MODERN ELDERS are not like the former elders in that we have zest for life, and passion for adventure and exploration. We are not content to spend all our days in a rocking chair on the porch. We are active and social. We don’t feel old (although our bodies sometimes do.) We have a youthful mindset, believe that the best is yet to come, and we want to get the most out of life. This podcast is about growing older with a healthy body, mind and spirit - for 50+, baby boomers and seniors. Award-winning holistic health professional, Debra Jones' mission is to change negative attitudes towards aging and reinstate the reverence it deserves. Our society tells us that aging is undesirable. Why? As soon as we're born, we're aging. At OWN THE GREY, we believe that our age should be worn as a medal of honour. As we get older, we gain the power of perspective and WISDOM; an asset gained only by age. Let's change the conversation and set new, healthy, POSITIVE attitudes, and eliminate outdated stigmas. At OWN THE GREY, we uncover the hidden wisdom from the MODERN ELDERS of society so that ALL ages can be inspired by, and benefit from their stories.
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If you haven't tried alternative medicine yet is it because of the cost? If it is, you'll want to know about this resource that will pay you to explore some of the less common, yet effective health remedies. Since the recording, the financial support has grown to $75 cdn. Go to www.mirthwalk.com
One of the things I’ve discovered is that getting older often brings bigger questions. Who am I now? What do I really want? What needs to change? And how do I want to live this next chapter? Those questions are at the heart of my work. You might want to know yourself better. You might be looking for clarity and direction. You might know something needs to change, or simply need some healing and restoration. Wherever you are, there’s a place to begin. Explore at debrajones.ca.
If today’s conversation has you thinking about your own life and what comes next, I invite you to explore The Debra Jones Path. Because I don’t believe this stage of life is about becoming someone new. It’s about coming home to yourself, understanding who you are, trusting what you know, and choosing what comes next. There’s no prescribed starting point. Find the path that fits where you are right now at debrajones.ca.
if you haven't yet tried alternative medicine is it because of the cost in this episode you'll discover a fabulous resource that will save you money if you want to explore some of the less common yet effective health remedies my next guest is a musician singer and songwriter with a passion for supporting and promoting the arts - which is really important right now. She's an artist and a poet who published her first collection in a book called 'Hearth and Homework.' She channelled her profits and passions into a philanthropic venture that makes discovering alternative medicine a possible reality for all. The reason I asked her to speak with us today is that I love what she's doing and I want everyone to know that it's available. Please welcome, Lisa Watson - Hi Lisa, Hi Debra. So how many years have you been walking this journey? Oh a good 20 now i would say uh maybe 30 because you know it kind of started with the idea of vaccinating my kids and that just put the fear of God in me. Even though I had been vaccinated myself and I ended up vaccinating them because of pressure you know what's going to happen to them if they haven't and that kind of thing, which sort of funnelled me into alternative thinking. Then I followed the thread and here I am today. Well, we're going to talk a little bit more about that so you have followed that thread and you created a venture and your venture is called Mirthwalk. Can you tell us about it? Oh Mirthwalk was a bolt of lightning. I struggled with depression. You know in this world I think that's what Covid is doing now is making some course corrections for us. We've been programmed to fail really I think and uh so I struggled with depression and I wanted to help with mental health because it kind of made sense to me. I wanted to help and so I investigated that and came to realize that it was a bottomless pit that really didn't help, I didn't think, in the immediacy of the problem. Meanwhile, I had come to know a lot of alternative healers that led to Mirthwalk, the development of Mirthwalk, and so the concept of being your own therapist, we need help to rethink where we stand in the world and what it is we want of ourselves and what we can do to contribute and to to be better human beings. We're spinning on a bit of a treadmill right now and I think Covid is going to help us get off of it. We're going to start seeing different ways of doing things. Mirthwalk is a lead into that think. That's the way we used to think, and then the industrial age came in and we were starting to buy into, you know, treatments for different things. The medical system, medicine is great, science is great and we've come a long way. I'm not saying otherwise for sure i believe in the integration of both the ancient and alternative medicines proven medicines and treatments and new treatments. The old ways of doing things have been lost and Mirthwalk is a foot in the door to rediscover things like oils and massage and spirituality and there's so much out there right now it's fantastic. There really is, there really is, and so some people would consider this new medicine but really it's original medicine don't you think? Yeah it's proven. It's thousands of years of proof. I don't know why everybody's so skeptical. So Mirthwalk was created because you realized that the alternatives out there. What had you discovered through alternative medicine? The biggest thing that I've learned through all of this is that the body is a self-correcting mechanism. We're evolving every day. There's something new that we have to deal with. If our systems are depleted from lack of rest, too much stress, our food sources are jeopardized, i think that it's right and correct to take supplements. I don't think we need to spend a fortune on supplements but i think if we're depleted then we can build up our systems. The body needs some help. So there we go, we get our help, we start taking care of ourselves, we get some regular exercise, we meditate, whatever form that takes, because I know, sometimes it's hard for people to meditate and stop, but go for a walk or do a you know, a running meditation or just escape from your head you know and that, I think was a big part of Mirthwalk for me was escaping from my thoughts, you know stop beating yourself up girl, start patting yourself on the back once in a while, giving yourself some credit. We don't honour ourselves and our abilities. You're not supposed to do that, you're you're supposed to defer to other people and I just think if we stop for a minute and give ourselves a little bit of credit we might feel a little bit better about ourselves and that starts a stream of good health you know right right so and sometimes we just need to be shown how to do that. It's not necessarily something that comes naturally and there are many therapists and practitioners that are skilled in helping you find yourself. It was incredible to me. It was like I found this huge pool of assistance you know. People say it's okay you're you're not wrong, you're not bad. You know I've got so many friends now, including you, you know, you are who you hang around with and I feel good about myself. I hang around with people that are doing good things and have smiles on their faces, and they trip often but they get back up, they don't linger on the problem, they just keep moving and smiling, and that's where I want to be. So i hear ya and having knowing that there's support out there for you that's the one thing that some people aren't even aware of and i think that's uh from what I know about Mirthwalk that is your purpose, is to open people's eyes. Well i said early going so it was my niece that was had decided she was going to go to medical school and that was a long time ago it seems like now she was younger and i said you know, that's great honey we're gonna need an army of healers and to get past the belief system that is holding us down, and lo and behold, i turn around in my discovery and there's all kinds of healers in the neighbourhood. You know they don't get enough credit, they don't make enough money, you know they're not paid for by OHIP and that seems to be the way if it's not paid for by OHIP then it's not credible you know and that's often people's way of thought isn't it that yeah, yeah and that's unfortunate because that means that it's hugely underutilized. We could be a lot healthier in our community if we partook of this if they it would be really nice if OHIP covered some of it and insurance companies are starting to incorporate the likes of reiki and that kind of thing. It's a pretty shy start but That point of not being covered in OHIP coverage that is sometimes a stumbling block for people and therapies don't actually need to cost a lot of money and there's a lot of different ways to be able to accomplish it, and Mirthwalk is really a forerunner in making that possible for people. So what does Mirthwalk do? So if you are interested in trying alternative healing go to the Mirthwalk site. You'll see that there are listings for local practitioners, and if you already know a practitioner that you're interested in attending you can connect with them and have them sign up to the Mirthwalk site. It's a 50 dollar leg up that I pass to the practitioner to put against the the first meet, which you know, can cost a hundred bucks or 150 bucks something like that. So it'll help you get in the door and you can decide whether that's somebody you want to work with or not. Generally my feeling is that it only takes a couple or three visits to somebody that you click with to get your head straight and to point you in the right direction around supplements and other things. Like there's such a big world out there around this, it's incredible, touch for health and reiki and energy medicines of all kinds. It's a huge pool of information. Mirthwalk only has a few practitioners right now, i'd like to see more come on board. It costs them $25 to have their profile put up on the Mirthwalk site. So you can study what they do. They're all locals, um there is sorry there's a section for out of town you know and it's okay even just to talk on the phone to one of them because from my perspective energy medicine is fluid and can be done at a distance. That's an out-there thought but it works for me. It's worked a lot for me. I've had so much stuff it's been really my exercise is trying all these things out it's really hilarious and uh and fun, I've met so many wonderful people through this. So Mirthwalk, look up Mirthwalk, check out the practitioners, look up some of the exercises or the tools that they have and if you want to make a contribution you can do that if you want to. Yeah Debra, you made up the site and it's incredibly easy to use, and I really appreciate what you did for us. No, no that was my pleasure and because I love what the concept is so much and I've used it myself with my own clients. So if a client is inquiring about my services and finances are an issue then I offer them the Mirthwalk funding to cover their first, second, maybe even their third session. So from my perspective what I do is I apply online as a practitioner to get onto the Mirthwalk website, and then when i need to use the funds I put in an application and Lisa reviews it. Usually, there's no walls in the way and she cuts me a cheque yeah I don't ask questions because to my mind it's none of my business what's going on with a client right and you know if the practitioner deems it necessary I'm fine with that so yeah that that's it's really wonderful, and then Lisa cuts me a cheque which I apply to my client's sessions and that's really all there is to do it's very very simple and it's quite amazing. But Lisa where does the money come from? So so far it has just been from proceeds from my music and arts and so on but contributions are starting to come in, which is really great. I love that people's heads are turning around it and that they want to help. So there's a button for that a donation button. The funding, there's limitations to it so we're looking for more donations and the funds that come in from the practitioner's fees that goes right into the pot doesn't it Lisa? Yes it does, yeah the practitioner's money is going directly into helping people afford - so i apologize yes, the practitioners are contributing too yeah and that's fairly new that you know the $25 annual fee, it's not much. I'm glad that I don't need to ask much from the practitioners but every little bit helps so i'm really grateful to them for that. They already have the burden of you know, not really being recognized and and lowering their prices to help. You know, they're really working from the heart, I just love that. So yeah that's awesome. So if anybody's interested in either receiving the funds or being a practitioner, or donating to the funds, go to Mirthwalk.com check it out and take care of your your own body, and Lisa, I really appreciate you sharing this. Thank you for joining us. Thank you for all your help around Mirthwalk Debra, and I wish you the best of luck with your projects for sure, I'm excited about them for you. Awesome, thank you so much, and so on behalf of Lisa Watson and me, Debra Jones, we both thank you for listening and take care of yourselves. you
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