Hello, and welcome to today’s episode of The Born to Rise Podcast. Oh, my God, you guys, I am so excited for our guests today. The amazing Dr. Elizabeth Rogers. Elizabeth, thank you so much for being here with us.

Elizabeth: I am so excited and honored to be here. Cait, I can’t wait to chat.

Cait: Oh my gosh. Okay. I feel like we have so much that we can cover and talk about. I’m so excited to have you on the show for a multitude of reasons, but I’ve never had a doctor on the show so far. And between what is going on in the world right now with COVID and this collective exhaustion that 2020 has brought up for so many in the entrepreneurial space. There is so much need to get into the space of holistic health and energy and how that impacts us not only as female entrepreneurs, but as a society right now. So I’m so so excited to dive in. But before we do that, for our listeners who don’t know you or haven’t been exposed to you in the amazing work that you’re doing yet, give us a little introduction, tell us about your work. Tell us about what you do.

Elizabeth: So I’m Dr. Elizabeth Rogers, and I am an expert, holistic health coach and healer. And it’s interesting, you know, my story is, has been quite a story, which we can talk more about. But what I really do is apply the science of epidemiology, which is very much a macro science, down to the micro level. So really taking a very unique spin on holistic health coaching and healing. Because what I really do is merge the very best of Western medicine and science with the true holistic, natural, energetic and spiritual components that necessitate true healing. So a really unique blend.

Cait: So powerful. Okay, I’m not gonna lie. The first time that you told me that you were an epidemiologist, I may or may not have googled what that was. So for those people who are not able to Google right now, can you just talk about what the field of epidemiology is? I think that it’s a word that even in the media right now, we’re seeing tossed around, especially as it relates to the pandemic, but I think there are a lot of people who don’t really know what that means. 

So can you just break down what epidemiology is and how, like, tell us a little bit about your background and your training as an epidemiologist and what that trained you to do because I mean, knowing a bit about your story, you have entered into the holistic health coaching world in such a different way. And this isn’t to knock those who enter any of these mainstream health coach, training programs, but you’re like a legit Doctor who has studied so in-depth and with so much detail. Tell us a little bit more about what it means to be an epidemiologist.

What Is An Epidemiologist?

Elizabeth: Yeah. And it’s funny. I love this question. And really, until this past year, when I would tell people that epidemiology is my specialty, I would get one of two responses. They either say, oh, you’re a skin doctor. A common response. I get it, they’re thinking epidermis and it has some funny genealogy. Or I just kind of get a blank stare. And that is the two common ways people would respond. 

So I’ll explain it what it really is if you looked epidemiology up in a textbook or any reference.  I used to teach this in grad school, what epidemiology really is. By true definition is that it’s the study of the frequency distribution and determinants, which just means causes of any health issue or health outcome and the application of that study to the control of those health outcomes, issues or diseases, with the ultimate goal being the improvement of the health of the population, or of groups of people. 

So the way I really like to explain it in very simplistic terms, is that what I do as an epidemiologist is I study and determine the patterns and causes of health issues. So, like any other doctor or field epidemiologist, there are specialties. So there are some of us that specialize in things like the environment. These folks would be focusing on air quality, pollution, safety, things at the community, and global level. Some of us specialize in infectious diseases. So these are going to be my colleagues who are at the very forefront of the pandemic. There are folks that specialize in injury prevention and control cancer, chronic diseases. 

So my areas of expertise within the field of epidemiology are chronic diseases, disability and aging, and in particular, healthy aging. So for a very, very long time, I studied and was an expert and am an expert at longevity, how to how to age in a very healthy way with the highest quality of life possible. So I am literally clinically trained to understand, analyze, and identify the root causes of symptoms and health issues. While I think that’s super helpful from a global perspective, and that’s where epidemiology traditionally lives, what I do is something very different. 

New Frontier of Epidemiology

I’m trying to trailblaze a new frontier of Epidemiology by bringing it down to apply that science at the individual micro level. Because the truth is, Cait, I’ve known ever since I came into this field, that this was the missing link. The science, the methodology that really drives what we do as epidemiologists at the population level can absolutely and should be used to help determine and study outcomes at the individual level. It’s just that nobody’s doing it. So I don’t know any other holistic health coach or expert that applies epidemiology as this background to that individual, senior singular level. So what I really do is use that to get down to the root causes of why we feel the way we feel.

Cait: That’s so fascinating. I love that. Epidemiology. I’m seeing it as it relates to the pandemic as it relates to identifying the patterns of like, global health systems, or how people are reacting to a virus or whatever. But I love the way that you just broke that down of how you’re applying this like macro science to an individual level. And I completely echo that I’ve never heard of anybody who is taking that in depth training and applying it to understand root causes symptoms, outcomes for how we feel as individuals on a personal level. 

You said something about your specialty, really being in chronic disease, but also aging and I am really interested in it. In my personal life, I have chats with my girlfriends all the time who are more in the health side of things about biohacking and the things that we do to really optimize our energy and optimize the way that we feel. 

And I know your tagline is transforming the conversation from chronic illness into chronic wellness. And I think that it’s such an important piece of the puzzle for so many of us and I’m definitely guilty of this, especially when we’re in the business space. We’re so focused on the energy of our content or the energy of our brand and we forget that the thing that fuels all of that is the energy of our physical body, emotional body. 

So I’m so curious for you, how you have noticed a correlation in the clients that you serve, and in the work that you do – how doing the work of identifying and shifting and optimizing energy at the individual level in your clients as a holistic health coach, how that transforms outcomes in terms of performance, feeling state, like all of the other areas of life?

New Challenge For Doctors In the Pandemic

Elizabeth: Oh, my gosh, you know what, I love that. It’s really phenomenal and it’s something that we don’t all think a lot about, right? When you think about, why would I hire a health coach? Why would I talk to a person like this? You think of it more as maybe an accountability buddy or someone to help you achieve the goals that you’ve set for yourself. But the way I really see it is the prevalence of chronic illness in this country has been skyrocketing for decades. And because of the trend, that the peak that our population as a whole is continuing to age, we see that prevalence continue to go up and up. And the truth is that prevalence now I see as a trend really starting to continue to increase in different ways, because of the results of the pandemic. 

We’ve all had to adjust the way we live and behave. And so I mean, over the past year, it’s been a complete uprooting of so many of our lives. And when I think about that, I just watch a lot of the clients I work with who are now struggling in different ways. I’m seeing this emergence of new patterns and trends that – as scientists, doctors, and epidemiologists – are being presented to us as a challenge because these are things that we haven’t thought of before. What I mean by that is really thinking more from the bigger picture perspective, which is how I’ve always looked at things and why I was always considered the square peg in the round hole throughout my career as a doctoral student, and then moving into my clinical years and years as a research scientist, because I always looked at things from the bigger picture from that long term perspective. 

Cait: As a society, we tend to focus on the short term results, or we just look at the symptom, and we try to put a bandaid over the symptom. Not to go into a rabbit hole of Big Pharma and how there’s now a cure for everything, because it’s billable, or there’s a profit game in there. And I’ve definitely been doing a lot of research into all of that now having a daughter. And looking at vaccinations and I think that you probably have a really interesting take because I remember in a conversation we were having offline here, you sharing with me that you could easily be working for Pfizer or another company like that, doing that research and doing that work as an epidemiologist to approve medications to treat causes that we’re only getting a fraction of what is actually going on. 

I mean, I’m just kind of speaking out of turn here, I don’t even know what I don’t know, but I’m sure you can shed some light. To me, what I’m hearing from you is there’s a traditional way that things are done within the scientific community. And what I think is so powerful and trailblazing, Elizabeth, about the way that you have taken your clinical training and taken your work as a doctor and are just literally completely blazing, I mean, not even a new niche. It’s like a new field of work as a holistic health coach that is just bringing so much richness to the field of what it means to live a chronically well, life. 

Thinking Outside The Box Of Chronic Illnesses

Elizabeth:  I love that. It’s made me think of the next piece of what I was going to say to answer your prior question, too. So this just goes so well. These comments go hand in hand. Traditionally, as doctors, researchers, scientists, whatever you want to call us, we have always looked at things from a very siloed perspective, even in the chronic illness and disease realm, which I have to tell you, I’ve always found fascinating. 

I used to think, well, we’re not asking the right questions, right. So I always think about that as what are the right questions to ask? And it’s why as a colleague, I was considered too outside the box, too innovative because I asked the questions that no one else was thinking about.

But think about it this way, right? If you were dealing with something like Fibromyalgia or IBS, typically we’re going to look at just that condition and we don’t want to hear about anything else you’re going through. I don’t want to talk to you if you’re depressed. I want to talk to you if you’ve got anxiety, if you’re getting migraines from the medications. That’s probably about as far as I’m gonna go. 

Everything In Health Is Connected

The time of looking at things from that siloed perspective has passed. Now, as a society, we should be stepping up and demanding that we do things differently. Because the truth is, everything’s connected: your emotional health, your physical health, your mental health, your energetic health, your spiritual health. 

And I think that we are doing people a complete disservice, by completely tearing apart all of those pieces of the puzzle, instead of putting them together to say, Alright, let’s look at what the bigger picture is of what you really got going on. Instead, let’s put those pieces of the puzzle together and connect the dots to determine what really is going on underneath the surface, right? 

Because if you’ve got IBS, you’ve got inflammation in your gut. So I would always ask my doctors – I was diagnosed with this issue, so I can use myself as an example – why I have inflammation in my gut. It’s not because I have IBS. I have inflammation for a reason, right? There’s something deeper there, that we have a traditional tendency to not look below the surface and look any deeper. 

Understanding the Root Cause Of An Illness

And like you said, I spent time working in the healthcare industry, too. So unfortunately, I learned the very deep, dark, dirty secrets of what really drives the health care system. And like you said, there are such things as billable codes. So I know that there’s a code that I can use as a doctor to bill you, and this is where you go, I’m going to put you in that box, Cait, you have IBS. Now you’re going in the IBS box, and we’re going to put you in that code. And that’s where you’re going to stay. 

And what we do then, by treating people with those bandaid, temporary solutions that are really just – I call them management solutions, because that’s all they are. They’re not healing, they’re not getting to the root cause of what’s creating the symptom that we are now treating. We’re just looking at the surface and I just think it’s doing everybody around us a disservice but it’s also treating people as if they’re all the same. And two people with the same condition are still two very unique individuals who most likely need to be treated in two very different ways.

Cait: I just think it’s so important and so interesting what you’re saying. A couple different things that came up for me as you were sharing all that, the first. It’s funny to use IBS as an example and talking about okay so that’s what’s coming up for you. But what else is going on? 

I actually was also diagnosed with IBS in high school. I remember going to gastroenterologist and getting IBS as a diagnosis and being like, Okay, well, now, what am I supposed to do? And he was basically just like, Oh, well, here are some pills. But also, if you get constipated, like, here’s what to do. If you have diarrhea, here’s what to do. But like, just basically deal with it. He was just like, Oh, well, you know, this is probably going to be something you deal with on and off for your life. 

Well, I had massive anxiety when I was in high school. I mean, I’m talking like, really, really bad anxiety. I was coming from this sort of competitive athlete kind of perspective, trying to get into the best colleges. Oh, my God, we can go down a whole rabbit hole about stress, which I actually do want to touch on stress in a minute. But what I think is so interesting that you use that as an example is like there was never in that whole process of like diagnosing a physical symptom. The question of what, like, what’s going on in your life? Or how’s your mental health? Or how’s your emotional health? Or what else is happening there?

And I just think it’s so important and fascinating that that you’re bringing this conversation to the forefront of how all of these different pieces fit together because it feels to me like there’s so much more ease in the body to be able to relax into a healing process when these different diagnoses aren’t so siloed. 

So that was like the first massive Aha, that just hit me as you were saying that and the other is thinking about was – Do you know that scene in the holiday? Did you ever watch that with Cameron Diaz and Jack Black and Kate Winslet anyway when Cameron Diaz is super stressed. And she’s like, Did you read that article in The New York Times it says, women tend to age prematurely which makes us look haggard?I was cracking up as you’re talking because it was making me think of the way that we are not dealing with the way we feel. That causes stress.

Our listeners hear on this show, we have a lot of women building businesses, female entrepreneurs. What lightning bolt struck me as you were talking was that I think a lot of us might feel an issue we’re having is a block, for example, it’s a mindset issue. But it seems to me, what you’re opening up is like, maybe some of the stuff that might feel like a mindset issue is a hormonal imbalance, or like, you’re not getting enough sleep, or there’s something physical happening. It’s not just saying more affirmations to yourself, and you’ll be a more confident leader kind of thing. Do you know, does that feel true for you?

Elizabeth: Yeah. I’ll take what you just said one step further by connecting other dots and saying, okay, let’s think about it that way. We’re both business owners. I know that your audience are all business entrepreneurs.

Why We Aren’t Showing Up The Way We Want To

To all of you listening out there, how many of you –we don’t have to even think about it from something that we might consider a more severe diagnosis like IBS, fibromyalgia, endometriosis, thyroid conditions especially for women– but we can even just think about it from the level of just stress, anxiety. How many of us are allowing that to impact our day, on a daily basis in such a way, that deep down inside, you know that you’re not showing up the way you need to and want to, for your business, for yourself, for your family, for your friends?

You’re halfway showing up on any given day, because to some degree, that issue is always there in the forefront of your mind. And it’s very distracting, right?

I’ll take what you said one step further by saying, Yeah, first of all, maybe you do think, my brain, like I can’t. I have a client right now, who is an entrepreneur, and dealing with brain fog and asking, why can’t I clear my mind? I can’t open up that energetic flow to feel creative and inspired in the way I need to on any given day. What do I do about that? 

Different Layers of Health

And so you’re right, it could be a physical health connection.There’s something going on at the hormonal level. And I’ll take it even deeper than that, and say if that were the case, I would know that because of the work I do, really combining this like epidemiology and intuitive approach. There’s still something even deeper than that that’s missing. It could be like an underlying viral condition, it could be that you have some toxins in your body that some pathogen is just feeding off of, and unbeknownst to you, the way that that is now surfacing is in the form of a hormonal imbalance, which has now created a mindset issue

So there’s all these different layers of our health. Because our traditional healthcare system has done a remarkable job at completely dismantling the human body and the human experience, people aren’t able to make those connections, because you’re never going to go to a practitioner who is going to say, You know what, Cait, I think your problem might actually be an underlying strep bacteria infection. And that’s what’s really causing these host of symptoms that you’re experiencing.

Instead, they’re probably saying, Cait, I’m pretty sure it’s in your head. Because this doesn’t make sense. And your test results kind of look normal to me and I’m not really sure. I think it might just be in your head, maybe you should go talk to a psychologist. I know very well, that that is absolutely not the case. And that also bothers me too. You know, I think as female entrepreneurs, we should be given permission to trust our bodies because nobody in the world knows you and your body and the potential storm that might be going on inside of you. Nobody understands or knows that except for you.

Cait: 100% I think that’s so so true. One thing that’s coming up for me as we’re having this conversation is one of the things that one of my beloved mentors, Cait Northrup says a lot is: Body first, business second. I think that that’s such a wise phrase. 

It’s not always easy to live by though, I think especially for us like type A driven women. I mean, it’s really easy to neglect what your body’s telling you, it’s really easy to like, forget that you’ve been looking at a screen for most of the day or get up and move your body or do any of those things. And I think a lot of us, especially those who don’t have a health background can kind of become oblivious to the sort of compounding negative impact that that has on us and ultimately, the long term negative impact that that has on business. 

We don’t run businesses from our brains, aka the control tower of our brains alone. We run them from our whole bodies and whole beings. And I’m curious, Elizabeth, what kind of tips or tricks or practices would you recommend for just managing? Maybe that’s not even the right term, but managing stress, decreasing stress, just learning to integrate a more holistic, healthy living kind of approach, a more regenerative approach that you’ve found helpful in your own life in your clients lives? Particularly for women who are busy and that stress is compounding and is accelerating not only the aging process, but a host of other negative symptoms. Even if it’s just  anxiety that’s creeping into other areas of life. I’m curious what tips you would recommend to manage that stress, decrease that stress and start to activate and increase an overall sense of well being?

How To Manage Your Stress Levels

Elizabeth: Yeah, I love this question. And, you know, since I’m a non traditional kind of girl, I will give non traditional answers because I’m never gonna tell you what you might just be able to go find on Google. 

First of all, I love this philosophy of thinking of working from the inside out rather than the outside in. I love that in the beginning of our conversation you brought up biohacking and all that stuff, right? Because that’s tends to be the way we live in society when it comes to health and healing, right? We’re always getting bombarded in the media by the new Cold trend, and try this tea for the next 30 days, if you want to drop those 10 pounds try this biohacking technique, and it’s gonna change your life. 

The truth is that, if any of those one things really were the missing link that we’ve all been looking for, despite politics and bureaucracy, hundreds of millions of dollars worth of research would have been poured into that one thing so that we could say, once and for all, this is the solution. 

We would all be doing it, and you and I would not be having this conversation. So like, think about it that way, when you want to solve something and you’re thinking, Alright, I’m dealing with a lot of stress every day, my anxiety is getting to me, it’s now it’s flooding in –not just in my business, but it’s flooding into my personal life and into my relationships. I’m not showing up and being the partner I want to be or the mother I want to be or the daughter I want to be. 

Stop Looking Externally For Solutions

Maybe you’re a caregiver to older parents, and they need you, so there are so many roles that as female entrepreneurs, we play in, like so many different hats we wear. But if you think about what we tend to do, as human beings, when we want to make a change is what we do, right? We do all the things. Alright, I’m going to change my anxiety. So I’m going to do this and you just start reaching and grabbing outward and externally for all of the answers. And we tend to work from the outside, instead of the inside out. That is just a backwards approach. The person that got us into this cycle is not the person who’s ultimately going to get us where we want to go right? 

Cait: Oh, my God, there are so many parallels as you’re saying this. You’re totally right that this is totally non traditional. And it’s really confronting. I feel to you’re so right in our society, it’s like, Are you tired? Get coffee. Are you stressed? Watch Schitts Creek. Are you this? Then do that.

It’s like we have this band aid or quick fix sort of solution. And I’m chuckling to myself, because I’m like, this conversation is so applicable to business. It’s like, the launch isn’t going as well as I wanted to, there’s a strategy I must be missing in my sales calls, right? I’m missing a piece of the sales script. Like we want to just grab the quick fix. 

I think what you’re describing and your answer, and I imagine that you probably get pushback from your clients, and then they come back to you like two weeks later. And they’re like, Elizabeth, thank you. That’s exactly what I needed to hear even though I had massive resistance to that. I know I certainly get that from like the mindset and business coaching side. It’s actually a slower internal reprogramming that’s going to yield the biggest shifts and not just like drink more green juice. 

Elizabeth: Exactly. And I’ll give a very tangible tip related to this that everyone could start implementing today. But I just have to say, like you made me think of how many of us have T-shirts or mugs that say but first coffee.We all have those days where we’re like, Alright, on my energy is not where I needed to be today. I must need some more coffee or I’m going to just go for a jog around the block. 

The One Technique She Used Every Day

I will tell you, I’m a big believer in practicing what I preach and I was my own first client. So I can promise you all that this technique works and I still implement it every single day because it is a true game changer. And I promise you, if you do this simple thing, it will make a difference. And I’ll give you a couple things alongside of that. 

So this is just a quick journal exercise, you can do this on your computer, but I would recommend doing it in the morning first, before you dive into your day. That seems to be the magic trick for me personally. But ask yourself these three questions and you can just write them down. The first question is: Who would I be if I had perfect health? Who would I be if I were the most amazing entrepreneur in the freakin world, rocking my business like nobody else, or whatever you want to end that statement with? And the second one is: What would I do if I had perfect health or whatever you want to end that statement with? So number one, who would I be? Number two, what would I do? And then number three is: What would I have? 

You start to, in that moment –I know you’ll understand this, because you like to work a lot on visualization –this is really an exercise and manifesting the truth is who you already are. Because that person that you’re journaling about and you’re saying you would be –I would have that, I would do this. Before you know it, you’re just going to start noticing that shift that subtle shift not just at an energetic level, that mental emotional level, and you will feel like a different person. 

I can tell you on days I skip this, I feel off all day long. And I just don’t feel right. But you know there’s going to be days when stress is still going to be getting the best of you. And that is when I think things like a management solution can be helpful. And in those scenarios, I love these couple of herbs. My favorite favorite is lemon balm. I cannot say enough about it. It’s sometimes like my saving grace, you can get it in tincture form. Or you can actually get it in tea. Traditional Medicinals has an amazing one. But lemon balm has not just the ability to boost your immune system and protect you from viruses and pathogens, so great just to protect your physical health. But it actually has natural soothing capabilities that calm your central nervous system, right? 

How Stress Leads to Fight or Flight

Because the truth is, and we can talk more about stress, when we spend too much time being stressed out, it keeps us in fight or flight mode, which is your Sympathetic Nervous System. And we need that Parasympathetic Nervous System. And those two pieces together create what’s called our Autonomic Nervous System. Those two systems are supposed to work in perfect harmony to balance each other out. But the more you stay heightened at that fight or flight, the more you overwork that system. If you stop working a muscle, right, it starts to atrophy, it starts to weaken. 

Same thing here, your Parasympathetic Nervous System is like, Okay, well, I guess you don’t need me anymore. So I’m just gonna, like, chill out down here, and it gets used to not doing its job. So it starts to kind of almost like malfunction. So lemon balm is an amazing one. And honestly, if you’re listening and you’re gonna have a stressful day. Or you’re just stressed out by what you’re doing. If you have to have a meeting with someone or do something that’s not your favorite task. I always say, grab some lemon balm tea. Holy Basil is another one that I love. And it’s just an amazing herb and actually also is really great for anxiety and depression, any types of mental or emotional things you’re dealing with. 

Learning To Disconnect

And the other thing I love to say is just like disconnect, right? Because we now have no choice, but to be attached to our computer screen. And I think a lot of people know we go work at our computer, and you’re kind of going back and forth between that and your phone screen all day. And then you go downstairs and you’re going to watch Netflix. And it’s like when are you giving your body and your brain a break? That disconnect is so important for us.

Cait: It’s so true. And Gosh, as you’re saying that, it was taking me back to my yoga teacher training days when you were talking about the Parasympathetic and Sympathetic Nervous System. What’s coming up for me as I’m hearing you is that inability to disconnect or unwillingness to disconnect or how we’re just constantly connected in the world that we’re in right now. And I think more than ever in this you know, isolated pandemic life, like literally being on our devices is the only way that we’re connected with others. Which is necessary for mental health and well being and all of the things right, but I think especially for entrepreneurs, we’re working from home anyway. It’s just so easy to never unplug and never disconnect. 

I’m curious. What you see is the correlation between creativity and never tapping into that Parasympathetic Nervous System. Because it seems to me that a huge source of replenishment for our creative brains, our business brains, like comes from actually unplugging, getting out of that Sympathetic, go, go, go and coming back into that Parasympathetic.

Elizabeth: I totally agree. And honestly, I feel like you made me kind of create have this mental image of frayed wires. I feel like when we are constantly at that heightened state, it’s like you are working as frazzled frayed wires. And while you might be able to source some creativity, because let’s face it, I’m sure every single one of us has had a day. 

Before I got to this place and time in my life where I created and applied my own holistic approach to heal myself, I was that girl working on my doctoral degree, 12 hours a day in front of the computer. I would literally sit down in the morning, I would even make crazy rules for myself, like, Alright, I have to write this many pages of my research paper before I’m allowed to get up and have something to eat, or I have to get X, Y, and Z tasks done. And it’s not until I do that, that I will quote unquote, reward myself with my meal, or by going out and taking a walk around the block, or things like that. 

Why Female Entrepreneurs Take On So Much

I feel like especially as women entrepreneurs, we tend to take on so much. And it’s not just in our businesses, right? Because we are trying to be superheroes, because quite frankly, we are, right? We’re moms or daughters, we’re caregivers, we’re partners, we’re business owners, and not only that, we’re trying to set out in the world to prove that we are just as deserving and just as worthy as any man doing the exact same thing as us. 

Anyone listening is hearing this and thinking like, yeah, I’ve done that. I mean, trust me, I know, I get it. But I think trying to get into that place. And this is why that journal exercise I recommended could be so helpful, because what would you do if you were that person? You wouldn’t sacrifice your health, you would be committed to taking care of yourself, because you know that you and your health are non negotiable for this business and for your life. Because that is the foundation that feeds everything that you do. 

And I know for me, when I finally turned inward and applied this stuff, it opened up the freakin floodgates. The creativity just spewed and instead of me working from a place where you feel like you’re forcing it, and you’re sitting there like, Alright, I’ve got to write this content today. All right, I’ve got to get these posts done for Instagram today. Okay, I committed to finishing this blog post. Today, I am going to get it done come hell or high water. 

Giving Ourselves Permission To Take Step Back

Instead, when you take a step back and you just think,You know what, I’m sitting here staring at my screen, and it’s not feeling so good. So maybe today is just not the day, maybe Today’s the day that you decide, alright, I’m going to take care of myself, I’m going to take a step back. And then you start to retrain a muscle, that Parasympathetic Nervous System. Even if it means you did something for five minutes. Just before we got on our call today, I meditated for five minutes. It was five minutes. That’s not very long. But you know what, it instantly shifted me into a completely different state of mind, and body and energy. So it’s so crazy. it’s so hard to give ourselves that permission is what I love. 

Cait: It’s so true. But I love that you are bringing this to the forefront. I love that you are working on this with clients and just like being a force of remembrance in this world of how important it is to to give ourselves that time and to look at our physical health, our emotional health, spiritual health, like all of it as the foundation for anything that we produce or create.

That’s such a valuable tip and reminder of meditating for five minutes before we do something and I think about any sort of peak performers, whether it’s Tony Robbins or Brendon Burchard or like, all of these guys, they’re all talking about not just the biohacking stuff like the ice baths and the whatever but the mental focus and recalibrating, and unplugging, meditating, tapping into these higher frequencies. So that when we show up we are doing so from the most potent place possible.

So I think it’s such a powerful reminder for all of us, myself included, and a permission slip I feel like is a huge part of what you’re giving people. Permission to prioritize our health first in a world that doesn’t really encourage us to do that, in a world that encourages us to ignore what’s going on in our bodies, and then kind of cover it up with a bandaid later. It’s a really radical field of work. And I’m just so honored to know that you’re doing this, and I’m so excited for all of your clients who get to be supported by you in a container of really retraining and reorienting their lives. 

And one thing that comes up for me, Elizabeth, I’m imagining for someone who’s listening, they might think, Oh, well, this is a luxury to journal and be able to imagine what my life could be like, if I just gave myself more time or like, will you say that I can just come back to the content tomorrow? If I don’t feel like it today? I have to get stuff done. But I’m curious what you would say to that. I’m curious what you would say to someone, kind of a skeptic, who might be thinking, Well, I don’t have time to take care of myself.

Why You Always Have Time To Take Care Of Yourself

Elizabeth:Yeah. Trust me, I have heard that from so many people over the years. And my response to those people is, What are the most valuable things you have? Your time and your energy.

You just told me that you’re not willing to set aside the time for you and your own energy, but you’re gonna give it away to everything else and everyone else around you. We talk a lot about this when it comes to energy, Where are you working from? Do you want to continue to work while you’re running on fumes? Because I’ll tell you, okay, I did that for years. And it did not serve me well. And what it did was continue to send me down the chronic illness pipeline. 

So do you want to continue to sacrifice yourself for this? Because the truth is that you’re not going to know unless you try. And I can guarantee that these things absolutely do make a difference. But if you’re not willing to prioritize yourself, then you’re going to continue to go down that vicious cycle, right? And then when those little symptoms start to creep up and you don’t like the way it feels and you’re like, Oh, my energy just sucks today. You start to shove those off into different corners of your mind, right? 

Because you’re like, I don’t have time for this. I don’t have time to deal with it. I don’t feel well today. But you know what? I’m a mom, I have to get these things done before I pick my child up from my parents house. I have to get x y&z done. I just can’t, I can’t, I can’t. But what you’re doing is really just refusing to put yourself first. It breaks my heart. 

The Secret To Aging Well

I had so many people tell me over the years, especially when I was working in my healthy aging studies and things like that. And I worked with so many adults. And I have to tell you, it changed the way I thought about aging. Because I would see people in their 70s and 80s, who literally looked 20 and 30 years younger, who could have run freakin circles around some of the people I worked with who were half their age. 

And so what was the difference there? I always asked every one of my patients during that time in my career, I’d say what’s your secret? And they all said to me, I always put myself first and I never stopped doing that. 

What I saw in the people who didn’t do it, the people who were struggling, who weren’t where they wanted to be with their health and their healing. I would ask them what they thought were their biggest barriers? Well, this is just what happens when you age. This is just what happens. I’m just getting older. This is what happens. 

I would say to them, Don’t you realize that you’re wrong? Age is not an excuse for anything. But again, science and research and society have trained us to think that as we reach a certain timeline in our life, that we should just expect and accept that certain things are going to happen to us. That we’re not going to look the way we want to look, that we’re not going to feel the way we want to feel, that we’re going to start having aches and pains. And you know what I have to tell you? Quite frankly, it’s bullshit. 

Putting On Your Own Oxygen Mask First

I think this is so potent. What that does is rather than put it outside of us, it really causes us to bring back into focus this sort of radical personal responsibility for feeling the way that we want to feel.  As the theme of this conversation, your health and well being, it’s everything. It’s the foundation for absolutely everything. Success, relationships. You want to have all of the things. 

Cait: It reminds of that cliche, but it’s so true. We have to put our own oxygen masks on first before we can do anything else from a place of longevity. The thing that’s really coming through for me, as you’re speaking, and especially as it relates to business is like, for anything to be sustainable, for your business to be sustainable, you have to be sustainable from the inside out.

Elizabeth: I love that it’s so true, you know, we have to be sustainable. I don’t know about you, I literally get like, I think half a dozen text messages a week, they’re like, hey, try this thing seen on Shark Tank to drop those 32 pounds in 22 days. And I think, Oh, my God. As soon as something comes up, we just decide we’re going to reach for whatever we think is a quick fix, because we don’t have quote, unquote, time to put in the work. 

Why Staying Healthy Takes Work

That’s another myth I want to dissolve in just the general population. It breaks my heart to have to tell people this, but the truth is, is that healing and health, just like the rest of our lives, they are not destinations, it’s a journey. And that means that it’s a journey, that’s never going to end until you take your last breath. 

It makes me very sad and disheartened that our medical system has not given people that piece of information that if you are willing to put in the work, because it takes work, it takes personal responsibility, it takes commitment. And it is not easy, it is not easy to come out on the other side of your health issues. Because anybody out there listening who’s dealing with even at least just one minor, emotional, mental or physical symptom, or pain knows that it is three steps forward and two steps back every step of the way. And that is a guarantee. Not a question and very, very hard for people to accept. But that’s just the way it is. 

I always think if I can just help people come to that realization, to know that they are going to get through it no matter what, regardless of those setbacks, because you can and you will.Those setbacks don’t necessarily mean you’re getting worse, they don’t mean that you’re not doing the right things. We all tend to question ourselves because we don’t, by tradition, educate people and empower people with this information. So we just assume if something comes up, I’m just going to deal with it until I decide it’s bugging me enough to go see a doctor and then they’re just gonna give me a prescription, and then I’ll figure out what I’m gonna do about it at that point. 

Cait: 100%, I totally think that’s true. A question I always ask on the podcast, Elizabeth is, as an expert, as a holistic health coach, as somebody who supports people who have been given this traditional way to go and it’s not serving them, it’s not working for them. What’s something that you want to encourage all of your clients to think about in a piece of advice that you would leave all of us to prioritize our health to integrate these multiple fields that maybe we’re not looking at, and thinking and thinking about as it relates to our energy state as a relates to creating everything that we want in our lives? What’s a piece of advice that you would leave us with?

Ask Questions & Take Charge of Your Health

Elizabeth: What I really would say to people is that no matter what you’re thinking, what you’re feeling, what you’ve got going on in your body, –even if it’s something that just seems minimal to you, it’s worth addressing. You are worth putting in the time and the work in to get yourself there. And I always encourage people that when you go talk to your providers, if you don’t know how to ask the right questions, come and talk to me. Ask them why? Ask them what’s going on with this prescription? Ask them, are there any toxins in this prescription? What are the side effects of this if I stay on this long term? What would that mean for my health if I’m going to consider this? Are there other alternative options out there? 

So first, I always say to people, wherever you go, remember that you are in charge. And as doctors, we are service providers, we are providing you with a service, and you as that person who we are providing a service to have every right to ask all the questions you want, and be given all of the answers. 

If the doctor does not give you an answer or makes you feel like they don’t appreciate that you’re asking a question or that they don’t know the answer. It’s okay to not know the answer. If a client asks me a question, and I don’t know the answer, answer, I say, I can’t answer that with confidence. But I’m going to figure it out for you. 

You have every right to ask questions and take charge of your own health. I want you to go into those offices and know that you’re the one sitting there in a position of power. And if you don’t like what you’re hearing, then you need to walk away and go find somebody else, because there will be somebody out there who will treat you the way you want to or the way you deserve to be treated. 

So that’s one piece of advice, I give people just navigating the traditional health care world because it is not easy. And I will tell you that they’re not there necessarily to help you heal. Because that would mean that you walk away from the system forever. They would prefer that you are reliant on them. Because by being reliant, that system continues to thrive. 

I encourage people to think about taking more power back, I encourage people to think about what they can do. Because what I can tell you is that where the power to heal lies, is staring you right back in the mirror, it’s you, it’s been inside of you all along. And you have always had the power to do this, to get where you want to go, to show up in your business feeling like a million bucks every single day, that power is in you. And it’s there. And all you have to do is just let it out and find the right person to support you. 

Because I think that’s another gaping wide hole in our healthcare system is support. You just had three steps forward, and you’re feeling awesome. But guess what? This week is one of your two steps back week. And now you’re questioning everything in your mind. And guess who you can’t talk to this week? That provider because you have to wait six to eight weeks until you see them again. 

But having somebody there in your corner to guide you to talk to you to support you to embrace you and say Don’t worry, you have got this. Who’s going to get down in the ditch with you when you are feeling at your worst and help lift you back up? I encourage you to go out and find those people. Those health coaches and healers are really going to support you to achieve what you want, you know? 

I encourage people to think about the bigger picture, right? How can you? Because what we should be doing as providers is not just addressing the one individual problem you’re bringing to us today. But to think about things from the bigger picture and say know what we need to be addressing all of the factors that impact your health and ability to heal every day, from what’s going on in your environment. What’s your stress level like in your life? Do you have the proper emotional support from your partner, from your friends, from your community members, to get you where you want to go and help you achieve your goals?

Because I can tell you that all of those things going on in your environment, what’s inside and outside your home that could potentially be making you sick. If we don’t address these things, then we’re leaving out all these puzzle pieces that could be the missing piece for you. That could be why you can’t seem to turn the corner and get where you want to go or clear that fog in your mind when you sit down and write your content every day.

Cait: So powerful. Wow. I feel like you just gave us so many golden nuggets and such a valuable, valuable piece of advocacy to encourage all of us to take exactly what we want into our own hands on that energetic level to see how much our environment support system impacts how we feel and how that impacts absolutely everything in business. 

I am so inspired by this conversation. To be super honest with you, it’s really inspiring to me, especially as you know, my own health and whatever, like I’m very healthy but coming out of having a baby and just hormone everything: new body, new hormonal system new absolutely everything new exercise, it’s so true that we have to prioritize what we want. 

It’s very easy for a lot of us to go after the things out there. But such a powerful reminder, you’ve given us Elizabeth to come back home to what’s inside and the power we have to do that with our health and the way that we feel. So thank you so much for coming on today and sharing your wisdom and encouraging us to really be bold and kind of go against the grain when it comes to how we feel. 

Beautiful, so good. And we’ll put all of those links in the show notes, guys, for you guys to be in touch with Dr. Elizabeth Rogers, thank you so much again for coming on to the show today. Love It was truly super inspiring. Thank you so much.

It’s been an honor.