Radical Health Rebel

23 - Mind, Body, Soul Connection with Donna Tashjian

January 16, 2023 Leigh Brandon Episode 23
Radical Health Rebel
23 - Mind, Body, Soul Connection with Donna Tashjian
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Show Notes Transcript Chapter Markers

In this episode, Donna Tashjian explains the Body, Mind, Soul Connection, why it's important to be aware of it, how it affects our lives and our health and how we can reintegrate the Body, Mind & Soul.

We discussed:

2:05

Donna's background 

9:15

What is the Mind and the Soul?

36:16

The 11 Laws of Spirit

39:39

The Law of Attraction

52:23

Chakras and Chinese Medicine

59:16

How to connect Mind, Body & Soul

Donna's Free Masterclass:
"Unlocking Your 6 Extraordinary Gifts"
https://www.ivibrantliving.com/6-extraordinary-superpower-workshop/
https://www.facebook.com/VibrantLivingInt

https://www.instagram.com/drtashjian/

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXMFNossw9VN2QwDtVitzKg

https://twitter.com/DonnaTashjian



Support the show


Don't forget to leave a Rating for the podcast!

You can find Leigh @:
Leigh website - https://www.bodychek.co.uk/
Leigh's books - https://www.bodychek.co.uk/books/
Eliminate Adult Acne Programme - https://eliminateadultacne.com/coaching-program/
HEAL THEM Education Programme - http://healthemeducation.vhx.tv/
Radical Health Rebel YouTube Channel - https://www.youtube.com/@radicalhealthrebelpodcast

Donna Tashjian: The best resource to me is if a doctor, whatever kind you go to is got the same kind of perspective. Let's figure out what's going on emotionally, physically and in the whole body to be able to treat the whole person.

 

Announcer: Welcome to the Radical Health Rebel podcast with your host, Lee Brandon. If you enjoy the podcast, please leave a five star rating and a warm review. Your opinions are important and your ratings help grow the podcast and help educate people to lead a healthier, more productive, fulfilling and happy life. This video is your thing. Please check out The Radical Health Rebel YouTube channel where you'll find fun bitesized clips from each episode. And now, here is Lee, the Radical Health Rebel with this week's podcast.

 

Leigh Brandon: Donna Tashjian. Welcome to the radical health rebel.

 

Donna Tashjian: Thank you. It is a pleasure to be here.

 

Leigh Brandon: Today, and it's great to have you on the show. So today's episode is entitled mind Body Spirit connection with Donna Tashjian. And in my work as a check practitioner over the last 21 years, I've developed an understanding of how the body isn't just a musculoskeletal system of pulleys and levers with organs, glands and nerves. The human body is an amazing combination of interconnecting systems, including physical and nonphysical systems that intelligently interact. This information has enabled me over the years to help people overcome injuries, pain, and a whole myriad of health conditions, because without exploring all possible causes, physical or non physical resolution to a health condition is sometimes not possible. So I'm really excited to be having this conversation with you today, Donna, on the Mind Body Spirit Connection. So, to kick things off, can you share with the audience a little bit about you, perhaps your upbringing, your professional education and your career to date?

 

Donna Tashjian: Sure, that sounds like a good list. There a little bit about something that shaped my life is I grew up in a blended family, and when I was 14 years old, someone that was close to our family hurt me. I became pregnant. So this is the days before Internet for those of you dating, and so there was a whole lot of isolation and how that affected me emotionally as well as physically. So I'm 15 years old with a new baby girl, and I raised her. But overcoming the anger, the frustration, the self esteem, all of those kind of feelings that were attached to it, when I try to remember and describe with adjectives what it was like, there just doesn't seem to be ones. It's like to say that something like, can you remember where you were when you were 15? To say that it was hard. I remember standing in front of the mirror one day counting, going, it can't be of that long. I can't be pregnant and crying. But through all of that, of learning how to become an adult instantly and to finish my high school education, to then get a job and an apartment and all of those kind of things. And the level of when I look back on it, the level of stress that I felt like I was under all the time. Because in my late twenty s I started developing psoriasis. And that plagued me for years. And then when I was older, since then, I got married and I have other kids and life progresses and all the things and I got into my we were going through a really rough time financially. We were filing bankruptcy, we were trying to work multiple jobs, and we had our own company. Just all of those myriad of things. And I started developing joint pain and not at all linking, still not linking my physical health to everything else that's going on. Psoriasis showed back up in a roar and I had one my pinky on my left hand was almost frozen. It's like I couldn't straighten it anymore. The joint pain got so bad that I was taking about eight to twelve ibuprofen a day trying to manage the pain. What do you think that's doing to my stomach lining, to my gut? You know, it's just like I know so much more about not things now. And I knew we were never quote doctor people or medicine people. It's just we knew, we prayed and we treated things holistically as possible. Growing up, that was my frame of reference. And I knew if I went to the doctor at 40 they're going to say, oh, let's just put her on arthritis medicine, but what's causing the inflammation in the first place? And so I began to do research on what could be the cause behind it. And one of the things I discovered was gluten, how that causes inflammation in the body. And I began to completely change my diet and eating more organic, eating gluten and dairy free for a while, doing cleanses and seeing a holistic doctor. And through that process, all of my joint pain left, my frozen joint loosened and the psoriasis cleared up and none of the medical. And so it began to open my eyes to the connection of oh, and I changed jobs during that time, our finances got better and things like that. And how I began, all of those things connected. So as a life coach today I'm a life Mastery Coach. And when I say that I want to help people master life, spirit, soul and body, which is why I think that what you do and I do resonates so powerfully is because you can be in counseling for years and then and I will sit down with him on so how are you sleeping? Well awful how'd you know that and how there is such a connection between what is going on. If you've had abuse in your past, if you've had trauma, if you've had high stressors in your body is in that state what that does to our body and then there's unforgiveness and bitterness and all of those kind of emotions. And so that is why I do what I do today. And that's a little bit about my story.

 

Leigh Brandon: Well, that's a great story. So was there one thing that triggered off your sort of looking into the connection between the mind, the body and the soul?

 

Donna Tashjian: Well, I always knew that there was a connection. I don't think I realized the strength and how much they were actually interconnected. We tend to treat the mind, the body and then of this all completely separately. And as I begin to just begin my own journey and then study, as I'm helping others, doing more research, it just began to be more and more apparent that we need to treat the whole person, not just a part of us. Because, you know, when you stub your toe, it affects your whole body. It's all connected.

 

Leigh Brandon: Absolutely. So was there one thing that really kicked off that deeper connection for you? Or was it just something that came on gradually or was it a series of events?

 

Donna Tashjian: I think it was more of a series of events.

 

Leigh Brandon: OK.

 

Donna Tashjian: Interesting.

 

Leigh Brandon: Interesting. So I'm guessing that most people listening and watching to this, they've got a clear understanding of what the human body is to whatever degree they understand it. But not everyone necessarily understands what the mind is or perhaps has a different view on what the mind is. Can you give us your understanding of what mind actually is?

 

Donna Tashjian: That's a very deep question. In truth, to me, it's very hard to separate what the different parts are. And we, in our understanding, tried to label things to bring a clear to try to figure it out. And this connection, in truth, I don't know that we will ever completely figure out what it all is. But the mind generally for me is your intellect, it's your reasoning, the part of our mind to be able to to me, there's the subconscious and the conscious mind and how those work in harmony together. Our conscious mind decides by their beliefs what they allow a subconscious mind to believe. And so if I have decided that people aren't trustworthy because I've been hurt, then my subconscious mind doesn't allow me to have deep relationships and therefore I constantly feel alone and then I complain that I'm alone and all of those things. So there is a connection between what has happened to me, what my beliefs are, and what my life has reflected. Life is happening with us, not to us. And when we begin to understand that what I believe and what I think has a whole lot to do with what I experience now, trauma is another story, but it does to turn how I recover from that.

 

Leigh Brandon: Yeah. And how much of our behaviors do you think us are from the subconscious mind? How much, what kind of percentage do you think our behaviors, our choices are from the subconscious mind? Rather than the conscious mind.

 

Donna Tashjian: I don't know. What do you think?

 

Leigh Brandon: Well, the person, I guess, who's probably quoted the most is Bruce Lipton. And obviously he wrote the book the Biology of Belief. He's written a number of books since then, but he suggests that around 90, 95% to 99% of our behaviors, our choices are subconscious. So, you know, I suppose a good analogy is, you know, you can be driving on a motorway or highway, and you could do 50 miles, and you can be completely unconscious of what you did in the car. Right. Because you're not thinking about, you know, how hard you're hitting the pedals. If you've got a manual gearbox, you know, you can go for miles and miles. Who's been driving the car? Because my conscious mind isn't driving the car, it's my subconscious.

 

Donna Tashjian: Right.

 

Leigh Brandon: And if you use that analogy in everyday life, you think, well, how much of what I'm doing in everyday life is subconscious?

 

Donna Tashjian: Right.

 

Leigh Brandon: And I would suggest that Bruce Lipson is probably quite accurate. It that is around 95.

 

Donna Tashjian: I know it's high. I agree with you and him on that, that it's very high. Because like I used in my analogy of lacking to trust people, my subconscious is saying, this isn't safe, and therefore I'm keeping people at bay. But then I'm turning around going, what's the matter with me? Why doesn't anybody love me? And I don't even realize why it is what it is.

 

Leigh Brandon: Because it's subconscious.

 

Donna Tashjian: Because it's subconscious.

 

Leigh Brandon: Yeah. And I certainly find sometimes you're working with someone and you're giving them things to do, and they don't do them, and then you say, yes, why didn't you do that? And I said, I don't quite know why I didn't do it. I know it's going to do me good, but I still didn't do it. And that's an awful moment because that's like, okay, so what's driving the problem is subconscious, there's a definition of mind by Dr. Dan Siegel. I don't know if you're familiar with Dr. Dan Siegel.

 

Donna Tashjian: I'm not sure. It sounds kind of familiar.

 

Leigh Brandon: Yeah. So he says that mind is an embodied and relational process that regulates the flow of information and energy.

 

Donna Tashjian: That's a good definition.

 

Leigh Brandon: Yeah, it is a nice little definition. So I think what's important, what we've just been talking about with the mind for people listening, is that quite often we can have illnesses, we can have pain, and it might be that there is something causal from our mind. Now, it doesn't mean that the pain, the illness isn't real. Because I think absolutely, sometimes when people visit a medical doctor and the medical doctor doesn't know how to help the person, and quite often their kind of go to diagnosis is, well, it's in your head. Well, they're correct. It is in their head, but what are you going to do about it? So that, I know, can be really frustrating for people sometimes, and it is really important that you work with someone like yourself who can work with the mind.

 

Donna Tashjian: The best resource to me is if a doctor, whatever kind you go to, has got the same kind of perspective. Let's figure out what's going on emotionally, physically and in the whole body to be able to treat the whole person. Those are the best.

 

Leigh Brandon: Yeah, absolutely.

 

Donna Tashjian: Sadly hard to find. Yeah. Everything's. Let's just throw a drug at it. That's one of my soapboxes.

 

Leigh Brandon: So that's a little bit about mine. So hopefully people have got a bit more of an idea of what we're talking about when we talk about the mind. Because some people think that the mind is the brain. And again, that's probably another can of worms. We could if that's the mind, this is a subject I think people probably think a little bit less about. How would you describe what the soul is?

 

Donna Tashjian: I would describe the soul as the more emotive part, where I called the mind the more intellectual reasoning, but they're all interconnected. That's just the important part to remember through all of this. It's hard to dissect something that's integrated, but it's the emotive part. It's perhaps a little bit more of your quirky personality kind of stuff. To me, that's the kind of thing that I mean by the soul.

 

Leigh Brandon: Yeah. There are obviously lots of different views on what the soul is. I didn't come from a religious background, quite the opposite. But my views have changed as I've gotten wiser and older. But I would look at the soul as the part of you that is connected to the source, but it's the individual part of you, of the source, if that makes any sense.

 

Donna Tashjian: Pretty much. Keep going.

 

Leigh Brandon: Yeah. That's kind of as simple as it is.

 

Donna Tashjian: But.

 

Leigh Brandon: One of my teachers, I don't know if you know of Paul Czech, he's the founder of the Chek Institute. He defines the soul as consciousness within.

 

Donna Tashjian: Yeah.

 

Leigh Brandon: Whereas spirit is consciousness that moves everything in the universe.

 

Donna Tashjian: Okay.

 

Leigh Brandon: Now that kind of rings true to my understanding, is that your soul is the individual part of the source and it's the part that can experience in this physical realm. Obviously, what we're talking about, if we're talking about mind or soul or spirit, they're all non physical. They're not physical things.

 

Donna Tashjian: Exactly.

 

Leigh Brandon: But for us to experience life, then we have to also have an individuated part of us, which I would see as the nonphysical, is the soul. But the experience is what we call the ego. So if I didn't have an ego, I wouldn't know that I'm any different from Donna. So my ego allows me to differentiate me from the rest of the world. And that's what people put labels onto as well. That's part of your ego, right?

 

Donna Tashjian: Yeah.

 

Leigh Brandon: Does that make sense?

 

Donna Tashjian: That makes sense to me.

 

Leigh Brandon: And is that similar to how you kind of see things?

 

Donna Tashjian: Yes, it is.

 

Leigh Brandon: So in what ways do body, mind and soul connect and why is that important to understand?

 

Donna Tashjian: My better question to me is in what ways do they not? Because to try to define how they connect to me, there is connection across every gamut. If you could imagine a bunch of wires and they're all integrated and you can't just determine which they're just connected through it all. It's important to understand because as I said before, we just treat what the I got a pain, we treat the pain. Another thing that happens often is we eat a whole carton of ice cream. I'm not hungry, I'm not eating this because of that. I am treating something else that's going on in my emotions, in my soul and my ego and I'm doing it and I'm eating. And so there is a definite connection. And it's important to understand, instead of eating the whole thing of ice cream, what I suggest with my clients is just say, well, why am I eating the whole thing of ice cream? Another question is what is needing to be nourished or cared for that I'm using ice cream to COVID up because I don't know what else to do. This is what mom did, this is what I do, or something like that. And so learning that there is that connection, so that we can truly address what is needing to be nourished, what needs attention as opposed to sitting on the couch, watching Netflix, some movies and eating. And so that's just one idea of what we do. Other people work out a whole lot. And it's not that working out is bad, but you can use it to also cover up what's staying really busy. We do all kinds of activities to mask what really needs attention. And so learning to have time, times of stillness, times to really listen to your soul, to your intuition, to what is really going on, what is really upsetting me, I have been in situations where I reacted strongly, knew that I shouldn't be reacting the way I am at this moment, but I am. And then defensive because I've reacted this way. And then I get quiet going, why did that bother me? What was I believing about myself or the situation at that time? What was it that triggered that reaction in me? Because then I can address causative instead of just dealing with the fallout or whatever the symptoms are of what has actually happened.

 

Announcer: You're listening to the Radical Health Rebel podcast.

 

Leigh Brandon: Are you regularly suffering from painful bloating, a wind that could be smelly and embarrassing? Are your bowel movements not as they should be, either constipation or diarrhea or possibly alternating between the two? Do you find the pain is bad enough, but the bloating and cramps make you feel awful and are affecting your everyday life? Do you sometimes feel you can't eat properly because of the wind, bloating and pain? And has your doctor told you that you have IBS but unable to help find you a solution? Do you feel right now that you simply don't know what's causing your symptoms and whatever your doctor has suggested hasn't worked and you feel frustrated that you're still far from having a normal, flat, comfortable tummy? Have you invested a lot of time, energy and money into improving your symptoms and don't wish to waste any more? Do you feel frustrated and depressed and don't feel like you can take part in all the activities you enjoy and sometimes have to cancel attending events because of the way your tummy feels? Do you fear that if you don't get this sorted, you could end up with a much more serious gastrointestinal disease? Or if so, what would help you right now is to understand the root cause of your digestive condition rather than continuing to try to mask the symptoms with over the counter or prescribed medications. You need help understanding how factors such as nutrition, gut health, stress and toxicology affect the digestive system and how to optimize these factors. You need someone who can advise, motivate, and support you every step of the way, someone who has walked the path before and taught many others to do the same. What you need is my overcome your digestive issues program. My Overcome Your Digestive Issues program can help you in the following ways I will help you understand the root causes of your digestive problems and teach you how to approach the condition holistically via expert advice on nutrition and lifestyle factors to overcome your digestive Issues program will start by ensuring you are on the right diet for you based on your genetics or metabolic type and one that avoids the foods that are known to exacerbate your condition will go on a journey step by step, learning all the necessary lifestyle changes required to achieve a flat, comfortable, pain free tummy. Each weekly 30 minutes coaching session will include advice, support and guidance specifically tailored to your needs and at a speed that is right for you. Once you're eating right for your metabolic type, you will begin to see changes in how your tummy feels and we will also uncover all the necessary blocking factors that you may have. And you'll be taught how to reduce, replace or eliminate all the factors that are causing your digestive problems. Ultimately, this program will enable you to achieve a flat, calm and comfortable tummy every day for the rest of your life. For more information about how to improve your gut health and to claim a complimentary no obligation gut health consultation, please go to www dot bodycheck Co. UK that's BodyChek and fill in the request form at the top of the home page and we'll be in contact to arrange a convenient time. Now back to the podcast.

 

Donna Tashjian: Does that make sense?

 

Leigh Brandon: Absolutely, yeah. And just going back to your first example so someone that let's call them an emotional eater, we've all heard that saying, haven't we? Where they're feeling low. So what they'll do is to make them feel good, they'll fill the emotional void with food, which is physical. Right, but you're never going to fill an emotional void with something that's physical.

 

Donna Tashjian: Right.

 

Leigh Brandon: So what you were saying is rather than, okay, I need to feel better, let's do a whole tub of Ben and Jerry's or whatever. Let's look at, okay, so why am I feeling bad? And what can I do to feel better emotionally rather than physically?

 

Donna Tashjian: Right. Because then I usually feel worse physically.

 

Leigh Brandon: Yeah, definitely.

 

Donna Tashjian: And then I'm dealing with other problems.

 

Leigh Brandon: And then you've got a physical problem.

 

Leigh Brandon: Yeah.

 

Leigh Brandon: The other example you gave is quite an interesting one. So someone that perhaps works out a lot, or could it be that someone they feel the only way they can respect themselves or get respect from others is to be big and muscular? All they're doing in the gym, they're building up and building up and building up, but actually all they want is recognition from other people. Probably. More importantly, they probably need recognition from themselves.

 

Donna Tashjian: Yes.

 

Leigh Brandon: And it doesn't matter how big they get. It doesn't matter how many steroids they want to take. If that's the route to go down, it's still not going to solve the problem of not feeling loved by themselves or others.

 

Donna Tashjian: Yes, absolutely.

 

Leigh Brandon: Do you deal with anything along the lines of soul contracts at all?

 

Donna Tashjian: Sometimes I've used the word soul ties, those type of things. It's not something I dive deep into, but I'm aware of them.

 

Leigh Brandon: So just for the listeners, if people haven't heard the concept of a soul contract, what that basically is suggesting, and Caroline Mace is the person that's probably most well known for speaking about soul contracts. And the concept is that before you enter your physical body, you make contracts with other souls so that when you come into this lifetime, you will meet up at some point with these souls, obviously in physical form, and you will potentially be challenged in this lifetime to give you an opportunity to learn in this lifetime. So that would be my kind of overview of what a soul contract is. And in what way would you work with someone with regards to a soul contract?

 

Donna Tashjian: It's not something that I really focus on in my coaching practice. I maybe take a little bit different take on it than Caroline, but to me, the basis of for dealing with that is dealing with what they are believing about that situation, what they're believing about themselves and the other individual. I see those kind of things a lot in toxic relationships, and they can't seem to get away or behaviors, alcoholism, different things like that. So working to be able to eliminate the tie by what they're believing. And for my practice, forgiveness has a whole lot to do with that.

 

Leigh Brandon: Yeah, I can imagine. Which leads me on nicely to my next question. So how in your work do you help people with their mind, body, soul connection?

 

Donna Tashjian: Well, I have developed transformational programs. They're unique to what I do. I mean, they're not unique in the whole coaching industry. There's probably some similarities and same practices, but one of my programs is called Turn Your Baggage into Luggage. And helping people to get a visual of that. It's possible to turn my baggage into luggage and actually build a life I dream. And so we work through the different programs I do is helping them to create a vision for what they want. Most people can easily make a list of what they don't want, but they have a hard time saying what I do want and to actually begin to believe that it's possible. So if I want to take a road trip and I just want to take a road trip, but where do you want to go? Someplace nice. Well, what does nice look like? Warm. Well, what else does nice warm look like? That's the kind of conversation it's like, what does nice look like? I just want to be loved. Well, what does that feel like? What does that look like for you? And begin to really paint a very clear picture because we cannot get to that place if I can't see it. So vision is one of the main first steps of being able to leave the past behind. I use the analogy of driving your car. How much when you drive down the road, do you look in your rear view mirror? Well, occasionally, right? But not often. It's not like the whole place you're looking. But most people are driving their life as if they're looking in the rear view mirror, all the things I don't want, and then they can't get very far down the road. And so I use that analogy. I'm like, okay, was that thought rear view mirror or windshield? Were you looking down the road or are you looking backwards? And they're like, oh. So begin to realize how much vision and where I want to go helps me to go. The labels that have been put on us is another thing that hinders us because one of the things that I say about vibrant living and the coaching practice I have is I'm not going to help you cope with your problems. I want to eliminate them. You do not have to have that label, whatever that label is, the rest of your life. It does not necessarily have to be true unless you make it true. So understanding that we actually can be, which is one of my other programs, Life by Design, design the Life You Would Love. In that particular program, I teach eleven laws of the spirit and gifts that we possess to be able to work in partnership and create a life on purpose rather than just letting life happen to me.

 

Leigh Brandon: Yeah, that sounds great. So the first step most of the time for you is to help people find their dream, if you like, their vision. And then the next stage, if I'm correct, is to try and leave all the baggage behind and to believe that you can lead a life according to the dream that you've just kind of envisioned.

 

Donna Tashjian: Yes. And part of that leaving them behind is, for example, what happened to me. There was a period in my life where nobody will ever love me. I'm not worth anything. Where were the things that I believed about me for what happened to me? But in truth, what happened to me didn't define my worth. And as I begin to look at what happened to me differently, what I believed about myself changed. And then I'm able to leave it behind in a different way. Does that make sense?

Leigh Brandon: Yes. So what would the process be like if you're working with someone? How would you help liver through that?

 

Donna Tashjian: Well, one of the paradigms that I teach is the meaning that we make about things that happen to us is more important than what happened to us. And so determining what did I make that mean? And is that actually true? And in coaching lingo, we would call it reframing it in another way to say it is begin to look at it in a new perspective. Hey, that wasn't true at all. One of the stories that comes to mind was a woman whose husband, who happened to be an alcoholic, but he had an affair and left this beautiful girl with 20 friends that were five and a one year old. And she began to see me. And of course, if I'd have been a better wife, if I'd have done things better, if I would have done all the things, if I had lost weight after the baby, if I had done this. And when it actually came in true, finding out he was also an alcoholic in some of the abuse that had been going on in the home, and then her trying to COVID all of his mistakes and then taking ownership of them, when we begin to look at it all, and she's like, he's a jerk. There's nothing wrong with me. And when she began to realize that she could create her future completely different than there's something wrong with me perspective. And so learning to be able to get a new perspective, to look at it from a different place so that you can realize most of the perspectives we created were there to protect us in some form or other, but they don't always serve us well.

 

Leigh Brandon: So basically what you're doing is you're working with someone, you're finding out what their understanding is of a certain situation and really challenging their belief, if you like, around that situation, and you're inviting them to choose something different. You mentioned your eleven laws of spirit. Can you tell us a bit about that?

 

Donna Tashjian: You. Might like that one. Yes, it isn't necessary. Some of the laws you may not have, you probably have, but maybe not the listeners have all heard of, but it's just learning that one of them is the Law of Thinking and how much are thoughts, how important that every thought that you continue to think matters. And there is a secret workshop in our mind and everything is created twice. First it's a thought, before it's a thing. The tables were sitting at the computers we're working on, the chairs we're sitting in. Somebody thought it up first and then it became a thing. And so is the results in our life. And so understanding the Law of Thinking is one of the main ones as we get started in all of that is how important our thoughts are.

 

Leigh Brandon: Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, I would sum that up to say first you got a thought, then you've got it, and then you've got a deed. That's thought word. Thought word and deed is pretty much what you've just suggested there. Can you share any other of the Eleven Laws of Spirit?

 

Donna Tashjian: Sure, let me think of what other ones I'd like to share. Well, everybody's heard of the Law of Attraction. That would be one of them. And let's see, one of my favorite is the Law of Non Resistance. And so many times when we think about somebody does something wrong to us and we automatically feel like I need to fight back. And instead of fighting, learning to be able to use things and go around them as opposed to resisting them. The analogy that I like. There's a couple of stories that I tell in this is when water starts at the top of the mountain. And it's a tiny little stream and boulders and trees and all of the things get in the way. But it knows where it wants to go, and it's headed to the river that's down at the base of the mountain. And it doesn't stop and fight with the tree, doesn't fight with the rock or whatever. It just goes around and continues to flow in, keeping the vision of where it wants to go. And as it grows, it gets bigger and grows and grows and continues. And at some point it could probably physically move a rock, but it continues to go around and ends up where it wants to be. So much time, we put energy into fighting what we don't want instead of focusing on what we do want. Does that make sense?

 

Leigh Brandon: Yeah. I really like that you mentioned the Law of Attraction. It's interesting because I remember very clearly in 2005 and I'm sure you're aware of it, the move be the secret came out. And I remember pre ordering my DVD. And it turns out I think I was one of only about 1000 people that got the original version because there was a contractual dispute between Rhonda Byrne and Esther Hicks. And I actually got the copy of the addition of Esther Hicks in it. That was probably one of my first experiences of the Law of Attraction. But there might be people listening that perhaps haven't heard of the Law of Attraction. Do you want to speak a little bit about the Law of Attraction?

 

Donna Tashjian: Sure. The Law of Attraction is understanding that whatever we desire, when you focus on that, you attract it is if every thought that you think has a vibrational attraction to it, which it does, whether you realize everything is vibrating, everything is vibrating. And so one of the examples that I use is, have you ever walked into a room where there was a disagreement? There is no longer a disagreement, but you can tell there was a disagreement. How do we know that? Vibrates? Another example is if you've ever been in a room and a bunch of people and you know somebody's staring at you and your back is turned, how do you know? How do we know these things? And so there's so many things that we know that there isn't physical evidence of why we should know that. And so to me, that helps some people who have not understood the Law of Attraction. So if I walk into a room and I am expecting, which I have done this I used to do a lot of networking earlier in my career, but I was insecure. I don't really want to I'm also an introvert, so it's a little bit challenging in that respect, but all right, Donna, just talk to five people, then you can go. Now. What do you think my energy level and vibrational level is at that point? I don't want to be here. Let me talk to you. And then I get to go home. And they never produced good relationships. Why? That's just one example of when we begin to realize that what we are thinking and feeling is being picked up. If your confident people don't have to say anything. Have you ever been also in a room and then somebody walks in and everybody turns around and looks and that person wasn't noisy or there's people that got in and you didn't notice them at all? And so there's all kinds of learning to be able to pay attention to what we are thinking and feeling is attracting things we want and things we don't want. And how do you work with that? Just having that knowledge is overwhelming. But having someone where I work with my clients, having them walk through that so they can learn how to put that into practice and have it work for them on a level and all of these laws work in harmony, just like the mind, body, spirit situation. It's not our soul. It's not just Law of Attraction has had a lot of attention, but all of them work in harmony together.

 

Leigh Brandon: Yeah. One of the things that I often do with clients and one thing you said earlier is about you always want your clients to have a vision. You want to know where they want to go. And that's always where I start with my clients. And one of the things that I use very frequently and works extremely well is affirmation statements. So getting the client to well, I normally help them come up with the right words because, again, they normally come up with words like I do not want to. And it's like, okay, it's still attracting the same thing. So I get them to come up with affirmation statements. They're only allowed to use positive words and they have to be in the present tense. So if it's in the future tense, it's pushing it further down the road, so you're still never going to get there. And my own personal experience of using affirmations and my experience with my clients has been extremely successful. And that's just an example of, as you were alluding to, everything in the universe has a vibration. Everything does. And the Law of Attraction states that like attracts like. So if you're constantly putting out a vibration of abundance, then you're more likely to create abundance in your life. If you're putting out the vibration of a lack of things, then you're going to have a lack of things. So if you're always worrying about money, the chances are you're probably not going to have much money. But if you're putting out to the universe that you're rich and you're financially secure and you're safe and you've got no worries, then you're more likely to attract money into your life.

 

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Leigh Brandon: Just a brief interruption to this podcast to talk about adult acne. Now, did you know that 40% to 54% of men and women older than 25 years will have some degree of facial acne? And that clinical facial acne persists into middle age in 12% of women and 3% of men? I know only too well the devastating effects that acne can have on your confidence and your self esteem and how it can easily destroy your social life, your career and your relationships. I know this only too well because I suffered from severe cystic acne from age 13 to 31 over an 18 year period. I visited my doctor on many occasions and his only suggestions were acne creams, harsh cleansers and antibiotics that weren't working and were actually making my skin worse. After 18 years of struggle and thousands of pounds invested in treatments that didn't work through my professional education, I began.

 

Leigh Brandon: To learn that what my doctor had.

 

Leigh Brandon: Told me was untrue, and that diet was directly related to acne, plus other factors such as food sensitivities, toxicity, hormones, and balancing the body's microbiome. Putting what I had learned into practice. I managed to rib myself of acne over 20 years ago and have been helping others to do the same for well over a decade by teaching people what foods cause acne, what food sensitivities each individual has, how to optimize their detox pathways, how to reduce environmental stresses and toxins, and how to balance hormones, especially those related to the mTOR pathway, a major causal factor with acne. I've been able to help many other adults overcome their acne nightmare, too. So if you would like more information on how to overcome your adult acne, please go to www.skinwebinar.com. That's www.skinwebinar.com, where you can also request an Acne Breakthrough call with me to see if you are suitable for my Eliminate Adult Acne coaching program, where you can once and for all learn how to overcome your adult acne. Now back to the podcast.

 

Donna Tashjian: We often think that worrying about what we don't want is going to want to keep us from getting it. And I tend to be a little blunt sometimes with my clients. It's just who I am. And I go, well, how's that working? Because it doesn't work, and we keep doing it. We keep thinking that if we do that I was talking with a client the other day, and I was trying to explain this concept to the individual, and they said, so what's your favorite dessert? And they went, Chocolate chip cookies. I'm like, okay, so you go into work tomorrow, and you've decided to be on a diet. It's Monday morning. I'm going to lose some weight for the holidays. I'm not going to gain at all. And you walk in there and there's chocolate chip cookies, and you say, I'm not going to eat that cookie. And you grab your cup of coffee and you've go in your office, and all the time you're sitting there, you keep thinking, I'm not going to eat a cookie. I'm not going to eat a cookie. I'm not going to eat a cookie. And I said, how many cookies did you think you ate before lunch? And I said, it's the same way. I don't want to be depressed. I don't want to be poor. I don't want to be lonely. I don't want to be and we keep getting it. So let's focus on what you do want instead. And I have created a book called The Key to Transform Your Life, and it's 30 days of declarations that a person can say every day. And it is a jump start to help people know to how to create im statements and how to do that, because that is the single thing that has transformed my life. It's what I would say to myself about myself every single day. I still do it today. It isn't a practice that you just stop because I am continuing to grow and go forward. And so we don't arrive. We continue to develop and expand and grow. So I am totally with you on the I am statements of is huge, a huge transformational key.

 

Leigh Brandon: And I completely agree with you that it's something that you have to continually practice. You know, it's like, you know, going to the gym for six weeks and expecting you're going to be fit for your entire life. It doesn't work like that. So yeah, affirmations generally have to be used consistently. And I found from my own experience, if I stop using them, I notice it and then I start saying them again and things change. It almost sounds too good to be true, but that's me.

 

Donna Tashjian: It sounds too simple. And you feel kind of stupid when you first start because you don't believe it. But it doesn't change the fact that it affects the subconscious as we were talking about. And you begin to believe it and then you begin to say it without having to think about it. It's just what you think about. I use the analogy of gardens. I love flowers and play outs and such. And I will clear a plot and make it all pristine and fertilize it and get the soil all ready and I'll plant my seeds and won't you know it, even though I cleared it, put fresh soil down, weed show up. And I didn't plant weeds. I planted flowers or vegetables of some sort and weed show up. And our mind is like that because we live in this world. We collect weed seeds and unless we do active affirmations, we do active some type of a normal procedure, routine, whatever word works for you to be able to pull the weeds they're going to grow. And that's how if I stop saying declarations or affirmations in a very short period of time, I'm like I'm doubting myself or whatever and it's because the weeds grow. It's too easy to go with the flow where things and it doesn't always go in the direction you want.

 

Leigh Brandon: Yeah, definitely. Two of the things that I use in my practice to connect the mind, the body and the soul, one is the chakra system and the other one is the Chinese five element system. Do you use either of those at all?

 

Donna Tashjian: I might, I just don't know them by those names. Tell me a little bit more.

 

Leigh Brandon: Okay, so obviously you've got the seven chakras. I know some people look at chakras in a different way, but let's take the seven chakras. So obviously the first chakra is the root chakra, which deals with safety and security. The first chakra also relates to the legs in the body, so the lower half of the body. And if you take the nervous system of the human body and you put it next to a plant, they look almost identical. So the legs are like the roots of a plant. If you look at the nerves in the legs, it's like the roots of a plant. So that's our root chakra, and then the second chakra, which is higher up. So it's in the pelvic region that deals with sensuality, sexuality, procreation, rhythm and flow in your life. So what I do as a practitioner, if someone's got a particular issue in a particular part of the body, I look to see if there might be a correlation with a chakra issue. Now, obviously, sometimes it's purely physical problem, potentially. Some people don't even say there's never just a physical problem. But let's say someone's playing sport and they fall over, they hurt their knee, right? It might just be they're falling over and hurt their knees. Just a physical problem. But it could be they've got an issue with the first chakra.

 

Leigh Brandon: So if I'm working with someone and working purely on the physical, it's not kind of getting the job done. You might need to start asking some more questions about are they having problems with safety and security? Have they got money issues? Have they got problems in terms of a place to live? Do they have enough food to eat that they would all be considered are they frightened they might get sacked from their job? These would all be considered chakra issues. But I've got an example that I often tell. Some years ago, I was actually on a course in California, and at the end of the course, they bring in a client for you to work with and you work with them for four days. So this is at the end of five years of training. You spend four days working with a client and you're assessed based on your work with this client. And on the last day of the course, all the students were given an envelope and it was put face down on the table. I say an envelope because we used to use paper back in the day. It's all computerized now, but we're all given an envelope and you're not allowed to open the envelope. But what you have to do is you have to write down basically the envelope is full of health questionnaires from the person you're going to be working with for four days. And you hold one hand over the envelope to feel the energy coming off the envelope. With the other hand, you write down what you think is going on with that client, as much detail as you can possibly write. And my first thought was, there's nothing coming off. And then out of nowhere, I just started writing and I wrote down a 52 year old professional that has pain from neck to lower back caused by relationship with mother. Anyway, once we'd written down what we thought was the case, he said, right, you can open the envelope and you can start looking through the questionnaires. So I'm starting to look through. And it was a 52 year old, but it was a female. She was a marine biologist and she had neck and lower back pain. And when I started working with her, one of the questions was what's your relationship like with your mom? And she just flew off the handle. Don't talk to me about my mother. We've never got on. She never loved me as a kid, I haven't spoken to her for decades. And I was like, wow, that seems like I'm on the right track. So over the four days I did physical assessments on her. I gave her exercises and stretches to do. I taught her how to eat right for her particular type. But I spent a lot of the time coaching her on what's called nonviolent communication, on what I wanted her to do. Of course she had to agree, but what she needed to do when she went back home in terms of communicating with her mother. And to be honest, I didn't give her many exercises to do or many stretches. I think it was like three stretches, four exercises, really simple. And obviously I taught her a lot about nutrition and lifestyle and things to follow. And about six months after I got a letter again, shows how long ago it was email then and I got a letter from the client and she said I can't thank you enough. Not only is my neck and lower back pain gone, she said, but I've got the most amazing relationship with my mother and we see each other every wow. And that for me is a good example of how the body, the mind and the soul connect and how a non physical issue can cause a physical problem. In this case, two physical problems, the neck and the lower back. But the other interesting thing is that her pain was on the left side of her body. Now when we look at the body, the left side of the body is female and the right is male. So again, if someone has pain on the left side of the body, I'm thinking there's potentially an issue with a female close to them in their life. And it's nearly always the parents. Not always, but nearly always. And so the body kind of gives us information in terms of where we can potentially look and where the root cause might potentially be the other one. The Chinese system. Again, things like certain organs in the body relate to certain emotions. So the liver relates to anger, the lungs refer to grief, the heart to love, obviously. So again, sometimes you can kind of help work out what is going on in the body. Someone might have an issue in an organ in the body. It might not be a physical problem, it might be a mental emotional problem. So there are some really great tools and systems out there to help tie in the mind and the soul of the body.

 

Donna Tashjian: Yeah, I've used a few of those. So yes, that's a great story.

 

Leigh Brandon: Yeah, and I've got lots of those, but that's probably the one I use the most. So you may have answered the next question a little bit, but it might possibly go into more detail on another example. So how in your work do you help people connect their mind, body and soul?

 

Donna Tashjian: I don't know that I specifically address it like helping them connect it, but it's just using one of the exercises I take people through is if they have pain in their body, what is that part of your body trying to tell you and having them get quiet and listening to themselves as opposed to just taking into tylenol kind of a thing. So helping them be more attuned to you're not just getting old or you're not just this or you're not just that. It's like what is that part of your body trying to tell you? You continually have neck pain or whatever it is. And so helping people to make that correlation and listen to their intuition, listen to themselves and see what is coming up for them. And as they do, then we can go into like you were talking about with a woman of the deeper healing. So I do that with everyone.

 

Leigh Brandon: Yeah, it's interesting, again, mentioned the neck. So in terms of the chakra system, the fifth chakra is the throat chakra and that deals with communication. And it was quite interesting that the client that I spoke about just now, she had neck pain and she was struggling to communicate with her mother. So again, the body is quite intelligent in terms of it can kind of tell you where the problem might be. I guess it's just important to know.

 

Donna Tashjian: How to decipher it. Yes.

 

Leigh Brandon: Again, we may have already answered this question, but I'm going to ask it anyway because it might come up with a different answer. When do people need to connect their mind bodied soul?

 

Donna Tashjian: Always, the more that we can realize, as I did on my journey, that they're connected, the better and the happier and healthier we can be.

 

Leigh Brandon: I guess one of the times is when you've got a challenge in your life and I guess what we've been speaking about predominantly is if you've got a health challenge or you got pain, then that can be a good time. But I think you're absolutely right. All the time is very important because then you can you're more likely to reach a potential and actually live the life that you really want to lead.

 

Donna Tashjian: Absolutely.

 

Leigh Brandon: So what would be your top tips for anyone wanting to connect their body, mind and soul?

 

Donna Tashjian: Moments of quiet, which I don't think well, personally, in my experience, most people don't practice quietness stillness. I know I didn't. And I remember when I tried to set a timer and be still, it must be ten minutes already. Oh my goodness. 30 seconds. And being moments of stillness. I love Yin yoga, being able to get in touch. And that makes to me that brings I am surprised every time I practice. Well, not every time, but most of the times when I practice, emotions come to the surface that I wasn't aware. And it gives me a moment then to sit with my journal. What is going on, what are the emotions, what are the feelings? And it keeps me refreshed, it keeps me pure, it keeps me hopeful. It doesn't allow a backlog. So to me, learning to be able to create some type of quiet time practice and I help people develop that for them because it's a very private thing of what that looks like. But to me that's the number one tip. And the other thing is get support. We weren't meant to do this alone. If you're struggling with something, get support and get the right support. Today there is an abundance of coaches and so check them out and interview them. It is unfortunately super easy to get a coaching certification. So check out that they're going to help you produce the results that you're looking for. But everyone that is highly successful, you name any person in any industry that you know they have a coach. And so if you want to achieve more and to have more life in abundance, more vibrant living, then get support and help. Those would be my two top tips.

 

Leigh Brandon: Great. Yeah, they're awesome. And what's next for you, Donna?

 

Donna Tashjian: Oh, I am continuing to vibrate. Living is growing. I'm really promoting the Life By Design, the spiritual intelligence program. To me that is something that has been so transformational. I'm sure it is like opening the door and seeing a whole new world and so helping people to do that, that's one of my biggest passions right now.

 

Leigh Brandon: Right, that sounds awesome. And Donnie, you've kindly offered a free master class called Unlocking Your Six Extraordinary Gifts. Where can people get more information on.

 

Donna Tashjian: That still send me an email or comment on this video.

 

Leigh Brandon: I think you did actually send me a link.

 

Donna Tashjian: Okay, that'll be great then. Great. And that'll be the way. I couldn't remember what I had given you. So yes, that would be the easiest way. Then just grab that link and take a look at that because that is part is an introduction to the Life By Design talking about the six gifts that we have that we are not aware, most likely. And if we are, we're using them incorrectly. And when we use them incorrectly, it's kind of like using a knife backwards. I'm at an apple trying to get it to cut and it's not working. So I throw down the knife and say this doesn't work. And that's kind of how we feel about things in life. So when we learn how to use them properly the way they were designed, it goes a lot easier. And that's what this class is about, right?

 

Leigh Brandon: And where else can people find you online?

 

Donna Tashjian: I'm on all the different social media platforms just about, and my best place that has a lot of free resources as well is my website and that is ivibrantliving.com.

 

Leigh Brandon: Great. And again, I'll put all the details in the show notes as well. Donna, thank you so much for taking your time out to share your wisdom with the Radical Health Rebel listeners and viewers today. And to all the Radical Health Rebel tribe, if you know someone who would benefit from watching or hearing this episode, please make sure to share the love and forward it onto them. After all, the mission of this show is to help people lead a more fun filled, healthy, productive, fulfilling and happy life. And if you'd like to support the podcast, you can@patreon.com radicalhealthrebel where you can also receive lots of other exclusive premium content, including unedited, full length, ad, free video episodes, monthly, Ask me Anything, Q and A sessions, and discounts on my coaching programs. So that's all from Donna and me for this week, but don't forget, you can join me same time, same place, next week on the Radical Health Rebel podcast.

 

Announcer: Thanks for tuning in to the Radical Health Rebel podcast with Lee Brandon. You can find Lee at www. Bodychek.Co.UK. That's BodyChek.Co.UK. Please hit the like button and share on your social media and with someone you feel will benefit from watching this episode. So together we can help them lead a healthier, more productive, fulfilling and happy life.

Donna's background
What is the Mind and the Soul?
The 11 Laws of Spirit
The Law of Attraction
Chakras and Chinese Medicine
How to connect Mind, Body & Soul