Ending Pain Without Medication, Why No One Is Talking About This!

Say Goodbye to Pain... WITHOUT Pills!
In this jaw-dropping episode of Happy Hour for the Spiritually Curious, Dr. Sandra Marie sits down with the legendary Dr. Njideka Olatunde, a true wellness warrior on a mission to end the global pain crisis with nothing but the power of touch. No opioids. No side effects. Just ancient healing wisdom, modern science, and results that will blow your mind. 

 What You'll Discover:

• The shocking truth behind pain and stress, and how they secretly work together
• How reflexology activates your body’s natural painkillers (yes, really!)
• Why TOUCH is the most overlooked yet powerful healing tool
• The devastating link between chronic pain and the opioid epidemic, and how we fight back
• Her soul-shaking journey from social work to shamanic healing in Nigeria and Native American vision quests
• A free gift that could save your life, or someone you love

Whether you're a caregiver, a wellness seeker, or someone silently suffering, this episode is your wake-up call. Dr. Njideka’s wisdom, warmth, and radically simple healing techniques could change how you see pain forever.

Download your FREE gift from Dr. Njideka:
👉 Touchology.com – Your Medication-Free Pain & Stress Relief Poster

Grab Her Groundbreaking Book:
Reflexology Today: A Family Affair – Available in print and ebook at FocusOnHealing.com

It’s time to reclaim your body, your peace, and your power—one healing touch at a time.

Chapters

• 2:03 The Journey into Holistic Pain Relief
• 4:31 The Power of Touch in Healing
• 6:52 Connecting Conventional and Natural Medicine
• 11:39 Pain Relief First: A New Approach
• 14:52 Addressing the Opioid Crisis
• 18:17 Reflexology as a Community Solution
• 22:14 Empowering Families through Reflexology
• 27:24 Mindset and Self-Healing
• 30:18 The Science of Touch and Reflexology
• 33:09 Spiritual and Intuitive Healing
• 39:12 Personal Journey and Ancestral Connections
• 40:29 The Healing Power of Laughter
• 42:52 Maintaining Balance in a Fast-Paced World
• 45:18 Connecting with Dr. Njideka
• 47:05 Future Projects and Community Impact
• 48:24 Fun Wellness Questions and Closing Thoughts

Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03.084)
Enjoy this Wild Soul gathering production. I'm Dr. Sanda Marie. Pour yourself a really tall glass of spiritual curiosity and join me for the happy hour for the Spiritually Curious podcast. In the spirit of happy hour, cheers to some new insights, peace, revitalization, and perhaps an aha moment that may change your life. Welcome. I'm Dr. Sanda Marie, your host for today's show.

And we're honored to welcome a true trailblazer in the holistic wellness, Dr. Njideka, a master reflexologist and educator and founder of the Focus on Healing Wellness Institute. With over four decades of experience, she is on a mission to transform how we approach pain, offering a medication-free, addiction-free alternative through her innovative pain relief first method.

As the creator of the Pain Relief First movement, she's providing powerful tools to help chronic pain sufferers and their caregivers reclaim wellness before turning to a conventional treatment. Her work bridges the best of ancient healing traditions and a modern science, offering practical, easy-to-learn techniques that address everything from stress and circulation to detoxification and emotional well-being.

Dr. Jadiga's book, Reflexology Today, A Family Affair, is more than a guide. It's a movement towards family-centered healing, bringing the power of touch to every generation from infants to elders. With her vibrant energy, deep wisdom, and passion for community healing, she's tackling everything from the opioid crisis to mental health with compassion, education, and joy. Get ready to explore a radically empowering path to pain relief, wellness, and homeless.

one healing touch at a time. Welcome to the show, Dr. Najuka.

Speaker 2 (01:54.062)
Thank you so very much for that beautiful and elegant introduction. really thank you and I'm looking forward to sharing with your listeners.

this is going to be a great show because these are really very real, big real world problems that are out there that people are desperate to find some help with. What inspired your journey into the holistic pain relief?

Well, goes really, it goes back to when I was a child. I grew up with what's known as home remedies. And back then, doctors used to come to your home for visits. You didn't go to the office, they came to you. And as a child, me seeing a doctor coming to me, I said, oh, wow, that's something I want to do when I grow up. To me, they were healers. And I had said I wanted to be a healer.

but by the time I got to school, I got a kind of a different reality. That wasn't where I wanted to come. So I eventually changed my career choice and became a social worker. And I did social work covering the whole gambit from infants to seniors with every social service program that existed. But while I was a social worker, the one thing that concerned me more than anything

is that people were always going to the emergency room for their doctor. And I said, something's wrong with this picture. And then the urge came back up again, I want to be a doctor. And at that time, natural and alternative approaches were opening up. And so I went back to school and became a naturopathic practitioner. But before I was a naturopathic practitioner, I had already knew about reflexology. So I just integrated that.

Speaker 2 (03:45.056)
into my practice and from there it evolved into me looking at focusing on reflexology and connecting it with pain relief.

wow, that's beautiful. And I'm going to give you a shout out because I have worked hand in hand in healthcare and acute care situations with social workers. When I moved out of my emergency room career as a staff nurse, I actually got into case management, was a director of case management, and I could have never been successful without my social worker colleagues who honestly just problem-solved the impossible.

with some numerical every day. I just, as soon as you said that, my heart just blew up with warmth for you. So thank you.

Thank you.

You have helped thousands of people through your touch. You've been doing this a long time. What makes touch such a potent tool for healing?

Speaker 2 (04:39.586)
Well, before I answer your question, I'm going to give you an appellate. In order for us to do reflexology and for reflexology to be what it is today, I have to give thanks to the nurses because they came on board with what's known as Healing Touch. And it's through Healing Touch that we were able to evolve in terms of where we are in introducing reflexology in the whole Health Arena.

So we got a connection hand in hand.

that we do in more ways than one for sure. So much gratitude, thank you. love, yeah, I love the synchronicities of life. So how does your work really bridge that gap between the conventional medicine and natural healing practices? So people have heard a lot about neutropathic care, but I'm always uncertain what they really think about it or how much they truly understand it.

approach to naturopathic as a practice in terms of healing care, it's about looking at how you connect the pain and stress connection with the mind, body, and spirit connection. So that's the all approach when we start talking about the practice of naturopathic as it relates to putting a holistic approach together.

focusing on pain and stress, which is connected to mind, body, spirit, connection, and wellness. And so once you understand that whole concept, you're now able to put together what we like to call a holistic natural approach in terms of, I also like to say, where the patient and the practitioner are connected in oneness, working collectively.

Speaker 2 (06:31.566)
collectively and cooperatively together in the treatment process.

Critical, so powerful. I almost want to have you just repeat that once more because it is, it's everything. In your experience, why is it so important to offer alternatives to medication and managing chronic pain?

The reason I believe is because you don't have pain without stress and you don't have stress without pain. The two go hand in hand. But when we look at what's going on inside our bodies or what's happening with us, we never connect the two together. And when I say that, in terms of working with my clients and my patients, the first

tool to putting together a treatment plan begins with touch. That's why I focus on touch. And when I say touch, I'm not just talking about it being something that you physically do. Touch covers a whole vast area. It can be mental, it can be spiritual, it can be emotional, but it's all about touch. As a practitioner, my first

experience with my client begins with what's known as listening. That's the first form of touch is to listen. And when I say that, what I'm saying is when my clients come to me, I let them talk to me about what's going on as it relates to the pain that brought them to me. And I'm not listening for the pain problem. I'm listening for

Speaker 2 (08:21.144)
the stress connection to the pain problem. Because what people don't usually understand that stress is something that happens outside of the body that we bring inside. And once you bring it inside and it becomes internal, what's happening is that stress that you brought inside, gets inside your body.

but it knows that it can't stay there, so it's trying to find an outlet to release. And usually, say for example, we use an example of a back pain. The back is not the place to be about releasing anything. So the stress is what? Lodged in the back and you're now feeling what's known as back pain because of the stress that you brought inside your body. And so once I can hear

what's going on and connecting the stress to the pain. We now can move into the reason that you came to me to relieve the pain, which is done through the power of touch using reflexology as the technique that I use to relieve the pain.

That's really powerful, opening that breadth of lens to the different types of touch out there. Because knowing that we were speaking about reflexology and doing energy healing work myself, I had a really narrow bandwidth of what I was thinking about that. And as soon as you started talking, I'm like, wow, it's so obvious, but it wasn't obvious at all that your first touch is going to be listening.

And we never think of listening as being a touch, but it is. People want to be heard. And that's a form of touch. know, by listening to them, you're touching them as they're touching you. And when this happens, opens up the channels for healing because now my clients are more open and receptive to me when I do reflexology on them.

Speaker 1 (10:22.102)
in a very intimate way.

Speaker 2 (10:36.204)
and them getting what they want, pain relief. And then we look at, it doesn't stop there because all I did was open the pathways up to relieve the pain. So now we can move into what is the treatment. So is the treatment going to be based on, do you need exercise? Do you need energy work? Do you need massage therapy?

Do you need nutrition? Do we need to talk about that? Do we need exercise? It's a whole combination because there's no one particular therapy that can do it all. It's got to be a collective effort, but it can only begin when we see where the pain problem is and what the pain is asking for you to provide it.

so it can start its own natural healing process.

that makes so much sense. So you emphasize the pain relief first before treatment, meaning a more traditional type of treatment when I say that because your approach is a treatment. How does that approach challenge or complement the traditional pain management that we see out there right now?

Okay, let me give you a good example. I'm gonna change the dynamics. Say for example, when you go to the store, you know exactly what it is you want, so you'll go wherever it is and go get what it is you want. When a person is in pain and they come to the doctor, the one thing they want is pain relief. They don't want anything else, they're coming there to purchase pain relief. And so when you think about it from that perspective,

Speaker 2 (12:29.184)
In conventional medicine, if I go to the doctor and I'm in pain, I'd say, okay, my back is aching. The first thing that's gonna happen, the doctor's gonna say, well, we need to do some tests to find out what's going on. And in the meantime, until we get the test, here's a prescription for whatever your pain is. But I don't know what your pain is, but I've given you some medication for the pain. And so from that perspective,

Did I get what I wanted? I wanted pain relief. And so I got a prescription that is supposed to do what? Relieve the pain. But in the process, we have not addressed what's the contributor to the pain. That's the whole concept when we talk about listening to hear what is the connection between the pain and the stress.

so that I can now give the patient what they came to me for, pain relief.

relief. Well, that makes so much sense because basically, and we see this all the time in healthcare where things are being treated before you even know what that thing is that's out there. And a lot of it, you know, comes down to education and also consumer demand. So that being said, usually that prescriptions and opioid is a rule or historically it was, I will say.

Exactly

Speaker 1 (13:59.018)
not on a major level, we're starting to see some different alternative type of medications, but the opioid crisis is global. And from my perspective, I believe it's pandemic proportions, to be very honest with you. You know, I've watched it just destroy so many lives and I'll be honest, I think that every single human being out there has been touched on some level by an opioid death.

Most definitely, most definitely. That is very crucial because you don't get spared that when it comes to someone suffering in pain. For me, that's what led me to look at reflexology as an alternative because I lost a lot of colleagues, I lost a lot of family members, I lost a lot of friends, all because they had pain.

and had exhausted their resources for pain medication and relief. So what happened? I start taking family members medication. I even go to the street now to get some form of relief. And this is what was happening. When you look at them sitting there saying, this got to be another solution to this. And that's when I started looking at how can I

introduced because reflexology is known to relieve pain, but how can I bring this to the forefront? And here it goes with listening and putting listening and touch together as the first means of putting the body's defense mechanism up in place. Because what we're really talking about, which I know you understand this is that we never look at the nervous system.

and the nerve endings and the brain connection because that's the communication. And so when we start understanding the power of the nerve endings delivering messages back and forth from the brain throughout the body, when the body is saying, need this, I want this, remove this, it gives those messages. And once we can start understanding how that happens,

Speaker 2 (16:22.266)
And I found the solution is using reflexology to stimulate the inner communication between the mind and the body by stimulating the nerve endings on the hands, feet, and ears to communicate and assist the body in the healing process.

That is just so beautiful. And the other thing I want to say, Najika, is, and I have this conversation with a lot of people, so, you know, we live in a society that can be very judgmental as to what does an opioid addict look like, or what does an addict look like? Yes. You know, and they go right to that street and, you know, there's that vision of it that helps people feel safe, because it's not my world, right?

The truth of this is healthcare needs to own this opioid crisis because most of it has started in the healthcare. I was a director who oversaw inpatient and outpatient addiction areas for a major hospital system in the US. And let me tell you, I got phone calls from physicians, from CEOs, from people at the Chevy plant, from people. This is one disease that

There's no one it does not touch. No one that it does not touch. So I just want to say that for the people who are listening, A, you're not alone or isolated and I don't know where you sit with the judgment, but it's across the board. And I can see where your work is so powerful on an individual level. Is there a way or have you done anything with the reflexology touchology?

Is a possible real world solution for communities seeking addiction free pain relief options? Like does it translate on that level?

Speaker 2 (18:17.102)
We're working on that. That's something that we're working on right now. And I say that because in my book, Reflexology Today, A Family Affair, it's a self-help guide for families to be able to understand how they can use reflexology as a emergency pain relief alternative to medication when you're

initially feeling pain and I'm seeking relief. And I say that to say is because when I wrote the book, I wrote the book back in 1987. It's now in its second edition. But when I wrote the book, I was on my way to China to study reflexology. And when I got to China, one of the things that

really inspired me and made a real impact on me is the fact that in China, a doctor spends anywhere between an hour to an hour and a half with their patients before they even get to the treatment process. And what they are doing is listening to the patient and connecting how that patient's health problem can move into a preventive approach for the family so that another family member

does not have to experience. And when I saw that, that was my confirmation because I felt that at least one member in every household should know some basic reflexology techniques as it relate to relieving pain. And I say that to say, when we start talking about a global approach, I'm looking at the standpoint, it's got to be a family connection because families...

don't really understand their role working with another family member who's going through a health problem, that it's a family problem, it's not an individual problem. And when the families can come together, now you're able to lay the foundation for healing. If that family member is dealing with pain because of something in the body,

Speaker 2 (20:39.618)
Remember I said, it's something that happened outside of the body. So if we all come together in terms of being supportive of relieving the stress, whatever it is, just through the power of touch, changes lives and makes big differences. I say that because it started out with the opiate epidemic. But if we look at what's happening right now,

We have another serious problem, and that's young people. Young people are dealing with so much pain and stress that we cannot possibly imagine what they're going through. And they're going through it alone because no one has shared with them ways to relieve stress and pain. And that's where this comes in, in terms of

learning how to use the power of touch to relieve stress and pain. And it's a family affair.

100 % and you bring up another epidemic, pandemic, and that's the suicide of our youth. Which is at a rate that we've never seen before. It's a real thing and it's very powerful. So just to build on that with the rising levels of the family stress and mental health challenges out there, how can they use the reflexology to empower themselves and the caregivers and parents? Because it really does transcend. I love how you go like from

infant to our elderly and end of life with it. How can reflexology empower the caregivers and parents to support their loved ones and really just simple nurturing wise?

Speaker 2 (22:26.958)
think one of the best ways is learning how to see your body and see the body as one of two things. And this is what will help you. You either see your body as a temple or as a warehouse. A warehouse is where you store stuff. A temple is something sacred. And if you start seeing your body as something that's sacred,

If you see it for yourself, you will see it for others as well. And to add to that, I use this little analogy with my clients and patients. say, you know how the automobile operates. You go buy your car and the salesperson say, you know, at this particular time and needs of maintenance and you got to go do that. Or if you hear some little clanking in the car, you're going to go to the mechanic and

and tell the mechanic what's going on, if the engine light comes on, you're going to rush it. You got to understand that the automobile is a carbon copy of your body. It operates exactly the same way. When you understand that concept, if you value your automobile, you're going to learn how to value your body.

which the automobile copied the dynamics and the diagram of your body in order for it to be created. So, the same energy you put into your automobile, you need to put that same energy into understanding your body. And when you do that, now you're laying the foundation, which means I've got to give myself some touch. I've got to touch myself.

I've got to touch others. Because when we start talking about touch, say for example, just being able to give somebody a smile is a touch. And that can be healing to somebody who's feeling down and all of a sudden you just smiled at them and they picked up that energy. Going through the door and holding it for somebody, or no, somebody opens the door for you.

Speaker 2 (24:50.388)
and you go through and you just say, thank you. And that just made somebody's day. That's for healing touch. One I always like to use is being in rush hour traffic and you know you need to get over and nobody's gonna let you over. And then somebody opens up a way for you and you just raise up your hand so they could see as a form of thank you.

And you may have made it today because somebody acknowledged me today. These are all healing techniques that deals with touch. And that's what we got to get back to. This is my unscientific study. When we were in the pandemic for two and a half years, the one thing the pandemic did, it stopped all forms of touch.

And I feel that most people who made transition during that time did it because I couldn't see my family member. I couldn't touch my family member. I couldn't connect or communicate. All of those were touching points. And those touching points were things that could have uplifted them and been just the little healing nudge that they needed to be able to move forward. Even now that we're coming out of

A lot of us are still in pandemic shock. It was a trauma and we're still going through that so that we are not fully touching each other and we need it so badly. And that's why we're in what I call the crisis that we're going through now because we're not touching each other in some form of way that can bring about a healing that somebody needs.

That makes so much sense and I've never connected those dots and as you were talking because I was in the Navajo and Zuni nations during the pandemic and you're right it's not over and it's still out there and people still have hesitancies. It just says you were talking I thought I that went right over my head but it's in my face and that makes sense as to

Speaker 1 (27:08.438)
all this fear and this anxiety and, you know, feeling alone and isolated with it. So thank you for that. someone listening who may feel stuck in the cycle of pain, what's the first step they can take towards reclaiming their wellness?

The one thing I say first is we always have to look at our mindset. And that's something that we have a difficult time in understanding. It's the power of the word. It's the power of our thoughts that puts us in the situations because we overthink a lot of things when we need to look at what's going on in our heart. What is your heart feeling?

And when you can connect with your heart, now you open the channels for other things that can be supportive of you moving forward in the healing process. And when I say that, what I'm really talking about is, I'm gonna give an example. Say for example, if you're in pain, all of us have the power inside our hands to heal ourselves and we don't know it. We were born with it.

And let me share an example. Everybody has experienced reflexology and they may not know that they have experiences, but everybody has. If you were ever a child or if you are a parent and you can go back and remember the little episode that says, this little piggy. This little piggy was your first exposure.

to reflexology and you did not know that because all of the nerve endings in the head are found in the toes and in the fingers. And when you were turning the toes with this little piggy went to the market and this little piggy stayed up, what you were doing were activating the nerve endings inside your head that was sending the message, relax, calm down.

Speaker 2 (29:18.614)
And as a child, you're experiencing that what happened. Some babies would go to sleep. Some would just get happy and be ticklish about it. And some would just become because you had activated the nervous, the nerve endings inside your head to release the body's natural pain relievers known as endorphins. And that's the first step. And so when I say that is,

If you are feeling stressed and you need relief, here inside the palm of your hand, you take your thumb and then all you do is just start walking across the palm of your hand. You don't know what nerve ending you're working, but what you're doing is you're sending the message, I need some relief. I'm stressful. I need to calm down. And just by doing that, activates the nerve ending.

bring about some relief and you'll then start feeling better. Just that, because what you do, you touch yourself. You stimulate the nerve and the center message to the brain. There's stress going on in the body. So we gotta, we gotta send some relief and that's what it does. And those are, those are just some little basic things. You can even do the same thing on the back of your hand. Just get in the habit of

When you start feeling stressful, take a deep breath, inhale, exhale, release, and then just start walking with your fingers across the back of your hand and then take your thumb, walk on the palm of your hand. And this brings a calmness. This slows the body down. This brings about relaxation. And this is what you can call your mini de-stressor.

Wow, that is so practical and easy and it doesn't cost anything. So thank you so much for that.

Speaker 2 (31:20.886)
It's very basic and to help your listeners understand the whole concept. Let me use the example about your funny bone. On your elbow, when you hit that funny bone, what's the first thing you're gonna do? Now, you're gonna do something before you grab it. What's the first thing? Go out? Yes, you're gonna say,

grab it.

Speaker 1 (31:40.93)
would probably say a word that I shouldn't say on that.

just gonna say it could be nice or it could be not so nice, but the thing is you're gonna do...

I know exactly what I would say, I won't say it on the show.

a verbal release. The first thing is going to be a verbal release because what that's doing is now the nerve endings have just sent a message to the brain. We got trauma, we got trauma, we got trauma, and then the brain is going to send a message back down through the nerves and then your hand is going to automatically go on that area and start rubbing it. Message from the nerve ending goes back up to the brain.

release the pain relievers, release the pain relievers, and just that rubbing is going to bring some comfort. That's how reflexology operates. It's that same concept. It's communicating through the nerve endings to the brain what needs to be done to assist the body in the healing process. And that's what we do.

Speaker 1 (32:47.372)
Awesome, that's so tangible and logical. So in your work, as you're working with the reflexology and the Holosuchilling, do you find that a spiritual or intuitive element plays a role in how you connect with your clients, their pain and guide them towards relief, as well as your listening?

Most definitely, because this is what I tell my clients, and I know they don't understand this, but when I see my clients, I don't see their health problem. I don't see them as being unhealthy. I don't see them being diseased. I see them as being whole and well. And by seeing that, it's when we talk about dealing with the energy,

I'm empowering through my hands to work with the body in assisting it in the healing process. Because see, that's one of the things that I want the listeners to understand that when you go to your practitioner, you have to go to your practitioner, not like you go to the mechanic when you take your automobile. You have to go to your practitioner, telling your practitioner,

where you are experiencing the pain and then working with your practitioner in assisting the body in relieving the pain so that the body can now naturally heal itself. So it's a two-way street. It's a give and a receive, a receive and a give. So which means that you are working with your practitioner to get the results that you want.

So it's not all in the lap of the practitioner to be the sole source for your healing process.

Speaker 1 (34:44.398)
How has your own personal journey, whether spiritual, intuitive, or experiential, influenced the way you show up as a healer and a teacher?

Hmm, that's so.

You talked a little bit about being, as a kid, your interests got piqued, but on the journey, how does that look?

If I look at my own personal growth, one of the things that I would say really put me on this path was I was also interested in my ancestral connection. I wanted to know how I was connected ancestrally to what it is I'm supposed to do and where I'm supposed to go. Ancestrally, I have Nigerian ancestry.

as well as I have Native American Cherokee ancestry. For my African ancestry, I got to spend time in Nigeria studying reflexology. That was my first exposure to reflexology, really. When I went to Nigeria way back when, I wanted to go to the bush, and I didn't want to be in the urban environment. I wanted to be in the bush where you actually saw a natural healing process.

Speaker 2 (36:04.002)
That was like my first introduction, being able to spend time in the bush learning about the healing practices and process. Then I had the opportunity to deal with my Native American experience. And that was really quite interesting because I went to Spokane and it was what we called a vision quest. So I did a vision quest. And during the vision quest,

coming from an urban environment, didn't know anything about outdoors and that kind of natural experience. They placed you on a spot on the mountain and you're there by yourself. You had to be fasting as well. So the only thing you had was water. You had to sleep outdoors with a, you know, in a sleeping bag and something. wow.

My major fear was snakes. That's what I was afraid of that I was going to have to deal with. But the interesting part of that whole experience, which I think was the real essence of my journey, was the fact that we had to write a journal while we were dealing with dealing with this experience. And so every day a woodpecker was always coming. Along with that were butterflies that were always coming at a specific time throughout the day.

And so at the end of the episode, so we were up there for about a week. It was a week, it was a whole week, but you could come down at any time. You didn't have to stay. And so my competitive nature kicked in. And so I stayed the whole week. And little did I know that by the time I came down, I was the only one that stayed the whole week. And these were other people who were...

dealing with outdoors and I had never did outdoors. And it was because of that experience when I got the interpretation of what was going on, the woodpecker was dealing with the fact that I was told that that was about the drumming. That was the drumming connection. I always liked drums. So that's what that was about. And the butterfly was saying that I was a part of the butterfly clan.

Speaker 2 (38:26.804)
I belong to the butterflies. But I was also told that it was that experience that I was to do something with my hands. At that time, I thought, okay, well, maybe they're talking about massage. And so I went to massage and I didn't like massage. And then I got introduced to the reflexology and I liked the reflexology, which took me back to my

African experience and where I picked up the reflexology, but I didn't know where I was going to go with it and what I was going to do with it. And it was when I went on the vision quest that it all came together full circle in terms of the work that I do today.

Wow, what an incredible experience. And I love that you kept it real. Like you went to the pureness of the roots of where it all comes from for that. And look where it brought you. Like what an incredibly neat experience.

I've always felt that each and every one of us are born with our gifts and our talents, but a lot of us don't get to live what we were actually created to do. All of us came here with a mission. Now, some of us get to pursue it and some of us don't. And I always look at it as that whatever your mission is, that's the rent that you

pay for being here on earth. And that's how I look at it. So what I do is the rent that I'm paying for my experience here on earth in terms of being able to give, share, and receive.

Speaker 1 (40:15.018)
I wholeheartedly believe that to be the truth. So I'm right there with you on that. You have a really cool blog on your website. Can you talk a little bit about your blog that talks about laughter and healing?

Yes, one of the things that we miss out on, and that is one of the foundations for healing, is laughter. And to be able to laugh opens up all of the channels inside your body for healing. Because when you laugh, you have just released all of the powerful healing energies, the healing cells to the muscle.

Because laughter affects every organ in every system in the body, giving it what it needs. And guess what? It's free. It nurtures every cell, every organ, every ligament, every bone, every muscle. That's the best healing medicine that you could ever give yourself, is laughter. And I mean, I'm talking about really serious laughter.

Absolutely.

Speaker 2 (41:29.74)
I tell my clients, you're have to learn how to break out and let that little girl and little boy inside come out and play. And when you do that, get as silly as you possibly can and don't care what anybody thinks or says because let them know that you're in your healing process.

I agree. think a good belly laugh is like one of the biggest hidden secrets that are out there. And the power of the healing with it is just off the charts. It's just such a hidden secret.

People just don't realize, and if you ever think about the time you had a really good laugh, and you think about it and really know that, you what, I really feel good behind this. You just released tons of stress you'd have been holding on to. Just with that laugh, you released so much. And if you could let just have a belly laugh once in a while to know that

I agree.

Speaker 2 (42:42.284)
I'm in my healing mode.

There you go. What practices do you recommend for maintaining balance in today's fast space in honestly many times unpredictable world?

Well, the first thing that we all have to understand is we've got to learn how to breathe. We've got to learn how to do deep breathing. And you've got to put that in your schedule sometime during the day.

So schedule it.

because that's another form of releasing, to be able to deep breathe. Then I would say, do some walking. Get outside and if you possibly can, go barefooted on the ground and walk and let your feet touch the earth so that the earth can give to you all of its healing energy.

Speaker 2 (43:39.32)
coming straight through all of the cells from the bottom of your feet that will rise all the way up to the top of your head. You'll be surprised how that works. Something that they tell you not to do, but let the sun touch you sometime. The sun is a healing tool that doesn't cost anything and will give you the recharging.

that your nervous system needs, that comes from the sun. And walking, breathing, laughing, drinking water. Water helps to flush the system. Drink water. And when you drink the water, drink the water in a frame of being thankful and grateful.

When you drink water, be in a state of thanksgiving. So now you're empowering the water to be a healing tool because what? It's now purifying. Those are like, you know, some four basic things that you can do as a part of your healing regimen.

I love it and they're basic and easy. There's a lot coming out now about the healing and powerful abilities of water and water being a crystal and how it carries messages and those are healing messages. So thanks for bringing that up. And Jideeka, for the listeners who would like to work with you, what would that look like and how would they connect with you?

First of all, to connect with me, you can go to my website, focusonhealing.com. And when you go to my website, I encourage you to go to my contact page and let me know whatever question that you may have about medication-free alternative to healing. Ask me any question you want.

Speaker 2 (45:47.264)
Any questions that you may have that you're experiencing some pain that you want to just know a little something about, put it in the comments section. Trust me, I get back to you because I love to hear from you. The other thing is my book Reflexology Today. It's in hard copy and it's also in ebook form. And you can get that on my website. You can download it from my website and you can order from my website, focusonhealing.com.

And the other thing, Dr. Sandra, I give to you, in the African tradition, when you visit someone's home, you bring a gift. And I have a gift for you and your listeners. I have put together a poster on medication-free alternatives in relieving pain and stress. And it's a download. And all you do is you go to touchologyreflexology.com.

and download that poster to help you with letting you know various medication-free alternatives that are available for you.

Thank you so much and that is such a powerful gift that could literally save lives. Thank you. What's next for Focus on Healing and Wellness in Jideka?

What's next? I'm working on a project right now that's going to involve an international connection between reflexologists around the world who are practicing medication and alternative approaches to relieving pain. And we are now connecting so that we can possibly be about doing an exchange in terms of our knowledge and our experience and exposure.

Speaker 2 (47:34.55)
That's one thing that's on the table. And another thing that I'm working on is being able to put together virtual trainings for families on how to use reflexology as a pain relief alternative in terms of family healing and wellness. So those are two things that are my plate right now in terms of

understanding that your listeners are the first to hear it. So this is broadcast live to your listeners.

That's awesome and that's such a big deal. So as we're winding up a little bit of fun, I like to ask three questions to each of the guests. Number one, what's one wellness habit you swear by but people are always surprised to hear about it?

only eat one meal a day.

Next, if you could gift one wellness tool to every household in the world, what would it be and how would you want them to use it?

Speaker 2 (48:35.704)
The one wellness tool that I would give, I would say would be a handshake. And that wellness tool of a handshake, I would want everybody to share that handshake with everybody that they come in contact with.

Wow. I'll just go with wow on that. That's awesome. The last question. What do you like to listen to that helps bring you back to center, to that state of interbalance, clarity, and calm?

I like listening to music that gives the sounds of nature. I really like that and that kind of connects me back with a natural environment. And that's what I find to be real calming, real soothing. I like the water sounds. like the birds singing. Those kind of sounds are real calming and soothing to me.

Awesome, and you know what, I'm going to add a fourth for you, just because I'm curious. What's your guilty pleasure after a day of working with reflexology? Chocolate, a bubble bath, cheesy rom-coms, or something totally different?

think the best is like to be able to get in a bubble bath, because that's about connecting with nature. Connecting with water is real soothing and real healing. And the warmest it can be is like, you know, the real sauna. That's like, I think that's would probably be the real healing, is being in a sauna bath.

Speaker 1 (50:04.832)
I love it. Any last thoughts before we finish up?

What I would leave my inspirational message to everyone is to always remember that it's the power of touch that heals all. Remember to touch somebody and be thankful. Give thanks and touch somebody because that's where healing begins.

And Jideka, it has truly, truly, and I say this sincerely, been an honor to have you on the show and to meet you. Much gratitude for all your wisdom and insights today and truly all you're doing to help others live their best lives. Thank you for being on the show. And for all our listeners out there, a big thank you for taking time out of your day to join us. Until next time, remember, embrace that wild soul. Thanks again.

Thank you, my honor.

Thank you for joining us for this episode of Wild Soul Gathering's Happy Hour for the Spiritually Curious. To learn more about our guests, please go to our website, WildSoulsGathering.com. We're very eager to hear from our listeners what you thought of the episode, topics you might like us to cover in the future, your thoughts on spirituality, questions you may have. Please feel free to send us an email at WildSoulsGathering.gmail.com.

Speaker 1 (51:26.414)
This is your host, Dr. Sandra Marie, sending each of you peace and love. Until we meet again, embrace your wild soul.