Unlocking the Power of the Sacred Plant – Episode

Empowering You Organically – Season 12 – Episode 110

Title: Unlocking the Power of the Sacred Plant

Hosts: Jonathan Hunsaker & TeriAnn Trevenen

Guest: Lia Hawks

Description:  The sacred plant has been used for 5,000+ years to prevent, treat, and even beat hundreds of debilitating conditions and diseases. Up until 80 years ago, the sacred plant was readily available and used for countless ailments and chronic pain. But then, during the rise of the modern medical system, the sacred plant was unjustly suppressed by lawmakers who feared its healing powers, and sought to eliminate it so it could sell patented synthetic drugs for profit. It’s been hidden and forbidden ever since.

* * *

FEATURED CHALLENGE

• 8 brain-boosting botanicals sourced from the Amazon rainforest
• Helps maintain healthy brain inflammation levels
• Encourages new brain cell growth
• Supports healthy neurons for better memory power
• Protects the brain from free radical damage
• Aids healthy blood flow and oxygen levels
• Promotes a calm, focused mind and balanced moods

Lia Hawks

The Sacred Plant is a mission centered company started in April 2017. Since their beginning, their team has been dedicated to understanding, helping, and empowering patients, loved ones, caregivers, and more. Helping to ignite the conversation around knowing there are powerful, natural, safe options for them to live a healthy, happy, and pain-free life.

Lia Hawks is a founding team member, holding the role of Director of Content. What is most important to note is the work she has done alongside the experts, patients, physicians, researchers, lawyers, nurses, advocates, and more to get an essential understanding of just how The Sacred Plant can make a difference in the lives of so many who once had lost hope.

What is The Sacred Plant? Cannabis

The sacred plant has been used for 5,000+ years to prevent, treat, and even beat hundreds of debilitating conditions and diseases. Up until 80 years ago, the sacred plant was readily available and used for countless ailments and chronic pain. But then, during the rise of the modern medical system, the sacred plant was unjustly suppressed by lawmakers who feared its healing powers, and sought to eliminate it so it could sell patented synthetic drugs for profit. It’s been hidden and forbidden ever since.

CBD & THC

The two most found cannabinoids in the plant out of over 100+ others.

CBD is known for:

Anti-inflammation

Anti-Anxiety

Energy Boosting

Stabilizes Cancer

Bone density and formation

Various others…

THC is known for:

Kills cancer cells indirectly through apoptosis restart

Pain reliever

Muscle Spasm

Depression

Body relaxation

Ratios

3 parts CBD to 1 part THC will remove the psycho active feeling of the THC. Whereas, a 20:1 CBD:THC would negate all benefit of THC that your body could benefit from.

What is the Endocannabinoid System?

Our body has the ability to heal itself, however when our immune system is compromised, that ability to heal is turned off.

Through our Endocannabinoid System we can optimize our body’s response. Kick starting healing, repair, and feeling well!

The endocannabinoid system (ECS) is a complex cell-signaling system identified in the early 1990s by researchers exploring THC, a well-known cannabinoid. Cannabinoids are compounds found in cannabis.

Endocannabinoids, also called endogenous cannabinoids, are molecules made by your body. They’re similar to cannabinoids, but they’re produced by your body.

Experts have identified two key endocannabinoids so far:

anandamide (AEA)

2-arachidonoylglyerol (2-AG)

These help keep internal functions running smoothly. Your body produces them as needed, making it difficult to know what typical levels are for each.

Endocannabinoid Receptors

These receptors are found throughout your body. Endocannabinoids bind to them in order to signal that the ECS needs to take action.

There are two main endocannabinoid receptors:

• CB1 receptors, which are mostly found in the central nervous system
• CB2 receptors, which are mostly found in your peripheral nervous system, especially immune cells

Endocannabinoids can bind to either receptor. The effects that result depend on where the receptor is located and which endocannabinoid it binds to.

For example, endocannabinoids might target CB1 receptors in a spinal nerve to relieve pain. Others might bind to a CB2 receptor in your immune cells to signal that your body’s experiencing inflammation, a common sign of autoimmune disorders.

Subscribe to Empowering You Organically 
Never miss an episode!

APPLE PODCASTS                 SPOTIFY                 GOOGLE PODCASTS

* * *

Jonathan Hunsaker:

Welcome, everyone, to another episode of Empowering You Organically. I’m your host, Jonathan Hunsaker, joined by my co-host TeriAnn Trevenen.

TeriAnn Trevenen:

Hey everyone.

Jonathan Hunsaker:

And we’re also joined with a very special guest today, Lia Hawks. Lia, thank you for joining us.

Lia Hawks:

Excited to be here. Thank you so much for having me.

Jonathan Hunsaker:

Before we go deep. TeriAnn, do you want to read Lia’s bio real quick?

TeriAnn Trevenen:

Absolutely. The Sacred Plant is a mission centered company started in April 2017. Since their beginning, their team has been dedicated to understanding, helping, and empowering patients, loved ones, caregivers, and more, helping to ignite the conversation around knowing that there are powerful, natural, safe options for them to live a healthy, happy, and pain-free life. Lia Hawks is a founding team member, holding the role of Director of Content. What is most important to note is the work she has done alongside the experts, patients, physicians, researchers, lawyers, nurses, advocates, and more to get an essential understanding of just how the sacred plant can make a difference in the lives of so many who once had lost hope.

Jonathan Hunsaker:

So TeriAnn, thank you for that bio. So, let’s talk about, what is the sacred plant?

Lia Hawks:

The sacred plant is ultimately cannabis sativa, the overarching plant. Cannabis sativa breaks down into multiple different viewpoints. Typically, we see it marijuana and hemp, and the only distinguishment there is the level of THC in it. THC, as we know, is the psychoactive component, but it’s also a medicinal component. So, we don’t want to cast it aside. I know we’ll get to more of that later today, but it really is cannabis sativa, and then all the subcategories that fall underneath that.

Jonathan Hunsaker:

Absolutely. I know we’ve had guests on here on the past, we’ve talked about cannabis, we’ve talked about hemp. So our audience is probably somewhat familiar with it, and it’s just more prevalent in the news now anyway. It’s more mainstream than it’s ever been in the past. I just want to clarify for people, we’re not here talking about marijuana, weed, Mary Jane, things like that. We’re not talking about smoking it to get high. We’re talking about cannabis. We’re talking about the medicinal uses of cannabis. We’re talking about CBD, cannabinoids. We’re talking about all of the other angles of it. Also note, because I don’t think a lot of people really realize that you can use cannabis without getting high, without that psychoactive effect.

Lia Hawks:

Absolutely. That all goes back to the way that you approach this, right? Just like how you approach your health in the way you eat, it’s with methodology. It’s with, what is going to serve me the best? You’re going to approach the cannabis and the exact same way. How can I make this medicine serve me best with the limited side effects, no psychoactivity, the best results possible, right?

Jonathan Hunsaker:

Absolutely. So, Lia, give us a little background of you. I mean, what brought you to where you are now? Do you have a health journey yourself that has brought you to where you are today?

Lia Hawks:

Absolutely. You had to see it, at least. I honestly started on the track that really changed my life about five years ago. I had the gracious life thrown my way of meeting Manny Goldman, and he was transformative for me. He led me to believe that I had the ability to focus on myself. What does that mean? I can focus on my mental health, my physical health, my spiritual health, and all the in-betweens that come along with it. So, I was massively overweight. I was 285 pounds. I don’t like to admit that, but I was. I had extreme, extreme anxiety. Just panic attack after panic attack all the time. I was depressed, suicidal, just not in a good place. I was really in a toxic place, because again, I didn’t know that I could take ownership of my own life. That’s literally where it started.

Lia Hawks:

First and foremost, I accepted that I was responsible for myself and what came of myself. So I changed my diet. I changed my friend group. I changed the way that I was approaching my inner health. Was I constantly berating myself or was I accepting where I am and choosing to step forward? All of that I’ve learned in the last five years, and because of it, my mental health is massively different. My ability to be effective in work is massively different. On top of that, I’ve learned natural, safe options to include in my life. I’ve learned supplementation and how that benefits me. I’ve learned vitamins and what I’m deficient in and how can I supplement that? I’ve learned, okay, am I reaching for that pill every single time, or am I making the core change that’s needed so that that pill is not needed? So that’s been the journey I’ve been on.

Lia Hawks:

It’s uncomfortable, I’m still on that journey. It’s never over, but that’s the thing. I think what’s most exciting is I’ve learned, and I’ve tripped, and I’ve fallen, but through those trips and those falls, I’ve been able to learn even more. If I did this perfectly, I probably wouldn’t have learned as much as I learned. I really wouldn’t have. The mistakes allowed me to see different things that I just wasn’t aware of. So now in turn, I can share this information. In turn, I’ve done it, so I can share from my experience. Will my experience match everybody else’s every time? Absolutely not. But one little piece might. One little piece might here, and one little piece might there, an that’s really what I’m about, is how can I continue to grow for myself and then in turn pour that back into the community?

Jonathan Hunsaker:

Absolutely. No. I can relate a lot especially to the overweight part. I was 270 pounds. What I like that you shared about your journey is it’s not a perfect angle. You’re not just going to go perfectly right up the mountain or down the mountain, however you want to term it. There’s always going to be hiccups. There’s always going to be things, jagged edges, stuff that gets in the way along the way, and I think that’s part of being able to be resilient and actually maintaining the change. I think if it’s easy and you don’t have that stuff, that’s when you fall back to where you were before. So, when you do a crash diet for a month and you lose 30 pounds and that’s it, I mean, yeah, it was hard for that month, but you didn’t have enough time there to have some ups and downs in the longevity. It doesn’t stay off as much as just having to continue to work on it. So, thank you for sharing your story on that. Let’s get back to CBD and THC. Can you just share a little bit more about those two compounds?

Lia Hawks:

Absolutely. So, CBD and THC are the most prominent, they’re most concentrated in cannabis and any type of cannabis. So, whether or not you see the levels go up and down, they’re still going to be the most found cannabinoids in the plant. Cannabinoids are just a very specific nomenclature for this particular type of phytochemical. It’s just a part of the plant. Easiest way to explain it. So, CBD and THC have each have their own benefits. So, we see it going into our body, through our endocannabinoid system, almost like a lock and a key, and it just fits right into place. So, CBD is known, excuse me, typically known for anti-inflammation, anti-anxiety, energy boosting, and a variety of other things, including helping to stabilize cancer. So, it keeps it in one spot. It doesn’t allow it to spread. It helps with bone formation and density. There’s a lot of different things CBD has been shown to do.

Lia Hawks:

The reason why we know so much about CBD and why you hear it in so many places, there’s CBD water on the market, there’s [CBD latens 00:08:09] on the market, CBD tinctures and topicals, all those things. The reason why it’s such a buzzword is because of how prominent it is, how easy it is to isolate, and because it has all these great attributes, right? Everybody’s looking for the cure-all. At the end of the day, we all want it to be easy, and here’s the next thing to try to get the cure-all. So that’s something to be aware of is don’t jump ship to the isolates. So we’ll come back to that if we get a chance to.

Lia Hawks:

The other side of it is THC. It gets the bad rep because of the psychoactivity, but the reality is THC is a powerhouse. They’ve proven time and time again in research that THC is actually able to kill cancer cell. Not directly. It actually kicks back on the natural process of apoptosis, which is natural cell death. Things have a timeline. Things should die at a certain point and they should die naturally, and that’s what THC kicks back on inside of our body. That’s huge in and of itself. Not only that, it’s been shown to be one of the strongest analgesics, so pain reliever. It’s shown to help with muscle spasm, depression, help with whole body kind of relaxation, typically like muscle spasms or inflammation based pain. All those types of things.

Lia Hawks:

So these two things are two of a hundred. A hundred plus, actually. There’s only two that we mostly focus on, when there’s a whole gang load of other cannabinoids, and other chemicals actually in the plant, that are so beneficial. And then when you bring it all together, I always explain it like this. Do you ever see that picture of the gentleman who is in front of the one tank, and there’s four tanks behind it, and it’s this huge monumental picture? Well, that’s CBD by itself. Now let’s put the whole group, the whole community in front of that tank. Do you think that tank’s going to move forward as easily? Do you think that that tank can be able to trample? No, because now you have a whole front line of just everything blocking it. So that’s how I always liken it is that you want the whole brigade, you don’t want one soldier. Does that make sense?

Jonathan Hunsaker:

It absolutely does. I was just taking a pause there. So let’s talk about that, because I think one thing that people need to understand, too, because you talked about there’s a whole lot more inside of the sacred plant itself. But going back to CBD and THC, I mean, a lot can matter based off of the ratios as well, right? For what you’re trying to, I don’t want to use the word cure, but whatever ailment you’re trying to improve or make better. So considering, again, CBD doesn’t have any of the psychoactive, so you can take just a straight CBD product and that’s great to a certain extent. Consider that you could do a five to one, which means there’s five parts CBD to one part THC. Now you’re getting the benefits of the THC, but you’re not getting any of the psychoactive in there, because there’s so much CBD versus the THC. You can do one-to-one, one CBD to one part THC.

Jonathan Hunsaker:

It’s interesting. Back when I was younger, as I think most people did, used to smoke weed and just get high from the THC. So when it all comes back out again and you start actually learning more about it, learning the benefits, that you can actually take CBD to counteract the effects of THC. So if you’ve ever smoked in the past or eating edibles or done things like that, and you’re like, “Hey, that’s way too much.” You can also really manage your dose by adding more CBD to it. Again, I’m not talking about just the psychoactive part, but if you’re needing some of the benefits that THC can give you, and you really want to make sure that you don’t have any kind of psychoactive effect, you can add CBD to it to counteract all of that.

Lia Hawks:

Absolutely. Dr. Bearman, our pain expert, likens it to a three to one. Three parts CBD to one part THC is the tampering ratio. For every three parts of CBD, it eliminates the one full part of THC psychoactivity. Here’s the kicker though. You have to be careful because you don’t want get so, you mentioned this, you don’t want to have so much CBD they’re actually completely smushing the effects of THC. You still want that, right? Especially, typically we see THC necessary in those more chronic or bigger, life-threatening diseases or conditions or ailments. THC typically is used in those, whereas CBD and the other components can be more of a wellness protocol and a variety of other things. But yeah, you want to be careful. If you get to a 20 to one CBD to THC, you’re going to have very, very little effects of THC, but maybe that serves you so that’s okay. But it’s something to keep in mind.

Jonathan Hunsaker:

Absolutely. Right. So let’s talk about the endocannabinoid system a little bit, and just talk about how, why these cannabinoids actually help us and how they can help us.

Lia Hawks:

Absolutely. This, to me, blows my mind. In 1990, we accidentally discovered the endocannabinoid system, the ECS. I’ll put the ECS, because it’s way faster. The point that they were trying to do is actually to see how THC was psychoactive and harmed us and caused detriment to our health, and then they found out, no, it’s actually not. It’s working very methodically inside of our body. And then they went even further. Well, that’s so crazy, because THC doesn’t just bounce around our whole body. It’s going to very specific parts in our body. That’s how they discovered the cannabinoid receptors. So all that research led to us discovering that this particular system has been in mammals for over 500 million years, speculated, theorized, researched. So this is not new, we just happened to accidentally discover it so late in our awareness of our body.

Lia Hawks:

So what we did find out is that this system actually oversees all of our systems. So I’ve always had the question of, how does our immune system know when to turn on and off? Or how does it know when it’s too much or too little? What’s the gauge? The ECS is the gauge. The ECS is like the manager, so to speak, of the entire power plant. Each one has a place. You janitorial team, you have your workers, you have your quality assurance team. You have all these pieces that play a role, and the ECS makes sure that you’re in the right place at the right time. So it’s there to help maintain homeostasis, which is harmony within our body, which is the ability to be adaptable to our environmental cues. Whether it’s toxins, whether it’s our eating habits or lack of exercise or excessive exercise, all these things. We’re supposed to adapt to all that, and our ECS plays that role.

Lia Hawks:

Also, it also plays a role in repair and protection. Neuroprotection, repair of cells that are damaged, drainage of ourselves, that we get rid of all that stuff that needs to go away, right? The dead part of the cells and so on and so forth. It’s telling when and where to turn it all on and off. Yes, no, more, less, all that. The issue comes in, we call this endocannabinoid deficiency. We see this, it’s speculated by Ethan Russo who talks about these deficiencies inside of our body are what causes disease. Excessive over inflammation is a huge one. Nothing is turning it off. The systems are broken, and nothing’s turning that inflammation off, and it’s kind of pressurizing, pressurizing, pressurizing, pressurizing. So that’s what’s happening.

Lia Hawks:

So the way that cannabis plays a role, because it all has to connect at some point, is crazily enough, amazingly enough, cannabinoids fit perfectly inside of our endocannabinoid system to the point where they almost mimic exactly what our natural endogenous neurotransmitters, called endocannabinoids, are doing inside of our body. And on top of that, they’ve shown that we’ve grown alongside this plant for at least 5,000 years. That’s how far back we have, in written format, of how long we’ve been utilizing this as a potential relief or medicine. So what’s great about this is you’re literally supplementing with something that is very similar to what’s already inside of your body, and even better, it stimulates your body to kick back into gear so that over time you don’t need that cannabis anymore.

TeriAnn Trevenen:

Yeah-

Jonathan Hunsaker:

That’s what I’ve-

TeriAnn Trevenen:

I-

Jonathan Hunsaker:

Sorry. Go ahead, TeriAnn.

TeriAnn Trevenen:

[crosstalk 00:16:44] To jump in and go away from the physical side for a minute, because we’re sitting on this podcast talking about this, but the reality is that this is still a very taboo conversation for many people. I think in the last several years, CBD has become such a big thing in the national health space that so many people still don’t understand it. I think a lot of people in the world still hear CBD and they think marijuana. People don’t even know the difference between CBD and THC, let alone do people understand that these are actually things that work in our bodies and work alongside with us, and these have been around for thousands of years.

TeriAnn Trevenen:

As amazing as it is to hear all the benefits of what it can do for your body, and I think that’s incredible, I think a lot of people listening and a lot of people hearing this for the first time are still maybe thinking this is still a taboo conversation. This is something that people are still fighting against. We talk about this in the natural health space, Lia, you, Jonathan, myself, because we’ve heard about this. we’re educated on it. We’re open-minded to it. But I think the very things you’re talking about right here are still so controversial. The research is there to show that this is a beneficial thing for our bodies, that this is something that can really make an impact with our health, but I want to backtrack out of the physical for a minute. We can talk about that more in a second. But with The Sacred Plant, when you’re educating people, how do you bridge that gap?

TeriAnn Trevenen:

Because you’re sitting here talking about this, you’re talking about how it can really benefit people, how it can really impact our physical body in just massive ways. Emotionally, mentally, physically. But let’s talk for just a quick second. I know I’m going back away from how far down we’ve gotten on this rabbit hole, but how, at The Sacred Plant, do you educate people and open their minds to the fact that this is something that’s here to stay, and this is something that has been around for thousands of years? Because the reality is we have people listening right now who are like, “CBD and THC are like, no, you can’t do that.” Even the word CBD people are not educated on.

TeriAnn Trevenen:

So I want to talk about that for a quick second, and then we can get back into the amazing physical factors of it. But how do you educate people when they come and find out about The Sacred Plant? When you’re educating them, how do you bridge that gap for people of misinformation and education to bring them to a place where they understand that this is actually, from all the things you’re talking about right now, such an amazing thing for them, something that can really benefit them and help people be more open-minded?

Lia Hawks:

Insanely valid question. I’m really glad you said that, because yeah. What’s the point of talking about all of this if they’re still way over here on the sidelines super confused, not necessarily sure. This was actually the first thing that we tackled at The Sacred Plant is the stigma, misinformation, the lack of clarity and the lack of trust in the information that was out there, honestly. So really what it breaks down to is education at the end of the day, and this is also up to the person. How much ownership are they taking in their life? Are they willing to say, “Hey, I might not know, and I’m willing to know.” That’s another thing. Mindset is huge in everything. If you’re not open to options, if you’re not open to learning, you’re limiting yourself. So that’s the door we opened first is we’re like, “Hey, you can empower yourself. You can empower your health by just taking a peek through the store. Nobody is saying you have to walk through that door. Just know it’s there and that you have the option to walk through it if you choose to.”

Lia Hawks:

That’s the first step is that nobody’s forcing. This is completely your choice, and we are here to empower your choice. Nothing else. That’s key because a lot of people are like, “If you don’t do this, you’re going to die today.” That’s not the focus. That’s not even close to our focus. We want them to feel encouraged. We want them to feel like they’re making this choice for themselves. So that was huge that we have to help them to understand, this is your choice. This is your option and this is your choosing.

Lia Hawks:

So the next piece was the education piece of you have been. We believe that we been distracted and propagated to a certain mindset because of the propaganda of the last hundred years, right? Before early 1900s to that 1940s timeframe, before that, you would find cannabis on the pharmaceutical shelves. It was in somebody’s medicine cabinet. It was in the back pocket of just ready to pull out and rub on their skin in case they had a blemish or something like that. This was a very used medicine. The difference is they realized that this crop, and this is where we start getting to not necessarily the theories or anything like that, but we see it in history where very pinnacle companies were like, “No, no, no, no. I’m going to lose money if this continues this way.” So greed, power, all that fun stuff came into play.

Lia Hawks:

Harry Anslinger and the company that he was running with, which threw everybody for a loop. He just put out there that this is bad, this is wrong. He played into the racism that was at that time, heavily played into it, the foreigner idea. It all, when you look at it, you realize it had nothing to do with medicine. It had nothing to do with science. It had nothing to do with any of that. Purely had to do with social game. And that’s such an uncomfortable conversation to have. That is the hardest conversation to have. But really, when you realize that, and then you see all the research and you see expert and patient after expert and patient, expert and patient that are proving that wrong every time, that’s also another piece of information that people need to be aware of. If you’re concerned or you don’t know, that’s okay. Go online, and I promise you, type in cannabis research and you’ll find literally study after study after study pointing out the good and the bad, right?

Lia Hawks:

Because let’s be real, we’re not avoiding the fact that there is a bad side of this. People abuse everything in life. They just do. And cannabis is not one that is forgotten in that vein. So usually we see cannabis misused, and that’s where you see those issues, like the frying of the brain or the lazy couch potato. It’s because they had decided to abuse this plant instead of using it medicinally. So we talk about that too, because again, it’s all mindset and that’s a hard conversation typically to have.

TeriAnn Trevenen:

Yeah. I just wanted to touch on that really quickly, because I think there are such amazing benefits. I think the education is pushing the world in favor of CBD, THC, the whole conversation, but there’s still a lot of stigma and it’s still a very taboo conversation. When people hear well, there’s all these benefits, there still can be that disconnect because it’s like, I can hear the benefits of something, but if I’ve been raised to believe that this is not something that is good for me or something that can be harmful, or something that in society is just always looked at as a bad thing, if you will, there’s that. There can be a major disconnect for people in understanding and taking in the information, and really seeing how it can benefit them being open-minded to it.

TeriAnn Trevenen:

So I really just wanted to touch on that. I think it’s important for people to understand there’s a history with this, and it goes thousands of years back. This is a very short-term history we’re looking at in the change of mindset around this concept, around this being something that people look at from a health perspective. So when we’re talking about all these health benefits, this is the first time you are hearing about it, this is the first time you’re experiencing this conversation. Or maybe it’s the second or third time, and you’re really starting to kind of perk up and listen to it. I think that it’s really good to do your homework on history in the last hundred years, what’s gone on, what’s happened. I think it’s really important then to also understand what this can do for you, which is a lot of the things we’re talking about today. But I think that education of not only the benefits, but the education of why we are where we are at this time with it, it’s also super important.

TeriAnn Trevenen:

So having said that, I just wanted to make that point there, but let’s get back to some of the benefits. I encourage people to go do their homework, do their research, but let’s get back to some of the benefits. You talked a little bit about inflammation, which is something we talk about a lot here on the podcast, and you’ve talked about how this is a plant that’s really worked alongside with us for so long in ways that we don’t understand, which is why it’s important for people to do their homework. Something that really can work naturally with the body to help us. Let’s talk a little bit more about inflammation, because it’s such a big conversation. It’s something that impacts our long-term health.

Lia Hawks:

Absolutely really quickly before we transition to the inflammation, you’re 100% spot on. One of the things that we focus on is what is your belief currently around cannabis? Just throw it at us. Like, “It’s going to fry my brain,” or it’s going to, that’s typically the one that people go to is that it’s going to make me dumb. I’m not going to feel like myself and so on and so forth. So we approach that head-on, and it’s important to approach it head-on. We’re not trying to evade or disregard that very important question. So we invite it. What is your beliefs and how can we help you to reframe that belief, or to see it from a different viewpoint, or to look at the research that might prove otherwise? It’s not about making wrong, it’s just about how can you see a different perspective? So I think that’s key, is you got to pay attention to their beliefs at the get go of it.

TeriAnn Trevenen:

Absolutely.

Lia Hawks:

So when it comes to inflammation, I mean, you guys talk about this tons. Inflammation has been pointed out for the last about a decade as being the core of most diseases. It’s your first sign that something is wrong, and it typically is a sign that goes unseen for so long too. So with cannabis in particular, this is really exciting, almost a majority of cannabinoid and terpenes actually fight inflammation head-on. CBD is one of the strongest, and then you have other compounds.

Lia Hawks:

So we talked about CBDA, which is the acid form. It’s the existence of the molecule before it becomes CBD. THCA, CBC, CBN, CGN. Those are powerful anti-inflammatories, and when we put them together, they work even more effectively. So they’re able to get into grooves in your body. For instance, your bladder has certain pockets that fold onto itself, and when they fold onto itself, nothing is going to be able to get in there. They’ve been able to show that THCA is able to get in there, into those pockets that we otherwise wouldn’t be able to, and that’s possible because it’s working alongside the rest of the plant. So we focused on how can we reduce inflammation and optimize?

Lia Hawks:

Inflammation is still necessary. It’s so important, right? When you cut your hand, inflammation heals it. So we don’t want to completely remove our inflammation response, we want to optimize it. So the way that we do this is adding in cannabis, and then in turn, it helps the signaling, the on and off switch, right? Turn that inflammation on or turn it off. Or hey, no more inflammation. We also need to reduce that pain signal, because it’s causing more inflammation to go there too. So that’s another body signal. So you want to reduce the pain signal, reduce the inflammation in the area itself, and help the core issue, A.K.A. the processes that are broken that led to that. So let’s say for instance that, cancer is a big one, so I’ll lean into cancer. It is also one of the most studied with in regards to cannabis, which is great, because cancer impacts a lot of people. I think it’s one in three, right?

Lia Hawks:

So when it comes to cancer, there is a part of your process in yourself that kind of teeters, and then it over time, it mutates, and then all of a sudden you’re left with these mutated cancerous cells. At some point, your process broke inside of your cell, right? So cannabis is going to come in and help repair that process, almost supplement that process, and help kick that apoptosis back on, kick that lymphatic drainage back on, kick that revitalizing new cells. All those processes that are turned off when inflammation goes excessively too high, it’s going to kick right back on. So that’s important, because then you get rid of those cancer cells because they’re killing themselves off. They’re not spreading throughout the body. On top of that, they’re not causing other inflammation in different parts of our body, such as our organs, our joints, our muscles, our bones. So it’s really helping bring our processes back to optimization.

Jonathan Hunsaker:

Yeah. I mean, this podcast could go on for hours. I think we could talk about all the benefits that can come from CBD, THC, cannabis, The Sacred Plant, all of it. We could go on forever, and the list is really long. You almost don’t want to go into it all, because then people won’t believe how many things it can actually help and things you can do. So I’d like to encourage everybody that’s listening to go check out your website to learn a lot more. You can go to TheSacredPlant.com. They’ve already done a lot of the research for you and can deliver it to you I think in a very clean and concise way. You guys also had a really amazing, really dense special report that talks about cannabis and cancer, correct?

Lia Hawks:

Yes.

Jonathan Hunsaker:

So you can go to TheSacredPlant.com/EYO, stands for Empowering You Organically, E-Y-O, and you can get that whole report absolutely free as well. Again, I’d love to have you back on. We can continue the conversation another time and maybe break it down into more digestible bites for people. Right now, is the overview. We can come back and we can talk more about cancer specific. We can talk about anxiety specifically, we can talk about inflammation, all of those different things to really deliver the information and give it the attention that it deserves, because it really is a phenomenal plant. So really quickly, before we wrap up, I know that TeriAnn loves to ask one final question so I’m going to let her go in and do that now.

TeriAnn Trevenen:

Everybody gets this question. Yeah. So Lia, if you could leave one message with the world and the people listening to our podcast, what would you say to them?

Lia Hawks:

Well, that is hard, probably because I have like a thousand different messages, I think everybody absolutely has to hear. I think the absolute number one message is that you have options. You a million percent have options, options in every part of your life that you may not even be imagining. All you have to do is just expand your awareness. What does that mean? Just open a book, read an article, hear out a friend. Any of those things is expanding your awareness, and that will lead you to see so many different options. I was one of those people, and I am so grateful that I realized that options and options and options were out there, and I just had to pick one. That was it.

TeriAnn Trevenen:

I think that’s a really important message in the world that we live in today, too, so I appreciate that for sure.

Jonathan Hunsaker:

Yeah. I think too often are we forced into what we’re supposed to do, what we’re supposed to believe, and follow along these lines and those lines. I think just what you said, options is really what matters. Listen, we’re all in control of our own bodies and our own health, and it’s up to you if you’re going to be ignorant or not and not explore all the different options and look at what can actually make you healthier and what can’t. So I love that answer, absolutely. Lia, thank you so much for joining us. It was such a pleasure having you on the show.

Lia Hawks:

Grateful to be here. I really am. I’m excited. A little nervous, but still really excited to be here.

Jonathan Hunsaker:

I know the feeling 100%. I still get nervous before doing these, and we’re on podcast 100 or getting close to it. So for those of you listening, you can subscribe to our podcast on iTunes. You can go to empoweringyouorganically.com. Get all of the show notes from the show here with Lia, links to their free report, links to their website, and links to other studies. You can watch this podcast again. Tons of stuff there for you at Empowering You Organically. Again, thank you everybody for listening. Thank you, TeriAnn, thank you, Lia, and we will see on the next show.

TeriAnn Trevenen:

Thanks, everyone.

* * *

Subscribe to Empowering You Organically 
Never miss an episode! 

APPLE PODCASTS                 SPOTIFY                 GOOGLE PODCASTS

FREE Report from The Scared Plant – 5 Ways CBD Helps Prevent & Treat Cancer

The Sacred Plant on Facebook:

Getting High on the Endocannabinoid System

The Therapeutic Aspects of the Endocannabinoid System (ECS) for Cancer and their Development: From Nature to Laboratory

How the Endocannabinoid System was Discovered

Organixx on Facebook

Organixx on Instagram