In this article you will learn:
How I personally "Dance My Way Through Life" with my daily routine and principles
The Details:
Treat this more as fun and education, and remember that everything I do today is a result of years of research and tweaking. Some of these things I do not do all of the time, but these are my general principles and goals that I shoot for when I want to be really productive.
Everyone’s body and style are different, and I am not encouraging you to be this crazy, but rather sharing a sample picture of how good principles and discipline can help to weather the storm of life and give you a foundation to stand on. My life will not always be this regimented because there are other things to do than sit in my room and work on huge projects, but the general structure of this routine, and the interventions that are part of it, will always make their way into my day because they do work.
If you are curious about implementing any of these principles into your routine, speak with your health team. You can also get in touch and shoot me a question and I'll do my best to get back at you.
1. Waking Up
I do not use an alarm, unless I have to, and let my body wake me up based on my cortisol. I do this for two reasons. The first is because when I wake up naturally, I don’t feel exhausted throughout the day. My body knows how much rest it needs, and that can vary depending on what’s going on. The second reason is that it allows me to gauge where my circadian rhythm is at. While I was healing my adrenals and thyroid, I would notice significant swings in my circadian rhythm, so allowing the body to do its thing was a useful barometer for where I was at. When things are in Alignment, I can usually go to bed around 10 p.m. and wake up around 6 in the morning.
2. Gratitude
The first thing I do when I open my eyes is say, “Thank you for another day.” I become present to the blessing it is to have another opportunity, another round of playing the game, and I take a big deep breath in.
3. Make the Bed
Another important step before doing anything is making my bed. This makes getting out of bed “official” for me, and gives me the first sense of accomplishment at the beginning of the day. It’s also a welcome sight when I come back into the room to rest.
4. Supplements
I have two supplement boxes I use. One is for throughout the day, and the other is a two-compartment box that I use for things I take on an empty stomach before I eat in the morning and before I go to bed at night. These supplements are specific to digestive support, and in the evening, they are focused on sleep and reducing cortisol or promoting relaxation.
In this first morning round, I usually take: bromelain, protease, a colon support formula, EFAs from algae, butyric acid and any probiotics if I am rebooting my gut microbiome. I may also do my homeopathic detoxing formulas along with these empty stomach rounds. Taking these on an empty stomach is important for several reasons. The bromelain and protease act as anti-inflammatories and also cut away at any biofilm or bacteria that may have overgrown.
I have low stomach acid, and my genes also predispose me to inflammatory bowel conditions or irritable bowel syndrome. I don’t have these issues, but the trends and my long history of other digestive concerns are extra motivation to keep my colon as pampered as possible. Also, probiotics on an empty stomach can help deliver them to their destination in your small intestine and beyond. This is especially true in the
evening about 2 hours after you eat because your MMC (migrating motor complex) creates pulsating waves that can carry the probiotics down further, but it’s only active when you aren’t eating.
Another important note is that I take my pills with 4 grams of psyllium husk powder mixed with about 500ml of water. I mix this up in the morning and sip from it throughout the day. When it runs out, I do it again and shoot for a total of 8 grams of psyllium for bowel regularity and insurance against soft stools, supplement-induced diarrhea parties or whatever other surprise life may have in store that day.
5.Mindful Movement
After I pop my first fistful of pills, I take a nitric oxide chewable whole-food tablet and put some Redmond’s real salt in a shot glass if I’m craving salt. Then I step outside for a nice walk around my neighborhood to let the creative juices flow, become present with the natural world and see what messages may be ready for me that day. Alternatively, I may just go back out in the yard and do some movement exercises to get things going. I don’t have a set thing I do. As long as I get moving, I am happy.
6. Red Light Therapy
After I’m done moving and getting the nitric oxide in my body, I go into a small room in the house where I’ve setup my PlatinumLED 4 panel red light therapy device. I do this for 10 minutes on each side. When I’m not facing the light, I check my phone, the news, emails, research papers, Oura Ring sleep stats, this kind of stuff.
7. Breakfast
I’ll usually eat some type of fruit with an organic, raw nut butter. I like to rotate between almond, walnut and pecan butter. I just let my cravings guide me for the week; sometimes it’s honeydew melon and sometimes it’s peaches or cherries. This is my only fruit serving for the day, and I’m not attached to eating sweet things or fruit in general for breakfast. I just go with what I feel, but I try to have fat with the meal and sometimes I may add a scoop of protein powder or just drink a shake as my breakfast.
I may also eat some organic buckwheat groats with almond milk, sweetened with a few drops of monk fruit extract. I will eat a few pecans or some nut butter with this because some of the supplements I take in the morning (boswellia, resveratrol, vitamins A, D, K and a few others) work better with fat.
A final choice for breakfast, if I’m feeling like something salty, are two soft boiled eggs and crackers, with some sort of crunchy, spicy vegetable like green onions or radishes. Before every meal, I take some betaine HCL to help with digestion and prevent bacterial overgrowth since I have low stomach acid.
8. Supplements
I generally eat 3 meals per day with a shake in the afternoon or some sort of snack if things align that way. Regardless, I have 3 sets of supplements for my day and I take one with each of these meals. The dosages vary because I am always testing and adjusting, and some of these are intermittent, like oregano oil. Others I don’t take all of the time and only if testing shows a trend toward deficiency. I will outline my entire days’ worth of nutrients below:
Minerals:
— Albion Chelated Calcium
— Albion Chelated Magnesium
— Albion Chelated Selenium
— Albion Chelated Zinc
— Copper (as MitoSynergy chelated copper)
— Albion Chelated Manganese
— Albion Chelated Chromium
— Boron
— Iodine
Vitamins:
— Vitamin K (as MK-7)
— Vitamin A (as retinyl palmitate)
— Vitamin D (as cholecalciferol)
— B12 (as methylcobalamin)
— B6 (as P5P)
— Unique E Brand Mixed Tocopherols (Vitamin E)
— Unique E Brand Tocotrienols (Vitamin E) — Whole Food Vitamin C chewables
— Riboflavin
— Niacin (as nicotinic acid)
— Biotin
— Folate (as methylated folate)
— Thiamine (as carboxylase)
Antioxidants:
— Pterostilbene
— Kaempferia Parviflora (Thai ginseng)
— Ubiquinol
— Fruit & Veggie antioxidant powder
Digestion:
— Betaine HCL (low stomach acid)
— Digestive enzyme supplement
— Probiotic supplement
Anti-Inflammation/Gut Health:
— EFAs
— Boswellia
— MSM, Chondroitin, Glucosamine joint supplement
— Essential Amino Acids (Perfect Aminos)
— Lactoferrin (apolactoferrin)
— Butyrate
— Fatty15 (new fatty acid that was discovered recently)
Support & Sleep:
— Ashwagandha (thyroid, sleep)
— Taurine (sleep)
— Mangolia Bark Extract (sleep)
— Phosphatidylserine (sleep)
— Melatonin
9. Work
My appointment schedule for coaching, teaching, podcast interviews, or whatever else needs my time, opens up around 1 p.m. This means that everything beforehand is reserved for catching up on the previous day: doing random errands, sorting out whatever needs to be sorted or just dealing with health imbalances. I don’t like the stress of early appointments, so I avoid them whenever possible by giving myself a buffer and allowing my body to dictate how the day will start.
10. Lunch
I wait until I get hungry, although this depends on when I wake up and when I eat first. In general, I try to have my lunch around 11:30 a.m. or noon. For lunch on most days, I prepare a salad and rotate the ingredients based on what I feel. I have a list of about 14 different ingredients, like radishes, cucumbers, peppers, olives, Brussels sprouts, celery, avocados, cilantro, mushrooms, parsley and so on, but some items are staples in there.
Arugula is one of those staples because it has the highest amount of naturally occurring nitrates and boosts nitric oxide. Spinach is a close second, but I like the taste of arugula more. Next is some sort of bean. I usually go for pinto beans, but any kind is good. I don’t have any lectin sensitivity to beans, and they are the best source of molybdenum in the diet, not to mention their high fiber and protein content.
They are also the preferred food of Bacteroidetes — the bacteria family that keeps you thin and is associated with lots of good metabolic outcomes. Besides beans, I also try to have some sort of starch with the salad, and that can either be baked yams, gluten free crackers or maybe some resistant starch rice that I cooked and cooled. I season the salad with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, or Bragg’s organic vinaigrettes, pepper and plenty of Redmond’s salt. All of the ingredients are organic and sometimes I add two soft-boiled, pasture raised eggs for a little extra protein.
If I get sick of salad, I’ll take the raw ingredients in my fridge and make a of stir fry using coconut oil or make a simpler tuna or egg salad with avocado mayo, green onions, celery and whatever else is lying around. If I go out with my friends, I’ll usually get something healthy because that’s what my body craves, but I don’t mind grabbing a beer if it’s a special occasion. I don’t really stress too much about what I’m eating so long as my carb content isn’t excessive. I avoid the big carb traps, and I also include plenty of protein (about 20 grams), fiber and fat in my meals to keep me satiated.
Before I sit down to eat, I take a moment to say grace, get in tune with everything I’m grateful for and for all of the blessings heading my way. I say affirmations and I use the first few moments to really slow my body down from all of the work I was just doing.
After I eat, I try to sit until I feel my food “settle” in my stomach and my body tells me it’s okay to stand up.
11. Mindful Brushing
After 20 minutes of eating, I go to the bathroom and do my oral care routine. I do this at lunch and before I go to bed to get the most out of the time in between, rather than doing it in the morning and waiting all day to clean my teeth again. Having some biofilm on your teeth is a good thing; it’s when it thickens that it becomes a problem, so I don’t stress about morning brushing. I do a pretty thorough job cleaning my teeth at night, and they are still smooth and clean in the morning with no bad breath. I rinse my mouth out after I eat, but with as many pills as I take, that shit does the rinsing for me.
Nevertheless, my midday oral care routine looks something like this:
— Rinse mouth out
— Use tongue scraper until relatively clear
— Floss mindfully
— Brush mindfully with either charcoal toothpaste or essential oil blend
— Self-love affirmations in the mirror while brushing, but not always
— Tooth remineralizing powder, but not always
— Oral red light therapy device for 10 minutes
— Smile like a Superstar? Check.
12.Work
From around 1 p.m. to about 6 p.m. I focus on what I need to create or who I need to serve. This time can be for coaching, teaching dance students, working on my business, podcast interviews, practicing, creative work, whatever. I may take a small break and move around midway (2 p.m. or 3 p.m.) and also have a shake. If this is the case, I will usually have pre-made shakes from the beginning of the week. These shakes look like dirt, but they’re packed with nutrition and they don’t fill me up enough to push dinner farther away. Ingredients include the following:
— Water
— Organic Blue Berries
— Organic Celery
— Organic Turmeric
— Organic Cinnamon
— Organic Black Pepper
— Organic Avocado
— Organic Ginger
— Organic Cocoa Powder
— Any high quality protein powder
13. Dinner
At around 6 p.m., I wrap up what I’m doing and turn my computer display settings to red light mode. I will use the computer after dinner, but only to catch up on news or whatever else isn’t work related, and I don’t want the blue light messing with me. My bedroom lighting is also red, so I turn this on once it gets too dark outside. For dinner I do the same mindfulness and Gratitude practices as lunch and breakfast, and I usually rotate between some sort of steamed vegetables and starch with either eggs, protein powder or meat (occasionally) for protein.
My choices for steamed vegetables are either leafy greens, cruciferous vegetables or things like asparagus, squash and artichokes. My choice for starch is either yams or steamed white rice that’s been cooled (I can reheat it in the steamer), and I season everything with heaps of organic olive oil or ghee and plenty of Redmond’s sea salt. I may also add organic black pepper, lemon, rosemary, thyme and garlic.
If I get bored of this, I will make some stir fry with whatever is in the fridge, or if I’m really feeling it, something from the store like Chinese eggplants. Yum! I try not to use garbage sauces for the stir fry, and I use coconut oil as the base. Another option is gluten free pasta made from lentils or chickpeas, with organic pasta sauce, mushrooms and whatever salad I have in the fridge like arugula. In general, my rule is to keep my fiber content high, have at least 2 servings of vegetables per meal and make sure it tastes good regardless. Hello olive oil.
14.Wind Down
After dinner, I spend an hour or so catching up on news, watching science videos or anything entertaining just to let my body settle. I have a rule that no more work is done after dinner; this is just time to relax. Once my body has settled, I may go for a walk, ride my bike or meet with friends. Whatever it is, I try to start my wind-down routine between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. The first thing I do in this routine is take my last set of supplements with a tablespoon of organic olive oil or some EFAs.
This is because some of the nutrients are fat soluble, like ashwagandha, magnolia bark extract and phosphatidylserine. I may also take a shot of water and some high-quality sea salt again to help reduce nighttime cortisol. A final thing I may do is drink some yummy Sleepy Time Tea for added insurance. This is a concoction of various herbs which I often rotate, but it can include: hops, chamomile, lavender, Valerian and cowslip, steeped for 10 minutes and sweetened with monk fruit extract and lemon. It’s delicious, tastes like sleep and gets me in the mood to relax.
Once I’ve popped all of this stuff, I go into the bathroom to do my mindful oral care routine again. I also try to do some positive affirmations and self-love exercises in the mirror. Once I’m done with that, I take the oral red light therapy with me and use it while I’m using the PlatinumLED red light therapy on my body.
After this, I light a candle to get the lavender essential oil diffuser going in my bedroom, and head to the bathroom for a shower. The bathroom is not lit; it has a red light salt lamp dimly illuminating it and creating a nice mood. My bodywash is an organic lavender and hemp oil type soap, and I use this time to wash away all of the negative emotions I felt that day. If there is anyone I need to forgive, including myself, I try to do it here.
As I’m scrubbing the day’s shit off of me, I take the time to thank my body for what it did for me that day and appreciate the blessing of having health, a great physical vessel and the freedom to move. Once I’m done with my mindful shower, I head to the bedroom which smells nice and lavendery. I pull out my Eight Sleep app and tell it what temperature I want the mattress to be, based on how I feel, and then I begin my stretching routine. Using a simple mat, I first position various traction blocks and props under my body. I start with a lumbar traction, then I move to a still point at the base of my skull and finally a cervical traction block for my neck. I also stretch my legs out, letting gravity pull on them and loosen things up. I crack my back and let as much tension out of my body as possible.
By the time this first part is done I’m feeling the supplements kick in and everything is working its magic. If I’m not ready to pass out, it’s a good indicator my cortisol levels are still high and may need extra support from another dose of phosphatidylserine and ashwagandha, or that something is out of Alignment with my system and I should pay attention. Either way, I get up from laying down and begin an active stretching round through various positions. Once that’s done, I roll up the mat nice and neat and sit down in my bed to meditate.
I try to get quiet first, and once I connect to Stillness, I begin thanking God about the many blessings and lessons in my life. I also project for the future; finding Gratitude for all of the amazing business, vibrant health, Success and safety solutions heading my way easily and without effort. Once this is done, I sit quietly until I feel totally ready to collapse, and then I lay down and fall asleep.
