EPISODE #10

Episode 10  of  The Intuitive Health Podcast is in honour of Earth Day on April 22.  From deforestation to overfishing, meat consumption to plastics; the planet is buckling under the pressure of human existence. In this important episode, Dr Anthony delves into some of the factors that are contributing to climate change and what we can do about it. In addition to shining a light on some important facts, he shares his own journey with veganism and regaining connection to the land.  Tune in to hear about practical ways you can help heal and connect with mother nature.

Full transcript

This has been auto-generated so please forgive any errors.

00:01.46

Tony

Welcome to the intuitive health podcast I'm your host Dr Anthony Rafferty I'm a medical doctor a ph d shaman and reiki intuitive healer I'm here to bring you on a journey of holistic healing that explores the science with the physical body combined with mental and emotional wellbeing. Energetic and spiritual health and I am so excited to bring you on a journey today for the celebration of earth day. Um on April Twenty second and I really wanted to delve deeper into. Our connection to the earth to mother earth to nature and how that basically impacts our energetic our mental our emotion our physical well-being but also take a little look at how we as humans are impacting the health of the planet.

01:25.94

Tony

And talk about some tips and tricks as to how we can change our relationship to mother Earth and also I really want to take a little bit of a deeper dive into connecting with mother Earth and how we can ground our energy using the power that she holds.

01:45.24

Tony

So I began my journey with connecting to nature. Um, very very many moons ago because my first undergraduate degree before I journeyed in research and medicine I was actually a marine biologist. A lot of people don't know this about me but I did my undergraduate in science I majored in zoology and I then went off to do a master's in the states at Duke University doing environmental management and I did coastal environmental management and we went deep into policy and law. And it was all to do with the marine environment largely and how our kind of fishing practices were deeply impacting the oceans and it was so profoundly eye-opening to me the impact that we were having on the world at that point. I then went off to do some additional research and do my phd work I went to Australia where I did a lot of conservation work working with sea turtles and I worked with sea turtle populations in Costa Rica the leatherback turtle that was there. And I also did a lot of work up the Eastern Coast of ah Australia with some of the species there I did a lot of land ah turtle or tortoise and turtle work in the lakes and stuff like that around western Australia it was an absolutely fascinating and eyeopening time for me.

03:17.11

Tony

And as I journeyed through my undergraduate my masters all of this beautiful Ph D research looking at different facets of how we are impacting the world. It was just so mind-boggling to me that we as humans were having such a devastating impact on. Mother Earth now our health as a species. Let's say Humans We are a species that is consuming energy from mother Earth the health of the human race is directly linked to the Health. Of mother Earth and when you think about a mother Earth She is the life force energy that gives rise to our food. All of the beautiful energy and the nutrients that come from growing our food in the land. Basically. Physically sustains us and our health is directly linked to the health of the planet. But what's really interesting is we're doing our damnedest to try and destroy this planet and as a byproduct of that We're actually destroying our own health. And this is very subtle in a lot of ways. But as we journey deeper and deeper into climate Change. We can see that the rate of change that's going on around us is causing Wreaking Havoc with environmental systems. It's really interesting in 2001 the United nations.

04:52.31

Tony

Intergovernmental Panel on climate change the ipcc they re they released a report and the opening statements of the report were it is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere ocean and land it was basically the United nations. Acknowledging that we as humans are the biggest detrimental forces to the state of the world from a mother Earth perspective and it's really interesting because they touched on Warming. Of the atmosphere ocean and land and that is essentially what global climate change is it's the heating up of the planet and since the industrial revolution. It's estimated that the planet has heated up by about one degree. Might not seem that much but it actually has devastating impacts on the environment and the world around us continues to heat up and this has huge knock-on effects. It Causes. Humanitarian emergencies. It reverses the progress that we've made in Health Care. All these wonderful developments that we've made in Health Care. They're almost being reversed by the environmental change that's occurring simultaneously.

06:25.60

Tony

The world health organization states that three point six billion people live in highly susceptible areas to climate change and they estimate that between 2030 and 7250000 additional debts will occur as a byproduct. Of climate change of how we are living our lives that's 250000 deaths will result by the day-to-day actions that we take as individuals and a collective. Global climate change is causes. Malnutrition. It contributes to malaria diarrhoea heat stress there's habitat loss. There's loss of biodiversity you know and when I talk about the heating of the planet so people are like that's great. We'll get better weather but that doesn't equate. What we actually get is an increase in erratic patterns in in the weather in the climate and that's why we're seeing more storms. It's why we're seeing global sea levels rise sea temperatures rising. There's more erratic passions within the climate and the weather and this is really really having devastating impacts on air quality on water quality on soil quality and if you look at how air water and soil all unite.

07:57.38

Tony

They link directly into our food systems into our health so you can see how it's all starting to come together in a lot of ways now I want to touch on what causes an increase in temperature and if you look through all these. Really beautiful, reputable sources online. You can find that actually there's a couple of key processes that impact the state of the Earth The state of the climate. 1 of them is burning Fossil fuels such as oil and gas. So Essentially when we burn certain sources of fuel it creates greenhouse gases that then go off and it's like there's a little blanket surrounds the Earth They have something called a greenhouse effect. So. The heat from the sun can't escape essentially and it's like we're sitting in a little greenhouse getting warmer warmer and warmer now. Basically when we burn these fossil fuels it emits COTwo and that is a greenhouse gas. Another thing that actually impacts The global temperature is farming practices So through farming practices. We get a number of different greenhouse gases Emitted. So.

09:31.41

Tony

You can have CO2 produced through farming practices you have nitrous oxide production through fertilizer use and through industrial processes that go on as a byproduct or as a product of farming. And we also get methane production through the fermentation of foods in the guts of cows who then fart out the the methane gas so you can see there's several different greenhouse gases that are being admitted or um, emitted through our farming practices. And this is why there's a huge discussion that's been happening and continues to to be ongoing with regard to how do we manage global climate change when actually there's such a huge demand for things like meat and dairy. Because that's what we're doing a lot of this farming for and interestingly enough 1 of the the other key factors that are contributing to global increasing temperatures is deforestation. So the forests around the world such as the Amazon or the sarado in brazil they are major sites in which cotwo is absorbed from the atmosphere and oxygen is produced.

10:59.30

Tony

But we are deforesting or cutting down all these beautiful natural sinks for co 2 in order to produce palm oil to produce. Would to create more farmland to sustain our growing demand on the meat and dairy industry but also a lot of deforestation is occurring in order to grow more soy product. Which is a monoculture. We just grow fields and fields of soy and interestingly 75% of our soy production is actually used in animal feed so we are clearing more land to grow food to feed more animals. Which we are clearing more land for so you can see here that farming and deforestation very closely linked together and this is why there's been such a huge push towards plant based eating towards vegetarianism veganism. Because we are really beginning to recognize that actually our food choices have a huge huge impact on the state of the world. So if we are choosing to eat a lot of meat and dairy we are putting a huge pressure at the end of the chain.

12:28.40

Tony

At the beginning of the chain where all of it starts which essentially is contributing to an excess production of greenhouse gases which then go on and drive up the temperature of the world which then impacts the climate as a whole. As a collective. So. That's really really important to actually have a little a little tink about so generally speaking if we can kind of tune into that and think to ourselves. Well actually. If our eating practices are really impacting the planet impacting mother earth how can I change my eating practices and that would be to eat more veggies now I'm not saying that people have to go out to be called plant based or vegan or vegetarian. It's about maximizing or optimizing the amount of fruit veg nuts beans seeds whole grew whole whole whole grades and beads and legumes and things like that in the diet more veggies in the diet rather than depending. Heavily are meat and dairy as the main source of food in the diet and in Ireland we grow up very much in a meat and dairy industry. We have been raised to have meat and 2 veg for dinner so actually veggies have become much further down.

14:02.83

Tony

The priority list people go into the shop every week and buy mainly like the same 5 veg and fruits but they eat every single week. There's no diversity in the diet anymore. There hasn't been for a very very long time but by having a plant dominant diet. Essentially what we're doing is reducing the amount of energy that's required of the land reduce reducing the amount of land that's required to to produce the the meat and dairy and we're reducing the amount of water that's required. In the production of meat and dairy and it's interesting because actually if you look at some of the research that's been done around this people who up for a more vegetarian way of living. It's estimated that you reduce. The amount of carbon dioxide produced by five hundred Kilos per year through opting for a vegetarian diet vegans reduce the amount of CO2 produced by year by Nine hundred kilograms which is wild so you can have a really huge impact as an as an individual with regard to the footprint that you have on this world on this earth you know now I also want to explore how we can.

15:33.54

Tony

Help mother earth in other ways and a couple of other things I like to touch on is through kind of recycling reducing reusing things we live in such a a consumer society these days that if something stops work and you know. You just go immediately out and purchase something Else. There's an awful lot of Waste. You know we're not great at reusing an upcycling a lot of of what ah already exists and it takes a lot of energy to you know dispose of all of these things.

16:09.93

Tony

What's really, really interesting is the recycling piece with regard to recycling and the push towards kind of recycling within different communities now I wanted to touch on this because actually there's been a huge. Interest in plastic consumption and recycling your plastics and all of these things over recent years and you know it's really interesting because plastic actually chokes up our waterways the amount of plastic. That is in our lakes our streams our rivers. You know it's it's within nature. It takes many many many years to decompose. You know it's it's a huge source of waste within our natural system. But I also wanted to touch on the impact that plastic has on our internal environment in the body because sometimes we can take a little bit of a separate. We can be a bit a little bit separate with this, you know and unless we realize the impact that some of these things are having on us directly. We can kind of take a little step back and not take ownership over it but plastic actually contains a couple of chemicals that actually are known endocrine disruptors. They disrupt our hormones.

17:40.25

Tony

1 of these is bisphenol a or b p a bpa is absorbed by fat tissues that it's associated with an increased risk of breast cancer and. Studies on bpa have shown that it actually can be seen in the breast milk of mothers bpa is really interesting and some plastic manufacturers now are making bpa free products. But there are other endocrine disruptors or hormone disrupting chemicals in the plastics outside of bpa and these include things like phthalates which is a chemical that's used to make plastics more flexible and. Phthalates affect sex hormones. They can cause an increase in weight they affect your insulin resistance people who are come through to me on a fertility journey I often say to them be really mindful about your plastic use drinking from plastic bottles using plastic topwear. If you heat your plastic tupperware with food in it. It increases the absorption of those chemicals into the food keeping in mind also because bpa is absorbed by fat tissue if you are buying animal based products that are wrapped in plastic. You're essentially buying a product.

19:11.85

Tony

Has had a significant impact on the universe on the world. But it's also wrapped in plastic that has chemicals that basically are leaching into the fat that's contained in the meat that you are then going to Consume. So. I Think taking a broader look at some of this stuff can be really really eye opening for us and just on our health within our own body but on the also on the health of the planet and I know some people listen to this are going to be very triggered. By some of these things that I'm saying and to be honest with you on my own journey with this I was very triggered by this too because I had a deeper intuition I had a deeper connection with the land that actually if I really tuned into the parts of myself that was being triggered by this discussion. It was because my intuition was telling me I needed to do more for the world I needed to do more for the earth. But I also needed to honor my body in a way that I showed up for my body I wasn't consuming all of the crap All of the chemicals you know. It was significantly impacting my health significantly and once I began to cut these things out I bought beautiful black glass tupperware that I use my overrow I overnight oats now I'll make my salads I do most of my cooking and storing.

20:39.99

Tony

Outside of the world of plastic because I know it's better for my health a more hormonal regulation and that's something I'd really encourage people to take a little bit of of a look at especially if you're on a journey with your hormones and what hormonal regulation looks like for you. 

22:11.18

Tony

So you know through societal Change. We have really lost connection to the power. That mother Earth holds through our connection to the land and you know through my shamanic training. It's been so powerful because it's actually allowed me to connect deeply back into the wisdom of the land and you know some people that come through to me. They're wisdom holders. They're wisdom keepers. They connect into the the stories that the land hold the Land holds energy and it has an energetic memory and you know I find it quite fascinating because some people that come through to me for healing and they're having complete disruption within their home life. There's always energetic disruption going on within their houses. Perhaps they're having disputes with their neighbors I'm starting to think to myself. Actually what's energetically happening within the land and the history of the land and the energy that the land is holding and.

23:39.36

Tony

I find this piece of work really quite fascinating because when we go into legal agreement with the land through a lease or through purchase of land. We essentially legally bind energetically to the stories and through the trauma. And to the memories that are held within that land. We inherit that energy and that's quite big. You know and it's quite fascinating because in olden times in traditional times we'd get someone in that had a. Ah, knowledge of speaking to the land. So we get the shamans or we get someone in that could divine the land that could speak to the land look the lay lines or the energetic passions within the land and you know heal the land and when I first moved into my practice here. We got the most. Beautiful energetic healer for the land and he came in and looked at the lay lines and he did some very deep and very very powerful work with the memories that were held within this space and I can't even express to you the shift and the change that happened within this space. The type of energy that we now draw into this space as a byproduct of that we've raised the vibration of the land and as a shamanic healer I do house clearings for people I go into people's land and I tune into the energy of the land and I work with that energy to heal the wounds.

25:08.20

Tony

That have been held within the land through many many years of trauma within the land essentially and it's quite Fascinating. It's quite fascinating work something that I didn't really fully understand. Ah, but or I wasn't tuned into until I went down this path as ah as a healer as a shaman but I also want to lean in to talk about the power that the landhole holds and like I mentioned to you mother earth. Is the driving force behind everything that we see everything that's grown the power she gives every seed the nutrition the energy to grow into the beautiful vegetable or the plant that we consume the medicine. Through the herbs and the natural healing abilities. She is so so powerful and you know the womb of mother Earth There is an energy and an immense power that exists within that that we have disconnected From. We used to walk around and our bare feet connected deeply to the Land. We used to grow our own vegetables. We used to connect with the land commune with the land Now we walk around in our fancy shoes that completely have created an energetic block to the land.

26:38.57

Tony

And it's quite interesting because there's been research done on this on on societies that wear clogs because you know the energy can move up through the wood but it can't move up through.. There are artificial plastics that we wear are the synthetics. So I tend to say to people you know, go out. Connect with the land put your feet on the Earth put your feet in water connect back to that natural power that exists there and that there's a practice that's readily done these days and it's become a more and more popular and it's Grounding. It's energy grounding. Because actually when we walked around in our bare feet. There was a natural pathway for Energy. We could call up the power that mother Earth holds but we can also allow all of the energy that we hold in the body to move down to be composted by. Mother Earth she literallyly will take that toxic energy that no longer serves us that we're picking up on the day to day to our interactions with our environment. You know we can let all of that go down to the earth to be composted by the earth and because we live in a society.. That's so Busy. We live in a society that's very dominantly within a wounded masculine energy all the time this kind of feeling we've to show up and constantly do and strive and achieve and because we're so disconnected from nature and our connection to mother Earth our energy kind of ripples.

28:10.52

Tony

Pulls up through the body. We live very much in our head rather than down in the body and you know sometimes we just need to get out to connect with the land and to just allow that energy. That's so busy within our head to come back into the body to move down through our legs and back into the earth. To compost what no longer serves us to come past that busyness and allow ourselves to actually come back to that beautiful divine feminine energy that exists or resides within the womb of mother earth I absolutely love this. You know mother earth holds the most powerful and beautiful connection to that. Soft go with the flow energy the peaceful creative force that exists within mother earth that beautiful divine feminine energy and if you think about it in the depths of the Amazon that I was talking about there earlier. It's damp. It's moist. It's full of life. You know the depths of that beautiful divine feminine energy within these beautiful natural habitats. It's just so powerful. It is so powerful and. It's unsurprising to me that because we live this life in such a state of wounded masculine energy. We are going around literally destroying our connection to the divine feminine our connection to the mother earth we're we're cutting down the amazon rainforest we're cutting down.

29:43.89

Tony

All of these representations of the most beautiful feminine creative soft natural energies in the World. So Essentially it's further suppression of the divine feminine a further wounding and dominance within this masculine energy. And I feel I really would love for us to awaken more to that power within connecting back to mother nature herself connecting back to our roots our connection to the land. Our connection to the beautiful environment around us taking responsibility for our role. Within preservation of this beautiful world and that means unfortunately looking at our dietary practices looking at the energy we're consuming and looking at the footprint in which we are leaving in this world. Are we leaving a destructive footprint. Or are we treading lightly on this beautiful mother Earth and that's a little piece that I want to leave with you today. What is your footprint looking like okay and what I'd really love to do now is we finish up this session is to bring you on a guided meditation to Connect. Back to the womb of the mother the womb of mother Earth I Want to connect you back to that energy and to do this I Want you to take off your shoes I Want you to take off your socks and if you can do it outside. That's fantastic, but you don't need to.

31:17.31

Tony

You can just put your feet onto the Earth and what that looks like what that represents to you. So I Want you to settle into a space now where you feel really peaceful calling all of your energy back to you from the daily. Interactions that you're having from the stresses of life. Our relationships our work our home life None of those things matter to you right? now? What matters to you is that you're connecting back to your body. Connecting back to the land and the beautiful power that mother Earth holds in this journey in your lifetime and just setting the intention to connect back. To Mother Earth to connect back to the wisdom that she holds and just connecting into clarity with regard to what our footprint on this beautiful Earth Looks like.

32:38.32

Tony

So I Want you to do now is imagine the most beautiful ball of light forming at the base of your spine almost like a representation of what your womb space would look like and this can be both man and woman. The energy at the base of the spine. I Want you to imagine that light grow at the base of your abdomen growing So Bright So Bright connecting that powerful sacral energy that woo Energy. We're going to connect that back to the womb of mother Earth I Want you to imagine that you yourself are beginning to form roots like you're a tree connecting back to nature forming roots from the base of the spine. This beautiful light body at the base of the spine.

33:49.10

Tony

Allow those roots to move down through the pelvis creeping down through the legs through the knees. The calves the shins the feet.

34:09.87

Tony

Imagine them starting to move out through the feet.

34:17.69

Tony

Beginning to move down through the earth.

34:26.17

Tony

Through the floor if you're at home or sitting somewhere imagine the moving down through whatever structures are there contacting the beautiful earth beneath. And those roots know what they need to do. They're hungry to connect I want you to visualize the moon down through the soil going deep and wide. And just see all the little sparks of connection begin to form all of your roots connecting with the roots of all the trees and the plants that exist there is a whole network of connection going on. Every little root from 1 plant connecting to another and just really begin to perceive this network of connection underneath the earth that covers the entire globe. And I want you to tap in to that beautiful divine knowing that universal knowledge and connection with every living being within this earth. You are a part of the.

35:55.73

Tony

Allow those roots to go deep and wide.

36:02.15

Tony

And as they run deeper and deeper and deeper into the Earth You can see that they're moving towards the most powerful light at the center of the Earth The womb of mother earth.

36:17.40

Tony

And you can't really quite fathom this light. It is the most precious and powerful light and as your roots get closer. You can begin to Perceive. Softness being held with the gracious sense of Power. There's a delicateness to this energy. But you know how powerful it is. Holding those gorgeous dualities I Want your roots to run deep into the light deep deep into the womb of mother earth. And it's time to connect it is time to Connect. It's time to draw this power back to you I call the power of mother Earth back to my body I call the Wisdom. Of Mother Earth back to my body Patcha Mama Please come and be present with me.

37:35.85

Tony

I Let that light begin moving up through the roots.

37:43.53

Tony

Every little route moving closer and closer to your body feel the excitement the electricity the energy as it moves back through the root system. Back through your root system towards the body. Feel the heat as the light begins to move closer and closer to the body moving up through the Earth The power that's coming back to you allow it to surge in through the feet. Allow it to surge up through the body feel it entering into the body that power from mother Earth from Pachamama coming back to you allow it to surge up through the feet. The ankles, the shins and the calves.

38:52.67

Tony

Moving up through the knees.

38:59.64

Tony

Up through the ties.

39:06.37

Tony

Allow to rise up into the hips. And imagining that lightning connection as it connects with that sacred energy within your body.

39:25.53

Tony

Feel the power fill the whole of your pelvis.

39:34.39

Tony

Feel the power grow like a ball of heat and light and energy within your pelvis.

39:50.28

Tony

Feel the heat radiating out off the body.

40:07.11

Tony

Allowing the light to rise through the abdomen.

40:13.67

Tony

And rising up into the heart space allowing the energy from the womb of the mother connect with your heart.

40:25.64

Tony

Just placing your hand on your heart. Every little heartbeat is a pulse from mother earth. Feel the energy from mother Earth pulsing through your body with every little heartbeat.

40:48.40

Tony

Your energy connected deeply with the womb of mother earth.

41:00.33

Tony

Your heart's beating together.

41:13.97

Tony

Allowing the light rise up through the throat.

41:20.70

Tony

Through the head and into the beautiful third eye space.

41:40.50

Tony

And just feel the body feel all of the cells tingling feel the new energy that you hold in the body that beautiful. Connection to the divine feminine energy to the womb of mother earth.

42:10.95

Tony

And just setting your intention to mother urger saying. Thank you so much for the gift that you've given me today. And call back your roots call back your roots they've done the job they needed to allow them to come back to you moving back in through the feet. The legs and back to the base of the spine.

42:51.27

Tony

And just taking a little moment to just sit with that new energy that you hold in the body the energetic upgrade that happened for you.

43:03.71

Tony

And just really really setting an intention to just show up differently for yourself and for mother earth this week perhaps reflecting a little bit on how you can change your day today living. In order to show up for yourself a mother earth how you can honor her in any way and was so beautiful as I was doing this meditation and channeling the energy for you guys. There was so much thunder going on outside my practice. I can hear it in the sky. Absolutely beautiful. So from the bottom of my heart to yours have a magical week protect the world and I'll talk to you soon with? Love Dr. Anthony