3 Easy Steps for Healthy Foundations with Rachel Astarte

Rachel is a licensed psychotherapist and holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing. She received a diploma in Mind-Body Wellness from Southwest Institute of Healing Arts, where she also received her certifications in Transformational Life Coaching and Clinical Hypnotherapy. She studied Theater and Acting at Loughborough University (UK) and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York. She has also received shamanic training from The Foundation for Shamanic Studies.
Rachel brings to her therapy practice the vision of unity through individuality.
The stronger our foundation of self, the better we can contribute to the world around us.

In this episode, Rachel will share how her foundational work can help you come into a strong sense of self so that you're able to stay healthier, lead a richer life, and do more to impact the community around you.

Connect with Rachel at https://rachelastartetherapy.com/free-stuff/

DoTERRA Wellness Advocate
At Wholistic Natural Health Australia, we often recommend the use of high quality essential oils.

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Transcript

Magic Barclay: 0:59

Welcome back to a Magical Life. I'm your host Magic Markley, and today I'm joined by Rachel as. Rachel is a psychotherapist, author, educator, and podcaster. She's the author of both fiction and non-fiction titles, all of which promote individual healing and wellness. Her non-fiction guide Celebrating Solitude, how to discover and Honor your Highest Self has featured in Oprah's Oxygen Magazine, Huffington Post. Insider and several wellness podcasts. Rachel was also a contributor to Dr. Bernie s Siegel's. A Book of Miracles. Rachel hosts the podcast Self-Talk with Rachel asae, which helps listeners develop a healthy sense of self and is available wherever all podcasts are streamed. Welcome, Rachel.

Rachel Astarte: 1:57

Thank you so much. Magic. It's a pleasure being with you.

Magic Barclay: 2:00

It's certainly an honor to have you here now. Let's get straight into it. I ask the same three questions of all of my guests, and everyone gives me such a wonderfully different answer. So here we go. Mm-hmm. The first one is, what can your expertise do to accelerate health, not just physical, but also emotional and spiritual

Rachel Astarte: 2:24

health? Uh, that's a great question. so as a self specialist, I'm someone who helps my patients develop a healthy foundation of self. And what that does, honestly, I believe it helps in all areas of our health of mental health. Spiritual health and physical health. When we have a healthy foundation of self that is, we feel safe and secure and balanced in our lives, that really helps us to present our best selves to the world. It makes sense of course, that mentally we might feel healthful because we are living our best lives, and spiritually as well, but also physically, because when we are at peace with ourselves, our nervous systems are regulated and calm, and that of course helps to reduce inflammation in the body. Inflammation is something that causes, pretty much. Every illness that we encounter as human beings. So the work that I do really does help on those three levels of wellbeing. Wow,

Magic Barclay: 3:36

that's a fantastic take on it. I love that. Now we talk about wealth here as well. So people think wealth is just the financial, like how much money do I have? What am I worth in currency? That kind of thing. But wealth is so much more than that. And it's also, you know, the emotional wealth that you have and your spiritual or personal wealth. So what are your top three tips to creating wealth of any kind?

Rachel Astarte: 4:07

first of all, I appreciate your definition of wealth because yes, it isn't necessarily just about money or, or that kind of definition. Wealth is much richer than that to use to, you know, forgive the pun, but, when we live a life that we are, Content with when we feel like we are living our best lives. The wealth that comes from that is a sense of wellbeing. Individually. We don't need anyone to, tell us that we're living our best lives because we know it, we feel it, and that's priceless. To be able to negotiate life's challenges, knowing that. The choices that you make are going to be right for you in that moment. That's a really powerful currency. also, and I mentioned this earlier, there's a physical sense of wellbeing. Just being able to regulate your nervous system, that's also priceless. You know, we think about preventive medicine. Preventive medicine is. Where we take care of ourselves before we need medical assistance, which can be, at least in my country, very expensive. and so when we do preventive medicine, we are, Contributing toward our future health, and the wealth of our future wellbeing. Just, you know, saving money by taking care of ourselves. So again, clearing out all of the blocks and challenges that you might have in your life. You get paid back in the currency of living a healthy, physically healthy life. And finally, I'm gonna bend the, definition of wealth here because we're not even talking about our own wealth, but the wealth that you contribute to the community comes from this inner work as well, because when you are living your best life, your most congruent life, you are actually giving back to the world. So in a way, you're making the world around you a wealthier place, if that makes sense.

Magic Barclay: 6:14

That makes perfect sense and I love that you bent that inference of, of wealth, that meaning, because yes, community wealth isn't possible without you. yeah, I really do love that. That's great. Thank you. Of course. Now look, we do talk about weight loss here. Many people battle with their weight quite needlessly. It's often due to stress and certainly a disconnection of self. So have you ever battled your weight, and if so, what was the trigger to lose it? What can you offer the listeners who might be on this journey?

Rachel Astarte: 6:50

I can't say that I've battled my weight, at least not in the way that I think that you are saying. I've certainly, and I think a lot of people can, relate to this fallen victim to, other people's. Expectations of what a body should look like. And I think that's so terribly damaging. In fact, part of, the way we see our bodies is what got me into this field because our bodies are the vessels for our souls. That's really. The long and short of it. And so when we think about our bodies as our allies, and this is really important, I know it's very difficult for people who are battling with their weight to see their bodies as a friend, as an ally. But when we start to do this, when we start to really rack up, how many ways our bodies have helped us, right? So we're not looking at. The image of the body, oh, we're supposed to look like X or have the, these measurements or this weight on a scale, right? We're looking at it in terms of functionality. So, you know, if we like a sport and our bodies move beautifully as we play tennis or we run or, or whatever it is, that's amazing, right? Every time you've been ill and recovered your body did that. That's amazing. It's kept you alive and, and you know, if you're a mother, Oh my goodness. what your body can do and, and that you can create a human being inside of it and feed that baby. Should, should you so choose to breastfeed. Incredible. We overlook the power. Of the human body. And when we start to see it as our ally, when we start to see it as the container of our soul, we have a whole new respect for it. So can you get to a point where you say, yeah, yeah, I hear what you're saying, but I still wanna lose X amount of weight. Well then go ahead. But I guarantee you, you will not do it successfully if you don't enter that relationship with your body as an equal, right? So you may have a best friend. Who has some irritating habits, but you don't end that friendship. You put up with it. You know, you work together, you talk stuff out. Same thing with your body. when you're trying to lose weight or get healthier or whatever it is, when you start to work with your body instead of feeling like you're working against it, that's when the success happens. I'm gonna tell you a little thing, a lot of people don't know about weight loss. or they, maybe they do, but they forget it. When we diet or crash diet or starve ourselves or whatever it is, our body, the nervous system of the body begins to believe that we are in fight or flight mode when we're in fight or flight mode. All of our major systems shut down in order to gather our energy, to do what needs to be done to deal with this oncoming threat. One of the first systems that shuts down is your digestive system. So if you're stressed out or you're down on yourself, or you hate the diet you're on, you're putting yourself into this, Fight or flight state, and the very first system that's gonna shut down is their digestive system, which means your metabolism has slowed. So that means anything you eat will be processed more slowly. So it may look like, well, I'm, I'm dieting. I'm dieting. Why am I not losing weight? That may be one of the reasons why. So, another reason why we need to approach. Our physical wellness with as much joy and pleasure as we can. So you may say, well, I'm overweight. I don't like it. If you change that to, I'm overweight and I'm working to get this beautiful machine that I'm in. to where I want it to be, and we're working together and we'll get there. Your entire nervous system relaxes and that allows you to process food faster, or more efficiently, right? so it's really about having a new relationship with our bodies that, it's not just this thing we carry around. that we aren't connected to, but rather that we're intimately connected with. And that can really be, yeah, an ally to us, a friend to us.

Magic Barclay: 11:14

You know, that's such a great definition there and some really great information about the fight flight. Scenario, and you're right about the digestive system shutting down, and I think this contributes to, you know, when people come off diets and they've lost a whole lot of weight, but then it comes straight back. That's right. That's right. It's like, well now you can digest things because your body doesn't see you under threat. So it's going to store things just in case you become under threat

Rachel Astarte: 11:47

again. Exactly right. Exactly right. And so, and also think about it this way, and this is a very practical way of looking at it. You may have dieted successfully and lost the way you wanted. You struggled through it. You did it. Congratulations. Now what? Right. So are, is that sustainable? So we don't want to diet. That's ridiculous because at some point that diet is going to end and at some point the scale is gonna say what you want, or the measuring tape is gonna say what you want, but you aren't living your life. you were on a temporary, like food vacation, you know? But now you gotta get back to living. So when we think about adjusting our relationship with food, first of all, but also eating pleasurable, eating in a way that that gives us joy. So I'm a big proponent of not saying no to food, but to changing. proportions or, or to be fully present when you eat, that's another big thing, to really enjoy it without guilt. Now you're calming your system down. And so that's a lifestyle change and that's much more effective for long-term, weight management.

Magic Barclay: 12:59

There's some great information there, and I know we've just touched the surface, so I would love to have you back in our next episode. But for now, Rachel, we love freebies here. What can you offer the listeners?

Rachel Astarte: 13:14

I actually have on my website, it should be there. If it isn't, that's okay. People can, uh, contact me through my website. I have a wonderful, guided meditation that I'd love to offer your listeners. it's called the Holy Self. And it really takes you through perhaps your first experience of what it feels like to be fully present in your body and fully present in your spirit and recognizing the light that you are, your connection to source and how it lives within you and radiates out of you. So I'd be very happy to share that with anybody who is interested. That sounds beautiful,

Magic Barclay: 13:55

and your website is rachel asat therapy.com, correct. R A C H E L A S T A R T E therapy.com. Listeners pop over there for that guided meditation. You're absolutely going to love it. Now Rachel, we will see you back in episode 1 93. Listeners, for now, thank you for your time. Go forth and create your magical life,