#398 Tap into your Meridian magic and unlock your body's inner wisdom for healing and vitality, with Sarah Ariela.

EPISODE TRANSCRIPTION
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Sarah Ariela  0:00  
From one mouth and some lips. We love Practical Action tips. Maybe Agis' brain will flip. It's time for some practical action tips.

Agi Keramidas  0:16  
You are listening to personal development mastery podcast that empowers you with a simple and consistent actions today that will help you create a life of purpose and fulfilment. I'm your host Agi Keramidas and this is episode 398. If you want to discover how you can enhance your health and vitality, vitality by unlocking the ancient wisdom of meridians, then this episode is for you. By listening today, you will understand how tapping into your body's meridian system can empower you to achieve holistic well being and you will also discover many small Practical Action tips and I mean many before we dive in, if you enjoy listening and appreciate what we're doing here, the simple quick favour I'm asking of you is to click the subscribe button. Now let's get started. 

Agi Keramidas  1:17  
Today I'm delighted to speak with Sarah Ariela. Sarah, you have a remarkable journey from debilitating illness to empowered healing. You have navigated 15 years of physical limitations, including periods of immobility and silence, and undergone extensive treatments along the way. You are a healer and educator with extensive knowledge of the meridians, our energy pathways, and you are passionate about sharing your insights about meridians and how they can be used as powerful tools not only for healing, but also for personal development. And Sarah, welcome to the show. It's such a pleasure to speak with you.

Sarah Ariela  2:05  
Thank you so much for inviting me to the show. Agi you know your tagline don't fit in standout? Did I get that right? Or stand out? don't fit in though don't fit him. Yes. For me, that was impossible for so many years because I physically could not stand up. I could not stand up, I could not stand out. We have so many expressions like that in English, stand up for your rights, stand out from the crowd. Don't take take things lying down. And I remember lying down in so many doctors office feeling physically powerless, and disempowered, partly just because of that physical position of being supine, and not being able to stand up for myself literally. And like you said, I did try everything over 50 medications to help me stand up. The issue was my blood pressure kept going down, down, down. I remember once I was in the hospital, they strapped me into bed. They stood me up, no, my worst fear. And my blood pressure went down to 50 over 30 which is a far cry from 120 over 80. So I didn't need medical interventions. And I needed mindset tools. So I'm going to give you because I know you like practical tips, action tips.

Agi Keramidas  3:49  
Sure. And you know, we'll certainly go there Sarah don't want to jump straight into that.

Sarah Ariela  3:54  
Oh, wanted to make sure I could give you at least 12 tips, one for each meridian.

Agi Keramidas  4:01  
Okay, then go right ahead with the first one and I will carry on if that's the case.

Sarah Ariela  4:08  
The reason that I got into meridians is I read this book called meridians, maps of the soul by Mike Mandel. And that was the book that changed my trajectory and made me think about meridians as our inner energy besties our best friends who can guide us along this journey of life or you can just think of them as personality archetypes for transforming into the person that you want to become. So there are 12 meridians and I think of them as having 12 distinct personality types. So depending on what aspect of you that you want to work on, I remember that quote from Shunryu Suzuki who says, You are perfect the way you are, and you could use a little improvement So depending on what aspect of you you want to improve, maybe you are already perfect Auggie. But for me, what I want to improve is I choose one of the 12 meridians, my besties and I dig in deep, I do affirmations for that meridian, I listened to music that I have crafted myself for that meridian. And I meditate with it, I really dive into the life and soul of that one meridian. So let's get into the 12. I want to talk about lung meridian. This is the meridian that makes us feel so powerful. Let

Agi Keramidas  5:43  
me I will stop you for a moment. Now Sharon will have to go back and give a little bit of introduction because someone listening might not be certain. First of all, what exactly we are talking about.

Sarah Ariela  5:58  
Would you like to give people are so much more familiar with chakras? energy centres, do you think that's true? Are you familiar with chakras? Yes,

Agi Keramidas  6:09  
I am. I think they are both of them are well known, but I wanted for the sake of giving a definition in case someone listening is not familiar with it. If you can tell me what what are they what what do you mean by meridians?

Sarah Ariela  6:28  
For many years, I knew them only as energy pathways that could be used at for acupressure, or acupuncture. Right. And I think they are powerful tools to use. If you do have an acupuncturist, or you like to do acupressure on yourself by massaging certain parts of the body. Those are powerful tools. When I was recovering from spine surgery, I remember I was lying in bed, unable to move much except maybe one pinky toe, once every other week. And to me getting to an acupuncturist or even massaging the palm of my hand with the other hand, it sounded so effortful, it just sounded like too much work. So I wanted a way to connect with these energy pathways that I could do while resting in bed without moving a muscle. And the way to do that is by seeing the meridians as more than just these acupressure acupuncture paths, but actually these 12 personality types that we can quantum leap into. If you're into quantum leaping,

Agi Keramidas  7:57  
just say him. Before we go there, I will let you go there straight after and tell me about the 12 and I'll let you expand on the ones that you want. There is one other thing that I wanted to address just before we go there, and let's say someone listening now is a bit sceptical about this thinking, Is there proof for this? Is there science behind the show? Or what would you say to her?

Sarah Ariela  8:31  
This makes me feel conflicted because there are NIH journal articles I've searched on PubMed for scientific evidence of the meridians. But I did not do that for myself. I did that for friends and family who were curious to learn more. Because I never needed scientific evidence to tell me if something was helpful for me. Because what if all of our beliefs are false, and none of them are true? And all of our opinions are baseless, then we should just select and handpick the ones that are working for us and are helpful. If believing in something like meridians helps you get through the day, then why not if it's not helpful for you disregard it discard it stop this podcast move on.

Agi Keramidas  9:29  
Thank you Thank you for this answer was wonderful. And I also like your can relate because I do not personally need the evidence if the if I can feel it inside me that it is true. So but I appreciate that. So let's move on. I'm not going to stay there anymore. So you were saying about the 12 meridians and connecting them to personality types? Yes.

Sarah Ariela  9:54  
Okay, because you like tips so much. Last night I was thinking about prepping for this podcast and I thought, Wait, what if there was a little jingle for Auggie? About his action tips that he loves so much. So I came up with this from one mouth, from some lips, we'll come up with some action tips. Maybe our GIS brain will flip. It's practice Practical Action tips.

Agi Keramidas  10:29  
Should you say that one sport I love? Yes.

Sarah Ariela  10:32  
Let's see from one mouth and some Blips. We love Practical Action tips. Maybe GIS brain will flip. It's time for some practical action tips.

Agi Keramidas  10:47  
Thank you. Oh, that's brilliant. I love it. Let's go back then to the meridians.

Sarah Ariela  10:58  
lung meridian, so strong, so powerful. I think of him as the personality type, who's the motivational coach who will get you to the gym. And he's that part of you who will keep you breathing expansively taking up physical space in the room has a strong voice inhales and exhales with fortitude can get you through that last bit of the marathon. For me, a marathon is just rolling over in bed and getting to the sink to brush my teeth. But whatever the marathon is for you. So for lung meridian. I'm going to say massage your thumbs even though I just said that Acupressure is not always the answer that we have to go to. But I do really like this for longer meridian. And it's easy to remember long thumbs, thumbs long, those two words kind of sound the same. So we massage our thumbs whenever we want strength and stamina. Action, tip number two of 12 are going to the large intestine meridian. Now we know the large intestine, Oregon, we know what that does. But put that aside for a moment. And think about the wealthiest person you know, who builds up prosperity, builds up abundance, builds security and stability and has no difficulty completing tasks. That's the part of the personality that is Large Intestine meridian. And for large intestine, what I like to do is remind myself of all the things I have completed in a day, we're so focused on the to do list of the things that we have yet to do. But what did we actually finish completely, maybe it's that basket of laundry that did get folded. Or maybe it is that last tooth that did get brushed somehow. So making a little micro note in your brain every time you go through your day and you do finish a task. It gives you that dopamine hit of oh, I can do this. I do finish things. We're moving on to stomach meridian. I love thinking about this as digesting life easily, not just food, but digesting life and emotions, especially when it comes to goal setting. So feeling ambitious, feeling like you can see the goal. And maybe you like the idea of detachment from a goal because I know that is one way of goal setting. But stomach meridian is that first step of just identifying the goal. Being able to digest all of our emotions along the way so we can reach the goal and having that nourishment that comes from the digestion process. We're moving on to spleen meridian. Oh no, I didn't give you the action tip. I got so excited talking about stomach meridian. So first stomach meridian. I do like the acupressure point of the cheekbones. Oh, now she's talking about acupressure again. Maybe she does love acupressure. Okay, we're tapping the cheekbones with force with your hands. And I'm not a doctor. So, you know consult with your healthcare practitioner before, but you can press Vigouroux vigorously or you can tap vigorously. Yes. So that connects you to stomach meridian. Spleen meridian is the next one. She's the beauty and wellness queen. Do you have a mantra or affirmation? You like to feel lovable? And if you're full of self love. Argue Do you have one? Yes, I do. Do you wanna share with us?

Agi Keramidas  14:57  
I am loved and I am enough.

Sarah Ariela  15:02  
I love that. I like I am lovable because I am lovable. That one's from Marissa Pierre. And I like the two step process for affirmations. I am this because I am this and it's the same phrase uttered over and over again. Or I also like the what if setup for affirmations? What if I am lovable? Then I am lovable. And you just check your brain into asking the question and answering the question with that same word. What if I am successful, then I'm successful. What if I am nourished then I am nourished, like that. So spirit spleen meridian, I do a lot of affirmations for self love. We are moving on to heart meridian. Okay, listen to your heart. We all know it. We've all heard the advice. But what if it's literal. So you can move all of your head energy down into your chest space, look out at the world through your ribcage, listening to the pulse of your heart. And I find this so effective when I'm exercising. I actually learned this from a physical therapist, Greg Chaplin, DPT few. We tend to be in our heads, literally. So if you're overthinking you move all of that tension and awareness down into your ribcage. You look out at the world from the back of your ribcage is even more powerful. And from that vantage point, things you do get a better perspective. Okay, we're moving on to small intestine meridian. This is the meridian that can separate thoughts from emotions. So the small intestine, Oregon separates things that are beneficial for our body. When we eat food, it separates the good bacteria from the bad bacteria, good nutrients from the unhelpful nutrients. And I don't love the thinking and duality. But sometimes we do need to think what is helpful for me and what is unhelpful for me. So small intestine meridian. The tip for that one is, let's say you have a negative thought cycling in your mind, without the negative emotion attached to that thought, there's very little impact or zinc that it has in your life. So if you write down that negative thought, identify the emotion that is currently attached to it. But then practising it out loud with wildly varying emotions. I'll give you an example. Let's see. I don't let negative thoughts in anymore. So this will be hard to find an example. But let's think of we were just talking about self love. So if you keep thinking, I'm not worthy of love. But then you say it in different ways. I'm not worthy of love. I'm not worthy of love. I'm not worthy of love. I'm not worthy of love. And you just keep trying on different personas, characters and emotions, then you've separated out the words from their emotional impact, and that can be so powerful. Are you ready for the next meridian?

Agi Keramidas  18:44  
If you enjoy this episode, can you think of one person that would find it useful and share it with them? I'd really appreciate it. It helps the show grow and you will also be adding value to people who care about. Thank you. And now let's get back to the episode.

Sarah Ariela  19:00  
Are you ready for the next meridian?

Agi Keramidas  19:02  
Yes, I'm enjoying yours. Your journey through your journey through 12.

Sarah Ariela  19:10  
Okay, we're up to the bladder meridian. I love the bladder meridian. Okay, this one's about balancing rest and activity. And that's so tough. So I think I was telling you the other day, bladder meridian likes when we sleep in the morning and give ourselves an hour extra of rest. But I can take this too far personally. I used to rest too much. I mean, I would meditate for five hours a day and then take a nap. And I was just constantly in rest. So it is about knowing the balance of rest versus activity. So I think if you're someone who works a lot, is very zealous and intense. Try out sleeping in an hour in the morning and see if there's anything about your bladder meridian that reacts well to that. You might find you have less urge to avoid your bladder. I have a lot of urinary incontinence. So it's easy for me to see how my bladder meridian is doing quantitatively. This is not a topic maybe all of your guests talk about, but here we are. Okay, so the tip is just sleep more, if you can. Okay, we're onto kidney meridian. Kidney meridians are so brave and bouncy and energetic. Their game for anything. And I do like an acupressure point for this one, the middle of the palm, you take one hand, you put it place it right in the middle of the other palm. And you press really hard. I like it because you can do it in public quite easily. Under a table behind your back even out in front of you. I don't think people would really look askance at this mean, not that we really care what other people think of us, maybe, but sometimes we do. All right, we're almost done with the 12 meridians. The next one is pericardium meridian. Peri, cardio meaning around the heart. I think of this as like a jello, squishy material around the heart. Not literally but figuratively. Something that protects our heart space. And it's all about giving and receiving in balance. I find this very overwhelming to consider. Am I giving too much am I taking too much? How do I figure it out. But there's an easy tip to remember that we do give and receive all day long, just by inhaling and exhaling. So if you are into breath work, you can do the two second inhale two second exhale or three second inhale three second exhale. I don't like going longer than that. That's something else I learned from Greg Chaplain DPT who is a breath work expert. I've taken his courses on breath work. And he likes to say it's not always about deep breathing. But what if it's about Balanced breathing? And what if measuring your inhales and exhales and making sure they're balanced? Maybe that's very helpful. Do you do a lot of breath work Auggie?

Agi Keramidas  22:55  
I do I do a lot of breath holding and I do some work to different variations. The main one I use is Wim Hof.

Sarah Ariela  23:04  
Okay, so it's more of an inhale than an exhale. Am I correct? Yes.

Agi Keramidas  23:08  
And it is deep indeed. Very deep from the diaphragm. Acid technique.

Sarah Ariela  23:15  
I like that idea of biassing the inhale over the exhale, because so many schools of thought right now are teaching to prolong the exhale. But what if, what if that's not what you need to get through your day in an alert, energised, sympathetic drive way? Maybe the sympathetic system is not the devil and we can utilise it for what we need it to do. Exactly,

Agi Keramidas  23:44  
yes. When we need to use it and utilise it then it would be great and not when we should be in the parasympathetic mode than resting or mode.

Sarah Ariela  23:56  
I know I tried to vagus nerve stimulator that stimulated my parasympathetic system. And I got much worse with my illness, which at the time involved almost passing out regularly, I had the low blood pressure was falling down. And I think for me, I needed more sympathetic system activation, even though many people out there saying parasympathetic, parasympathetic, but I'm not a doctor, so everyone should consult their own practitioner. Of course.

Agi Keramidas  24:33  
There are two so that implies some kind of a balance. It's not one or the or the others. It is one and the.

Sarah Ariela  24:41  
I love that and that is pericardium Meridian balance argues got it already. Okay, we're almost through. Let's see what's next. Oh, we have two left gallbladder meridian. Now I could not tell you what the gallbladder organ does. But I know about the gallbladder meridian. And it's all about being decisive, resolute and firm with our decisiveness. And that is one of the success traits that Napoleon Hill talks about so much. Can you make a decision in less than 30 seconds and less than 60 seconds? Mike Mandel in his Meridian book says, Can you make a decision in less than seven breaths? So having a time limit, and practising making decisions quickly, and then sticking to that decision, I think can be so helpful. Do you have a specific time limit that you think would work for you when you're practising making decision making?

Agi Keramidas  25:44  
It's a good question. And I was born in what you said, from Napoleon Hill. And that is a trait of successful people, indeed, that they take decisions fast. And they stick with them, they change them, if at all, they change them very slowly. The opposite happens with the people who are not successful, they take long to make decisions, and then they can change them often and fast. So they are two completely opposite once.

Sarah Ariela  26:14  
I cannot decide, oh, no, I can't decide a good time limit to practice this, but I think I should just decide to either practice the 30 seconds or the 60 seconds or the seven breaths, and practice making decisions within that set timeframe. That might really help me out. But first, I have to decide on the time limit. Oh, no, the first decision decisions. We have one Meridian left Aggie, are you ready? Okay, it is liver meridian. And this one is all about having a vast vision. So you can see the context of your problem, and not just the contents of your problem. And the way the action tip is to literally practice peripheral vision. You do this by just opening your gaze to the sides, and seeing how far you can see. And it's amazing that you can still see things that are directly in front of you. But you're taking in the bigger picture. Literally. I like that tip from Bob Proctor who says, if you have a problem, write it down on a piece of paper, make sure the problem is outside you not inside you by writing it down, putting it on a piece, putting it on a table, walking around the table, looking at that piece of paper from a different perspective. And then the ideas start going. So I think practising peripheral vision is if you only take one tip from all of the 12 meridians, that's the one I would practice. That's

Agi Keramidas  28:02  
fantastic. Thank you for this very extensive list of action themes. That was brilliant, though it was more than I was expecting. Yeah, this conversation, I will ask you a bit more about this final thing you said about the peripheral vision. When you say practice peripheral vision? Does it matter? Whether the centre of our vision is something that is complex? Can it be the sky or some blank wall or it does not matter what it is in the centre and just taking everything of the visual field?

Sarah Ariela  28:39  
I did start practising by looking at a central object, opening my gaze and then seeing Can I still see the central object regardless of what it is while taking in the bigger picture. But I only did that for maybe a few months. And then I transitioned to just taking in the bigger picture, which I found much more impactful.

Agi Keramidas  29:05  
And do you do that asset practice? I mean, do you dedicate specific time to do that? Or does it happen? When you go about your day, you're also absorbed the peripheral vision.

Sarah Ariela  29:17  
I used to do it for 10 to 20 minutes as a meditation practice, instead of doing a different type of meditation for the day. However, now I do it every moment I can when I'm going through my day to see am I looking at the bigger picture? When I'm driving when I'm exercising when I'm communicating.

Agi Keramidas  29:40  
Thank you that's from the ones that you mentioned. This one has really caught my attention much more than it's really jumped out at me because I have practised it a little, certainly nothing like what you say the 20 minutes a day for a long time, but I have practised it a little without too much success, I've had some ability to take in, you know, the whole thing at once. That's the best thing. I guess the best way I can describe it, but not consistently. So I will give it a go for sure. Thank you very, very much. varies. One last quick question I wanted to ask because we mentioned it earlier and I've been meaning to ask you, you mentioned at the very beginning of the conversation, the chakras. So I wanted to ask, is there any connect connection between the chakras and meridians? Or are they two completely different things that have no reflects on on meats and others?

Sarah Ariela  30:48  
I'm not a chakra expert. So I don't know if I can answer the question. My understanding is that it's two different civilizations takes on energy systems, chakras from India, and meridians from China. There. I do like working with both systems. And I'll tell you why. meridians have these 12 distinct personalities types so they can feel relatable, memorable. The chakras, because you don't have to memorise starting points and end points throughout the body. It's just seven discrete parts of the body. I think it's easier to do meditations where you just have one hand on your sacral chakra or one hand on your solar plexus chakra. And you don't have to remember 500 points for the meridians, they're probably more than 500 points for the meridians that are powerful. So for putting one hand on your chest and one hand on your low belly to activate two chakras. That's such a nice, easy practice. I don't know if that answers your question. But that's how I use chakras. Thank

Agi Keramidas  32:01  
you for the answer. There was not a specific answer I was looking for. But I really got what you're saying. So, before we start wrapping this up, there is one. It's not really the topic that we have been discussing. But I wanted to ask you as someone who has navigated this significant health challenges, what advice would you offer to others that face similar obstacles on their healing journey? If there was one thing that you could say, I'm sure there are a lot.

Sarah Ariela  32:42  
I would say you have to be a little delusional. And that might mean, yes, using your doctors using your physical therapists using your medications, and being delusional enough to think, Oh, I am the element. In all of this, the treatments come and go, but the only constant is me. And if I'm the most important factor, and I can master my mind, body and energy. And now I know what energy is because I've heard about these 12 meridians, energy is now something that I understand. We know about the mind and the body. But the energy is sometimes kind of illusory, or elusive. So if I focus on me, I let the doctors do their thing. And I'm delusional enough that I can think I can make a difference for me, then we have an impetus for change.

Agi Keramidas  33:49  
Thank you. Sir. What will you direct the listener who has enjoyed this conversation and wants to find out more?

Sarah Ariela  33:59  
Well, because your podcast is called Personal Development mastery. I was so tickled because I have a course called Meridian mastery. And you can find that on my website at WWW dot Meridian healer.com.

Agi Keramidas  34:16  
Before we sign off today, I have two quick questions that I always ask my guests and the first one is, what does personal development mean to you?

Sarah Ariela  34:30  
Personal that word is so fraught for me, because who am I? Maybe I am just a collection of these 12 Energy bundles who are all doing their own thing. And maybe I am nothingness. But if I'm nothingness then I'm everythingness Oh no, now we're really getting into it. Okay, so if I take personnel out of the equation, and I just focus on development, oh, I can do that. If I'm just 2% better every day, I'm sure you've heard that one before. That sounds so manageable and reasonable and the little steps will add up. Then we come to the word mastery. mastering something implies that I do have the power. That's good for the ego. And we like the ego. We're not trying to. I'm not trying to kill my ego, I'm trying to utilise my ego.

Agi Keramidas  35:31  
In our human existence, it's useful.

Sarah Ariela  35:34  
Okay, I'm glad you said that poor ego gets a bad rap. So if we come back to personal development, what does it mean? If it means navigating this all these energy channels that are running amok, and just getting a little bit better each day, then that's doable. And I think I can do it. And this podcast has just given me self confidence. So thank you.

Agi Keramidas  36:06  
Brilliant. And one hypothetical question. If you could go back in time and meet your 18 year old self, what's one piece of advice you would give her?

Sarah Ariela  36:17  
Well, that's tough because at 18 years old, I was studying to be a professional ballet dancer. And I was so used to transformation, personal transformation, because I could transform into a princess or a frog. I was on stage and costumes. And I did not know that I'd be putting on the costume of a hospital gown over and over again for the next 15 years. Oh, no. So you're really taking me back right to it. Auggie? Okay, let's think what would I tell her? I would tell her that the treatment, the medical interventions, they do matter. But they are just one plane, it's just the physical plane. And you can support yourself with the mental plane in the energy plane. So if you take on two thirds of the work, and let your friends and family and medical community help you with just the physical, then those two thirds that you are working on for yourself, Sarah, I'm talking to myself now. Just focus on the mind, focus on the energy and then the physical stuff will get easier.

Agi Keramidas  37:36  
Thank you. So I want to thank you very much for this fascinating conversation and for the abundance of practical tips with us. I like this world. I want to wish you all the very best, both personally and professionally. Any last parting words?

Sarah Ariela  37:59  
No. Thank you so much for having me on your show. My meridians loved it.

Agi Keramidas  38:08  
And before I end today's episode, if you enjoy this podcast, can you think of one person that would find it useful and share it with them? I'd really appreciate it it helps the show grow and your show add value to people you care about. Thank you. And until next time, stand out don't fit in!