AHN: Thank you everyone for joining us today. we're here for Academy Healing Nutrition's sample lecture in open house. today, as advertised, we'll be talking about the earth element and the concept of nourishing your digestive fire. So I am joined here today by Nam Singh, all the way from California. Pleasure to have you here as always. We will be taking questions throughout. So as mentioned today, we're just going to start with a bit of an intro. A lot of you know us already and are dear part of the community, but there's also quite a few of you that are new. So we're gonna give you a brief intro of who we are and dive straight into the sample lecture, which our Dara Numsing will be hosting, So just about us. so Academy was founded over 40 years ago by Holistic Health pioneer Roger Green, who is Not only the curriculum founder, but also one of the main teachers. He's actively involved in his school and always sharing his knowledge. And we now have HQs in both New York and London. I actually was a student of Academy in New York, and then I opened our London HQ. And since then we have merged and become this global platform. So I'm very, very honored to lead our global direction. And what we offer here at Academies of 12 Month's online holistic health coach certificate program. And whilst it is online, you'll learn it is incredibly practical. and we on we honor both Eastern and Western traditions, but very specifically what we love resonating with is this idea of ancient wisdom. So a lot of what we teach and a lot of what fuels a curriculum are things like traditional Chinese medicine, Ayurveda, you know, these these modalities that have been around for thousands of years, but also look into cultures of longevity through the work of Weston A. Price. We look at you know ancestral ancestral knowledge, tapping into you know what was grandma doing in the kitchen, really looking at remembering what we have forgotten, right? It is all these all these modalities that we love to honor have a deep resonance with the whole, right? So it's not just you know me and me, it's me and everything and every part of me. And there's a deep resonance with nature and honoring nature and this and the cycles of nature, which is a big part of our curriculum, as you'll see today. This very seasonal talk about the earth element, which is that the time and season that we find ourselves in, which is the late summer in the northern hemisphere. But of course, we always love to include the latest Western nutritional breakthroughs. So you're not left behind in terms of the the modern. So age ancient meets modern, east meets west. like I mentioned, online but highly practical. You're cooking along all the time with us, you're making home remedies, you're practicing body work, you're practicing mindfulness, very much mind-body spirit, very holistic and very practical. The idea and our and our mission is to empower you with the with the magic and the knowledge of food as medicine so that you can take charge of your own health. And the reason for that goes beyond just you know being healthy. What we love hosting fit holding space for at Academy is for That health and that vibrancy that allows you to be the best version of yourself, to really enable you to fulfill your dreams, to be in full alignment with yourself and have your gifts be shared to the world. So that's just a little bit about who we are. And the the sample lecture is just a very, very small example of what you get to learn with us here at Academy. and hopefully it'll be prompt me to to want to inquire more. we have several faculty members, but Nam Singh is one of our very dear faculty members who has been with the school for many years. he has a long, long introduction. He has so much incredible, incredible wisdom. He's been training in this work since he's five, actually. So he was an or he's an ordained house priest from the school Dragon Tiger Mountain. That is where he joined at a very young age of five. He's a practitioner of the all eight limbs of Chinese medicine, which is very much at that holistic approach. It's not just the dietary aspects, meditation, exercise, the herbology, astrology, feng tri, massage, acupuncture, moxibushin. So really the full picture. He's also studied at the Taipei Institute of Traditional Pharmacology and Acupuncture. He's a graduate of Wei Wei Chuang. I hope I'm pronouncing that correctly, Culinary Educational Foundation. So not only is he incredibly knowledgeable, but what he has done, which is really beautiful, is he has been able to bring his knowledge of sort of traditional Chinese medicine and classical Chinese medicine into the kitchen. and how to you know cook with herbs and how to cook in in the appropriate in the appropriate methods for our healing. So without further ado, I would love to introduce you to Nam Singh and have him take us through the earth element, which we are so excited to hear more about. Great. Well, first of all, I should let you know that particularly my training is in the Earth nutrition, earth nourishing school of Chinese medicine. In Chinese medicine, there's many different schools of medicine. But the Earth Nourishing School is the school that I was introduced to. Earth Nourishing School is of the classical Chinese. medicine. Its roots are deeply planted in Taoism, shamanism, alchemy, and Taoist Orthodoxy. So you see, Tao medicine started out of shhamanism and orthodoxy is actually emerged out of shamanism as well. We will didn't learn medicine to become doctors. If you became a doctor, that was up to you. We learned medicine, medicine was taught to make to help us to sustain our Taoist practice. So it wasn't about becoming doctors or seeing patients or anything it was applied to you To us as individuals, depending on your interests and depth of knowledge, depend on what you did with that. But generally it's for sustaining our practice. And the five-element theory is a very old theory. It's man-made, yes, but also is it involves cosmology as everything. in Chinese culture does. And because it's man-made, it's not absolute, but it's as close as any other system that exists. So it's a very strong tradition and based in cosmology. So this these elements of fire, earth, metal, water, and wood. Are all elements that are around us and within us. So we have five seasons, five elements, even though one of the seasons, which is the late summer, is actually a very, very short period of time. But it's the most hot time of the year. So because of the idea of four not being such a great number and four having to do with Death, it was added that this extra season or this fifth season be added because even though it's very short, it does, it's very different from the regular summer season because of the the heat that's produced and how that affects the body. We refer to in the West as Indian summer. Colors yellow, orange to light brown. The organs are the stomach and the spleen. These are the organs that are affected most by the earth element, both in harmony and out of harmony. The flavor that's associated with the season is sweet. And sweet is is a very Important flavor for many different reasons, but even in general cooking, you'll notice that if you look at the Chinese recipe, there will always be some sort of sweetness added to it. It's not always for its flavor, but it's it's for how it balances all the other flavors. So you have to change your mindset about. sugar being a bad thing. It depends on the type of sugar and it depends on the amount that's being used. So sweet stuff, sweet flavor is very pivotal. And also sweet flavor can be affected and the sweet flavor affects the body dramatically. especially when it's out of out of balance. And when if dampness comes into the body, then we create a really big problem because dampness has dampness is called because dampness is caused because of the inability to burn off water in the body or assimilate it properly. So dampness is a is a very can be very dangerous. And especially for women because they usually have more water in their bodies as anyway. So once if water is not eliminated properly, then it creates too much dampness and stagnation and turns into kind of a more gelatinous substance, which is very hard to get rid of. So as a whole, each one of these elements affect the other. It's a chain reaction. We have a creative cycle and we have a destructive cycle. And the whole idea of five elements is that in each meal, all five elements should be included. It doesn't mean you have to have five different dishes. It means that the elements of should be included and the five tastes should be included. in the dish. So it could just it could be a one part meal, but all five elements should be included in that meal. And depending on your constitution, maybe s something might be a little less than something else until you come back into balance. So it's a very it's a it's a complex system, but it is a roadmap to one's health destiny. And I as a coming from the Earth Nursing School, I use the five-element chart and five-element philosophy as a roadmap to how I look at an individual to administrate and and and bring their health back into in into proper flux so if you ever get a if you ever get a look at a five element chart you will see that there are so many things that are included in it that it's actually it it actually looks like a roadmap because of the everything that's included within the five elements within that in that chart okay the nature of the earth element The earth element is represented by the ground beneath our feet. What we stand on, it's what we get our nutrition from. Our nutrition comes from the earth. Human humans are connected with the universal source of nourishment and life. It represents fullness, fertility, order, and stability. So the opposite of that would be out of completely out of balance and not feeling. The fullness, fertility, and order. it is the center from which we operate. Just like a foundation for a house, it's very important to have that kind of stability and that's that support. When out of order, the earth element rhythmic patterns break down. Some of those good some examples would be ulcers, anxiety, indigestion, obesity. menstrual irregulation, hypertension may occur. irribility. When this when these things are break down, these are just some symptoms. And depending on on certain people, there could be other things added as well. Insecurity, irritability, and are also some of the examples of a person being out of the earth element or being out of flux. You notice I'm not saying balance because it's not appropriate to Refer to the five elements as being in balance. It's not attainable, it's not something to, you can't attain balance with the five elements. You can only keep them in flux. Balance is too steady. The five elements are constantly moving. So there is no such thing as balance. So that mindset does not apply. And that's the difference between classical Chinese medicine and traditional Chinese medicine. Organs of the earth is the stomach and the spleen. In actuality, if I were to ask each if I were to ask a person what organ would be what what organ do they think is the most intelligent in the body? first of all, most people don't think about any any organ having any sort of intelligence, but just function. But from our point of view. We do relate to organs as having more than just a function. Intelligence is a very important. So the spleen is considered the most intelligent organ in the body. It's not the head and it's definitely not the heart. The spleen is an incredible organ. It orchestrates assimilation. It distributes vital clear energy from the digest from the digested food. And separates the waste. Now, some people say, that's just a function, but no, it takes a little something in order to do that properly and in the right amounts. So in the digestive process, what happens is that the digest the taking first of all, the chewing of the food into a mash, not just putting in your mouth, two, one, two, three, and then swallow it. It has to be chewed up into a into a mash. And then swallowing it so the digestion system doesn't have to work so so hard. It comes to 100 degrees within the body. And then the energy from that food has to be distributed somehow. It doesn't just, you know, find its way. It has to be distributed. And that's what the spleen does. The spleen is like the orchestra leader. It takes the energy and it distributes it properly and it separates well when that distribute that distribution of energy is called vital clear. This is the pure energy from food that is distributed throughout the body properly. And the waste is separated so that it is discarded. So this is what we mean about controls digestive fire, digestive fire, and generates qi, blood, and body fluids. It controls fluid metabolism, maintains organs in their proper position, keeps the blood in the vessels, supports the immune system, governs the muscles and flesh, connects to the mouth and lips. And emotions, the emotion of worry, the emotion of worry, each organ also has a particular type of emotion attached to it. So worry is is the most detriment to the spleen. So we've had three almost yeah, three years of COVID. So if you've been under daily stress of that whole situation. Yeah, you're you're putting your spleen at at risk because emotion is very deep. Worry is very deep. It's like worry is like the like the marrow in the bone. It's so deep. And if it's constantly being pricked and activated, then it it affects the function of the spleen. So we really do have to come, we have to come to terms with that aspect of worry in our system and letting it go. There's so many things we just don't have control over anyway, so it's not worth the worry. The f flavor, sweet. So as I mentioned before, sweet is a very important aspect of our diet. The medical nature of sweet flavor of foods. there's a two type there's two sweetness is divided into two types of sweetness. The first one is called the full suite. And full sweet is includes things like meat, legumes, nuts, dairy, and starchy vegetables, and it's considered to be Tonifying and strengthening to the body. Empty sweet includes most fruits, sweeteners, and is considered more cleansing and cooling to the body. Full sweet flavor is used to treat deficiency. Sweet foods are also moistening and will benefit dryness in the body. So in a five element theory process, we use these flavors to definitely change conditions and prevent conditions in the body. So as you can see, there's these particular types of so I mentioned full sweet, the empty sweet. most foods are some sweeteners, any any type of sweeteners, even the herbal sweeteners, but definitely the chemical sweeteners, we don't really care for those. So it's best to try to keep everything natural. And If you find yourself overly attracted to sweets, then you're going to have something, a problem. And this is what we refer to as sweetness in excess. In excess, the sweet flavor leads to the formation of phlegm and often heat. Any excess sweetness should be avoided in damp conditions. Like I said, damp conditions are is. it is the the ability to not burn off water in the system. So generally speaking, in our bodies our kidney fire our kidney fire must burn at a set at a steady rate, meaning like the kidney fire is like the flame of hot water hot water container. So if the flame is not hot enough when you go to take a shower or get hot water, it will be lukewarm. So we have to always be careful about maintaining a certain body temperature and a certain amount of energy to burn off water, otherwise it becomes stagnant. It creates a very uncomfortable condition, heaviness and the feeling lazy and also can cause a much more weight gain foods which drain water this is a very small list are celery kelp lettuce anchovies and mackerel foods which resolve phlegm almonds daikon mushrooms seaweed walnuts onions shiitake mushrooms tea watercress clams, peppermint, shrimp, garlic, and lic licorice. This is also a small list, but these are tools that can help you to, you know, drain these kind of things out of the out of the body. Cooking styles, cooking styles, this is very important too because it's in the five element theory, not only are there just five seasons, but there are foods that are associated. Let's see, emotions, colors. There's a gamut of things that are associated. Cooking styles are very important because they help to keep things in the right order. So springtime steaming, the most it's the most complicated cooking method for Westerners because we don't use steaming so much. And the interesting thing about it is nine times out of ten, whenever I've been invited to eat and someone steams something. It's usually overdone. But the technique is you have to play around with it to get it right. And the secret is to bring the water to a rolling boil first. Then place your food over into the steamer and turn the heat off. And that way you you won't overdo it. Turn it off and then every so often just take a toothpick, stick it into whatever it is you're steaming, especially when it comes to vegetables. I think vegetables are mostly overcooked when it comes to steaming. but there's a lot of other things you you can steam. You can steam fish, you can steam meat, you can steam so many things, but usually we don't do it. And also you can bake by steaming. as well so it's it's a very broad way of cooking so it's and that's usually in the springtime we do it but some of these cooking some of these cooking methods over overlap they can go into another season but the the main method for each season is what i'm about to speak on summertime raw steaming and saute Now also you have to take in consideration where you are in the world. So if it's if it's summertime and it's extremely hot, and now with global warming it's getting even hotter. you know, in some cultures, like Western culture, especially in the United States, we l they like to barbecue and smoke foods and all these kind of things. And it's really Depends on where you are. So in San Francisco, we're surrounded by water. It's more damp and cooling here. So we can get away with it. But if you live in Texas or in the deep south, it's not really recommended. And if you really look at the people, you'll notice that there's seems to be some something not right. Maybe too much weight, too much obesity, and too much dampness. So It's very important to take in your environmental aspect of where you are when it comes to these cooking methods and also your personal constitution. Late summer, raw, steaming, boiled, and saute. Summertime is probably the best time for any raw types of foods. And then it's going to depend on. your physical constitution whether you can digest it or not. If you have any sort of problems with digestion, digesting, then you might be careful about raw raw foods. if you're gonna have raw foods maybe you pickle them and then that'll be even that'll be helpful a little bit. Autumn stewing, slow cooking, baking, roasting and grilling. That's because of the autumn times the qi of the vegetables and things goes deeper into the vegetable and you have to cook you have to in order to coast that vital chi out slow cooking methods are highly recommended that's one of the reasons why crock pots and all these kind of pressure cooking kind of devices are really good for to use a very valuable tool to use winter slow cooking simmering grilling barbecuing and roasting And again, I can't stress it enough that it really does depend on where you are in the world. Because sometimes our winter here is somebody else's summer here. So you really do have to pay attention to where you are in the world and what the temperature is and your personal constitution as far as whether you're too hot or too cold or too damp or too wet and all these kinds of things. So cooking methods depend on your living environment, like I've been saying, and constitution. Many styles, many styles of cooking. even there are other categories along with this. There's there's but these are the basic ones. next. And just a quick question. I know we'll answer in the chat box, but perhaps good to address to the wider. Group as well. we're mentioning personal constitution, and that's something that we often refer to, especially in the training. We want to encourage everyone to be attuned to their own personal constitution. And there's a question actually of what is personal constitution. So if you don't mind clarifying that, please, ma'am. That's sort of like saying your DNA. Personal constitution is body type. What is your body type? What are your personal energetics? And this is something that can be established by going to a practitioner and them telling you whether you're too yin or too young, you know, whether you're a large person, a thin person, a very thin person, or a very obese person, this is the body dynamics. This is what the constitution is. And certain constitutions lean towards certain problems. So if you're if you're a a water person. Like I'm a water dragon. So I have to be careful and to be aware of taking in water first, but in the but not too much, you see. So yeah, so your constitution tell gives you it it helps to define the parameters of where you fit in the universe. So if you're kind of a thin person with a lot of squirrely like energy and you eat, you know, you eat and snack a lot, that's actually kind of typical because you don't have a lot of body fat, you're kind of slightly hyper, and you don't function very well on just three meals a day. You have to eat breakfast and then you have to snack in between, and then you eat lunch, and then you might snack in between, and then between Lunch and dinner, you might have a little something, and then you have dinner, and then even after dinner, you might have a little something too. So each so that's basically what the constitution is. So what I tell people, and especially in this course, is that they really should get evaluated by a practitioner to find out where they are. And it's not just whether you're hot or cold either. It's it's it's it's it's other things, but that's that's a good start. Because if you're overly hot and you're eating overly hot foods and and your body's demanding it, that's an extreme, or the vice versa. If you're cold and you have cold hands and feet and you're eating cold foods because your body is so far to the to the left, it's it's it's demanding you to do that. There's it's it's not right. So you'll you have to go to neutral or slightly warming kind of things. Thank you, Nam. And and just to clarify in the chat, because there was a question, well, how do you find it your constitution? And and you invite people to you work with the practitioners. And I think there was a question on what what that would be. And it's generally an acupuncturist or a Chinese medicine practitioner, or if you're looking for the equivalent of your constitution from an Ayurvedic standpoint, for example, your dosha, then that would be someone trained in Ayurvedics. So someone who can basically look at you Get your health history and understand just also from the way that you you appear what is your your tendency. And then we've talked before in terms of your constitution, but then also your condition. So perhaps your one can one constitution, but you know, suffering with a condition, and perhaps worth explaining if if you don't mind the difference between that. For an example, the earth type person has a tendency, earth type person, and referring to let's say a woman for an example, they have a tendency to actually overdo. They'll do, they'll they'll they'll care for everybody else, but then they neglect themselves. Not necessarily on purpose, but as part of being that. Earth element, meaning that you have it's it's it's kind of like like like DNA, you're programmed to to do that, but there has to be boundaries, you see. So when you find out what your constitution is, you have a deeper insight of both the positive things and the negative things about your particular body type. So another thing about Earth earth types is they have a tendency to be overweight to a certain degree because that overdoing kind of thing also brings on anxiety and has a tendency, you have a tendency to deal with that anxiety through overeating. So then you end up with this condition of overeating. and and usually it's kind of the Things that are very gratifying or what I or well self-gratifying. Self-gratifying foods are almost kind of like very fast food kind of stuff, but the things that aren't as nutritious. Or they can be nutritious, but you're eating them in a large quantity. So so being an earth type. And then knowing that you have a tendency to overdo, you have really do have to be careful about your consumption. You have to be careful about taking care of yourself and not so much always available for everybody else. You have to find an equilibrium between that type of of hard drive within you. Fire type has a tendency to have so much energy that they can exhaust the the organs in the body with too much heat. So fire types have to be very careful about really spicy types of food, a a lot of dynamic exercise and and doing all this kind of fast kind of stuff, overstimulating themselves and things like that. So they really have to walk a fine line of being careful about overstimulating that fire energy in their body and burning themselves out literally so in the West this is a big problem because we're a gut culture so we have a tendency to overeat we have a tendency to overdo every culture has a particular organ that they have a tendency to burn out very quickly So that's kind of an example. Thank you, Nan. And just a last follow-up on that before we continue to the next slide is can you be a mixture of different types and different elements? Well, generally there is the one. And then because it's so out of sync, it affects the others. So, like for an example, coming from the earth nourishing school. My main focus is on is on the spleen and living in the living in the West and especially in the US, nine times out of ten, most people's digestive problems start so early in their lifespan, in their lifespan that by the before they get to middle age, it's it's burnt out and they're having all these digestive problems and things like that. I have yet to to see that not happen. And it's cultural. It's cultural because we have this philosophy of bigger is better, more is better. And we stress too much self-individual as opposed to communal or social. These things are driven into us. from you know at an early age. We're we're not a village mentality anymore and having been for quite some time. We're in Europe, it's very different. It's a they have, they still maintain this kind of village mentality. They still have this kind of social network. That's what pubs are all about, that kind of neighborhood commun community, you know. not so much about the drinking but it's about a house to go to where you socialize you have that connection this kind of thing but in our culture it's all about the strong individual and repressing repressing not showing our emotions not making that human contact you see so there's a price to pay for it and it usually manifests in our health in a shorter life of course nowadays we're we're We're slowly starting to realize, doctors are starting to realize that nutrition actually there's something to that. So it's it's slowly coming out, but still it's it's it's not fast enough. Yeah. Thank you, Nan. and and yes, I think Georgia US, we We give you this framework in the training so you're able to understand the different doshas in Ayurveda and then the dishes, the different body types in traditional Chinese medicine, so that you're able to tailor recommendations to clients based on their constitution, but also the the seasonal changes that we all go through regardless of the constitution, right? We're all in the earth that moment now, and there's ways to nourish that. And that's what our next slide will talk more about. but just one this topic of of constitutions has been quite popular in the QA. So Am is asking, does it have to do with being born in a certain year, for example, 1998 and being an Earth tiger? would you mind clarifying how I guess that element plays into being an earth person or not? I I think you would we would agree at something different, but I'll leave you to to make that distinction then. Well and Like I said, the Chinese culture is is is is is ruled by the is very connected to the cosmos. So yes, we do have there are these kind of destiny things, but but it's not written in stone. So no matter, yeah, there there is a formula. You're like like I said, I'm a water dragon. So there are certain aspects of what is a water dragon and all these kind of things. That understanding what that is is to help you to both prevent illness and also work through prevent illness and and hopefully disease as well. But also if you do get sick, it helps you to guide yourself back to or recalibrate yourself so that you can get out of it before it turns into a disease or if it's a disease that you can actually work through that, recalibrate yourself and and and and get rid of that disease. So yes, and and and and part of my practice is is is getting that astrological information because that is also a a map to the destiny. Destiny is not written in stone in in in Chinese culture, there are believers that you can't do anything about it. And I that's absolutely wrong. That's the folk belief that you have destiny is written in stone, you can't do anything about it, just have to live with it. That's not right. You on a on a on a you are constantly interfering in your fate. And when you become a practitioner of Chinese medicine, you are interfering in people's fate too. So this is why there's one rule: do no harm. And so yes, when you're born, you're born in a particular sort of pattern, but you do have control over your in your individual fate. You interact with it every day. And as you learn, and like this course, it's giving you so much information that you can change things if they're seem to be out of whack. So we're constantly. We're constantly interacting with our own fate. A lot unknown, but we want that unknown to be known. And Chinese medicine has a tendency to give you that information so that you are empowered to change your situation. It's nothing magical or mist mystical about it. You're giving good solid information. So that you can change and interact with your fate in a very positive way, a very constructive way, without freaking out and all this kind of emotional stuff that gets in the way. Perfect. Thank you, Nan. Christina says, love that. Yeah, absolutely. There is something very empowering about knowing that there's obviously a support in terms of what's meant for you, but then the the ability to create that for yourself. And that's so much what we're about. because we've discussed that, you it's something that we say and Roger often tells our students, you know, you create your destiny with every meal, right? It's an opportunity to nourish yourself. to bring your health back and to enable you from that space to create. So thank you for thank you for diving into that present. The thing is is that our point of view of of illness and disease is that it's just an inappropriateness in time. That's all it is just an inappropriateness in time it will change. Thank you. How to nurture nourish our earth element. And this is very important. because like I said, we do have we do have We do have the power to nurture and and and heal ourselves with the proper knowledge. For an example, nourishing the earth element. Some of the ingredients, and this is dependent on whether you are are if you're allergic, if you're allergic to something like wheat, for an example, wheat does nourish the element. in our culture, we're starting to see, and especially in the United States, we're starting to see that because of how we deal with seeds and GMO and all this kind of things, we use a different type of wheat than this than this used in in in Europe and and especially Eastern Europe. And we have a tendency to overdo so much. We just puts especially in pre-made foods. We we use too much you know, salt, too much sugar, too much of these kind of things. Our body gets a little bit tired of of this kind of thing and it has a reaction. Now I it's somewhat controversial, but I my personal understanding of people being allergic to certain foods is is that they've just gone so far out of balance that that seems to be the straw that broke the camel's back. So when someone comes to me and says, I have a wheat allergy, I say no. It's not true. You don't have a weak allergy. You have an imbalance in your body, and that seems to just be the last straw. So we have to find out what the real weakness is. So for now, you stay away from that because it's it seems to be just too much. So we have to go to the root of what that imbalance is or and bring you back into flux. So nourishing our earth. the foods that have tendency to do that is wheat, rice, carrots, tune turnips, white cabbage, poultry, fish, shrimp. Orange, bananas, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, and cherries. This is just a very small list of these of these things. And when it comes to nourishing, we'll when we eat in general, that's what we should be doing is nourishing ourselves. And depending on your particular constitution, some people's systems don't want to be overly stimulated. Some people think That nourishing is to stimulate. That's the wrong way to go. Foods to avoid. Meat or fish for breakfast. And this also may have depends on where you are and your personal makeup. Spicy and sour foods, deep fried meats or poultry with a high content of cholesterol and glucose. Health disorders or chronic complaints of the earth element. So digestion, that's the big one. Stomach aches, poor appetite, bad breaths, stomach ulcers, too much gas in the system, stomach cancer. That's an exacerbation of stomach problem, diabetes, and muscle weakness. So generally, like I said, when it comes to eating, we need all five elements in every in any dish that we that we make. And this is one way to keep everything in flux. I I think that when it comes to our our personal health, if you can get a good grasp on understanding the five element theory. and apply it to your life, you'll see a major, major, major change and a certain clarity and a and have a much longer and healthier life. It's just requires some constant investment. And like I said, for me it's it's like it's it's it's the roadmap. So yeah. So Five element theory is is a is a very wise philosophy of living. Thank you, Nan. And and just to finish off in terms of the earth element and stomach and spleen, I know that we've we've got a lot of questions around gut health. And obviously whenever we when we're talking about the earth element or or gut health in general, we we do refer students to to the earth element. So I'm wondering if you If you could please just elaborate a couple of ways in which we can tend to our digestive fire beyond obviously these beautiful suggestions that we've called out now. I know we cooked the amazing kanji with you. So anything that that may be interesting to to bring to the table for our participants as well. We'd love to hear. Well, one of the things is is, and most people probably don't even have it in their diet, is to is to get a working knowledge of of pickling eating pickles with your with with your meals eat each meal you you know more than an ounce at a time you don't need much you don't need much but that ferment fermented foods are extremely important don't just think you're gonna get it from yogurt because nine times out of ten most commercial yogurts have way too much sugar in them it should only the minimal amount of sugar that the yogurt creates, not added to not added to it. So pickling foods is very, very important. And you can you can do it's very simple. Very very simple. It does not that you just have to be a little patient. And the longer they set the the more intense the flavor becomes and the more sort of complicated with all the types of fermentation and all the minerals and things that are developed. It's so good for the digestive system. So and for breakfast, a little, you know, like having kanji and which is a rice kind of soup, sort of like oatmeal, but it's rice. And generally you have about four or five different types of toppings and maybe three of them are pickles. So I highly recommend fermented foods and using pickles. Also, one of the best things you can do too is just chew your food. Most people, every time I go to a restaurant, it's just automatic. I start looking around at people and I'm seeing one, two, three, I swallow. Sometimes it's one, two, and then swallow, depending on what it is. People just don't think about their chewing aspect. You should drink your food. Drink your food. So it should be chewed up to the point where you can drink it. And that gives your digestive system a break. It doesn't have to do a lot of breaking down. You see, the more acid that goes into the system, it's kind of stressing it. The system. So that's why we have pickles first to start the digestive process. A little bit of acid helps to start the digestive. And then the second thing that goes in your mouth after the pickle is the protein. You see, because you've already started the digestive process. So if it's going to be meat or fish or whatever, then that's that should have it. If you're going to have If it if if it if it's a salad, it should be a salad with protein in it. we have it backwards here in the States. We have salad first and then we have all these other things. When actually salad should be last. It's not gonna change. This is an individual kind of thing, you just have to become aware of. It's not it's it's it's raw foods are hard to break down in the beginning anyway, so So give your digestive system a break. Don't always eat a lot of things that require a lot of digestion. And especially if you have a weak digestion, you see. And don't drink so much during your eating because that dilutes the digestive process. So I mean I I remember as a kid going to people's houses and all the sodas that were, you know, in everybody's glass, drinking soda, drinking milk and all this kind of stuff. If you're gonna drink something, drink wine, because that actually aids the digestive process. It's it's great. But just drinking water or just drinking sodas and milk and things like that. If you want a liquid, have soup. Soup cleanses the stomach. We refer in Chinese medicine, we refer to the stomach as a kind of a sewer. So that's why in Chinese cuisines they have more soups than anything else. We should have a little bit of soup or broth or something like that. And it's easy to digest. So it gives your your your digestive system a break. We overwork our digestive systems and crowd it by overeating or too much eating or mindless eating. Mindless eating is when you're eating and like you're in front of the TV or you've got all these people around you and everybody's having conversation and all this kind of thing and it distracts you from. I'm not saying that you should just eat by yourself and not have any conversation, but it should be much more mindful when you eat. You're aware of your chewing, you're aware of the consistency in your mouth before you swallow it. And it takes work. It takes work because it's real easy to get into that one, two, three, swallow. One, two, three, swallow. One, two, swallowing already, you know, that kind of a thing. You really do have to concentrate on it. And just because someone's talking to you and you feel obligated, I mean, chew and then swallow. Don't feel like you have to jump in and just swallow your food unchew, you see. that's for them to get over. You want to have a good, good, a good stomach, working stomach. And not in that 39 all of a sudden you're taking anti-acids and and and having digestive problems and all this kind of stuff, you see. Yeah. Perfect. Thank you so much, Nam Singh. I think you told us once two, was it how many times? 32? 36. 36, yeah. Yeah, 36. Yeah. In the beginning, it seems like, my God, 30, are you out of your mind? 36 times? But once you get used to it, it's it's you won't even think about it, you know? Yeah. In the beginning, yeah, 36 times. And if you're ever eating by yourself, just really concentrate on that. 36 times. And once you get in that habit, it becomes automatic once you get used to it. Yeah. Exactly. Thank you so much, Nam. I really appreciate all your knowledge. it's always such an honor and pleasure to connect. we we love hearing from you, we love your wisdom. and and hopefully a lot of students here, prospective students, have taken so much away from this talk. Okay, everybody. take good care. Be well. Have a lovely morning, afternoon, evening, wherever you are. And know that we're here to support you on this journey. Thank you so much. Take good care.