We just discovered a new factor in our energetic health…

⚡ It affects our mood, our sleep, and our energy levels;

🍔 It affects our ability to turn food into resources;

🧠 It affects the speed and strength of our nervous system;

Can you guess what it is?

💡 It’s not your brain, it’s not your heart — it’s your gut!

In this article, we will explore the 300 trillion microorganism that exist within our belly, and how they influence our mental, physical and spiritual health. We hope this supports you in unlocking your highest potential.

The Microbiome — A Hub of Life in Your Body

The microbiome is home to 300 to 400 trillion microorganisms (yeast, bacteria, viruses) that live in your gut.

Of these 400 trillion organisms, 50% are “symbiotic” (they generate health), and 50% are “pathogenic” (they generate disease).

⚖️ When the balance of these organisms is 50/50, our health is stable. When their balance is 60/40, our health can expand. When their balance is 40/60, our health can decline.

There are many actions that can influence the balance of the microbiome. But before we explore these, let’s look at what can happen when the microbiome is in balance…

Source: Harvard School of Public Health

How the Microbiome Supports the Body

The microbiome is considered a “hidden organ” because of its influence on our day-to-day health. Here are 4 ways the microbiome influences our energetic health:

1. Nutrient absorption 🥬 The microbiome helps us turn food into nutrients. The healthier is our microbiome, the more value we can extract from each bite of food.
2. Energy levels ⚡ Individuals with low microbiome diversity are found to experience high levels of fatigue, while individuals with high microbiome diversity are found to experience low levels of fatigue.
3. Inflammation 🌊  Some microbes fight inflammation, other microbes cause inflammation. The balance of our microbiome influences our state of inflammation and how easily nutrients can travel through the bloodstream.
4. Toxin Protection ✋ The walls of the intestines act as barriers, controlling what enters the bloodstream to be transported to your organs. The healthier is our microbiome, the more toxins it can block from entering the bloodstream.

In short, the microbiome influences how closely our organs function to their maximum capacity. But that’s not all…

How the Microbiome Supports the Brain

🧠 Beyond supporting the health of our organs, our gut also supports the health of our nervous system.

🧠 Beyond supporting the health of our organs, our gut also supports the health of our nervous system.

🗣️ The microbiome is the home of the gut-brain-axis, where the stomach and the brain send signals back and forth.

⚡ The microbiome is a factory for producing neurotransmitters (serotonin, dopamine) that influence the mood and energetic state of the body. 90% of the body’s serotonin is produced in the gut.

📲 The microbiome is also home to a large network of neuron receptors allowing the gut to receive and respond to information from the brain.

In other words, the microbiome plays a key role in the speed, quality, and the nature of the electrical signals that are sent throughout our body.

Which means…

In other words, the microbiome plays a key role in the speed, quality, and the nature of the electrical signals that are sent throughout our body.

Which means…

How the Microbiome Supports the Spirit

Our gut is like a companion for our brain — it is another organ that can send signals and information throughout the body.

When in balance, the microbiome and the brain work together, increasing our energetic bandwidth and allowing us to process more information.

And since it’s connected to the stomach, the microbiome can support about ability to discern — sending our brain signals on what foods, ingredients and information to consume.

Then microbiome is one of the biggest factors in our energetic and spiritual health. Knowing this, here are 2 ways to support your microbiome:

How to Improve Our Microbiome — Option 1

Given that the microbiome is connected to the stomach, what we eat is one of the most direct ways to improve our microbial health. Here are 5 ways our food can affect our microbiome.

1. Processed Foods ⚠️ Our stomach doesn’t always recognize processed food and can label it as an “attacker.” We invite you to tune into the frequency of these foods before consuming.
2. “Probiotics” 💪 Probiotics loosely translates to “healthy bacteria.” Consuming probiotic foods like yogurt, kombucha and sauerkraut can increase the balance of symbiotic organisms in our stomach.
3. “Prebiotics” 🌱 Prebiotics are essentially fuel for the probiotics, helping the healthy bacteria to grow, multiply and expand. Prebiotic foods include asparagus, garlic, bananas, and more.
4. Variety 🥗 It’s not just about having healthy bacteria, it’s about having a variety of healthy bacteria. The American Gut Project found a healthier microbiome in people who eat more than 30 types of plants per week.
5. Fasting ⏰ Intermittent fasting has a direct influence on the microbiome, cleaning debris from the ecosystem and promoting the growth of symbiotic bacteria.

More than anything, the best way to support your microbiome is to consume whatever makes your stomach feel good. Outside of diet, there’s another way to support our gut health.

How to Improve Our Microbiome — Option 2

The microbiome is not only connected to our digestive system, but our nervous system — there is a network of receptors in the gut that react to our emotions. Therefore, we can improve the health of our gut by improving the regularity of our nervous system. Here are 4 ways we can do that:

1. Sleeping 💤 Getting enough sleep helps lower cortisol levels and allows time for the gut to repair itself. Our Traveler Patches can support the body in accessing states of deep sleep.
2. Breathing 🌬️ Controlled breathing can slow our nervous system down and give our microbiome room to function. One of our favorite breathing techniques is the Passive Breath.
3. Clearing 🤍 Understanding our emotional triggers can help to limit the knee-jerk reactions that activate our nervous system. Our favorite clearing practices include journaling and Clear Commands.
4. Acceptance. We have the ability to choose how we respond to the events in our life. By expressing gratitude for all experiences — even the difficult ones — we can keep our nervous system in an open and flowing state. We’ve attached a video that can support this practice.

Integrating this Information

Here is a recap of what we learned today:

1. The microbiome is a companion for the brain and body
2. We can support our microbiome by increasing the ratio of symbiotic:pathogenic bacteria
3. Two ways to do this are (1) monitoring what we eat and (2) nervous system regulation
4. Explore the foods and practices that make you feel good

Thank you for taking the time to reach this week’s edition of the VST newsletter. We hope this supports you in experiencing life more fully.

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