Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:01 This is the gig ready podcast. <inaudible> This is it. Welcome back everybody. We're here today. Gig ready podcast and another outstanding topic that we're excited about. But before we do that, Joe, great to see you, buddy. How are you today?
Speaker 2 00:00:31 I'm doing pretty well. It's a beautiful sunny day in Portland, Oregon. So we are, we are in good shape. Awesome.
Speaker 0 00:00:37 Love that. Well today, man, I'm excited to talk about health wellness and how to be road healthy, um, or at least try and get there as we all know, being healthy on the road is incredibly challenging and we're not just talking physically, we're talking mentally, we're talking emotionally because ultimately all three of those from a health standpoint, tie in together into one nice package. Um, and if one of them is lacking, the other two definitely suffer. Um, and, and Joe was kind enough to get in touch with somebody who really helped change his life. A number of years ago, Dr. Jesse Butler, who is an expert in all things of helping keep us healthy doctor, thank you for being here today. We really appreciate it.
Speaker 3 00:01:21 Hey guys, thank you so much. I'm really excited to be here and share some information with your audience.
Speaker 0 00:01:27 So Joe is going to kick us off today a little bit and uh, we're just going to dive right in on how we can be more road healthy, man. So, uh, let's go.
Speaker 2 00:01:35 So, uh, so one of the things that I've been thinking about a lot this year, um, I had some health issues that, that really took me down a pretty, uh, pretty crazy path. And, um, it reminded me of about five years ago. Um, I was, I was on the road every other week. Um, I think I had a total of four days off between January 1st and, uh, the middle of July. And, um, I was really just struggling. I had a lot of issues going on, both of my gut, my joints. I was in a lot of pain. I was having back spasms. I was having all sorts of things going on. And, um, you know, my wife had had, uh, worked for a nature pathic doctor in her teens and, um, and was, is a big proponent of it. So, so I, I decided to look up somebody and I found Dr.
Speaker 2 00:02:28 Butler online and he had a pretty good video that, that laid out his program and what he does. So, um, so I, I picked up the phone and got in touch with them and told them, you know, Hey, I'm running a business, I'm stressed out, I'm working my butt off. I'm on the road all the time. I'm in a plane, you know, uh, how, how do I get better? What, what could we do? And, and he, um, he took me down this path of, of, uh, really taking hold of my own internal health. My, um, whether it be sleep, whether it be what I'm eating, how I'm eating it, um, even even like how you shower, uh, is there's, there's things that you can be doing, um, uh, hot and cold things to get blood flow going, uh, reducing the inflammation in your body. And it, it changed my life.
Speaker 2 00:03:22 It, uh, I, I started that path in July of 2016 and I've never looked back. Um, I'm in a better place, both physically, mentally, um, part of, part of this, this program is all about my mental health as well. And, um, you know, everybody hates going to the doctor and talking to a nurse for 15 minutes and they put all your information in the computer and then you see the doctor for like 30 seconds, and then they give you pills and send you on your way. Well, that's not how Dr. Butler works. He, he will, uh, sit down with you and talk with you for an hour, um, about whatever's ailing you that day. And it's not just necessarily mental health stuff. It's, it's physical health, it's everything. And it's a, it's a full encompassing program that I would, uh, I would tell anybody to do.
Speaker 2 00:04:11 And I believe I've gotten a few clients in the process. Then you still may a subway sandwich for that. But, um, so Dr. Butler, tell us, tell us, tell us what your basic principles of wellness are and how we as touring professionals or people on the road who are doing, you know, sitting in a ballroom for hours on end, not necessarily getting a lot of exercise except for the load in, and the load-out, um, eating catering food, you know, you're being provided food, uh, onsite that isn't always the best healthy, you know, you're drinking tons of coffee to stay awake. You might have a cigarette habit, or you might have a bar habit after the show. You know, what are those things that we can be doing better to, to make us more gig ready, uh, from a health and wellness standpoint.
Speaker 3 00:04:58 Thanks, Joe. Um, so yeah, I think that something that's always a value initially to S to, uh, to understand prior to beginning your journey towards a, you know, improved place of health is, is always, uh, the initial value. And what I mean by that is that, you know, in order for something to change, you're going to have to change something. And while a lot of individuals have an awareness that, you know, as you mentioned, some, some habits or behaviors that they're in might not be of great value to their health, um, when you start to approach a plan to change something, there's a benefit to sitting for a moment and thinking about, I like to say the feeling of what it would feel like to feel better, right? So rather that's in pain, whether that's an energy, whether that's in your emotional health, um, starting a direction with a feeling and sitting with that feeling is a big factor as you start to incorporate.
Speaker 3 00:05:59 Uh decision-making and the decision-making is always the fun part of, you know, these applications and, and different strategies that you can have, especially being on the road that you can apply to your health, um, you know, really pertaining to a result. You know, we want to get a result with your, with your hard work. I mean, I'm sure you guys are working tremendous hours, uh, sacrificing, you know, tremendous things in your life. I know mostly because you love it. Um, but there is a word that we like to talk about called balance. And that's a, I think a very warm and fuzzy word, one that is easily said, um, hard to achieve per se, but balanced sometimes is also what's, you know, it's elusive. It's like, well, you know, I want this, I want to keep doing that. So that old saying, you know, can you have your cake and eat it too?
Speaker 3 00:06:48 And I always in moderation always. Do you guys tell me, yeah, I'll give her that. I love that. Even better, everything in moderation, including moderation. So you're, you know, we're looking to find the, our own moderate amount in a moderate approach that really ties back to that vision, right? Like I want to feel better. Well, you know, what does it even feel like to feel better? Because sometimes we just say that, and then when the action comes, we're just, you know, we don't have it backed up with a feeling. So that's a really good initial strategy get into feeling. Right. What does it feel like? Cause you know, what it feels like to be cranking hard, you know, at a concert, at an event getting that endorphin rush. I mean, that's almost like a drug, I would say, Joe and I talked about it earlier, there's this concept called fight or flight that we get into when we're jamming hard and it's attractive, but it will tear you down if you do not balance it right.
Speaker 2 00:07:47 By the time I got by the time I got to you, I'd been living on adrenaline for 20 years. Yeah. And that's that's, that was the root cause of all of my issues was because I was living on that drug of the audience and the things that we were doing and the cool places we're going and, and, you know, it was exciting. And it, it fueled me. I absolutely know that, but I was living in that fight or flight state. My adrenaline levels were just over the top. Ridiculous.
Speaker 3 00:08:17 So, absolutely. And I think it's important to understand that adrenaline, uh, like you said, it's not like a drug, it is a drug and, and again, and that's, that's kind of a subjective word a little bit, but it hits the same, what are called, uh, you know, receptor sites as drugs, things like cocaine, things like heroin and all of that. So, um, so the, the concept is sometimes when you're in that state, as you mentioned, you almost will attract yourself back into decision-making that maintains that state. So it's a very good aha moment that you have Joe that gave you a moment to be like, ah, this not be working for me, you know, and maybe I have to do something different to, to change that. So, so the fun parts to start thinking about is that, you know, you can do something different. I mean, I know you guys are in a unique position with your work, as you mentioned, you're making decisions on the fly.
Speaker 3 00:09:13 It's a high energy state. It's not go home and think about what type of lights you're going to put, put up or what type of application you're going to do. It's kind of like, there's a demand to do it, do it now and shows in 20 minutes, make it yeah. Make it now and get it, get it right. Or you're going to be called dipshit. Oh, you're not coming back. Um, so, so I, I think that that's another good concept, right? Is that the better, you know, the better you feel, the better you do. Uh, and I always love to say to my patients, as I would say to you, even though I can only imagine the entertainment industry, it is about perfection, but perfection is an illusion, you know, but you can be persistent enough that obviously if something slips you can accommodate for real quickly, right?
Speaker 3 00:10:00 So being improvisational and what you do ties a lot to your resource capacity. So there's a law of physics that I like to say to my patients is that energy is neither created nor destroyed. What that means is you've got what you've got in you to achieve the results that you're after. Now, that energy is being supported. And, um, you know, given the opportunity to work in an efficient manner, you can do pretty amazing things in your life, whatever craft you do, you know, however, you, you know, apply your energy. It can be very effective, but if you are being challenged with things that are influencing the effectiveness of that energy, such as your, your diet, right, your sleep routines, your, your elimination, your digestive function, your pain levels, even your thinking, um, all consumes resource. So if your resources are being used inefficiently, you can't show up to your best capacity and bring your best, which you, everyone knows that they got that best somewhere. It just has to be being supportive. Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:11:08 I th and I think, I think one of the things that, that I found is that, whereas most of what you're talking about is all common sense. Yes. We don't have somebody who's, who's keeping us accountable for that common sense. We don't have somebody that, okay, I've got an appointment in three weeks with Dr. Butler, and he's going to say, how's your nutrition, that's the first thing he always says, how's your nutrition. And I go, ah, so yeah, I was on the road for like three weeks and I like crap, you know? And he's like, okay, you're home now though. Right. All right. So make sure you're eating right for the next three weeks because your next gig is going to be, you know, miserable if you're not.
Speaker 3 00:11:52 Yeah. And I think that's a really valuable concept, as I said before, there's this idea of progress, not perfection. So, you know, the challenges that I have learned from my patients that have been on the road, I want to believe nothing's insurmountable. And I'm really going to try to give you some opportunities to apply things that can work, but it kind of feels a little bit insurmountable, you know, with, with certain components. So again, we'll go through the specifics of that in a moment, but the idea too, that, you know, again, when you're home, you can create a routine that's different than your routine on the road. And while that might not feel like it is, you know, hitting everything you want, that is an opportunity to rest and recharge to rebuild your capacity, to, you know, put back into the bank, your energy states that can give you the opportunity again, to, to bring your best.
Speaker 3 00:12:42 And like you said, accountability is such an important concept in healthcare. And, you know, we do it a little bit, but I love to tell you two things. I mostly in healthcare, we love to do fear-based motivation, fear, accountability. If you don't do this bad, shit's going to happen. So that's, that's a good reason. That's a good reason, but that that's called, uh, that's usually deemed as an authoritarian motivator and people inherently, typically only motivate in an authoritarian way until whatever is or whatever's, the uncomfortableness is gone, right? So, you know, you're hurting, you better do this, or it's going to get worse. Okay. No problem. I'll do whatever. So I was like I say, it's easy to get people feeling better. It's hard to keep people continuing to feel better, um, easy to get people who aren't feeling well, feeling better and them, you know, it's hard to keep on maintaining, but, so, so the idea is that, you know, a lot of motivation though, remember, comes from just inherent, encouraging people, right?
Speaker 3 00:13:43 Just continuing to show up to it. You know, that's life, you got to keep showing up number one principle, right. But by being encouraging people kind of the unconditional love, rather than calling people out, you know, it's like, Hey, member, keep the field and keep the vision, keep showing up to it. That tends to be the, a good motivator. It's a good kind of a concept to keep in mind a self to, rather than I'm just doing this. So I don't get cancer or don't get disease or don't get chronic illness. And while that's good, it's important. Please remember moving the other direction as well. I'm doing this because I can do a bad-ass light show. And I want people for a long time to see my craft. Like that is a different motivator than just doing something so that bad stuff doesn't happen. Okay.
Speaker 3 00:14:28 Um, so you brought up nutrition. I think nutrition is such a fabulous place to just maybe start talking about the concepts of health, because as we've all learned, at some point in our lives, food is our best medicine. It's either our best medicine or our slowest poison. So, uh, so food, food, right? I mean, it's so I, I always like to again say this it's so it's so simple, but it's obviously just a bear, you know, it's so hard because, you know, culturally and, and, and the way we roll, we just aren't that thoughtful about nutrition or the food we put in our bodies. Um, but the concept of, of easiness is that, you know, we liked the idea. You know, if, if, if nature made it, eat it, if man made it, don't eat it, you know, this idea of like, you know, we're supposed to be eating predominantly vegetables and fruits and meats and hunter gatherer stuff.
Speaker 3 00:15:26 It's not hard. I mean, it's hard in application, but it's simple. I mean, whole food nutrition is the name of the game. Now, depending upon if you have different types of health concerns, you got to narrow the margin a little bit, but for general application, right, you show up and there's a basket of fries and you show up and there are some carrots and ranch while ranch might not be awesome. The carrots are better than the fries. And while that simplicity is, is available, it's just sometimes again, really buying in, not that choice actually matters. I mean, does it really matter if I have the fries or the carrots? And it's hard to understand that because as you said, Joe doctors rarely emphasize the importance of nutrition. It's kind of a, like a pooh-poohed thing where like, yeah, it kind of matters, but not really. Cause we're gonna, you know, give you these prescriptions or do this procedure and that's really, what's going to help you. Right. So, uh, so I I've treated, like I mentioned, you know, a few folks who travel, you know, the catering thing is no joke. It's, it's available. They make it convenient obviously. Cause you guys are busy. Um, and I've, I've asked people before, it's like, we'll tell the cater to give you something different. And like that works most of the time. It does not work.
Speaker 0 00:16:43 I mean, if you, if, if you do an advance, um, you know, I've been on shows where we've been able to do that, but they had to plan it out. You can't just assume that someone can pivot on a moment's notice, you know, my producer might say, Hey, we can do this today. Uh, because they have it available that we prepared for vegetarian or we prepared for vegan or whatever.
Speaker 3 00:17:08 Yeah. And, and, and, and you're right, sorry to interrupt you. But you know, the idea is advocating right. And planning, um, rarely anything in life that occurs, you know, spontaneously that creates high success. You know, it doesn't, you know, planning is always the, you know, the part that will breed a state of success. It's just, again, the effort to do it. And the buy in that, it matters.
Speaker 2 00:17:32 Well. And you, you had said something earlier about, uh, habits, you know, when you get to a city or you get to your destination on a traveling show, um, you know, everybody had their habits, you know, some people would go exercise, some people would go immediately unpack other people would go straight to the bar. Um, you know, and I, I did kind of a combination of the three of those things. Um, but one of the things that you taught me was go to a whole foods and buy your snacks for the week that changed my life. I would go buy hard hard-boiled eggs, I'd go buy, you know, nuts and seeds and, uh, things that I can eat while I'm sitting at my, my console. When, you know, things are, things are not really going and we're not getting fed and I'm hungry. And, you know, so I changed that habit about myself and that made a huge difference, you know, and not necessarily drinking that 12th cup of coffee to rot you out later on.
Speaker 3 00:18:31 Yeah. That, that, that is, I'm glad you brought that up because it is such a, it's such an easy application, even though it's hard to get into the routine of it, that that's always a reminder to individuals that you have options. You know, it's sometimes awareness is always the first step, you know, you have to become aware of it and then apply it. But yeah, you know, most of the towns that you're going to go to are going to have the whole foods there, or they're going to have some T E any grocery store, really whole foods is great. Cause there's more options in line with types of things that we like. But, you know, showing up by him, some heart hard-boiled eggs, pretty package or rotisserie chicken, baby carrots or cucumbers, uh, you know, and, and you can buy whole foods, whole fruits, vegetables, proteins, and you carry that stuff around with you, bring it back to your hotel, you know, eat before you go. I have, again, a few musicians, musicians. I treat that, do that. And they bring a cooler with them. You know, they pack it all up when they get there. And they'll, you know, shuttle that around with them. And, and by no means, again is there's this concept of perfection, but it's a, it's a net gain that you start creating. When you start putting your intention and effort into that concept of prevention. You know, it's, that's preventative mindset. It's going to give me application and benefit. Um, and it's
Speaker 2 00:19:48 Ease of access has also become, uh, access to whole foods has become much simpler than the last five, five to 10 years. You know, 10 years ago, it was hard to find organic stuff. It was hard to find, you know, this, that and the other, but now it's, it's pretty easy. You can buy, you can buy hard boiled eggs in the, in the airport at Portland international airport on your way out. There's a little, there's a little kiosk there where you can buy like carrots and all sorts of stuff. I buy I'll pack up my bag before I even get on the plane in case I can't get to a supermarket. So it's become a lot easier to be healthy in, uh, in, in this environment.
Speaker 0 00:20:27 Well, and I, I, personally, something I've noticed is a lot of times, anytime someone tells me they want to get healthy. Um, but then out of the other side of their mouth, they say, well, if only catering would do acts and back to what we were talking about before, ultimately it comes down to taking responsibility for that, that time and saying, okay, what could I do? That would be different. And, but first you have to recognize, as you said, Dr. Butler, and you have to recognize the fact that there even is a problem. And then you can take responsibility for it and say, what could I do differently? And even be willing to explore what that might look like versus, oh, well, they just, you know, they only gave us leaf lettuce and that was it. Excuse me. Um, and then once that responsibility is taken, now it's on you to say, okay, what should I do differently? And then go out and educate yourself to know what to do differently. Like you said, Joe, you pick up your, your hard boiled eggs, you pick up your, you know, your nuts and your snacks that aren't covered in chocolate or, uh, you know, full of sugar or other things like that that may cause you to not get where you want to go as fast.
Speaker 3 00:21:41 Yeah, absolutely. And I think, you know, I think there's such a, you know, again, it's like what what's going to initiate that person to take that first step to, like you said, the, the awareness. And I think part of this podcast is to try to drop some dimes here of ideas that will be a motivator to your, you know, your audience, to, to, to sit with information for a moment, think about it, and then take that, take that step to again. And the goal is to have a, an observable, predictable effect. You know, like when I, when I get the hard boiled eggs and carrots and some Turkey slices, and I eat those on my flight, you know, to LA I roll off that plane a little bit different than when I'm, you know, have a cup, a couple of whiskey sodas and eat three bags of potato chips.
Speaker 3 00:22:33 Like when I roll into the event site, excuse me, I'm coming with a different energy than when I'm coming, you know, off of this type of fuel. And it's really, you know, that effort and initial energy to put in. I love this saying that says, you know, either put your time and energy into wellness now, or you're going to put the time and energy into illness later, right. And that preventative mindset, I like to say the universe knows people's path. I'm sure we all know someone who's, you know, drank a fifth of whiskey a day and smoked a pack of cigarettes. And, you know, they're at some point in their life proceeding as a NOx and healthy as an ox. And that gets back to a whole other point. If we have time we can go into is how well you eliminate things. So part of health is how much you're accumulating.
Speaker 3 00:23:19 The other part is how well you get rid of it. So usually those, those people that are, are doing all of that can eliminate pretty well, where others who can tend to get more influenced and affected with, with those decisions. So, um, so yeah, the awareness, like I said, nutrition is such a great place to start. Um, it's usually always available from an idea of options that you can start choosing to do, you know, it's great to also take some time maybe when you're not on tour, do like a, a fast, you know, or not a fast, I'm not actually a big proponent of fasting, but like a detox or, you know, some component where you're staying away from certain things and you're doing other things and you give yourself an opportunity to see that you can feel better. Cause again, a lot of this is really up in our heads initially, like, yeah, I know I should do it, but until you feel it, you know, you can feel it and see it and believe it, you can achieve it. So you gotta feel it, you know? And, um, sometimes taking a moment to, to commit to a plan, to get an effect is always a valuable opportunity to buy in to these principles that, that, that we're talking about.
Speaker 2 00:24:24 Yeah. And I think also there's, there's taking account of yourself. I mean, right now is an awesome time. We've all pushed the reset button, right. We had to sit on our couch doing nothing. So I learned a lot about how I feel when I'm not at work when I'm not stressed when I'm not, you know, in this zone. So now anytime something creeks in, or I have something I have to do, I can feel that adrenaline kick, I can feel it like, so I've taken kind of a, uh, uh, an accounting of those feelings and how I feel better or how I feel worse depending on the outside forces in the stresses of life and whatever. So I'm getting ready myself for that moment when we're back on tour or we're back on a plane every day and we're in a bus and we're doing 18 hour days. I know I'm not going to feel that same way that I did sitting on my couch. It's going to be way elevated and way worse. And, and so now I'm trying to figure out those things that I can do to bolster myself up de-stress while I'm on the road while I'm in that, that fight or flight state and how I can call myself down how I can eat. Right. And feel good, even though I'm doing this really crazy job, you know, being in the circus.
Speaker 3 00:25:46 Yeah. And I think that, that, um, you know, as you mentioned, it's, you know, it seems like with where a lot of your, uh, um, you know, the workers are right now, you said kind of gearing back up into, you know, the event season and you guys are going to start hitting hard, is that, you know, taking this opportunity to gain some traction and that there really is a value of having contrast. Right. You know, that when I do this, this is what shows up for me when I do this, this is what shows up for me. And it's really not inherently so that you never have adversity, or you never feel discomfort it's so that you have a path or a road with an awareness of where you can get back to and you, you know, buy into the concepts that I have. I have some control over that.
Speaker 3 00:26:33 Actually, I'm quite a bit of control over it. You know, I can start changing this or doing this while it might not have as much effect while you're spending those 18 hour days in the bus. Um, it, by no means, is it not going to be helpful or beneficial? And it keeps Cod this concept of muscle memory, cellular memory, emotional memory. It keeps you in the reality of this alternate effect that you can have. So when you have a moment to break, or when you have a moment, you know, away from tour, you can kind of gear back into your routine, rebuild capacity in your system, recharge and get ready for your next, you know, your next show. Um, so I think a few things that might be helpful for us to discuss too, are just some other tangible applications of things that you can be doing.
Speaker 3 00:27:21 Um, we touched on supplementation. Supplementation is such a valuable principle, but I always want to remind people. Health is not in the bottle. Health is in your decision-making. So do not get confused by the fact that if you take this supplement or you take this drug, that that is what will create health in your body, health is achieved, um, per decision-making and the influence of rhythms of nature that help us improve physiology and function. So one of those that I love to talk about that I think is gaining traction is the concept of breathing so simple, so easy, and an application so hard because we breathe all day long and consciously. There's a great new book out called breathe, think by James nester. Um, if you're interested more in it, but Joe and I were talking about, and what we discussed earlier, this idea of fight or flight number, your breath is one of your best tools that you have to balance the state of fight or flight in your body to achieve an upregulation what's called the parasympathetic nervous system and this concept of rest and digest. So if you're getting, you know, hyped up into a fight or flight state, remember you can do 10 conscious breaths, which is like, I like what's called rhythmical breathing where you're just breathing into a, a high point and then breathing out to a low point. And then just cycling that there's something called box breathing. Um, lots of different breathing techniques that you can do, uh, that really, again, helpful application. So nutrition breathing sleep is another huge one. I can only imagine sleep as a nightmare for, for you guys. No,
Speaker 0 00:28:56 Man, we sleep eight and a half hours a night. It's so relaxed. You know, we've got the lavender, you spray on your pillow. I mean,
Speaker 2 00:29:03 It's, we're in those heavenly beds. That's right.
Speaker 3 00:29:08 Yeah. So, so I, I think it's important to have fun with this and point out where, you know, where your obstacles are, sleep is such a valuable tool, but one that obviously gets, you know, influence just per year, your physical locations and where you are, but their member re rest is, is, is important and sleep as well. I like to say sleep some of our best meditation. So sometimes we forget the importance of sleep advice. But remember, meditation is another tying into the breath principle, just a moment to calm the mind. You know, I love to tell you this too, are one addiction that we have in this world is not to drugs. It's not alcohol, it's not to sex. It's not to money. It's to our thinking. That is our number one addiction. We are addicted to our thoughts and our thinking. So the benefit of calming your thinking, getting into what's called a present state of consciousness, which you can use your breath as a method to do that is a, another SIG I'm telling you, it will have more influence on your health than anything in a bottle.
Speaker 3 00:30:11 It's extremely difficult because we are only full steam ahead of keeping us in a stimulated state and a thinking state, which again, thinking's not bad, it's just all balanced, but keep that in mind, you know, your understandings of getting to a place of presence using breath exercises, another real valuable one that I'm sure everybody kind of knows about, but remember, exercise is not to be going to the gym to see your trainer an hour, a day. Exercise can be stretching. So you're in a hotel room, 80 floors up, and you're going to have to leave in 20 minutes and you didn't, you know, you can stretch for five minutes. Remember you can move your body through range of motion. You can do, um, you know, wall sets. You can do some planks, you can do a pushup, uh, as, as unattractive as that is
Speaker 0 00:31:00 Or two or three or 10 or
Speaker 3 00:31:02 Two. Yeah, of course. But it's this stuff, as I mentioned, where you can find the most power in your health is tangible it's it's, or it's available, it's just applying it. And I, and, but it's hard, you know, don't doubt the difficulty of it, but you know, the things in life that are worthwhile and lasting are extremely difficult. So yeah. Well,
Speaker 0 00:31:27 And they take mindset shift, you know, like you said, it's, you're right. You're in your hotel room. You may not have time to throw on your, you know, your workout clothes and get all the way down to the gym, but then suddenly you've got an extra 15 minutes, you know, is it better to spend that, oh, well you go down and you're 15 minutes early than being 15 minutes early this year, then the ballroom 30 minutes early, and you're just sitting on your butt or you take that 15 minutes, that 10 minutes, and you pause, you spend a little bit of time, whether it's, you know, meditating breathing or it's the stretching, it's the, you know what I'm going to, I'm going to get my muscles and my body moving. Cause I know I'm not going to be moving for the next 12 hours today, as I'm waiting on everybody to do their rehearsals in the show.
Speaker 0 00:32:15 And, um, but understanding that there's, that that's not a bad way to go. I think a lot of times people are very like, because we've been psychologically trained to believe that workout is one way, like you said, going to the gym and with a trainer, you know, for whatever reason, our mind has been taught that where if we flip that upside down and say movement is movement, if it's just a, you know, a 45 minute walk at the end of the day, that is better than, you know, sitting in the bar for 45 minutes, your body is now moving and actively making change. Whether even if it's little incremental step
Speaker 2 00:32:53 And then in the age of information too, you know, YouTube is amazing for being able to find you type in hotel room workout, and you will find a full body workout that will kick your ass on, on YouTube. You know, um, I bring bands with me. I do a lot of, of range of motion things with my shoulders and my, uh, all the things that the joints that I have issues with. Um, I've been doing physical therapy for, for, for 20 years. Um, so I, I carry that stuff in my suitcase and, you know, close it on the closet door and start, start working on my shoulders or whatever. Um, so there's, there's more than enough information out there for you to access and change that habit. That was my biggest thing is, you know, to me, the hotel room was always that place after the end of the long 18 hour day, you know, fall to the floor, fall to the bed, whatever, turn on CNN, see that, make sure that the world wasn't ending and then go to bed, you know, and then rinse repeat, and, and the, the hotel room became not a place of, of exercise or of meditating or any of those.
Speaker 2 00:34:02 So I had to change those habits in myself, uh, to make that, uh, a routine, every time I come into to my hotel room, it wasn't about doing those things. It was about taking care of myself again.
Speaker 3 00:34:14 Yeah. And then I think that that is, you know, it's great to have that testimonial joke cause you've been, you know, you've done it, you've been in it. And, and I always love to tell people if, you know, if you, if you can do it, Joe,
Speaker 2 00:34:26 And anybody can do it, fuck up. Anybody can do it, you can do it too.
Speaker 3 00:34:35 Right. It's like, if that guy can do it, I can do it. And I, and I think a good thing that you can attest to, right, is that sometimes obviously in health, especially I think this is how we roll in our medicine is this idea of doctor fix me. And, you know, I think that's one concept to start kind of learning your relationship with is that a lot of these things we're discussing aren't necessarily about, you know, fixing something, right. It's about applying a direction that, you know, feels maybe more authentic to you, right. It fills you up a little bit more, as hard as it is, or, you know, is, and then I love the idea too. This isn't about never going to the bar. Right. You know, you can go to the bar and have a drink, but, but it's about these other applications that, that just feel more, you know, it feels more in line with, you know, sustainability and, and like, wow, this feels good.
Speaker 3 00:35:29 Cause you know, like I said, I can only imagine your professional things might change. I think it's a profession that's hard, but one that's like, wow, we love doing this. It's fun. You know, it's yeah. We've got to come to work and have a good time, but it's hard. And, and it's, it's kind of in that world where you got to take care of yourself. If you want to have longevity in it or you'll get washed out and the next person will replace you. And you know, I think encouraging an idea of like this isn't a fix something. It is to sustain it and show up to it. And with a, again, a value that this is feels good and I can, you know, I can give back and perform my craft. So, so I think again, remember, so nutrition breathing, sleep movement, meditation supplementation, as I mentioned before, while it's not the power's not there, it's still highly valuable.
Speaker 3 00:36:18 Um, there's so much supplements out there. It's such a hard place to initially start. And you know, I mean, the idea of like a multivitamin is good, but you know, th th they're they're high, you know, lower hanging fruit, I guess we can say, you know, things that really have a lot of impact things like vitamin D probiotics, essential fatty acids, you know, vitamin C is one, I mean, stuff you've heard of all this stuff and you know, is it applicable? Like absolutely it's applicable. Um, it's just remembering, it's, it's a tool in your toolbox one that has to be applied in context and one that you shouldn't chase, you know, I don't know how it is. I'm sure in your industry, there's always the next technology, but there's also like, you know, and correct me if I'm wrong, but like, there's maybe some like predictable ways you do lighting though, too, right? Like you kind of do it this way and it has an influence and effect and you can add stuff to it and get, you know, I think the technology is different, but in the way the body works in health. It's like, remember the design is the design in the body, right. You just work with the design and you can create huge potential. So you're trying not to chase to like something like, oh, I just found this new good supplement. It makes me stay up all night and I don't have to sleep. It's like, I
Speaker 2 00:37:34 Think it was you. I think it was you that said this to me. And it, it stuck with me ever since was like 95% of the ailments in the body is because of an inflammation of some kind or another correct. Whether it's cancer become is, you know, is, is an inflammation that starts in some cell. And then it turns into a cancer. You know, if you have a joint problem, it's an inflammation. If you have a headache, it's an inflammation, it's always inflammation. And so those things that, that you can reduce or eliminate from your diet that will cause that inflammation is going to benefit you like a million fold. If you could do it the right way, if you can find the right formula.
Speaker 3 00:38:17 Absolutely. And, and, and let's, you know, I think inflammation is such a powerful word that I think is gaining more awareness. But remember inflammation is body reaction. What that means, right, is every time something comes into your system, the body has to respond to it. That's an inflammatory process. And that, you know, that's either a minor or a major thing. You know, you go and eat fettuccine and have a glass of wine and a piece of cheesecake and some French bread. There's a lot more inflammatory reaction. That's going to come from your body's need to digest metabolize and eliminate that you go and have salad, some chicken on it, some soda, water, and bitters, much less inflammatory state is going to occur in your body when you make that choice. So inflammation is the driving reaction that causes what's called D compensation to happen physiologically.
Speaker 3 00:39:05 And as things decompensate more, as you mentioned, then more adversity will show up out of the genetic code. This is this whole idea of nature versus nurture or epigenetics. Sometimes people think, well, my dad had cancer. My mom had cancer. My brother had cancer. I'm getting cancer. It's like, well, it's a pretty good chance. You'll get cancer. If you do it, they did, you know, per se, now you can't control everything, but you can be observant of things that influence inflammation that can drive chronic illness. And if you start making choices to reduce your inflammation load such as changing your diet, which is huge, or like I said, sleep, you know, hydration, uh, the hydrotherapy, you mentioned ending your showers with 30 seconds of cold water as
Speaker 2 00:39:53 Well,
Speaker 3 00:39:55 You know, but, and for some of your viewers that you guys may know, there's a guy named Wim, Hof, the Iceman. He's bringing that to, you know, to the forefront. Um, I'm sitting in my sauna right now. I just put a bathtub outside. So I'm, I'm bringing it into my home. Uh, but it's just remember it's contrast, we've grown in our world to become very stagnant, right? Um, we like warmth. We like to not be provoked. Remember life is created through contrast through motion and movement. I learned this from, uh, one of my patients who grows grapes. He said some of the best grapes in the world are grown on a side of a cliff that gets hammered with rain and you know, these weather patterns and then sun. And so it's this contrast that keeps the potential of the system high. So that's another great concept. Do things that do more things that make you uncomfortable, more uncomfortable. Something is the better it is for you per se. So cold water on your body, real good news, your blood lowers, your inflammation,
Speaker 2 00:40:57 Broccoli, eating rocks, do it.
Speaker 0 00:41:02 Jack. You know, I actually had a very good conversation with my son this morning about how I want to see him not go through many of the things that I went through when I was a kid, the challenges, the things that I fought and faced, and weren't able to overcome until much later in life. And so I'm going to push back on him when there are things that I know are going to help him in the long-term when I know there are things that are going to help him. And so that pushback, you know, the contrast, the challenge, the, you know, when someone says, does it have to be done that way? They're not attempting to make something personal as if you're stupid or an idiot they're merely pushing back because their perspective is different. And for us being able to listen and absorb that and not immediately reject, it will cause us to be better in the long-term, even if it's a bad idea or it's not the right idea for that scenario or that situation, um, to just throw things away out of happenstance or out of habit, because they're a challenge to what we're used to doing is really only, um, extending our comfort and not allowing us to grow into something different.
Speaker 0 00:42:19 Um, if I'm understanding the concept that you're, that you're talking about, Dr.
Speaker 2 00:42:23 <inaudible> and, and you're you're 100% correct. And it I'll be honest. When I first started working with Dr. Butler, uh, it was challenging, you know, I, I had to change a lot of eating habits and a lot because, you know, it's back then I could eat what I wanted and I didn't worry about it. And I could stay up as late as I wanted it and I can drink as much as I wanted. I can do whatever the hell I wanted, but, you know, in your thirties that starts to slow down and things change so well. And then I turned 40 and I'm 45, but, you know, just changing those habits was, was really hard. Um, you know, even though your mind tells you, every time you look up at a salad bar, you go, oh, there's a cheeseburger over there. I'm going to hit that.
Speaker 2 00:43:07 You know, it's, it's telling yourself, no, I'm going to have the salad. I'm going to start with a salad and whatever I have left, then maybe I'll have half of the cheeseburger instead. And just, just having that, that moment of clarity to tell yourself, to do the right thing is really hard to do. But once you do it, you'll feel so much better. It's like putting crappy gas in a, in a Ferrari, you would never put crappy gas in a Ferrari. If you want to perform at a high level, you have to put good fuel in yep. Exact same exact same price input
Speaker 0 00:43:39 Equals output a hundred percent mentally, physically, emotionally. It all comes together. Um, so real quick here for the last couple of minutes, Dr. Butler, I wanted to take a minute and just talk about mindfulness and kind of wrap this all up in a nice, neat package when it comes to, um, how people can be more mindful where they are, that you were talking about earlier about coming into the present, being in the present and not, you know, cause your mind is the greatest. I loved what you said your mind is our absolute greatest addiction and you're a hundred percent right. And I may have just completely misquoted that. But, um, that we do, we get stuck, you know, in our head all the time. I do it with my family. I'm not present, I do it with my friends. I'm not present. Like we're so stuck on thinking to ourselves about ourselves, around ourselves. Um, how can we, you know, it, yes, this is way more than a two minute conversation, but just from a practical, from a very, I guess like just at the beginning of, of how can we get ourselves out of that and become more mindful of where we are in the moment to be there with those people and not down the road or back in the past?
Speaker 3 00:45:00 Um, yeah. I, I think that, you know what, one just, we have a few minutes, application's always important member. Your breath is probably one of the best tools that you have that can momentarily, you know, pull you out of your thinking. As you mentioned, I love to tell people it's anxieties in the future depressions in the past pieces in the present. So our goal is to get to a place of presence, to, you know, kind of grow roots there, to see where our potential is and what kind of reality that can breed for us. So breath, wonderful to help us achieve that. Um, I love the idea though, too, that, you know, you know, mindfulness is not something that you have to get to it's already there. So that's always, I think we have this idea that what do I have to do to get there?
Speaker 3 00:45:48 It's like, it's already there. Everything you're looking for is already there. Are you willing to sit for a moment in that place of discomfort to allow it to, to cultivate, you know, can you point it out? You know, where can I, you know, sit in my present state and just let it be without the need to have, to allow it to, you know, gain traction or, you know, sometimes that's another mind like, okay, I got to get mindful. It's like, just by leading in that direction, you're starting to move away from a, a possibility that's already there. If that, that makes sense. Right? So, um, like I said, application-wise breath is good. There's a new concept called forest bathing. Like go in the forest, you know, touch a tree, you know, touch something to nature, nature, touch something that is not thinking because that is the energy that we are after.
Speaker 3 00:46:47 There's something else called grounding. I should tell you about this real quick grounding is where you like walk barefoot on the ground. And we are, we are you where we have energy that flows through us. It's real thing we're supposed to get grounded to the earth. This is really good if you don't sleep well. I think, I feel like you should tell your, your demographic, this, you got grounding mats, go to earthing.com. You're sleeping in 84 floors up in a hotel. You can, you can ground, you put, plug it sheet into the wall and, and grounds, it helps you sleep better. So I thought that's interesting, but, but the idea of, you know, get into nature, Nate, as Joe said, nature is nature is designed to help us stay in that present moment. Um, and you know, I think from an application, you know, that there's value there, but, but just to kind of end on it, the, I just love the concept to remind people that if you've heard this, everything you want again is in front of you or everything you want is on the other side of fear or, you know, to be mindful to be present is it's available.
Speaker 3 00:47:48 It's there. It just hasn't been tended to, you know, it's kind of like if you have children, you got to tend to them to create something. If you have a garden, you got to tend to it to create it. So tending to a place of, of a presence, um, it is possible. And it's again, more tangible than we think. And how do we do it? I would say, just start with your breathing, just focus on doing your breathing. Like I said, we could spend another, I'd love to be invited back to spend another, you know, time talking about, you know, our mind is medicine. And, and like I said, our thoughts are our biggest addiction and, um, but, uh, but just keep that in mind. It's, it's possible, it's there, it's achievable. And, uh, um, and, and I love to tell you this and you're worth it. You know, I feel court, you know, it's a corny concept I bought into it now, but to remind people like you're actually are worth it to, to work on that stuff.
Speaker 2 00:48:47 Absolutely. Well, and this year, this year, if nothing else has taught us that, right, like if we didn't care, we would've just gone out and got COVID and died. If you weren't worth it, you wouldn't have sat in your house for 15 months. Sure. Yeah. You know, so now take that time to get better, get healthy, do those things now. So that way we're all rocking hard when we get back on the road, you know, and you can take it, you can take the beating because you've found those tools that you can, you can utilize and feel better and not feel like a bag of ass, you know,
Speaker 0 00:49:23 And that's very true. And I think that coming back and having another episode and a discussion about our health mentally, uh, controlling the mind, the, the, the addiction of the mind would be an outstanding, an outstanding episode to have, because really he's right. I mean, if we can control what's between our ears, everything in our life gets better. I mean, it really does. Um, and, and that's something that I've been very conscious of over the last six to eight months, because I mean, no, I mean, COVID beat everybody in our industry down. It just, I mean, honestly, it was like a jackhammer pounding you into the ground one day after another, especially, you know, March through June as everything through 2021, like canceled. And it's like every day something news happens, changing and going away and nonstop. And it's like, and it really is. It was just, you know, for me it was, it was just a pounding.
Speaker 0 00:50:17 And thankfully now we're starting to see, you know, sprouts of life and new, uh, new, new growth happening. Uh, but man, there was a long time where I was just, you know, I'd sit around saying, is this even worth continuing? Should I just give up and move on? And thankfully I didn't. And I'm glad that that we're going to move on from that. But there were moments that I'm not, I'll be the first to admit that there were days where I was like, wow, this really, really sucks. Um, and, and I don't know what to do about it. And so I just got to keep trudging on, but, uh, yeah, I'd love to have that conversation and, and Dr. Butler, thank you for being here today. We really appreciate your time. And, uh, thank you for taking the time. Hopefully everybody grabs some really great nuggets out of that to help them live a better life as they get back out on the road.
Speaker 3 00:51:05 Well, thank you, Jordan and Joe Mac, I was really a pleasure to come speak to you guys and your audience and, uh,
Speaker 2 00:51:11 Give us your, give us your plug. We he's a mile down the road from me. So, uh, Northwest
Speaker 3 00:51:17 Natural medicine. Yeah. That's the name of my clinic, Northwest natural medicine, a and w natural medicine.com. Um, and yeah, I do mostly, uh, you know, um, in office stuff. Uh, we do do some remote work. I are licensed prevents us from really doing too much remote work outside of the state, but I guarantee you, if you look around there are people around you that are willing to start working with you to support your health, whether that's a naturopathic doctor, whether that's an acupuncturist or a chiropractor, I want to believe your medical doctor and, and what I want to tell you too, if there's not demand it, you know, start advocating for yourself to go, Hey, you know, while I get that drug might help me, like, what else can I do to start taking some control over my health? And, you know, if we demand, as we know more things, more potential, possibility and change can take place. And, uh, so I, I, of course I'm always open for business, but, um, uh, I will mostly advocate for you to take a step towards putting people around yourself that can, that can help you improve you, work on you and support you, uh, in, in a direction of, uh, I'd like to say authenticity. Awesome.
Speaker 2 00:52:34 We appreciate you. We appreciate that. No, we appreciate you coming on the show.
Speaker 3 00:52:38 Yeah. Well, you guys have a wonderful day and hopefully I'll see you on tour at a show. That's right. Thanks, Dr. Butler.
Speaker 0 00:52:46 All right guys, take care. We'll see you. Next time. Bye-bye road healthy is something that each of us should be looking to do every single day, not for us, but for those around us. Because every choice that we make has such a huge impact on the people. We work with, the people we are around and who we become as we grow. And as we get older, I encourage you to take some time, assess and evaluate your health. Find things that you can do better to live a better and healthier life. And also let everybody know about get ready. Tell them it's helping you become a better professional and rock out today. As the event industry gets right back to work. We'll talk to you soon and see you next time. <inaudible>.
