I’m so pleased to bring you this collaborative project I have been working on with Rory Linehan of The Paleo and Petra Chambers-Sinclair of BiohackU– two of my favourite peeps in this corner of the health caper world. The three of us all hail from different corners of the globe and have very different life experiences, but we share both friendship and passion for seeking health through an holistic approach. The intention behind our podcast is to seek out and interview others who share the same goal – and hopefully impart what we learn and have a little fun along the way. We hope you’ll join us!
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After 5 years’ commitment to a healing protocol lifestyle, Healing Protocols: the global edition co-host Petra Chambers-Sinclair discusses re-wiring her brain, having increased peak experiences and healing from adrenal fatigue, as well as the role of childhood trauma in her health issues. She offers compelling advice to people who are contemplating launching their own healing protocol.
Episode 1: Petra Chambers-Sinclair
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Show Notes
0.00 Introduction to the Healing Protocols: the global edition
1.20 Welcome to Episode 1: Interview with Petra Chambers-Sinclair
2:22 Joanna: Give us the 30,000-foot view of your health story
- 37: Pushing the boundaries of well-being. Physically and (unexpectedly) spiritually.
- 3:10: Previous health issues including obesity, chronic fatigue, exhaustion and mental health issues.
3:40 Rory: What approaches have you tried during the 5 years that you have been living a healing protocol lifestyle?
- 3:57: Started with Paleo, levelled up to the Autoimmune Protocol 3 years ago. Husband Matthew was almost disabled by autoimmune disease at that time. Matthew has reversed all of his autoimmune symptoms and gotten off of all of his medications on the Autoimmune Protocol.
4:38 Rory: Tell us about spiritual development as part of your experience with a healing protocol lifestyle.
- 4:49: Increase in incidence of peak experiences. Healing protocol lifestyle has enabled the experience of that state relatively regularly.
6:07 Joanna: Aligning with your purpose?
- 6:16: Another unexpected outcome of commitment to a healing protocol lifestyle.
6:50 Rory: What is your nutritional and lifestyle template like these days?
- 7:16: Nutritionally, between a regular paleo diet and the Autoimmune Protocol. The lifestyle practices is where the leverage is, currently.
8:22 Joanna: Why did your particular health issues surface – genetics, life choices or environment?
- 8:41: All health issues arose at puberty and coincided with a deterioration in family stability. Coping strategy was to self-medicate. Genetics, environment, life choices contributed. A mess of reinforcing loops that were creating ill health. Solution to disentangle those loops and get them moving in the opposite direction.
10:43 Rory: Healing takes time. What are some of the outstanding health issues you are still working on? And how are you dealing with them?
- 11:25: Past 8 years have been extremely stressful with Matthew’s illness. Another stress-related health issue: adrenal fatigue. Primary mission this year is to reorganize life to permanently heal from adrenal fatigue. Brain has been wired for hypervigilance: now changing patterns of living and rewiring brain.
12:32 Joanna: How are you rewiring your brain?
- 12:35: ‘Neurons that fire together wire together’: reprogramming habituated behaviours, responses and thought patterns. Being mindful and intentional about which patterns are being reinforced.
13:25 Joanna: Becoming more intentional about the way you respond to stimuli and trying to change the direction that you’re heading…
- 13:54: Changing behaviours and activities. Being selective about stimuli.
14:12 Rory: What are some practical examples of things you do to prioritize self-care?
- 14:33: Healthy boundaries, yoga, connecting to nature, reorganizing work patterns, making conscious choices.
15:14 Joanna: A healing protocol takes work. What is your advice to someone who is just starting out? How do you prioritise your health when you lead such a busy life?
- 15:47: Advice: start wherever you feel you can. Stick with incremental changes and you’ll change. As you change, the world will change, because you’ll perceive it differently. You might come to a paradigm shift: in time this could become the life you want because you enjoy living this way.
17:17 Rory: Did you think this would be a permanent lifestyle change when you started?
- 17:46: Primary goal was weight loss at the beginning.
18:36 Joanna: Experience of personal discovery. Reinforcing to keep feeling better, happier and more fulfilled.
19:20 Rory: Who has been most influential for you as you have pursued this health journey?
- 19:39: Margaret Wheatley. Reading Leadership & the New Science, 20 years ago: how to think in terms of complex adaptive systems. Enabled a new conception of health and basis for approaching healing through self-experimentation.
21:00 Closing
