Unlocking Holistic Healing: A Journey with Adora Winquist

Have you ever wondered how uncovering your unique gifts can lead to profound healing and a greater sense of purpose? Join us on the Mindfully Integrative Show as we sit down with Adora Winquist, an acclaimed healer and author of "Modern Alchemist." In this heartwarming conversation, Adora shares her personal journey from childhood experiences to becoming a pioneer in integrative health. Hear how her deep connection with nature and a pivotal moment of self-healing with herbal remedies ignited her passion for alternative medicine. Adora delves into the fascinating biochemical properties of plants and the importance of reconnecting with ancient herbal knowledge to elevate modern health practices.

In this episode, we explore the rich tapestry of holistic healing modalities that Adora champions, from herbal medicine and essential oils to crystals and flower essences. Learn about her inclusive platform that offers resources for every stage of the healing journey, including free weekly meditation sessions in partnership with the Barbara Brennan School of Healing. Adora also opens up about the personal challenges she faced while writing "Modern Alchemist," emphasizing the transformative power of vulnerability in the healing process. We wrap up with a heartfelt expression of gratitude for Adora’s soulful presence and a reminder to weave mindful practices into our daily lives to enhance well-being.

Chapters

• 0:25 Discovering Soul Work Through Healing
• 17:49 Exploring Vibrational Medicine and Healing
• 27:29 Gratitude for Adora's Soulful Presence

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:25

Hi, how are you? This is Damaris Maria Grossman and this is the Mindfully Integrative Show, and today we have an amazing mindful chat and story by Adora Winchrest. She has a book out. She's an amazing healer and, as you can tell, she's done plenty for the integrative health space, as I call it. But as we would call it, you know whole health and trying to heal others from the inside. So thank you so much, adora, for coming on the show and let us and tell those watching and listening who you are and a little bit about yourself.

Speaker 2: 1:03

Well, thank you so much, Damaris. It's such a pleasure and honor to be here. I love that you're bringing this integrative modality of medicine to the world in a larger capacity. It's so needed right now and then bring it back as I was thinking about this, as I'm always constantly refining and distilling my work and how it's presented to the world in the multitude of facets right for my platform, and my slogan is your soul work is your soul work and my firm belief and I know that you've probably read Adora Winquist's Modern Alchemist.

Speaker 2: 1:49

So what is like modern alchemy? What is soul work and why is it our soul work? And so I firmly believe that each one of us has a unique gift, set of gifts and light that only we can bring to the world to contribute to the greater good of all. But hey, a, how do we know what that is? And B, how do we find a way to bring that to the world to contribute to the greater good of all? Right, but hey, a, how do we know what that is? And B, how do we find a way to bring that to the world? And so that's where I go backward, right into my own early childhood development, because I think for all of us, the seeds of our soul, work, our passion and purpose in this life can be found in what I refer to as our early childhood treasure map. And so in this treasure map we have a vast number of experiences that are formed and imprinted with our early childhood dynamics and family constellations, specifically our relationship with our primary caregivers, typically mother and father, and then how our environment sets certain belief systems and thoughts and emotional patterns into our system. And then we have the fullness of our life to bring what I like to call excavation to that and self-discovery, so we can really find the treasure that we are within us, right Like that is the true alchemy.

Speaker 2: 3:15

And so my childhood was very much centered in nature. I spent a lot of time outdoors as a kid, in the woods or in the lake, either catching crayfish in a stream or collecting worms. I know that might seem odd, I at one point had over 150 worms. But my point with this is connecting with all of the aspects of the natural world and specifically the flowers and trees. We had a very large vegetable garden when I was a child. This was a place of solace, of deep comfort and connection for me. It's where I not only felt the most at home but the most in touch right and the most alive. Being able to connect in with the aromas from the plants and trees and all of the elements of nature really made me feel safe. And so when I look at my own patterning of family constellation and some of the dysfunctional areas that were imprinted in my growth patterning, I can see why I grew into having issues as an adolescent to an adult with chronic and acute depression, anxiety, bronchitis.

Speaker 2: 4:33

Right, knowing that our lungs are connected to our emotions, as is every part of our body. Right, and every dis-ease, imbalance in our being has connections in our emotions. Right has connections in these other levels of who we are, because we're incredibly multifaceted. Right, and from that perspective, our lives are this incredible opportunity to polish right. How does a diamond arise? It arises from great pressure and then it's polished right to its brilliance great gifts that we can help to show others the way, and that path their path, once we found our own, is within my system.

Speaker 2: 5:16

Back in the mid nineties, I had moved away from home for the first time and was living in Cape Cod, massachusetts, and I ended up with bronchitis, which I would get twice a year from allergies and I didn't have health insurance and I didn't have a lot of money and I knew every time I would get bronchitis I would be in bed for a few weeks just deeply. And I knew every time I would get bronchitis I would be in bed for a few weeks just deeply, deeply sick. And so somewhere I heard something about herbs and I went to the store, spent a few dollars, bought a book, five different herbs like hyssop, like thyme, like eucalyptus, like licorice root, and fresh ginger and I went home.

Speaker 1: 6:21

Or grape seeds, right, right, the grape licorice right, there's a lot of herbs.

Speaker 2: 6:30

and I healed so quickly and I thought, well, this is, this is revolutionary, right for um. Someone very young and very new um to the field of alternative medicine didn't know that it existed all of these possibilities and that the plants have biochemical activity to them, right, chemical, chemical compounds that can facilitate healing. So I started collecting old books. I have this penchant for collecting old medical texts, like from the late 1800s, early 1900s. I was amazed by the pharmacopoeias talking about herbalism and how to make decoctions, how to make these medicinal preparations, and I thought, well, where is this knowledge gone? Here it is. These were texts that were commonplace for.

Speaker 1: 7:17

It's not like you're. You're trying to. Where is it? You're no, you're not. You're not trying to discord what's happening or what medicine is here. You're just saying, well, what about some of this? Can some of this also work? And that's a big part of the platform is trying to think where is this? Why are we not talking about it? Why has it become this big faux pas?

Speaker 2: 7:35

Yes, absolutely Absolutely. And how? If we've heard all of these stories, not only in medical texts, but that have been passed through generationally on plants as medicine for holistic healing, whether it's from a physiological perspective, whether it's our emotional nature, whether it's our thought processes, whether it is our connection to spirit or consciousness or divinity, or however that higher power is termed, we can go back in every ancient text all over the world and find roots of this medicine. So why can't we talk about it? Why aren't we sharing it? Why aren't we screaming from the mountaintop?

Speaker 2: 8:21

The earth is creating medicine for us to heal and reconnect, and I think that you know, especially here we are it's winter and where I live, in North Carolina, where it's a time of focus inward, and you know we're looking for herbal preparations for warming the body, to uplift the spirits when the sun isn't so prevalent myself in particular with that and here we have these natural treasures at our fingertips.

Speaker 2: 8:55

So for me, herbalism naturally led me to essential oils, and there I found my passion and purpose.

Speaker 2: 9:03

And so and this is where it comes back to the aspect of soul work right Is that when we're aligned and opened, I believe that our pathway shows itself, and so, of course, that many years of both as a teacher and healer and facilitator and entrepreneur. I've actually built my businesses over the past 20 years with essential oil formulation on a national and global scale, and so there are people that are craving the knowledge and, even if we're looking at it from an emotional perspective, that I can have something natural at my fingertips that, when I use it by inhalation, because of the powerful connection between scent and the limbics and amygdala aspects of the brain, that I can literally transform how I feel in the moment Right, wow, what does that say for stress response, for things like PTSD? What does that say for being able to understand what our emotional triggers are and then finding a place of empowerment to harness the trajectory of our emotional response in the future by creating these new healthy habit patterns?

Speaker 1: 10:25

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. They um. So you have a number of ones that you recommend, like you're talking on that. Well, not just the essential oils. We'll get to that part. Um, let's talk about your soul seeking Cause. I really really um appreciate that you've seen these patterns within your younger life, your childhood. You saw the patterns that came up that brought you this bronchitis or this negative. You know these. We have a choice right To go in this negative pattern and keep in that bronchitis and this illness world. But you transitioned and changed the pattern to be healing and find other options. Where was that transition for you? You said the books, the herbs. When did it start to feel like that path was opening for you? I'm in the right frame to change. This has to change, yeah.

Speaker 2: 11:23

Well, I love what you just the emphasis that you put on the patterns, because patterns are everywhere in the world, right, whether it's the stock market or in the natural world and our plants and the nautilus shell but how we look at them within ourselves to say, okay, I understand that I don't want to be a victim in my life anymore. I don't want to keep getting sick, so deeply sick, whether it's bronchitis or depression or anxiety or what it could be. How can I have a sense of personal empowerment and accountability and self-responsibility for my own health and well-being? Right, and so how can I really take a deep dive of authentic observation of the patterns that are inside me, that are continuing to create my experiences, even when I don't want to see those experiences in my life? Right, and so looking into the places of subconscious patterning, from where we've come from, gives us such an opportunity to bring the light of healing and all of these interventions, whether it's herbs, whether it's meditation, whether it's essential oils, whether it's nutrition, because it's really all of them.

Speaker 1: 12:33

Right, of course. Yeah, there's. There's a lot of different things that encompass it.

Speaker 2: 12:36

Exactly, exactly. And so for me, I was amazed through my response, with bronchitis, making the herbal tea, and so I started making teas, I started making blends, I started working with essential oils, but it wasn't until I was diagnosed with endometriosis at, I think, 19 or 20. And I was in such a debilitated state, physically and emotionally, completely disempowered from the pain, from my doctor continuing to write scripts for opioids and I said why I? Just how do I function with this Right, and being told well, you know, I think this is all in your head. I don't think there's anything really wrong with you.

Speaker 2: 13:21

Um, because it wasn't until about six months into it where they did surgery and I got a diagnosis because you can't tell until you go into the body, right, to determine that the endometriosis is there. And so it wasn't until that point. And then my physician saying, at 21, I think you should get a hysterectomy. And I said, wow, 21, but I know I'm supposed to have children. I can't, I can't follow. This is where I have a hard line. This is where I really need to become more aware, educated, responsible, empowered.

Speaker 1: 13:58

Yeah, educate and empower yourself.

Speaker 2: 14:01

And so then that's when I really dug deep, right Into looking at vibrational medicine, went through certifications in that, to see how we can address those patterns, how we can address the soul, because when our soul is out of balance, when we're not living in our authentic truth, when we're not aligned with our purpose and our passion, we are in a state of dis-ease Because we're not embodying what we've come here to do, and so that creates dissonance at the spiritual and soul level. And then ultimately, what happens? Right? Eventually, our emotions experience that and then our physiology responds with some type of imbalance.

Speaker 1: 14:49

Our body then reacts.

Speaker 2: 14:51

And then our exactly. And so what happens? When we've waited to the point where our body starts to react, it becomes there's much more nuance, right and bringing the system back to coherence, back to cohesion, back into wholeness, back into homeostasis.

Speaker 1: 15:09

So that's one of the reasons that, you know, I mentioned my, my book, which is yes, I'd love for you to talk more about that, yeah, and the story of kind of where that kind of developed, because you wrote a book on this and talk, tell us the title and tell us a little bit more on that for us.

Speaker 2: 15:29

So the title is a detox nourish activate, which is an interesting play on, of course, these three steps that we've created as a system.

Speaker 2: 15:39

Detox nourish activate is the first part because it's about healing at the DNA level, and then plant and vibrational medicine for energyood and Love, and it's co-authored with naturopathic physician and my colleague and ally with the plants, dr Lulu Shimmick, and basically in this we take those three aspects energy, mood and love and connect them into three primary systems of the body.

Speaker 2: 16:06

So energy for the adrenal system, mood, brain and nervous system and, of course, the heart for love.

Speaker 2: 16:14

And the detox nourish activate is because this book is focused about healing trauma at the DNA level, at the level of our lineage, and how we go through this three phase process to detox, whether it's our letting go of our thought processes that no longer serve us, our emotional patterns right, our belief systems of limitation or constriction and, of course, our physiological, our physical habit patterns of nutrition, of exercise, of well-being in that regard, and then, for each system we then go into nourish each aspect right, really healthy self-care, presencing each part of this body, each system of this body and how it connects into specific belief systems, emotional configurations, emotional configurations and all types of energetic constructs in that regard, and then activate right, activating our vital life force, harnessing that so we can live that life that somewhere inside of us we know we are capable of living right, that version of ourselves that we have in our mind's eye but we may not always know how to get there and like that to activate.

Speaker 1: 17:32

I mean, I feel like a lot of people may come aware they may see and then activate. It's like make the steps and taking it a step further. I don't think that always happens.

Speaker 2: 17:42

Exactly so in that regard. We go through 11 types of interventions.

Speaker 1: 17:48

so, in that regard, we go through 11 types of interventions.

Speaker 2: 17:49

So everything from herbal medicine, essential oils, crystals, flower essences, nutrition, meditation, sacred geometry, all of these aspects of alchemy, if you will, so that you, as the reader and the seeker, can choose what works best for you, because what works for me, right to achieve that vibrant, healthy life, may not be the same formula for you. No-transcript. Does that make sense?

Speaker 1: 18:23

It does, it does, wow, you do. So you're not only. You have this book that you've written which sounds very in-depth and individuals really need to kind of touch base. I'm going to have that in the show notes. But you said that you've incorporated kind of a course into this book or that you've from the book.

Speaker 2: 18:44

Well, yes. Or that you've from the book, well yes. So my platform is versatile in the sense that I'm really committed to offering complimentary content as well as if you would like to purchase right products or have services or all of these avenues, because we're all at different parts of our journey. So one thing in terms of the teaching aspect every week I do a free meditation. It's every Thursday. I've been doing it for about two years. It's in conjunction with the Barbara Brennan School of Healing, which is my alma mater for vibrational medicine, and it's the leading educational facility in the world to teach a very grounded approach to vibrational medicine with a foundation in psychodynamics, and it's a four-year program and the school is in a few different areas of the world, so with that becomes a wonderful opportunity to teach people how to meditate and what the benefits are and how to use essential oils to expand and amplify the benefits exponentially.

Speaker 2: 19:55

And then my newest endeavor is called the Soul Institute and this is a platform that we're going to be launching, targeting in spring equinox platform that we're going to be launching, targeting in spring equinox, and it's a virtual platform to offer all of these programs to people around the world.

Speaker 2: 20:14

Now there is an in-person aspect where we have a retreat facet of it. So I have the second annual retreat that I'm leading in Southern France on the Divine Feminine this September, and then one here in Boone, north Carolina, that I'm co-leading with two other wonderful, powerful women and healers in the alternative medicine field and that is in October, also centering around the Divine Feminine. But the idea for this school is, ultimately, I will continue to create courses and teach from my platform because I'm always creating content, I'm always writing. I started my second book, but that also other individuals that are visionaries as well, that have something that they want to contribute and educate but don't want the expense and the time that it takes to create their own platform because it's extensive that ultimately, after probably about a year of launching the soul institute, will open that up to other individuals that want to be able to teach there. So it's very exciting that sounds amazing.

Speaker 1: 21:21

So you're going to have other provider, like other teachers and um, and then you're trying to be working on that for March, april time.

Speaker 2: 21:28

Yeah, that's awesome, that's at least for the first two programs.

Speaker 1: 21:32

That's really cool. Um, in reference to, like, with your soul searching process and going into writing the book, what did you find the most difficult? Not really difficult, but which kind of opened up ease path for you? Was it because, like we're saying, we've been as our path opens up? Does these both kind of come to you when you are, you know, in your meditations?

Speaker 2: 21:55

Well, I would say this that you know, for someone who's been working in this field for over 20 years, like I have so many journals right, Like I have so many journals right of client notes, of formulas of working with the plants, and so, when I went into the process of writing the book, I a lot about my journey and my early childhood dynamics. As a way to say, okay, here is I'm sharing from my experience as a way to one, I want you to know that you're not alone in the adversity that you've experienced, the pain, the suffering. You're not alone in that. And two, you can create a pathway to rise above and beyond it, and that's why I'm sharing very vulnerably about a lot of my past experiences, about a lot of my past experiences, and it was very difficult at first to do that, to know, gosh, I'm really I'm going to say these things in a book that's being globally launched around the world and I can't take them back after they're in print, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1: 23:24

It's tough when you start to, you know, speak the truth. But the truth, like more and more than when I open up about the truth or the inner vulnerabilities my path opens or light it. It seems to work, even though it's the most difficult part of your as we're. You know as we, um, I call it. You call it the diamond brightening, and you know as we, um, I call you call it the diamond brightening and you know polishing.

Speaker 1: 23:47

I call it the Lotus in the mud you know, and you know, just sitting there in that dirt and the the bad stuff. So, uh, you must have. You know, through that hardship you you've kind of opened up yourself and you're going to help others heal.

Speaker 2: 24:04

Well, thanks so much for saying that to Mars. Because I have such an affinity for the lotus flower, I fell in love with it firsthand in India and had such an incredibly expansive experience there with the flowers fresh and as they're being distilled. And talk about opening Right, and when we open and when we allow ourselves to become vulnerable, it can be a little scary at first, I remember on that trip I laughed more and cried more than I ever had in my life up until that point.

Speaker 2: 24:42

Right and so, um. But that's what sets us free our vulnerability. And we are designed to come together in openness and vulnerability to share the power of our story, because our story can inspire and uplift and illuminate another who's listening Right and and then we heal together. We're not meant to be alone in that regard and to stay strong, and I have to take care of this myself. No, that is. That is part of the Maya, I believe, and illusionary nature of the kind of the rub of human experience.

Speaker 1: 25:33

Right, and it's. I think that, trying to stay strong, you think that's what you were supposed to do, or that's what you may have been guided initially, but there's such strength in the, in the dark and in the you know part of us, so uh.

Speaker 2: 25:49

I think it's beautifully I.

Speaker 1: 25:51

I love the fact that you're saying the soulful you, so, um, I just really appreciate you being on. I think there's plenty um for more of those listening and watching to uh, learn from you and be guided by um. Do you have a nice or something that additional I say mindful way that you'd like to share before we go for the day?

Speaker 2: 26:14

I would say for any of your listeners if something has resonated with you and you would like to talk more about your soul work and ways that you want to move along your own path of self mastery, you can schedule a 15 minute free, complimentary discovery session with me on the website. I always think it's important to offer something without you know, to offer it freely, right and and so, because we all appreciate moments of connection, and so for any of your listeners that have resonated or viewers that you know, please feel free to do so, because you're not alone. You're not alone and you are blessed with the ability to cultivate and create the life of your dreams and the relationships that nourish you and the abundance that delights you and the vibrancy that enlivens you. That is what you deserve in life.

Speaker 1: 27:24

Thank you so much for sharing that. That's so beautiful. Thank you, adora, for being on. You're adoring Adora. It's beautiful. I just very much so appreciate your time and for those on the show. Thanks again and we'll get back with you on some other time, but maybe have another podcast or event left for those to hear from you again. And thanks again for joining in on the Mindfully Integrative Show.

Speaker 2: 27:57

Thank you so much.

Speaker 1: 27:59

Demarie and each one of you. Make sure you find a mindful way each and every day. Have a wonderful day or evening, whatever it is for you.