In this 2022 episode, Josette Tkacik, a Juilliard-trained professional dancer and Zumba instructor, shares her incredible journey of self-healing from advanced rheumatoid arthritis, a debilitating autoimmune disease, without the help of Western medicine.
Diagnosed in 2011 with a condition for which conventional treatments offer no cure, only life-shortening pharmaceuticals to slow its progression, Josette chose to forge her own path to wellness through nutrition and self-care. Her remarkable recovery led to her being declared a Medical Miracle in 2016, with no evidence of the disease found in subsequent bloodwork. Josette's story is not just about overcoming physical adversity; it's a testament to the power of alternative healing methods.
Now recognized as the world's most successful Zumba instructor, a Congressional award-winning Santa Barbara Hero, and a top author on DailyOM, her story inspires many to explore the transformative potential of nutrition and self-care in battling seemingly insurmountable health challenges.
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In this 2022 episode, Josette Tkacik, a Juilliard-trained professional dancer and Zumba instructor, shares her incredible journey of self-healing from advanced rheumatoid arthritis, a debilitating autoimmune disease, without the help of Western medicine.
Diagnosed in 2011 with a condition for which conventional treatments offer no cure, only life-shortening pharmaceuticals to slow its progression, Josette chose to forge her own path to wellness through nutrition and self-care. Her remarkable recovery led to her being declared a Medical Miracle in 2016, with no evidence of the disease found in subsequent bloodwork. Josette's story is not just about overcoming physical adversity; it's a testament to the power of alternative healing methods.
Now recognized as the world's most successful Zumba instructor, a Congressional award-winning Santa Barbara Hero, and a top author on DailyOM, her story inspires many to explore the transformative potential of nutrition and self-care in battling seemingly insurmountable health challenges.
CONNECT WITH THE GUEST:
CONNECT WITH NIKA: https://mtr.bio/nika-lawrie
Instagram: instagram.com/biohacking4babes
TikTok: tiktok.com/@biohacking4babes
YouTube: youtube.com/@NikaLawrie
Facebook: facebook.com/biohacking4babes
SUBMIT A QUESTION OR REQUEST A TOPIC:
I would love to hear from you! Please record your question or topic request to be featured in a future episode: https://www.speakpipe.com/NikaLawrie
DISCLAIMER:
*This podcast and its contents are for informational purposes only and are not intended to replace professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult your physician or a qualified health provider for any questions concerning a medical condition or health objectives. Additionally, the advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for every individual and are not guaranteed for business or personal success. Use discretion and seek professional counsel when necessary.
Welcome to the Inspired with Nika Laurie podcast. Josette, welcome to the show. I'm so happy to have you join me today. How are you?
Speaker 2:Thank you, Nika. I'm great. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1:Absolutely so welcome to the show. I'm super excited for your story. I think you know we talked just briefly before recording about kind of the similarities. I really focus on functional medicine and functional nutrition and the power of that to heal your body, and I know you have an incredible story about healing your own body so we'll get into that. But before we do, can you tell us a little bit about yourself, what you do and how you got to where you are today?
Speaker 2:Sure, thank you. My name is Josette Kasik and I am a Zumba instructor of the crazy kind. I have a pretty large following. Zumba mentioned to me and then said on NPR that I'm the most successful Zumba instructor that they ever knew.
Speaker 1:Wow, congratulations.
Speaker 2:Thank you. They have over 15 million classes going on every single day and it's a huge privilege I stumbled upon that success. I wasn't planning on being a fitness instructor, for sure. My background is in dance and I am a mom of a now 13-year-old son. My husband is an Argentine polo player. So I got really lucky there and I am here to kind of. My story really starts about 11 years ago when I was diagnosed with advanced rheumatoid arthritis.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and can you share? I know we're going to go into a little bit of detail, but what was that like, getting that diagnosis? It had been pretty traumatic, especially with your background being so physical and active.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, I think any diagnosis is no fun. My mom was diagnosed with stage four cancer back when I was in my teens. She actually recovered fine and she did chemo and radiation. So um, she's 86 now and super happy and thriving, but um, and has been cancer free for for a very long time.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. Congratulations to her. That's great yeah.
Speaker 2:She was kind of my inspiration um to to seek out other avenues.
Speaker 2:But yeah, having a diagnosis for me. I was, my son was just two at the time and uh, he my everything. But uh, I did, I was still dancing, I was moving, but I I wasn't living the healthiest lifestyle. Um, I was not eating properly. I was never into health and wellness. To be honest with you, I was a dancer. So you know, in New York, as a young dancer, you start smoking really you know, at a young age and you're Keeping slender, kind of thing.
Speaker 2:Exactly that's the trick. So you know, my diet consisted of a triple espresso in the morning and a couple of cigarettes until two or three. I quit smoking when I got pregnant, but the rest of the diet kind of stayed the same until I got my diagnosis, and then I think you get a brick that falls on your head Absolutely. I couldn't move.
Speaker 2:I was in so much pain, oh my goodness, and I actually went to a couple of different doctors. Nobody could figure out what was wrong with me. That was the most frustrating thing is going to the ER and them saying well, you must have bumped into furniture or something. And I'm thinking I would have known if I bumped into. And why are my knees the size of like?
Speaker 1:small melons.
Speaker 2:There's other parts that go with that that like small melons. That's a big couch, you know. So, yeah, getting the diagnosis in and of itself was a struggle. I finally was sent to get a full panel of blood work, and that's when they came back.
Speaker 2:Oh wow, your numbers are so high, your body is just destroying itself, and it was between the ER visit and the diagnosis that my left elbow had already started fusing at the joint. I was never able to straighten it again and the diagnosis came. I was really happy. The prognosis wasn't good, but the diagnosis.
Speaker 1:I was at least happy with that At least then you knew kind of what you were facing and it wasn't good but the diagnosis I was at least happy with that. At least then you knew kind of what you were facing and it wasn't just this kind of hidden disaster in your body that you were kind of dealing with.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Exactly yeah.
Speaker 1:How did that? How did that impact your career? Were you able I mean, I'm assuming you weren't really able to do anything if you were kind of bedridden, in a sense like not being able to move very well?
Speaker 2:Well, I wasn't dancing professionally then. I had stopped everything to be a full-time mom. So luckily, I didn't have a career at the time, but I did affect my husband's career because I wasn't able to. I mean, I couldn't brush my teeth on my own because my arms weren't working and I couldn't get dressed because I couldn't raise.
Speaker 2:You know, there were so many little nuances of life that we take for granted, and when you have a crippling disease like RA, it's um, it, the the. The little things like brushing your teeth or getting dressed in the morning become a sacred ritual, because you can't do it in in that much pain. So my husband had to literally stop what he was doing so he could take care of me and our son.
Speaker 1:Oh man, I mean a blessing in a sense that you had him, but what a huge impact that has just on the whole family. I think so often people think about the chronic disease only impacting the individual that has it, but in reality it has this huge ripple effect on so many family members, whether that's RA or that's a heart condition or diabetes or dementia, whatever you know what I mean it really does have this huge, lasting kind of detrimental impact on the family as a whole too. So it can be a major issue kind of detrimental impact on the family as a whole too, so it can be a major issue.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean it certainly. I mean it affected my son, it affected my husband, it affected everybody and I think that, yeah, like you said, I think that's with any any disease, we're all interconnected. So and the thing with with RA, at least for me, is it came on suddenly, so our our, our train just hit a brick wall and it was going quite well up until the brick wall.
Speaker 1:So when you actually finally got your diagnosis, I'm assuming the physicians didn't talk to you. A whole lot about diet and lifestyle changes Gives you that idea. I don't know. You know what gives you that idea.
Speaker 2:I don't know.
Speaker 2:I saw seven different specialists only because of the frustration I had with the doctors. I think my first question to everybody was well, okay, so how did I get here? What causes this? And they don't give you an answer. They say well, you know, we don't really know what causes autoimmune disease, but I wouldn't waste your time trying to figure that out. You really need to hurry up and get on these. You know there's a huge list of pharmaceuticals that they prescribe, with methotrexate and and prednisone, and then the Humira or the other biologics. It was I was. I was so taken back by their inability to explain to me what happened, because logic says well, if you know how you can, how you got here, you can fix the problem and therefore fix the disease.
Speaker 2:But there was no answer.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, talk to me. I know when I was reading your bio and kind of doing research for this interview, you talked specifically about I think your words were radical or life-shortening pharmaceutical medications or pharmaceuticals that were prescribed to you or offered to you as a treatment. Talk to me a little bit about why you call them, maybe, life shortening. I think that is kind of really eyeopening for people, and I know I could go on and on about some of the issues I have with some pharmaceuticals, but I want to get your perspective on that.
Speaker 2:Well, when I was in college, one of the things that I studied was to be a researcher, so I had a little bit of background I actually took. My first job to pay for college was as a research paralegal. So, I was gifted and I excuse me, I don't think it was an accident that I was gifted with a little bit of a knack for finding information and so what I?
Speaker 2:did is I took all of the prescriptions that they gave me, I looked at the small print, I did research on the side effects and, lo and behold, the combination of them reduces your lifespan on an average of about 15 years. And that was and of course, the side effects are enormous. I think is it Glenn Fry from the Eagles passed away from side effects of rheumatoid arthritis medication. So there, in and of itself, once you're informed of all of that, then you can go. Well, wait a second. Now I really have to figure out what I'm doing, because that's a whole other thing, and I think if it was just me and my husband, I may have even considered it. But it was my son that I wanted to be around for his life and I wanted to be a grandma someday and I didn't want to have you know fingers I mean, obviously, anybody that gets the disease. You don't want it, but I was just like this isn't going to happen, this isn't going to happen to me, this isn't, and there has to be a way out.
Speaker 1:I think you know you mentioned the I can't remember his name Eagle the Eagles guy, glenn Fry. Thank you, you mentioned I can't remember his name the Eagles guy Glenn Frey.
Speaker 1:Glenn Frey, thank you, you mentioned him passing away. I think it's really it's kind of an unspoken thing how many people in the US are actually passing away from pharmaceutical drugs each year and the side effects of those drugs. I mean, it's one of the leading killers of people in the US every single year from these medications and that's a really scary thing because people aren't talking about it, and so I actually loved that you kind of brought a spotlight to the potential dangers of some of these pharmaceutical drugs.
Speaker 2:Oh, Nika, I think, and it should be a conversation, it should be a huge conversation.
Speaker 1:I think it's one of the top three. I'm not really sure. I know that. There's heart disease, cancer and ph pandemic we've seen with opiate use, but there's a lot of other pharmaceutical drugs that people don't even realize that take every single day, that have an impact. There's even some over-the-counter drugs you think about Tylenol and ibuprofen which have pretty major impacts on some of our organs and how they function too, and there's not a conversation around that. So thank you for at least starting that conversation, just bringing the spotlight to it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you know, without sounding too conspiracy theorists, I think that there's a deliberate non-conversation about it.
Speaker 1:So I think, I would.
Speaker 2:I would absolutely agree. I think it's good that we we are at least shining a tad bit of a light there, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know, and I think not necessarily to blame the physicians either but there's not enough education through med school about the side effects, and a lot of times the curriculum in med school is actually managed by some of the pharmaceutical companies too, just to add into, you know, not the conspiracy theory, but there is some real structural issues that come with educating the physicians on pharma protocols too. Beautiful, yeah, oh thanks. Yeah, so you decided to kind of go a different route. After getting your diagnosis, you kind of quote unquote paved your own path. Can you share your story of how did you heal yourself? How did you stop this RA from really destroying your body?
Speaker 2:thanks, um, yeah, well, I mean it's so funny because in retrospect you can just go well, this this, this, this and this, but when? You're going through it. It's not a whole journey it's hell.
Speaker 2:I mean, it's literally hell, and I I am so grateful for that, you know, dark night of the soul, because it it really forced me to look inside of myself. Um, I think the first thing was the beautiful loss of identity, and I know that sounds really strange, but I lost everything. I mean, like I mentioned, I couldn't get dressed on my own, I felt I didn't feel like a woman, I didn't feel like anything. I couldn't do anything. I couldn't pick up my son, I couldn't. So there was an extraordinary loss of identity. And what I found when I lost all the things that I thought I was, I found the truth of who I really was. And while my body was in pain, I noticed that I was still here inside somewhere. It's difficult to put into words and I'm trying to kind of be simple about it, but there was a very strong depth of soul that was there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, like your essence or something yeah.
Speaker 2:Exactly. And when I started to tune into that, I got little cues little why don't you go look over there or why don't you try this and it was very simple and very easy and nothing was forced. I mean, I was in a lot of pain, so I spent a lot of time just sitting and crying and seeking something different and I knew I wasn't going to take the drugs because I wanted to hold on to my lifespan. I knew I was in for some radical change, but what I did do, is I okay? I looked at some of the research and first I found a clinic I think it was in Switzerland that was a naturopathic clinic that worked specifically with autoimmune diseases.
Speaker 2:And lo and behold, they had a theory of going alkaline like a full alkaline diet, and I said, wow, nobody's talked to me about alkaline and acid and acidosis and all of this stuff that I had. Then go wait, I read, I read more and more and I read more and more, and they have a lot of success with that. So I thought, okay, you can do that, you can totally change your diet and that's not a huge price to pay considering the pain I was in. So the first thing I did was change my diet to full alkaline. I think I only ate green vegetables. My husband said I was like a bunny rabbit I ate green vegetables. I mean, I lost a lot of weight but I was just eating greens and I juiced and I did everything I could to only eat alkaline. I got those little litmus tests that you can get that test your acid level in your urine. So I did that every morning. I was hugely acidic hugely acidic, so I said, okay, there's something here.
Speaker 2:So I went on an alkaline diet and then the next thing was, I discovered, so simple. So the acidosis, negative emotion, toxins, environmental toxins, toxic food if you're not eating organic all of this stuff just compounds and compounds in your own body. I didn't know. We kind of just go around life not thinking about this stuff. So those are the two main things that I did physically was I went after healing a leaky gut and I think the protocol was just again. Alkaline diet was huge, but also there were some amino acids I think it was L-lysine that I used and my magic sauce I call is high MGO manuka honey, which I would take a teaspoon of. I think it was MGO 830 or more like super high potent manuka honey and that seemed to really have an effect on healing my gut potent manuka honey and that seemed to really have an effect on healing my gut. Yeah, so those were the two physical things.
Speaker 1:Everything else was lifestyle mindset and mental, spiritual and emotional change. I love that you add that in, because I have this conversation a lot of times with people about we need to change diet and lifestyle right Dealing with autoimmune diseases or metabolic diseases but there's a huge factor in that you can change the food you're eating, which is truly important. You can reduce the toxin exposure that you're facing so removing pesticides, being careful about containers and packaging and all these different things but there really is an important side to it also have to change your, your mental state around your disease, around your approach towards life, around um your, your spiritual connection, whether that's a religious thing or just an internal connection, whatever that is. You really have to bring that to the forefront just as much as you would any other aspect that you're going to change in your health journey.
Speaker 2:And it's hugely empowering. Yes, yes, yes, I think that if I had just changed my diet I'd still be sick. Yeah, Definitely the grabbing my big girl boots and pulling them up and saying I cut everyone off the hook. No one is responsible for where I am right now my mom, my dad, my husband, no one, no matter how much of a pain in the booty I thought my husband was from time to time and how much I was agonizing about our government, whatever, whatever was around.
Speaker 2:Much I was agonizing about our government, whatever, whatever was around. I cut everyone off the hook and I took 120% responsibility for my own existence and my own life. That in and of itself is hugely empowering, because no one and it's not about blaming yourself or being down on yourself it's being like, okay, I'm going to put my boat in the water right where I am. Here I am, how do I navigate this stream? I'm on a white river ride and I need to steer this boat, and so that was hugely empowering. And I also noticed when I did my research was that anxiety, negative emotion, stress all of that contributes to disease and to acidosis and to leaky gut. So it's all kind of intertwined.
Speaker 2:So I sat my family down and, of course, my family. They saw me in a lot of pain. They really just wanted me to do what the doctor said. They didn't understand why I was taking a different path and I said I don't know. I know that I need to, I know I have to listen to my heart. I love you all, but I'm blocking any negative or any opinions. They're beautiful opinions. They're not mine and I just I need to listen to my heart.
Speaker 1:I love that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and so that was a big thing too. Is is taking that um, having that um. It was the first time in my life that I had a healthy boundary. You know cause? I'm? Because I'm a people pleaser and that also contributed to my disease. But it was the first time and again I have to give credit to my son because, as you know, once you put on that mom hat, nothing's going to get in between me and being there for my son, absolutely nothing's going to get in between me and being there for my son. So that healthy boundary of just saying I love you, just back off my husband. I said to him if you want to fight about something guess what You're automatically right.
Speaker 2:I don't care, I'm not fighting with you. I'm not fighting with you right now I have, I'm, I'm, I'm 120% into taking care of me.
Speaker 1:Priority. Yeah, I love it. You mentioned taking responsibility.
Speaker 1:That was one of the most powerful things that I've learned in my life, along the way too, was radical responsibility for everything that's occurring in my life. You know, even if it was a car accident that you know, somebody rear-ended me, I was on the road at that time, in that place and even though, yes, they may be responsible for rear-ending me, I can't get angry at them or the world or whatever, because I put myself in that place at that time. And I know that sounds like a weird concept, but once you decide to have that radical responsibility, you really start to get clear on the direction you want to go on. You get clear on the direction you want to go on. You get clear on the decisions that you want to make and setting those boundaries and what your priorities are. And so I think it's such a powerful tool that you know you don't use the blame game. If you aren't doing the blame game, then you're no longer the victim and then you're empowered to really make those changes in your own life.
Speaker 2:Exactly, and you become deliberate in your day. You become deliberate about what you focus, your beautiful life, energy, I mean. I think, what is it? Buddha said that the biggest mistake we make is that we think we have time in terms of oh my God, am I ever going to play out the playground with my son? Ever? That was the questions I was asking and, um, I knew that I had to be super deliberate with where I focused my heart space and my energy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely. What was your biggest takeaway from this journey? What? What was the thing that you found kind of most impactful?
Speaker 2:That we are all extraordinarily powerful and that we didn't. We're not told that that we, there's a depth of character and a depth of soul for all of us. That's the one thing that I've. I recognize is, as soon as you recognize it in yourself, you see it in everyone else, you see it in everyone else that we have the capacity to heal, to thrive, to live with vitality and joy and love and lift each other up. I think that many of us at least I, was not aware of how beautiful life can be, and people are always saying, oh my God, but it took you losing everything. Yeah, I guess that's what they call rock bottom. I had to lose everything to to realize how sacred it all is.
Speaker 1:I think you know, there's a lot of beauty in that and and that story. You know, I I did a presentation last night with a gentleman who same thing he um, you know, he was like 350 pounds and he had cancer and he was facing you know it, he was like 350 pounds and he had cancer and he was facing. You know, it's a life or death situation for him. And same kind of thing. He changed his diet and lifestyle and healed. But he was talking about how angry he was. He was just this angry human before the diagnosis and then afterwards. I mean, he just has this gentle aura about him. He was kind and patient and sweet and I never would have guessed in a million years prior to hearing his story that he was this angry person because he was so kind. And so I think it takes for a lot of people hitting that spot of you know, this is life or death, this is, you know, I see the light now and that's what turns on the switch for you to approach life in a whole different manner.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, I think, had I listened to some of the warning signs, I was having panic attacks and stuff before I got sick. I think that and and perhaps you know, maybe this conversation will help somebody who is getting the warning signs.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's always you know ultimately, um, within a year and a half I was symptom free and I started teaching the Zumba class because, honestly, it was a last ditch effort. I was a dancer, I had studied at Joffrey, or I was at Joffrey not only studied, but it was a company and I wanted to dance and the only thing I could find was teaching a Zumba class. It didn't require too much of me. I just kind of showed them my resume and I didn't have to audition anywhere, and they just looked at my dance background and they said, oh my gosh, you're perfect. But I could hardly move.
Speaker 2:So when I started teaching that, one of my students was a board-certified internal medicine doctor here in Santa Barbara, where I live, and she kind of saw me. She never asked what was wrong with me, I never told anybody that I was sick. I just moved quite a bit differently back then. But I started to get better and heal and it was working, everything that I was doing, um. And ultimately she said you know, about a year and a half in, she said I need to take your blood. I need to find out, Um, because I had eventually told her I had RA, but it looks like it's gone or it's in remission, which is what you want. And, yeah, let me, let me take your blood.
Speaker 2:And I, I resisted for a little while and then she took my blood and sent it to her friends at UCLA and talked to a couple of rheumatologists and they all sat me down at the when they all met and they said you know, we, we have to declare you a medical miracle, because there's no understanding of how you don't have RA anymore, but there's no evidence of any disease in your blood. And I I kind of wasn't really surprised because I had already felt like, yeah, it's not there anymore. I know, you, know, you, you, you go through in a disease long enough. You know when it's there and when it's not. Um, what was astonishing is I kept saying, well, let me tell you what I did, and they were like no, no, no. What was astonishing is I kept saying, well, let me tell you what I did, and they were like no, no, no, yeah, we don't want to hear that.
Speaker 1:That was absolutely going to be. One of my questions for you was one how did that feel when they kind of told you your medical miracle? But my biggest question for you is what did the doctors think? I mean, did they care at all about the things that you did to make this happen and did they care at all about the things that you did to make this happen.
Speaker 2:Well, my doctor, who I love more than anything, knows I mean, I'm probably the biggest you know heal for her because I am somebody who healed naturally, and she sticks with me. She still comes to my class and in fact this week she said well, it's time for you to come up for blood work again. And I said you know, we're 10 years in. I think I'm good. She goes no, I won't even test you for RA, but you know, make sure you got all your other things.
Speaker 2:You have everything else. Yeah, yeah, she has sat down with me and said yeah, they don't teach us everything in medical school and I've met she's met several people that have healed cancer. I had one other person in my class that started coming. She had MS and I had explained to her what I had gone through and the path I took. She took a similar path and was able to heal MS, and so this is all happening in front of this doctor and um, you know, she just says I don't know at all. I'm, I, I know that there's something that they don't teach us and that they, but we're literally in my practice. She's forbidden to to kind of even go into that, and I said you know, I think you should probably maybe go Bridget, bridget, let's do naturopathic board certified. Wouldn't that be cool?
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, no, that, everybody else, all the people that diagnosed me, especially, there was one doctor, one rheumatologist, that was laughing at me when I said I was going to try and heal. Naturally, I called him and I faxed over the blood work and I said look, it's gone. It worked. They never. He never took my call and never. Never answered me, just yeah.
Speaker 1:I think you know part of it is in the, you know, western medicine medical education system, medicine medical education system.
Speaker 1:I think the max these physicians are getting in diet and lifestyle, specifically nutrition education, is 20 hours. You know we're thinking eight years of education and they're getting 20 years on nutrition, and you know most are getting none to maybe four to eight hours of nutrition education. I think the other side of that is that most doctors are specializing in a specific organ, like we have cardiologists, or people who specialize in ear, nose, mouth or lungs or something right. Like they're all specializing in different areas and nobody is looking at the full system, understanding that all of it's impacting each other, and so I always advocate for, when my clients are talking to physicians or people in the community that I know are talking to physicians, to just spark that thing of. You know I would like to learn more about this. Is this something that you can help me with when it comes to diet and lifestyles, just so the doctors are starting to hear like this is important and we need to learn more and pay attention to this too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, I started talking about in my class the four pillars of health, because I think that everything's intertwined. And there is the physical, which is what Western medicine completely focuses on, and, like you said, in different, in different areas, but the mental, the spiritual and the emotional are all. It's all intertwined, it's one is not separate from the other.
Speaker 2:And if you're just focusing, like we said, about the food, if you're just focusing on the food, but it's important it's important to focus on the food, like you have. Diet was a big deal, um, but you can't just hit one and not the emotional and the mental and the spiritual you have to really have. And that's kind of what what developed when I was healing was I was able to curate a program that works for me and I think that that's also really important because everyone's different.
Speaker 1:None of us are the same, and you can't just have the same.
Speaker 2:My brother is a yogi. He goes to yoga class every day and he sits and he does these meditations for hours and I look at him and there's no way. I've tried, I've totally tried. I'm like I can't, I can't. But my meditation is a moving meditation and my meditation is going out on long walks in nature. So there's just different strokes for different folks.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. Yeah, I was just talking to a couple of friends of mine. They were talking about how much they love naps and I don't think I've taken a nap in 20 years. I'm just not a napper. But I absolutely prioritize sleep at night. And I'm like you, my meditation is walking in nature or even if it's just taking five minutes to just disconnect from all the inputs and life, just kind of disconnecting and resting for a few minutes, and so it's that. You know it really is individually. It's different for each of us. We really need to think about creating our own specific health journey.
Speaker 2:For sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so I have a couple quick fire questions for you, but before I get to those, my last question for you is what advice do you have for someone who's maybe recently diagnosed or struggling through their health journey that you haven't shared so far in the interview?
Speaker 2:Belief, faith, whatever you want to call it, that there is another way. Just know. Know that there is another way other than what we're being told and, if nothing else, I'm just hoping to stand as a beacon for people that they can look at me and go. Well, she can't be the anomaly because other people are doing it, so Absolutely.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I love that. I love that. I think, yeah, believe in hope and believe in yourself and your body's ability to heal itself.
Speaker 2:Exactly.
Speaker 1:So, before I get to the quickfire questions, where can listeners find you? Where can they connect with you online and, hopefully, attend some of your classes as well?
Speaker 2:Yeah, Actually I am at JosetteT J-O-S-E-T-T-E-Tcom and on Instagram at Josette T J O S E T T E Tcom and on Instagram at Josette Kasik T K A C I K. That's my husband's fault. Um, on Facebook I'm Zumba in S B. S B is in Santa Barbara. Um, and yeah, there's a library of classes and I am actually going to be sending you a link for a free class for your guests to listen to so they can, or to watch and to take. Yeah, it's a live recorded class. That I did actually as a special bonus for one of the courses I have on Daily OM, a special bonus for one of the courses I have on daily. I have a soul fire dance party on daily home, which is doing very well, but that's where they can reach me and there I answer all my DMs, so they're welcome to message me if they have any other questions as well.
Speaker 1:Love that and I'll be sure to show, share everything in the show notes just to make it as easy as possible, but I appreciate you sharing the link to the video too, because I think that's anytime we can give that resource for people to just start doing activities and encouraging people to move forward on their health journey is super important and powerful. Yes, for sure so you're ready for the quick fire? I'm ready, okay. So you're ready for the quick fire? I'm ready, okay, what is your? Yeah, they're easy, don't worry.
Speaker 2:What is your favorite or most impactful book, podcast or documentary and why Documentary called Heal H-E-A-L yeah.
Speaker 1:Yes, I was thinking about Heal the whole time I've been talking to you. Totally similar stories. Yeah, yeah, that's a great great, great documentary.
Speaker 2:Absolutely what is your best either toxin-free or eco-friendly living tip.
Speaker 1:Ooh, organic food? Yes, definitely. I actually just posted the Environmental Working Group just released their 2022 Dirty Dozen and Clean 15 list, and so I just shared that. So organic food is always the way to go, for sure, yeah, for sure, yeah. And then, lastly, what does living?
Speaker 2:consciously mean to you. Living consciously means deliberately choosing where you spend your time and your energy and curating and creating the life that you deserve and that you came here to live, with vitality and thriving and happiness and joy and health most of all, absolutely.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love that Well. Josette, thank you so much for sharing your story with us today, for all of the advice and information you shared and just making a difference in the world. So thank you very much.
Speaker 2:Thanks for having me, nika. I really appreciate it. It's a privilege, thank you.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, thank you.