119. Hormones and Exercise

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Hey, what's going on everybody.

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Thank you very much for joining me on this wellness Wednesday.

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These are the days where I release all the episodes for the elemental admin podcast.

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So thank you very much for tuning in today, and I'm

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excited to have you here today.

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We will be showing a little love to all of the ladies out there because today's

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episode is going to be about the menstrual cycle and best times to work out.

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Super excited to share this information with all of you.

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It's a topic I've actually wanted to cover for a while now.

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So I'm really excited to be covering this today.

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Before I jump into today's episode though, I did want to put a little

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preface out there and just mentioned that.

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You know, overall, I will be, you know, kind of putting a general description

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and terms on the menstrual cycle.

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And of course everyone's body is unique.

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And so if these do not.

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You know, match up with you perfectly then, , don't be alarmed or anything.

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Your body is unique and might not function on the perfect

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one to 28 day menstrual cycle.

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Right.

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Uh, so you know, take everything with a grain of salt here.

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And.

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Also just really understand that no one knows your body better than you.

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Uh, regardless of all the information I could possibly give to you, your

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body is so unique and specific to you that really only you can

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understand what is best for your body.

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So just remember that your body is always speaking to you.

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It is always giving you feedback from the food you put into your body, to the people

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you hang out with to your sleep cycle, to, you know, everything, everything

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your body has being input into it.

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It is also giving a response back to you and it's important for us to.

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Really actually listen to our bodies and that way we can

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know what is truly best for us.

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So for example, if throughout this show, you hear some advice

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that you don't agree with.

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Maybe you feel more active at a certain time in your cycle.

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Uh, than what I'm telling you, please disregard my information, you know,

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your body absolutely best and way better than I could ever possibly know.

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So please, um, you know, use your own.

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Intuition and understanding of your body to make the best choices for you.

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Because my goal here on this show is literally just to

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provide you with information.

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Uh, health and wellness information that you can apply to your life to make the

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best decisions possible for yourself.

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But of course, you know, your body best.

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So go off of that.

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Now, one last thing before we jump into the show is I wanted to talk a

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little bit about someone that I've partnered with and have been partnered

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with for a while now, and that is organic and they have this incredible.

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Uh, powdered formula for really helping to balance hormones.

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And so this is something that my fiance loves.

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She will drink this pretty much every time she is on her moon days.

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And it has things like shock Javari.

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Three and stinging nettle things that are really good at

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balancing the hormones as well.

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It tastes like hot chocolate.

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So it's.

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Just perfect for your moon days.

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And it's a really, really delicious drink that is very comforting at the least.

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So if you want to get some of this harmony blend, then please go ahead and check out.

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Organify they're linked in the show notes and you get a 20% discount code

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just for being a listener to this show.

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Ah, that's my, thank you to all of you.

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So anyways, let's go ahead and jump in to today's episode and really to understand.

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The times that are best to work out for the menstrual cycle.

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Uh, it is important for us to actually know a general idea of, you know,

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how we can break down the menstrual cycle right into days and phases.

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So.

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Overall, there's going to be two main.

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Kind of categories.

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And then within each of those, they're broken down into two as well.

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So a total of four.

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Uh, phases and.

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It really starts off with, uh, day one and seven or sorry, day one through

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seven, which is going to be the beginning of your follicular phase.

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And day one is marked by the first day of your period, right?

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So the first day of your moon days, when you actually start your

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period, that is day one, and then goes through today, seven a, which

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would be the follicular phase.

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Now at this time, estrogen is rising and progesterone is low.

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Uh, really quickly, there are other hormones that are, you know, in the

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female body doing many different things and I'm not going to cover all of them.

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I'm just going to cover two a and that's estrogen and progesterone,

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uh, just for matters of keeping it kind of easy for this episode.

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And, uh, so then moving on into the second part of the follicular

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phase, we have days seven through 14, which estrogen will still be

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high and progesterone is still low.

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And on day 14 is roughly when ovulation should occur.

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But now we're going to take a break.

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So, um, basically days one through 14 were the follicular phase.

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And this is really the ideal time.

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Right?

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Uh, just going based off of a general stance here.

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For you to work out.

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So at this time being that estrogen is dominant, what's happening is you are

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more insulin sensitive, meaning you can handle carbs better at this time.

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Uh, you are less likely to store fat because of estrogen's

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effect on a fat storing hormone.

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That's abbreviated as LP L yeah.

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LPL.

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And also you are going to be better equipped at, um, oh, sorry.

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You're going to be more resilient to cortisol, which is very important

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for intense workouts, right?

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Because a workout is stress on the body.

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It is putting stress on the body.

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Uh, so you can have elevated levels of cortisol during workout, which is

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really good for you to be resilient towards that and be able to push through

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and have a really hardcore workout.

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So yes, this is going to be the time in which you would want to

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have, you know, CrossFit workouts.

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What's the bootcamp workouts, you know, lifting really heavy weights,

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maybe setting a personal record.

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This is definitely going to be the time in which you would want to do that.

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So, Uh, the first one through 14 days is going to be the time in general

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in which you would want to really go and hit those workouts really hard.

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Now, moving on to the second portion, which is going to be the luteal phase.

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So starting at day 14, which, uh, right after ovulation.

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So a couple of days for ovulation, uh, then you will enter into this luteal phase

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from days, let's say 16 to 21, right?

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Uh, at this time, both your estrogen and your progesterone are high.

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Then moving in two days, 21 through 28, this is going to be the late luteal

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phase or even the pre-menstrual phase.

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Uh, in this phase, both progesterone and estrogen are high.

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So this is the time in your cycle in which you will be less insulin sensitive, less

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able to handle higher levels of cortisol.

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Uh, you're going to be more likely to have a higher appetite or cravings.

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And essentially, you're just going to want to take it a

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little bit easier with your body.

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Now this isn't an excuse to just get out of all workouts, right?

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Um, but it is a.

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Time for us to recognize that it's okay to take it a little bit slower.

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It's okay to do something that's more nurturing to the body.

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And to really just, uh, you know, take it back a little bit, understand

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that the body is going through something at this moment in time

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and to not beat yourself up over it.

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So.

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Uh, something that's really good is, you know, you can focus on going

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for a walk, maybe a nice little bike ride, or even a yoga class, right.

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Maybe a very calm, passive yoga class, like a yin yoga class where you're

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primarily just doing deep stretches.

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Uh, for an extended period of time.

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These are going to be excellent, excellent workouts for this period in time.

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And, uh, yeah, they would be the kind of workouts that you would want to focus

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on as opposed to really going after it and getting after it really intensely.

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Right.

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Uh, let some time pass and then once you get back into your follicular

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phase, then you can go ahead and get after those crazy workouts again.

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Uh, and one last note that I wanted to touch on was if you are doing

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yoga as a workout, a one thing.

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Coming from the yoga perspective is that if you are on your moon days, uh, you do

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want to stay away from inverting yourself.

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So as best you can try not to do any handstands or.

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Uh, headstands or anything like that, essentially just

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getting the hips over the head.

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Uh, the reason for this is from the yoga perspective is simply that

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you want the flow of your body kind of moving in a downward motion.

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Uh, and obviously if you're on your moon days, this would be good.

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You want, obviously your things are leaving your body.

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Uh, so we want that motion and movement to be going downwards,

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as opposed to the other direction.

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Uh, that was just a quick little side note.

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I felt was interesting to throw in there.

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And, uh, yeah, so that's pretty much going to be the best way to work out with your

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cycle, or even just hopefully give you a better idea of, you know, maybe you're in

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a workout and you're not doing your best performing your best or just feeling off.

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Uh, and this can be, you know, an opportunity for you to reflect on this

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episode and realize like, Hey, you know what, I'm actually in my luteal phase.

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And, um, maybe that's why I'm having this.

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Brain fog and just not really feeling the motivation or whatever it may be.

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So, like I said, my goal here is to just provide you with information.

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Uh, the best information possible to help you perform at your best.

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And make the best decisions for yourself.

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So hopefully you really enjoyed this and hopefully this was just a quick

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little episode that you can tune into.

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And if you need to reference back to it, you'd be able to, and yeah.

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Thank you guys for tuning in.

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I'm so happy to have all of you listening.

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Uh, your listenership means so much to me.

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And I hope that I have given you something that you can apply to your day.

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Today and improve your health and wellness.

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So thank you very much, everyone.

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I appreciate all of your listenership.

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And, uh, yeah, that way I can have some feedback and provide the best

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quality episodes possible to all of you.

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Aren't everyone thank you very much you know the motto of the show it's

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do everything with good intentions and connect to your elements Peace.