Episode 63: Expat Health: Island Living to Singapore Striving: Elika’s Energy Coaching Chronicles

Rachel: [00:00:00] welcome back to another episode of Truly Expat Podcast. This week, Paula and I sit down with Ali Katasker from The Health Concierge to dive into the world of energy coaching and how we can all optimize our energy for A more fulfilling life. Elika shares her journey of moving to Singapore and what led her to become an Energy Optimization Coach.

Rachel: We explore her four pillar approach focusing on nutrition, purpose and relationships, mind and self care, and movement, and how these elements work together to help us feel our best. She also takes us through, the fascinating world of human design, the impact of the moon cycle on women's health, and her women's mastermind course designed to empower women to take control of their energy and well being.

Rachel: If you've ever felt drained, [00:01:00] stuck, or just out of sync with your body's natural rhythms, this episode is for you. Get ready for some eye opening insights and practical tips to help you reclaim your energy and start thriving. Welcome Elika. 

Elika: Thank you so much Rachel and ladies for the beautiful introduction.

Elika: Very comprehensive. I feel like, oh my gosh, there's so many things that I'm doing, but it's not, it's all, it's all connected. 

Rachel: Fantastic. So tell us about Your journey to Singapore and how you got into coaching. Yeah, yeah, we love those 

Elika: stories. So it's 14 years now, I'm Singapore PR and like most people I thought, you know, let me go for two years with work and if I don't like it, I'll leave after a year.

Elika: Famous last words. I know, right? So I'm from the north of England, [00:02:00] Leeds. I'm British Jamaican so with a very strong Jamaican heritage, um, which influences a lot of things that are important to me around food, to be honest with you, and also lifestyle, that laid back island lifestyle feel. Um, and when I came to Singapore, it was on a transfer with my ex partner at the time.

Elika: Um, we were both fortunate that our companies both could transfer us out. And I was really, you know, really wanting to live a life overseas as well. Um, my mom had brought us up to, to see England as a place where you get education, but not to live. And that had been deeply ingrained in my child brain. So when I got that opportunity, it was like.

Elika: Oh, what? Sunshine? Oh, Island? Oh, let's do this. Once an Islander, always an Islander. I'm from New Zealand, so 

Rachel: yes. Um, 

Elika: and being the driven, ambitious person that I was in, I was in, um, HR and finance consulting. Um, I started my career in recruitment and then moved more into consultancy. And I, um, had studied business, [00:03:00] um, at university with CIPD.

Elika: So the HR, uh, chart qualification. And so with that background, um, I was very driven, um, a very high achiever, um, and it wasn't, uh, long before I brought all of those traits into my Singapore role and ended up, um, leaving the corporate world with, um, burnout. So the, how it happened really was, um, that first few years, just first in, last, you know, last out of the office, my, my office was literally, if you've watched the movie Wolf of Wall Street.

Elika: Like my boss literally would give us vodka shots for hit and tag at 8am 

Rachel: in the 

Elika: morning. I won't say who they were. . Both people can see my resume online, but anyway. It was not a healthy environment in hindsight. Um, and especially somebody like me who at that time.

Elika: Look to recognition in all the wrong places. Um, so I left with, with burnout and how it happened was I left that first role. We moved, I was headhunted to a second role. The second role [00:04:00] was such a beautiful and healthy environment. Um, but my eyes had been open to. What was really important about me and my, the life that I wanted to live and the career that I wanted when I looked at my peers, I realized I didn't want what they had anymore.

Elika: Um, and that led me into studying for the largest nutrition school in the world, trying to repair my own health. Um, and that, you know, um, became my executive health coaching business. Um, so that was really the start of me getting into coaching. 

Rachel: Wow. 

Paula: That's 

Rachel: awesome. How 

Elika: tricky. 

Rachel: Yeah. No, that's such a journey.

Rachel: Um, and can you explain to us what is energy coaching? 

Elika: So energy coaching came from, um, if you imagine I started off as a nutrition expert, so I studied over 56 dietary theories in my course, became a health coach and then went, Oh my gosh, people really need help with the food on the ground. So if you think 2015 in Singapore, our options for healthy food was.

Elika: Sardelli [00:05:00] and salad stop and most people know those chains focus on salads, right? So a very typical Way of defining health in the health food industry and so When I opened my restaurant in 2015, one of the most important things was for me was all the ingredients were whole foods. It's a natural Nothing had a preservative or artificial Um, you know, MSG or anything like, you know, inside like that, um, and no refined sugar.

Elika: And really I just thought, I'm just going to cook what all of our grandmas would have prepared. 

Rachel: Yeah. 

Elika: Everything was out of a packet and a container and a tin. That's it. And 

Rachel: so 

Elika: there weren't salads, like none of my, most of our grandmas weren't eating salads. So I also had a ban on salads, um, and that journey of becoming a nutrition expert, training as a plant based chef to run my own restaurant, when I had my second burnout in my restaurant, I was like, How can this even be?

Elika: I'm one, I've left my corporate world to want to do good in the world, to take care of my well being, I'm an expert in nutrition, I'm serving other [00:06:00] people, and here I am burning out. So that quest made me look at well being and managing my own well being differently. And that's when I started what I now really define as the most important element of what I do with my clients, which is taking them into their inner work.

Elika: Rather than focusing on the physical body, which we do with diet and exercise, looking at different layers of our, of our body and how it needs support. And those layers are what we now define as the layers of the energy body. So the physical body, which is what we address with diet and exercise, the emotional body.

Elika: Where I can't feel your frustration, but you feel it. And that's your energy running through your body. Emotions is energy in motion, your mental body. So how you are trying to decipher what I'm saying and ruminating those thoughts through your mind as you process my information. That's your mental body.

Elika: And then. What we define in quantum physics is the field of energy that surrounds you, that animals can pick up but the human eye [00:07:00] can't see, but the information fields that all people refer to as their aura. So these layers of how I needed to repair physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, that's why I decided Energy is our most valuable currency.

Elika: We're measuring success from material things, from my career progression, how, you know, how much progression my, even my, um, move overseas. We're defining this as success. We're defining success at how much weight can I lift if I'm sticking to my diet. And actually I define success through how much energy am I in overflow and what's the energy exchange that I have with others and how do I feel in my emotions, which is energy in motion.

Elika: And so energy becomes, you know, our true value of success. 

Paula: It's so true. And is that where the four pillars come in? 

Elika: Yeah. So the four pillars came from me understanding that on the journey, most people are going to start with diet and exercise. [00:08:00] So that meant the first two pillars was nutrition and movement.

Elika: And with the restaurant, I could understand why, I mean, I don't come from a background of hospitality. Um, yes, I have the Caribbean background, so we have this love for food. 

Rachel: Yeah. 

Elika: But I didn't have the, how do you set up a restaurant? How do you feed people? You know, how does a chef operate? I had, I was a home cook, so what I had to understand was how to do that.

Elika: And you know, if anyone, if I don't, you know, if you ladies ever had the experience of coming to Food Rebel, but those that were like my diehard customers, they will remember that time where we had queues out of the door and we couldn't sit people and I could do 120 covers. How did I get that? Yes. Was because I focused on things that, that our body intuitively knows.

Elika: It's good food. And, and, and, you know, we call it souling Caribbean warms our soul. And so my, my relationship with food that I had growing up, I brought that [00:09:00] into the restaurant and I defined that as healthy. And so that meant that I was looking at heritage eating, getting people to eat their traditional foods.

Elika: So that's how I defined nutrition in my first pillar. Movement came from me being a natural athlete growing up as a runner, and then realizing that when I was on that journey of burning out, I was overdoing exercise. I was doing the F45s five days a week, powering, trying to lift twice my body's weight.

Elika: And we still have to remember that. Exercise is a form of stress on the body. We literally have to break down tissues for them to repair bigger and stronger. Now for them to repair bigger and stronger, what you actually need to repair muscle is sleep. So it's actually rest is where you build muscle, not necessarily the exercise.

Elika: So if you do all the tearing down, but you don't do the rest and the recovery, you actually don't. Get the benefits of exercise. So that was me. So I knew how I wanted to address those two pillars slightly differently. And then even with those two pillars addressed, why did I have my second burnout? Why did I [00:10:00] not learn the first time round?

Elika: Okay, well that's part of my personality, but it's also because I was focusing on the outer body and not the inside. So the inner work that I had to do was on getting clarity on my purpose. Who am I? What am I here to do? What am I trying to doing? What am I trying to do? When I left the corporate world, because I didn't want that, that success and that burnout.

Elika: Why am I burning out in trying to help others? Well, I'd still got clarity on my purpose and wanting to serve others and how, but I didn't have my beliefs addressed. And my beliefs were, for example, one of the most powerful beliefs that led me into burnout was That I had to work hard and not smart because I was raised by a single parent with three children.

Elika: So all I ever saw growing up was hard work is what puts food on the table. 

Rachel: Yeah. 

Elika: Those two pillars, the last two pillars. Purpose and relationships, the mind and self care came from the second burnout and understanding [00:11:00] what was missing from my healing journey. That roadmap, I then decided that was the roadmap I was going to take clients through.

Elika: The nutrition, movement, purpose and relationships, the mind and self care. A lot of the self care bit is to be honest about sleep hygiene with them. 

Paula: Yeah, I mean sleep's so important. 

Elika: Yeah. 

Paula: Isn't it? Yeah, I mean, yeah, I think especially that's why when, you know, when you're young parents, they just sleep deprived and, you know, you get the baby blues and all that sort of stuff because sleep is such an important and underrated necessity of life.

Paula: So the question I have for you then is, you know, human design, because I know I've had mine written before, but can you explain what it is and why it's important? 

Elika: Yeah, so human design is a roadmap to our authentic self. So we don't get a guidebook when we're born of Like, you know, how do I make Paula work?

Elika: How do I make Elika work? How do I make Rachel work? How do I make, you know, we [00:12:00] don't get that. So the closest thing that I have experienced to that, um, outside of the plant medicine in Costa Rica and the journey with that, but the closest I've seen to that is human design, because what it is, is a blend of science and ancient wisdom that shows you a visual body graph of how you were designed by your energy.

Elika: And if we understand scientifically at the most bare parts of our science understanding of energy, everything is made up of an atom, and those atoms can vib they all vibrate. And when they vibrate, they emit frequencies. Those frequencies are what we measure when we look at energy. So they're depicted on a frequency chart and measured by hertz.

Elika: So It's very important for me in my work with clients to explain energy principles from science and not just this abstract thing for them to really integrate into lifestyle habits. And so when in human design, we take some data from you, [00:13:00] namely your birth time, birthplace, birth location, and that data is put into the system that generates your visual body graph.

Elika: We call it the body graph. And from that body graph, my job is not just to show you anyone can get the body graph online, but I've been spending nine years now, deeply studying it to be able to interpret that for you. And that interpretation will explain to you what your soul came here to do, like who you're here to serve.

Elika: What the superpowers you have, even how you are designed to make decisions. And for a lot of people that I work with, because most of my clients are in their 40s and 50s, a lot of this is like deeply aha moments for them because they felt this, they understood this, but they never had the clarity around this.

Elika: And when you have clarity around who you are and what you're here to do, you're going to be so much more efficient with the energy that you use. And this efficiency in energy is really key to preventing my clients from going into burnout and preventing my clients from having, um, amazing [00:14:00] success in their careers because they're driven, they're self achievers, they're entrepreneurial, whatever they are.

Elika: But their relationships are collapsing around them. 

Rachel: Their 

Elika: mental well being is being torn apart. General well being is because of that. And that energy blueprint that I get from human design helps us to build them, support them and guide them based on their unique blueprint. 

Paula: Because it is really interesting, right?

Paula: Because when you find out what kind of human design you have, you can then understand why you do some of the things you do. 

Elika: Yeah. Do you know what I mean? It's just so like, oh my god. And you know, and it's also, you know, some of my work is, um, with human design, because we've been so conditioned by our education system to go mind to mind.

Elika: And people love getting information, but human design is nothing if you don't integrate the information, like truly embody and become who you are. So for example, I've got a client I did a reading with this week. And, um, you know, in her human design, her essence is here [00:15:00] to provoke people. 

Rachel: And in that 

Elika: provocation that she does.

Elika: It helps people to see things different because they start questioning things. And so that was her role in the tribe. Now, her, because her mental plane, her, her mental conditioning from her society or culture or education is that provoking things is bad, right? That's a thought. Who said it's bad, but that's what she perceived it as.

Elika: So because she said that now the work that her and I have, it's not just to work with the information. Oh yeah. Now you hit it. No, it's to overcome the fact that. She believes that to provoke people is a bad thing. So therefore, she's been stepping away from her true purpose. Because obviously she's been provoking people anyway.

Paula: Yeah. And 

Elika: she knows that's true. But, but now she, but she hasn't embraced the superpowers of what that means. So now we've got this work to do to know what does provoking people look like for you? How do we get to see this as a good thing? How do we support people through the process [00:16:00] of being provoked by you?

Elika: And then what you give them, the tools that you do. And this is the clarity. It's not a job title. It's not you become a teacher, you get to be CEO. That's not our purpose. 

Paula: And it's also, I mean, for me, I am one of the people that, um, I take on other people's energies. So if you come to me sad, I'm sad. If you come to me happy, I'm happy.

Paula: Um, but it's also, you know, learning how to deal with those energies and figuring, and what one, I always wondered why. I felt like that. But now that I know that that's what I do, I have things in place to allow me not to feel, feel it at the time, but then let it go rather than keep going with it. Because that's dangerous.

Paula: Yeah. 

Elika: Because there's so much of you that's human, that you're never going to want to let go of. One is that. Um, you are designed to work with your senses because our natural environment isn't construct, uh, con, um, concrete buildings. So you are designed that when you hear certain animals making different noises or the changes to the [00:17:00] weather, that your instincts No to keep you alive and your senses are there to help you with that.

Elika: Then you're a woman So you are designed with certain hormones that you know are designed to allow you to be Nurturing to feel your child and what your child needs the woman's role The mother's role is to emotionally regulate the baby, right? That's why we have that skin to skin So these are things that make you so human, a part of being human, that you're not going to want to let go of.

Elika: And then there's the human design, the uniqueness of you, that when we look at your chart, you may have this area, when we look at your body design, where you literally have this as an energy, as an open area of your body that is absorbing more of that energy of the other. And for you, that particular area is the solar plexus in the body.

Elika: So it's this part of our body that absorbs emotions. And so you literally, therefore. Feel somebody's emotion going through your body [00:18:00] as if it's your own body and the people who don't have that they know Their own emotions very strongly because they're generating their own emotions, but you're more Feeling the emotions of others as if they're your own they're passing through you And so then it becomes harder to know is this mine or is this yours?

Paula: yeah, 

Elika: the training that we do with you is to get you to understand the difference between what is yours and what is There's and for example, imagine the busy working mother that is running around trying to do all trying to serve everybody and At the expense of her own well being not giving her own self care then she doesn't even know what her emotions are anymore Hers because she's taking herself away from her ability to feel her own feelings 

Paula: I'm not in here.

Elika: Right? I don't know. It's, it's, it's tough because it's what makes us human. And then there's a beautiful uniqueness that, which I love about human design, which is knowing that. [00:19:00] We all know that we're different, but yet we all try to be the same. 

Paula: Oh, I love that. Yeah, 

Elika: we 

Paula: can 

Elika: feel these parts of us that are like, God, this is me.

Elika: And we know it, especially in relationships where we're like, will they accept that part of me? You know? So normal to me is a cycle on a washing machine. We are not normal. We are all uniquely different. And human design allows us to explore those unique differences. 

Paula: Because I think society, um, makes us feel like we need to be the same, right?

Paula: That we all need to be this type of person that everyone accepts and everyone likes, but that's not how the tribes used to be, or that's not how life used to be. Yeah. 

Rachel: I, um, Um, my dad always used to say to us as kids, he'd be like, we're normal, everyone else is weird. And you're always just trying to fit in, you know, and he'd be like, 

Elika: stop.

Elika: Yeah. And you [00:20:00] know, it's, it's important that we know why we try and fit in from an evolutionary perspective. For thousands of years, when we moved in tribes, if you pissed off a tribe member, you could get kicked out of your tribe. And so that meant that you could, you wouldn't survive. So we have it in so many little nuances.

Elika: You know, I remember as being, as a runner, when you run down the street and you see another runner coming. And you give each other this nod and it's the nod of, Oh my God, we've got so many more miles to go. It's knowing, but it's the tribal part of us going, we've got something that's similar for each other, even as we're running past each other.

Elika: Parents do you think about when you go from not being a parent to a parent and as a mom, then you start going, okay, where are all my friends that have children? So then you go, okay, I need a new tribe. Right. And we corporate environments do it where, okay, don't let the boss not shine, because if you do that, you'll get kicked out of the tribe.

Elika: So we do it in so many little [00:21:00] nuances and that's from our evolutionary perspective, but we don't always embrace the other parts of art that the tribe had. So the tribe knew that every single person in the, in the tribe had a unique gift and those gifts together. What made the tribe survive? So some people had the physical prowess and that meant, you know, really they could move the heavy rocks and they could help the tribe to build things.

Elika: Some people, it was their sense, you know, their sense of smell. So they could literally smell. that something had changed in the environment, that, you know, it was poison or anything, something, it was the taste. And so they might try certain tinctures, certain plants, before cooking the brews, you know, and so they really embraced still the unique differences, but then there were tribal rules.

Elika: So, you know, when we still, we still study today, we don't have as many tribes, but we have, for example, the Hanza tribe in Africa, and they can still study that tribe that lives the traditional way. And so you can still see that there were tribal rules. And one of [00:22:00] them that I love, that I think that we've let go of is initiations.

Elika: So for example, men got initiated and this was a part when they got taken away from their mother to really become a man because they knew that the mom will always nurture, will always wanna go softly, softly, will always wanna protect in the way that will prevent the, the, the boy becoming a man. Yeah. So they literally have this initiation process.

Elika: So there are still things that. We do take away, um, from our tribes that are important, that are like, you know, wanting not to pee people, piss people off and wanting to be liked and people pleased, but there are, we're forgetting about some of the other areas that are still important and one of those is our unique differences.

Rachel: I think like also you think about that with how it reflects on work culture, um, a friend of mine is going through a bad time at work and it's obvious to me that the culture that's going on there is not her culture, [00:23:00] you know, and they are. You know, actively seeking her out and saying, you don't belong here.

Rachel: And she's so tenacious that she's like, I'm gonna belong here. You know? Right. There you go. That long hold. She's going, yeah, she's going for it. And I'm like going, you need to. Find your, your tribe, you know, your, your work tribe. And this is not, it's never, it's not going to work out for you. And I feel really bad for saying that because I'm like, what you really need to do is find the work culture that fits you, you know, so that you're happy because you're there so many hours of so many days, you know, it's going to be hard to ever be happy there.

Rachel: What do you think about that? Or should she just go? 

Elika: It's the phrase, what comes to mind is bloom where you blossom. You put a plant in the wrong soil, don't expect it to grow. So, for thousands of years, [00:24:00] what we knew in these tribes were, they ate the same food, they worshipped the same god, they even had certain dances that were unique to them.

Elika: Yesterday I was in one of the cafes that I love and it's got um, Africa and African artifacts all around, and there's certain carvings in the wood that those carvings depict which tribe they came from. So, look at us as expats. I am around people that celebrate all different gods, right? Now we're in Rabadam and I'm like, okay, your god might be different to my god, but what's the underlying principles that we can find peace in?

Elika: Your food? are really different to my foods. So for me, I'm very fortunate. You know, my ancestral foods come from the Caribbean, come from Jamaica. So Jamaica is pretty much on the same point on the equator of Singapore. So all the indigenous foods that grow there grow here. But some of them don't even eat them here.

Elika: Like yam, they don't even eat it here because they see it as poor man's food. So you can only get it in the hawker center. But yam is like my grandma's like soul food. 

Rachel: [00:25:00] Yeah, 

Elika: we have the bananas and the pineapples. So, you know, we're like the king of pina coladas, right? Because this sings to us. So, so I have certain foods, but I'm like looking at them and going, why do you cook it that way?

Elika: Like, you know, and then I look at different cultures, foods here, like the Chinese who are much more about textures. Fragrance and not about the spices and the marinades that I have in my culture. So we have these things where, you know, where now like the expats we're, we're forced into not having the same food, not having the same culture, not having the same thoughts, the same beli beliefs, the same gods.

Elika: The same things that we were used to having, but we just have to make it work. And sometimes we have to accept when we go, they're not our people, 

Paula: they're not our 

Rachel: choice. 

Elika: That's not my 

Paula: food. I agree. And I think that's why coming from a HR background. It's quite, 

Rachel: sorry. No, to agree with you, it's quite liberating when you do that.

Rachel: Sorry, go, go on Paula. [00:26:00]

Paula: That's okay. No, I was just saying from a HR. Perspective from a HR background, that's why when you're recruiting, knowing what the vision of the company is so important, because you might be the best person for the job, but you might not be best person for that company. And that's why culture.

Paula: Yeah. And so that's why I think, um, you know, finding your tribe at work is so important and understanding that you need to have the same goals and same visions. It's like in a family unit, you need to have the same goals and visions and. beliefs to be able to call it your tribe, right? Yeah, 

Elika: absolutely.

Elika: It's, it's so important. And I think for all relationships. One of the things that I just look for is, do we have the same values? So when I look at the women's mastermind, I'm like, I always say what it will bind us together is that you're growth minded. That you are looking to grow personally or professionally.

Elika: That is the thing that will bind us together. Because if you're growth minded, any feedback that you get [00:27:00]from anyone in the circle with the challenge that you're facing. Your growth mind will take that as a, how do I see this as an opportunity to grow? Not as a, what you could feel in any, in other networking or other experiences that you have with others where, Hmm, I don't like what that person said to me.

Elika: Right. I see that all the time when people are receiving feedback. Um, in my own, you know, when I think about my intimate relationships, I look for honesty. I look for the growth mindset. I look for. Um, you know, uh, a desire for well being to be important to you. I look for integrity. I look for loyalty. These are things that are so important at the core of who I am.

Elika: So I look like that. So again, if I was to work in another company and I think about the companies that I worked in, no, the company's values that I worked in were about ambition at the expense of individuals. You know, I have this. I think about astrology if there's an astrology, so I am Aries who are very gung ho, very ambitious, very leadership, very like, we're fire signs, we're doers.

Elika: So in, you put me in a cells [00:28:00] environment, I look like I do really, really well, because I'm as ambitious as most people in a cells environment. But my moon, which is, which represents a subconscious, which represents our emotional body, our inner world, is in Libra, and Libra, um, the picture of Libra, the scales, it's all about harmony and justice in the world.

Elika: So I am. the issue with any injustice. So I am not the person that will go into a corporate environment and find the popular people and find the boss and, and, and kiss butt. I'm not, I'm the person that's like looking at that. Why is no, why does no one talk to, why does no one say hi to our cleaner every morning?

Elika: Why? I see all the injustices and with my Aries personality, I will say it. 

Paula: Yeah. 

Elika: You've got these two parts of me wanting harmony and justice for all people and all things and the part of me that's not afraid to say it. Yeah. That in a corporate setting can be challenging. 

Rachel: Oh yes. Yeah. 

Elika: I know. I'm very similar.

Elika: Yeah. I have a, I 

Paula: [00:29:00] have a liberal rising as well. That's why I laughed. I can see that. That was bad. That's not, that's not right. Okay. I want everything has to be the same for everybody. Everyone has to equal everyone. Why aren't you doing that? Oh, yes. I get it. You can see why. I thought 

Rachel: it was just because 

Elika: I was a socialist.

Elika: And so again, it's our, our unique individual parts of ourselves. 

Paula: So I guess, so you're talking about moon rising and so then how you, you also talked about moon cycles previously, so how does that, um, how does that involve impact, impact energy? Because they say, you know, quite often you hear that, oh, there's a full moon rising.

Paula: So all the weirdos are out to play. 

Rachel: No sleep. Yeah. You're like totally discombobulated. 

Elika: I know. So, you know, um, having studied human design for nine years, it's so deep and so, you know, we both have this HR background. So when I was in [00:30:00] HR, I absolutely loved like disc profiles and Myers Briggs and all these ways that we would pigeonhole people.

Elika: And now I detest them. I detest all these archetypes because I've had to go so much deeper in human design. And what I realized is these archetypes are. Some somewhat helpful, but because they're based on patterns of human behavior, but they're like 50 years old at best, at best. Now, those are my clients that love data, right?

Elika: Those are my clients that love the data. We want a lot of data then. And that's actually not a lot. When you think about human evolution, 50 years is not a lot of data. So human design, it uses three ancient wisdoms, namely The, the I Ching, the Chinese I Ching that they used in the dynasty, um, the Hindu chakra system, which a lot of people have been introduced through from yoga and from Ayurveda, which is the oldest healthcare system in the world.

Elika: Um, and the Kabbalah, which is what's mainly known by the Jewish, which is above all religions and that, but it's a way of life. It teaches a way of life. So it uses those three [00:31:00] ancient wisdoms, but it also uses astrology, which is why I've had to deeply understand astrology. And we have an astrologist that works with us on the health concierge.

Elika: It uses numerology, which I've really deeply had to understand living in Chinese culture. Their love for understanding of numerology and how numbers work. You know, remember Chinese New Year and the ang baos and the how auspicious numbers. Um, and then it uses quantum physics, which is the science of energy.

Elika: So can you imagine how powerful each of those are individually and then all pulled together? That's what makes the visual body graph. And that's why I've had to study it for nine years and I'm still like, Oh my God, there's more layers to it. And so in studying all of these different nuances of all our ancient wisdoms, our science and, or, and the pseudosciences, um, I've had to look at different new, different ways of how humans for thousands of years lived.

Elika: And if you even study like a lot of, um, ancient buildings, I watched these really ancient history buildings, uh, on, on Netflix about, um, uh, ancient wisdom and the buildings like, like Machu Picchu and, um, Stonehenge and how these [00:32:00] buildings came together. And they all have on them. Like stars and suns and moons and basically astrology is built into all of the ancient wisdom and yet we have humans today that are like, we don't believe in astrology, but for thousands and thousands of years they built buildings and it's all weaved in and so.

Elika: The challenge about humans today in the modern day world is, you know, all of the science and I, you know, I used to be married to a rocket scientist. So all the scientists say, we know so little and all the non scientists are like, where's the science? 

Paula: Yeah. 

Elika: We don't understand that science means that a human has had to get funding and research to prove something.

Elika: And unless they've had that, it's a pseudoscience, but that doesn't mean that it doesn't exist. And so astrology at the moment sits within the pseudoscience. I, I explain this because it's so important to understand why it's not abstract. And but so we believe certain parts of the pseudoscience. So for example, we know and believe and [00:33:00] scientifically have proven that the energy of the moon is so powerful that it can pull the tide in and out.

Elika: to the gravitational force. We believe that. Farmers for thousands of years rotate their crop by that moon cycle. Even, I look at, you know, places like Australia where it's a big surfing culture, and they will surf based on this moon cycle. Yeah. So we know that the moon's gravitational force has the ability to have that effect on the water.

Elika: Yet we're on the same planet. We're made up of 70 percent water. And some of us believe that that moon will affect the sea, but not affect us, but we're 70 percent water. It makes no rational sense to anyone to go, I need the science to prove that that moon has an effect on me. That makes no sense. Wasn't it, 

Rachel: wasn't it like before electricity?

Rachel: Your, your menstrual cycle followed the moon, but they had no, they've got no sort of scientific evidence of that because women were never studied. 

Elika: Because [00:34:00] women, so when they did the research, all of the wellness research that a lot of us follow on most of the diets, they, they literally, they, they said, we need to exclude women from this.

Elika: because women fluctuate. Why do we fluctuate? We fluctuate our hormones and we fluctuate because women are governed by something that's called the infradian cycle, which is a 28 cycle. And what do we know in nature? That's 28 days. The moon. And that's why in a lot of developing countries, they still call it the moon cycle.

Elika: They don't call it a period. They literally call it the moon cycle. So men run to a biological cycle. That's called the circadian rhythm, which is the 24 hour biological clock, which is the sun. Women work to a 28 day cycle. That is the, that's the moon. So to put this into the science that we now starting to thankfully we're starting to study.

Elika: The chemistry of a woman's brain is 25 percent different in 28 days. [00:35:00] So you get a successful woman that needs to, that wants to grow and expand her business and has to pitch to an investor, or you get a woman in a corporate environment to do a big in presentation. And you do it in the wrong week of her brain chemistry.

Elika: That is literally setting a woman up to fail or setting it up for success, depending on which week you use. So you ladies are brilliant. So you got me right in summer. Summer is when my estrogen is higher. I'm ovulating. So my communication is pitched highest. My energy is in the highest frequency. Why?

Elika: Because evolutionary. When I'm in this moment, I am ovulating and so that I need to make myself more attractive to men. And so it makes sense that you give me more oestrogen, which gives me my curves, which gives me my woman ness, but also is my heightened communication skills. It makes sense that all of my senses, even my pheromones, which is what men smell.

Elika: Uh, more attractive and more appealing. [00:36:00] So this is the week where I will go. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. To all my podcasts, all my networking, all my social occasions, because I know that this is when I come across best. This is when as a woman knowing this, I will back to back film all of my content and get in as much as I can on this week, because I know this, and this is what I do with my women when I'm coaching them.

Elika: I set them up for success because of this moon cycle. And because my understanding of our biology to that. But a lot of women are failing energetically because they're not working to our natural energy cycles. 

Paula: Yeah, it makes all sense. So is that the Women's Mastermind course that you offer? 

Elika: Well, so the Women's Mastermind is the first Thursday of every month I hold a group of women, I take eight women and in a container at my home, I get them to bring their challenge that they face and we go through it.

Elika: And it's, and it's, every single woman gets heard. Challenged through their beliefs, right? And given the solutions [00:37:00] that we think that they need based on what they shed. So that's why we cap at eight. So it's very intimate. We go very deep. That's the women's mastermind. Um, I coach on the health concierge, women and men, and obviously I take them through the four pillars.

Elika: But all of the women that come to me, I have to teach them the infradian cycle. So I have to take their moon cycle and if they're not menstruating anymore, so let's say that, you know, a lot of women that are, can be menopausal come to me as well. I have a lot of women in their 40s and 50s are perimenopause or going through menopause.

Elika: So even if they don't have, if they're actually not going through their cycle in the same way. I know through the moon where to position it. So now I've got that 28 day cycle. I literally work with their calendar in 28 days. And we have to put in these pivotal moments of what they should eat, their exercise, their work based on their unique 28 day cycle.

Elika: Cause again, not every woman is bang on 28. Some are like 26 to 28. All of this is fluctuating. So I work with that [00:38:00] uniquely with the women that I coach. 

Rachel: So interesting. And yeah, it is. And how do you, how do you handle like energy blockers with them? Yes. 

Elika: So it's really easy when we look at, um, the four pillars to be able to see what are the energy drainers and what are the energy givers.

Elika: So if we look at the first pillar, nutrition. What are the energy drainers? Are you intolerant to dairy? Um, do you have a problem with gluten or wheat? Um, do you have an addiction to sugar? Are you having these blood sugar spikes? Um, what are the foods that are good for humans? Like, you know, um, the healthiest fats from dairy can be great for people, but if you're lactose intolerant, it's not going to work for you.

Elika: You know, if you've had some digestive issues and now become allergic to nuts, it doesn't matter if nuts are protein and healthy fats, you know. So, we have to work out, are these foods energy drainers for you or energy givers? There are some foods for me, coconuts is one of them. Anything coconut, doesn't matter whether it's coconut sugar, coconut milk, coconut cake, or anything.

Elika: Like [00:39:00] literally, I can feel my body singing. Something about that. And again, I look at my background. They had a lot of coconuts. 

Rachel: Yeah. Yeah. 

Elika: I was gonna say that would have been disappointing if, if it was the opposite. Well, I can tell you when, especially when I'm teaching my client, I'm working with things like plant based milks, which one works well for you.

Elika: Forget about the diet trends, forget about which one works well for you. If you're lactose intolerant and you want me to find you a plant based milk, I've seen the Italians are like. Coconut milk, I cannot in my coffee, whereas my Caribbean, my Indonesians, my Malays, coconut milk in the cup, my Indians, coconut milk in my coffee.

Elika: Oh my God, it's so good. So energy givers, when I look at movement, are you using all of the hard intense workouts and therefore draining yourself, depleting yourself of energy for the purpose of having exercise? Do you need more energy givers? Do you need Pilates? Do you need restorative yoga? Do you need more yin?

Elika: You know, then we look at purpose and relationships. Look at the [00:40:00] ten people around you. Those are the people, the people that you spend the most time with, right? For sometimes it's your children and you can't really control that. Are these people giving you energy or are they vampires? And we've all had that person in our life that is in that inner circle of ten people that we spend the most time with and they are just the vampire.

Elika: They just take from us. Um, it doesn't matter whether you drink green smoothies every day, whether you do your high intensity workouts, if you don't get rid of that person or change your relationship dynamics with that person, whether you be your boss, your partner, your, the relationship that you have with your child, whatever that dynamic is, if that is a vampire in your life.

Elika: None of the food, none of the exercise you'll do will give you that vitality. 

Paula: And then, 

Elika: you know, I talked to you about the last pillar, the mind and the self care. If you are running beliefs like I did, that you can only have success if you work this amount of hours, that if you work in this job that is killing your self [00:41:00]esteem, if you have that belief.

Elika: Then that's going to be an energy drainer. If you do all the things right, if you eat well, if you exercise well, and you do all the restorative, you've got beautiful restorative relationships, but you hold a belief that I'm not, you know, I'm not a morning person, I need my, and you don't sleep. You, I'm a night owl.

Elika: You, I, I remember saying I'm a night owl. That's just how I am. I really bought in sub sleep. But it, it is very clear in all the studies, human beings as adults need seven to nine hours sleep. Most people found that eight to nine hours. And if you don't have that sleep, the Chinese medicine also shows that every organ has a time in which it repairs.

Elika: So if you believe that you're a night owl and you're different and you're unique and we see in Chinese medicine that between 1 and 3am is when your liver goes through its repair. So your organ doesn't get that deep restorative sleep because you need to be in deep sleep. So that means you need to go through the 90 minute cycle.

Elika: So 1130 to get your liver to be ready [00:42:00] at 1am to go through that. That means that your body doesn't get to remove the rubbish every day. So these are all beliefs that could affect your sleep, that could affect your energy. 

Paula: Very interesting. 

Elika: Um, 

Paula: and so do you have any other things you'd like to mention before we, um, finish off?

Paula: Cause it's so, I mean, I could talk to you all day about 

Elika: this. One thing I would just say about me using the principle of energy to create harmony in people's life, personally and professionally, is just knowing that, you know, when our people are working with me one on one, I get to meet them where they're at.

Elika: Where they're at with their food, where they're at with their relationships, where they're at with their finding their purpose, where they're at with their sleep hygiene. But for the average person, honestly, 80 percent of people start with diet and exercise. And that's okay. But you must get to know that the true work is the inner work.

Elika: Like exploring your inner world. And if you do the deep work, the deep integration of your inner world, [00:43:00]which really means that you have to feel your feelings. And that is that emotions, that's the energy emotions, the outside world will take care of itself. And that's what I want. A lot of people to know that are just like, if I just fix this diet, if I just fix this, if I just exercise more, you're missing the principles of energy, which is it's an inside out job.

Paula: I love that because I know my son is a personal trainer and he's been doing years of study like yourself and he only trains males because he hasn't done enough study on females and their cycle and training. So he looks at the inside out. Um, and then the last pillar obviously for him is the, is the training in the gym.

Paula: But yeah, so I'm, I'm really into it. I'm really interested to hear more from you, but unfortunately, um, we must go. Um, and we don't want to, I mean, we don't want to spoil. 

Rachel: Is there a last, um, energy boosting tip you can give our listeners? 

Elika: Um, I think it is weird to say that. You don't get paid [00:44:00] for the job that you do.

Elika: You're, the people that are in your life are not with you just because of your name or your status. 

Rachel: It's 

Elika: all about the energy that you do it with. I love that. Energy is our most valuable currency. 

Paula: I love that. It's been amazing. I mean, yeah, it's been amazing. So we'll put all your, um, yeah, in the show notes so that people can get in touch with you.

Paula: It's been such a great 

Rachel: chat. Thank you. Thank you so much, Elika. We've loved having you on. Thank you so much for having me. Let 

Elika: me just,