Guest Episode
September 11, 2024
Episode 26:
Holistic Nutrition, Healing & Pacific Rim College
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ordelia McFadyen, is a Board Certified Nutritionist and Dean for the School of Holistic Nutrition at Pacific Rim College.
Here we will dive deeper into what Holistic Nutrition is, how you can use it to help heal yourself, and of course we will discuss Pacific Rim College.
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welcome to the show Cordelia thank you so much for being with us how are you doing thanks so much for having me Simon
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I'm feeling really well today good time of the year days are getting longer more sun I'm happy yeah we were just having a
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little bit of a chat um about how excited we are the spring is coming and
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how it's such a trans transformative time for everybody and yeah once we can
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start seeing those flowers blooming and more birds in the sky it just brings a
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brings an air of happiness around for everybody I think I love it I love it absolutely cool well let's just jump
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straight in why don't you tell us about yourself your story into becoming a um Health practitioner and a
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teacher yeah absolutely so I kind of I feel like I'm a bit of a standard story
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in the sense of what pulled me to holistic health was my own personal needs initially I am someone who
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suffered from debilitating gut issues my entire life uh was my my elementary
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years Junior High and Senior High were punct ated with ongoing stomach issues digestive issues and in hindsight I
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would have out of control nose bleeds I would have you know strep throat three four five six times a year all of these
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markers indicative of completely overwhelmed immune system particularly
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with food sensitivities and issues however you know the mainstream medical system was always looking for something
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bigger something really dysfunctional thankfully they never found it but it wasn't actually until I moved to the UK
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uh when I was 20 where I had a bit of a flare up and was not feeling good and for the very first time in my entire
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life a doctor said what are you eating and he specifically called out wheat and I remember in my head and I won't say
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the exact words but I was just thinking this guy's office rocker like I have been going to doctors at that point I
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was 20 so you know 12 15 years I'd been in and out of doctor's offices and all
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the rest of it but I felt so terrible I was so desperate to feel better I was
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like okay wheat uh I guess that means I'm not going to be eating any bread or pasta for a while so I cut that out I
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said okay I'll cut it out for a month and about two weeks in I couldn't
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believe it was like this veil was being lifted off of my head and I actually had Clarity to think I could control my
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emotions I didn't have to have an afternoon nap I could sleep so many things that I had just accepted as
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normal because they were normal for me just started to disappear and and some things it it it took a
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little bit longer because I find we're very critical of things if they're not going the way that we want but when we
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start to put the right inputs in and we start to change and feel better we're not always so cognizant of the
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improvements unless we have maybe a journal or somebody you know points things out to us so I was aware of a lot
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of things but there was a lot of things that it took family and friends when I moved back to Canada to say wow what
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yeah that's that's crazy so what type of doctor is this in the UK because that's really I feel I've not lived there in a
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long time but I feel that's a really unusual place for a doctor's mind to go when talking about those types of issues
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so like tell tell us about this doctor I just went to a regular doctor my my mom's from Britain so I have dual
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citizenship and so I just went I was like I need to go to a doctor I just went to a doctor so I just went to the
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local doctor that was close to me I was in Maidstone Kent living there and this was not a a functional medicine doctor
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this is not a naturopathic doctor this was just a doctor that I happened to end
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up in his office and have this experience with so nothing special about it other than
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the words that he said that's that's just amazing you found that doctor because I think if you if you had got
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stuck with somebody else then maybe you would have just got a prescription or well and that was my experience in
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Canada right so again I'm like I don't know how I got this guy but he he pushed
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me onto a tra trajectory that I wasn't even aware of at that time that's that's
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wonderful so you you cut out weight for a couple of weeks you start to feel a heck of a lot better and then you know
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what what happens from there well to be honest I mean I didn't really take it seriously I was
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20 and I was 21 and I was living in the UK and I was like this is great
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Freedom um did not make the connection to at all it would be years later that I would make the connection to sort of
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like wheat and gluten and all the areas that it's in and you know my gut issues and actually determining an by an
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Elimination Diet and food sensitivity testings what the foods were um but so
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it was like the UK absolutely was that initial first step and then it wasn't until about three or four years later
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when I came back to Canada where I was like okay there's more there's things still happening I'd improved a lot and I
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got very comfortable where I was but I had clearly not taken it you know
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Upstream so to speak to really sort of address the root issues and that's where
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I started to work with the natural path and have these other conversations because I didn't even know what holistic health was I mean I'm like a lot of
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Canadians you are raised to you know just trust the medical system trust your doctor tell your doctor what's wrong and
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the doctor is going to know everything and that was my experience so I had no reason to question it until I moved to
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the UK and was like wait a minute maybe there's other professionals out there who can understand what I'm experiencing
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and can help me yeah that's wonderful and I think that yeah so many so many people I think around the world trust
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the you know Al apathic side of medicine that you are so fortunate to to find
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that practitioner who just thought about you know just asking you this simple question about you know what do you eat
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and just sparking the idea of like maybe different things that you're consuming are affecting your gut and hopefully
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that in in in um medical training now they're talking a lot more about like the gut brain axis and how like you know
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our gut can affect our brain and our brain affects our gut and they're always communicating and the symptoms that might seem distant to the origin of of
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them you know it's all kind of related and talking about referred referred issues so that's awesome that you found
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that and yeah it's quite quite remarkable because you know there's not a whole lot of practitioners out there u
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in the conventional system that are you know going towards something like that so that's that's great that that put you on that path yeah so what's the link now
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from like from where you're at in this story to becoming you know holistic nutritionist and a teacher yeah so when
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I got back to Canada I uh I got back into I was an event manager so I was working for not for-profit organizations
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creating events and having so much fun doing that I was still focusing on my health and working with my health Team
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and I had to because I was reminded when I got back to Canada the limitations of some of the doctors we have because at
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that time the doctor that I had didn't believe in food sensitivities or food allergies so so again it was just that
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reminder to be like okay you're very helpful for some aspects but I need to have another professional and it was at
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that time where you know this is where that Community piece kind of ties in you know friends and family were noticing
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how I was changing physically and then just in terms of character I had more energy and I was just you know doing
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more and I was acutely aware that what worked for me may work for them but it
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may not and so all of a sudden I had this urge to be educated in a way that
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was more General that would allow me to speak to people and their unique experience because that was sort of the
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Dawn when I lived in the UK was that we are all so different you know again there's going to be these these
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fundamental these foundational pieces that everybody can benefit from but
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again with that much the same there's G to be that much different so that kind of prompted me to be like okay what what
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what what is it what do I even want to be and then people were like oh a dietitian and started to learn about that and I was like hey that's really
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cool that's really cool didn't resonate with me didn't have that pull for that and then all of a sudden I just was
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looking through a magazine on Calgary it said oh natural nutrition program I was like what what and that was it I
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basically saw that article applied took school and then kind of made the and at this point you know I was just turning
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30 so I thought I was wild to change careers at that point I just turned 40 so now I'm like oh how funny you are
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when you're in your 20s and 30s thinking it's like the end of the world to change so went back to school um did that and
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then really kind of just really wanted to focus on supporting women in particular with gut issues and that's
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sort of grown more now into hormonal issues as well but I just wanted to help people and I just wanted to share my
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story because I thought my situation is not unique in the sense of what I've experienced but what is unique to me is
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the sense of I I I I'm not on the medications and I think that if I had
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not recruited my own health Team my life trajectory could have taken a very uh
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different path and it would not have been healthy and I would it would not it
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just I wouldn't be here I wouldn't be vital I wouldn't be feeling great I wouldn't know how to feel empowered about my health so it was that sort of
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education and that start that I just thought we need to talk about this and that's where I you know that's what gets
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so many people into holistic Healthcare where it's nutrition or whatever it may be it's it's a lot of this as a as a a
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personal need for Health that they cannot find anywhere else so that was my
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yeah that's that's really cool I think that's I just want to ask you a question in regards to when you were you know you
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you looked at dietitians and then you saw this article for um becoming a natural practitioner why why were you
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kind of like not really connected with the dietician side of things because you you naturally think that like you know
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if you want to get into uh diet and health and helping people you know with
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with what they eat to make them feel better you know you think automatically a lot of people would just think know a dietician would be kind of like the the
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best role for that so why would you why did you go to something that's a little bit you know a a little bit out there
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yeah that's a great question um well I know that obviously food is important and I know that movement is important
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and I've always known that but for me some of the early practitioners that I worked with some of the uh exercises
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that they gave me were all about visualization and so from the get-go I
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had this practice where when I was in pain or when I was experiencing anything I would put a lot of time into imagining
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my organs you know obviously my stomach my digestive system healing and being well and that really got me through some
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really difficult periods and I couldn't find anything in speaking to dietitians or looking at various programs that
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really spoke to the psychospiritual aspect and that's a very important part of my life so I thought that yep yes
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it's movement yes it's nutrition but for me holistic nut ntion like is a trifecta and it does incorporate those
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psychospiritual aspects and that can look different for everybody but to not include that uh didn't feel appropriate
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now we see dietitians incorporating that in their own personal practice more today but I really wanted a school that
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focused on that as well and wasn't just so okay we're science-based yes as holistic nutritionists we absolutely are
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science-based however there's a part of healing and health that can't always be Quantified and to ignore that I think is
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to IGN the potential for health and so that doesn't align with my beliefs and values at all yeah that's a really
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important point I think the a big draw for me as well with holistic nutrition was the fact that you know you you're
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not just looking at somebody's symptoms and you're you're not just trying to assess those immediately you're asking
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very big qu big questions about you know somebody's sleep their stress levels their work how they would born how long
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they breastfed for you know like how often do you get sick like these are incredibly important question questions
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that paint much more of an overall picture than I have stomach pain and I have diarrhea you know like that's not
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there's not enough value in that in regards to actually helping somebody really understand what it is that
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they're experiencing and what they can do to start you know making changes to to start healing and become better so
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yeah I'm I'm totally with you on that and you're right in regards to that there are dietitians that are adopting and changing um to more of a holistic
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approach and that's that's most likely due to the fact that all the new schools and new universities are
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covering health and and wellness in a much more broader scope and wonderful
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practitioners like yourself yeah it's like that's that's it's pushing the um let's call it the um conventional side
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of nutrition to be better yeah and to look at the whole person rather than you
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know you have a protocol for diarrhea and stomach pain and that's the same thing for everybody we know
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that doesn't work we know that that's kind of a useless system so that's wonderful that um yeah that both um both
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areas have got a good part to play in now I love that yeah and I didn't want to be a part of this reductionist Healthcare where you know tell me about
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one thing you're feeling like that that to me like I I've that has not at all helped me and I know
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that that does not help so this is where it's we have these conversations to be like I want to learn about the whole you
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and not just the you today but tell me a little bit about you tell me a little bit about your past and for people that
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are new to holistic nutrition or a holistic practitioner that's wild that conversation they're like what we're
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going to talk about me for an hour maybe two hours that whole experience is crazy to them but you're talking to someone in
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their 30s 40s and 50s who's never talked about their health for that long to their Healthcare
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practitioner that is what is wrong to me and that's where I'm just like absolutely not pick one symptom like
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what no absolutely not when you're able to have an hour or two hour session with with somebody you
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know it turns into very much a bit of a therapy session and that therapy is a massive part of the process because you're actually connecting and aligning
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and forming this like therapeutic relationship with a practitioner and that's going to go such a long way to to
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making the changes that you need need to help I'm not going to generalize dietitians here but like I met a few of
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them in the UK but they all seem to be really unhealthy y kind of unhappy people yeah and that's obviously doesn't
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not suggesting that's that's everybody but I know a lot of holistic nutritionists and naturopaths and you
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know people in the kind of the holistic realm and they're all like super energized and super happy and I I
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honestly think that a big part of that comes from their journey to get to where they are they went through personal
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issues and they educated themselves to help themselves and then now they've got this wonderful ability to connect with
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people who are going through something something very very similar so you've already already got that like
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understanding and that that um that care that you can have for somebody and that's a really great way to to connect
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really early on in the in the in the sessions so yeah that's a really important aspect as well well yeah we're
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creating relationships right I mean if you want to assist somebody in in in terms of healing or guiding their body
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back to homeostasis I mean you need to understand them and know them or else how is that person going to be engaged I
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mean and I don't blame them I mean I for a large part wasn't engaged in my health because I a I didn't know I had to be
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and B there was no conversation it was it was One Direction dialogue and so
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with holistic nutritionists like we encourage discussion we want feedback because if we need to make any changes
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how are we going to get that if we don't have that open line of communication and to get that communication we need to build that Bedrock of trust which cannot
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be rushed yeah and we absolutely have to create and establish that relationship ship early with a practitioner that
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level of trust and I think in a 2hour session you know or a 90-minute intake you can you can obtain that because you
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know you might be seeing this person for 90 minutes every couple of weeks but there's so much time in between those
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sessions and they need to be they need to be invested they need to be in it and they need to kind of like want to work
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with you as a practitioner to make sure that when they're not with you uh
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they're doing those things that they know that they need to do to to create those changes and yeah you it's very
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difficult to obtain a Therapeutic Alliance like that if you're not working
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with a like a holistic mindset and really like getting to know that individual to create that relationship
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absolutely I completely agree yeah super let's move on to Pacific Rim College why
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don't you tell us a little bit about it is it just a is it just a nutrition school no Pacific real college okay so
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it's beautiful it's got a great campus in Market Square and beautiful British Columbia and it's it's like the
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alternative College really we've got holistic nutrition there's phytotherapies that's herbal medicine
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we've got the doctor of traditional Chinese medicine program acupuncture program we've now got the permaculture
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program there's the holistic Doula so there's sort of you know anything
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holistic chances are um you know you can come to Pacific room College whether it's be a certificate or diploma there's
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weekend Workshop there's a lot of different ways to sort of dip your toes into the holistic Healthcare that you
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know you don't you don't have to be a practitioner necessarily like of course we have we make and we have so many
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great practitioners but even if you're just looking for a little bit more knowledge for yourself I mean this is where the certificates and the weekend
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workshops are a lot more accessible and they've never been more accessible now because we're online so anybody can
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access this that's really cool yeah I mean I I moved from when I so a little
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bit in my backstory so I went to Pacific room College I did the three-year H nutrition diploma as you know Cordelia
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and I was living in Sweden at the time and I just kind of got into health and
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nutrition I did a couple of online courses and I and I got you know I I I applied my knowledge to myself I got
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ridiculously healthy I felt amazing best I was think I was 27 and it was the best i' ever felt in
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my whole life so I'm like addicted to this learning now like how can I like learn more and how can I help people
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feel this good because this is a like Birthright everyone should feel awesome yes yeah so I was fishing for a school
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and I found something in I found a couple of schools in America and I narrowed it down to one but it was so difficult to get a Visa there that it
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just kind of like didn't work and the the the the admissions person I was speaking to at the school in Colorado
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sent me this like sent me this random website and it had a bunch of schools like on it and then bang in the middle
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was the PRC like logo and I just clicked on that and I went to the um nutrition
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diploma and looked through like you know what you do during the six semesters and it's so absurdly comprehensive and it's
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just so yeah you just cover so much in well six semesters it's a long period of
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time and you have the option to kind of fast track it through the summer and the fact that you have to do why don't you
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tell us a little about the clinic as well we'll get more into like the the playment of hit nutrition but tell us a little about the clinic at the school
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because anybody if if you're lucky enough to live in Victoria or visit there you can go there and experience it
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yes the clinic to be honest is I mean there's so many aspects of the program that I love but the clinic for sure is
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it's right up there because there is no other program that allow you know nutrition students to engage with
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individuals to apply what they're learning in the classroom and to have the opportunity to learn something in a
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textbook and then see that and talk to somebody and have them come back and see improvements
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that's incredible like it is it's so invaluable for the soon to be practitioner it is a massive Boon for
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the community because again you know holistic health care services can be prohibitive for many many demographics
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and the other important thing to me Simon is honestly I don't really love
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the idea that if you go to holistic nutrition School wherever that is that you have to see people one-on-one and so
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I think that we've lost a lot of great practitioners because they weren't aware of the variety of ways to support people
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and so love Clinic love the experience and I love also the opportunity that provides students after the three-year
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completion of the program to go loved it learned it know how to do it don't want to do
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that because fair enough yeah it's there's just there's just so many ways to support the industry to support
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individuals and groups and I don't want it to always be a I'm I'm an extrovert or that's great or what about I'm an
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introvert I don't really like to talk to people but is this the only way way that I can make a living I have to see people oneon-one and it's like no no no no no
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like there's so many ways to work and make a positive change where you don't ever have to talk to anybody so yeah I
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had a really wonderful experience with Clinic because there's obviously three levels to it there's the um what's the
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first level observation observation yes so you're in you're with your classmates
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with the with the instructor with the teacher and then you know somebody comes in and they're looking to get some help
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with their with health and then the next level will be supervised so the the
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student will be taking the session with kind of everybody involved again it's like this holistic everyone's kind of in the room
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and learning together it's actually a really it can be quite intimidating at first but it's actually a really um
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wholesome educational experience absolutely and then you have independent where you've got people you know you've
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got the students taking their own clients and hopefully like getting them back in to you know work with them progressively throughout throughout the
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semester really amazing setup and what I think that I learned from myself and
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watching other people around me grow through the three years through those different types of clinics was the fact
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that the experience and the confidence to be able to sit one onone and first of
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all know that you know a lot of information and you've got a lot of good information to share but being able to
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communicate that in a understanding and empathetic way is a skill and like the
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biggest thing I learned from Clinic was like learning how to listen to be to quiet my mind quiet my body sit there be
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be present and listen yeah that is without question the biggest superow
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that I think any good natural health practitioner can have and um that
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clinical that clinical setting most likely gives that skill and that superpower and that quality to
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everyone who passes right absolutely absolutely because you're so right Simon I mean even when you're in school
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particularly but even when you're done you can find yourself in these moments of I can't help people I got to take this course I got to take another course
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I gotta learn this and learn that and it's like no no no no no like you know like you have so much knowledge when
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you're in school to help people and and having that opportunity to do that and see positive improvements and like you
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said sometimes when you're new and you're nervous you just you want to fill space you don't want there can't be a
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quiet moment you just have to talk talk talk and so really just kind of sitting back and just allowing because you have
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to you have to put yourself in the position of the person across from you who's coming to seek help you might be
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talking to them in a way and about things that nobody has ever said to them before so allow them to actually absorb
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that and digest that and just hold that space and then continue the conversation
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and there's it it just like school is the place that you can do that and
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everybody is learning and and the expectations just lower them your instructor there always to support you
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but just like it's okay if you maybe ask the questions out of order or maybe you are really chatty like the this is the
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moment those are the opportunities where you can find that out about yourself and go okay you're right I do get nervous
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and then I have oh I just want to Ramble On okay I need to learn to count to 10 in my head
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sure the clinic is wonderful and obviously there's a clinic for nutrition there's a clinic for phytotherapy and
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there Clinic acupuncture as well which is right really wonderful thing so yeah if you are in the area you should go check it out um I'd love to talk
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specifically about the nutrition program so what makes the diploma of holistic nutrition kind of stand
24:42
out we we got the longest program by a long shot in Canada we've got a three-year program like you said we've
24:48
got the six semesters we cover everything from we've got a little bit of influence from Air vedc we've got a
24:54
bit of an influence from the Western herbal medicine the Oriental medicine we've got a big uh biomedical section
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which you know focuses on the anatomy and physiology uh the biology those sorts of aspects we've got big core
25:06
nutrition component which talks about you know nutrient diet Therapeutics toxicity of foods we've got the clinic
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uh we've got the professional development area as well which a lot of a lot of holistic courses I I feel like
25:20
at the end of the program you get thrown in a little bit of business information but there's not really any sort of
25:26
structure or flow to it so we've really taken consideration into making sure we've got professional development
25:32
courses that um our students can utilize and actually turn into a thriving career
25:38
afterwards whether that's working for themselves or working for somebody else you're going to have tools to you know communicate yourself because if you got
25:45
all this great education but you don't know how to you know land a position somewhere I mean it's it's going to be
25:51
you know it's going to be wasted right so there's just so many different ways and then we've got the weekend
25:56
workshops and then students have to take electives and now we've got this beautiful component as well where we can
26:02
draw on which is Pacific from College online so now we've got weekend workshops where students because when
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you went to school Simon if you wanted electives you have to take a weekend Workshop in person that was the only
26:13
option so now we've got nutrition electives like in the program itself that are you know typically 15 hours and
26:20
then we've got the weekend workshops we're changing those up a bit now with zoom so instead of you know two-day
26:25
workshops we're seeing if the content matter can be divided into one day and then scattering another day somewhere
26:31
else throughout the semester because again people are spending a lot of time online so how can we kind of change
26:36
things up a little bit and then the prco we've got another area as well where people continue to take their you know
26:42
elective credits and then have lifetime access to that so it's it's the it's the
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length of the program it's the hours of the program and it's also all of the different blocks that I just mentioned
26:53
of education so yes obviously nutrition is the core piece but there's so many other influences that sort of really
27:00
make it just a complete program you also have some pretty special teachers there as well right we have amazing
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instructors are you kidding me I mean no we have got some of the best professionals I mean just some of the
27:11
best people teaching you know in clinic in our classes who have so much life
27:17
experience so much personal experience so much educational experience and they come willing to share and answer
27:22
questions and just be themselves and it's just it's wonderful like our
27:28
instructors I mean I yeah I learn from our instructors I learn from our students it's just this boom boom boom
27:34
just learning learning learning sharing sharing sharing it's a very very cool you know culture to be a part of what do
27:39
you think is the benefit for now we're talking about how comprehensive the program is and it dives into um Chinese
27:47
medicine iic medicine Western medicine what do you think the benefit of learning those different modalities is
27:55
well I think the first benefit is it's really interesting to see how students sort of gravitate towards different
28:00
things which can allow them to take additional courses after the program if they want to sort of Niche down so to speak um and then really the other thing
28:07
is as well is that you know the clients that they're going to be seeing you know at the college when they're in their
28:13
academic career and then likewise when they're in their own career these individuals are going to have their own experiences with health so if you can be
28:20
well-versed in oh okay this person's talking about doas okay I know AA not a a practitioner necessarily but I
28:27
understand some of the pH philosophies and prior learnings that you've been exposed to so I can incorporate some of that language into our conversations so
28:34
I can demonstrate to you that I see what you've done I see where you're coming from and we can expand on that together
28:39
so whether that be aeda or the herbal medicine because as you know herbal medicine and nutrition they're just they
28:45
besties and again the Oriental medicine so for me it's those influences again
28:51
particularly with the well all of them really they're ancient I mean they've been around for you know thousands of
28:56
years and so not only is it excellent for the student to sort of have an awareness of why we see things today or
29:04
where they come from but also understanding that the people that they're going to work with also have these influences and it's not about you
29:10
know just exclusively utilizing one and disregarding everything else you know when it comes to health for each of us
29:17
you know we really can cherry pick I like a little bit of this component of Aira you know I I like Western herbs I
29:23
I'm going to use some herbal medicine oh I love nutrition I'm really going to use a lot of this right so I think it just
29:28
really opens up the menu of health and the options that are available as opposed to just saying this is one path
29:34
this is the path that's all that's available it's like whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa actually there's so much available
29:39
so it's about having a practitioner that has that awareness of what's out there can really sort of support that client
29:46
and saying okay this is where we're going to go and if this is what you're interested in I'm going to make sure that you have resources to continue to
29:51
learn about that so yeah I really think the length of the course and how comprehensive it is and how um
29:58
diverse and how it know it dives into herbs nutrition Chinese medicine I I
30:04
think that really serves the student so so well because they're going to go into
30:12
school day one with a kind of idea in their mind of like what they're going to do and it's going to change 50 times by
30:17
the time they're done oh yeah and by being exposed to all these wonderful
30:23
different um professors and practitioners as well as different
30:28
theories and and different ways of looking at kind of the same thing it really opens up opportunity for people
30:34
to look look within themselves and see what really resonates but and then they're able to create kind of a
30:41
practice or a product or a service that is very much needed in our society but
30:48
it's also be ends up being beautifully unique to that individual and if if somebody finds that they've got they've
30:55
got a fire within them for life yeah and I think that is one of the biggest
31:01
things that um people will obtain from even just attending like the certificate
31:07
program nutrition you know so why don't why don't you t a little bit about that because that's that's the CER
31:12
certificate program in in holistic nutrition is different from the diploma so why don't you tell us about that
31:17
that's right yeah so as we said like the the diploma program is three years six semesters the holistic nutrition
31:23
certificate program so hncp for short that's one semester essentially so it's a four-month program and it's it's not a
31:31
course designed to you know you know make practitioners it's really for general interest for individuals who are
31:37
looking to sort of how can I bring more holistic nutrition into my life for my family and it also serves a very
31:43
important function as if if someone's potentially looking to take the diploma program this is a really great
31:49
opportunity to take the certificate and see how you feel about the college see how you feel about some of the
31:54
instructors see how you feel about some of the content before you to a three-year program and that's why we've
32:00
got a lot of the core well we've got you know some core courses that are embedded into the certificate program so that
32:06
once you complete that if you choose to matriculate into the diploma program you're not starting from square one
32:11
you're already going to have some credits you're already going to have some courses under your belt and then you can kind of ease into the program so
32:17
I'm a huge fan of the certificate program because again it just it it's it's digestible it gets information that
32:23
people need right away and then if you're looking at that course for the it just gives you a little bit of a
32:29
taster before you commit because if you're like you Simon coming from another country and we do have a lot of
32:34
international students it can be a little bit much you know to commit to a a three-year program and B coming to
32:41
Victoria there's there's a lot of considerations for people so I love to have you know the lad approach you know
32:47
for lack of better words where you know dip your toe and see how you feel ask questions and then you can kind of
32:53
continue on from there if you feel so c yeah it's a really great stepping stone I know multiple people people that
32:58
started with the certificate program and then they end up doing the htic nutrition and then they double that up with acupuncture and then then they
33:06
Chuck in uh therapy and they've been in school for seven years before yeah it's a slippery slob it can
33:12
happen fast yeah but it's um it's that it's it's that type of energy and it's
33:18
an addicting place to be around because it is such a wonderful wonderful environment and yeah I know more than
33:23
more than three people that have done literally like every program at that school yeah yeah it's addictive which is
33:31
which is which is just a that's just awesome um we spoke briefly about the
33:36
kind of application of like Pacific Rim College online now so is that is that that was that kind of in response to the
33:42
last 12 months like how how does that look now can I could I start school next semester and and begin online yeah you
33:50
could uh actually so Pacific real college online was it's sort of it's a separate entity um from the college and
33:57
it was created you know before you know Co and all that sort of stuff and it was
34:02
just really a way to sort of just harness this digital classroom and to reach more people it obviously has
34:08
certainly become so much more beneficial now given the fact that we are you know in virtual classrooms but with the
34:15
college right now the only program that's able to be on site uh is
34:20
acupuncture so our herbal programs as well as holistic nutrition they're 100%
34:26
virtual at the moment and you know we're we're getting our sort of guidance from our provincial regulatory bodies but
34:33
right now for sure we know our summer semester is absolutely approved for international students it's online so
34:39
anybody who's looking at potentially taking the course like the last year essentially has offered a bonus for
34:47
people from around the world to sort of get involved because it's not realistic for everybody who wants to learn this to
34:53
move to Victoria so it's been really interesting to witness the diversity of students in program because of this
34:59
opportunity right now and those online programs that you can jump into now is
35:05
it live classroom yeah okay cool because there's distinction yeah yeah so so if
35:11
you're signing up for Pacific room
35:18
College structor there and you're going through the content the prco those are
35:23
pre-recorded so those are sort of Lifetime access go back to them again and again again but anything with
35:29
pacific room college right now it's online and it's live nothing pre-recorded nothing recorded Wonderful
35:35
that's great what's your um what do you love most about the college oh you know I saw that was one
35:41
of your questions and I was like just one thing um yeah one thing yeah I think
35:47
for me it's it's the ease of conversations that I can engage in that
35:54
doesn't happen anywhere else you know I can start talking about EP genetics and intergenerational Trauma and how this
36:00
discharges the nervous system and how this affects the gut and people are like yeah I can't I can't talk about that if
36:06
I brought that up to the dinner table they'd be like epie what you're talking about gut stuff again I know that
36:11
Cordelia but what exactly are you talking about this time so it's just those conversations where you can just I read this I oh my gosh did you see this
36:18
and all of a sudden you're just like you just have this hive mind being exposed to things that otherwise you wouldn't
36:24
you know you stay focused and then you have people that are have different interest and you're like that's really cool that's really cool so the
36:30
conversations and and that's what I'm missing right now you know I love the fact that we can be online but I miss
36:36
the energy and I miss the conversations and the hubub that happens in the classrooms and the hallways um yeah
36:42
that's it's the conversations absolutely students instructors faculty everybody
36:48
yeah finding your tribe is the best yeah yeah for sure
36:53
abely can you tell us a couple of um success stories of like students who
36:58
have completed the the threeyear diploma yeah honestly again I was pondering this
37:04
question and you know this this sounds like a Dean thing to say but I think
37:09
that every student who successfully completes the program is a success story because regardless of whether they choose to continue that on with a
37:15
profession or not I know that they have profoundly impacted not only their health but they will impact the health
37:21
of those in their family and those immediately around them by the knowledge that they've been exposed to um to take
37:27
a a little bit further Simon I think that what you're doing and the the way that you're out there and the what
37:32
you're vocalizing I think that gives all holistic nutritionists including myself something to look up to and I'm also
37:40
very interested in students who come to us from International communities where holistic nutrition for lack of better
37:46
words doesn't really exist in the traditional sense you know there is no professional organizations there is no
37:51
schools so you know when we have students come from Mexico and you know other countries in South America and
37:57
they learning this wisdom and they're taking that back and sort of incorporating that into a more traditional lens for their communities I
38:04
think that's incredibly exciting because again it's just I just visualize these little drops of holistic nutritionists
38:10
around the world just getting into these communities where this knowledge is so needed um but is not
38:17
accessible absolutely yeah it's um yeah it's big congratulations to anyone that completes that program because it's not
38:24
easy no because no it's it's you learn this but you don't I don't necessarily
38:30
think every student understands how much of a a personal reflection like how much
38:35
inner work you do simultaneously while you're in class like there is a lot of
38:41
deep work that goes on for a lot of students in the program so it's it's transformative on many levels yeah
38:48
transformative is is the right word that's for sure um just to finish up you've got your own nutrition practice
38:54
you got a beautiful little sign behind you there wired living nutrition why don't you tell us a little bit about
38:59
what you offer people yeah thank you Simon so I'm all about supporting women
39:05
uh with gut and hormonal health so I do sort of one-on-one programs minimum
39:11
length of time I like to work with women is three months because again Simon you and I are really big on this sort of
39:16
Habitual transformation there's a lot of information out there for nutrition it's not just about you know Googling thing
39:22
what what foods do I eat it it's I really you know approach nutrition in the sense of what programming do you
39:28
have what habits do you have do they serve the goals that you have in your life and how you want to feel and if not
39:34
let's kind of you know take some of those out so we can actually create space for change instead of thinking
39:41
this is how I am and now I've got to add all this on you know let's discharge and remove what's not working to create
39:46
space to build up and again this is where it's collaborative so yeah hormonal gut Health Women's Health
39:52
that's really that's really what I'm all about and uh you know over the last year
39:57
my business has taken a little bit of a turn just in the sense of I'm incorporating a lot more discussions with my clients about uh boundaries
40:05
because I'm a bit of a boundary Jedi I'm really good at that and also just this personal health advocacy because I'm I'm
40:12
understanding and seeing more and more um how my health journey is is it's well
40:19
it's mine and I'm getting the support that I need but I'm also seeing that women are
40:24
not getting the support that they need because they're necessarily not as vocal as me and again I don't want oh you've got to be an extrovert you've got to be
40:30
vocal you know to get the health that you need oh if you're an introvert or don't ask questions like oh forget it
40:36
like that to me is silly so it's really trying to call in these women who need a little bit of support with their health
40:42
but also just you know ensuring that they know the language and what personal advocacy is and you know tapping into
40:50
emotions I'm now tapping into sort of like anger emotions with my clients because there's a lot of anger around
40:56
the and the lack of support that they feel they should have got so it's really again it's more conversational but there
41:02
you know people are feeling a lot they're feeling stressed out so it's like let's discharge that let's process that and then let's sort of focus on
41:09
what we can do together but if you don't address all the stress that's here they're not going to be present enough to you know do the protocol that you
41:15
give them so really just expanding to be just whatever someone needs and not
41:21
so this is the way it's going to be and this is how it is it's like okay we're going to change things for every person
41:26
so it's pretty exciting yeah and I'm glad that you're out there doing that because I know with your your enthusiasm
41:32
and your energy and your experience you're going to help a lot of people so that's great um how can people connect
41:38
with you you know what honestly just go to my website inspired living nutrition.com you can pop on and get on
41:44
my on my Instagram and stuff like that but sort of like that's the that's the Hub that's the main place where you can find me beautiful well thank you so much
41:51
for taking the time to um chat with us today cord I really appreciate it Simon I love talking to you I think
41:58
what you're doing is awesome I'm a big fan and I'm always going to watch what you're doing because you're just making really positive impact in the industry
42:04
so thank you thank you that's awesome um for more information on anything we've
42:09
spoken about in this episode you can see the show notes we'll make sure you get you can get connected with Cordelia don't forget to subscribe if you haven't
42:16
thank you so much for listening everybody this is true Hope cast the official podcast with true hope Canada we'll see you next week
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