221: Podcast Movement Conference and Peaceful Planet Foundation Retreat 2022

[00:00:00] Hello, my friends, while you listen to this episode, I will be in the beautiful beaches of Mexico getting much-needed rest. So stick around. I'm gonna share with you what's been going on and what is coming up. You have more power over your health than what you've been told this is the healthy lifestyle solutions podcast.

[00:00:21] I'm Maya Acosta and I'm passionate about finding healthy lifestyle solutions to support optimal human health. If you're willing to go with me together, we can discover how simple lifestyle choices can help improve our quality of life and increase longevity in a big way. Let's get started. 

[00:00:42]  So friends, I just wrapped up a few days of the podcast movement that took place here in the Dallas area and I'm gonna tell you a little bit about it and I'm gonna tell you how it burned out, I feel right now. So, the podcast movement started on Tuesday with some precessions and then, and moved on to Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.

[00:01:03] And let me tell you, some of the sessions started at early as 8:30 in the morning and ran ‘til around 5:00 PM and there were breakout sessions. That means that several sessions were running at the same time and everything related to how to improve interviewing skills to how to market your podcast, to how to get sponsorships, all sorts of topics were available.

[00:01:28] And so I was all over the place and I will tell you, I didn't stay at the Sheraton. It was only 11 miles away from where I live. I decided that I wanted stay at home. Mainly because I prefer sleeping in my own bed, but it was hard getting there in the morning and it was hard afterwards to come home and have to continue working on other projects for that following Saturday when I was part of a group that ran a five-hour online session to support other people who are considered pod leaders under Plant Pure communities. It was exhausting and I'm sharing this with you today because that's still a struggle that I have, I am really a workaholic. I work a lot and my husband and I both really we thrive on being productive, but I don't always like putting a lot on my plate.

[00:02:20] What tends to happen is that things come up. I say yes, because I don't have strong boundaries and then I find myself being overwhelmed. And while I love to grow as a person and stretch myself and my abilities in terms of seeing if I can do certain projects and I love that at the same time, I'm burned out and I forget how realistically, like I forget my body needs to rest.

[00:02:46] And so prior to going on vacation, I lost a lot of sleep and I really felt sleep deprived. I'm almost ashamed to say that and to admit it, not out of fear of being judged, just because I really feel that it's irresponsible of me. Like, I feel like I know better, and yet, you know, I get excited about all sorts of things.

[00:03:08] There is a little part of me that still has that fear of missing out and so when it came to the podcast movement, we're talking about a conference full of people that are either podcasters or vendors that support podcasters or people that are somehow involved in supporting podcasters. And so, yeah, I did have a tremendous fear of missing out when it came to the sessions.

[00:03:34] And learning, I mean, I pay a good price to go to these things, and then there were networking opportunities happening throughout the day. And after each day wrapped up and I opted not to attend the events in the evening or right afterwards, because they were usually held at bars or sports bars or something like that.

[00:03:55] And I, I sort of, kind of have lost interests in mingling around alcohol. Right now, I'm just that interested in that. I prefer one on one. You know, I say this all the time, but I'm an introvert. I become very drained when I do too much and I'm around too many people and sometimes conferences have that effect on me.

[00:04:16] It's like, I wanna be there, but I've had enough and I can't hang out anymore and then I need to come back to my cave. And so as an introvert, I already know that I can't handle too much, but what I've loved is when I do have that one-on-one with someone that's like-minded when I can actually sit down and just get to know them a little bit more instead of, you know, speaking to a large crowd or trying to fit into a conversation with lots of people mingling at the same time, I prefer the one-on-one.

[00:04:44] And so I did have those opportunities attended what they call BIPOC and also Latin X networking events and these are for people of color and BIPOC is for black indigenous people of color and so this is an opportunity for me to meet people and learn about the topics they discuss on their podcast and the Latin X group is usually the smallest group of all.

[00:05:12] At least that's been my experience, especially when you look at women in the podcasting world. And so it's. I heard one say podcast conferences are where I go to connect with my colleagues pretty much. And I go and I learn from them. And so that's what my week was like, I was overwhelmed. I learned a lot.

[00:05:32] I took a lot of notes. I created a to-do list of where I wanna go next in terms of my podcast. And at the same time, I was working on three different projects related to that Saturday, when we went online with this particular group that I'm telling you about. So I was multitasking and I was really sleep-deprived.

[00:05:52] Like I said, I feel kind of irresponsible for doing that because I can feel my body in pain from not getting enough sleep, but I'm so thankful that I was able to come through and deliver it's part of my integrity is being able to live up to what I say I will do. But lesson learned I'm gonna really try to put, to add less on my plate so that I can enjoy quality of life.

[00:06:20] And so that's what it was like for me, right before my vacation, the podcast conference was held here in Dallas. I had a huge fear of missing out. And so while I opted not to stay at the Sheraton because I wanted to be at home, it probably would've been convenient to stay at the Sheraton so that I could just wake up.

[00:06:40] You know, get ready and hit straight to the first session. And then in between go to the room and rest. That's typically how I am when I attend an out-of-town conference but I sacrificed a little bit and I stay there all day. Also. It was very tricky having food. So I took a smoothie and chia seed pudding, and I try to take like a small salad because it's very difficult to eat healthy at hotels, but you know, it was, I stretched myself more than I wanted to.

[00:07:11] And I was, my feet were aching when I came home and I was really tired. So that's what it was like for me and not at all. Am I trying to complain, but I'm sort of sharing with you that I go through these things? I love being a leader in the community. I love being available for others and offering support and educating other people and sharing my skills with other people.

[00:07:35] I love all that stuff and I love being a podcaster. I think one of the reasons that I love podcasting, I think one of the reasons that I love podcasting is. I'm actually having a one-on-one conversation with someone and I get to sort of pick their brain. Ask questions, learn their story and feel safe. It feels safe.

[00:07:58] No one's gonna interrupt us. We're not at a bar. No, one's getting drunk. You know? No one's drinking. We're not having dinner and being interrupted by a waiter. We are just having a conversation where I get to be the one to learn more about that person. And that's very gratifying for me as an introvert. I enjoy having.

[00:08:20] Quality time with an individual and that really feeds. and I work very hard at trying to learn, like, how could I ask better questions? How can, I bring out the best in that individual on top of other things that I love learning in the Podcast Movement? So anyway, so that's what that was like. And then we went on Saturday to do this.

[00:08:41] Five-hour online streaming for a group that we're part of myself and my colleagues, my PAC members. So that was such a huge learning curve for me, because I've never done anything like this, where I'm actually part of the planning committee. And again, I love it. I love multitasking. I love the technology behind the things that we do.

[00:09:05] I love being interactive that way and offering support, but I also had a huge responsibility, which was present three sessions out of the five that were offered. And that was huge. And I took a big bite. I took on way. More than I should have. And one of my colleagues in the group actually sort of pointed out that I had a lot when we were in the initial stages of planning and I was like, oh no, I got this because I brainstorm quickly.

[00:09:34] I can run an idea fast. Like I can figure out how this is all gonna be laid out. So that's the easy. Putting everything in place and presenting things and doing all the work that comes into actually offering a presentation or a class that was the hard and so I learned a lot from that experience. And so finally we're taking in much-needed break.

[00:09:56] My husband and I, our whole goal with the vacation is to actually practice Lifestyle Medicine. So we are planning on exercising, not stressing out too much about it, but really just being physically active, eating, healthy, cooking our meals in our kitchenette, where we usually stay, we have a kitchenette, so we already know which meals we will plan and then practicing meditation or some sort of stress reliever.

[00:10:27] For me, it's spending time in nature, spending time, just contemplating being alone, having a good book to read. So that's what I'm planning to do for my vacation. I love to photograph. And when I get a chance to do things, film something for Instagram, a short cooking video, or some sort of dance video or something like that.

[00:10:48] I thrive on that as well. I don't really consume a lot of social media. Like I'm not the person that likes to scroll, scroll, scroll for hours at a time on social media. I'm the person that loves to create the content that other people watch. I have always had this fascination with what happens behind the scenes and production.

[00:11:09] So I enjoy very much and that's part of what I'm gonna do during vacation. So I've kind of caught you up a little bit. I've been catching you up on. What's been going on with me. I. You'll notice that this week I had two interviews instead of the regular Tuesday interview, I actually added a bonus interview with me, fury, who is also a pod leader.

[00:11:31] And then episode two 20 was with Kate Kunkel who spoke about dementia in the main culprit being inflammation. And she also gave us tips on what we can do to reduce our risk for dementia. And if we're already starting to see signs of dementia, we actually have the power to make changes right now to reverse that.

[00:11:54] And so I hope that you go back to listen to episodes 219 and 220 and now I wanna tell you about an upcoming event that you might be interested in. If you live in Dallas in the surrounding areas or can make a quick three or four-hour drive to Houston, I think you're gonna be interested in the Peaceful Planet Foundations Annual Retreat.

[00:12:16] This year, it's gonna be held on October 8th and I'm gonna give you a few details about it. The founders of Peaceful Planet Foundation, it is a foundation. So they do have a board as well, but the founders are Drs. Munish and Bandana Chawla, who are also known as Lifestyle Docs they actually have a lifestyle medicine practice in Houston.

[00:12:41] This is going to be their fourth annual piece and wellness retreat. I'd love for you to know more about it or to just spread the message. Please help us promote this. The website is peaceful.planetfoundation.org/retreat and then dash 2022 slash. I'm going to include this in the show notes as well, just in case you wanna share this with anyone else, but up to August 31st, which the date will have passed by the time this airs they're offering basically a suggested donation of $25 a person for this entire day event, or if you're a family of four.

[00:13:22] It's only $75 and I'm gonna fill you in on what you can look forward to, but that's information is in the registration form. And so just to give you again, the date and time, Saturday, October 8th, 2022 from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM. That central time, this will be held at the council on recovery and the information.

[00:13:45] On the website, but basically it says we are excited. We have an exciting program in store for you. In addition to informative nutrition and emotional wellness presentations in the auditorium this year, the retreat features breakout sessions, every hour choices for the breakout sessions include different styles of yoga.

[00:14:05] Cooking demonstrations, sessions on gardening and basics, pranayama, and wellness. Please see the program overview for detailed information about each presenter and session. All right. And it also says that you can click on there. So registration starts at eight 15 in the morning, and then you move on to the sessions.

[00:14:25] We're very excited, the main keynote speaker for this annual retreat for this retreat will be Dr. Davis, who will talk about the role of nutrition in obesity epidemic. And Dr. Davis was in the Houston area and then moved out to the east coast and then has returned back to Houston. And so I've never met him in person, but I've been a fan of his, he wrote.

[00:14:51] The book Proteinaholic and as a matter of fact, I'm gonna make sure that I take my copy because I love fanning out with different individuals who author books. And so I wanna make sure I get his autograph. So there'll be plant-based cooking demos and talks on nutrition. There's a neurosciences of meditation and guided practice, senior yoga, practical tips on eating healthy.

[00:15:16] Food choices and the environment cooking demos and wellness sessions. And I am very excited to announce that I will also have a short session on nutrition that I'm gonna offer people. I feel very honored that I was invited to be part of this, and I love Dr. Munish and Bandana Chawla. By the way they will be coming on the podcast in September.

[00:15:39] So I'm going to feature them as well so that you can learn about their story, but they run this every year. And last year for the last couple of years, they held this virtually and last year I was invited to talk about how I put together, but bowls, so practical tips on eating healthy. So yeah, I'm excited to be part of this.

[00:16:01] I thought I'd share that with you as well. I hope that, you know, you can share this with anyone, you know, and this, when I look at the program, it really is like lifestyle medicine. It's like a retreat that incorporates lifestyle medicine, especially the mindfulness and the yoga, and nutrition. That's all, those are key components of lifestyle medicine, but stress management is so important as I was just talking about the amount of stress that I've had lately, and that's all been my fault because I've added too much on my plate. So this is an opportunity for you to take one day for yourself, to treat yourself by going to these sessions and learning. If you're not familiar with any of these practices, you get a taste of what it's like to practice meditation and mindfulness and pranayama.

[00:16:49] And so, yes, we will be driving down to Houston in our camper van, my husband and I, because that's, when we make these four or five-hour trips, we love going in our camper van, staying there overnight, if possible. And then of course I have a sister that lives in the Houston area and anytime I'm in Houston attending one of these events, I en enjoy inviting her and sharing these kind of things with her.

[00:17:12] And so, yeah. So I wanted to make sure that you have that information and I'll include it in the show notes. And finally, I'd like for you to stay tuned for next week's guest interview with Dr. Michelle Tollefson, she's been on the show before she came on or she's coming on to talk to us about blue zone living.

[00:17:33] She has put together a retreat that'll happen on Thanksgiving week in Costa Rica. She partnered with an organization in the blue zone in Costa Rica, and she will be running. A retreat where you will learn about lifestyle medicine and how you can thrive with lifestyle medicine and I had such a wonderful conversation with her, and I'm gonna follow up that Thursday with additional tips so that you can understand what blue zone living is and how you can create your own blue zone.

[00:18:03] But blue zones are basically areas throughout the world with the longest lift. People who can reach up to a hundred years old without having all that advanced chronic disease that we see people develop at even younger ages, like 30s, 40s, and 50’s. So I'm very excited about that conversation and stick around.

[00:18:21] I have so much content for you guys that I've put together. I just wanna say thank you for being a listener. And I'm, you know, happy that I've added these solo episodes on Thursdays, so that you get to know a little bit about myself, who I am, what I focus on, what I'm passionate about, why I do what I do.

[00:18:42] And I'm hoping that over time, I can also kind of share more about what life was like growing up as a Mexican immigrant. There's so many different stories that I have, and then. Wonder. I don't know if I should share that on my podcast, because this is about Lifestyle Medicine. It's about healthy living. I don't know that you would be interested in some of my stories, but since I did connect with a small group of Latin X women, the podcast movement, this wonderful conversation started about what it was like being an immigrant child or having watched our parents have a lot of limitations.

[00:19:17] And I found myself sharing or having these conversations with these ladies and tearing up at the same time, because, you know, we're not used to sharing the hardships that we endured. And as a result of what I've lived, I've not only care about health, just in general, and want to help educate people on how they can be healthy while I'm educating myself.

[00:19:39] But I also take in consideration people who have limitations and cannot afford healthcare and who cannot afford healthy food and so because of my own upbringing. So, but anyway, maybe with time when it's appropriate, I will share just a little bit more as you get to know me and our lifestyle here with my husband.

[00:20:00] But anyway, I wanna thank you so much for being a listener as always. Let me know what you think about this show. Have a wonderful weekend. You've been listening to the Healthy Lifestyle Solutions podcast with your host Maya Acosta. If you've enjoyed this podcast, do us a favor and share with one friend who can benefit from this episode, feel free to leave us an honest review on apple podcast that helps us to spread our message.

[00:20:26] Thanks for listening.