Ep 433: Authenticity Unleashed: Navigating Your Path to Truth With Graham Wardle

Are you looking for a deeper connection to yourself?  Do you find yourself pondering your purpose and role in this world?  Are you interested in learning more about yourself? If so, you’re not alone!  Graham Wardle, a Canadian actor, poet and host of the Time Has Come podcast felt a calling to explore his spirituality deeper after leaving his role as Ty Borden, the husband of Amy Fleming, on Canada’s longest running television series Heartland.  In this episode of The Health Fix Podcast, Dr. Jannine Krause and Graham Wardle talk about the experience of finding your true self and how to get started on your own journey. 

Resources From The Show:

• Time Has Come Podcast
• Graham’s Books: Find Your Truth and Time Has Come
• Graham’s Website

Our Partners

Podcast Transcript

2:24 – Why Graham started “The Time Has Come Podcast”

5:39 – Reflecting on a Catholic upbringing

12:39 – Graham’s experience at a vipassana meditation retreat

15:49 – Ways to quiet the mind

17:37 – How Graham tricks his brain into being aware

20:44 – Calming effects of water

21:28 – Cold water plunge

23:55 – Mind over matter

26:44 – Listening to the signals your body is giving you

28:18 – Graham being honest with himself about relationships

33:19 – Float tank stories

50:31 – Routine for setting the tone for the day

53:45 – Benefit of playing and having fun in place of working out

60:00 – Graham talks about his book offerings

68:22 – The magic painting question

71:11 – Graham answers the magic painting question

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JANNINE: [Intro] Welcome to the Health Fix Podcast, where health junkies get their weekly

fix of tips, tools and techniques to have limitless energy, sharp minds and fit

physiques for life.

Hey health junkies! On this episode of the Health Fix Podcast, I’m interviewing

Graham Wardle. He is best known for his role on this hit TV series in Canada

known as Heartland. He’s Ty borden,  Amy’s love interest and husband. Now, since the show,

he’s been busy working on self-discovery, some growth, some empowerment, lots of things. And he

even has a podcast called The Time Has Come. And boy, is that a great podcast? We’ll be talking

about that. He’s also an author. He has two books. And he’s very well enlightened when it comes to

to spirituality and how that ties into your health,

your mental health and your wellbeing.

And today we’re gonna have a great conversation for you

on finding spirituality, what it looks like,

connecting with your higher self

and how that plays out in different types of things

from float tanks to meditation to silent meditations

and more.

It’s a great podcast, you guys are gonna love it.

Let’s introduce you to Graham Wardle.

Hey, health junkies.

I have Graham Wardle on today,

and I’m so excited to have him on

because my husband and I are huge fans of his podcast.

Time Has Come, you know, he’s got two books.

So many things, we’ll talk about it today,

but really just wanted to say thank you so much, Graham,

for coming on and chatting with me today.

GRAHAM: I’m excited to be here, Jannine.

Thanks for having me on.

JANNINE: Hey, my pleasure.

So, you know, it’s funny.

We came to get to know you, you know,

over the years watching different TV shows, of course,

but really when the pandemic hit

And you started your podcast, my husband was like,

did you have to listen to Graham’s podcast?

He’s really saying things that we can resonate with

because really, honestly, my husband had resumes somewhat

prior to the pandemic and really started to realize,

like, oh, wow, we’re more than just who we are.

And we started our self discovery

and all the things, spirituality.

So of course, my first question always has to be,

what, why was the time has come?

Give us a scoop between the time coming.

Why was it the right time to start a podcast?

What was going on?

GRAHAM: For me, why did I start a podcast?

I was going through a major shift in my life, a chapter change.

I was leaving the job of working on a television show

for 14 years, the longest running Canadian one hour drama

in our history here.

It was top five on Netflix during the pandemic.

So it was a very popular show with a lot of people,

but in my heart, I felt this calling to move on,

and I’m very grateful for the opportunity,

and I learned so much, and it was major development

for me to be a part of that show,

but I just felt like the time had come to move on,

and that just, that name came to me.

I was in a meditation, actually,

and I was going through separation at the time

for my previous marriage there,

and leaving the show, and just sort of recalculating,

recalibrating my life.

I had a little health scare, thought I might have cancer,

And so all these things were culminated to me kind of getting quiet and being present

with myself, and then in that silence, this name just popped into my head, which is the

time has come.

And I just kind of was like, okay, what is that?

And then I just got this feeling a little bit of excitement, but it was grounded.

And it was like this sort of idea of a podcast and I was like, okay, sure.

So that’s, that’s where the podcast came from.

And it just, it was looking back now, I have more context and perspective that it was really

about God or the universe or however you see that, giving me the next step into

developing myself and where I needed to grow. And for me, it was about finding my

voice and finding more of my integrity, stepping out into that, embracing that,

and sharing that with the world, and inviting others along that journey of

asking yourself, getting present, getting quiet, what is the time come for in my

life? Where am I just not acknowledging the growth that needs to be embraced? So

So that’s that’s the inspiration behind it.

That’s where it came from.

And it’s something I’m very passionate about because I feel like all the answers to life’s

questions and to the things that we need in this moment are there waiting for us.

Our job is to get quiet, to listen, and then to have the courage and the faith to take

that step.

JANNINE: So huge, so huge.

And it was a timely message for myself, of course, and my husband, because we were really

trying to figure ourselves out at that moment, you know, things that shut down.

We’re like, what do we do?

And as a doc, I was like, oh, wow, there’s, there’s more to this medicine thing.

And I was starting to realize that, you know, I’m not getting results with folks like I

wanted to.

And of course, I went down the path with like, oh, I’m the worst doc ever, I suck, you know,

this is terrible.

And, and really started to, you know, think about like there, there’s got to be something

else to, to humans and, and getting quiet and really figuring ourselves out.

And of course, the pandemic gave us time to, to really get quiet.

So, you know, I look at your experience starting the podcast and I’ve listened to of course

a lot of your podcasts and one of the one things that really struck me was that you mentioned

your history of growing up Catholic.

I myself grew up Catholic and like there’s a lot of mind stuff that goes along with growing

up a Catholic.

Did you find that like how you grew up just kind of form this like weird, you know, spirituality

connection of sorts that you’re like, I don’t know if I resonate with that.

Give us this.

GRAHAM: Yeah.

to hear yours as well, Jannine, because this is a fascinating chat with chat with people

about that. For me, I grew up going to church. My parents would always take us to church.

I have five brothers and sisters, so we’d all go to church, sit in the pews, do the kneeling,

sitting, kneeling, standing, singing. And I remember not understanding much of it. And

just being like, well, my parents are very focused on this. This means something to them.

So there must be something here. And so I didn’t understand the stories or what the

priest was saying, but I just sort of made up my own sort of meaning to it, which was

be a good person. And exploring what does that mean to be a good person? And to me, that was

in the heart to feeling good inside. So that was my younger sort of understanding of faith and

religion and Catholicism. And then as I got older, did the confirmation and all the different sacraments

there, and it was interesting. And then as I got older, I developed my own path and found my own,

I would call it relationship to God. And that became primary to overtop of following certain

rules or following certain traditions. To me, it was about my personal relationship with

how I see God, whatever that word you want to use, divine and higher power. And that, to me,

became primary as the most important thing and that’s what I encourage and I share with

people that on my podcast and on my network as well is that I don’t care what your spiritual

belief is. I just want to support you in growing stronger with that and going down that path

to get a deeper connection. However you see that whatever language you use and I’ve had

many conversations with my parents specifically my mom who has a very strong faith and I love

chatting with her about her faith, because she still goes to church. And what I love about it

is that she’s open to having conversations, and she doesn’t take offense to it or get defensive.

She genuinely wants to grow closer to God. And so I’ve always respected the fact about her,

even though we don’t have the same path anymore. I feel to me, in my heart, we’re in the same place.

We’re both pursuing that in our own way and I respect that about her and I respect her

her journey and I love we have sometimes two hour conversations just about God and I remember

we had this one conversation about learning life’s lessons and how if you don’t learn the lessons

she said I was having this question conversation with her and I said well if you don’t learn the

lesson in this life and you die and do you still get to go into heaven and she was saying well

from my understanding there’s purgatory and you have to learn the lessons there and

And I was like, “Oh, interesting. Okay.” So I said, “Well, then, why learn any lessons here on Earth if we can learn them all in purgatory?”

Like, what would be the point then of learning them here? Can’t we just kind of like charge them to our credit card and do them later kind of thing?

And I think this was in the context of having multiple lives or the idea of having, yeah, multiple lives.

And anyways, it was a great conversation. I read a book by Dr. Brian Weiss, many lives, many masters, and it was this guy, I think it was a psychologist who

what was dealing with people didn’t believe in past lives and then started doing some sort of like hypnosis or regression where he could take him back to the childhood and maybe

you know call up a memory of where some trauma happened to help to deal with it and then the people started regressing into past lives and giving details of

specifics of a certain time period that there’s no way they could have known this

and he was cross referencing and checking with these people and he

didn’t want to tell anybody anyways it’s a great book

and so it fascinated me and that sort of led me down this path of like

Yeah, like in life, if we don’t learn a lesson, we can’t ever escape, but I’ve never been

able to escape something in my life.

And I feel like that’s a part of our journey is embracing this lesson, embracing this sacred

moment of now and what we’re being given to step into.

And it’s not like when you die, it’s just like, oh, all those lessons, if you didn’t

complete them, they just go away.

I feel like that’s the point of being alive is to grow and to expand and to love and to give

your gifts. And it’s ongoing and forever. I can’t prove that, but I love it. And it’s a great idea,

at least because it makes me fuller into this moment and more appreciative of this moment and

the gifts that I’ve been given and the challenges that I’ve been given. So that’s kind of my spiritual

background now and how I’ve sort of appreciated my upbringing in Catholicism and going to church

and the conversations with my mom and just kind of diving deeper into this.

So curious for you, Jannine, what was your journey? Are you still Catholic? Are you still practicing?

JANNINE: No, no, I have diverted. You know, it’s kind of like you said, like the get up, sit down, kneel.

I was like, I used to call it morning exercise and not the kind of exercise I was really interested in.

No, you know, we’re on and myself, you know, I bring my husband up only because he and I are

on this journey together. And like really, it’s come to look for that bigger meaning,

right? That bigger purpose of how I can contribute to this world because I do same thing, you know,

like be a good person. But how can I serve, right? How can I give the world something, right?

And so I went from the Catholic like get up, sit down and be like, Oh my God, this is terrible,

you know, and no offense to any Catholics out there. I mean, I get it. You have like that,

like your mom, right? Your two hour conversations, beautiful conversations with my mother-in-law

about things. But at the same time, what got me in school was, I would always be told,

you got to have faith. And I’m like, explain this thing to me, you faith, you know? And so I kind

of got a little burnt on it until I realized I had to figure it out for myself, leading into

the journey, right? Figuring these things out and never again. Yeah, it’s so crazy.

GRAHAM: Yeah. And that’s, that’s what I think is beautiful. And to me, that’s what

But that’s the reason I feel so connected to it is that I, it’s my responsibility and

my journey and my relationship and that there’s no box that I’m ticking that says, well, you

know, I’m going to get to heaven because I’ve done these five things.

It’s an internal honesty with myself and I can feel it.

It’s in there.

And I know when I’m out of alignment with that higher power or God, because I can feel

it and it’s like developing that sort of uh uh sensitivity to to what’s going on internally

that I think is far better than looking to an authority to tell you oh like you’re good you’re

bad you’re right you’re wrong it’s like and I’m not saying you just chase your pleasures and you

you know do whatever feels good in that sense I’m saying when you get quiet and you get honest

and present with yourself you’ll know and so many of us myself included have a difficult time sometimes

getting quiet and being honest. It’s a simple thing, but it’s not easy when, you know, being

honest with yourself and going, ah, actually I can feel it deep down. I’m hurting somebody else,

or I’m hurting myself, or I’m chasing something because I think that’s going to make me happy.

And if I get quiet and I just listen, it will reveal itself to me. I went to a,

you know what? Vipassana, the meditation retreats, have you ever heard of those before?

JANNINE: I have, yeah, yeah, I’ve never been to one.

Enlighten us.

GRAHAM: Silence, you just sit in silence for 10 days

and you go through meditation,

exercises of body scans and whatnot.

And so for 10 days, you don’t talk to anybody,

with other people though,

the men and the women are separate,

but you all meditate in the same room together,

but then for eating and for sleeping,

you go and go to your own quarters.

And then you don’t read books, you don’t have cell phones,

you don’t exercise, you don’t look people in the eyes,

You don’t talk, you just do nothing, but be present.

And at first, I just thought it would be like,

oh, this is a cool challenge.

Like let’s see if I could do it.

And it showed me so much about myself Jannine.

And what I realized was that everything,

is there waiting, like I said earlier,

is waiting for us to acknowledge,

to appreciate all the insights

and the lessons of what we need.

is always here in this moment, we’re just so distracted.

We’re just so consumed with stimulus and things going on

that we don’t take the time to slow down and listen.

And so in that 10 days, I really struggled to slow down.

Took me a long time, but then once the sort of RPMs

of my mind kind of went to this nice, smooth thing,

it’s just like the radio signal gets super clear.

There’s no more static.

And it’s just like, ooh, I want to do it again.

I’ve been saying this for a while and I’ve had people share it with me

That they’ve done it recently and they quite enjoyed it and there’s I think there’s a place in Oregon called the Dark Cave

Retreats, I think it is and it’s like same idea, but you you have a blindfold on and so it’s like darkness you do for like days

But it’s the same idea. It’s just going to silence going to stillness going into that sort of emptiness of space and

And being present with what comes up and I think that’s a very powerful place and

And the more I’m able to appreciate that, acknowledge it and make space for it, make

time for it, the richer my life is, and then the more just unnecessary BS I feel we can

avoid because we’re present.

And it’s like we get those signs, you know, we get those little like, hey, maybe you should

go this way.

But we ignore it because we’re like, oh, but I want to, but I want to go this way, you

know?

So in that silence, I feel we’re always being guided

and given what we need to steer our lives

into more fulfilling and nourishing and healthy way.

It’s just, it’s a process of listening.

JANNINE: Oh my gosh.

And that’s the, I mean, I feel like that’s the hardest part

for everyone once they start to get in this and be like,

okay, you know, how do I get these downloads

from the universe?

Like I can’t even meditate for a time and it’s God,

how do I do, what do I do?

GRAHAM: Yeah, but some people, I think, you know, for me,

sometimes it’s just going for a walk.

I can get clarity for going for a walk

or even writing motorcycles.

There’s a clarity that comes because your mind is similar

to a mantra when meditation on a motorcycle,

your mind is preoccupied with keeping you alive.

So there’s this element of like staying vigilant on a bike.

And then once you get that under control,

then there’s this serenity that kind of rises up

because the mind is preoccupied enough

that you can’t really do too much crazy thinking.

And then you sort of go into this flow state

of just being present and aware.

So similar to a meditation, obviously different,

but it has similarities in terms of just opening up

to these downloads.

So how do you download Jannine?

You do meditation or you a big meditator?

JANNINE: You know, that’s one of the things

I have to be active and meditate.

So rock climbing is one–

GRAHAM: Okay 

JANNINE: Biking. Yeah, I’ve got to do those kind of things because otherwise just laying there and trying to shut my brain off

I I can only do it if I float like a float tank or like you were saying like complete darkness

Or someone puts me in a space like I was thinking when you were mentioning like the retreat that you were on

I was thinking about Halcyon hot springs in BC

We were there for like two weeks and that was the only time like the last time that I’ve actually disconnected and just like

completely been quiet. I’m like, I have to do things for some crazy reason.

GRAHAM: So when you sit to meditate, what happens? What’s your, what’s your,

what’s going on? It’s just too many thoughts. He can’t sit still.

JANNINE: I’ll make lists. I will make lists of every single person I have to call every

single patient that I’m like, what, I’m working on their stuff in my head.

And I’m like, I’m gonna do that. I’m gonna do this. Yeah.

Does that happen to you? Am I the only one? 

GRAHAM: Oh, yeah. All the time, all the time.

And then I go like, my trick, my trick with my brain, um, is I go, Oh,

“You can think about that if you want.

“I’m just gonna stay aware.”

And my brain goes, “But I want you to join me

“in this thought.”

Like, “Fine, I don’t wanna think about that anymore.”

Let me try and come up with something new to distract you.

And then it’ll come up with really urgent

and important, like, you gotta think about this

’cause like you said, I gotta call this person back

or whatever.

Now, sometimes I’ll have to actually write something down.

I’ll have to make that note.

Very rarely is it that urgent.

But that’s my sort of trick is I just, I just,

like a child wanting my attention.

That’s how I sort of see my brain.

I love my brain, I love the thoughts,

I love what it does for me,

but when I’m sitting in quiet

and it tries to distract me with listen stuff,

I just kind of take that step back and go like,

that’s cool, you can think about that if you want.

I’m just gonna watch, I’m just gonna stay present.

That’s all, just very gentle.

Like it’s a very gentle playful thing

’cause if I get too pushy with it,

like it’s, you know what I’m saying?

Like it just makes it worse, keeps it going.

JANNINE: It makes sense.

I’m gonna have to, I’m gonna have to try that out

because man, I just end up,

I do a little bit too much aggressive back, like stop, stop.

GRAHAM: Yeah, it doesn’t work.

JANNINE: No.

GRAHAM: I think it was Alan Watts who was talking about this

and he said something about smoothing the waves

or the ripples of the water or the pond of your mind.

It’s like, you can’t do that.

Like, you know, the thoughts are like the ripples

and if you try and get your hand and smooth them all out,

you just create more.

And it’s like this, it’s this like zen-like thing

it’s your mind wants to fix everything and accomplish meditation of like something you can,

you know, do, I’m doing it. It’s like, no, it’s actually the opposite of that. It’s just

of relaxing and letting go and the less you sort of feed into the thoughts, you just allow them,

it’s okay. You can think about that if you want, that’s my practice. Then it kind of naturally kind

of goes, oh, okay, well, all right. And then it’ll spike up again. Okay, all right. And for some

some people, it’s like, well, that’s boring, like why do that? And, and I’m like, yeah, it is boring.

But then after the boredom comes a deep peace and groundedness and sense of just being okay. And

that to me is a very powerful place to live from. And whether it be exercising or meditating,

getting to that flow state of just being okay with being alive and in this moment.

With everything that’s going on in the world sometimes or in your own personal life, that is

is a true blessing and a gift

to be able to get to that place.

So for everyone, it’s different,

but I enjoy meditation and I enjoy just walking,

even showers too, like a good hot shower.

I don’t know about you, but a good hot shower.

I can just really clear my head.

(laughing)

JANNINE: Yeah, when no one can get me by the phone,

like the other thing,

this is like the weirdest thing for me is airplanes.

I don’t know what it is about airplane.

I am just like so focused and on point,

and there’s like no one’s bothering me.

I make sure I sit by the window, you know,

no one’s crawling over me.

So yeah, it’s one of those things though.

It’s truly like it’s the shower.

Oh, yeah, I agree.

GRAHAM: It’s a calming thing.

I think there’s something about the water too

that like pulling off all the positive ions,

kind of like from the negative ions of the water,

something like that.

I can’t remember what the science is behind it,

but there was something about like grounding effect

of being in water that like helps sort of like

calibrate you.

similar like jumping in the ocean too that love that just as a reset kind of

thing is get yourself grounded again or feet on the earth you know get your

feet actually on the earth that’s another great one just gonna get grounded I

think that’s important for everybody 

JANNINE: Oh absolutely absolutely so speaking of

water and speaking of jumping in the ocean do you just do you jump in do you

do you jump into the cold waters like do you do cold plunging do you do are you

more like I got to have a little bit more like Caribbean or warm style water

water. Like what’s your thing? 

GRAHAM: I prefer, obviously, it’s much more enjoyable to jump

into hot water, but I have some friends here in Alberta where I’m at right now, and they’re

all about the cold plunges. So we did, we did a Russian sauna, I think it was called

a banya or a banya. And so we did the sauna, the sauna outside, and then we went and jumped

in the ice cold river and got out and laid on the sand. So I like those type of practices.

I’ve done the Wim Hof stuff.

So the ice baths and he Wim Hof came to Vancouver

and I did one of his workshops and that was fun.

I enjoy the cold plunging for the mental challenge

and the physical benefits are, you feel great after.

But I haven’t done one probably in a month,

I think it was the last time I did one.

Cold showers, but those don’t really,

so it’s not as cold as like ice baths

or like, you know, jumping in the river or the ocean.

But yeah, it’s probably been about a month.

Are you a regular cold plunger yourself?

JANNINE: I’m not.

I’m one of those people like,

I’ll turn it up a little bit in the shower,

but I feel like, you know, when I’m in control,

I won’t like torture myself.

GRAHAM: Yeah, right.

JANNINE: As much.

I’m like, I’m gonna judge just a little bit.

But yeah, and the cold plunge thing, you know, I’m more,

I’m kind of weird, like, I don’t like the cold water,

but I will go outside when it’s really cold

because part of the time I live in Wisconsin,

And so I’ll get in like the frigid cold

and just go for a walk or a cross country ski.

And there’s something about that,

that I don’t mind that cold,

but submerging myself in cold waters hard.

So hard.

GRAHAM: Yeah, and some people do it for way too long too.

I can’t remember, I was seeing some studies somewhere.

Maybe it was a video on Instagram.

Someone was talking about these people

that do extreme lengths of cold

and your body not being prepared for it

or they’re being side effects to it.

So I know there’s lots of opinions

on how much health benefit is it?

Is it just a lot of adrenaline rush and the brown fat

and all these different things?

I don’t know.

I pay attention to my body and I challenge it

as best I can and then I listen to it.

So I think there’s a healthy balance

because speaking, actually going back

to that meditation retreat, one of the things was,

you know, being, they were talking about people getting

itches ’cause a lot of times you’re sitting still

for an hour, two hours and you get these itches

they gotta move, right?

And so they were saying like,

just allow the itch to be there, just observe it.

I was like, oh my God, this is really hard.

One of the things that came up was my knee,

I was sitting across the legged and my knee

was really uncomfortable and it was in a lot of pain.

And so I was like, well, they said,

just watch the sensation, I’ll just be with it.

So I was like, okay.

And it started getting really, really painful.

And I was like, okay.

And I sort of transcended the pain.

And it was this sort of beautiful thing of like,

oh, the pain doesn’t control me.

And that was, I was like, oh, wow, I’m like figuring it out

and I’m learning and I’m becoming more enlightened

or whatever.

And then that night I couldn’t sleep.

My knee was in so much pain.

I had ripped some tendon or injured myself.

JANNINE: Oh, wow.

GRAHAM: And so it was a good lesson of like the body

is giving you signals and you need to be aware of them.

Don’t be ruled by them, but understand the significance

of the signals your body is giving you

and learn to listen and work with them for what it needs.

So that’s kind of my methodology when I approach

health regimens and different exercises

and trends that are going on,

is I understand that I can’t let my body run the show.

Like, oh, I don’t want to be cold.

Like, you know, I don’t want to work out

’cause it’s hard instead of like,

instead listen to my body what it’s going through,

but also work with my body to push it,

to strengthen it, to push it to be uncomfortable.

But then also know when it’s time to take a break.

Like when I was in the sauna of the other day with my friends,

I was like, I was like, all right, guys, it was round two.

And I was like, I gotta, I gotta take a break, man.

I can’t take this anywhere.

And I’m like, just sit lower and you’ll, it’ll be cooler.

And I was like, yeah, I can do that.

Like my body doesn’t want to.

My body’s like scared and stuff.

And I was like, no, I think we can work together.

I’m gonna sit a bit lower.

And I made it.

I’m glad I stayed in cause it was great.

So it’s like this balance between the two

that I think is necessary.

And you know, there’s people on both sides.

It’s like, you should just listen to your body

and you should, you should just, you know,

whip your body into a slave state and tell it what to do.

and I’m like, I think there’s a marriage between the both.

I think there’s a happy medium that each and every woman

needs to find for themselves.

So.

JANNINE: I like the philosophy.

I mean, obviously as a doc, I deal with folks

as an acupuncturist, too.

I deal with folks that have a lot of chronic pain

and trying to figure out what’s pushing yourself too far,

what’s a good amount of push.

Because I do, honestly, I agree with you

that we don’t push ourselves.

Helpfully, let’s put it that way, enough.

’cause I think that we can endure a lot of things

that we aren’t gonna hurt us.

They’re gonna make us stronger.

And so it’s that happy balance of feeling things.

And I noted that one point you had mentioned something

like feeling something in your brain versus your bones.

Would you like give us a little bit more,

like you were talking about how you came down from

down below in the sauna, what was going through your head?

Like in terms of like, no, I need to get out of here.

Like what was the dialogue in your head

you’re like, I’m going to try this out. I’m going to try this.

GRAHAM: So I was like, I was kind of going into the, my mind was spinning. So my mind was like, you’re

really hot. You know, these guys that you’re with have done this before, you haven’t done this

before, you might hurt yourself, you need to be careful. So there’s these sort of like warning

bells going off. And I was like, okay, Graham, just calm down. I was like, just assess the reality

as opposed to getting stuck in the thoughts. So I was like, okay, I’m gonna be okay. And then

in my sort of… it’s a deeper knowing and I’ll talk and I’ll tell another story of how I got to

that but I’ve developed this sort of deeper knowing and the deeper knowing was like you need to be

a little bit cooler you’re a little too hot and it was I was like okay so then I was like

in my mind the only option was to get out I didn’t think about getting lower in the sauna

so I didn’t want to leave though because I wanted to be with my buddies and I wanted to

do the challenge and I didn’t want to you know tap out so I was really trying to push myself

and then I got to that point of remembering the lesson that meditation retreat of like you could

hurt yourself. So you need to listen to these signals and work with them. So then I was like,

okay, well, I said out loud. Okay, guys, I got to step out for this one. It’s a little too hot.

And then the facilitator said, Oh, okay. He says, well, or you could just try and sit by the door,

if you like, you can get a bit lower. And I won’t smack you with the branches, because there’s this

Russian thing where they snacking with these branches. I was like, okay, good. So I sat by the door

ready to get out if I needed to. And so it’s that to me was the process of not letting this

thing run the show, but listening to what the signs my body was telling me. And then the other

story I wanted to share was after that 10 day meditation retreat years ago, I was in a relationship

at the time. And it was after the retreat actually, and I was on a Greyhound bus going home. And it

It was like clear as day, this deeper knowing

of the relationship I’m in isn’t over.

And it made me so angry

because I cared about this woman.

I loved her and I wanted to be with her.

But in the deeper knowing in my being,

it was just through this silence,

it was revealed to me that this isn’t the path.

This isn’t the woman that I’m meant to be with,

that I’m supposed to be with.

And if I was really honest with myself,

I didn’t want to be with her in the long term,

in the short term, yes, I loved her.

and we were having fun and it was great to get to know her

and blessings to her.

But I hadn’t made the decision in my mind.

It was a deeper knowing.

And then so when that knowing came up,

it made me very angry ’cause my mind

wanted to control over everything.

It wanted to say what was what.

And it didn’t want to just be with and surrender to

the reality of what was being presented to me in the moment.

And so I fought it and I suppressed it and beautiful.

This is what I love about women.

they know, they know they have a much stronger intuition. And so

when I got back and I saw her immediately, the energy was

different. And it was like an intuitive level, she knew that

I had tuned into this. And she was in a way almost ready to be

like a, you know, peaceful sort of like, okay, like, you know,

we’ll go our separate ways. But I was so adamant that no, I

want to be with you know, I want us to do together. And so it

went another two months or so I can’t remember how many months

it was after that. But I remember shortly after that, then we

split. And it was it was a good lesson for me to, I’ve had many of them in my life, to be open to

and surrender to what is being revealed in that stillness and in that silence. However hard it may

be for the mind to accept that truth, that presence is always flowing through us. You know, whether or

not we’re willing to accept it, it’s there for us. And it’s it’s always steering us in a way that

is for the betterment of ourselves and others, because the truth is always that way. It may

be difficult, but it is the path forward that is the most sustainable. So that to me is

a deeper knowing now is it comes from a stillness. So sometimes the mind is really loud and

the sauna, it’s like, oh, you’re going to die and all these things are going to happen.

Oh my God, what are they going to think of you? If you leave and you should stay, but

if you stay, it’s like that’s all the noise, right? But then the deeper process is just

It’s it’s not in my belly, but it’s like like I when I was on that bus coming home for the meditation retreat.

The reason it made me so angry is because it was it was just a knowing like it was through my whole being and I never experienced a knowing like that before.

It wasn’t like I know the sky is blue.

It was I don’t know how else it’s like how you know you enjoy something like you you know you love rock climbing like no one can tell you you don’t love it.

you’re like, no, I love it. You just know it, right? 

JANNINE: Right. 

GRAHAM: It’s like that type of knowing.

So your whole being, this is the way it is. And when you get that immediately in an instant

for something that you didn’t want to prepare for, it’s very jarring and very disorienting.

And that’s where I think the faith and surrender element comes in of,

you know, are you willing to have the courage and the faith and the surrender to step into

this and explore where is this going to lead me? I don’t know. Like, that’s a beautiful path to take.

JANNINE: It’s scary and yeah, and beautiful at the same time. I think so many people often get stuck in

the knowing and they don’t take action. And I think that’s where some illness might come from.

I truly believe that. 

GRAHAM: Totally. Totally. I, yeah, I love what your, your mission is and how you,

you’re, you’re bringing those two worlds together of understanding both of them because they are

linked. And in my life, I’ve had health scares. And I know that they are linked to the ways in

which I have shut down, suppressed things, ignored the spiritual journey. And so the body sort of

produces this result, this symptom, that’s a reflection of what’s going on internally. And

a lot of the times it is dealing with those issues. And then those things, you know, with good

nutrition and good hydration, because I often forget to drink water, they kind of clear themselves

up and they work themselves out. Um, you know, obviously there are certain times you get food

poisoning or whatnot. Um, other diseases and things that happen, but, uh, I have found a lot

of my health ailments and symptoms have been a byproduct of the inner world being misaligned.

JANNINE: Yeah, it’s so, I mean, we are such, we have such infinite intelligence within our bodies.

It blows my mind every single day, like with what I see with, with clients and patients,

you know and and just talking to you and hearing your stories like one of the ones that I found

so interesting was your float tank story when you were talking about like the cosmic love and like

how you’re like I– I want to tell us about it because I had like the craziest float tank experience ever

the first time I did it but I want to do it too oh like insane I I literally I went to another

dimension. I found the portal to somewhere. It was crazy. It’s crazy.

GRAHAM: Do you have you shared this before on your podcast?

JANNINE: I have not. I actually didn’t even tell anybody other than because I don’t think I had words

for it. Maybe I do now, but I was like, I was more stone than I’ve ever been stoned

in my life, but it was like I saw colors. I saw lights. I was like flying. Like I turned

into a bird. It was wild, but I had like this view of the earth and I was like a bird and

And then like somehow I got into a rocket ship crazy.

GRAHAM: And then what happened?

JANNINE: Then I came back and then I was bummed, I was so bummed.

But yeah, I went for this like crazy trip

and it just showed me like,

I felt like I am so much bigger than the earth.

That’s like the takeaway I had from it.

It was like I instantly like turned into a bird

and I was like flying over the mountains and like soaring.

It was kind of like those people with those suits.

GRAHAM: Wing suits?

JANNINE: Yeah, yeah. – Yes.

And then after that, then I turned into a rocket ship.

So I don’t know, but like I said, it was the most,

like, oh my God, there’s more,

there’s more to this world than just me, you know,

and being here present.

So that’s what I got out of it.

So when I heard your star, I was like, ooh, yeah.

There’s something to these float tanks.

GRAHAM: So have you been back, are you a regular floater?

Do you do that often?

JANNINE: You know, now that I moved from Washington State,

I don’t, but I did go back a few times after that,

’cause it was just like, I guess the bummer for me was

is that I couldn’t get that same experience.

I was like, I want that same exact experience.

And I couldn’t get it.

So I was like, what was here, right?

GRAHAM: Yeah, same here.

That’s the same thing that I had a great first experience.

And all my subsequent experiences have been good as well,

but nothing compared to the first one.

I think to me, the lesson I’ve taken from that was

you can’t go back.

You can’t ever try and recreate the past.

that was sacred and special and beautiful for that moment. And by trying to do that,

you’re robbing yourself of the gift of being surprised in this moment with what you need now.

And that’s been a difficult one because I’ve always wanted to re-experience my first

flow as well. It was fantastic. So yeah, I can share the story if you’d like.

JANNINE: Yeah, do it. Because I mean, I really, yeah, I want to ask questions. So go for it.

GRAHAM: Okay. So, so I heard about float tanks from Joe Rogan on the podcast and I wanted to do it,

but there was none in Canada at the time. So I, you know, sat my bathtub for 20 minutes and

then I was like, okay, is this kind of what it’s like? I don’t know. Like this is kind of boring.

And then the next time I was like, I’m gonna try to again, because I think Joe Rogan said he does

it for like an hour and a half. So I want to try and get to an hour and a half. So I got to like

40 minutes and I was like, okay, this is, this is stupid. I don’t, whatever. Time goes by and I

found, maybe it was like a Craigslist ad or something. I can’t remember how I found it,

but some guy in Vancouver, British Columbia in Canada, in North Vancouver, he had an apartment

and he bought one of these tanks and he was letting people come in and use it. So he posted

some Craigslist ad or something on Facebook or whatever it was and said, “You know, come in and

flow.” So I was like, “Oh, okay.” So I messaged him and I go to his apartment, you know, some regular

guy, like, you know, seemed cool. And so he’s like, all right,

here’s the tank. It was in one of those samadhi tanks and it’s

kind of like a long square, you know, box, kind of like a big

coffin kind of thing. And he says, here’s the tank, you know,

shower first, and you get in the water and, you know, do

your thing. And I was like, Okay, cool. And then the last thing

he says to me before he leaves, he shuts the door was like,

something along the lines of like watch out for the aliens or

like heads up or something about the like other beings or

or something out there.

And I was like, ha, that’s funny.

(laughs)

Like cool.

And then, so I get in the tank, do my shower

and then I get in the tank and I’m laying there

and kind of go through a similar process

when I was in the bathtub.

I’m like, okay, is this it?

Like, is this what I’m supposed to do?

Like weird salts, like kind of like floating

is a very unusual experience.

And so the mind starts going, you don’t need to do this.

You should get out like, are you getting a drown?

Like what’s, you know, this is stupid.

So I’m about to get up and get out and be like,

ah, it was a write off, like this was stupid.

I don’t know what this is all about.

And just before I got up, this other part of my being,

which was much more grounded and like secure,

it just felt more fatherly, said to me,

you waited a year and a half to do this.

Are you gonna get out now?

There was no judgment.

It was just like, is this what you wanna do?

And it was also within that offering, what if you stay?

And so I went, oh, yeah, okay.

All right, but then my mind was like,

well, what if you, are you safe?

Like, are you gonna drown?

Like, and then the other part was like, you’re okay.

You won’t drown, you’re safe.

And I took a deep breath.

And I took another deep breath.

And then I slowly started to slow down

and then very slowly, it happened all at once.

It wasn’t like I did it consciously.

It was just by me slowing down

and surrendering, it happened like a natural thing.

My body just dissolved, it was like I was disappearing.

And then I gently kind of was out of my body

and I was floating above this float tank

as like a spirit or something, I don’t really know.

And I was floating above it

and then there was another being beside me

just out to my left and then there was two across from me.

And I was immediately within a conversation,

we were all discussing what we were gonna work on

and the time that we had.

Like I was like a movie scene. You just kind of pop into it.

And so I was listening and people were, you know,

there were people, whatever they were, we’re talking.

And I said, I kind of interjected and I said,

I think we should focus on one thing and just get that done because so much time.

And the others agreed. And so we were deciding which one we were going to work on.

And I moved my attention back to the tank of the subject that we were going to be

working on. And I was like, oh, there’s a tank. Who is in the tank?

Like what is the thing that we’re working on in the tank?

And before I could be like, that’s me,

but I’m not in there.

It was like I reached for that thought.

And as soon as I touched it, I was back in the tank.

And I woke up, but it wasn’t like waking up from a dream.

It was like being shot back into my body.

Like very, very not violently, but quickly.

And it was disorienting and jarring.

And I started to cry because I was scared,

because I was like, I don’t know what just happened.

And, you know, you’re sitting in this dark tank

and, you know, water and it’s very unusual.

So once I got my bearings, I was like,

oh, right, I’m in a float tank.

Like, whoa, like what just happened?

Very different than waking up from a dream

and being like, whoa, that dream was so real.

Like that was so like very different.

I’ve never experienced that type of reality shift,

but I knew I wanted to go back.

So I laid myself back down in the water,

practice the breathing, and then I think it was Joe Rogan, or maybe something else I had heard.

Someone talked about this mantra, and no, it wasn’t Joe Rogan, it was something else,

but effectively the mantra was, “Relax, let go and be open.”

And so that was what I told myself, “Relax, let go and be open.”

And it was maybe 10, 15 seconds of that, slowing my breathing down,

and pulled the kind of like the lever again, or whatever, it triggered something, and I disappeared.

And this time, I’m going to do my best to use the language that I have, but it’s difficult because

it wasn’t Graham, but I’m going to use the word “I” because it’s the best I have. I became love.

I became this all-pervading love that stretches on for eternity, always has been and always will be.

Some people call it the source. I call it like this cosmic love. It is what everything is made

of to varying degrees. At least that was the experience that I had. And it was the most beautiful

thing. It was the most obvious thing. That was also a part of the beauty was, well, of course,

it’s this way. Everything is love. It is all made of this energy. And it was I it’s the most

significant event experience I’ve had in my life because it brought me back to how I see the truth

of this reality is it is all for the expansion of this conscious love, this cosmic love to grow

and to expand and to experience. And I had this wonderful experience with it where

I moved into it. It was stretching out through an entire cosmos of space and time and then I could

I could become a tree, a mountain, a bug, a little tiny rock, a flower. It was just anything that

the attention went to, it was like boom and the life burst out of it and I was a part of that.

It was wonderful. And so I went through that and then I rested in this space of love and the

idea or thing came up to me was well where is this thing called Graham? Like what is this idea of

Graham? And so it was like kind of like I put it into like a cosmic computer I was like what

is Graham and then the cosmic love thing was like oh Graham and it shifted and everything

and it went and it started focusing very very small on this the smallest thing it was like

that’s Graham that little body down on that planet way down there

and I was like oh and as I brought my attention to that little spot it was like a cosmic I

I call it like a giant bathtub, just sort of like a plug being pulled and all this massive love and experience of this was being squeezed and shrunk down through this little portal into that body, and that was excruciating.

It was just this pressurized squeezing with all these emotions and things.

It was very uncomfortable, and then boom, back in my body, I went, came back, and I just sat in the tank and cried for maybe 20 minutes of just in awe of this experience and not having any context for it.

I hadn’t taken any drugs, I hadn’t done anything unusual other than just slowing my breathing down and getting in the tank of water with salt.

So it was very like, I don’t have an understanding of why this happened and how what it means.

So then I was sitting there just kind of like trying to process this all and digest it.

And the guy comes and he knocks on the side of the tank. And that was the cue to like,

you know, your time’s up, knock back if you hear me. So I knocked back and he left and

I got out showered and I was ready to come out and talk to him and be like, Mike, like,

you’ll never guess what happened like this blah blah but he was on the phone and he’s like

I come out of the room and he goes yeah I’m on the phone he says I’ll talk to you later

so just like let yourself out kind of thing because he was busy with some call or something

and I was like oh I don’t know if I’m ready for the real world but like okay so I walk outside and

went sat on the um on the grass in the field there and watched this little boy and his mom and

and the boy was playing with a little toy truck or something he’s just having fun in the sun

And it was a beautiful sort of like reminder that you can have these wonderful transformative

experiences and to come back to reality of just enjoy this moment and don’t forget to have fun

and play and move forward. So that was my first float experience. And ever since then,

I have wanted to, every time I get in a float tank, I’m like, oh, maybe I can go back.

But I haven’t. But it’s something I’ve never forgotten. And it’s something that I am

constantly reminded of under stress or under circumstances where life is dark or difficult.

I go back to that experience and I remember what we all come from, at least from my own

understanding and perspective. This beautiful love that pervades all that always will be and

always has been. And to me it’s the same thing that I feel is guiding us to the truth,

there’s always waiting for us to open to it. So, that’s my float experience.

JANNINE: It’s so cool. I’m bummed that he was on the phone though. I was wanting to know,

like what did you say to this dude after? You feel like, I don’t know, let me tell you this.

When I do acupuncture on folks, a lot of times emotions come up. Have you read acupuncture?

GRAHAM: Once, I think. I have a phobia of needles, so it’s really hard for me to do.

JANNINE: Oh man, like I here. Yeah, here. It’s not for everybody. But what will happen often is like

people will have like an experience like the float tank with the needles in. And you know,

we take the needles out and I can tell you that they’ve been crying or they’re just like,

where am I? And so I love to be able to sit down and be like, so, you know, what happened,

tell me about it, you know, and give them that closure because, and I didn’t do that before

the float tank because I had a similar experience. I came out of the float tank,

the, the gal in the front of the place was just kind of doing her thing.

She’s like, you know, you see you, you got a three pack.

We’ll see you in a week or whatever, you know, right.

You’re looking, you’re probably like me looking for somebody to be like, holy crap.

GRAHAM: Yeah. Yeah.

I was actually, I was a little shocked to be honest.

Like I was, um, it was, yeah, it took me a while to integrate that.

And I didn’t tell anyone about it for quite a, quite a long time.

But then when I started sharing it, I recognized people would look at me and be like, whoa, man, I was like, yeah, I know, right?

Like, that’s crazy. Like, and then I was like, oh, like, this is actually something to this. And then I heard, I’ve heard other people’s experiences

that have something similar, whether it be a float anchor, a psychedelic or so, you know, their own journey of breathwork.

That there’s something that we’re tapping into that is beyond this physical 3D reality.

And it’s a fascinating journey to go on.

So when you came out of your float tank,

what was the impact in your life after you kind of became

a rocket ship and a bird?

Like, how did that change your life?

How did that change your perspective on life?

JANNINE: It changed it for me, you know, this is going to sound so crazy.

But like when you go through medical school,

and I’m a naturopath, not a conventional doctor,

when you go through the medical school program,

even though I did all the work with herbs and nutrition,

it was different, you still think that you’re, you know, we

still fall into the paradigm of what conventional medicine is,

you think you’re the authoritative, I’m going to solve people’s

problems, kind of thing. And I would beat myself up when I

couldn’t figure it out. I’m like, oh, you’re so dumb, or oh, you

know, whatever. And at that moment, I was like, wait, everybody

has the ability to heal themselves and to fly into, you

You know, and so I got this deeper meaning of what it is for for that.

But then I also from that got this feeling of like, I want to always feel like I am flying

or that thing and how that felt for me internally.

GRAHAM: How does it feel for Jannine internally when she’s flying?

What does that feel like?

JANNINE: Free.

I’m I’m flow, right?

I’m in flow zone and and it just feels so good.

It’s like when you’re in water, it’s like same thing.

You know, that’s one thing about water

and it’s always felt that way for me.

I don’t know if you have a connection with water.

Like this is that when you just like put your hands there

and you’re just kind of floating.

I think I think of it when I’m in the Caribbean, you know,

you just, I don’t know, there’s just something like,

I’m supported by the water and I, it just feels so good.

Yeah.

GRAHAM: Nice, nice.

And how often do you step, is that something you,

you think about daily of like stepping into this flow

or stepping into this flying feeling

or how do you get that in your regular day?

JANNINE: So when I meditate in the morning,

That’s like, I imagine my bed being like a water bed.

Um, and I’m just like laying there trying to like find

that flowy feeling within my body.

And I’ll start with that so I don’t make so many lists, right?

That was kind of my counter balance to, to making my,

my listen and really, you know, lately it’s been the feel

like feeling my way through things.

I mean, I, I know that Abraham Hicks

and those folks talk about this stuff a lot, you know,

feel it, feel it, but yeah, it’s been more the feel.

Do you, do you do any of that where you’re like,

I want to feel internally a certain way

and set the tone for the day.

GRAHAM: Yeah, I think there’s a couple things I’ll do.

I know for me discipline is important to get my body moving.

I know that sometimes I don’t feel like getting my body moving

or getting some fresh air.

You know, these types of things,

even though after I do it,

I feel much better.

And then in terms of feeling a certain way,

I feel naturally when I am free from insecurities, doubts, false belief systems, anxieties that

I naturally will rise, and I believe this is true for everybody, we naturally rise.

We naturally are for vibration, our frequency, our emotional state, our psychological state,

they naturally rise towards this peak.

And so for me, it’s not necessarily about pushing myself there, it’s about recognizing

what’s holding me down.

So for me, if I’m, if I’m waking up in the morning, I’m feeling a little anxious or I’m

feeling tired or whatever, depressed, low energy, I go check in, I learned this from

a woman named Mandy Morris, just like a daily check, how am I feeling, what’s going on?

And then is this even mine?

Is this something that, you know, maybe a relationship or someone, conversation that

somebody had that or that energy is on me and I need to let that go?

often, it’s a story or a program. It’s just over here. And if I take the time and the space,

give it the space, it kind of brings it into focus. And I get this playful curiosity where this

becomes over here. And I go, Oh, I was worried about what people thought about me in that

circumstance, or this scenario, or this, or this is why I wasn’t taking action on this thing,

because I was scared. And now that I see it, I acknowledge the fear, I acknowledge this insecurity.

I move with courage and love into this and I ask for guidance or I ask for that sort of like higher

purpose to put my own stuff aside and to be led into service like you were saying earlier,

led to serve others, then this thing can leave me, I can learn from it and then naturally I’m

lifted. And so that to me is like the process that I go through if I’m feeling down, it’s like,

okay, so what’s holding me down? Because as soon as I bring love to that,

that an awareness to that. Like a hot air balloon, you cut those sandbags off and then

where do you go? So, and then sometimes that’s physical exercise. Sometimes you just need

to get the blood going and some oxygen, right? Like that can be it too, or some good food.

I can’t tell you, I have a good smoothie in the morning with my wild blueberries and like

barley grass and spirulina and spinach and cilantro. And I drink, I’m like, my body goes, it just

lights up. And I’m like, all right, you got to give it good nutrition too. And you’ll, you’ll feel

lighter, you’ll feel more energetic. So there’s the mind, body and spirit, they all go together.

It’s not just one thing. So you’ve got to work them all in.

JANNINE: Absolutely, absolutely. I think a lot of people might be thinking like, “Okay, Graham,

so you’ve got to work them all in.” What else do you do? What’s Graham’s day like for optimal

wellness? Give us the breakdown of what you’re working in and keeping in the flow with.

GRAHAM: Well my most recent thing that I’m really enjoying is a friend of mine invited me to go play basketball

with some friends

every Tuesday

Today’s Wednesday because it was yesterday and I hadn’t played organized sports since I was in

high school and

The act of playing

Full out not I’m on a gym and I’m running on a treadmill trying to beat my time from yesterday

But I’m playing

physically hard, similar to rock climbing, where you are challenged by this and you’re having fun

doing it. I don’t care what you do, but if you can find something that you find fun and that is

physical, you will get so much more benefit than 10 push-ups and then 10 pull-ups and then this

like, great, if you want to do a bodybuilding stuff, that’s fun, that’s fine. I just find for

for me and for most people that I talk to,

you get so much more mileage when you have an activity

that you can have fun doing.

And for me, basketball is one of them

where you’re running back and forth and I’m exhausted

and I don’t want to run anymore, but there’s a breakaway.

And I immediately get this flood of energy

and I’m like, I don’t know where this came from,

but boom, and then I’m sprinting again.

And I’m like, if I was at the gym

and some trainer was saying and sprint again

to the other side, I’d be like, no, I’m done, you know?

– So I think to me, whatever wellness thing it is

that I’m practicing as I look to be fascinated,

to be curious to have fun doing it.

So whether it be smoothies that I’m doing

or reducing celery juice or I just,

I want to find things that I’m interested in.

I’m having fun with and that have a,

an exploration and a growth too.

So, you know, if I hear about a new health trend

or something that somebody’s doing,

I’m like, cool, let me check it out.

Cold plunge.

Cool, check, let me check it out.

But I’m not gonna continue doing it

just because it’s trendy

or because everybody else is doing it.

I need to know what is this doing for my body.

Like, so I feel great when I drink celery juice

and do my heavy metal detox smoothie.

Those things are great.

They feel awesome.

Playing basketball with my friends, it feels awesome.

Meditation, doing the red light therapy.

That’s a new one.

I was like, you know, having these red lights.

I’m like, okay, does that actually do anything?

like there’s some science behind it, but how do I feel? Yeah, I feel a little bit better. Cool.

Okay, I like that. So, you know, there’s, there’s all these different things that I know many

people probably talk about on your podcast that can really help. My, I always come back to the

relationship to myself and my body and putting that as a primary focus, because I believe that

intuition is, is giving you or the Holy Spirit or God or however you see that is giving you

the guidance that compasses always showing you where to go sometimes it’s uncomfortable to listen

to it and to move into it and you know your brain is like you’ve tried everything or you’ve done

this already or it’s not going to work or or yes it’s supposed to work because so and so is doing

it and they’re doing it and they say it’s working so it should work for me but deep down you’re like

this isn’t you know doesn’t feel right so my health and wellness journey has been a process

of listening, of having fun, of challenging myself to be disciplined and to not get, what’s

the word like, when you get like scared of everything, like you’re like, oh my God, like

this has chemicals in it or this, this is gonna, it’s like, you can’t, you can’t, you

gotta live your life, you’re gonna get exposed to things, you know, do your best. Don’t freak

out about it.

JANNINE: Yes, and Canada has amazing ketchup chips and they have all kinds of stuff in them, but

I will eat them suckers those in the cheese. I don’t know if they’re called the crunchy cheesy things. Oh, dang

I get over there and I’m like– 

GRAHAM: Like Cheetos?

JANNINE: Like they’re like Cheetos, but they’re but they’re the Canadian version of Cheetos. I don’t know what you call them cheeses or

I don’t know. 

GRAHAM: I don’t even know. I don’t eat–

But ketchup chips are really good. I first time I had them. I ate so many I puked because I loved them so much

Yeah 

JANNINE: Oh man. Oh, man

Yeah, I think that’s a really huge, you know

just saying not being afraid of everything because I think in my industry in particular,

that’s the one thing I don’t want to do to folks, right, is like, make them afraid of all the,

you know, like, oh, you have to do organic else. You’re going to die or you have to do all these

things like, yes, in certain conditions, you might want to clean your body out and do it a little

bit. But like you said, like, how do things feel for you? Are you having fun? That is like my

number one. 

GRAHAM: Yeah. And I know that there are some people out there that have, you know,

very serious health conditions and that might take a different path for them. They may need

to be a bit more strict because their immune systems or their bodies are on such difficult

situations that they really need that structure and that strict sort of approach. I’m not saying

that that isn’t in a specific case. I think for some people they may need to be very specific

about what they put in their body because the seed oils or the chemicals or whatever in certain

things might make it that much worse for them because of how delicate the situation is.

I’m saying in general, for most people, that’s the approach that I think is important.

And because otherwise you get, it’s almost like superstitious, or like you can’t live

your life and everything is out to get you and attack you.

And it’s like, I mean, we are protected and our bodies are so strong and are able to deal

with so much.

And we want to do our best, I believe, to give our body the nutrition it needs and to

be able to detox and move things through us.

think about the stress, if we’re worried about all these things and it’s causing

all this stress and then that’s doing a lot of damage. So it’s like, okay, you

have to have that sort of relaxed and faith that you will be given the tools

that you need in the moment that you need them to move forward for more

healing and more growth and don’t be stressed about it. Don’t work yourself

up into a frenzy with all the craziness in the world.

JANNINE: Absolutely. Absolutely. All right. So, of course, I’m going to be like, what are you drinking?

What you got there? Give us this scoop. 

GRAHAM:  Organic coconut water.

JANNINE: Nice. He’s hydrating well, folks. 

GRAHAM: Hydrating thirsty Buddha, not sponsored.

JANNINE: Got to put that out there, of course. Oh my goodness. No, that looks good stuff there.

So we’ve talked about so many things, Graham, my goodness. Like, I think I could probably

I talked to you for like five hours about all of the things out there and all the things

that folks have tried, and you’ve tried, but I think the biggest thing that I would love

folks to take away from this podcast is to really just hear it from you in terms of like

you’ve said already, finding fun, feel what feels right, look into the body that way.

We did talk about your podcast.

you didn’t talk about your books. And so of course, I want you to give folks a little bit of background

on the books, Find Your Truth, and The Time Has Come books so folks could look into that.

They’ve heard you now, hopefully they can glean some more information from you. So give us a

scoop on your books. 

GRAHAM: Sure. So I never saw myself as a poet. I almost failed English class in high

school. I was a big math and physics guy, did not like English at all. But over time, through

the struggles that I went through my younger years, my mom had encouraged me to write in

a journal as a way to process the things that I was going through. And Blaser, thank you

so much, mom, for encouraging me to do that because that’s what led me to writing poetry

or the sort of condensed version of what I was feeling inside and trying to express it

to get it out, and it’s been a beautiful tool for me.

So I started doing this back in high school,

and then years went by, and I was working with a coach.

It was a part of the Tony Robbins organization

and in the conversation, he basically challenged me

to put these writings into a book.

And I went, I’m not interested in that

because it’s just for me, I can’t remember how I came up.

But he anyway said, no, I, you know, you should do this and encourage me to.

And he said, you could donate the money to charity.

Cause I was like, I don’t want to make any money.

Like why, I don’t want to do this.

Like that’s not the thing.

He says, we can donate the money to charity.

And having been through some sexual abuse in my past, he knew the charity

that was important to me, protecting young kids and giving them help.

And so he says, you could donate money to this charity that you care about.

And now I was like, I don’t have a reason to say no.

This is so important to me.

This, this charitable organization.

And all I have to do is take these poems

and put them in the book and I can raise money

for this charity.

So I did and I didn’t really think it would go anywhere

but I sold quite a few copies and raised a bunch of money

and it went very well and people really enjoyed it.

And I’m very grateful for that and for that journey

is basically writings that I had poems

and then photographs that I had taken

and I married them together in this book

called Find Your Truth.

And to me, find your truth at the time,

it was just, again, a name similar to time has come

that came to me.

I was out on the street, I was in Calgary,

I was shooting season two of the television show Heartland

and I had walking around and I saw this broken mirror

and I just started planning with the mirror

and I was forming different things

and I just, this phrase came to me, find your truth.

So I just spelled it in the mirror and I took a photo

when I left, and that photo was in the book, but to me, it’s this message of finding that

inner core, that your connection to truth, and living that, and moving into that stillness

where it resides.

So that’s the name of the first book, and the poems are about a mix of darker times,

through struggles but also deep insights. One of my favorite poems is “Be honest with yourself

and the rest is easy. All fears are spiritual revelations hidden behind your efforts to control

your world.” And to me that was something that came to me that was a deep insight that was very

helpful for me and reminds me to be honest with myself even when my mind doesn’t want to acknowledge

something, but it’s just, it’s just me trying to control things. And once I let go of that control,

a spiritual revelation, this insight, this beautiful blessing to help me grow and to

continue to thrive comes through me. But I have to let go of control and be honest with what’s in

front of me. And then my next book was right here, which I didn’t plan on writing. Time has come,

same name as the podcast. People who enjoyed my first book, they said, “When’s your next book

coming. I was like, oh, I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t want to write another book.

And then bless them for their encouragement and supporting me in the creation of this book.

So from February of 2022, I started writing this book. I would put out a poem every week,

and then I’ve structured this a little differently where there’s a poem, but there’s also a reflection

portion. So I include the audience or the reader to think about their own life and give them an

opportunity to take that time to move inwardly. So I believe poetry is a great reflection point.

It’s a great point of contemplation, to feel, to experience, to move deeper. And so I give my

perspective I give my sort of like here’s my insight or my what I heard when I was listening

and then I invite the reader and the listener or the listener to go what would you hear or how

would you deal with this or what does this mean to you and then I also in the next page I give a

little sort of background of where the poem came from or a little bit of an expansion upon this

idea so it’s it’s it’s a poetry book but it’s also like sort of like this journey that I take

people on and include them. I try my best to include the readers in this because

I want it to be a conversation. I want it to be impactful. So it’s not just consumption,

it’s integration, and then creation into life where people can then go, “Oh wow,

yeah, this changed how I think about things,” or whatever. That was very important to me.

So that’s my next book. Time has come, and you can get that on Amazon. My first book is not

Physical anymore. I don’t have more physical copies sold out of those, but it’s still digital. You can still buy the digital copy and

Yeah, I’m donating a portion of the proceeds of this book to Operation Underground Railroad

Who help a child stop stop child trafficking?

So they have operations around the world and they do fantastic things. So that’s a cause that’s close to my heart. So

That’s also being supported by the purchase of the book. 

JANNINE: Oh, that’s awesome. That’s awesome

I mean, your whole concept behind the books and I was hoping you’d share all of that is really

getting people to interact and instead of just consuming because I feel like I don’t know how

many books I have on my shelf or many of my patients have on their shelves and they’ll

bring them in and be like, “I read all these books on diet nutrition and I still can’t lose weight.”

And you’re like, “Oh.” But when we have that ability to interact with a book,

Now you’re giving folks a gift.

That’s huge.

GRAHAM: Yeah, it’s like you can eat all the food you want,

but if you’re not digesting it properly

and being able to absorb the nutrients,

who cares?

It doesn’t matter.

You know, like, or if it’s not nutrient,

there’s no nutrients in it.

It’s not, you know, fulfilling and enriching

then, you know, eat as much as you want.

It’s just cardboard.

It’s not gonna actually do you any good.

So, you know, it’s not a thick book.

I don’t have a ton of poems in there.

I think there’s only around 30.

but I really work to make sure that the poems in there

were close to my heart and were coming from my heart.

And I really wanted to communicate that to people,

for them to feel, for them to reflect,

for them to move closer to their own relationship

to sacredness, whatever that is.

However they see that, how are they experienced that?

That’s the best gift that I’ve ever been given.

And I want to continue that and do my part to share context

share experiences with others so that they can do that as well.

Because I think when we live from that place, it’s sustainable.

It’s freeing and liberating.

And it’s the most powerful, beautiful place to come from.

JANNINE: I couldn’t agree more.

I couldn’t agree more.

Your podcast also does that as well.

You’ve kind of got a very good theme in that department.

You know, you’ve inspired my husband and I, of course, to really, you know,

work on, work on ourselves.

And one of the things that you always end your podcast with that I absolutely love.

And I, I want to know, you know, because you ask everybody about this magic painting.

And I brought one of mine with me here.

Um, I’m, I’m actually, I’m actually recording at my cousin’s house and I brought it all

the way down from my house because I wanted, I wanted to, to share that, but I, but I

want to hear about your magic painting first.

So give, give folks the background on, on the magic painting question that you came

talk with while you were bored.

(laughs)

GRAHAM: It’s after, yeah, it’s totally.

It’s once you move through the boredom

that all these things come.

And so same with the flow tank,

same with this magic painting question.

I was on set really bored,

waiting for the lights to get set up and no cell phones.

Nobody had cell phones back then on set.

Nowadays everybody’s on their phone when you’re on a break.

And this question just kind of popped into my head.

I was just playful and fun.

I don’t know where it came from.

and I think we’re all great ideas come from, just out there.

And I thought it was great, and I thought it was fun,

so I asked the people that were around me.

And it was actually the onset costumer, Devora.

I said, Devora, if you had a magic painting on your wall,

and any time you looked at that painting,

you could feel any type of feeling you wanted to feel

to any degree that you wanted to feel it,

what feeling would you choose,

and what would be on your painting?

And she gave me this answer, and I was like,

whoa, I don’t remember what it was, sorry, Devora.

I don’t remember what her answer was,

but I remember being, wow, like, that’s so unique

and also so reflective of how I feel about you as a person.

Like, that’s like generally the vibe I get from you.

So it was a really cool match to that.

So then I just started asking people on set this question.

Some people were kind of like,

“Oh, I don’t want to answer that.”

Like it’s very personal and very like vulnerable.

And I was like, “Oh, sorry, I didn’t know.”

Some people really don’t like talking about that kind of stuff.

But over time, I’ve learned how to approach people

and build rapport to generate the space

so that they can feel comfortable sharing.

But that’s the question.

And what I love about asking this question to people

is the follow up to that is, how does it feel in your body?

And if you were to try and teach someone

or tell someone what it feels like,

how would you explain it to them?

And it puts the person in the mode of teacher.

And then they have to generate the feeling

to explain it to you and to teach it to you.

And so then they start feeling it.

And as they’re feeling it, they start getting excited.

I can feel it.

And as an actor, that’s one of the skills you need,

is how to generate feelings and how to tune into them.

And so I get excited because I’m learning a new feeling.

I’m learning something about them.

And it’s definitely the reflective of who they are

or how I’m getting to know them.

Like, of course, that’s your answer.

So that, to me, is the magic painting question.

That’s why it’s so exciting for me

because I get to feel it as well and it’s very reflective

of who that person is and sort of like they’re,

it’s like this sort of like,

I don’t know, you call like an aura or something like that.

It’s kind of emanating out of them.

So yeah, that’s the question.

I want to hear yours, Jeanine,

’cause I love asking people this question,

but mine, it’s shifted over the years.

When I first came up with a question,

it was this feeling of excitement

like you’re on a roller coaster.

And it’s one of those old wooden ones

and it’s clicking up like this, click, click, click, click,

and then you get to the top and the clicking stops.

And it’s that moment just before you go over the top

and then you have a decision.

Are you gonna be scared or are you gonna hold on

and have fun?

So to me, it’s this feeling of like this is exciting.

It’s scary, but I’m okay with it and I’m gonna run with it.

I’m gonna have fun on the way down.

So it’s feeling fear, but effectively moving into that

and enjoying the process and not letting it overcome you

and then having that excitement and that rush of that fun.

That was the first answer that I came up with.

And like I’ve said to many people,

I said, you know, you have different magic paintings

for different chapters of your life, even different days.

You know, some days I need to look at a painting

and feel this way or whatever.

It’d be really nice to feel this way.

It’s really reflective often of what’s going on internally.

And so for me in this moment,

I’m feeling a lot of appreciation and gratitude.

So the feeling would be,

it would be an expansive love and appreciation,

like a family, it’s almost like a big family that I’m hugging and we’re strong.

It’s a strong family and there’s a love and appreciation for each and everyone.

And when I say strong, it’s like, we’re not like any,

like we’re not, um, we’re independent or we’re supporting each other.

So like there’s a strength and like, oh, we have each other’s backs and there’s a

love and appreciation for that.

And it’s beautiful.

And the painting would be,

I see like the sun and like the ocean

and like people playing on the beach

like having a, maybe it’s like a beach volleyball game

or some sort of like, there’s some sort of game happening.

And there’s good food.

(laughing)

That’s what it is right now in this moment.

That’s what I got.

You’re getting hungry.  

GRAHAM: How bout you?

JANNINE: Oh, yeah.

– So, my magic painting, of course,

after I heard one of your podcasts where you would ask this,

I immediately went to a painting that I have

in my house that a friend had painted.

And I was like, holy crap,

like that’s like my magic painting.

And that’s why I keep bringing it with me everywhere.

And so, back to the flow thing, back to the water thing.

I have a huge water theme.

I love anything with water.

kind of like you’re saying at the ocean,

it’s more like riding a wave.

And riding the wave that a tidal wave of change

and a tidal wave of, you know, like you’re saying,

kind of like love, but I think in my word might be more

of like a big old hug as the wave comes down,

it just goes out and just hugs everybody.

That’s where I would be going for with that one.

Yeah, yeah.

GRAHAM: And okay, so that, and that’s the painting too,

is like the ocean wave?

JANNINE: Check this out.

So it’s kind of big, but I’m gonna move it over here.

So let’s see what you think.

GRAHAM: Oh, wow.

JANNINE: Check this out.

So this is a wave and a moon.

And then we’ve got like the whole wave kinda

coming back around here.

My one pal, Michelle Yamamoto painted that.

And I, every time I look at that painting,

I’m like, that is my, that’s how I wanna feel.

Like the chick on the wave just riding it

and just delivering the love.

So weird– 

GRAHAM: I love it! 

JANNINE: But I wanted to share that

because I was like, oh my God,

I love every time you ask folks about it,

’cause it’s so much fun to hear what people say.

GRAHAM: Isn’t it, and it’s so unique too.

And now, and as I’m talking to you,

now I’m getting to know you, again,

it’s that same feeling of like,

well, of course that’s Jannine’s painting.

Like that’s the energy that you’re emitting.

It’s like it’s your essence.

It’s like your frequency, right?

It’s like that’s it and it’s core, that’s beautiful.

I love it.

Do you surf or do you jump out in the ocean a lot?

JANNINE: I like to get in the ocean.

I’ve only surfed a few times.

I really want to more and it’s kind of one of those things

that I’m like, I’ve been wanting to go to Tofino for it.

And so spend in my mind like, I need to get up there.

I need to get up there.

So it’s been– it’ll happen, it’ll happen.

GRAHAM: Yeah, one day.

Awesome Jannine.

Awesome, I love that.

Thanks for sharing.

JANNINE: No problem.

Graham, my goodness, we’ve talked about so many things

And I really loved just chatting with you. 

GRAHAM: Same here

JANNINE: –And I look forward to hopefully getting you back on

and chatting some more.

So thank you so much for what you’re doing for everybody.

And thank you again for coming on.

I really appreciate it.

GRAHAM: Thanks Jannine for having me.

This has been fun. I appreciate it.

JANNINE: [Outro] (upbeat music) Hey fellow health junkie.

Thanks for listening to the health fix podcast.

If you enjoy tuning in,

please help support me to get the word out about the podcast.

subscribe, rate, and review, and just get that word out.

Thanks again for listening.