SHAWN STEVENSON: Welcome to the Model Health Show. This is fitness and nutrition expert Shawn Stevenson, and I'm so grateful for you tuning in with me today. This is a very, very special occasion. We're celebrating episode 1,000 of The Model Health Show.Now, doing 1,000 of anything is absolutely amazing, especially something that requires so much consistency and preparation and execution, and also a lot of love. You know, I started this show with a huge aspiration and mission to really up-level the health of our families and our communities, our world community, and as of this recording, The Model Health Show has been downloaded and listened to someone in every country on planet Earth.

We have well over 100 million listener downloads. I don't even know what the number is at this point. And this is also, coincidentally, last week was the anniversary, 13-year anniversary of when the show started, and I mean, I couldn't have even imagined how my life would be at this point. When I started The Model Health Show, I had recently moved from Ferguson, Missouri into the adjacent town, Florissant. We still sh- share the same school district, Ferguson, Florissant. And it was in Ferguson that my health deteriorated, and it was in Ferguson that my health was transformed. And I had aspirations at the time, of course. I was my-- the first in my family to go to a four-year big time university, and I wanted to follow through and finish that mission.

And it was while I was in school that I was diagnosed with a so-called incurable spinal condition that had me relegated to a plethora of different medications and in chronic pain. And I don't talk about this often enough, but it wasn't just the pain, it was the fear. It was the fear of the pain. And every day I was afraid to get out of bed. Every day I was afraid to get up from my raggedy-ass love seat. You know, a love seat I guess is, is two-- is, is smaller, so you have less proximity with the love or whatever. But if you can carry it with your with your own two hands, it's not a couch. All right? So I carried that bad boy up to my apartment myself prior to the diagnosis, by the way.

But over time, being in fear of getting up, I got heavier and heavier and heavier because I stopped moving, and I continued to eat my college I guess we'll call it a drive-through diet, all right? And this was the bulk of what I was eating, and it was making me bulky. And eventually, I, and my wife knows this, she can actually affirm this.

When she met me, she saw the ramifications of this couch and my heavy weight because my ass broke through the wood of the couch one day as I was sitting there, just crack, crack. And so I had pillows stuffed under the cushion. And she met me about a year and a half after that, and I transformed my health, and that's why she was even messing with me in the first place. Maybe two years later. I should have got a new couch, first of all. But dudes don't care. That's the thing. Dudes don't care. If it wasn't for her, this would not be here right now. She made it beautiful in here. The balloons. She was like, babe, she called me yesterday. Babe, I want to get some balloons. Dude, I don't know.

I don't even know. She was like, have ideas on the balloons? I don't know. I'm a dude. But I appreciate the beauty. And also this studio itself being in existence is due to her. You know, she is the one who worked with a team to put everything together, the set design, and just even the location that we found here. You know, being from the Midwest and coming to Los Angeles with our family, it was a huge endeavor. And I cannot, this would not exist without her. I would not be who I am without her. So I just want to share a lot of love for my amazing wife, Anne Stevenson, my best friend and my partner in all of this as well.

And so after she came into the picture prior to this moment of revelation, but, you know, at this point I'd gained, you know, maybe around 40 pounds of, and this was not like a mass gain, all right? This was sheer unadulterated body fat was on me. And I was on a little cocktail of medications, prescription and over-the-counter, to try to meet the needs of that pain, right? And that's one of those things that's really been marketed to in recent decades, right? This pain epidemic. And so I was definitely a participant in that with my cocktail of medications. And everything changed in what seemed the blink of an eye, but it was two years of suffering every single day. And so I know what that's like.

And it was thanks, and this is so important in what I want you to walk away with today, in addition to all the incredible special guests and our Q&A that we have in store for you, the power of community, the power of our relationships. It was thanks to those touch points from the people who cared about me that helped to pull me out of that darkness.

And somebody who was like truly my North Star, which I didn't realize at the time, I'm already getting a little choked up, was my grandmother. And she was calling And checking on me. And she knew that I wasn't okay. But, you know, just being what I thought to be a grown-ass man, you know, I'm just like, "I'm fine. I'm fine. I'm fine, Grandma. I'm fine, Meemaw." And I just kept kinda pushing through. But it was a remembrance of her and what she instilled in me as a child, and the love that she showed me, and showing me, proving to me that I was special and that I mattered, and that I was gonna do something special with my life.

And here I was, I gave up. I relegated my life to a lifetime of medication and pain. And so that was the spark, just remembering that this is not me. No one else has permission to tell me what's possible for me. I know better than this, but I stopped fighting because I was tired of fighting, and that's the truth. Coming from the environment that I come from, going through all the things that I went through in my life, literal, l- all the literal fights, I was tired of fighting, and this diagnosis gave me permission to give up, and I took it. And at that point, everything changed because it was her, and it was my two kids.

At the time, I had my little girl, Jasna, and, and my son, Jordan, was just born. And knowing, having this terror that I would not be able to throw the ball around with my son, to pick my daughter up from school, you know, without embarrassment, and just these things really started to all of a sudden dig into me like this. My grandmother's input, the fear of who I might become in my kids' eyes. And fear, doubt, worry can be a catalyst, but what's sustainable is something that's aspirational and positive. So eventually I had to turn the volume up on, "No, I'm going to be that man. I'm gonna show my son what's possible. I'm gonna show my daughter what a great man is.

I'm going to show up, and I'm going to do all these things that I've always had in my spirit and my DNA to be able to do with my children. I'm not gonna give up." And so turning the volume up on that, again, the pain can be a catalyst. The fear can be a catalyst. But we need to attach to something bigger than ourselves and something that is sustainable because it's just not good, of course, to carry that kind of negative energy in your body.

And so long story short, making the decision to get well was when everything changed. Most people never do that. We never make a firm decision that that's enough. I am done. It is over. This is what I'm doing. Nothing can stop me. And I had that moment of revelation sitting there in my one-bedroom apartment in Ferguson, mattress on the floor. My feet were comfortably on the floor, almost knees up to my chest sitting on that mattress. And I decided to get well. I decided, no matter what, I'm going to do something so that I can feel better. My transformation really entailed three specific things. One was changing the way that I was eating, because truly, every cell in our bodies are made from the food that we eat.

It is the basis, it's the raw materials to build what we see in the mirror. When you see yourself in the mirror, you're seeing the food that you're eating, that you've eaten. You've see, you're seeing the, the minerals. You're seeing the vitamins. You're seeing the amino acids or lack thereof, all these things. You're seeing the result of what you've eaten, and this is what was missing in my university education. When talking about biology, when we're studying a human cell, that nucleus is made from the nutrients that we eat. Our membranes are made from our menus. Our mitochondria, it's made from our meals. And so I was eating straight up 90-plus percent ultra-processed foods every single day.

It's where I came from, all right? It's just, it's just the way it was. Two for 99 cent tacos at Jack in the Box. Two, uh, you know, double cheeseburgers from Mickey D's and a fry and a Hi-C. Shout out to Hi-C. I guess that's a... Was it supposed to be high in vitamin C, I guess? I don't know. Get you high and C what happens? But if I didn't have a few dollars to get some fast food, then I would eat ultra-processed foods at home, and my favorite meal was a box of macaroni and cheese. Like a big-ass kid, I'd whip up that b- box of macaroni and cheese, perfectly, you know, put a little Salt Bae in it, little pepper, make it look nice.

Like, I'm making my body out of very, very low-quality materials. What do you think is gonna happen? Not to mention all the deficiencies that I had. And so being able to actually provide my body with the raw materials to do what it already knows how to do. Our bodies know how to heal. Our bodies know how to heal.

Oftentimes, we need to just get out of the way and make room for our bodies to do what they know how to do. So that's part one. Part two is movement, and we've got guests to talk about all these things today as well, including myself. Right movement coupled with right nutrition was really a huge catalyst because life is movement, and that movement is the input to actually increase absorption of nutrients, elimination, right? Exercise, exorcism, getting rid of stuff, toxicity in the body, and just really being able to assimilate and to give my body a reason to heal. And the third part was my sleep quality. If you're not sleeping, you're not healing And if you've been with me for some time, you know that I've written the book Sleep Smarter, which is the first sleep wellness book to become an international bestseller.

It's really kinda been the catalyst for this movement with sleep wellness. I'm grateful for that. The first iteration was written about 12 years ago. And so these all became my mission to help to get the word out, and that's where the show actually had its origins, was in that desire to help others to heal in the same way that I had, to remember what's possible in the same way that I did.

And that is part number four that I didn't know at the time, which is how important it is to optimize our mindset, to have a mindset of health, a mindset of healing, a mindset of strength, a mindset of empowerment, and dare I say, take back your mind. And with that said, we're gonna go ahead and invite in our first guest. We have the one and only Dr. Michael Bernard Beckwith here in the studio. 

MICHAEL BECKWITH: Happy thousand, man. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Thank you.

MICHAEL BECKWITH: A thousand.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yes, thank you.

MICHAEL BECKWITH: You, you've been kicking cosmic keister for a long time. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Thank you. You know, you're the first guest here at the studio. 

MICHAEL BECKWITH: Oh, outstanding. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah. I'm honored to be the first. You blessed the studio. You dubbed this a sanctuary of inspiration.

MICHAEL BECKWITH: Yes.

SHAWN STEVENSON: You know, I never forgot that, and I appreciate you for that. 

MICHAEL BECKWITH: Absolutely. Yeah. And that's what it's turned out to be. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah, yeah. Yeah. You know, so I know today you, you were leaving the gym when I text you. You're about that life. This is what people don't really get about you. You know, they see the, the, the spiritual strength. 

MICHAEL BECKWITH: Right. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: But you are about that life, like holistically. 

MICHAEL BECKWITH: Oh, absolutely. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I, I can remember, you know, being keenly aware of taking care of the body temple, you know, through movement every day, exercise, some kind of exercise every single day, and obviously good nutrition, good thought. And I can remember years ago I was criticized by some of the metaphysicians. They were saying, you know, "Why, why are you so concerned about, you know, doing this with your body and eating the right stuff?" And I - "You can just heal it with your mind." I said, "Why do I wanna waste time healing my body when I don't have to get sick in the first place?"

SHAWN STEVENSON: Come on. Come on.

MICHAEL BECKWITH: You know? And so interestingly enough, a lot of those people that were critical of me later on in life began to take care of their body because they had to.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yes.

MICHAEL BECKWITH: You know, and then they kept it up, you know. Yeah. So. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: One of the things that I learned from you early on that kinda hap- helped to affirm what I was doing, too, is our bodies being able to hold that wattage- There it is Right?

MICHAEL BECKWITH: Yes.

SHAWN STEVENSON: So we, we might have these revelations in what's possible and know our ability to create and to manifest..

MICHAEL BECKWITH: Yes.

SHAWN STEVENSON: .. The life that we might aspire to, but we could short-circuit-

MICHAEL BECKWITH: Oh, absolutely.

SHAWN STEVENSON: .. You know, trying to have that high vibration. 

MICHAEL BECKWITH: Yeah. Because, you know, the, the, the, the broadcast, whatever language you wanna use, the, the, the broadcast from the quantum field, the signal is always pure. The broadcast from the mind of God is always pure. The static is in us. Yeah. You see, our thought, as you say, not being able to hold that energy. And so when we come into alignment with truth and allow the body temple to be as healthy as it can be, then we hold more wattage. You know, because what I know for ch- for truth is that the broadcast from the spirit is happening perennially. It's happening all... It's never on and off. But are we listening? 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah. 

MICHAEL BECKWITH: Are we catching it? Are we integrating it? Are we embodying it? That's, that's the question. So you never have to pray to get a bigger blessing. That's silly, 'cause you've already been given everything. Yes. So you're praying to basically become receptive to that which is being given. So the, the ability to hold that energy. People have insights and it sputters away. Right. They don't, they don't put it into action. They don't remember it. What they remember is all the static and all the noise that they're living through, but they don't remember the little blessings every single day.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah.

MICHAEL BECKWITH: Now, if you start to remember the blessings, the serendipity, the coincidences, the things that seem minimal and they become popular in your awareness, you develop your intuition, but you also develop the capacity to hold the blessings to hold the guidance, to hold the wisdom, and so that's the whole thing about taking back your mind.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah.

MICHAEL BECKWITH: Don't let it be pulled by the noise. 'Cause the, the noise is all over the place. And what is that noise, though? 

SHAWN STEVENSON: You know, is this, like, separate from us, or is just something... it's just, human dec- you know, decision, options, evolution, you know, just the kinda messiness of it all as we're trying to sort ourselves out?

MICHAEL BECKWITH: Well, well, it's all of that. And the world, I distinguish between the world and the planet. They're not the same thing. The planet is Mother Earth. She's alive. She's evolving. She's got energy. The world is the condensation of thoughts, beliefs, perceptions, opinions, points of view, positionalities, that forms itself into a big belief that determines experience. So there are people... So you have people on the planet that are animalistic, might makes right, I'm gonna steal your stuff, I don't care how I get over, all the way up to people who are more compassionate, loving, generous, giving, forgiving. Every stage of development is on the planet. And so oftentimes you see the lesser of us, meaning the younger brothers and sisters, who are into stealing, warring, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, you know, they dominate the noise. You know, people actually think might makes right.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah.

MICHAEL BECKWITH: You know, they'll look at the, the presidents and all the people around the world who are quick to war as normal. No, that's just- immature. It's not, it's not, it's not abnormal, but it's immature. But that creates a whole lot of noise. Yeah. You know, and s- so there are other people that are operating on a different level, but the thing is, you don't see that that much.

They don't dominate the news. Right. You know, what dominates the news is if it bleeds, if it leads, it bleeds, it leads, you see? And so, uh, so it is, as you say, it's a part of the evolutionary process of being human and then coming into a higher state of being, and it's also individuals that they don't really care.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah.

MICHAEL BECKWITH: You know, they don't care about all of that. They, until they have enough pain, and then they have to gr- then they have to grow. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: That part. 

MICHAEL BECKWITH: Right. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: That part. You know, and when you mention the, the, the youngsters this could not, this doesn't just mean chronologically. 

MICHAEL BECKWITH: No, no, I'm talking about individuals who are atrophied emotionally, atrophied around empathy, atrophied around compassion, act- people that are actually hypnotized into thinking that somebody's color of skin or where they were born or their nationality is an other, is different.

That's image, that's a, that's a very small, myopic point of view. It's the younger brothers and sisters that hold that. But once you wake up, you begin to realize that we're all shot from the same source. There is no other. You may have a different color skin, you may be different gender, whatever, but you're emanating from the same source of all creation.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yes.

MICHAEL BECKWITH: There is no other. But the younger brothers and sisters think there's another. You know? They, they had to develop that to in order, in order to do what they do. But they're, so instead of hating, I don't hate. I, those are, those are just little kids. You know, you don't hate your, your, your kid when they're learning how to walk.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Hmm. 

MICHAEL BECKWITH: You know? And learning certain things that become normal to us. You just, you have to have a little patience with them. Sometimes protect yourself, you know, and protect them, you know. But, so we have some younger s- brothers and sisters who haven't evolved yet, and th- they, they, their ego is so big that they dominate a lot of, a lot of things in the world.

SHAWN STEVENSON: All right. Since we've got Dr. Michael Bernard Beckwith here, we're gonna be able to ask some questions. And by the way, this was a live stream event of episode 1,000, so hopefully you got to experience this live, but if you didn't, this is one of the most valuable aspects of this, is the time in between and being able to ask questions, being here live. And so we got some questions from the chat, and the question that I have for Michael Beckwith is, how do you keep on track? How do you keep on track and block out the noise?

MICHAEL BECKWITH: But my life is basically a, a practice, started off as a practice, that's now how I live. Yeah. So when, when I, when I wake up, and when I, when I wake up, I go into a s- feeling of gratitude. I'm thankful. Thankful for my existence, I'm thankful for my life. I'm thankful for the perfect day that's unfolding. I'll even ask a question, "Why is this day unfolding so perfectly?" 

Now, the, the, the aspect of our brain that hears that will begin to look for ways to provide evidence that the day is unfolding perfectly.

So it's like I'm not asking a... I'm not, I'm not determining that there's noise. I'm, I'm asking a different question. So- Yeah ... I go to a particular place in my home, and I meditate. You know, first, first I drink s- I, I get my waters together.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah.

MICHAEL BECKWITH: There's certain things that I drink every morning. You know, my lemon, my w- w- warm water, and my electrolytes, my, a little salt, and some lemon, things like that. I drink that, take a couple of, take a couple of supplements that are supposed to be on an empty stomach. Then I go to my spot, and I, and I meditate. It's not for a long period of time, just to set the tone. Then I go to the gym, I work out, you know, hour and a half. Then I come home, have another drink, make my smoothie, then I do a longer meditation. So I'm not allowing the world to determine my point of view.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah.

MICHAEL BECKWITH: I'm determining my point of view. I get to, I get to choose, you know, the state I'm in. And then, so that's, that's basically... That's, that, those are the basics. But I would s- I would tell people, and I've, I've said this, even if you look in my book, Life Visioning, or any of the books, you know, I always talk about empowering questions.

You know? And sometimes people live, you basically experience the question you're asking. So people will ask the question, "What's wrong? Who's to blame? Why is all this mess happening?" They, they'll ask that kind of question. But if you change the question up, and you say, you know, "Why am I so healthy? Why do I have the body of an athlete? Why, why is money always flowing into my life? Why am I always safe?"

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah.

MICHAEL BECKWITH: Then a part of your brain will look for the evidence of that and create that as your field that you're generating, and then conditions will bend toward your dominant field. Yeah. So don't ever ask, "What's wrong?" You can ask, "What's the meaning of something?" But don't ask what's wrong. Ask a more, much more higher question, and your life will begin to look like that. So those are some basic ways that I stay on track. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Mm. I love this so much. You know. And I know- Thank you ... the reverse to be true as well. You know, you just said Your practice becomes your way of living.

MICHAEL BECKWITH: Right.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Right? And so that practice is the key. And doing it even when- 

MICHAEL BECKWITH: Even when you don't feel like it. You know, you look at the great Olympic athletes, you know, they don't work out. They work out for, for excellence, but they don't wake up and say, "I don't feel like it today." You know, th- that's when a lot of improvement can take place.

In the moment that they're suffering from emotional reasoning, "I don't feel like it today," and they move past that, they become stronger. So you develop some level of practice because, see, you could have a belief system. You can believe all the good things. You know, you could read all the books. You've gone to all the seminars. You've got inspired. Inspiration is the spark. Practice is the flame. You see? So you can get inspired. It's good to be inspired. You have to have inspiration. That's the word of God coming through, but then you have to put it into practice in order to integrate it. No practice, no integration. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Come on.

MICHAEL BECKWITH: Yeah, yeah.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Come on. And speaking of the, the reverse, earlier what I mentioned, I know this to be true because I would have never thought that I would fall out of my practice. Uh-huh. Which, you know, the past two years... well, this was about six months ago. Right. But a two-year period was very difficult. We experienced a lot of changes all at once. 

MICHAEL BECKWITH: Yeah. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: My father passing, Anne's father passing, my oldest son moving out, and my, my youngest son and changing schools in LA is such a- Right, right, right ... ordeal. And then 20 other things. Right. All right? Just, just one after the other after the other. And there were certain things that just kind of anchored me in. And I've been meditating for years. Right. Every day. And I just... And even now thinking about all the times when we're traveling, just I'm sitting on, at the bottom of the bed meditating while Anne's still, you know, getting her Zs on. 

MICHAEL BECKWITH: Uh-huh. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: But I, I stepped out of it a little bit.

MICHAEL BECKWITH: Yeah. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: And I kind of allowed myself in a weird way to get immersed in all the, the chaos and- Right, right ... and, and the, the struggle. Right. And, and I could see that relationship between not having my practice and beginning to kind of spiral or just to kind of start to be more like a tumbleweed in a way. Right. Right? And so, and then I would also start to complement in my day-to-day the stuff that we were doing. We started watching The Walking Dead. Right? In the, in the toughest time of my life, I'm just like, "Babe, there's this show that's got like 20 seasons. People seem to love it." "They got all these, like, Comic-Cons or whatever."

So we start watching The Walking Dead- Right ... which is like this apocalyptic zombie, just bad feeling, one thing after the other. And we were just tearing through this, you know, multiple seasons. I've, I've watched it. 

MICHAEL BECKWITH: Yeah. So I know what you're talking about. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: But your mindset is different when you do this stuff. That's another thing. I w- I wanna circle back to that.

MICHAEL BECKWITH: Yeah, yeah.

SHAWN STEVENSON: And so for me, but here's the thing, once I had a true revelation and, funny enough, was consistent back with my practices- Right ... my routines. Right. Now, there's certain things I'd never stopped doing, by the way. Of course. Like, I was still training, I was still-

MICHAEL BECKWITH: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SHAWN STEVENSON: You know, but it was that, it was that going inward. Right. It was the, it was the not working out, but working in. Right? Because a lot of stuff would come up. Right? And so but once I had this kind of revelation and my practices were clicking back in place, I had no desire. I just stopped cold turkey.

MICHAEL BECKWITH: Right.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Right. And I told Anne, and she was just like, "Well, can I still watch it?" 'Cause she was still in it, right? And so, you know, but I was just like, "Babe, I already know what's gonna happen. There's, like, a cat and mouse thing going on right now," whatever. I just made these little excuses, but I just didn't feel good watching it.

MICHAEL BECKWITH: Right, I understand. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: And it didn't resonate with me. 

MICHAEL BECKWITH: Yeah. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: And I needed to immerse myself in other. 

MICHAEL BECKWITH: Absolutely. But you learn something about yourself when you backed off your practice a bit. You actually learn how valuable it is.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yes.

MICHAEL BECKWITH: It wasn't just a theory.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yes.

MICHAEL BECKWITH: You s- you actually know the value of that kind of practice so that it ch- it changed your perspective forever. Yeah. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah. Yes. That's so... Thank you for saying that. That's what you always do. You give me the, like- ... "Oh, this, that makes sense." Yeah. Because, because it became a way of life- 

MICHAEL BECKWITH: Yeah ... 

SHAWN STEVENSON: I, I only knew that. 

MICHAEL BECKWITH: Right. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: And so now I actually value it in a different way.

MICHAEL BECKWITH: Absolutely. You know? Yeah. When you lose something for a moment and you get it back, you say, "Oh, I'm not, I'm not doing this again." Yeah. Yeah. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Absolutely. And it, it also, and I know this is a big part of our mission here with the show, is this became a catalyst for me because prior to this and my father passing literally two weeks before I was gonna start getting the word out about the Eat Smarter Family Cookbook and my mission had just kind of unlocked for me to focus on family to focus on empowerment of our communities and our families-

MICHAEL BECKWITH: Right

SHAWN STEVENSON: .. The things that we evolved having that's been so fractured in our culture recently. And this came along with that mission, all these different puzzle pieces changing with my family. Right? And so life was qualifying me to speak about this, and also the pain that we go through-

MICHAEL BECKWITH: Right

SHAWN STEVENSON: .. as these pieces are moving and evolving. And right now, as we sit here today, this is the first time I'm ever experiencing mourning for not having a baby anymore 'cause I've always kind of perpetually- They're all grown up.

You know what I mean? Like, as soon as my youn- youngest son was, like, you know, starting to stop playing with his toys or whatever, then Anne was pregnant with Brayden. And so I was back at it again with the baby. And so being able to navigate these things and knowing that, you know, and this is something I might have heard this from you back in the day. Some people in your life for a, a reason, for a season, or for a lifetime, right. And our, our relationships can evolve and change, and it's us. We- this is where we have to do the work.

MICHAEL BECKWITH: Absolutely.

SHAWN STEVENSON:  This is where we have to continue to evolve-

MICHAEL BECKWITH: Right

SHAWN STEVENSON: ... and to remember how powerful we are to create our life in a way that makes us feel joy and to feel that sense of purpose, regardless of what's going on in the outside world.

MICHAEL BECKWITH: Absolutely. Your, your field becomes a field of joy and gratitude. And through meditation and introspection, you tap into that field, and it has nothing to do with an external condition. You know-

SHAWN STEVENSON:  Yeah

MICHAEL BECKWITH: .. when we're first growing and maturing, we're happy if this happens. We're happy if the ducks are in a row. We're happy-

SHAWN STEVENSON: Right

MICHAEL BECKWITH: ... you know. But as we mature, we realize that happiness is, we've been given happiness. We've been given joy straight from the creator presence. And then that which moves around, we may not like it. We may not prefer certain things to happen, but we don't let it steal our joy.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yes.

MICHAEL BECKWITH: So within that field, then wisdom and guidance comes through because you're not putting static on the line by h- making sure that your happiness is based on that thing. Your happiness is based on you. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah. 

MICHAEL BECKWITH: You see? So now you can hear the wisdom, the guidance, and then you know how to navigate through those things that you don't like, you know, 'cause you're not blocking, you're not putting static on the line. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: This makes so much sense. You've been so helpful to me over the years, you know, in more ways than I can count. I'm so grateful for you. Now, since this is episode 1,000, I'm gonna do something I don't typically do. I'm gonna turn this around a little bit. And, you know, and the one and only Anne Stevenson is here as well. And she helped to get Take Back Your Mind podcast, your show, started-

MICHAEL BECKWITH: Yeah, yeah

SHAWN STEVENSON: ... from the very beginning. She was very helpful. So baby, you're the best, first of all. But having that incredible platform that you have, I've been on the show a couple of times. I might've been your first guest. 

MICHAEL BECKWITH: You, you might have been. Yeah. I think I did one solo show that I think..

SHAWN STEVENSON: You did a solo

MICHAEL BECKWITH: .. I brought you on.

SHAWN STEVENSON: And then, yeah.

MICHAEL BECKWITH: Yeah, yeah. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: But- So

MICHAEL BECKWITH: we did the same thing to each other. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yes, exactly. And this is what tends to happen, you know? Yeah. But, you know, I'm saying all that to say that, you know, number one, make sure everybody check out Take Back Your Mind. It is one of the greatest gifts to humanity. Let me put it like that. Yeah. This isn't even a great podcast or a great show. It's a gift to humanity.

MICHAEL BECKWITH: Thank you.

SHAWN STEVENSON: And just push play, and your life will be transformed, period, point blank. Now, but I'm gonna turn this around a little bit since this is episode 1,000, and a lot of people are sharing their heart and sharing what they feel about this show and about me and this mission. So when you think about The Model Health Show, when you think about me what comes to mind? 

MICHAEL BECKWITH: Excellence and an individual that knows what he's talking about. You know, I check with you about things. If I see something going on, I say, "Hey, is this true or not?" You know, whether it's a supplement or whatever's going on. So your, your excellence and your, your research prowess is top-notch. And so when I think about you, I think about excellence. I think about a family man. You know, I think about a man who loves his family so deeply that as you just described, when things happen in your family, it moves you very deeply. You're not, you're not stoic, even though you might appear that way as an athlete. You know what I'm saying? But inside, you're, you're, you're a puffcake.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah.

MICHAEL BECKWITH: You know? You, you, you love your family, you love your wife, you love your kids. You don't want- You want everything to be just right. And so, you know, Lee and I talk about you all the time, and I'm always telling people about you. You know, I say, "Oh, you need to check out Shawn Stevenson. You know, he's gonna ... You, you, you, you will discover the truth about whatever it is you- you're trying to, you're trying to know about." So, you know, you're, you're, you're, you're a love guy. You know? But I, I- The word that comes up all the time for me is, is excellence-

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yes

MICHAEL BECKWITH: and an individual that puts his word into practice. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you, Rev. Thank you, Rev. Well, you know, this is a very special day. This only happens once. Episode 1,000. And to have you here, to be our first special guest, also, again, you're the first guest here at this studio, period. Blessing this space and us continuing to evolve and to grow and to make an impact, and we need it now more than ever. Phew. That part, and we're more powerful than ever.

MICHAEL BECKWITH: Yes, we are.

SHAWN STEVENSON: You know? So it's like, it's, it's scary good right now if we're tuned into it. So I wanna affirm again, for everybody listening, to really lock in, do your best to immerse yourself in those things that remind you of who you are and how powerful you are. Subscribe to Take Back Your Mind, and also Agape Spiritual Center here in LA. There are services every Sunday, meditation, but also you live stream- 

MICHAEL BECKWITH: It's live-streamed all- 

SHAWN STEVENSON: The services as well ... 

MICHAEL BECKWITH: yeah, all over the world, yeah.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah.

MICHAEL BECKWITH: Yeah. So- It's on YouTube. It's on live stream from our website and Facebook.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah. Is there any- anywhere else you want people to connect with you, to check out? 

MICHAEL BECKWITH: Well, they could go to my Instagram page 'cause it's something inspirational that's placed there every day.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yes.

MICHAEL BECKWITH: And then as you just said, they go- they can go to agapelive.com and watch the services on the website, see what classes I'm teaching. Or they can go to the, our YouTube channel, Michael Beckwith or Agape, and, and watch it live or watch it af- depending on what time zone they're in.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah.

MICHAEL BECKWITH: You know, because at the, by the end of the week, there are thousands of people who have watched it. But many people are around the world, so they were asleep when I was doing the deal.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah.

MICHAEL BECKWITH: But yeah. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: It's there for you. It's right there. Well, I appreciate you so much for coming to hang out with us. 

MICHAEL BECKWITH: Hey, man.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Really do.

MICHAEL BECKWITH: Thank you for the invitation.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Of course.

MICHAEL BECKWITH: As soon as we heard that you wanted me on your thou- thousand- episode. We just looked at the schedule and just maneuvered and said, "Yeah, we're gonna do this."

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yes. And by the way, Michael Beckwith is on the Mount Rushmore, or what should we call this? Mount Crushmore- ... of The Model Health Show. All right? One of our most frequent guests, one of our most in demand and respected and loved guests here on the show. I appreciate you so much. Thank you for coming hanging out with us.

MICHAEL BECKWITH: Thank you. Thank, thank Sister Anne for her assistance, and thank you all, you know, because y- you guys are family. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah. Yeah. 

MICHAEL BECKWITH: I mean, we hang out. Yeah. You know, we go to dinner. We're going to the jazz festival tomorrow. We're going to the jazz fester- festival tomorrow together. And, you know, so it's, it's, it's really, there, there... ever since I met you in Portugal. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah. 

MICHAEL BECKWITH: You know. And then there was a connection, and then it's just evolved and, you know, your kids are my kids. I love them. They're, you know, they're like godkids.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah.

MICHAEL BECKWITH: You know? It means everything. Even though they're, they're growing into adulthood. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah. Thank you so much, man. 

MICHAEL BECKWITH: I better, I better play, I better play your younger one basketball quick.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Oh, man.

MICHAEL BECKWITH:  Like, hey, hey. Just a little bit of horse before I can't, don't have any chance. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah. Well, again, I appreciate you so much. And everybody, we've got so much more in store for you, so stay tuned. Let's go. I have something very special to share with you for episode 1,000 of The Model Health Show. It's important for us to understand that beauty is truly from the inside out, but also the outside in is important as well. And today, skincare is getting a lot of attention. A double-blind randomized placebo-controlled trial published in the Journal of Phytochemistry and Photobiology took 76 patients with notable wrinkles and treated half of their face with red light therapy, near infrared, or both, while other patients received a fake light treatment that was used as a placebo.

Participants received two light therapy treatments each week for four weeks, and here's what happened. With just four weeks of treatment, participants had up to a 36% reduction in wrinkles and up to a 20% increase in skin elasticity. Phenomenal. In such a short amount of time. Red light therapy truly, if done consistently, is more transformative than any glamorous, glorified, super complicated skincare routine with 25 products.

And you've probably noticed that a lot of people are now utilizing the red light therapy masks. But the number one red light therapy mask in the world for you today is 15% off. It's FDA registered. It's science-backed red and near-infrared light therapy for smoother- Radiant skin. This is the award-winning red light mask where 98% of people reported a more even skin tone, 96% of people reported glowing skin, and 84% of people saw results in just four weeks. Go to boncharge.com/model right now for an exclusive 15% off. That's B-O-N-C-H-A-R-G-E.com/model right now to take advantage. And of course, you can check out their other award-winning, science-backed red light therapy devices. They've got a bestselling red light therapy ball cap. They've got a red light therapy toothbrush and their large red light therapy panels.

That's what I personally use on a regular basis. Again, it's not just about the skin health, it's also about healing. It's about recovery. It's about reducing pain. It's about accelerating healing. It's about reducing the rate of aging. These are all the things that are seen with red light therapy, but make sure that you get it from a trusted FDA-registered source. Go to boncharge.com/model right now for 15% off. And now, back to the show. Next up in this very special 1,000th episode of The Model Health Show, we have a very, very special guest. And again, part of my healing was multifaceted. It was the nutrition, right nutrition, right movement, right sleep, right mindset, right mindset, but the linchpin of it all was relationships.

And so we've got a special guest who's going to direct us to some value and some insights on a couple of these very powerful linchpins in our ultimate success. We got our next guest coming in here, world famous, bestselling author, award-winning poet. Have you heard of Def Poetry Jam? Yeah, he did that back in the day. But this guy is somebody who is transformative as a performer, lights up the stage every single time I've seen him, but also he's just a great human being with a heart as big as the world. I wanna welcome the one and only IN-Q to episode 1,000. What's up, brother? 

IN-Q: Hey, man. Thanks so much for having me.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Of course.

IN-Q: Oh, wow. I love this. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Anne did it, man. 

IN-Q: I love this. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Anne did it. You already know. You already know.

IN-Q: First of all, congratulations.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Thank you, bro.

IN-Q: Huge congratulations. It's an incredible accomplishment. A thousand episodes of inspiration, information- It's crazy ... passion, conversations, and it's, it's really a big deal, man, and I'm, I'm honored to be here today.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Thank you, man. I'm, I'm just letting it pour over me.

IN-Q: Well, how do you feel? Can I ask you?

SHAWN STEVENSON: Of course. Yeah, I mean, I feel ... It's kinda surreal because I, I don't have a temperament typically of celebration. I'm just kinda like, "What's next? What's next? How can I get better?"

IN-Q: Yeah.

SHAWN STEVENSON: And so- Thank you ... thankfully, Anne and my team and my family were just like, "This is a big deal."

IN-Q: Yeah.

SHAWN STEVENSON: You know? Just pump the brakes a little bit, enjoy this process, because I tend to be very regimented. Even when I come here for the show, it's very structured, but I flow within that structure. And so for us to, for, for me to allow myself to just enjoy this process, have a good time today, and to talk to my friends is, is pretty dope.

IN-Q: Well, you deserve the celebration. You deserve the positive attention. I mean, you've definitely changed people's lives, and you never really know how something you say in a conversation or obviously a podcast-

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah

IN-Q: ... enters into people's psyches-

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah

IN-Q: .. and plants seeds in their minds or their hearts that grow later. And I guarantee those seeds have grown into reality for people and made their lives better, man. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah. Thank you, bro. 

IN-Q: Yeah. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: I receive that. You know, something really special happened the first time that I heard you speak and, you know, share your gift. And, you know, you're one of those people that, like, something could just, like, click, you know? And what I saw, and this might not be true for everybody that sees you, but what I saw was something that, I saw something that I felt was in me and you were articulating it. And the way that you were articulating it, I felt like it was me if that makes sense. Like, it just felt very close to me. And again, maybe it's just our kinda shared background-

IN-Q: Yeah.

SHAWN STEVENSON: You know what I mean? But it just felt so familiar, and it felt like such a blessing. And it was just like, oh, that's his superpower to express this and to heal, and to help others to heal, you know? So there, what I, what I'm saying is when you share your gift, it's much bigger than the performance.

IN-Q: Thank you, man.

SHAWN STEVENSON: You know? And so I appreciate you for that. And what I want to do first and foremost is, you know, having everybody here with us, and also, again, episode 1,000, for people to also still be able to walk away with something to add to their life-

IN-Q: Yeah

SHAWN STEVENSON: .. and a, a new insight, a new tip, a new tool. And your inroads into healing, you know, into transformation, has been through creativity-

IN-Q: Yeah.

SHAWN STEVENSON:  ... Has been one of the main vehicles of that. And so can you talk a little bit about that first and foremost? Why is creativity so valuable in helping us to heal and to, to grow as a person? 

IN-Q: Yeah. First of all, thank you for saying all that, man. I really genuinely appreciate it. I would answer that energy has to move through us, otherwise it gets trapped. And even the word emotion is supposed to be energy in motion. And unfortunately, we, we don't let it move, you know? And, and so that winds up becoming dis-ease or, you know, actual disease, and, we take it out on somebody sitting in traffic. We're angry at them for something that hasn't moved inside of us.

And there are plenty of ways you can move the energy. You can do it through yoga, meditation, martial arts. You can take a hike. You can just sit in silence. You can be in nature. You can do breathwork. You can spend time with a great friend. But you can also do it through creativity, and every single genre of creativity works. All you have to do is attach it to something that is moving and meaningful to you-

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah

IN-Q: .. which gives you the framework and then the permission to tell the truth. And I think to your earlier point, the reason that a lot of people will resonate with the things that I'm saying is because I'm starting from the inside out.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah.

IN-Q: I mean, when I write things, I don't necessarily consider the audience. I don't even really consider whether or not I'm ever gonna share it. The writing is always for me first. And so that's the message that I try to share with anybody that's listening to me or participants that come to workshops. It's tell your truth, and if you tell your personal truth, you will also be telling a universal truth. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah. Yes. That part. That part. Can you, if you could, you know, you mentioned that there's many paths to the goal when it-

IN-Q: Yeah

SHAWN STEVENSON: .. comes to this. You know, with you, it's spoken word. So what are some other means? So of course, there's, like, painting. There's, you know, there's freestyle.

IN-Q: Sure.

SHAWN STEVENSON: There's singing. You know, what are some ways that we can kinda u- use art to express ourselves? 

IN-Q: Well, you said it right now. I mean, let's take singing for example. Other than karaoke or people, like, sitting alone in their house or being in the shower, when you're an adult, you don't really sing 'cause we leave it to the people that are professionals. And leaving it to the professionals is the problem because as adults, we just calcify. We just get caught in our own routines over and over again, and when you're not growing, you're dying. So you have to find ways to get out of your own comfort zone.

And like I said, there's so many paths to, to that. There's so many paths to presence. There's so many paths to power. But you have to take one of them, and then you have to find kind of like the strength and the time to take the next one. So don't leave art to the professionals. Just attach it to something that actually charges you and sparks you, and then you might be surprised by what happens on the other side.

SHAWN STEVENSON: That's so powerful. I'm just thinking about how quickly Something like music and singing can change your disposition. 

IIN-Q: Yeah, man. Yeah, 100%. Yeah, and then we leave it to the people that are on stage- Yeah ... to do it for us. I think that's why we idolize them a lot of times. It's 'cause they have the courage to do what we don't have the courage to do, and we say, "Oh, they're better than us." We either put people higher than us or we put people lower than us, but we never actually look at people, and that's a societal issue. So, I would say you don't have to be a poet to make a poem. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah.

IN-Q: Yeah. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Thank you for that, man. And also, the same thing holds true with any form of art, you know? I'm s- sometimes, of course, we can pick up a message from somewhere or from somewheres that we're not good at a thing. If a thing makes you feel good, we have to, you know, abandon that false belief that you can't do a thing, you know? When it comes to singing, for example, you know, it's like, "You can't sing," or, "You don't have a good voice," or whatever the case might be. So what?

IN-Q: Right. So what?

SHAWN STEVENSON: This is your gift. That's right. This is your gift to yourself to be able to express yourself. The same thing holds true with writing.

IN-Q: Yeah.

SHAWN STEVENSON: You know, "I'm not a good writer." I've, I've heard that so many times from people over the years. But you have the capacity to write, and if you enjoy it, give yourself permission to do it. And, you know, there's many different forms of this. This is something that you've advocated with your recent work as well in being able to, like, to journal certain things to have certain prompts. It's so healing to get stuff out of your head and out on the paper. 

IN-Q: 100%. I, I would actually, like, build on that too because journaling's an amazing tool for this, but I wanna differentiate journaling from poetry because when you're journaling, you're using the same voice that you use in your own mind or that you use when you're talking to other people. And that's great because it's like stream of consciousness. Get shit out of your system. You know, that's definitely a process for healing and for just self-awareness. But when you're making poetry, you're creating a piece of art, and when you create any piece of art, you actually separate the art from the story so you have more space in between you and that narrative.

And that space provides alchemy for you to then look and go, "Oh, this story is different than me. I exist beyond this story." And there's something really powerful that can happen from that space. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Hell yeah. Hell yeah. Something that I've seen with you, because I've known you for a couple years now, maybe it was, like, five years ago when you came to my crib-

IN-Q: Yeah

SHAWN STEVENSON:  ... During the, during the vid times. 

IN-Q: Yes. I, I gotta say, 'cause I was telling Anne right now, I have such a vivid memory. She opened the door, and I was like, "Hey, how you doing?" And I had a mask on. Yes. You know? And she goes- Eh, you're good. Took it right off, and I felt immediately at home and, and our friendship just grew from there.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah. And, and I appreciate you for that, man. Like, just coming through and sharing your gift. Man, that superhero, um, that superhero poem that you did still resonates with me. I, I can see it. I can see it. And I wanna ask you about something, because knowing you for a few years, I've seen this evolution and more investment for you personally in relationships. Yeah. You know, and you growing your family and the changes and the dynamics that have happened there, and creating a person as well which is like, it, like, I mean, have you ever made a person? You know, like that's just, that's crazy if you just think about that in and of itself. But also, you know, how I know you and how I get to stay in touch with you even if we're not in touch is through our relationships-

IN-Q: Right

SHAWN STEVENSON: ... and the people that we know and having incredible experiences together. So can you speak to how much value it holds or how important it is for us to be intentional about cultivating our relationships for overall wellbeing? 

IN-Q: Yeah, I mean, it's a great question. One thing that I try to do that I would recommend to other people, even though I have no credentials here, is I try to check in and see how I feel after I leave a hang. You know? 'Cause it's an interesting thing, you know? Usually we'll leave the thing and then an hour later we're feeling something and we attribute it to something else, but it's good to actually connect it to the thing that you just came from. And then you get to kinda understand when you leave somebody, do you feel bad?

Do you feel neutral? Do you feel good? Do you feel great? Do you feel inspired? Every time I leave hanging with you, I feel inspired and I feel connected and I feel grounded. So we don't have to talk every day. I'm always in your corner.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah.

IN-Q: I always have your back, and I know that the same is true on the other side. And I try to, like, think about that on a regular basis. Sometimes, by the way, I'll have relationships that felt really great for a season- 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Mm-hmm ... 

IN-Q: and they felt good for a season, and then they start to feel bad. And it's not like, oh, if I have a bad feeling after I hang with somebody I cut them off. No, I'm a very loyal and committed person, but if there's consistency there, I pay attention to it and I might start to make some different decisions around it. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Man, there's a thread going in this, this special event as well, just with Michael Beckwith. And we share the sentiment that, you know, because in our- Way of being in our world today. Obviously humans, we have a natural attachment tendency. And we want things to work out-

IN-Q: Right

SHAWN STEVENSON: .. obviously. And there's a sentiment that some people in your life for a reason for a season or for a lifetime. And being able to distinguish, being able to, and not, it's not that you're not gonna hurt when things change in certain relationships. But the overall, the most important part, and also this speaks back to the importance of going inward and creativity and self-expression so you know yourself well enough to be able to tune in. 'Cause that's the thing, like when you said, "I tune in to how I'm feeling" that can be a foreign aspiration for some people.

IN-Q: Yeah.

SHAWN STEVENSON: And this is why it's important to do the work so that you have kind of your antenna is, is, there's not a lot of static on the line so that you can pick up that data. And being able to navigate that because today more than ever it is, there's a lot of moving pieces. There's a lot of obstacles. There's a lot of flashy things. But being able to remember who you are, being able to remember your standards is super important for me, something that I really value. But that's not always easy. But it becomes more graceful when you really know yourself. 

IN-Q: Yeah. I couldn't agree more. And I think it's relationships. It's also chapters of your life. Like you even have to let go of old parts of yourself, which sucks.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Come on.

IN-Q: I mean, it really does. And you know, we were just chatting about that as well. You see a lot of people who are not willing to let go of old parts of themselves, and it just creates an enormous amount of suffering. You see them holding on to either who they thought they were or who other people thought they were, their successes, even their failures. And you have to just be willing to move with life. You have to change the world, but you have to be also changed by the world. Both are incredibly important. So it's external and it's internal.

And, it's interesting when you reimagine your truth or you move into this like new chapter and you recognize, wow, the things that I wanted I actually don't want anymore. Can I be okay with that? Yeah. You know? I mean, a lot of people's ideas become their ideologies or, or identities. And then in order for them to change, literally a part of them has to die, and they're just not willing to do it. But, you know, we're all the caterpillar into the butterfly over and over again. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Come on. Come on. That part, you know, I, I think that as a s- as a society we could do a better job of informing our children that- This evolution, this metamorphosis is a part of life, and that's okay. That's so true. So talk more about that.

IN-Q: Yeah.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah, I mean, obviously, again, we are kind of programmed with this idea, this aspiration. You pick this thing and then you, you know, it's the American dream. You go after this thing to whatever end to make it happen. And having the wherewithal, especially when you're, when we're young, that it's okay to change how you feel about something. It's okay to decide that you want something different. It's okay to listen to your heart, to listen to your gut. Like, we don't value those things in our... Because we're very head-focused. That's right. You know? 

And this is like a, a, a thinking man's game, a thinking man's world, but look what that gets us. You know what I mean? And so it's just... And it's not to negate the value of that, but it's giving our kids the awareness that, you know, your, your gut and your heart are also giving you valuable feedback. Now we got the science. We got the science to affirm that these are very real phenomenons.

And even our ancestors, you know, there's ancient scripture on this alignment of the head, the heart, and the gut. You know? And, so yeah, I mean... But by the way, the chat is popping off right now. What's up, chat? And somebody mentioned they mentioned the vampires. They mentioned the vampires that suck the energy out of you. Oh, yeah, that'll happen. Talk a little bit about, a- about those vampires, 'cause they, they're out here. Yeah. It's twilight sometimes, and they, you know, that's all right. But, you know, talk about the energy vampires. How do you, how do you deal with that?

IN-Q: You know, sometimes through annoyance, sometimes through anger, sometimes through compassion. I'm not always great at dealing with people that are trying to feed off of my life force energy. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Hmm. Mm-hmm. 

IN-Q: But I try to, once again, just, like, be present so that I know what's happening. Because if you don't know what's happening, then you're not gonna have the ability to navigate the situation. If you know what's happening, you can kind of, like, acknowledge your feelings, but then hopefully still make the best choices for you and the situation, the environment, the people around you. A lot of times they're doing it unconsciously. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Right. 

IN-Q: Most people, I think, are just doing the absolute best that they can.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah. 

IN-Q: And they're just, like, weighed down by their past or their desires or their own blind spots. To the earlier conversation, I mean, the older that you get, the more commitments you have and, the more responsibilities you have and the more that you fully realize whatever time you're giving to one thing is not going to another thing that you care about. And so, like, I mean, I remember thinking, "Oh, when we have a kid-" I'm just gonna be so split in my life. Everywhere I go, I'm gonna be halfway there. You know? And, and that's actually not what happened. I feel more anchored to wherever I am because I know what I'm sacrificing. So it's like being here with you, I wanna be fully with you.

I wanna fully be of value to whoever's listening. I wanna fully connect with everyone around me, and myself, and God if I can. Because otherwise I'm actually doing a disservice to my son and my wife. And I think that when it goes back to that vampire statement, at a certain point you just go, "I don't have time for that. I don't have energy for that. I don't know how long I'm gonna be here." I had four people pass last year that were close to me, including the first rap partner that I had, somebody that I wrote the Disney songs with Johnny Vella, and then Tony Medrano, you know, fr- freestyling in the alley drinking 40s.

I mean, you know, that was family to me when I was 15 years old. I still love him, you know? He passed, man. There was a therapist that I was working with that passed, Zoya. And Johnny, by the way, was walking with his girlfriend. He's in his 40s. He was in really good shape seemingly, you know? He had a heart attack out of nowhere. We don't know how long we have, you know? So I just wanna make sure I'm giving it to things that I wanna be giving it to, and, I'm as grateful as I can be for the moments that we get to have together. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Well, man, this has been amazing so far. And just talking about impact, it's your superpower, man. And we got something very special for everybody. And, you know, this is also very special for me because I know that you don't do this for just anybody for any situation, and you're gonna bless us with your gift. And so this is a very special exclusive alert- In queue here at The Model Health Show studio performance. Sit back, relax, and enjoy. 

IN-Q: I used to prepare for the worst. Now I prepare for the best. I used to prepare to be cursed. Now I prepare to be blessed. I used to prepare to hear no. Now I prepare to hear yes. I used to prepare for disasters. Now I prepare for success. I never believed in happy endings where the good guy got the girl and the hero wound up winning I would watch a movie and think, all these people are pretending for the sake of storytelling in an industry that thrives on manipulating feelings, bending truth or weaving lies for the sake of story selling.

Compartmentalizing lives into perfect little endings when we all know perfect little endings are beginnings. Plus, I knew where they were heading with the characters and settings, but I often wondered what would happen right after the wedding. Or like after someone hits the big shot or wins the big race or big case, or stands up to the bully punching him right in his big face. What happens then? Because ten times out of ten, they gotta wake up and be human once again. That's why I'd rather leave a theater unresolved. Show me too complex to solve. Show me how the world revolves and evolves. Show me lonely on the edge when there's no one left to call. Show me real above it all until the credits start to roll.

But now I'm forty-seven. I just want my happy ending. Pessimism is for purists or for circular offending. Plus, I don't want to wait until the moment I'm transcending to separate my spirit from the image it's defending. Plot twist, I'm too old to reinvent the wheel. My second act was satire, so I'll skip the big reveal. They say success is measured by my willingness to fail. That's why every day I have to fight for my fairy tale. I have to scratch tooth and nail to reach the light that no one sees. I have to build a kingdom in my mind, then give away the keys. I have to feel into reality beyond what I believe and be grateful for my goals before they've even been received. Hell, it hurts to be in heaven.

We deserve our happy endings, but I'm not sure we would notice if we're focused on ascending. Me, I have a son, so suddenly the boundaries have been blending. The blessings are astounding, but the pace is unrelenting. I have no time or space and space and time for wasting time or space, yet I still find both tempting. I fantasize that somewhere there's a fence that needs my mending or a garden worth attending. I've been falling off on purpose like a forest floor of neon leaves. But underneath the surface, I've been having dreams of having dreams. I'm having hopes of having hopes. I'm having prayers of having prayers.

You'd swear I'm in the same place, but I've been climbing spiral stairs unconsciousness is fertile ground for planting seeds, but the greatest art I'll ever make can barely reach my knees. When he gets old enough, I'll drop him in a field and watch him leave. When it gets cold enough, he'll build a fire off what I've achieved. Eventually, he'll wave goodbye to me like wind against the trees, but he'll have made a better sequel than his father could conceive. I'd rather turn our backs as equals than be spiritually deceived. What's the point of people pleasing when the people can't be pleased?

I never believed in happy endings, so I won't wait around till then. I have my happy ending, 'cause I'm happy that it's not the end. I used to prepare for the worst. Now I prepare for the best. I used to prepare to be cursed. Now I prepare to be blessed. I used to prepare to hear no. Now I prepare to hear yes. I used to prepare for disasters. Now I prepare for success. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Everybody, we got snaps going on. Oh my God. Yes. Bro, thank you so much. I'm happy that it's not ending.

IN-Q: Yes, sir.

SHAWN STEVENSON: My man, thank you so much, man.

IN-Q: My pleasure.

SHAWN STEVENSON: My cheeks hurt. I'm over there just like, oh, this is so amazing. Thank you, bro. We're happy that this is not ending. We've got the one and only IN-Q here with us for this celebration. Where can people follow you, get more information, check out your fire album? 

IN-Q: Thank you, man. Yeah, so just go to in-q.com. IN-Q is short for in question. So it's in-q.com, and they have the album on there. They have a book called Inquire Within. They have a journal called The Never Ending Now poetry journal. And then also we're doing a retreat. It's like a poetry workshop/adventure retreat in Ireland, in the end of August, and we just sold out the first one, and we have a couple of rooms left for the second one.

And, it's gonna be a fantastic time. I've done them in the past in Bali, in Morocco, in Mexico, in Hawaii, but I've never been to Ireland. I asked my wife, I was like, "Is there anywhere you would wanna go?" And she said, "Yeah, for some reason I wanna go to Ireland." And I said, "Okay, that's where we're gonna do the next retreat."

SHAWN STEVENSON: Come on.

IN-Q: So now, Arthur will get to run around the rainforest for a couple of weeks, and I would love for people to join me. And then just Instagram, inqlife, INQLife without the dash. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: My bro, I appreciate you so much. Thank you for sharing that. The one and only. NQ, everybody .Thank you, everybody We're celebrating episode 1,000 of The Model Health Show, and I wanted to invite on some of the most frequent, most impactful, and most in-demand guests of The Model Health Show. And we already designated, we're gonna call it the Mount Crushmore of The Model Health Show . And I wanted to bring on somebody, and this is an individual who even if we are not constantly talking to each other, I talk about you a lot. I encourage people to follow him, to, to, to check out his work because he is walking the talk.

He is demonstrating true longevity. When I talk about him, I talk about the energy that this individual has, that we had to put a s- a metaphoric seatbelt on this chair- ... to keep him strapped in because he's bouncing around so full of energy. And just to be an inspiration for me personally, he's somebody that is a mentor of mine when I'm thinking about longevity, and when I'm thinking about energy, and when I'm thinking about showing up. And so our next special guest is the one and only Dr. Jonny Bowden. You guys. Come on in here. Come on in here. Ah, I love you. Thank you for coming. 

DR. JONNY BOWDEN: Oh, I love you more. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Here you go. Have a seat. 

DR. JONNY BOWDEN: Wow 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Have a seat. Thank you for joining us.

DR. JONNY BOWDEN: I just, listening to that intro, I'm looking around. Who is he talking about?

SHAWN STEVENSON: I'm talking about you, man.

DR. JONNY BOWDEN: That's very kind, man. Very kind.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Of course. Of course. So good to be here. Yeah. Congratulations.

DR. JONNY BOWDEN: Yeah.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Thank you, man.

DR. JONNY BOWDEN: 1,000.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Thank you.

DR. JONNY BOWDEN: Holy moly. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Can you, can you pull that a little closer to you? Yeah. 'Cause you're probably gonna hit it. Probably gonna hit it. That's the thing too, when Jonny's here-

DR. JONNY BOWDEN: I'm a New Yorker.

SHAWN STEVENSON: He's, he's gonna hit that We talk with our hands. 

DR. JONNY BOWDEN: He's gonna hit that mic. We move things around. We bang the microphone. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: And low-key, what people don't know about you, and I'm glad that I got a gift, and I think it's gonna match your vibe. By the way, for you after we're done. Okay. They don't know how swaggy you are.

DR. JONNY BOWDEN: Okay? They don't know that. I get it from you. I get new sh- shoes. Every time I come, I go, "What is he wearing? I'm getting them" Oh, gosh. I love those. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: See, it's like y- you know, you, you have, you have a timeless fashion sense. Where does that come from? That's real- 

DR. JONNY BOWDEN: I- that's very sweet of you to say. I really appreciate that.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Where does that come from?

DR. JONNY BOWDEN: I have no idea.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Is it your DNA? It's, must be in my DNA. 

DR. JONNY BOWDEN: Yeah. I, I really don't know. But thank you.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Of course ... for saying that. Of course. Well, just to have you here again is a blessing. There were a select few people that I absolutely wanted to have on the show, and I wanted to bring on somebody for this 1,000th episode. 1,000th episode.

DR. JONNY BOWDEN: I can't believe that.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Crazy.

DR. JONNY BOWDEN: 1,000.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Crazy, right?

DR. JONNY BOWDEN: You haven't been in this studio for 1,000, have you?

SHAWN STEVENSON: We've been here for-

DR. JONNY BOWDEN: 'Cause you started in your house, I was- .

SHAWN STEVENSON: .. Four years. We started iHeartRadio, back in St. Louis.

DR. JONNY BOWDEN: Ah.

SHAWN STEVENSON: And then we went to a place called Shock City, and then we went to Santa Monica once we came here, and- 

DR. JONNY BOWDEN: But I did one of-

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah, my first episode- At my house 

DR. JONNY BOWDEN:  ...in your house 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah, that's when the world shut down In your house studio. Yeah. Yeah. And so that was the catalyst, like, we gotta get a studio open. Right. 'Cause trying to record at home- And we live so close. We live very close. I know, right? Trying to record at home with kids, with the leaf blowers. Yeah. And I've got a idea for everybody. If anybody's out there as an inventor and they wanna create something to be a multimillionaire, potentially billionaire-

DR. JONNY BOWDEN: Get rid of the weed blowers?

SHAWN STEVENSON: The, make it make n- unpleasant sounds. 

DR. JONNY BOWDEN: Well, can I tell you something? That is the number one source of pollution in LA is, is those machines. Really? Yeah, people who don't live here don't know that, but we all have gardeners and they come and they blow with the... That is the number one source of pollution.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Who knew? Of course you knew. Yeah. Of course you knew. Those are doing very bad for you. One of the things that I love about you, you're one of the people that send, sends me stuff. I do send you stuff. You send me research. I do. You're like, "Hey, did you see this?" And, you know, a big part of the mission for today and why I wanted to have you here was to provide people with some inspiration around their nutrition. And, you know, today obviously we have a very, very strong pull happening with our food environment with ultra-processed foods.

DR. JONNY BOWDEN: Oh, yeah.

SHAWN STEVENSON: But there's also an emerging medium and, and, and community around eating real foods. And so for you, from your experience, how important it is, how important is it for us to really be able to lock in on our nutrition right now? 

DR. JONNY BOWDEN: I think it's foundational. I think it's impossible to overstate how important it is, and I don't think it's as important as the stuff we're probably gonna talk about. I think that as important as it is, and you know I've spent a lot of time talking about cholesterol and heart disease and lab tests, I think those things are really important. They can't be denied. They can't be ignored. They need to be handled, but they pale in compar- in terms of predicting longevity, predicting happiness, and predicting health. They are absolutely crushed by community, social relationships, and family. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yes. 

DR. JONNY BOWDEN: Yes. That's the lesson I've learned in 35 years of doing this. Yes. That, that, you know, every g- great nutritionist that I grew up with and came up with doesn't look at food diaries anymore. We just don't Because we know that the glass ceiling that we all carry around in our head, the thing that keeps us from putting this information into use-

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah

DR. JONNY BOWDEN:  ... Is way more important than get- we don't need more information. You know, you, there's a thing in high fidelity. They talk about signal-to-noise ratio, right? We got a lot of noise and very little signal. So we all have tons of information. Where the action is, is how do you become the person who can use that information-

SHAWN STEVENSON: Come on.

DR. JONNY BOWDEN: And actually take action?

SHAWN STEVENSON: Come on.

DR. JONNY BOWDEN: 'Cause we get s- we get stuck at the action part, not at the knowledge part. I think I've said this on the show. There is not a person in the world who ever stopped smoking like, "Wait, I didn't know they cause you lung cancer? Wait, let me throw my Marlboros out." No, it doesn't that way. Right? Same, same with ultra-processed food. "They're killing me. They're jamming my arteries. They're giving me diabetes and, and pre-diabetes and everything else. I'll stop." Oh, just stop like that? They don't. Yeah. And that's where the action is. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yes. It's not just what you're eating, it's who you're eating with.

DR. JONNY BOWDEN: That's right.

SHAWN STEVENSON: That's it. And how you're eating.

DR. JONNY BOWDEN: And how you're eating.

SHAWN STEVENSON: And how you're eating. Yeah. Thank you for, for illuminating this. Before we switch gears and talk more about this, because you know better than most that this is really where to focus. Because guess what? The people that you're eating with, the, the, the, the character, the habits of those people are greatly going to determine what you're eating. When you and I went out to eat together, there's a certain quality.

DR. JONNY BOWDEN: Yes.

SHAWN STEVENSON: There's a certain standard, the way... It's just automatic once- Right ... we're around each other. 

DR. JONNY BOWDEN: And we ate at a burger place. I mean, we ate at a place, it's not like it was a magical food with everything was organ- it was good stuff, but there's nothing... best example, my wife and I spend a lot of time in French-speaking countries. Let's put it that way. We, we really, and we go to Paris frequently. For years, we were taught as nutritionists about the French paradox, and what is the French paradox? Well, they eat all the saturated fat. They eat all this stuff.

They don't have any heart disease. Yeah, go there and you'll see why. Come on. You don't see anybody walking on the street eating. You do not. You see some Americans with big Starbucks cup. Generally, you don't. People sit down. Their whole culture is based around the cafe, where people sit. You won't get a check- you can't get a check when you're in a French restaurant.

They expect you to sit there three hours because the talking is the purpose. And people sit in cafes, and they talk, and they chat, and they have s- so many more social connections than we do, and you can just feel it in the atmosphere. Yeah. They talk softer. You don't hear people screaming and, you know, these entitled people, "Well, I, I didn't get my Starbucks with the right amount of cream." They don't, that doesn't happen in Paris, and that's one of the reasons they don't have heart disease like we do. It isn't just the food. Right. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah. 

DR. JONNY BOWDEN: It's the way they eat, the manner they eat, the slowness that they eat with. You know, all these things count. Not just what's on your plate. It's- The whole system, you know?

SHAWN STEVENSON: Please hear this everybody. This is the truth. This is, again, we could search for decades, and you and I know a lot about nutrition. These are the foundational principles-

DR. JONNY BOWDEN: They are

SHAWN STEVENSON: ... that really make it all work. And if you could, for everybody here, and I've got you here, you're the guy when it comes to nutrition, can you give us three important principles when it comes to choosing which foods we're eating?

DR. JONNY BOWDEN: I can give you one, and, and everything else follows from that. I've said it before. Eat real food. But before you dismiss that and say, "Oh, yeah, we all..." No, it's not as easy as it sounds. It's simple, but it's not necessarily easy. And people don't even know what real food is. They go, "Well, are kale chips real food?"

No. Kale's real food, and kale chips are processed from kale. They may not be as bad as potato chips that are... But they're not... Real food is food... I used to say the Jonny Bowden four food groups, food you could hunt, fish, gather, or pluck. If you could've in, in, on another time hunted for it, even if it's showing up at the supermarket, but if it could've been hunted, it could've been fished for, it could've been plucked off a tree or gathered off the ground, it's probably good for you and if you can only do that, that trumps macros, it trumps calories, it trumps all the other things that we look at. Is it real? 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Come on, Jonny. Yeah. Jonny, be good. I mean, but it... Is that not true? It... I mean, come on. I mean, this is... If we can just follow that principle, we're going to transform the health of our culture.

DR. JONNY BOWDEN: Not-

SHAWN STEVENSON: Period

DR. JONNY BOWDEN: .. even in doubt. And it doesn't mean that we don't need more protein, 'cause we do, more than we were ever told in the past. That, that's a big, new piece of information, certainly in the last decade, probably the last five years, that we realize how low the protein requirements are, and especially in a GLP-1 world.

But that's a separate subject. So we, it's not that we don't care about the macros. It doesn't... But the quality of the food, the fact that it's actually real, that it would spoil if you left it outdoors, that your great-great-great-great-grandmother would know that it's actually food. Because in the blue zones, they actually took some supermarket food to these elders, like, you know, juice boxes and, and to...And they literally, you know what they did? They said, "What is this?" Hmm. So if they knew-

SHAWN STEVENSON: Mamma mia.

DR. JONNY BOWDEN: Yeah. I mean, that's, that's, that's the, to me, that's the number one piece of nutrition advice that I have ever gotten and that I've ever given. Eat real food. And if you're not sure if it's real, make, err on the side of throwing it out. It's probably not, if you have to wonder.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Come on.

DR. JONNY BOWDEN: Nobody wonders about a steak or broccoli. Simple. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Jonny, why, and I'm gonna ask you this because usually when I'm asking questions, I'm, I have my, my community in mind. Okay. Anything. I wanna ask you this for myself.

DR. JONNY BOWDEN: Sure.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Why did you say yes to being here with me today?

DR. JONNY BOWDEN: Oh, are you kidding? Number one, I adore you. I, I respect you. I, I love what you're doing, and, we have the best time when I come in . Why would I not is the question, not why would I say yes, but why would I ever say no? Yeah. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: I appreciate that so much, man. You..

DR. JONNY BOWDEN: It's 100% true.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah. I feel it, man. I feel it. Thank you so much, Jonny. You don't know how much you, you, you mean to me and how much I speak about you. Again- 

DR. JONNY BOWDEN: You don't know how much I speak about you. I, I mean, I talk about you and it's like, you know, this, this guy's the real deal. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah. Thank you, Jonny. That means everything. Again, you've been, since I was in diapers. You know what I'm saying? I'm, no- not me, not me. Real talk. 

DR. JONNY BOWDEN: I knew this. I knew that was coming. I knew that was coming when you said-

SHAWN STEVENSON: You been, I grew up listening- you've been here

DR. JONNY BOWDEN: ... to you. It's like a double-edged sword. You grew up listening to me and you're 35. I mean, come on. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: On vinyl. I, I put on the vinyl, listened to Dr. Jonny Bowden. Okay. So, you know, again, real talk, you know, you just, you've been here with your life experience and figuring things out, and putting together a unique formula for yourself, but you found principles that tend to work for everybody. And you are such a blessing. You've got so many incredible books as well. Can you share with everybody really quickly, where can people connect with you, find your books, all that good stuff? 

DR. JONNY BOWDEN: Sure. Well, I'm on Instagram. I make about five videos a week. I don't really follow the... I'm, I'm, now I'm beginning to liberate myself from the formula that it has to be 20 seconds. I decided my audience is smarter than that, and I'm not-

SHAWN STEVENSON: Come on, Jonny.

DR. JONNY BOWDEN:  ... Gonna get the TikTok people with the seven-second attention. I'm just not. So I, I make videos at about a minute and a half to two minutes now.

SHAWN STEVENSON: You're the French of this.

DR. JONNY BOWDEN: Huh?

SHAWN STEVENSON: You're the French version of it. Sit down. Listen, learn something. But, um- So what's your handle on IG?

DR. JONNY BOWDEN: It's @jonnybowden. Okay. J-O-N-N-Y, no H in Jonny. And then I have a website, and I have private coaching practice, and do a lot of consulting and speaking and all the things I love to do, man, and play tennis every day with great people. Yeah. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: I ta- Big secret of- I just talked about you on stage in Chicago-

DR. JONNY BOWDEN: You did not

SHAWN STEVENSON: ... two weeks ago. Yes, I did.

DR. JONNY BOWDEN: Get out of here.

SHAWN STEVENSON: When I was talking about the importance of finding your tennis group. 

DR. JONNY BOWDEN: That is great. That's a great way to put it. Find your tennis group, because, and I've been asked on podcasts all the time, you know I'm gonna be the big 8-0 this year. And they go, "You're 80 years old, and you got this energy, and you do all this stuff." I said, "The secret is my tennis group." 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah. 

DR. JONNY BOWDEN: Find your tennis group. We've got 20 people, 30 people. We have two d- big group texts. I'm not tight friends with every one of them, but we go out to dinner. We see each other. There are a lot of performers in our group. We go see their concerts. We see their things.

We have lunch together. We do all kinds of stuff together, and we talk every day. And, and that, that plus the exercise of tennis, the best thing you could possibly do, you know? 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Amazing. Um- I, I was speaking about you in that context of real longevity. This is one of those ingredients. Find your tennis group. You know, having that community is so important. And so again, I appreciate you so much, Jonny.

DR. JONNY BOWDEN: Thank you so much.

SHAWN STEVENSON: We're coming up on the close of our time.

DR. JONNY BOWDEN: All right.

SHAWN STEVENSON: And again-

DR. JONNY BOWDEN: What a wonderful way to spend an afternoon, man.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Come on, man.

DR. JONNY BOWDEN: I'm totally serious. Are you kidding me?

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah. I, I, I appreciate you, man.

DR. JONNY BOWDEN: I'm totally serious.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah. All right.

DR. JONNY BOWDEN: And I- If- ... I got to see Anne again, who I love. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: I know, and we got a gift for you as well.

DR. JONNY BOWDEN: You do?

SHAWN STEVENSON: So don't leave without that.

DR. JONNY BOWDEN: Oh, thank you.

SHAWN STEVENSON: But again, Instagram handle one more time. 

DR. JONNY BOWDEN: Jonny Bowden. @JonnyBowden. J-O-N-N-Y B-O-W-D-E-N. And the website. J-O-N-N-Y B-O-W-D-E-N, johnnybowden.com.

SHAWN STEVENSON: That's right.

DR. JONNY BOWDEN: I'm on Facebook as Dr. Jonny Bowden. Like that.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Jonny, be good.

DR. JONNY BOWDEN: All right, buddy. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: The one and only. I appreciate you so much.

DR. JONNY BOWDEN: Thank you.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah. The one and only, Dr. Jonny Bowden, everybody. 

DR. JONNY BOWDEN: Thank you. Thank you. All right. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: This special Episode 1,000 of the Model Health Show is brought to you by the power of a real vitamin C. Most people have no idea that the majority of vitamin C supplements out there on the grocery store shelves, the checkout aisle, online, are made from synthetic, genetically modified corn starch and corn syrup. Very low-quality sources of vitamin C. Now, if it's structurally vitamin C in some form or fashion, isn't it gonna be all right, Shawn?

The answer is a no and a punch in the kidneys. A 2013 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association Internal Medicine found that participants taking synthetic vitamin C supplements had twice the risk of developing kidney stones, while another study from researchers at USC found that a daily dose of synthetic vitamin C thickened the walls of participants' arteries two and a half times faster than those not taking the synthetic supplement.

This is absolutely insane because this is one of the most popular supplements in the world. It's not the fact that vitamin C is the problem. Vitamin C is essential. Vitamin C is responsible for, yes, helping to regulate the performance of our immune system, but also it's critical for the health of our skin, for our cognitive function, for our cardiovascular performance. For our sleep quality, vitamin C plays a role in that as well. There's so many different things that we need vitamin C for. But it's those crappy synthetic versions of vitamin C that are the problem. Yes, we wanna get vitamin C from vitamin C-rich foods, and if we're going to supplement, we need to do it right with a super food, whole food concentrate of some of the most vitamin C-dense foods ever discovered.

And that's what I utilize on a regular basis with the Essential C Complex from Paleovalley. Go to paleovalley.com/model right now, and you're gonna receive 15% off their incredible Essential C Complex. This complex has three powerhouse vitamin C-dense super foods: camu camu berry, amla berry, and acerola cherry. Do these super foods stand up to the test of being a real vitamin C super food powerhouse? Well, a randomized placebo-controlled study published in the Journal of Cardiology had people doing a very oxidating activity, smoking. They had them to consume either a super food concentrate of camu camu berry over the course of the one-week study or utilize a run-of-the-mill synthetic vitamin C supplement.

Here's what happened over the course of the one-week study. The participants who utilized the camu camu berry concentrate had significantly lowered oxidative stress and lowered inflammatory biomarkers. It worked. And what's more is that there were no changes in those who were utilizing the ordinary run-of-the-mill synthetic vitamin C supplements.

So again, to supercharge your body, your immune system, your health, this is one of the things that I do on a regular basis, especially during times of stress. I look to the Essential C Complex from Paleovalley. Again, go to paleovalley.com/model. That's P-A-L-E-O-V-A-L-L-E-Y.com/model. 15% off their Essential C Complex and storewide just for you. Head over there, check them out, take advantage. And now back to the show. This show would not be possible without our amazing team and my amazing partner in all of this, my best friend, the love of my life, Anne Stevenson. We've got a very, very exceptional time. You're one of the most in-demand guests of the Model Health Show.

ANNE STEVENSON: I don't want to. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: People even know, like our, our more, more recent, you know, followers, listeners to the show-

ANNE STEVENSON: Ugh

SHAWN STEVENSON: ... they don't know about the early days.

ANNE STEVENSON: I know they don't. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: You know? And those that do, they're like, "When is Anne coming back?" They're checking their watches. They're waking up like, "When is- Tap, when is Anne coming back? So thank you for gracing us with your presence. I truly do appreciate you, baby 

ANNE STEVENSON: Well, I appreciate m- you suggesting this, and I don't feel as nervous or anything. I just, I just feel really good. I think all the love today too just it's like y- h- can I say hell yes? Yeah. Okay. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yes, baby. And like 

ANNE STEVENSON: It's just like hell yes that, you know, showing up and, you know, showing up for them, so I'm here.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah. Thank you, baby. And also, I talk about you every single day when we're in the studio. Yeah. When anybody comes in and they're celebrating the ambiance and the vibe here in the studio- Yeah ... I'm always like, "This is, this is AnnE's doing. Ann made all this happen." And even the balloons and the vibe here, which I...This is, this makes me so happy. Right? It makes me feel more of a celebration vibe. Right. But you, you know, when you messaged me yesterday or you called me, like of- I know ... asking about the balloons, I'm like, "Baby, I don't know. Whatever." Like, you, you know. But it's these type of things where you see, you see my blind spots.

You see the things that I might miss. You also are, like, you are the greatest inspiration that I've ever had in my life to continue to be better because you are so good, you know? And I wanna ask you, what has it been like? For those that, you know, that have been a part of this community for a long time, you know, you know me better than anybody. So what is it like working with me and, and, and the way that I go about doing this show? What have you seen as far as the, the preparation and what we put into creating this? 

ANNE STEVENSON: I would say, number one, it's very intense. You know, I think that you're so meticulous. I, I love what, Michael Beckwith said, "It's just excellence." I think since day one, you know, first episode, like, you've been taking this so serious, and from spending hours upon hours, like, every episode. You know, and honestly it makes me wanna do more. I, honest- being around you, like, it makes you want to do more all the time. And, and I fight, I fight you sometimes because I'm like, "When are, when are we having fun?

I wanna have fun." And you're like, "No. We need to do this. We need to go to sleep at this time. We gotta..." I'm like, "Okay. You know, I'm recording on Friday." And the days he's recording, just whatever it is, u- unless if the house is not burning down, like, just gotta leave him alone. And, and it's, it's crazy how you transform into this, and I was listening to the team the other day, like, into this different person. Like, not different, it's like you just- Turn the switch on and all these amazing things and information. I'm, I've been with you for so long, I'm still fascinated. Like, how do you know all these things? Like- Yeah ... and, and so I, it's, it's very inspiring for sure and, um, challenging. I think people always want to have a partner who is, who's gonna challenge you, who's gonna up level.

But do you really wanna do the work? You know what I'm saying? Yeah. Like some, some, some people, I don't know if you, you have to dig deep in there and be like, "Okay, I can do this," and, and you know, you're not gonna, um, you're not going to, uh ... You gotta push me even, even like if I don't want to push myself, like are you gonna make sure that I'm okay? So long story short, it's intense, amazing, and very inspired. I'm very proud of you for just showing up every week even when none of us really wanna do it, including myself. You just, your level of excellence is unmatched. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Thank you, baby. You know that means more to me than anything. Like, thank you for seeing me. Yeah. I'm just so grateful and I literally tell you this, like I'm grateful I even get to talk to you. You know what I'm saying? You're just so awesome. You're so fun. You're so insightful. You're also, you could, you're a baddie. You're a baddie, no doubt. But also of course, you could be- Hey ... a, a, a ball of trouble and you know that.

ANNE STEVENSON: Everybody needs spice in their life a little bit. That's what she- Like a little spiciness.

SHAWN STEVENSON: That's what she said.

ANNE STEVENSON: You know what I'm saying? You know? 

SHAWN STEVENSON: But it's, you know, you keep me, you keep me from getting complacent. And, you know, you give me all of the, the fuel to know, number one, that I matter, but also that I need to be better, you know? Because we're growing together. 

ANNE STEVENSON: Yeah. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: You know? And back in those early days of not having a real template of what a marriage looks like and us figuring it out- 

ANNE STEVENSON: Yeah ... a

SHAWN STEVENSON: big part of that, like we talked about, we, we united on growth, but we were growing like in a parallel way. And it was creating this friction, you know? And once we decided, first of all we learned about each other, learned, like actually took, bought some CDs- ... 'cause this is CD days, to learn about, oh, and I shared this w- at the conference recently- Yeah ... that it hit me like a ton of bricks, something that might be s- so obvious for everybody. I realize that you think differently than me.

ANNE STEVENSON: Mm. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: You think differently than me, and it's not right or wrong, but a lot of us walk around here thinking that people think the same way that they do.

ANNE STEVENSON: Yeah.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Oh, it's just like this. It's just like that. Oh, you're just forgetting. Let me remind you, you know? But it's just, this is the value of having a partner and a relationship and our friends and our family and our community, because there's so many different perspectives.

ANNE STEVENSON: Mm-hmm. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: And we can all see things differently, and how cool is that? Versus we're trying to convert the world into thinking like we do. And then we just have AI located here. So, you know, thank you, baby. Thank you for, for being who you are. And, again, we're here to do a Q&A portion- 

ANNE STEVENSON: Okay

SHAWN STEVENSON: ... right now.

ANNE STEVENSON: Okay, okay. So- @ bethstardustwithin says, "How do you start your morning spiritually?" 

SHAWN STEVENSON: That's a great question. 

ANNE STEVENSON: Yeah. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: It's so interesting. We talked with Michael Beckwith about this and how my routine changed when the trouble season hit, you know. Yeah. Because I was so locked in. You've been with me this whole time. I was meditating every day for years. You know, I wake up in the morning, to this day, and I always do this first, I, I drink water. I drink about 25 to 30 ounces of water. And recently, for the past, maybe a year since Katie Bowman, who, special shout-out to Katie Bowman. One of the Mount Crushmore guests of the Model Health Show.

And she was, of course, like, we were in talks about getting her here today, 'cause she, she's a cloud hopper. She's a world traveler, but also she's very grounded in, in her, in her home as well. And she brought me, as a gift when she came into the studio most recently, this incredible salt. And so people I think are aware salt can be a, these different salt brands with the microplastics and contaminants. But it was some exquisite, beautiful salt she brought me, so I put a little bit of that, bit of that in my water, a little lemon. So that's how I start my day every day, with my inner bath. You know, you wake up, you're dehydrated. It's a, the, one of the longest times we go without hydration. It's gonna help to eliminate, flush out a lot of metabolic waste products.

Also get a little boost for our metabolic rate as well. And so that's number one. Number two, and my wife knows this, I go and do some reading. And I'm usually doing a little stretch, like a like a hip flexor stretch while I read. Why you shaking your head? 

ANNE STEVENSON: It's because the amount of books on our, by our couch, it's wild. I don't think you guys understand, like, he reads every book. Like, the guests, I think sometimes some of the Model Health Show guests don't know that, they don't expect him to have read the books, but he reads every single one. And then they are usually, "I j- I just gave up." "I just gave up" when they be on there.

SHAWN STEVENSON: So after I do, do some reading, so I'll probably read at least, like, 15 to 20 minutes. And then normally I'd go into my meditation after that. 

ANNE STEVENSON: Mm. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: But I took some time off. It was very here or there with my meditation for those two rough and tumble years of close family members passing, transitioning with kids and things like that, and just all manner of craziness was going on. And, I kind of, my anchor, you know? And, but gratefully because of all the work I put in I was still living it. You know? But it definitely now, even today, I took that time, you know, before everybody got up, and I'm back into my practice, so it's so wonderful.

So wonderful. And, then I'll go for a quick walk outside, get some real sunlight. And then I'll start the day. Usually come in from there and make coffee for us, help with my son's breakfast, and that's what I do pretty much every day. 

ANNE STEVENSON: I love it, and, and honestly, it just goes back to what I'd said earlier. I think all of those years of having such a robust, you know, morning routine, even in the trench- in the trenches season, like, you were still able to just show up as your best version, even when I didn't want to. Like, you were holding us all together, you know? So shout out to you. So someone's just... A simple question, actually. It's, "How old were you when you got married?" 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Oh, damn. I had just... No, this was, so this was 2007. I think, were you- So it was right before my 27th birthday, and so you were 25, I was 27, right?