The path to Freedom though food, fitness, & mindset
Transcript
Today on the Work IN we are going toexplore the path to freedom through food fitness and mindset with my guest Jennifer Helene Popken.
Jennifer Helene, M.S. is an international expert in health. She is immersed in cutting-edge nutrition, fitness, and spiritual thought leadership. She is a serial entrepreneur and builds programs for health coaching, lifestyle change, and mentoring programs; training the trainers. Former FORD model, MasterChef (FOX TV) cast member, mother, seeker of truth, she runs Purposeful Ventures a company that is helping Moms succeed in revitalizing their life, relationships, businesses, and health.
Helene has a fascinating story that starts with a childhood illness that left her with a first hand understanding of what can happen when you lose your health. We talk about the magic formula to true freedom. The fastest way to shift your mindset and emotions, how to build emotional stamina. How to find the “best” diet for you and how to make the most out of exercise.
I learned so much from her and I think you will too. Please enjoy my interview with Helene Popken
Ericka Thomas 0:02
Welcome Helene, to The Work IN I am so excited to talk to you.
Helene Popkin 0:08
Thank you for having me.
Ericka Thomas 0:10
Let's start with just an introduction, I'd like to give you a platform to just kind of explain a little bit about your background, kind of what got you here today, and your mission.
Helene Popken 0:25
Thank you. Well, a lot got me here today and like all of us, I think you know our suffering, and our reach to find an end for our suffering is really what got me here today. This series of events that occurred throughout my life that in the moment I couldn't find meaning for but now it all seems to be clear why all these things happened.
So as a young child I had, you know, they thought I had leukemia, I was in a wheelchair from age 7 to 10 while they were trying to figure out what it was and thankfully it wasn't the leukemia, it was just a bone marrow infection osteomyelitis, which is, you know, kind of an odd thing in the West, but I didn't have to amputate my leg, which was great! But I think for me, early on, the idea that if you don't have your health, your life really isn't that much fun to live. And that was something that really got drilled into me.
And then to everyone's surprise, I ended up becoming a Ford model.Which is just bizarre because I, you know, was kind of a fat awkward kid who was in a wheelchair, you know. But it happened and I went to New York. And I had a lot of skin problems, and a lot of intestinal problems from the high doses of antibiotics that I'm given. And I really trusted Western medicine. And I started to need to look outside of a western medicine had to offer me to find solutions to my problems.
And so over the years I lived for a decade in Europe and I learned to speak fluent French and German I have a real fascination with food. I love food. And I've learned that I need to love food that loves me back, and that's been a journey. I got a bachelor's and a master's degree in nutrition and I studied Food as Medicine wherever I went in the world, whether it was Hong Kong or Middle East or all over Europe, just to start to see what the healing traditions were in each of these cultures outside of Western medicine. Really what the grandmothers were doing for their grandbabies you know when they needed healing or they a headache or a bellyache. And I found some similarities.
And then the more I studied in my own personal quest to find balance because I was a mom, I was an entrepreneur. And I, you know, was was out in the world and I had this really strong calling. And it was probably because I wanted to help my mom, you know, because she was overweight and I wanted her to be able to enjoy the food that she loved, and to get the health benefits. But unfortunately I lost her at 59. She was 59.
Ericka Thomas
I'm sorry.
Helene Popken
Me too, my little baby had just been born. And so I feel like now, really, what I need to do like I'm compelled to do. I can't ignore it, I tried. I have to really talk about, and teach about the simple formula to health, freedom and happiness. And also help myself and others come together to talk about our successes but also support each other when we're struggling.
Because there are tools and frameworks that I've created over the years that have really really helped me. And I spent, you know, 27 years deep in yoga, you know, in personal development. I've probably spent well over a million dollars in personal development. And, I build programs.So I've got over 1000 students in 64 countries. I built a Culinary Institute for Food as Medicine.
So at this point, you know, movement is medicine, food is medicine, and your mindset, which for me more is like spirituality, like your heart really more so that your mind is medicine. So aligning with, you know that core wisdom and that center essence that we all have and we get a little distracted from the more we you know, stay up here (in the head) but that's kind of long and short.
Ericka Thomas 4:11
That's fantastic. It's so interesting to me to hear you talk about that inner connectivity. And, in your experience, you can really see how your journey from through and to health, came from the outside and moved in to the body when all of the source for your healing comes from the inside out, rather than the surface symptom, you know, fix the symptom, and that Whack a Mole approach to medicine that we see, like oh this symptom popped up let's treat that and this symptom popped up let's treat that instead of going inside and finding that upstream cause or a way to heal from the inside, inside out. So I think that's fantastic.
Helene Popken 5:04
Yeah and that's really the key and we're not really taught to learn the language of the body. At least I wasn't. And so it's taken me a long time actually and that's really my practice today is really trying to figure out, oh, what does my body need, which is different than what my mind thinks it should need based on all the wisdom and intellect that I've cultivated over the years. Listening to the body's signals when it needs water when it needs rest. Instead of my mind saying Why I should be doing this. And it has been that inward journey for sure, but I think that most of us, at least the women that I work with, because I work with moms on how to overcome stress and overwhelm so that they can you know through an integrated Healthy Mind, body, soul, and looking within can be a challenge, you know, because it takes time, it can be confronting. But that is the answer ultimately.
Ericka Thomas 6:03
right, and we're not, we're not raised to be okay with being uncomfortable in the moment. Right, I mean it's, it's always like, Okay, if you don't feel good, then let's do something externally to make it better, and that can of course get into all kinds of shady things, right. External regulation, you know, right, yeah.
Helene Popken
How are you, I'm good, you know, but yeah, that really, you don't really want that deeper answer, and it's, it's like, it's just uncomfortable,
Ericka Thomas
But that's one of the great things about a yoga practice though that's one of the things that for my own practice, was, was a really interesting learning journey was just being, learning how to be a little bit uncomfortable and be okay there because it's whatever I'm feeling in the moment isn't going to last forever. This is just one moment in time. Right, so that's where some of this movement and embodied practice comes into play. I think for healing people. So let's talk a little bit about movement first. Because sometimes, that is the first thing people think about when they're trying to get healthy, right, is the exercise program.Just give me a program. Something I can do. A lot of times it still stays on the surface, though, so how do you move from this”okay just follow the checkboxes and do the exercises in the order that I'm telling you to do them”. How do we go from that to making this a real embodied practice?
Helene Popken 7:50
I love the words you're using because it's so where I am right now and the secrets that I've unfolded for myself, embodied and the checklist, because most of us are just checking in not checking the box. And what I find is that it's, it's a relationship with our bodies that tends to be the blocker. We have this judgment in the story around our capacity. And you know how I should be, how I should have run, you know, and that can't run and I'm feeling out of breath or this is difficult.
And I think that exercise is like resilience training, getting uncomfortable is such a great analogy is so easy to understand, easier to understand than like, spiritual discomfort, or emotional discomfort when you expand past your comfort zone. Because to build a muscle, you have to burn, right? And it gets uncomfortable. And if you do too little, you won’t make progress if you do too much you'll injure yourself. So it's a really beautiful way to learn to re-imagine your relationship with yourself and then to also get comfortable being uncomfortable and develop the discernment around what it feels like to build strength.
And I have told you I’m, you know, a movement and yoga practitioner for all these years. And yoga has been just everything for me. I mean it's my first love and everyone who was close to me knows that it's like it trumps just about everything. I think that the body speaks the mind. And I think that emotions are just energy in motion, and I love what you said about how it's just this moment. And this too shall pass.It's going to be different in the next moment.
I find a movement practice exercise or an embodiment practice is really the fastest vehicle for me to shift into a new state of being. Because I know my life, everything in my life, my parenting, my businesses, my romantic relationship, the way I feel inside of my skin is all determined by my way of being. And so, the short answer is like emotional engagement.
Well, how do you do that right but I feel for me it's like, if I could really leave the external, and then be like just with my breath, and with my movement, and try to unhook from the stories that are going to pop up about shame body shame, you know like, oh I can't do this or I could do this last week and I can't do it this week, what's wrong with me and I'm tired.And you know all these things that pop up. It's going to be very confronting.
But number one we have to move like it's essential. We can't really be healthy unless we're moving. It doesn't have to be something elaborate, it can be gardening, it can be walking, it can be, well, and I like to do this, dance, you know, dance. I dance has been a really big part of my embodiment practice because it helps me to align with the vibration of the music. So I'm moving with the music and I'm letting the music move me and that helps me to really tune in.
But that for some people, a lot of people are really uncomfortable. Like that's way too steep of a gradient. So the first thing I would say for anyone listening is really emotional engagement.So for me that's oftentimes through music and through a conscious decision to actually leave the phone.To decide, and to bring all of myself to the moment you know not checking email, not, not answering my daughter's requests not, you know, picking up the phone and just really trying to like focus on it for that hour. And inside of that. Be mindful when I'm, when I'm in the mind, when I'm in the head, and then drop back into the body and just make it a communication between me and my body because my body never lies. My mind. Oh will lie to me all day.
Ericka Thomas 11:41
Yeah, it sounds like there's a lot of intentionality there, right, it's just intentionality, which you can apply to really any kind of movement that you want to, that you like, right, that I mean it doesn't have to be a yoga practice I know people are resistant sometimes to yoga, the "woo woo" guru thing, but it doesn't have to be that, in order to get that intentionality. I would say that for some people, having that emotional connection come up, and I think you mentioned this it can be really what you said confronting but also very negative because we have such such negative judgment about our own body, where exercise can become or can start to feel like punishment for other behaviors that we have done.
Helene Popken 12:39
I've done it, I've tried to run my fork. Yeah, I love that outrun your fork it is unpleasant right. It's a it's a it's a kind of aggression like In yoga we talk a lot about, you know, non violence and it's a kind of violence, you know, and, and it's just you injure yourself ultimately. And, you know, again, I was in a wheelchair, I know what it's like, that's not the way I want to live my life so you know I just, I just really value the gift of movement. And I want, and I know now. Wow, I mean, measures like I can go faster. I mean, I can, I know so many frameworks and exercises and things for the head right context and like shifting so many things.But like movement, the fastest way, it’s so cool.
Ericka Thomas 13:30
The body is such a conduit for communication into the mind. And, and I think it's missed because we lose intentionality when it's time to go exercise at the gym, right. So, that is a great point about being able to shift your mindset through the body I love that that's, that's one of the main focuses of trauma release exercise which is one of the things that I offer, and that is what we try to do is to move through the body to shift the connections in the mind to all of that emotionality, so that's fantastic, I love that.
Helene Popken 14:09
Did you read that book, The Body Keeps the Score? You must have.
Ericka Thomas 14:12
absolutely, absolutely yes.
Helene Popken 14:14
And I read that book and I, and I was like, oh, that's what trauma looks like interesting, and then I realized I had a lot of trauma that I didn't realize I had. I am like oh people have much worse things happen to them like, but that actually was trauma being cheated on being betrayed all that stuff also is trauma, even though I wasn't a Vietnam vet. But what I thought was so interesting when it got to the end of the book I was not expecting him to say that yoga meditation was the most effective thing he'd ever used, and oh my gosh, I was so blown away and it makes sense because we look at the system of yoga that Asana is just one of eight pieces of it, and it's really there to clear memory. It's there to condition the body to, you know, free the body so that we can have more freedom, and peace and love.
Ericka Thomas 15:00
Yeah, yeah, that's fantastic. Yeah. Now let's talk a little bit about something a little bit deeper than movement, maybe that can support healthy movement. And that's nutrition, right.This basis of how we eat. And I will say that I am like my number one guinea pig and I think I've tried like everything that has ever come out for how to eat, and I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing but I just feel like maybe if there was only one thing that would only be one thing, you know like if one thing worked for everyone, there would only be one thing but there isn't, so who knows. So I'm open to trying everything as far as nutrition goes, and, and I just keep the things that work, And I let the other things go. So, what advice would you give to people who are trying to get a handle on an eating pattern that works for them, that can bring in kind of their maximum optimized health for their body, what is it that you look for in that kind of an eating pattern, what should, where do people start?
Helene Popken 16:20
This is so beautiful the way you're phrasing things. I can tell that you're, you're so practiced, you know, you're so you were really mindful and you've really been on a journey yourself. I can just feel that through the words you're using. And as for nutrition, I was an Overeaters Anonymous with my mom and Weight Watchers, at like age five. And I too have been on every diet. I don't know if it's good, bad, right or wrong but I think I'm endlessly curious about it. Oh, that's interesting. I'd like to give that a try. So, I know that you know what, you know what works and what doesn't and what works today is different than what worked 10 years ago so it's also constantly evolving.
I love how you said take the things that work for me and leave the things that don't. So the first thing I think that can benefit everybody is to reduce or eliminate refined flour and sugar and processed foods. These things I find from my experience with myself and with the clients that in the programs I've built, transformations I've witnessed now over the last you know almost three decades and 1000s and 1000s of people. Once you eliminate those things it's almost like, almost like it is like you can think clearly, it's as if you can, you know, the fog is lifted, and if you want to add to that, of course, you know alcohol and nicotine and caffeine. But flour and sugar are really big and it aligns with what Overeaters Anonymous uses as their, as their abstinence. You know, it's almost easier and excuse me I don't mean to be not I don't mean to be rude or not compassionate, but it's almost easier to be a drug addict or an alcoholic, because you never have to have those substances again. But as a food addict or compulsive eater, you have to confront your addiction every day and still consume it. So it's really tricky. It's a slippery slope. And if you can do that, reduce or eliminate the flour and sugar and processed foods, and then eating food from its source.
Whole Foods in season right organic foods, and I know it's so, so simple. What I find is that we don't really have the know-how to make those foods delicious and satisfying and that's why I love to build culinary programs and talk about them. I was on master chef. I'm just really excited about not sacrificing flavor for health, because you can have both, but you may need a few skills to get there because it's really hard to trust the stores out there.
I mean even, I live in a very conscious area. And still I have to, you know, prepare my food, because I know that I feel really, really different when I go out to eat, the oils they use, the salts they use. So, it's a double edged sword. Being healthy kind of makes your world a little bit more limited, but I have an abundance of energy, and I have freedom, and I wake up in the morning feeling really vital and strong. But those would be the first step. So when I say food from its source, what I mean is like a wheat Berry is really different from the refined wheat flour that you find in bread right. So you can make a lot of things from wheat berries, you know, and that's food from its source. So I find that that's really a great rule of thumb for us all.
Ericka Thomas 19:44
Yeah, so how do you address some of the most common barriers for people to doing things like finding food from the source, you know, that's, that's extra work it's extra time. It's time, it may be expensive. Although I disagree with that as an excuse because I think heart attacks and strokes are more expensive than healthy food. Right. I mean just because you're not paying for your medications, doesn't mean they're not as expensive right so there's there's cost to everything that we do, and whether in money or health, but, but yeah so what, how do we address some of those barriers?
Helene Popken 20:40
At the end of the day, changing your diet can be almost like changing your religion. It's emotional.Eating is really emotional, it goes right back to like mother's milk, you know, and you're, you're, nourishing yourself so it's an act of self love, actually. And it's, it's your lifeforce, it's your life source. Yes, water and oxygen are as well and sunlight but it's a relationship.How we relate to food is how we relate to our source energy. How are you sourcing yourself is something I would ask people.
But it all comes down to, like, what are you really committed to. Because if I say I'm committed to losing weight but I'm eating potato chips and ice cream every night at 8pm. That may not be my real commitment, it's my, what I would call a default commitment. So I think it's important that we all take an honest look about what we want. And what we're doing and what results we're generating in our lives.
Because I remember actually I got into coaching because I was really into food, and I elaborate meal plans I would, and I was working with the University of Maryland at the time. And I got, you know, I didn't understand why my clients weren't following the meal plan. I call them two weeks later or next week and they're like, I just don't have time to make a smoothie. You know it's not about the time, like me, it’s the fastest thing, right? Right. So, it really boils down to the psychological frameworks and relationships we have with food, nourishment, self love and our commitment around what we want to generate. So food oftentimes is the vehicle of sabotage, where we keep ourselves from shining and keep ourselves from, you know, really becoming who we are.
And it just requires a little bit of discomfort to try some new things, get it wrong, try again, succeed, and then start to gain momentum. And, you know, oftentimes say ”Oh my husband doesn't want to do it, or my kids, you know, and all those things are in the space. So, you know, it's gonna lead to something, right. One day, weight gain, endocrine imbalance, burnout, you know.There are all these things that, you know, and we know for a fact to prevent disease with a healthy diet. We know it by now. So I would say that these barriers of entry are really mindsets and sabotage patterns that we all need to be lovingly, tenderly honest with ourselves and be willing to make a change.
Ericka Thomas 23:13
Right. And, and that's so that's such a great transition because I want to move into the mindset but for many people, and for myself included, I did not realize the connection to my emotional health, my mental health, that comes from my gut, until it was too late. And it took a lot of work to correct that. When you are starting to change your diet toward what we were talking about, removing refined flour and sugar and things like that can really make a great difference in how you think, how you see the world, how you feel your sense of well being. And that is like a loop back to being able to eat better, but you have to hang in there, past the withdrawal symptoms that come from pulling back from that standard American diet. And then it's sort of a catch 22 Right, because if you really don't feel very good about yourself, it's really hard to do good things for yourself.
So working on that behavior change that mindset piece is so so important. And sometimes that's the last piece that people get to when it really could and should be maybe the first place, they start to find that clarity of mind about what it is they really want and what they feel like they can bring into their life. So, I've loved, I've heard what you've I've heard you speak on other podcasts about that, that clarity of mind, almost like cleansing the mind as you cleanse the body. And I think it's really kind of a neglected part of people's well being. So, what are some of the things that you would recommend for people just to sort of support these other changes through our mindset and focus?
Helene Popken 25:23
It's a great question. And for everyone's going to be a little bit different, but I love that you made this gut brain segue, because the more research that comes out, the more we're realizing that the integrity of our microbiome which is primarily, that is primarily a lot of the microbiome and that which we know about the microbiome is in the large intestine, which is where the fiber, soluble and insoluble fiber are received. And that which you know helps move the large intestine. And come to find out, we can take all the probiotics we want but the real good, the real good bacteria the good guys live on fiber in a variety of fiber. So the more fiber we can eat the more good bacteria are going to grow. And then the happier our brain feels and the better our bodies can function so it's so interesting. It's actually more valuable for you to invest in eating fiber and like a variety, right, not just grapes or, you know, tomatoes. But like a variety of squash and peppers and colors.
And this is a little bit spiritual, but like the phytonutrients in plants and vegetable plants, plant food like fruits and vegetables, is really light captured in the leaf. And when you eat a variety of colors, then you're getting all those phytonutrients. And it's creating a different circulation in your body's circulation in your blood circulation in your colon circulation in your brain. And so, they found that you can have things lifted off of you like depression and constipation and all kinds of other maladies that are really problematic.
And so the first order of business, of course, is nutrition. And I find that that's like the basic fundamental pillar and then what happens is you're no longer sabotaging yourself right by stuffing your emotions down with food. Because often times we're reaching for something crunchy and salty when we're angry or frustrated or we're reaching for something sweet and smooth when we need comforting touch, love, a deep conversation. And so we're, that's a quick grab and go right. And just, like, that's going to get my needs met.
But really long, long term I've been thinking about vital long term thinking. It's really not going to cut it, it's gonna, it's going to kind of be that sting ray, you know, like we're kind of gets you at some point.
You know I think motivation is key. I don't, I don't want to be a diet technocrat either. I mean like you know you have to have fun and enjoy your food right. So the body is also very, very resilient. But when we, what I find with people who really go for it, you know, they get clean. You know, in their mind and their diets. All of a sudden, it's like, oh my gosh, I didn't even know I had all these emotions to deal with. Oh my gosh.
So I've actually developed a whole framework around this that I call emotional stamina. Because it's like, almost like a Pandora's box so you have to be prepared for it. Not everyone experiences it but a lot of people do. It's like, oh gosh, I'm not eating flour and sugar and now I've got all this crap to deal with.All these emotions that I'm not stuffing down anymore and like what the heck do I do with it.
So you got to exercise, move it, definitely move it. And then there's this. It sounds simple but it's a little complex in practice. But there's the emotional stamina process is three steps and it's acknowledge, accept and let go. And the capacity for us to do all of those things at 100% varies based on any given moment, emotion or situation. But that is the formula that works really, really, really well if you can consciously engage in, you know, acknowledging like I am frustrated. I am angry, you know. And then, accepting what it is without poking into the story too much around it or the victimization. And then at some point increase in your aptitude to accept and let go. And that's a very helpful process.
Ericka Thomas 29:30
That is so simple. You're right, it sounds so simple but I have been in moments, and I'm sure other people listeners may have been, where you're feeling something you don't even have a name for. Like, I got something. Yeah, right. Yeah, it takes time, it's like, Oh yeah, okay, I have no name for that. I know.
Helene Popken 29:57
Yeah, I know I know you know it's like, how do you navigate the waters? And I love the water analogy for emotions because it is in what they say in Chinese medicine like the kidneys are our water organs and they're the organs of emotion and sometimes we get overwhelmed in a wave. If you've ever swam in the ocean, you can't fight against those waves, they're going to come again and again and again and they're influenced by factors that we can't even wrap our heads around. They've tried. Science has really tried, we know a thing or two. But you got to learn to go with it. And if you swim in the ocean you really understand that because like you know, you kind of dive under you, you swim with, you know, and similar, similar to our emotions. And I think as women, we get criticized for being emotional. You know, or hysterical, you know, and I think it's really important for us to harness it not get lost and overwhelmed with it but have a process to learn how to navigate it so it's productive.
I know for myself, many years ago before I developed these frameworks, I was not able to cope with it. I was overwhelmed and I was passive aggressive and I was smearing my incompletion, to coaching jargon, but I was smearing my upset on everyone around me and it was really, really toxic, really toxic So, out of necessity I had to develop these frameworks just to ensure it because I really want a romantic relationship in my life and after my divorce and other failed relationships, I really gotta figure this out so I'm trying I'm still practicing.
Ericka Thomas 31:30
Right, and that's, and that's, that's the key right there, is that it's never an endpoint, it's always just a point on the, on the journey forward, like you're never going to, you know, oh I'm finally this weight and I'm finally can fit in these clothes and now I don't have to do anything again. Now, you know, like, now I can let it all go. Now, like we want that don't we. Right we really want just one thing like what's the one thing I can eat. What's the one thing I can do? What's the one exercise that you know works for everything that's gonna get me what I want. But it really is more complex and simple than that.
Helene Popken 32:18
It’s part of the journey. I think that we're all meant to like you said, like, all these diets we've done I think it's just all part of the journey and they're like steps that we take on the journey to. To find out more and each step reveals something new and, you know, how do you stay excited about it, you know, endlessly curious. I think I know everything, I don't. I know a lot but I mean, I have to be endlessly curious, because the minute I say I know, and there's some things I'm certain about like plants I'm certain about those are those that make me feel great, the more I eat them, the better I feel. The less oil I eat the better I feel you know so I know some things for sure, but I'm still open. Definitely. And I have to be committed, the minute I’m not I’ve closed myself to possibilities,
Ericka Thomas 33:01
right. Yeah, that's great. That's great. Let's wrap this conversation a little bit with your magic formula because when I read that I was saying. Hmm there's a magic formula?
Helene Popken 33:17
Well it's everything we've been talking about. you know food fitness and mindset and once you can get your act together in those three areas, you are on the path to freedom and I think at the core we all want freedom, and have your health is a huge freedom from someone who has seen the other sucker close to me, your life completely changes when I get a diagnosis, for you have chronic health problems, and have the freedom of health is so essential, as a, as a person as a human but also really important as a mom, you know because we've got to be there for our kids and be impactful in our businesses like us. I mean we really need to have our health as a priority. And if we can clean up our act and stay mindful and intentional about what it is we're eating. If we can stay intentional about our movement practice. If we can stay intentional about what it is that’s going on in our hearts. In the connection between our heart and our mind. That's really the magical formula, is cleaning up our act and getting back into alignment and bringing consciousness and mindfulness, around what we're doing with our nutrition, our movement, and our mindset.
And I think the biggest key is like this, right here like between the nose and right like you know the throat. This area is so perfectly designed by nature because the breath is always the thing that will take us from the mind to the heart. That will shift our nervous system, you know, sympathetic parasympathetic so that we can actually, you know, breathe and absorb our nutrients as opposed to eating on the go. Or even if you're eating on the go to make sure you're in a calm state in your nervous system. And also in your breathing practice in your movement practice, you definitely are forced to breathe, right, more than usual really forces you into your heart, so the more we can live here (in the heart), the better off we are. But we also have to have the intellect satisfied and organized, So, without being vigilant or militant.
Ericka Thomas 35:28
That's beautiful. I love that. I love that. So, Helene, how would people reach you, if they wanted to work with you, are you currently working with clients right now? How can people get in touch with you if they want to, to have a relationship with you?
Helene Popken 35:53
So my website Jennifer-helene.com you can sign up there for the seven day free lifestyle plan and that's delicious plant based recipes and some ideas on what your lifestyle, practice could look like, you know, still mindset and movement and nutrition. And there's also a contact page on my website, you can always just email me directly. And currently I'm working on a one year program. So we're accepting applications for a one year program, which I know sounds like a lot but actually it's just a blip, to make sustainable changes because after these time, I've noticed it takes about a year and get into a new group go through those bumps of, you know, like you talked about like when you start something new it's uncomfortable it's, you come up against a lot of stuff. So getting that worked out so that's something I'm really excited about. We're one on one, but you can join our Facebook group if you sign up for the seven day plan and I constantly chime in there. We're asking really fun questions, but definitely reach out, love to teach and this is what I'm here to do.
Ericka Thomas 37:01
That sounds great. I will put links to that in the show notes for sure for people. This has been a fantastic conversation Helene, I loved talking to you and hopefully we can do it again.
Helene Popken 37:14
Yeah, thank you and thank you to all of you listening and just want to say, we all can do it, and we do need each other. You know we're meant to work in unison and support each other so if you don't have someone to support you then find a group, you know, join my group join Ericka's community like whatever, you know what you need but you get supported that's what nature intended for us to be in community.
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I’m Ericka
I teach a powerfully effective form of body work called trauma release exercise that allows the body shake off years of stuck stress, tension & trauma.
I offer online, on demand private sessions, courses & memberships for individuals, small groups and corporate clients looking to build resilience and recover from stress injury.
And I’d love to work with you. Click below when you’re ready to book a call and discover if trauma release is right for you.