you know, friends around that are struggling with health. You know, I myself have struggled with health, you know, over the years and still am trying to sort of unravel this puzzle that is whatever is causing severe headaches, you know, within my physical self. And also, you know, receiving letters and contact from

podcast fans who are in a different kind of experience, like they're fighting for their lives. And they've discovered, you know, some sort of imbalance or disease, and they're in the middle of treatment. And so I wanted to sort of talk about this, like, what is real health? What is ultimate health? And, you know, how do we navigate through these experiences that life bring up for our review? Well, certainly, it's much more comprehensive than the kind of conventional narrative of having, you know, a skinny waist and, you know, looking good in a selfie, you know, I mean, and that's why we always go back to the phrase beyond the kale. I mean, that's really what beyond the kale means, because I think that

that optimal health certainly can and does for many people begin with what you put on your plate and what you put in your mouth. It's certainly the most kind of tactile, tangible thing that connects you to how you feel and how your body is functioning. But it's so much more than that. And like I always say, like, if you're like a crazy person in your relationships, or you're unreliable, or you're a liar, or, you know, you're not, you're whatever you're eating still is not working for you, or you're sick, or any number of, you know, a bazillion variables, those are all relevant to your health.

Like how healthy are you if you're eating, you can eat the most pristine diet ever, but if sort of your food choices become so obsessive that it creates a lot of anxiety in your life, that's not healthy either, right? So how do we strike a balance and attend to all the multitude of things that, you know, come into play in terms of our overall well-being? Well, in starting with food, I kind of want to discuss like kind of another level of awareness that came in for me personally, and that is that I have had severe type headaches, you know, since I was in my late 20s. And I've always categorized them to be migraines,

but they're actually not migraines. They don't have the same qualities of a typical migraine, but they're very, very severe headaches. And for years, I was explaining that, you know, I'll wake up and I feel like something crawled in my spine, and it's constricting from the top and the bottom simultaneously. And I also described for years that it wasn't just a head ache that I was having, that I literally could feel it in my entire body, I could feel it in my spine. And so I would describe the feeling of these headaches as if somebody opened up the top of my head and screamed down my spine. And that would sort of characterize the level of stress and panic. And like almost I was completely

shaken from the inside out. That's how these headaches sort of manifested for me. And so for years, I tried many different things. In the beginning, I went to see medical doctors. I got some steroid shots right into my head, you know, which is interesting. Well, you used to get prescribed that super hardcore migraine drug. Well, I would have to for a long time ago. Like I haven't taken any prescription drugs for about 15 years. But before then, I would take the typical migraine medications like Imatrex.

I tried all kinds of different things. And early on, it would get really bad. And I did end up in emergency a couple times getting a Demerol shot. And then the more yoga that I practiced, the less I could tolerate any kind of drug. And so just getting over the Demerol was just as stressful as having the headache. So anyway, I've tried to figure this out my whole life. And just recently, within the last year, I had a food sensitivity test, which is called an ALCAT test. And what I did is I went in and got a panel done. And they usually come in packages. So you can pick, you know, a certain

package that has all these different foods in it. And because I'm, excuse me, because I'm vegan, and because I don't eat a lot of those foods, I actually went in and checked and made a very specific custom list. And they checked me for hundreds of foods and then also for all these herbs. And when I received the results back, it's a blood test and it's a three level sensitivity. So there's an extreme column, a moderate, and then a mild. And what I found from this test is that thankfully, I was only severely allergic to like five things. So in the beginning, I think to my, I looked on the extreme list, and I saw lime juice was in that

column. And instantly, I was like, that's, that's wonderful. Because if any of you have my cookbook, you know that I cook a lot with lemon, and not as much with lime, like rarely with lime. So I was like, Oh, okay, that's good. I have that handled. And then I eliminated those severe foods, eliminated the moderately sensitive foods, and started rotating the ones that are in the mild column. And it took me another six months after I discovered that I was allergic to lime, that I eat Mexican food easy three times a week. And all Mexican food has lime juice in it. And so I have been poisoning myself with lime juice for all of these years. So now I'm at this other level of awareness with this test. And I, you know,

I just think to myself, like, how much pain would I have saved myself had I spent the $400? It's a pretty expensive test. It's $400, $450, something like that, to get this test done so that I would know. But I can't go in the past. So anyway, now I'm really exploring this. And I would like more people to know that this test exists because I think it could be a great service. It's called an ALCAT test. Yeah, A it could be a great service to anybody. It's called an ALCAT test.

Yeah, A-L-C-A-T. And you can get it at any kind of lab that does any kind of blood work. I'll see if there's anything online that I can put in the show notes for that. But all right. So to bring it back to the original query, which is what is true health? I mean, how has this impacted the frequency of the headaches? And kind of what are you extracting from this experience that is applicable to that question? Well, again, I mean, you know, I eat extremely healthy and I eat very vibrantly. Okay, so I wasn't in touch with the awareness that there could be something that was made in creation that I was

allergic to. Like, I just wasn't in touch with that at that level. And when you're allergic to something, it's like poison to your system. And so now that I look back on how I describe these headaches, I see now why my spine felt that way, why it was in your whole body. So I think that, you know, it's not enough, you know, it's not enough to say, well, I eat really well. It's like, we have to keep searching, you know, at, at, you know, deeper and deeper levels. The other thing that I learned from, from actually this test experience is that I had made myself mildly sensitive to foods that I like by eating them too frequently. So again, we have to understand that

we need to vary foods according to season, according to region, so that you're eating in harmony with nature. You know, nature didn't expect you to eat peaches 12 months a year. You're going to get a problem from that. You can't just say, oh, I love peaches and then eat them all, you know, every day. So I didn't, I wasn't really in touch with that on that level, because I just wasn't. It just wasn't in my awareness. And I was doing, you know, spiritual practice, like I've done, you know, tons of healing work to clear past life karma and this kind of stuff related to the headaches, and it has helped, and it has shifted and changed over the years. But I was missing this other, you know, very specific

connection. Well, I mean, solving this riddle has been, you know, a double decade. Yeah, sort of exploration for you of trying 8 billion different things and thinking, Oh, I think I've got it. And then something will happen. And then you're then it happens again. And it's sort of back to the drawing board. And I've noticed that when you're kind of out of your consistent yoga practice and you return to it and maybe you do a class that's a little bit overly rigorous, you know, given the lack of consistency, you know, in your current schedule, that you'll, that'll, that'll knock you out. So it's even, so that, that has nothing to do with lime juice. No, I mean, but lime juice is, and again, it gets complicated because we're complicated individuals. So for me, it's not just like lime juice isn't the answer, begin, middle, end. Right. So that's my point. It's a large part of the

issue. It's a large part of the issue. And I tested it. So like when I was testing the cookbook, and I was testing the chia lime recipe, you know, I had a moment it this is a really delicious dessert, and it has the zest of lime in the crust and the juice of three limes. So I was testing it, I wanted to know how it tasted. And for a moment there, I was like, Oh, I'm not really allergic. Like, how could that be? Like, how could I really be that allergic? So I ate a slice of pie, and I literally woke up at three o'clock in the morning in lockdown, I could not move. So it was good, because, you know, every time I learn, it's more information, and I can apply that. But I'm just saying, if anybody has something persistent, that they're having problems with that's an imbalance, you really should get tested for food sensitivity because they can tell if you're gluten sensitive.

They can tell if they test dairy. They test also all kinds of alternative herbs that you might be taking for other things. So I think it's a very relevant test, and it's very, very important, and it will help you to get sort of a global on, you know, what foods are healing for you and what foods may be aggravating your system. I want to get back to another kind of aspect of the original question, what is true health, and kind of delve a little bit into this idea of treating diet like it's some kind of life salvation. And, you know, in certain respects, you can make that argument, like adopting this way of eating for myself changed everything for me

and set my life on a new trajectory. We just, last week's podcast, it was with fully raw Christina, and she was somebody who was very sick, you know, when she was a young person discovered a raw vegan diet when she met some dude at the grocery store, and that like changed her life and her trajectory. So there's millions of these stories. And I think there's a temptation with that narrative, to then say, this is the, you know, the panacea for every crisis that afflicts me in the world, right? This idea that this diet or whatever diet it is, it could be whatever diet in your experience, like, solved your problem. And that comes in different shapes and forms depending upon who you are. But that this is the answer to, like like basically every single one of your life problems.

Right. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, I know. So, and nor is that the case, nor does it make you a superior human being. No, it does not. It might give you an experience that you can share in service to other people. And part of that message may be in service to humanity and the planet and all those sorts of things. But again, this is a much more dynamic scenario than a dualistic situation of good and bad or black or white, right?

And true health, to get back to the original inquiry, is much more expansive than the food item that you're choosing or that you are advocating. That's right. And it's very specific and very individual. than the food item that you're choosing or that you are advocating. That's right. And it's very specific and very individual. And how more individual could you be than, like, you know, I think also just having this test also put me in touch with even more deeply how every plant and vegetable has a specific blueprint. So I'm allergic to lime but not lemon, you know, and if you are allergic to red green lettuce, but not butter lettuce. So it's not like a lettuce is a lettuce

is a lettuce. And it's a very specific weird thing that is I don't know how those that that LCAT test, it's a blood test or whatever, but how it works, but you know that it was pretty interesting to look at your results. And I certainly should do it because I haven't done it It's a all about the diet. Well, then what is it all about? Like, where do you go from there? And what are the other things that need to be looked at, addressed and given your, you know, dutiful attention. Well, I think when you go back into Ayurveda, which is, you know, the science of medicine that assisted me in healing this cyst in my neck, and it's, you know, Ayurveda is so specific. It's for whom and when. It's like at what time of the day, you know, it's so individual that it cannot be a blanket prescription for any one person. And for somebody who's new or doesn't know what Ayurveda is, why don't you quickly explain that? Well, it's a science of Eastern Indian medicine,

and it's basically been passed down from sages to student, guru to student for, you know, thousands of years. And it's about the science of healing the body they the belief is that the body is a divine organism and that if any disease or imbalance comes in they fortify the body to achieve its balance of perfection rather than attack the disease so it's totally different than western medicine it's about it's about uh So it's totally different than Western medicine. It's about correcting an imbalance to bring all of your systems into balance so that your body can do what it does best, which is function properly, heal itself. That's right. Is that correct?

That's correct. Okay. And I healed myself of a cyst using this system over a two-year period. And it was diagnosed incurable, safe surgery from three different surgeons. And it's a very, very powerful practice. And it is using plants as medicine, which is largely what we're doing with the Plant Power Way and everything that has shifted Rich's life. But what we're saying is you can't stop there. And you can't also have this blanket idea that what's good for one person is good for, you know, the next person in the great for you, but like, I crave dairy, like I really like cheese, so it doesn't work for me. Like it can be, I think it can be twisted or

misconstrued, misused to be a convenient excuse to not make a better choice for yourself. Well, yeah. Well, I mean, anybody who wants to do it can twist anything. So I'm not saying that eating meat or dairy is good for anybody. I'm not saying that at all. I'm saying within the plant kingdom and within a life, people have different genetics and different things they're dealing with and different things they're going through. And I think ultimately the responsibility relies within the individual. That is how life is orchestrated. Each being is coming in with enough energy to realize itself. And my enlightenment journey is not going to look like your enlightenment journey, right? You can look for like signs and for inspiration and for posts like along the way, but don't expect your life to mimic another being's life.

It's not going to. And if you're looking out and you're wanting it to be exactly like another being, you're going to miss your own journey. So again, it's this thing as humans that we want somebody to tell us the prescription or to give us, to hit us on the head with a magic wand and have it all figured out. And again, it comes down to self-responsibility, self-regulating. Only you can tell the world what is locked inside your heart, what is yearning to come out. And, you know, eating plant-based and becoming healthy and understanding that you can clear yourself and connect with your authentic self by eating vital, vibrant, healthy foods and taking care of yourself is the beginning step. And there's a lot of other layers beyond that.

Yeah, I think what happens is, and I've said this before, I don't want to go into it too long because I don't want to be too repetitive. I don't want to go into it too long because I don't want to be too repetitive. But essentially what you see, and I've seen quite a bit of this over the last couple years of kind of traveling and going to a lot of like, you know, veg fests and things like that, where, you know, you tend to be sort of preaching your message to the already converted, you know, to the proverbial choir. And you see people that have had a transformative experience as a result of, you know, stumbling into this lifestyle, whether it's through health or, you know, a sense of advocacy for, you know, political or environmental cause or what have you. But then it becomes all about that, right? Like sort of the growth and the evolution is arrested. Like the, it, the, the individual evolves to a place to then find this lifestyle, have this transformative experience, and then, and then they stop. And then it's all about that. Like, and, and you see like this fixation on the food, you know, as if, as if it doesn't go any further than that, like what kind of kale is on your plate or, you know, and obsessing about that to the extent of almost, um, you know, madness is too strong of a word, but like...

Insanity. Well, yeah, it becomes like, it's like, dude, you know, I got sober so that I could have a good life, right? And I changed my diet so that I could repair my physical corpus and, you know, restore my vitality so that I could then channel that energy, that life force into a new and more positive, more authentic direction for myself that could perhaps be of service to, you know, my family and to myself and to the world at large. But had I just stopped at the plate of kale, and then it just becomes all about that, then I think you're missing the larger, you know, the larger path here, the larger...

Right, the entire point. And, you know, no diet is going to stop you from experiencing life. And, you know, all of us are going to die, we're all going to drop the body at some point. So, I mean, kale, kale is not going to stop that from happening. So... Pete Right. I mean, every... Actually, let's just talk about this for a second because, you know, certainly, I think that so much of our pain and misery is rooted in our tremendous fear of death, right? But at the same time, we are the biggest proponents of like death denial of any culture on the planet we all think that we all intellectually understand that we're going to

die right but on an individual basis deep down we all think that we're going to be the ones that actually aren't going to we're going to somehow elude this thing that everyone else is sort of going to fall prey to. And we function – our lives operate on that assumption in many ways. And so it's no mistake that when you see these people that have these near-death experiences that then they're in touch with life in a new and different way because of this experience of suddenly almost being robbed of life. And again, we intellectually understand those experiences, but we have so much difficulty incorporating them into our lives. And part of that is because of this cultural entrenchment of denying the reality that we are going to die. And you see it everywhere, right? So, Julie joked the other day, she's like, I want to write a children's book, and I'm going to call it, I'm going to call it We All Die. No, Everybody Dies.

Everybody Dies. You know the book, Everybody Poops or something, remember? So, yeah, I was like, Everybody Dies. Who was I talking to? I was talking to somebody about the, just the hilarity of that whole illusion. I just don't understand it mean i've been i've been aware and focused and studying uh dying since i since i can remember and i don't understand people that spend all this time and they're like whoa you're so out there i'm like no i'm actually not you know and just the the gripping and hanging on to i mean i love life i'm so happy to be here. I plan on being here. I'm here to live and just experience the most full that I can. And I'm also completely relieved knowing that there ultimately is no death and that there is only a transition into other forms. And to me, that's

extremely freeing. Like, that's like, oh, thank God, what a relief, you know, because it would be so sad if it was just, we're going to like grow up, you know, get in huge debt, go to school, then leave college with huge debt, get a car, have kids, drive around, buy stuff, and then kick it and the lights are out and there's nothing else. Well, how about like, you know, the idea that somebody is trying to pursue their dream, right? And the responsible thing at some point when it doesn't look like it's working out is like, okay, well, you know, time to back out of that thing and, you know, just go get the cubicle job because, you know, you got to pay the rent and all that kind of thing. But when you step back and you really embrace the idea that you're going to die and like whether or not you believe in an afterlife or not, like this is your shot at like sort of having this human experience. And let's presume for the sake of argument that this is your one shot at that. You got one go around. We have this idea that like, oh, we'll just do it next time.

And, you know, that's a bizarre mental trick. Like, should you ever give up on your dream? If this is really the only go around that you have, why would you then sort of step back and say, oh, well, you know, I guess I'll do this other thing that doesn't make me very happy for the next 25 years. Yeah, it's, I mean, I can't, I think that's a tragedy. I think that's, that's a, that's a human tragedy right there for somebody not to realize themselves. Right. And so a healthy appreciation of the, you know, of our inherent mortality that we are going to die is something that I think we could all benefit from. But we were joking when you were like,

I'm going to write this children's book. And I was like, I was like, here's how it's going to go. Like, you know, how did I start it? It was like,

will I die today? Will I die tomorrow? Aunt Judy died yesterday. You know, like you could do the sing songy rhythm of like a children's book and how preposterous it is because that book would never sell like no publisher would ever touch that book which is why it's so terrifying which is why i'm going to self-publish it no i mean the thing is is it's just children's laying in bed

with your child like reading this yeah but i mean it's it's part of life it's like it's you're born and then you die like it's a part of life like's a part of life. Like it's part of our birthright. It's part of who we are. And to pretend that it's not happening, this is what leads to, you know, horrific plastic surgery and monstrous things that we do to ourselves to try to avoid that. And people looking at you like, oh, do you have the panacea? Like the, you know, the ageless, the immortality. And it's like, yeah, I mean, spiritual practice will lead you to those things, you know, beyond the body. But to be focused in the media and advertising and drugs and, you know, shooting Botox into your pineal gland so that

you're brain dead and you can't, you know, connect with the spiritual realms because, you know, that you're brain dead and you can't, you know, connect with the spiritual realms because, you know, you're competing with other women that are younger than you are. All of these things that we generate, you know, we cultivate it in our culture. And it's totally backward. It doesn't make any sense. Well, our relationship with aging is incredibly dysfunctional. And I just, I have a stack of questions from audience members. And this one just happens to be sitting on the top.

And it's kind of apropos to what we're talking about. It's from a guy called Philip. And he says a few things. But then he says, my question for you is a little complicated, perhaps. But it is basically, how do you monitor, track, or observe the aging process in your own life? How does it come to play? And what is your relationship with aging in general? What is your attitude towards it? And how does it affect your body, mind and spirit? It goes on, but that's

basically the idea behind it. And, you know, my perspective on it is, I am, I acknowledge that I'm getting older, like, I'm going to be 50 50 pretty soon. Like I'm turning 49 in a couple months. So I'm like, whoa, 50, you know? And like 40 was where I kind of had the epiphany that began this whole thing. So I'm almost 10 years into that. And, you know, I can't arrest the aging process, nor do I want to. I want to embrace it in a healthy way. But I think at the same time, in many ways, you know, you have to define aging and how you contemplate that.

Because I don't think of myself aging in the way that other people do. Like in certain respects, aging is a decision, right? It's a mental construct. Like my skin is going to become less elastic and I'm getting more gray hair. But beyond that, I can go out and train and keep my body physically fit. And it's doing just fine. And my energy levels are good. And I relate to my children in a way that feels less paternal and more fraternal in a certain respect.

Like I feel like a young person. And as the boys mature into their 20s like they're my friends and i feel like i don't feel this sort of huge gap like oh i'm the elder statesman like i don't perceive myself as such like i think it's a mental attitude about how i see myself um so that doesn't slow down the calendar, but I think it impacts how I approach my day, I guess. That was sort of all over the place. I don't know if that was a very concrete answer to that question, but I think my perspective on aging is I don't really think about it that much. Yeah, you think about it a little bit but i think that i mean i think for me you're more attractive today than you've ever been in your entire life so because because you are connected with yourself you're connected with with your dharma or your life purpose what you're supposed to be doing

because you're physically more attractive because you don't have the density of the processed food and of the fat and the extra stuff that was covering up your real essence. And because I happen to love men that have gray hair and that have a little age on them, it's actually extremely attractive to me. So you're very, very fit. I think, you know, you're, you know, at 50, which is so young, you know, it's so young, really, in today's world, you know, they're talking about lifespan now being, you know, over 100. And so, you know, there could be a lot of years left. You know, we don't know. But anyway, I'm very, very, feel very blessed to be your soulmate and lover and partner and wife. The feeling is mutual. And I would say that you're pretty freaking hot. Oh, no. Rich Roll just said I'm freaking hot on a podcast. That's pretty funny. No, but I would say, I want to share this honestly. And I would say that I'm a designer and I'm into aesthetics

to a great degree. And I do pay attention to these things. And I'm very aware of my aging as a woman. And I think that there is definitely a double standard in our society for women and men. So it's very different for a man to go through an aging process as it than it is for a woman. with some other women out there that are starting to transform and connect to themselves, you know, at this age, I am going to be 53 in two weeks. And, you know, the beginning, like I used to think I would lie about my age, and I guess you can't now in the internet age anyway, but I decided not to. So I was I was open about it. I'm very fit, I feel great. I do every single thing that I can to take care of myself. And that includes taking care of my skin. And, you know, I'll do anything that I need to do that does not involve injecting my face with bovine toxins. So, I really think that we... Or the rest of your body with any kind of... Well...

I mean, you haven't had any cosmetic surgery, just to be clear. Just to be clear. Yeah. We have to be very, very, very... We have to be conscious and we have to look at what we're doing. And, you know, it has to be everybody's personal choice. And there's absolutely no judgment or no projection, you know, on anybody's choice in life in what they choose to do to their physical bodies, whether it's tattoos or piercings. It's all personal.

But I just, if it's being driven because you're looking at a magazine cover and you're comparing yourself, we have to shift. We have to shift the way that this is experienced. And in Vedic teachings, you know, a woman enters her most creative phase after 50. And so, this is the time when the woman has given birth to the children and done, you know, all the service in the family. And this is the heightened creative time in a woman's life. And so I was very kind of sort of surprised when I learned that when I had a meeting with one of my spiritual teachers, His Holiness Vidya Dishananda. And he was very clear to him that I was entering my most creative stage now and what I was going to be contributing to the world on this level. So, you know, that being said, I think it takes a shift from men and women in the way we're looking at women as objects, objectifying women, and it's ingrained so much in the population, I don't even think we know how to not do it. So, it's a new day, it's a new age, and we'll have to see

how to not objectify women. I don't really even know if we know how. I don't know if we have enough role models of women that are in their eternal radiance of their heart that are not, you know, also in a wet t-shirt. Well, I think those women exist. It's just a function of whether the, you know, the mainstream media decides to pay attention to them, which, of course, they don't. You know what I mean? There's plenty of women doing amazing things that are in their power and, you know, working hard to change the world, but they're not going to be on the cover of Us Weekly.

You know, it doesn't work that way. Yeah. And I think it's up to us and it's up to those of us that are, you know, cultivating the new media and doing podcasts to showcase those kind of individuals and people. And we need to acknowledge as a whole that we have collectively, you know, done a disservice to women. And it is time for it to change. It is changing and it will change. There's some amazing changes going on, but we have to acknowledge that that really does exist. We can't act like it.

Well, I mean, do you think that we deny that that exists? I mean, I think we know that that exists. I don't know. I think it's so status quo and it's so ingrained um you know same thing use of pornography like oh that's just normal that's what guys do um that's not normal and it's not honoring to women and it's not honoring to yourself or to you know a healthy really connected sexual relationship and i mean you and I have never used any pornography in our marriage, none. So, and we've been together for over 15 years. Is that right?

Yeah. How do we do that? Well, we have a very, very creative, intimate connection. And it's like, you know, we are connected looking in each other's eyes. Like it's a very creative experience when we come together to be intimate. And, you know, I think that that's a key reason that our relationship has developed the way that it has, because when you're looking at something as low vibration as pornography, you know, it's, there's just nothing good about it. And it's become sort of like, oh, well, that's just what guys do no that's not that's actually not it's actually something that has infiltrated the population and it's uh it's not high vibrating

and if you check into your heart you you know that you you will know that well it becomes something that desensitizes you you know and it and it becomes an impediment or a barrier to truly being intimate with somebody else. Very well said. Yeah, very well said. So how have we stayed together for 15 years? Is it 15? I never know whether it's 15 or 16.

Is this our 12th? This is our 12th anniversary coming up, actually, on the 12th of July. Oh, in July. No, hi, August. Dude. July 12th. That's right. It is coming up. Remember the date? What are we doing about that? I don't July. No, hi, August. Dude. July 12th, honey. That's right. It is coming up.

Remember the date? What are we doing about that? I don't know. We'll figure it out. We'll do something spontaneous. No, well, last year we renewed our vows. But we've been together since... 15?

Like, basically from, yeah, like... 1999, was it? 2000. Well, we met in 99, yeah. So, yeah, I guess 16 years. Yeah. It's a long time. Yeah, I mean, have we done that?

I think we've done that by having open communication. I mean, if I had to pick one thing, I think we share a natural cadence for life. We actually like hanging around with each other. I think we enjoy our humor on sometimes when you're humorous. But I also think, you know, because now we're in this situation where our like family and marriage and professional lives are so intertwined, right? Like we're working together, we're, you know, writing books together, we're doing this podcast right now. We're rearing children. We're married.

All these sorts of things that there's this idea that we're sitting next to each other for 18 hours a day. We're the same person. When we were in New York City, we did a podcast, I guess you would call it a crosscast, with James Altucher and his wife, Claudia. And we haven't aired that yet. And I think they're going to air it on one of their podcasts and we'll do it on ours at the same time or something like that. But basically they work together. So we had an interesting conversation about like how they navigate like their marriage

and raising kids, but also working together and comparing it with kind of how we do it. And they, their experience is a little bit different because they're like attached to the hip. They're literally together all the time. Yeah. And that's not, I think that wouldn't work for us. That would not work for us. So I think one of the keys that has allowed us to be successful

is respecting each other's sort of boundaries and not needing to kind of control that. Like you let me like, hey, it's time for you to go do this thing you go do that i don't get involved in that right like kind of like we're kind of like cats we sort of do our own thing we're kind of independent of each other that's too pejorative and then when we because cats are like then when we come together to connect it's turn into dogs it's a big deal. We just sort of give each other space. No, we're very different.

It's respecting kind of having healthy, like allowing each other to have our own self-sovereignty and respecting that and not needing to control that, right? Like I do things. It's like you're not a runner. We're not going out running together. No, we're not. We're not that couple. Like we have different interests and we like you go do your thing and I go do my thing. And that's cool. And I'm cool with you doing that. And you understand that I need to do these things for myself.

And you don't try to manipulate or control that or undermine that. Like you respect that and understand, oh, this is who this guy is. This is what he needs to do in order for us to be happy. I need to allow him that. Yeah. And similarly with you. Yeah. we enjoy our independence a lot and it's again for us it's never been about a lot of hours together standing next to each other so you know we there's a lot of space in that there's a tremendous amount of space i'd say is it in on a daily basis and then

when we work on projects together we still do do it separately. Like I'm not, I could not sit next to you and do it. It's like we sort of, we sort of delegate tasks and then people go off and do them and then we come back together and we can, we show up well,

I think in a public forum or like when we made our movie together and we were shooting like during the shoot, we do those things very, very well. Because we have complimentary, you know, skill sets that are yin and yang.

Like I do things differently than you, but when we're on a project basis thing, like your skill set fills in where I'm lacking and vice versa. That's right. But we don't approach, like, for example, a writing project in the same way. Like your way of like kind of going through that is very different than mine. That's right. And if we try to. And so if we were try to sit together, that would be,

that wouldn't work. It would be, there would be a lot of fighting and there still was some fighting going on. Of course. but fighting, but being able to fight and, and, you know,

do it in kind of a healthy way where you can get to, you know, a healthy resolution, I think is an important aspect of being in a long-term relationship. You can't be in a long-term relationship and think you're not going to fight. No, that's true. And I think also one of our strengths is being able to know that we completely hate the action or the thing that the person did, but we know always that we love the person who did it. So the action is separate from the person.

So knowing that that love is there makes us able to get through whatever the disagreement is or whatever the condition is and somehow work it out to the other side. Because when you know somebody really loves you, then you're able to really express yourself. And sometimes that's not, you know, it's not maybe the most gentle thing or the nicest thing, but at least it's true and it's real. And you know that the person ultimately is there for you. Right. Because that threat that they're going to leave is removed, right? Because I think that's the fear, like, oh, if I'm myself, then they'll realize that I'm not the person they think I am, and then they're going to leave me, right? But if you remove that fear of the relationship ending and provide that safe space to, like,

if there's that confidence, like, okay, no matter what you tell me, we're together, or I'm with you, or I'm your partner, then you can kind of create that space to feel comfortable with that level of honesty, right? Yeah, very much. What else would you say to young couples out there that are trying to figure out how to move forward in a healthy way for the long term? Well, I mean, I would say just, you know, make sure you communicate. So communicating is key. You really need to talk. You can't hold things in and you can't, you know, you can't harbor things and then keep score. Really stay in the moment and then really let it go and understand that in each moment,

you can let everything go. You don't have to hold on that you had a huge fight last week, okay, or even yesterday, or even two hours ago. You can just let it go. And the energy is very, very in support of moving that stuff along. So just drop it and go back to heart connection and communicate respectfully. And, you know, understand you can tell somebody, you know, I love you. I love you unconditionally. And I didn't like it when you did that action. Sometimes it's really hard to drop it. I mean, you can give lip service to that place is let's say you've had

a fight, or you have a resentment about your partner or something they did, or what have you, and it's occupying all this space in your mind and destabilizing you emotionally. A great thing to do, and I learned this in recovery is just to do some inventory around it, like, write down your part in that scenario, because you always have a part, right? It takes two. Even if you think you don't, you did. And even if you feel like that person completely wronged you, and they're completely 100% in the wrong, if you can kind of recount how that scenario came to be, and just focus entirely on how, if at all, you have contributed yourself to that happening, then I think that will give you some objective clarity. And more often than not, when I do this, I realize that I'm

basically the root cause of the whole problem to begin with. And certainly, that's not a comfortable thing to do. But being able to own that also will help you relieve yourself of that resentment, alleviate that resentment. And, you know, look, for me, resentment is poison. That's the thing that is, it's like death for me. And I cannot afford to entertain resentment. Although I find myself resentful quite often, my work is constantly and continually trying to, you know, free myself from that. And it takes a lot of work. But, you know, if you're feeling resentful, you're the one who's suffering, irrespective of what anybody else did to you, or what have you, you are the one who's suffering. And the only person who can alleviate that is you, right through the work that you're doing. So if you're

angry at your partner, because they did this, and they did that, it doesn't matter if you're completely in the right, that resentment that you're cultivating is causing you to suffer, not them. So you have to figure out a way to get to the other side of that. That's right. It leads me to one of my favorite quotes from a beautiful realized Indian woman saint. Her name was Anandamoy Ma and she said once every man is right from his own point of view

so what do you want me to do with that? no it's just something to like understand right? of course because if every man is right from his own point of view, then, you know, it's like you can have compassion and you can understand.

And I mean, I used to get caught in that when I was a lot younger of, you know, you can either be right or you can have a happy marriage. Or you can be right and you can have a fulfilling life

and connection. Do you want to be right? Do you want to be happy? Or you want to be happy. So, it's like when you remember that, that beautiful, you know, truth that she said, every man is right from his own point of view. Then suddenly you're like, oh yeah, I can stop fighting. And you can also have your perspective, you know, you can have your perspective and still

be, you know, still be compassionate and still be forgiving. And forgiveness is the greatest gift that you can give yourself. You think you're giving it to the other person, but you're really giving it to yourself when you make the decision to forgive. And I think that when you're in the practice of doing that kind of inventory, and it doesn't have to be just with a dispute with someone you're in a relationship with, it can be over anything. When you're consistently in the practice of trying to break down the root of whatever resentment or fear that you're experiencing, you start to see patterns. And the patterns that emerge are really your character defects or your kind of default behavior patterns that are leading you to these

places and the more clarity that you can get on those character those behavior traits right character defects whatever you want to call them then the more objective you can be about how you're actually navigating the world like oh i notice that when i'm in this situation i tend to act like this because my button gets pushed and i react or whatever it is. And I'm now noticing that every time I do that, this is what occurs. And then this is how I feel. And then this is what happens. And none of this is good. So let's back it up. How can I try to act differently when these scenarios arise? And I think just that self-awareness, that self-knowledge is a great first place to start to, you know, reconfigure how you react in that given, you know, when those sort of

set of circumstances come up. Great. No, perfect. Yes, I agree. So those are good. I mean, that's all that's like all recovery one on one. And that's great. That's that's the beauty of recoveries. It really gives you all those tools. So the thing is, it's like, it's not about like, just mulling it over in your head. It's actually about getting a pen out and writing it down on paper. There's something about that, doing that, that tactile experience, that is where the magic occurs for whatever reason. Well, I've certainly been the beneficiary of the product of program recovery work. But you've also been on the beneficiary of uh the product of of program yeah recovery work so you've also been on the receiving end of some you know like the negative aspect of me is sort of being you

know uh active in my disease not in a drinking or using drugs context but just in in the in the way that my behavior tends to uh you know, kind of... Flare up. Flare up. Rear its head. Yeah, like... Yeah, but I know, I mean, I know it's not you. It's not really you. It's not the real you.

So, you know... Well, you've developed this very kind of... Observer, witness consciousness. I was going to say compassionate, but it's not compassionate. It's dispassionate. Like, you'll just kind of watch it and go, oh, look what he's doing. That's pretty interesting because you know it's not compassionate. It's dispassionate. Like, you'll just kind of watch it and go, oh, look what he's doing.

That's pretty interesting because you know it's not me. And you're like, yeah, well, I'll let this play out. And I'm just going to keep doing what I'm doing. And you don't let it bother you because you are like, oh, yeah, that thing is happening right now. But that's probably after years and years and years of like going, okay, here he goes again with that thing. It's the witness consciousness. of like going, okay, here he goes again with that thing. It's the witness consciousness.

I just keep my awareness on you and see perfection, and it eventually shows up. I'm trying to get you to react, and you're not reacting, and then I just kind of turn my head and leave the room. And resent me. You just turn and resent me for not reacting. It's great so what I would do would like to talk about is um is uh I would like to uh talk about a dear person in rich of my life who actually is in need of some uh some support and some care who is going

through some tremendous life challenges and her name is Abby Scoville. And I actually met Abby. I had just started recording my record at my friend Brad Swanson's engineering studio. And, you know, as most of you know, I received these songs in meditation, and I actually became a musician with my boys, Tyler and Trapper. And we were starting to record some of these songs in the earlier years, probably around 2008. And I really wanted some strings on my song, actually two of my songs, a mother of mine and I'm Here Now. And I asked Brad if he knew of a cellist. And he said,

as a matter of fact, I do. It's this girl, Abby. And I said, well, let me think about it. And I went home, and I was really conflicted, because I really cherished and valued the fact that my boys and I had played everything, and that it was just my family on the recording. But I called Brad back and said, yeah, go ahead and bring her in. And so, he brought Abby into the studio. And when I met Abby, she's just the most beautiful, bright, vibrant, you know, just gorgeous. You know, we called her Abby Fairy because she has just such beautiful energy. And I remember she went in to do the take,

and Brad had sent her the track ahead of time. And it wasn't really working. It wasn't in the right feeling for me. And I asked Brad if I could talk to her and I described what I would like her to play in emotion. So I told her, you know, longing, longing, tortured, you know, sweetness. This is how I spoke to her. And she said, yeah, okay, I got that. And she laid down these cello tracks that were just the most beautiful performances I've ever heard. It was basically one take. I put two tracks on top of each other for Mother of Mine. And she created this amazing ambiance on this track that is just extraordinary.

And as the years went on, Abby actually came and lived with us at our home. She took care of the girls for a while and actually shared with the girls some of her trinkets from her childhood. And fell in love with one of our dogs, Dogma. She wanted to adopt our dog for a while, but we weren't ready to do that. So anyway, we've been calling Abby to play every single live performance I've had. I've called her, I've reached out to her, and she's sometimes gotten back to me and sometimes not and just politely declined. And everybody else I know in LA has been trying to get her to play on their stuff. And we just didn't know why she wasn't in

touch with us. And I recently found out that she's been suffering from a physical disability for quite some time. And she's in kind of a dire situation. Some beautiful friends set up a GoFundMe campaign for her. Charlene, who's a violinist in LA, created the website for her. And we're going to be trying to raise funds for her for her healing she seems to have some kind of autoimmune issue they think she may have suffered a stroke that's affected her brain cognitive ability and she's how old do you how old she's probably 30 35 maybe i don't think she's that old like 31 don't think she's that old? She's like 31, 32 or something. Yeah. And she actually, I mean, she performed with James Taylor,

um, on stage in 1997. She's an extraordinary cellist, an extraordinary human being. And, um, she really needs help. So,

um, I'm going to be having a benefit concert for her actually at our house in, uh, the coming months. I think September, we're going to try to find a date. But in the meantime, there is this crowdfunding campaign. So we're going to put a link in the show notes. And at the end of today's show, we're going to include a mother of mine, which is the

track that she played on. And for anybody that's listening, just if you have ever been touched by my music, or you've ever, you're a music lover, or you've ever enjoyed, you know, any of the content that we've given you, we really ask for everybody to reach out and put our arms around this beautiful being and see if we can support her in coming back to health. They have some doctors lined up and, you know, some protocol lined up. So there is hope. You know, she's not, she's, she just can't drive, but she is walking. And so hopefully she'll be able to rehabilitate. Yeah, she's a, she's a beautiful girl, an extraordinary talent, and somebody who at such a young age certainly is someone you would not expect to be suffering so horribly from illness and disease to the extent that she is.

I mean, it's pretty crazy. So in any event, we'll put the link up in the show notes to the GoFundMe campaign and take a moment and read up on that and check it out and consider getting involved. And we'll keep you posted on the benefit concert for those of you who are in LA. Yeah. Yeah, that'd be great. Thank you so much. Alright, that's it

you guys. Thank you for subscribing to the show. Thanks for spreading the word on social media. And thank you for making a habit of always clicking through the Amazon banner ad at richroll. Thanks for spreading the word on social media. And thank you for making a habit of always clicking through the Amazon banner ad at richroll.com for all your Amazon purchases. Super great, easy, fun way to support the show without having to spend any money because you're going to buy stuff on Amazon already, right? So I want you to just click the banner ad at richroll.com and you can bookmark that link and put it up at

the top of your browser so you don't even have to come to my site it's always right there convenient for you and a win-win for everybody keep sending your questions for future q a podcast info at richroll.com as i mentioned the other day we are now officially doing two episodes every week so you can feel free to just start sending tons of emails with tons of questions because we're going to be doing lots of these shows coming up. What else? I think that's it. We're ready to close it down. That's it.

For all the rest of your plant power needs, you can go to richroll.com. Nutrition products. Julie's meditation program is there. Julie's music at srimati.com and you can follow her on twitter and instagram at at it's sri mati but if i say that everybody thinks it's sh it's s r i m a t i right that's right that's how you can connect with her follow me on instagram i'm posting a lot of food photos there and inspiration that That's true. That is very true. What else?

What song are we going to close this out with? We're going to close it out with Mother of Mine. Okay, because Abby, you can listen to Abby. Yeah, because Abby's on there. And also I put I'm Here Now was on the last Q&A, and she played on that as well. So those are her two. She's just so beautiful. Right.

Very cool. And final thought, a lot of people who are listening don't know that we have an app. We have an app every week. Like it emails every day like, how come there's only 50 episodes up on iTunes? I want to listen to the whole catalog. Well, the easiest way to access the whole catalog for free is just to get our app, our mobile app for iOS devices for your iPhone. It has the entire catalog on there. It's got the show notes and all that kind of cool stuff.

So thanks for supporting the show. Tell a friend. Leave us a review on iTunes, all that kind of good stuff. And we'll see you in a couple days. Right? That's right. All right. Cool.

We're done. We're done. Did we do it? We did it. Okay. Sign off. All right. Bye.

Peace. Blance. Sign off. All right. Bye. Peace. Blance. Namaste. On the journey home, clouds melting gray. Can you see me here? Golden pink blush home And wash away Won't you come in Chocolate steaming

Hold me in your arms And don't let go Mother And don't let go Mother Oh mother Mother of mine Open up silly I'm coming in Why all the tears? Love is all around for you to share Come my darling

Let me kiss your head I never wore so beautiful eyes Right now with you. Sit down next to me and rest a while I don't wanna leave you here It's not time, it's not time Stay a little while longer We can play that game The one you always let me win

Rock me in your arms And don't let go Mother And don't let go Mother Oh, mother Mother of mine I'm so lost I don't know where to go Mother Oh mother

Mother of mine. On the journey home, stars pulsing bright. Can you see me here? Can you see me here? Love is eternal and we are one. You already have everything. I never had to let you in Just look at you there Shining

Your light on the world I never had to let you in No, just look at you there You are the beauty of life On the journey home Last is the night Can you feel me here? © transcript Emily Beynon