Podcast Transcript
Narrator:
Welcome to real wealth, real health, the show that empowers you with insights, information and inspiration to achieve your version of financial wellness. Learn how to balance living a full life today, with planning for the future. This podcast is brought to you by Alpha Investing. A real estate centric private capital network that provides exclusive investment opportunities to its members. And now, here are your hosts, AdaPia d’Errico and Daniel Cocca.
AdaPia d’Errico:
Hello and welcome back to another episode of Real Wealth, Real Health. Today, we turn our attention to the topic of health and specifically holistic health and the immune system by speaking with Dr. Gabriel Cousens. A multi-faceted physician, humanitarian and spiritual healer. Dr. Cousens is a holistic orthomolecular physician, a homeopath, psychiatrist, family therapist, Ayurvedic practitioner and Chinese herbalist, who served at Lieutenant Commander in the US Public Health Service. He is a recognized expert in healing diabetes naturally and is also a leader in spiritual ecology. He’s the founder and director of the Tree of Life Foundation and the Tree of Life Center in the US and is a best selling author of 14 books.
AdaPia d’Errico:
In our conversation, we also touch on Dr. Cousens’ entrepreneurial journey, which is driven by his passion and faith and we learn what real wealth means to someone whose dedicated his life to the pursuit of holistic health.
AdaPia d’Errico:
Well welcome to the podcast, it’s really an honor to have you and to learn from you today for our audience. You’re a very multi-faceted man and I know personally I could take our podcast episode in many, many directions given your background. But we would really like to focus today on your background as a doctor and as an entrepreneur. And what you’ve learned over the years in doing both and how you’ve built a business and a lifestyle and a really imbued everything that you do with meaning and how you really just show up in the world as this multi-faceted entrepreneur. And so again, thank you for being with us.
Dr. Gabriel Cousens:
Well, I’m very happy to be with you. Actually, I really enjoy speaking actually more to just to doctors but to all the people that you’re reaching. I’m going to just start with something that’s really important for people to understand. The longevity studies show that people who are working hard, I’m going to also say a majority more, actually live on average five years longer. And that’s important. So people who are type B people, I’m more type A. They don’t live as long. And I’ve looked into that because longevity is one of the things I’m interested in. And motivation is very important for longevity. As well as paying attention to detail. Which truly women do more than men, but that’s okay. The idea is detail but the vision of the aggressive business person, man or woman, is really, dies early from a heart attack, actually isn’t true. And there’s an 80 year study that actually shows that, that people who were highly motivated and worked hard actually lived five years longer. I just want everybody to understand that. And then we can do some qualifications about why is that the case.
AdaPia d’Errico:
I love that you started with that, because even for Dan and I, when we started the podcast, it really is a passion project. We do it to inform people, to expand our network but mostly to connect. And to share information that’s meaningful and so I know a lot of people in our network and a lot of our listeners are pursuing passions and work and sometimes the two don’t always connect. But for you, they are very, very, connected. So I’m really curious to understand a little bit more about your background and if we can, can we start with your medical background. Because you’re a doctor but you specialize amongst other things, in holistic medicine and I’m curious how you got there. Because it’s something that I’m starting to see, I’m starting to see a lot of functional medicine, a lot of holistic medicine. But it’s coming more mainstream, as I think it dovetails with this sense of trying to find meaning in other ways to show up in the world.
Dr. Gabriel Cousens:
So first let’s go back. I went to Columbia Medical School, I’m also trained as a psychiatrist and this isn’t the ’60s, okay. So my age is actually 77, okay so I’m coming from a different generation where the word, “Holistic medicine,” didn’t exist. So coming at that viewpoint, I came out of a place called Amherst College, it was the top rated college in the country. I was captain of an undefeated football team, just to tell you a little bit about me. National College Football Hall of Fame, in other words, I’m a hard worker. And I love it. So if you don’t love what you’re doing, this is not good for your health.
Dr. Gabriel Cousens:
So one of the things that doctors face, what I see a lot of, is serious burnout, high rates of suicide. Because they’re not loving what they’re doing. I love to see clients, I love to be talking, like what we’re doing now. So one of the things is, follow your passion. Big thing. Doesn’t matter how hard you work, follow your passion. There’s a little bit more to it, you can overwork, too. But working hard is not bad, it’s good for you. It make you healthy and having meaning in your life, okay. So that’s key.
Dr. Gabriel Cousens:
So what I did as I evolved, I saw that as a psychiatrist, I saw people coming with lots of different difficulties but I’m also a scientist. I publish papers in biochemistry and biophysics. So as a scientist, which is a little bit different than what you get in medical school, I said wait, something’s wrong here. So I began screening everybody for blood sugar problems, diabetes. I’ve written a book, There Is A Cure For Diabetes. First you got to understand the traditional teaching is, there is no cure for type two diabetes. You can maybe mitigate it with medication. So we heal, heal normal blood sugar, 61% who aren’t on insulin, 24% who are on insulin in three weeks. How did that happen? Because this is another thing people need to learn. You got to think out of the box.
Dr. Gabriel Cousens:
So I developed a lifestyle and a diet and working with different supplements, literally three weeks? That’s impossible but it’s not. Because we’re doing it and I started doing that in 2007. Okay but I’m backing to the ideas, I’m seeing the mind and the body are connected. As a psychiatrist, how do I work with the mind if somebody’s body is completely out of balance? So I began, that’s how I moved into holistic because again, didn’t exist. The word didn’t exist. We have to work on people with blood sugars, we have to do, if they have diabetes, that makes them more susceptible to practically everything. So I first wouldn’t even see people in psychotherapy. I’m also a trained family therapist, okay. And couples therapist. Boston Family Institute.
Dr. Gabriel Cousens:
But the point I’m making is, if their bodies aren’t in order, we can’t even talk about their mind. So that’s how I began pulling it together. Scientific approach, what works, what doesn’t and if people are coming in with a totally unbalanced biochemistry, we got to start there. Then that’s what we call orthomolecular psychiatry. Which actually began to emerge in the late ’70s. So what’s where I’m coming from. And also, couples work. If the couples aren’t in balance physiologically, it’s really hard to have a reasonable discussion. Because your blood sugar is off and it goes down then your mind isn’t working right and then your emotions are off. So the whole thing is, how do we get people healthy, then we can work, if there’s anything left, of the psychological and psycho spiritual and really, and family work.
Dr. Gabriel Cousens:
So that’s kind of the overview and it just evolved, really starting in the ’60s, that’s a while ago, right. For some people. And then it evolved in the early ’70s, when I finished my residency and so forth. Into a holistic practice. Again, trial and error, scientific approach, what works and what doesn’t work. That’s how I evolved it. I didn’t have a philosophy to start with. It evolved out of my direct experience, rather than, oh I think I’ll be a holistic psychiatrist or holistic therapist. No. That’s not how I started. So that’s what we got.
AdaPia d’Errico:
Sure, well I mean you’ve been doing this for such a long time but it’s accretive and so with all the new, the research that comes out, every time there’s a new discovery. You have to continually learn to evolve. Everything changes, it’s the same for us in finance and the real estate markets, you have to stay on top of things and you have to evolve and your thinking has to evolve. And so I can see how that’s natural, that the idea of holistic, which I take for granted myself today, wasn’t really a thing when you started in medicine.
Dr. Gabriel Cousens:
Literally didn’t exist. The language wasn’t there, I mean that’s really what we’re talking about. But obviously it’s a big thing now. And functional medicine, which is not really holistic in the same way.
AdaPia d’Errico:
Okay.
Dr. Gabriel Cousens:
Literally, hey we have a couple, they’re having trouble. So and so’s having this or that. I’m seeing the couple, I’m seeing the family. I even ran a clinic, I use them for teaching for residents in Sonoma County in California with an orthopedic surgeon. And I would interview the people, they’re having trouble. But it was low back pain. And we began to understand low back pain, we began to see how it affected the relationship. If you get what I’m saying. And then you have their physiology. In this case, the relationship called pain in the neck, so to speak, the relationship was affecting and creating psycho somatic difficulties.
AdaPia d’Errico:
Yes.
Dr. Gabriel Cousens:
So it actually goes both ways. Can be from psycho spiritual affecting psycho somatic or it can actually be physiological affecting your mental. And people think it’s only one way but it’s really both ways.
AdaPia d’Errico:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Daniel Cocca:
So let’s talk about your business. It sounds like similar with us, your business and your life are effectively one in the same. It’d be great to just hear a little bit about kind of what you’ve built and what you see for everything on a going forward basis and a lot of the folks in our network, whether they’re physicians or what have you, at some level, they’re also entrepreneurs. And we always like to chat with other entrepreneurs, kind of hear your story. What’s worked for you, what have the challenges been. That sort of thing. So we’d love to hear your story.
Dr. Gabriel Cousens:
So I think the key for me is following the passion, following what creates meaning and value and purpose in life. If that isn’t on target, whatever you do isn’t going to really work for you. And it won’t give you the longevity, it won’t give you the overall health. So I’ve gone through different phases, I started as an individual psychiatrist and holistic physician. Then I kept getting messages about creating a community, which we did both in Montecito, California and then messages to come to Arizona, where all the laws are best for holistic physicians. And developed a community again based, I’m going to say kind of a holistic, spiritual community. And then as that expanded, it provided all the finances and so forth. And lifestyle. Lifestyle is a big thing. So I clearly created for myself, I created a lifestyle that supported me economically as well as my purpose in the world. Meaning and purpose in the world. That’s kind of really how it happened. Meaning, purpose, value comes first, with passion. And then you develop things that don’t work. That’s why I don’t get burnt out. I work really hard, I love it, okay.
Dr. Gabriel Cousens:
A lot of physicians, they’re not liking what they’re doing. They’re not seeing whole people, you got five or 10 minutes per person. I, on the average, spend … First patient visit? Two and a half hours. Think about that. Why? Because it actually takes that long to get to know the person and see what’s going on.
AdaPia d’Errico:
That makes a lot of sense. Yeah. Yeah.
Dr. Gabriel Cousens:
When I was in medical school, I was a third year student and I was in the disease ward, internal medicine ward. And there was a lady there who, she’d been to three other hospitals and nobody had helped her at all. She was very, very sick and I’m a third year medical student so I actually did that unusual thing, I talked to her. “What’s going on?” And my diagnosis was psychotic depression. Now, if you’re a third year medical student, you got to be a little political. So I called in the psych consult, actually his name was Dr. Messinger. I was very impressed. He interviewed her and completely confirmed my diagnosis. Then they treated her for depression and she got magically, not magically, she got better. She got healed. Cases just like that. So what I’m saying is, you kind of have to think a little bit, too. You have to think out of the box, as a doctor. Not see a person just through their lab tests, you actually talk to people. Then you begin getting assessment.
Dr. Gabriel Cousens:
Now at that time, I have to be honest with you, half the Columbia P and S medical students were in psychotherapy. They weren’t very happy to begin with. Now, that’s probably true at all medical schools, it’s not Columbia as a separate, okay. It’s not Columbia but it’s … So I’m seeing things, I’m happy and I’m seeing things in a bigger way. I’m a scientist. So that allowed me to talk to her, figure out what’s going on and that’s key to the whole thing. So my passion kind of comes from well, let’s get some understanding here.
AdaPia d’Errico:
And with your passion and I love that you always bring it back to passion and meaning. Because I feel that when we can align to that, there’s also an alignment of internal values that then, as you’ll know I’m sure, it magnetizes certain people to you or into your life. So for example, for me working with Dan and our partners Fark and Anne is really a true alignment of values. And it doesn’t ever feel like work, and there’s no drama.
Dr. Gabriel Cousens:
It doesn’t feel like work.
AdaPia d’Errico:
Yeah.
Dr. Gabriel Cousens:
Doesn’t feel like work. It’s your life. Go ahead, I’m sorry to interrupt.
AdaPia d’Errico:
No, no, it’s okay. I was just thinking about that, because when it doesn’t feel like work but you’re doing meaningful work and you’re helping others, because that’s really our approach. Is to provide value but having an alignment of values so that we’re always going in the same direction and there’s not somebody rowing in a different direction. What kind of people were to bring into your life to help you achieve more of what you have achieved. You’ve published multiple books, you had a retreat center that I actually want to talk about as well and how you got into that. But first, who came into your life to help you build your dream and your passion to help others?
Dr. Gabriel Cousens:
So I would say that a key component is putting out what you’re doing. And then you’re attracting people into your life who align with it. And if you aren’t ready to mediate three times a week as a group together, if you aren’t ready to work on your health, that kind of thing. So we’re also plant-based diet, if you’re not there, I’m not interested in convincing you. If you’re staff, you already have to be there. So you want to put out a strong enough message or signal or frequency, however you want to talk about, that’s going to attract people in who are already aligned. That’s also, did it with relationship as well. You don’t want to have to convince somebody, a husband or wife or something, to learn to be a vegan. You have to be there already. Otherwise, you’d have battles that you don’t need.
Dr. Gabriel Cousens:
So you want the alignment and that’s the key to that. But you just make it more public. A lot of business, they’re not as public about it. And then you’re in it and then you say, well what’s going on here. So by being more public, you’re more likely to attract people who understand what you’re doing and already are aligned and actually are looking themselves to find this alignment in their own lives.
AdaPia d’Errico:
I love that. I was thinking about how we do that in our own way. It’s so important. It’s so important. How did you start your retreat center? And you still have it, it’s in South America, right?
Dr. Gabriel Cousens:
Well, I’ve taught in 40 countries. I have programs in 26 different countries and I have over 100 programs. So it’s confusing me to talk about a location. However, that being said, really started in Patagonia, Arizona. Not Patagonia, Argentina.
AdaPia d’Errico:
Oh, okay, okay. I thought Argentina.
Dr. Gabriel Cousens:
Right, that’s what I’m trying to say. So here we are, we’re up in the mountains, it’s just beautiful. So people are coming because they want to be part of a diet or they want, where can you go to be supported in a lively vegan diet. And get really healthy, has that of value, where can you go where you can also be supported for meditation because they’re not always aligned. People get into food but you can’t eat your way to God. Big problem. So what I’m saying is, that’s how it started. I said, “Okay, I’m being told, kind of an inner vision, that that’s what you need to do.” And then I proceeded. So there was an inner vision with it as well, I think that would be fair to say.
AdaPia d’Errico:
Right, right.
Dr. Gabriel Cousens:
And what I’m doing. And that’s guiding and has guided me.
AdaPia d’Errico:
Right, right.
Dr. Gabriel Cousens:
So people have literally come here from over 128 different nations. Okay. So these are the kind of things that are going on now. Of course with the COVID thing, it’s a little complicated but like today, I’m working with an Irish couple in England. In London, whose 21 year old son suddenly died from COVID …
AdaPia d’Errico:
Oh my goodness.
Dr. Gabriel Cousens:
So we’re doing a whole approach to helping them heal from the grief because that just happened a few weeks ago. So I’m working with people on the internet literally all over the world. Life has changed so we change. Fortunately, there are Internets and there are-
AdaPia d’Errico:
I was going to actually ask you. So were you performing, I guess, telemedicine before COVID? In a way? Obviously if you’re working with people from multiple countries, either they’re coming to your center but were you already practicing a form of telemedicine before?
Dr. Gabriel Cousens:
Yes. I wouldn’t call it telemedicine per se. Remember, it’s a two and a half hour interview.
AdaPia d’Errico:
Sure.
Dr. Gabriel Cousens:
But usually, I like people to come here at least once. Because there’s something about that personal, energetic connection that’s very important. And so I like that and then again, people from, literally, I said 128 different nations. All over South, Central America, the Middle East, Asia, Hong Kong, whatever. And so if they can get it, that’s good. If not, I will do it over the internet. Again but I prefer at least once to see the person.
AdaPia d’Errico:
Yeah. Well now with the pandemic and with largely these shutdowns, have you pivoted your business somewhat? Has it changed very much?
Dr. Gabriel Cousens:
Well, it’s kind of expanded, in a way. Because so I’m doing retreats online. Like this coming Friday night, Saturday, Sunday, we’re having an online, meditation intensive … There’s a lot of things you can do online. So I’ve kind of, so that’s what we need to do. Okay. It’s interesting, okay, because spiritual energy can still be transferred over the internet. So we shift, you have to shift with the flow, to make things work. Can’t hold onto the way you did it when what’s happening is not fitting that.
AdaPia d’Errico:
Right, right. And I’m actually curious if we could talk a little bit about perhaps the immune system and some of your teachings and what you know to be true through, well both your teachings and science and research on what we can be doing now to boost our immune system. And also, some people are starting to come out of lockdown and by the time more people listen to this episode, probably more states will be slowly … I’m not going to say getting back to normal, because that doesn’t exist. But getting back into a more outward focused life. So can we talk a little bit about the immune system and some suggestions?
Dr. Gabriel Cousens:
Sure. So we have to see it, we have to take, I’d say, a holistic approach, right.
AdaPia d’Errico:
Sure.
Dr. Gabriel Cousens:
So the 1880s. 1800s, a few hundred years ago, 150 years ago. Louis Pasteur was promoting the germ theory, okay. Claude Bernard and Tom Bichard, names you probably don’t know and Tom Bichard had eight medical degrees, PhD degrees, these are smart people. And they were saying the terrain is everything. I’ll explain what the terrain is in just a second. So when Louis Pasteur died, he said, “Claude Bernard and Tom Bichard were right, the terrain is everything.” So what is the terrain? Your total life force. So if we can step it up away from immune system, which is more allopathic thinking into total life force, that’s what we need to build.
Dr. Gabriel Cousens:
And so that debate, that actually started at the Civil War, literally. There’s a brilliant nurse who kind of began to figure those things out. But the point I’m making is okay, so what’s my approach? Well, the COVID virus, whatever people believe, we know it attacks at least the lung tissue. It also attacks the heart. So first thing I would say is you need to breathe. You need to build what we call, “Lung Chi.” So I recommend strongly what we call in yoga pranayama. Or breathing exercises. Build lung chi. Why? Because you want that to be a strong force.
Dr. Gabriel Cousens:
Second, exercise. How does exercise? There’s a lot of research that shows exercise really, again, builds your immune system. Breathe, you oxygenate. Research shows on longevity that the people who live the longest have the most oxygenated mitochondria. Which is the energy factories in the cell. Right, so we’re going to breathe, we’re going to build the mitochondria. They’re going to be our energy factories, if you see what I’m saying. And I’m going to exercise, same thing’s going to happen. And when you exercise, sodium oxide, this one takes a super duper antioxidant, is going to protect against the free radicals that the viruses are creating.
Dr. Gabriel Cousens:
So those are two things, okay. Be well hydrated. And this is really important, not only for overall health but if you are, seriously, if you’re a little dehydrated, 2% dehydrated, that you brain begins to shrink and your thinking functions go down, right in that day. So if you’re an on the ball business person, okay. If you’re not hydrated, your brain is shrinking during the day. Literally, your mental capacities are going down and you won’t be as effective. So I look at the hydration for all levels of health but also for clarity of mind. The question you’re going to ask, you should ask is, well how do you know if you’re hydrated? Well everybody has different body types. Okay. So you know you’re hydrated if you are urinating every two hours. It’s really simple. You don’t have to measure things or do things. I try to give people simple things. Okay, if you’re urinating every four hours, you’re not hydrated. Your brain is shrinking and your mind will not work as well. That’s it. If you want to be effective, you got to, okay. So that’s three of the natures healers, these are principles that are true.
Dr. Gabriel Cousens:
What about sunshine? Now, even President Trump’s folks are talking about the importance of sunshine. They’re saying, “COVID virus can live for about six hours. In sunshine, two minutes.” Think about that. So sunshine, vitamin D is very, very important. We know that people who have adequate vitamin D, and I like it around about 180 units in the blood. Best is the blood test. You’re going to cut your upper respiratory, lower respiratory disease by 40 to 50%. Well, we got to get our sunshine, we also need to get vitamin D. We also know that most of the transmission of COVID comes from indoors. Only 2% is outdoors, 80% is indoors. Think about what I’m saying here. So if I were running a business and I had my people outdoors, I’m outdoors, exercising and breathing and doing all these things. Make sure people are getting an outdoor break, they’re getting sunshine and they’re getting fresh air.
AdaPia d’Errico:
So we shouldn’t be sheltering at home, we should be sheltering in tents, in forest.
Dr. Gabriel Cousens:
Yeah, we don’t have to go that far but we need to get outside a half hour a day.
AdaPia d’Errico:
Right.
Dr. Gabriel Cousens:
The doctors kind of on the frontline, are going to give you a more frontline look. So there’s two doctors out of Bakersfield. And they basically have shown that shutdown versus non shutdown, the end results are the same. And there are researchers in a variety of places are staying, well did it work? Is there any science at all that supports shutting down? There’s no science whatsoever. Hate to say it, but these guys really said it in a big way. And then they also said, hey it’s not that, it’s dangerous. But take care of yourself, if you get what I’m saying. But the shutdown apparently all over, not only in the United States but also in Europe when they compare Sweden and Norway. Sweden kept it all open, no shutdown. Norway did shutdown. Statistically, this is what they pointed out. Statistically speaking, the amount of deaths were the same. You see what I’m trying to say but that’s what a scientist is going to look at, who works in the emergency, who’s going to see things. I just heard about this new surgeon from New Zealand. Had lived in New York, I think, but saying the same thing.
Dr. Gabriel Cousens:
So a scientist is saying, what is this shutdown stuff? There’s no historical evidence, there’s no present evidence because we’re now looking at four months of exposure. You see where I’m going with that. It’s like okay, now but here’s my point. I do a 10 minute thing each day. If the train is coming down the tracks and you’re standing on the tracks. Whether it’s a big train, very lethal. Or a little train, a little lethal. Get off the tracks. Common sense. So you want to get out of the way. So I have a protocol that I’ve developed. We look at zinc deficiency being connected. I won’t go into the whole physiology of that but zinc is very anti-viral. Vitamin D, vitamin C, okay. These are pretty basic things we want to do. I won’t go in too much with the 5G but a certain amount of 5G protection is needed. These protocols and I’m going to say a vegan life, at least an 80% diet, is going to give you an optimum immune system.
Dr. Gabriel Cousens:
Back to your question. So we know people who live this way, really, one live longer but also have an optimized immune system. You’re breathing, you’re exercising, okay. You’re drinking water, so you’re hydrated so your cells work right. These are very, very important. You’re outdoors, way less transmission outdoors, okay. And then I want to put in about relationship. Research shows longevity, because we have to kind of look at that, love actually works. And I say that seriously, though. I mean, it’s a nice thing to say, I understand. But the research shows that people who are married live longer. That’s what the research shows. And men are more affected. So men who are divorced do not live as long. Women who are single live almost as long as married women. So relationship is most important. We know it cuts down depression by 50%. Okay so love, relationship, community connection. These are all really, really important things.
Dr. Gabriel Cousens:
So when you start adding all those up, okay. You are creating the terrain, which is what they used in the 1880s, that’s way bigger than the immune system. Now I do have certain Chinese herbs that people can … I’ll put it this way. I have a whole protocol and they can just go to doctorcousens.com. It’s free, you get on the mailing list and you get the protocol and you can see the whole thing. Because there’s a bunch of things. So I have herbs that support the immune system, more straightforward that way. So that kind of gives you a little bit of an overview of that, so once you got to get off the train track. So you’re not hit by the train, whether it’s super lethal or a little lethal. Doesn’t matter. Get off the track. Second thing is, take care of yourself, that’s what’s getting off the track. And the third thing and this is again, based on a research basis but when you return and go back out in your life, you actually do much better. You’re more inspired, you have a more sense of purpose but the truth is, you live longer and you have less disease.
Dr. Gabriel Cousens:
I’m summarizing a lot of research but we do know people who are involved, focusing on God, doesn’t matter what religion. Or you’re even in a religion, just focusing on God, he’s the one in front of the zeros that really empowers people. And we can look at well, how did people make it to the concentration camps? The people had some kind of belief in God, they tended to survive at a higher percentage than people who said, it’s all meaningless and I can’t do it. So these are really the big players, not just for COVID-19 but for living your life. Okay. And I think that’s the thing we want to get. We’re talking about living your life. And real wealth, okay, is really that. Is how do you live your life with love and purpose and meaning. And then from that, you naturally are going to make the contribution that attracts you. So love, life, meaning and I’m going say passion. Okay.
Dr. Gabriel Cousens:
Another very important thing is meditation. I’ve actually been teaching meditation since 1973. So you can do the adding on that, it’s 47 years, okay. So what do we know about meditation? People who have been meditating for more than five years have a physiology that’s 15 years younger. Think about that. Physiology that’s 15 years younger? Who can complain about that. Okay. And that’s research that’s been repeated a variety of times. So I really ask people to start meditating and begin to tune into themselves. Now people who talk about meditation or relaxation, all that’s good. But and lowering your blood pressure, all that is good. But the big point is, it really connects you to the truth of who you are. If you’re empty inside, you don’t know the truth of who you are. How do you have meaning, value and purpose? Because you’re disconnected from that. So meditation helps connect you to the divine. And that’s really kind of the cornerstone of it all. If you don’t have that, you don’t have … And prayer. I’m going to put prayer in there, too. We literally know, I talk about brain. Literally, meditation and prayer literally change the shape of the brain.
AdaPia d’Errico:
Yeah, there’s a lot of neuroscience and I’m certainly not as well read as you but from some of my personal studies around the neuroscience and the research that’s out there, it’s a physiological effect and I actually wanted to ask about the fear and not so much mindset but the way that fear and being afraid and the new cycle, to some degree, that keeps fear front and center if we follow it. How that is impacting, as you put it, the terrain, the wholeness, of who we are. Because if we’re in fear, it’s shown to effect the immune system.
Dr. Gabriel Cousens:
Totally.
AdaPia d’Errico:
And the thoughts that are anchored by emotion that create a belief and a habit and so on and so forth. So that’s really important and we found that a lot too in a person’s ability to … They have passion but getting from passion to manifestation also has a lot to do with overcoming a mindset that has fear or scarcity or other limiting beliefs.
Dr. Gabriel Cousens:
Right so you actually said two things. And I actually deal with both of them but I just want to say on the physiology, is that the prayer increases the frontal lobes and prefrontal lobes and shrinks a little bit what we call emotional, the Amygdaloid area. It actually shrinks that. So it’s naturally going to decrease your cure. Okay so that’s, just to finish that concept to answer your question. So another piece with fear is the idea that you’re attached to your body and you forget that your soul is immortal. Which is basic in all of the great traditions. And it can never die. So that’s a pretty important thing, it decreases it. On a practical thing, if you’re doing all these things that I’m talking about, your chance of getting COVID or anything else is going to be way less. So nature is going to give you 95% protection. If you get what I’m saying. Comorbidities, the study shows that 99% of the people who died had at least one comorbidity. 50% had three. So obviously, one way to deal with the fear is get yourself healthy.
Dr. Gabriel Cousens:
So you’re decreasing your fear, because you know I’m healthy, I have a strong terrain, it’s really rare that I’m going to have a problem. If I have a thing, it’s going to point, I mean the research kind of suggests like out of Stanford, research. What did I get, point one, point O … Very low mortality. So practically, take care of yourself and you’re going to have a lower mortality. Period. You’re going to be way safer. Period. So we have that level plus there’s a more spiritual level, which is soul’s immortal. What’s the problem here?
Daniel Cocca:
When we talk to new investors, one thing they ultimately say to us is, help me invest my money so that I can stop doing what I do everyday, working as a physician, working as a lawyer, as a banker. I want to retire as early as possible and I think what you’re saying about having passion is probably the most important way to kind of get through your life and create meaning. But the question is, are you thinking about investing? Are you thinking about building wealth or are you more focused on passion and meaning and whatever happens longterm happens? I think it would be interesting to hear from your perspective, how you think about those ideas.
Dr. Gabriel Cousens:
It’s a really good question. I don’t start about building wealth, I start about meaning, value and purpose and I all know that I will be taken care of. So I kind of start from that point of view because if you don’t have that, what’s money going to do for you? You’re going to eat it? I mean, what can you do? I don’t ever see retiring and out of that passion, meaning and value, that all that happens. Including thoughtful investment. Longterm investment, that’s fine. But it comes with it, everybody has a role they have and you will be taken care of. So that’s how I look at it, I don’t worry about it. If that makes sense.
Daniel Cocca:
Absolutely and within our team structure, one thing we do every week is each one of us has a one-on-one with other members of the team where we spend most of our time talking about non work related matters. Just catching up. And AdaPia and I, we actually share a lot of similar beliefs around just personal optimization, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. Whatever that means and things that we talk about a lot and the reason I bring this up is I know you’re very experienced in this world. Fasting and plant based eating. I’ve been an intermittent faster for probably a year and a half now. One of the best nutrition, food-based decisions I think I’ve ever made. AdaPia is a vegan, I’m typically plant-based until dinner but I grew up in a meat eating household and it’s been a hard transition entirely away. We’d love to hear a bit more about your thoughts on both of those topics, advice for people who are just looking to improve their relationship with food, how they eat, their nutrition, et cetera.
Dr. Gabriel Cousens:
It’s an excellent question. So I’ve been teaching fasting since 1983. It’s a while out there, okay, 37 years. People can come to the Tree here and fast, I have fasting retreats in Israel, of course right now everything’s kind of shut down. So fasting is a tremendous, tremendous thing. In my research, a minimum of six to seven days is what I’m recommending. Why? I’ve done a 40 day fast. Okay. It’s because it takes that long to get the bowel toxins out of the system. Intermittent fasting is also good, don’t misunderstand me. But it’s not getting out the bowel toxins out of the gut and also out of the brain. So by day five and six, as the bowel toxins come off out of the gut but also again say the brain, people get clearer, they get healthier and it takes at least five days to undo all your addictions. When you’re fasting.
Dr. Gabriel Cousens:
So we get a lot of mileage of a seven day fast, which is a nice Earth cycle with that. Because by the time you’re done, the bowel toxins are out, you don’t have food addictions. It’s like a major restart.
Daniel Cocca:
Can you talk a little bit more about what that entails? What are those five to six days like? If I said, hey I want to do one of these fasts tomorrow, how do I think about it?
Dr. Gabriel Cousens:
Okay. So I do juice fasting. And what I do is I have people that we serve juices, green juices I dilute in half. I initially did fruit juices but they’re too sweet and the fructose unbalances the system a little bit. So we do a diluted green juice fast, people are taking enemas once a day because you got to clear the bowel toxins. Okay. Sometimes twice a day, that’s pretty classic stuff. If you look at all the fasting, classical fasting, retreat places like in Europe and so forth. So that’s it. We’re also meditating twice a day, we’re doing yoga at least once a day, we’re teaching people breathing exercises and we also have spiritual discussions in the evening. So we’re tuning people in, into a bigger thing and I get it, it’s hard to explain but from a yoga point of view, I lived in India for seven years on and off. And I was empowered to give a thing called chakra, about waking the Kundalini energy. Are you familiar with that or do I need to explain that a little bit. Okay.
Dr. Gabriel Cousens:
I’ll just explain it. Kundalini energy is this spiritual life force. When it’s not awake, it’s kind of stored at the base of the spine. When it’s awake and it begins to energize and spiritualize, the DNA, the cells, the organs and the whole Endocrine system. And what we call the Chakra Systems. Which are connected to the Endocrine. So when that’s awakened, people are much more empowered. So over a course of seven days, as people clear, they’re more likely to have awakened. Okay. Which is a huge jump in not only spiritual life but actually your overall health. So that’s why I like the seven day cycle with that. So we’re doing 50% diluted juices, yoga, twice a day meditation, we work our Shekinah, the awakening of the Kundalini energy and spiritual discussion as well as overall health discussions. How to take care of your brain, how to take care of your body, how to take care of your immune system. Overall health discussions. The power of a vegan diet, the power of a raw food vegan diet. So what are the components of health and longevity. These are all things that we covered in the past, so it isn’t just fasting, per se. But it’s a total holistic experience, looking at every aspect of your life.
Dr. Gabriel Cousens:
That’s kind of what we do with our fasting retreats.
AdaPia d’Errico:
It sounds like something that even though a lot of people who have been shut in for a while, as you describe it. It sounds like something that I think maybe a lot of people would like to do, just having gone from being shut in, in an environment where it hasn’t necessarily been that easy or maybe even that healthy, depending. I mean there’s a lot of research that shows that people have gone back to eating a lot of junk food and processed foods instead of the live and those kinds of foods. But I know that we could talk about this for hours, it’s a personal passion of mine. I’m just saying that I think coming out of this, the need for a full detox on all these levels, like you’re saying, it’s not just the not ingesting food. But it could be something that potentially a lot of people are drawn to. I’m sure that many have been feeling the effects of this period of time as a need to change something. So I hope that maybe perhaps they will find you and all your wisdom. And just want to say again, thank you so much for coming and having this very, very interesting discussion.
Dr. Gabriel Cousens:
I’m going to add one more thing, because you brought up something about limiting concepts, if you recall. So this is a course I do teach on the internet, which I’ve already done. I call it The Zero Point and we carry thought towards are out, limiting thought forms and belief systems about who we are and poverty consciousness. These are things that people really do and they contract who they are. So I, a few weeks ago, I already taught my Zero Point course, which is started in the late ’80s, okay. That helps people clear their limiting thoughts. That’s something I do at home. Fasting, I don’t know, I’m not quite ready to do that one. Because you need sometimes kind of to be able to check people’s blood pressures and pulse rates and heart and all that. So we approach the limiting thought forms because that’s a huge issue for people. That’s huge.
AdaPia d’Errico:
It is.
Dr. Gabriel Cousens:
And when people fast and you do the Zero Point, which is again, limiting thought forms, limiting beliefs. It moves really fast. Making a pun, fast, right. But the point I’m making is, that is something I’m doing over the internet not this weekend but next time we do the meditation and then we go into a, it’s a three and a half day course. To specifically address what you raised earlier. Because that actually really does limit people’s ability to earn money and be abundant.
AdaPia d’Errico:
Very much, yes. Yeah.
Dr. Gabriel Cousens:
So we do directly address that. And that helps a lot. So I’ll put it that way. So those are two things I’m doing, I’m not sure about fasting. I kind of have to have a hands on type situation.
AdaPia d’Errico:
Of course, of course. Yeah, it’s very relevant to know what we might be holding onto as a thought form that’s holding us back from whatever we’re seeking. Purpose, passion, prosperity, all that abundance. So I’m glad you brought it up, we’ll include a link in our show notes so that people can find it, if they’re interested in learning more. I’ve done a lot of work around that and it’s really powerful to unblock and clear those out so that you can really move towards what you want.
Dr. Gabriel Cousens:
We get, as I say, three and a half day course. Very high success rate. In people being able to do this. So let me just give a blessing to everyone, that we’re able to touch into the truth of who we are. The fact that we are all divine beings, put on Earth to grow spiritually and as we grow spiritually, all that other abundance naturally comes.
AdaPia d’Errico:
All right, thank you.
Dr. Gabriel Cousens:
So may people be blessed to experience that.
AdaPia d’Errico:
Thank you so much.
Daniel Cocca:
Thank you, Dr. Cousens. This was a great talk.
Dr. Gabriel Cousens:
Okay, great. Thank you, Dan.
AdaPia d’Errico:
Thanks for tuning into Real Wealth, Real Health. We hope that you’ve enjoyed today’s episode and found it both informative and insightful. We welcome all your questions and your feedback about today’s episode and especially, we welcome your questions about specific topics that you would like us to cover. So shoot us an email at [email protected] and if you have a moment, we really appreciate rating and reviews, as it helps us grow our online community and our interactions with you. And we’ll also be linking to a number of relevant articles on topics that we might have touched on during our conversations. Some of them are broad, some of them are technical but we’re always aiming to provide information that helps you better understand the mechanics of building this healthy financial foundation, especially if you’re looking to do this with real estate.
