Episode Transcript
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Nika Lawrie (00:01):
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Welcome to the Purely Podcast.
I'm your host, Nika Laurie.
Hey and welcome to the PurelyPodcast.
(00:30):
I'm your host, Nika Laurie, andfor those of you who followed
me on this journey for the lastcouple of years, you know that
the podcast was formerly calledInspired with Nika Laurie.
I have rebranded to call thepodcast the Purely Podcast with
Nika Laurie, of course.
Your host, Nika Laurie.
The reason I'm doing this isbecause I'm launching a wellness
platform called Purely and Iwanted to rebrand so that
(00:51):
everything was together and kindof under the Purely umbrella.
I'm really excited to launchthe platform.
I promise details are comingsoon.
For right now, check out ourwebsite.
You can learn a little bitabout what I'm working on, but
you'll find lots of tools andresources there available to you
.
I promise I will share detailson the platform as we get ready
(01:14):
to launch it, so that's in thecoming months, but for now, just
enjoy the podcast, Enjoy thecontent on the website.
So I'm really excited to haveyou join me on this journey.
I wanted to tell you a littlebit about myself first, For
those of you who are justjoining or haven't listened to
some of the past episodes.
I figured it'd be reallyimportant to share a little bit
(01:34):
about my journey and why I'm sofascinated with health and
wellness and more of a holistic,natural approach to overall
health.
So let's start way, way backwhen I was a kid.
I grew up in the mountainsoutside of Albuquerque, New
Mexico, and I grew up off-grid.
So what that means is that myparents had solar panels before
(01:56):
they were cool.
So this is like 40, 50 yearsago.
They had solar panels on theirhouse and we also collected
rainwater and filtered it.
We had big cisterns.
The rain would collect in thereand we'd filter it and we'd use
that for our drinking water andour bathing water and just
water in the house.
My mom also had a large gardenwhere we would collect veggies
and goodies from the garden fordinner and different snacks like
(02:18):
that, and my parents ran theirown business together.
So I think I got kind of thatentrepreneurial spirit from my
parents.
The two things that I reallywere instilled in me as a child
was the importance of trying tocare for nature as much as
possible or to leave as littleof a footprint as possible so
(02:39):
that nature can thrive alongsidehumans or humans can thrive
alongside nature.
Right, it goes hand in hand.
But the other piece of that wasthat it was important for our
bodies to connect with nature orto use tools from nature in
order to heal our bodies andtake care of our bodies.
So my mom got really intoherbalism when I was a kid and I
(03:02):
remember we had a cabin innorthern New Mexico and she'd go
up hiking around the cabinlooking for osha that we could
use to make teas to help healour bodies and take care of our
bodies, and so that natureaspect was always really
instilled in me at a very earlyage.
But as I grew I really decidedto rebel.
I moved to New York City andthen eventually to Los Angeles.
(03:26):
I had a couple different jobsthere, but primarily I worked in
the film industry.
I worked on several majormovies in the costume department
and then I also worked in themusic industry and I helped do
A&R for a music publishingcompany along with a couple
other things in the musicindustry.
I also launched a small musicplatform that was similar to
(03:50):
like Pitchfork or a very, verysmall baby Rolling Stone kind of
thing, where we would reviewmusic and artists and do
interviews and different thingslike that.
So it was pretty cool.
I did that alongside working inthe music industry, but the
thing that happened to meworking in New York and LA was
that I worked really long hours,I partied pretty hard.
(04:13):
I've never really been big ondrinking and drugs, but I
definitely would stay out lateand hang out and, just, you know
, be a 20-something kid.
And with all of that for yearsand years and years, it really
started to take a toll on myhealth and I could feel that I
didn't feel as good as I knew Ishould, especially being in my
20s.
Long story short, and lots ofother things played a role in
(04:36):
this, which we can get into inanother episode.
But I decided to leave LosAngeles and move back to New
Mexico, mostly to be closer tomy family.
I really miss being around myparents and so when I moved back
to New Mexico I decided to goto college, or go back to school
, and I pursued a degree inpsychology.
I double majored in psychologyand strategic communication and
(05:01):
after I left college I got a jobworking for the Alzheimer's
Association here in New Mexicoand I worked primarily in the
fundraising side of thatorganization.
I eventually became thedevelopment director for the
full New Mexico chapter of theassociation and in the process
of working there I had theprivilege to interact and work
(05:25):
with lots of top dementia andAlzheimer's researchers, really
from around the world.
There's a lot of really greatresearchers and physicians here
in New Mexico, but we would doeducational conferences and
events and we would fly peoplein from all over the country.
We even had several researchersfrom outside of the country
come in and speak at oureducational conferences and the
(05:47):
thing that kept again beinginstilled in me over and over
again was the importance of dietand lifestyle.
They would talk about theMediterranean lifestyle.
They would talk about the needfor connection and social
support and having thatcommunity to engage with.
They would talk about loweringtoxin exposure, making sure that
we don't have heavy metals orlots of plastics and things like
(06:10):
that in our lives.
They would talk about the needto be close to nature and to
have that connection again.
And I just learned over andover and over again that if I
didn't want dementia, the bestthing I could do was take care
of my body through diet andlifestyle support.
As I continued to work at theassociation, I started to get
(06:32):
even more sick.
I started to have these crazypains in my chest.
At one point I even thought Imay have been having a heart
attack.
I rushed to the emergency room.
They didn't really help me andthey rushed me to the ER.
That's a whole other story weshould get into, because
inappropriate care, especiallytowards women, is a whole issue,
(06:53):
but we'll do another episode onthat some other time.
I can go on a whole soapboxabout that.
But eventually I got to the ERand I spent hours and hours in
the ER and I couldn't figure outwhat was going on with me.
I wasn't actively dying.
I wasn't having a heart attackthank goodness I was very lucky.
But I knew something was wrong.
I was having severe chest pains.
(07:13):
I was really struggling withanxiety.
What it ended up being was someother issues going on with my
body caused by stress andanxiety from the unhealthy job
environment.
I was in Long, long story short.
I decided to leave theAlzheimer's Association and
start my own business in healthcoaching through some major
(07:40):
stress issues relating to mydaughter's father, who became
addicted to drugs and we had todeal with drug addiction, and
then him going to prison, whichwas very, very difficult, and
then he also got hurt in prisonand we had to deal with the
long-term repercussions of himbeing hurt in prison.
Alongside that, my daughter wasalso born.
(08:01):
I had a very, very difficultdelivery and my daughter was
born with a congenital heartcondition, and so we've had to
deal with that over the years aswell.
She's doing great.
I'm extraordinarily lucky forhow healthy she is, given the
situation.
But that still takes a toll onthe stress that I had to deal
(08:21):
with over the years Flashforward to starting my own
business.
So leaving a career I'd been infor a very long time to start my
own business is very, very hard.
It's very emotional, it's verydifficult and I had very few
people to share the struggleswith, to share my emotions with,
to have those conversationsabout what was going on.
(08:42):
So most of that wasinternalized and over the years
I've had to recover from trauma,recover from stress, recover
from loss of identity andbuilding a new identity.
I've had to deal with buildingup my confidence and my
resilience after dealing withall of these different traumatic
(09:04):
events.
Long, long story short, it'sgotten me to a point where I've
been diagnosed with anautoimmune disease.
I have what's called Graves'disease, which is
hyperthyroidism, so my thyroidis overproducing and I've had to
figure out how to support thatthrough more holistic approaches
(09:27):
.
It's a journey that I'm on.
I will continue to work on itand I'm going to share those
things with you as we go along.
But my belief is that thereason that's likely happening
inside my body is because of thestress and trauma I've been
through over the years, and soit's learning how to support my
body in the best the stress andtrauma I've been through over
the years, and so it's learninghow to support my body in the
best way possible, using bothmodern medicine and more
(09:49):
holistic or alternative optionsto care and support for my body,
or to provide the care andsupport that my body needs.
I also am a massive believer inreducing environmental toxins
that we're exposed to.
I believe it's extraordinarilyimportant to support our body
through good quality diet,organic foods as much as
(10:11):
possible, limitingultra-processed foods as much as
possible, minimizing how muchsugar we're taking in to keep
our glucose and insulin balanced, our insulin response balanced,
and really just trying to feedour body with those really good,
nutritious foods.
So, as we go through, as Ilaunch the platform, as I share
(10:34):
blogs and articles and our emailnewsletter, and as I share
things here on the podcast withyou.
I want you to know that I'm onthis journey with you.
It's not me just trying toshare things with you to be the
expert.
It's me trying to show theseare the things that work for me.
These are the things that workfor me.
These are the things that haveworked for my health coaching
clients.
These are the things that I'mlearning from new research
(10:55):
that's going on, and the idea isto distill that down into a
easy to use bit of informationthat you can use to implement in
your own life to heal your body.
For me, it's really important toknow or to share that health
and wellness.
While we've talked about dietand lifestyle so you know the
food on our plate and theexercise that we do every day
(11:18):
there's a lot of other piecesthat really play into overall
whole person health.
Those things include our mentalhealth, which is connected to
the stress and anxiety anddifficulties of everyday life,
but it's also connected to ourhormones.
If they're out of whack, you'regoing to have anxiety or
depression.
It's going to connect tonutrient deficiencies If you're
(11:38):
low on vitamin D or omega-3,you're going to have issues.
Some people have low serotoninand that can cause mental health
issues.
So, knowing that the wholeperson is really connected, and
we've got to link everythingtogether in order to heal the
person completely.
The other aspect of that ispeople really need to have
personal growth.
(11:59):
They need to feel like theyhave purpose, like there's
something for them to get up anddo every morning.
They need to feel proud of thework that they're doing.
Their connection to theircommunity is important.
They need to feel needed andwanted and cared for as well.
And then, of course, there'salso spiritual connection and
(12:19):
that looks different foreverybody.
Some people that's connectingto God or a spiritual leader
that they have.
Other people it's connecting tothe universe.
Other people's connecting tonature, it really doesn't matter
but it's understanding that weare connected to something
larger and we are a piece ofthat.
That's really important.
(12:40):
And we're able to get the quoteI'm doing air quotes for those
people listening, but do the,you know, get the downloads, the
air quote downloads that we getfrom our spiritual connection,
that we're able to feel guidedby something.
And when we have all of thosepieces, when we have good
nutrition, we've got time forpersonal care, we've got good
(13:02):
mental health, we've got goodcommunity connections, we've got
clean products that aren'timpacting our hormones.
We've got a spiritualconnection to something larger
than us.
We've got our purpose or aconnection to our reason to get
up every morning.
We've got financial security.
All of those play a role inoverall health and whole person
(13:25):
wellness, and so, going forward,the platform that I'm building,
the content that we share and,of course, here on the podcast,
is to support all of thosepieces, the entire circle of
whole person wellness.
So, coming up in the episodes, Iwant you to know that we have
so many great wellness andlifestyle experts coming on.
(13:46):
We have so many great thoughtleaders coming on, lifestyle
experts coming on.
We have so many great thoughtleaders coming on and we have so
many really cool people withreally inspiring stories of how,
you know, they figured out howto feel their best, and they're
just everyday people.
They're not even researchers orexperts in their field.
It's just people who figuredout how to feel their best
through different little stepsthat you can use to implement in
(14:08):
your life as well.
We're going to talk aboutupcoming research that's coming
out or breaking news is comingout, all related to health and
wellness, but the point is thatwe're going to break it down and
simplify it so that you knowexactly what to take from it to
implement in your life to feelyour absolute best.
My goal is to help your wholeperson, every part of you,
(14:31):
thrive and feel as good insideas it looks on the outside.
I want to help you thrive.
That is what Purely is here for, that is what the Purely
platform is going to be for,that is what the Purely podcast
is here for and that is what Iam passionate about and so
excited to share with you.
So I ask you, my friend, pleasetake a few minutes to subscribe
(14:52):
to the podcast.
You never miss an episode.
Please be sure to share thiswith other friends who are ready
to elevate their lives.
Please share all the episodes.
Reach out to us on social media.
You can follow us at Purelythat's P-U-U-R-L-E-E on all of
the social media platforms.
Share with us your thoughts, Askus questions.
(15:14):
If you have an expert you'dlove to have interviewed, let us
know so we can reach out tothem.
If you have a topic that wehaven't covered that you want
answers about, reach out to usso we can cover those topics.
If you need guidance onsomething or you have a question
and we haven't covered it.
Reach out to us because we wantto be there for you, to support
you on your holistic, fullwellness journey.
(15:36):
We are here for you.
With that, my friends, I'mwishing you a happy, healthy
hustle.
I will see you in the nextepisode and I'm so grateful for
you.
Have a great day.
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