The fifth pillar of the Intentional Vitality Retreat centers around the concept of flourishing from the inside out, emphasizing the intrinsic needs of our cells. Zoa delves into the critical role cells play as the foundational building blocks of our bodies, explaining how every tissue and organ is constructed from these microscopic entities. To truly flourish, it’s imperative to support our cells in maintaining health and functionality. This support begins with understanding what cells require: well-structured cell membranes, essential nutrients, and a clean internal environment that promotes vitality.
The discussion further explores the anatomy of cell membranes, likening their strength and flexibility to that of buildings and bridges. Just as these structures need to withstand external pressures while remaining adaptable, so too do our cell membranes require a balance of pliability and resilience. The importance of gates in the cell membranes is highlighted, describing how these gates must operate correctly to allow nutrients in and waste out, ensuring the cell’s health and energy production. This intricate interplay of cellular function underscores the broader theme of the retreat: nurturing our internal systems to achieve optimal vitality.
Moreover, the role of mitochondria, the cell’s energy producers, is thoroughly examined. Mitochondria not only generate ATP, the energy currency of cells, but also act as environmental sensors, responding to the overall health of the cell. The connection between our lifestyle choices, including diet and stress management, and their effect on cellular function is a pivotal point of the discussion. This relationship is encapsulated in the term ‘epigenetics,’ which refers to how our lifestyle influences gene expression within our cells. Through a comprehensive understanding of these elements, attendees of the retreat will learn how to cultivate an environment that fosters both cellular health and personal flourishing, ensuring they leave with actionable insights to enhance their well-being.
Takeaways:
- Flourishing from the inside out involves nurturing healthy, happy, and well-functioning cells.
- Cells require strong yet pliable membranes, akin to well-constructed buildings or bridges.
- Proper nutrient flow through cell membranes ensures cells remain healthy and energized.
- Mitochondria act as environmental sensors and energy producers, requiring specific nutrients for function.
- The quality of your diet directly impacts your cells’ ability to create energy currency, ATP.
- Understanding the needs of your cells can guide you in optimizing your lifestyle for better vitality.
Transcript
The fifth pillar for the intentional vitality retreats is flourish from the inside out.
Speaker A:What is inside of you?
Speaker A:Cells.
Speaker A:Cells make up every single tissue, organ and other component of your body.
Speaker A:Flourishing from the inside out then is really about supporting healthy, happy, well functioning cells.
Speaker A:How do we do that for ourselves?
Speaker A:How do we do that for our cells?
Speaker A:Cells needs are basic and there are many ways to meet them.
Speaker A:You just need to find the way that works for you.
Speaker A:So what do cells need?
Speaker A:They need a healthy boundary wall called a cell membrane.
Speaker A:Cell membranes are built from fats, proteins and more.
Speaker A:Cell membranes need to be pliable but strong.
Speaker A:Kind of like a building or a bridge.
Speaker A:If it's too stiff, the building tips over, or the bridge breaks in the wind.
Speaker A:If it's too flimsy, the building can't hold up its own weight and it topples over.
Speaker A:Or the bridge can't support the weight of the people and the cars on it.
Speaker A:Your cell membranes need to be both pliable and strong.
Speaker A:Cell membranes need to have gates that open and close.
Speaker A:Gates open to allow nutrients in and trash out.
Speaker A:Then they close to control the flow.
Speaker A:The gates cannot be stuck open.
Speaker A:The gates cannot be stuck closed.
Speaker A:The gates can't be hard to open or hard to close either.
Speaker A:The gates need to open only when the proper key is present.
Speaker A:They shouldn't open without that correct key.
Speaker A:And if their lock is poorly shaped, then even the correct key won't fit.
Speaker A:Then we have a gate problem.
Speaker A:Nutrients and hormones are not able to go grab their group of friends and help push open the stuck gate.
Speaker A:They'll just move on to the next cell over, leaving their initial cell deficient and feeling ignored and unloved.
Speaker A:Inside of your cells are your DNA and mitochondria.
Speaker A:DNA is the instruction book that tells your cell how to be a cell.
Speaker A:This is the same instruction book everywhere in the body.
Speaker A:Every cell has the same book.
Speaker A:Each cell decides which pages of the book it's going to read and which ones it's going to ignore.
Speaker A:Your lifestyle absolutely affects which pages are ready and which pages are not in every single cell.
Speaker A:And the study of how lifestyle affects this DNA usage is called epigenetics.
Speaker A:Mitochondria are your environmental sensors and your energy sources.
Speaker A:Both of these jobs is important.
Speaker A:Your mitochondria decide if the inside of your cell is dirty or clean.
Speaker A:I like to call dirty toxic.
Speaker A:If the inside of the cell is toxic, then the mitochondria will be unhappy and they will refuse to make energy.
Speaker A:And then you are tired.
Speaker A:DNA strands contain the instructions on how to be alive and thrive can get damaged.
Speaker A:They need protection.
Speaker A:They need repair.
Speaker A:Minerals, proteins and hormones are all required to complete repairs.
Speaker A:But they have to get inside the cell through the gates.
Speaker A:Mitochondria have their own protective membrane similar to the one that defines the outside of the cell.
Speaker A:Mitochondria are quite particular about getting enough of all of the right kinds of vitamins, minerals and fuel sources to be able to make the unit of energy currency called ATP.
Speaker A:Humans think of energy sources as carbs and fats, macronutrients.
Speaker A:In your diet, cells think of energy sources as units of ATP or molecules of ATP.
Speaker A:It's the job of your digestion, bloodstream and mitochondria to convert carbs and fats into usable ATP.
Speaker A:It doesn't matter what you eat if you can't convert your food into the proper energy currency to please your cells.
Speaker A:Mitochondria need to feel safe and nurtured.
Speaker A:They need all the trash from their work removed.
Speaker A:No one likes a dirty house less than a mitochondria.
Speaker A:Trash removal surface is done by your immune system.
Speaker A:The trash leaves the gates of your cells and your mitochondrial membranes.
Speaker A:When a cell or mitochondrial membrane gets damaged, maybe one of the lipid molecules is rancid.
Speaker A:Your body needs to be able to repair it.
Speaker A:Calcium and cholesterol are both good temporary bandages for a hurt membrane, but they're intended to be temporary.
Speaker A:Your body has to come back and finish the repair job for the membrane to function at 100%.
Speaker A:Think back to the last time you had a power outage at your home.
Speaker A:How long did you have to wait for the power to return?
Speaker A:If your power went out because of a small local issue, probably not very long.
Speaker A:The rest of the power grid was working and the repair crews could just focus on your needs.
Speaker A:If you lost power associated with a big ice storm or flood or fire, lots of people around you probably also lost power.
Speaker A:The repair crews worked day and night, bringing power back on one little area at a time.
Speaker A:Sometimes just one little house, sometimes an entire neighborhood or street.
Speaker A:It could have taken days for you to get back power.
Speaker A:If you were out and a rural place with hard to use roads, the crews would focus on the most pressing needs first, which may or may not have been you.
Speaker A:Now let's return back to the body.
Speaker A:The damage you have.
Speaker A:The more damage and the longer it takes the immune system to repair everything.
Speaker A:If you lose repair crews, which is immune system strength, then you might never have to have a chance to repair anything.
Speaker A:If you run out of materials, your repair rate goes down and you're forever playing catch up just because you ran out of materials.
Speaker A:Let's return back to your cells.
Speaker A:What do they need?
Speaker A:Well, they need superb cell membranes, great gates in the membranes, plenty of nutrients and fuel as supplies to make ATP.
Speaker A:They need a clean, non toxic house, which means the inside and outside of every cell of your body.
Speaker A:These are tall orders.
Speaker A:They require thought and attention to your lifestyle, thought and attention to your diet, your exposure to harmful things, your digestion, your elimination and detox abilities, your hydration, your immune function.
Speaker A:So much it can be overwhelming.
Speaker A:Luckily, this is my area of expertise, assessing what your cells are missing in order to function well.
Speaker A:When you join us for an intentional vitality retreat, you will be surrounded by easy ways to support your cells and to flourish from the inside out.
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