152. Healing the Third Chakra with Sherilyn Long: Herbs, Hypnosis & Wisdom

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Welcome to Mind Power Meets Mystic. This is Michelle Walters. I am the mind power part of our podcast, and I am here today with my podcast partner, Cinthia Varkevisser, who is our show mystic. We come to you every week with something fabulous to say, and this episode is one of the episodes about chakras. We are talking today about chakra three. Today we are speaking to Sherilyn Long. Sherilyn is a Master Herbalist, author, speaker and integrative wellness practitioner and hypnotherapist located in beautiful North Idaho. She is the creator of the graceful leaf, my seasonal Journal series, and the owner of Idaho therapeutic massage, where she provides herbal hands on and whole person support for women with chronic inflammation and autoimmune conditions. Sherilyn is also the founder of the Christian wellness Club, an online herbal and holistic health learning platform. Growing up in the Philippines, Sherilyn spent her childhood climbing trees and immersing herself in nature. Years later, she turned to natural methods to heal from chronic fatigue, brain fog and the neurotoxicity that once impaired the function of her right hand. Today, she is honored to guide others in their healing journeys. Welcome Sherilyn.

Thank you. Delighted to be here.

So Sherilyn and I have been trading little comments on social media saying she's got an extra ticket to go rafting, and I'm saying, Oh, if only I was in North Idaho. And then we've been reminiscing, because Sherilyn knows one of my heroes who was on the podcast like 100 episodes ago, a woman named Karie Lee kenoki, who was in the top placements on the show alone several years ago. She's a apparently a small person, but an absolutely mammoth person in terms of her contributions to the world, and Sherilyn and I met through a networking group where we were both in a summit, the prosperous woman summit for hypnotherapist a few months ago, and I wanted to include Sherilyn in mind power meets mystic today, in part because we are talking about chakra Three, and Cinthia tells me that has to do with the gut and emotions and stuff like that. And I thought that Sherilyn, especially with her sort of broad healing modalities and her experience in herbalism, would be a great guest to feature. So Sherilyn tell us all a little bit. You know, not the 20 version of your 20 minute version of your life story, but I found the short version of your life story to be really interesting. So tell us a little bit about who you are, where you're from, and what you're growing up is, and how you landed where you are

today. Yeah, so thank you. I grew up in the Philippines and grew up traveling, and definitely it is kind of interesting to do the third chakra here, since that was definitely something that I had processed a lot as a child, being in a different culture and country, and where exactly do I fit and where, you know, am I confident or not, right? But I grew up as as a missionary kid, so it was a number of children there that were, we were all from different countries and navigating a lot of change at the time, that there was a lot of turmoil and whatnot in the Philippines at the time, what I mentioned in the in the bio there, is that I had lost the use of my right hand, and so when I was 25 I ended up with chronic fatigue. I couldn't make a fist with my right hand. I had to kind of hold my fingers down to keep them closed. And ended up seeking holistic health and. And learning some herbal stuff and and now I help other people, and I help them in my practice, and I use my hands when I work with people. So it's great.

I love that you are. I just this will be the second time I'm using it. Soup to nuts. You are. Soup to nuts, about healing the whole person. So can you talk about how you started? You know, did you start from the nutritional aspect? Did you start from the hypnotherapy aspect and and how did it all come together? Yeah, so

for my for my studies, I did a massage initially, and and I do incorporate that in my practice. I do herbal detox massages, and I combine the herbs with the with the massage. So I started that way, and then also learned herbalism, and that was, again, initially part of my own healing journey. And then I combined it all and actually let me back up like what was first I was studying marriage and family therapy, so I started studying marriage and family therapy. I was working on my Masters, and I had half of the degree completed when my health tanked and when I got to that place. And so I pivoted, and I moved into pursuing my own health, but studying massage, studying herbalism. And then as part of my business, I hired a business coach for for the massage business and and she also had a NLP and hypnosis training for people that she had offered. And so I took her her training, and it was absolutely delightful, because I it everything comes around full circle, right? So not not being able to do the the the counseling, but then I'm able to do it in coaching, which is a much better fit for me anyway. So it all worked out beautifully,

little kooky way for synchronicity to happen, right? So I do love that you really are physical, mental, emotional, spiritual. We don't talk about the spiritual because it is all over, coming together when people come to see you. Do you find that in we are talking about third chakra? Do you find that people tend to respond. Or do they get a little bit weird when they find out that you're holistic? Or do they say, Holy, crap, give me the enchilada, right? Just throw everything at me, because I just really want to be healed.

Yeah, um, a lot of people do. So a lot of folks come in initially because they're looking for a massage, but then they see that I do things differently. So I'm speaking directly to the autoimmune and chronic inflammation. I'm speaking directly to their their pain, the times that they've been tossed around, or they've experienced gaslighting and and to where they're really seen. Because a lot of times it's is being able to know that you're not crazy, right? You're not crazy with the symptoms that you can actually listen and tune in with, with yourself and your body and and that intuition as well, and so, so, yeah. So a lot of times they want the whole they eventually want the whole thing, or they'll start to ask more herbal questions, and they get very excited that it is different. I let people know from the massage standpoint, hey, this is massage 10.0 you're giving above and beyond just a standard massage. But then, yes, I do incorporate body, mind, soul, spirit, that we are all one, and that is always the conversation I have from the very beginning, is that is the different way that I approach things, because a lot of times, even when I'm doing a hypnosis session with somebody, they may have physical pain, and we're working on a mental, emotional thing, and then all of a sudden, you know that shoulder pain is completely gone, and I didn't even put hands on at that time. It was just, it was just hypnosis. So we kind of can address it, you know, whatever they're dealing

how you do this. This is very cool and magical. Like, I'm a pretty cool person, but I do not have the angle of the of the massage and the herbs to to round things out. So I think that's really cool. You've been listening to Mind Power Meets Mystic with me. Michelle Walters and my co host, Cinthia Varkevisser, we want to tell you about a special gig the two of us have going on. It's called mind power meets mystic the parade. Act, and it starts off on a zoom call with Cinthia. Cinthia tell everybody what they can expect.

So for the first half of our session, you will be with me, and Michelle will be very quietly in the background preparing to do her work. What we will do is that we will talk about the one thing that you either want to amp up or that you want to release. And through the intuitive work, I help you get boil it down to its essence, and then give you an RX of three practical things to do to set you on your way. And then Michelle magically appears. What is it that you do that Michelle,

I have been listening in but not participating in the first half of the call, I have an excellent idea of what Cinthia means when she says something, and I have an excellent idea of quickly getting to what my client is all about and his or her individual strengths. I turn all of this into a 20 to 30 minute hypnosis session on the second half of the call, which, when we're done, I strip off and send you as an mp three that you can listen to over and over again. You also will have Cinthia's three point recommendations and the recording of the Zoom call. It is a fantastic one hour offering a great gift for yourself or for someone you don't know what to get such insights, and we've gotten such great reviews. So if you're interested, send me or Cinthia an email. You'll find our contact information in the show notes, and we'll tell you how to get started. Tell me a little bit about what what made you get into the into the herbs work, and what kinds of successes you've seen with with that we haven't talked to many herbology specialists,

yeah, yeah. So I started that for myself and for my family, and then I incorporated that because one of the I studied with Dr John, Christopher the School of Natural Healing, and his perspective, he was a grandfather of herbalists. That a lot of herbalists can trace their lineage back to him in western herbology, and he would say there are no incurable diseases. There are incurable people, but there are no curable diseases, as in, you don't follow the program, you don't do the thing. You're not going to get the results right. So he had programs that he had worked with people they struggled with paralysis and other things where they got dramatic results by utilizing herbs. And so I've been able to to incorporate both of them hands on when I'm working with clients, and I also do herbal consulting as well. So from a from a conversational standpoint, but that's essentially how I got into it, and I ended up combining it. And I found that say, for example, if I had a hot towel that I applied on on a joint for somebody, versus if I had the the custom herbal blends that I do that it's dramatically different as far as the outcome. So there's no turning back. I'm, I am definitely into the herbs.

Tell us a little bit more about how you help people with chronic inflammation. I have this, this, I don't know niggling thought that most of America is inflamed. And I'm curious about your perspectives,

yeah, most of America is definitely inflamed. Big part, mental, emotional stress is huge. Diet is certainly a portion of that but, but we can't underestimate the impact of stress that is absolutely huge. When you're looking at a body. One of the things that you want to do is get the the pH back into balance. But the number one thing that causes an acidic pH, blood, urine, pH is is stress. And so you know, when I have somebody also on the table, I can tell from their lymphatic system. I work from the perspective of the lymph but it's medical massage and getting things flowing, and I can tell things are backed up. It's not working. And so then that's where it's helpful to to find out. Was it, did you have a stressful time? What was going on for you? Did you just binge on pizza beforehand? You know which, which direction is that in? But it all does play, play a role, and it all fits together. So, yeah,

interesting.

I would love to hear about someone coming in with one. I'll call it a complaint, right? Because it's not, it's one thing. And they come out and they went, Holy crap, it was something else. And you. And they've been healed on a whole different level. You're talking about so and because of the way that you go at things from so many different ways, it's almost like you, I use the word disorient because that's a martial arts term, right? You kind of, you don't fool them into something, but they have an expectation of one thing, and then you just go in suddenly in a different direction. And, you know, ta, da, something different happens, a different outcome. So, you know, have you experienced that? I'd love to hear story about that.

Sure. I think sometimes when I'm working with somebody and I can kind of tell that there's some, some mental, emotional things going on that's at the root of that, then I might say like, so tell me about your kids talking about parenting, right, the lesson. But so tell me about this, or whatever, and, and, and oftentimes those are the things that that we can get at it. And now all of a sudden we can, I can physically feel that things have started to move and and they can. They can get the results that way. So, yeah, I get a lot of thyroid, a lot of you know, there's a similar thing for mental and emotional. If women are not speaking. They're not communicating, but they're also not listening to themselves. So when you're talking about the autoimmune part, there's there's a self attack, right? Like I give and give and give, but I'm not confident in who I am. I'm not confident to listen to my own gut feeling as far as what works or what doesn't, and then to communicate it. So there's, there is that abdominal piece, right? That that gut navel part, but then there's also the voice that that goes hand in hand for a lot of my clients,

I'm so glad you said that, because when talking to someone about third chakra, it usually is a third chakra, fifth chakra combination, because right the the throat, the voice, doesn't say what the gut feels. And to get there, you gotta deal with the heart chakra, which is a which is a really interesting thing. So I'm really glad that you that you brought that up. Do you find that it's more gender specific when we're talking about stress and not listening to our bodies? Yeah,

it's different. So I mean, I do primarily work with women, but before I had worked with men too, men will often try to power through and for women, and men have a harder time actually noticing the subtle differences of change. So women tend to notice like, okay, there's improvement. For men, a lot of times it's like, this isn't done, or they may, they may say they're coming in for one thing, and then later on, it's like, what do you notice? And they go, Well, it's the same, like, well, you're sleeping better. You're not waking up and peeing every hour in the middle of the night. You know, things are, things are different. But then because there's a new symptom or a new thing that we never addressed, then it's like, well, there's no difference, you know, versus so that that's a little bit different. Women can see the subtle changes a little bit more, and they can see the progress. But for women, we are energy absorbers, and we are wives in particular, and mothers tend to be like middle managers, right? So they're they're carrying the stress of those people that they're taking care of, but they're also kind of buffering and taking care of the stress of their partner as well. And so a lot of women do tend to have that breakdown in the inflammation and in their health in a different way than men do, because they're absorbing so much. And one thing that I do find a lot is like, if I'm got somebody coming in for a massage, in particular, if they're starting to feel better, they will often stop for a second and go, my husband really needs this. And that's like, there it is. That's the source of your stress, right there. That's what, that's what has been piling on, and so, so that's, yeah, that's it for women, a lot of times they're there. It's very different. But we just absorb stuff, and we don't speak. And one of the things that's also common with women is not really being able to express anger and not not expressing what we want. So if I see that there's somebody's got, you know, liver, right? They've got some liver congestion. We want to work on some of the anchor, and they might go. I don't have anger. I go, Okay, well, do you have frustration? Oh yeah, I'm frustrated all the time. Like, well, that's anger, right? So being able to have that nuance that certain things are not okay for women, but we definitely experience it a lot. When women have that and they don't express it, they tend to have gallbladder issues. Gallbladder is actually a sign of gallbladder is is under the eyebrows. I also do face analysis as well. So so they tend to, you know, end up having to have their gallbladder removed because they never really went through that expression. So I think, like the the sooner women can get that they can understand and connect with their gut. They can be able to speak it and voice it. Then, you know, they're going to be able to keep their their organs, but then they're also going to have a better time through menopause as well, because that's when they're going to just say it during that time. So

okay, where in the How did the face readings

in this thing? And we haven't talked about that,

yeah, face analysis. So it's a Chinese face analysis. So each part of your face reflects a different part of your body, but it also reflects a mental, emotional so gallbladder is definitely, it's, it's, it can be anger, and liver is anger, but, but the gallbladder is unexpressed anger, so the liver and the gallbladder go hand in hand, but yeah, and then below the belt, chin area is when you've got hormonal stuff. So if you've got gals that are, they're breaking out or or men, right young, young men, they tend to break out right here. That's a hormonal thing as well. So yeah, I've

been looking for Chinese face readings for a really long time, and then to come upon this, like by accident, is totally made my day. Um, so when I think of massage, I think about, you know, there's systems meridians, then you've got your herbalism, which also has systems, and what's that called? They're not categories, but I know what you're you know what I'm talking about, right? The different types of plants, and then you've got your face analysis. I can't go into hypnosis because I don't know shit about hypnosis. So I'm going to have Michelle talk to you about that in a second. There are there is overlap, right? So I see the overlap, I'd love to hear about the overlap, and because I think our listeners don't really know a whole lot about all three so I think by talking about overlap, they're going to get a really good understanding about all the things you do. Personally, I think you're genius with, with all the modalities you have, thank you. Just gotta say that,

yeah, I, you know, with, I tell people, we've got a three pronged approach, right? So there's the the physical, you know, with the where I'm doing the detox massages, and then the the herbal consulting. So you got the diet and other stuff, and then you got the mental, emotional, and you're going to find more success that with addressing at least two of those things, right? And so when I'm working with people, if I feel, if say they're coming in physically, I'm feeling that there's some congestion, I'm looking at different points in their body that tend to be really tender, that are more your liver, right, for instance. So then I'm I may also incorporate flower essences and things that address anger. So there might be stuff like dandelion or milk thistle where I'm addressing the liver. We're getting things massaged, and then we're also incorporating the mental, emotional, it's so important. And one of the things that I found, and I'll give an example, that's a face analysis example for you, right, is that the nose is the heart region. And so this is a personal example for me. Is I ended up with a cherry angioma at the end, so it was a little bright red spot on the end of my nose. And when I was first learning about it, the gentleman that was teaching, Dr Todd Frisch, I had listened to a presentation by him, and I walked up to him, and I said, What's this? And I pointed to my nose, and he checked my tongue. Okay. You know, it's not a major heart thing, but there could be some genetic stuff there, and it's on the female side of the face, and so it's red, it's a fire. So it's a heart fire associated with your mother. And I said, Absolutely, it showed up right after she died. Wow. Wow,

yeah, wow, that's a story.

So I had, had tried to have that burnt off a couple times or multiple times, and it and it just kept coming back. It did not go away. So then I was working on mental, emotional I was doing Flower Essences for heart pain and heart related stuff. And I did have a gentleman that it was like some other solution that he did, but it was not healing, and it was still there was not healing, not healing, not healing. And then I incorporated the actual physical heart support as well. So I was working in different areas, and then boom, it just it went away, and it was gone. And so anytime. And actually, most recently, I went to a reunion, and these are folks from I left the Philippines after eighth grade. And so we're addressing some real heart related stuff at this thing, because we all had gone through a lot of trauma over there, and all of a sudden it just, I could start to see the color come back at my nose, and I'm like, oh, it's showing up again. We're working on heart related stuff. But you know what, when I'm done with this reunion, it's gonna go away because, you know it's, it's not an issue. We're just processing this. Sure enough, the reunion was over, it went away. So, yeah, there's definitely a connection, and I think that we are. We're missing the mark if we don't address and do see the interconnection of all of those pieces, and a lot of times, people will spin in circles. I've known this myself. If you're talking about gut related stuff, I've had some digestive issues, and it's usually associated with business. You know, if there's certain like deadlines, I'm trying to work on my book and get that out, or whatever, and then things just, you know, end up being off, and the moment I submit that book or do that thing, then everything's fine. And so oftentimes people come in and they go, what's the one herb or what's the one thing that I can do for that issue, when really it's, it's, you know, looking at that from multiple perspectives, a mental, emotional, physical, spiritual perspective,

big picture, that's one thing I like about Sherilyn, long big picture. Tell us a little bit about your

by by Christmas this year, so: 2025

I always talk about that with the holidays, the winter holidays, I don't understand, I really don't understand why we have all that stress and the pressure to buy things and, you know, consumerism and all that other stuff when we're supposed to be hibernating and resting and reflecting and doing what I like to call a hard prune, you know, we, we're, we've done a hard prune in the in the autumn, and now we are, you know, we're supposed to save, you know, be in reserves, so that we can really come out like gangbusters, in, in

well, we just have to, we have to blame the Romans. Really. It's all the Romans fault. And I don't mean like the people who live in Rome today. I mean like the ancient Romans, right? Because Jesus's message was, they wanted to kind of hide it a little bit so people wouldn't realize that they were really Christians. You know, when they all had these Roman gods, and they figured that, oh, if we just do this during this big old party we hold in December called Saturnalia, nobody will know that we're partying for a different reason. So, you know, it's, it's, um, I think it's reasonable that we can just blame the ancient Romans, and hopefully they won't come back to get us.

I do have one last. Question completely unrelated, and it's that you grew up in the Philippines, and I'm Dutch Indonesian, although I was born here, I have a lot of family stories about Indonesia, and, of course, a lot of home remedies that I didn't think anything of until I met people from the Philippines and say, you know, we do that too. And then the people over here are like, Why the hell are you doing that? So did any of that contribute to where you are now as a healer, you know, more from the medicinal standpoint than from the cultural standpoint, if that makes sense,

I didn't get a lot of that from the Philippines, you know, the the herbal part. My mom was a nurse when we were there, so it was very much allopathic. It I think that I wish she had learned those things. Both of my parents had had health issues and passed away young, and I think that that would have helped them. But, you know, there was a lot of plants. It wasn't necessarily the medicine of the plants, but I, I have, you know, so many memories of hibiscus and of Plumerias and, you know, just all these beautiful flowers. And, you know, making our own lays, we didn't quite call them that, but, but we made our necklaces and stuff with them and and to now go back and go, Hey, hibiscus is great for the heart, and it's great for blood pressure and things that I grew up with, to know that I was fascinated with those things as a child, and that they they were and they are medicinal, is just absolutely delightful.

I think that's really cool. And I think we will wrap it there on delightful. So Sherilyn, what would you like to share with our listeners?

Listen to yourself. You've got a gut feeling, and it's when you don't listen you get negative effects from that so on my end, and address things in multiple ways, right? The physical, the mental and emotional do go together. I work with women with autoimmune and chronic inflammation. I do do herbal consulting and hypnosis with men, but primarily the massages with women, and that is my main focus. And so I'd love to work with you, and if anything, even just to start do some seasonal journaling and kind of take some time to reflect, I think that you'll find that that makes a big difference. And then I do have the Christian wellness club, and that is deep dive into biblical foundations for health. It's you don't have to be a Christian to join, but just know that that's one of the things that we're looking at is like the creation story as well. And then we are also doing a deep dive into holistic health and herbal education. So super fun.

I love it. Thank you so much Sherilyn for joining us on Mind Power Meets Mystic. This is Michelle Walters. I'm the mind power, and my co host, Cinthia Varkevisser, is our show mystic. We thank you for listening all the way to the end of this episode and ask if you would we would love it. If you would rate us, if you would review us. If you've got any questions or guests you think we should talk to please, reach out. Thank you, Sherilyn, and catch us next time on mind power meets mystic. You've been listening to Mind Power Meets Mystic.