(00:00) Shireen Abdullah:
Tara Taylor uses her intuition and energy medicine to address complex health and life changes. Whether she’s working with professional athletes, executives, or individuals facing significant life transitions, Tara provides a holistic approach that transforms performance and wellbeing.

Stay tuned to learn more. Tara Taylor has been in the wellness field for over 25 years with an extensive background in sports medicine, counseling, and executive leadership coaching. Known for her holistic approach, utilizing her site in mediumship to unravel complex health and life situations. Welcome, Tara. Thanks for having me. This is great. It’s such a pleasure having you on. I’m looking forward to this episode because it’s definitely an unusual topic for us to cover. But I first want to start out by asking a little bit more about your journey in holistic nutrition. How did that come about? What led you to it?

(01:00) Tara Taylor:
I’ve always been involved in health and wellness. I was in athletics as a young age and right, just going to college. I was already drawn to being a personal trainer and wellness of your body. And I think a lot came from the genetics of my parents, but I put a lot of stock in their health that they didn’t really try hard, so I was trying hard and I still wasn’t getting the kind of results that I would want.

And I realized that just a lot of the information out there, even though it sounds really great, doesn’t always work. So it’s a very frustrating process. So I went through some health journeys myself and in that process, my medium chip came out and then I applied it to all the other things that I know and I kind of combined it, a little recipe.

(01:41) Shireen Abdullah:
So let’s understand this term mediumship a little bit. You’re known for really your intuition and energy medicine, which is, again, a very new concept for us, right?

Tell us a little bit more about this and how these tools really influence your approach to solving complex health issues, but first break down the term for us.

(02:00) Tara Taylor:
Okay, yeah, people do get confused, like it’s intuitive or mediumship or psychic. Basically, just like if I send you a picture on your, there’s no wires coming through this phone, but you get information. I get that from the environment. And I actually, part of the crisis I had medically was when my mediumship opened, it was a lot of feelings first. So, palpitations, I would have severe anxiety, headaches, all these things.

And you go to the doctors and get no answers. And finally, when I went to a shaman, they were like telling me that it’s because you’re reading. I walked past someone who had a heart attack or this. And at first, I didn’t even believe it. I thought it was very skeptical. And then I started really practicing and I was like, oh my God. And then my vision started to come. I could get flashes of pictures. So, if someone came to me about a heart issue, I would see their heart like an MRI. I could be like, oh, it was the left ventricle or the right one’s doing this. And they would be like, oh my God, yes. And what I also realized when I tapped into that gift, is when I started to feel better, all the outside noise and all the anxiety actually just immediately left. And as soon as I knew it with my brain, as soon as I knew all the headaches coming, that guy’s angry. Headaches often come from someone’s frustration or anger, then immediately it stops. So, as soon as I acknowledged what the energy was, I felt better. So, obviously it was motivating for me to continue. So, fast forward a lot of years of perfecting it and hearing and seeing. I understand greatly that a lot of people are suffering and there’s a lot of mentalizing in medicine. Like you have to go here for this and there for this. And it’s such a frustrating, expensive process. So, I use that to really be a shortcut. So, because again, people don’t always know if it’s a spiritual, a mental health, or a physical issue, I can look at them and go, oh no, it’s because your stomach’s doing this or that. And let’s do this and this, opposed to going to the therapist about something. So, it’s effective.

(03:58) Shireen Abdullah:
Yeah, I find it to be quite interesting. So I’m going to take a different lens.

What I’m going to position you on is I’m a very certain listener. Listening to this is like, oh, this is the foofy stuff, or it’s not real. What would you say to someone who’s very skeptical about this process and how it works and what it means for someone’s health? Because as there’s a science to things within which things are proven and there’s evidence-based, how do you prove something like this?

(04:24) Tara Taylor:
There’s a lot of proof out there like this and I would first say that I’m them like I was raised Catholic and you went to church. I’m like, I don’t really, I didn’t even really believe in God when I did it. You know it wasn’t until I felt it that I could see things that I actually started to believe in myself and once you start doing the research in it It makes sense because the body is everything is vibration and energy: Einstein and Tesla were talking about it. It’s just a new language now for us.

So we’re not realizing but nothing starts without energy And we have this whole electrical system, our nervous system and we don’t realize that that’s how the lights in our house work That’s how our heart works here, right? Just tapping into and there’s a lot of language online honestly about it and I don’t really care if people believe in spirit or a certain religion that means nothing but To understand that the body is energy and that your system might have breaches or something not working I think that it’s just denying how you got here It doesn’t make any sense to me and I work with doctors from all over the world who are you know Who have been able to prove emotions are contagious energy is contagious if you’re standing in front of somebody You know, it’s going to change what their heart rhythm is doing it’s going to your whole body and electromagnetic field changes when someone stands next to you and if they’re sad or they’re Ailing when I was training someone I had this woman.

I took her to a bar. I sat her down and I put her back. She was very empathic. She felt all these feelings. I thought she was sick and She wasn’t a believer but she didn’t want her to have anything to do with it I put her back she was facing me and I said we’re just gonna see people come in and you’re gonna tell me what you Feel and I’m gonna tell you if you’re right or not and there was one woman in particular That started to come in and then my client got very sick. She felt nauseous. She got panicky. She wanted to leave right away. She started holding her arms and she was like I hurt everywhere. The woman had a walker. She clearly was going through chemo. She had lost all her hair, right, had a lot of stuff with her. And when I turned my client around I said this is the energy you’re feeling. She was like, oh my god and then immediately she felt fine in that moment. She felt fine and then I went through some worse stuff and so you don’t have to believe in it. But if you want to feel better, I think it would be denying a huge root cause of what maybe you’re going through

(06:44) Shireen Abdullah:
Speaking of what someone is going through, can you discuss the role of this work that you do within the management of chronic illnesses, right? We’re talking diabetes, especially when we’re looking at it in terms of dietary, lifestyle changes. Where does this fit?

(07:00) Tara Taylor:
This is honestly at the forefront because some people have very difficult things like genetics or history, right? Or like foods that really compliment their body, that they have very strict things and then they don’t feel well, like they have a very limited variety and they can’t even take supplementation.

I just had an emergency client last night with two doctors and me on the phone and this morning I got a text that she has no pain and I did nothing but send energy over the phone. And the woman who came drummed with a doctor, with a psychiatrist. So it was no medications, nothing, but we’re changing each of our cells to vibrate. And when you’re failing, whether it’s diabetes or some other sort of inflammatory disease, you’re literally shaking off, let’s say the dust of the cell, right? Anything that’s not working, you’re getting it to vibrate really strong and energetic and then you have more of a chance to rejuvenate more healthy cells. So it’s like getting a stronger battery instead of having coffee.

(08:01) Shireen Abdullah:
I find this also fascinating. What are some common misconceptions about aging and chronic conditions, again, like diabetes, that you’ve encountered in your practice and how do you go about addressing them?

(08:14) Tara Taylor:
People think that it’s not that it’s just the story of their parents or the grandparents that they just think that this is what they’ve lived and that they’re just going to keep saying that there’s no way to stop it or reverse it. It does all have bad metabolisms or something like that. They just don’t they don’t realize that you really can rejuvenate, you really can reverse the aging process or at least stop it and have it at a plateaued place. But I’ve also realized that more people than not don’t want to do the work.

They want to complain we’ve built a society that likes to have immediate gratification and if you can’t afford it you have a credit card. If you want this you take a pill or a shot and I think it’s about being realistic realizing that if you want something more you might have to do more. So I try to make it simple though.

(09:00) Shireen Abdullah:
Ultimately, there’s a shortcut around this. The work has to be put in, the time has to be put in, and you have to really understand what is going on with your health and then be able to work on whatever that specific issue is.

(09:12) Tara Taylor:
to what I said right in the beginning was that there’s a lot of really great diets out there. There’s a lot of really healthy food and people are like, I’m doing it and I know what I’m doing and it’s very frustrating, but maybe it’s just not a bio match for them.

Or maybe that it’s just a little tweaking. It’s like a recipe. I can order chicken parm at five restaurants. Do they taste the same in five restaurants? No. We forget that our body is like that. I had a client shake his hands. We’re shaking, we met for a meeting at a restaurant. All I did was take the salt shaker, put three shakes in it and have them drink it right away. Completely stopped.

That’s it. And he’s been taking supplements for years. Oh, my parents have this. You’re dehydrated. You definitely. It’s just because no one knows how to drink their water. So if that is a huge sacrifice or work, then people have to reevaluate how they want to feel. Because more times than not, you’re doing a lot of work and it’s just not efficient work.

So we just take away this and we add that. I’m very time conscious of managing to make things very easy for you. I’m very…

(10:12) Shireen Abdullah:
quick. Can you explain a little bit about how you integrate this Eastern and Western healing traditions in your practice today and what is the, what did the combination of benefits look like?

(10:23) Tara Taylor:
So that is a very bio individual process and that is something I’ve struggled about getting routine for everybody because when someone so if someone comes to me and they have cancer I immediately ask them the doctor has said they have to do x y and z and I always believe in choices what do you feel like do you want to do is your intuition saying you should do this process more times than not they’re like I don’t want to do it and then we negotiate usually it’s a month process I said let’s try this month let’s do what I’m gonna ask you to do let’s combine let’s still go to your doctor don’t stop let’s ask them to do blood work in a month and let’s see if anything got better if nothing got better or forgot worse and obviously then let’s go straight with that intervention I’ve never had that happen though I’ve always had people get better or completely eradicate because the body really unless it’s been in this condition for years and years you usually have a very fast response when you do something drastic so it is combining it is giving people choices I just had somebody with mold inhalation who was diabetic that’s in extras you have to have very specific organization of food and you do need the meds you need the meds but then I can go from those meds to holistic meds so it’s not like one or the other it’s in combination and how do we do the combination and I will add to that that when someone’s in a dire place I will most often go first to natural medicine because sometimes it’s like baking soda and vinegar like you don’t want to have anything that really disrupt the system so I do whatever is going to get the body prepared to do the harder thing so you don’t have to be throwing up or not feeling well I always try to get you to feel the best that you can in the situation

(12:05) Shireen Abdullah:
Could you elaborate on the connection between situations, blood sugar levels, even dietary habits you just touched upon that? How can holistic nutrition really help stabilize these factors?

(12:16) Tara Taylor:
that the word is even holistic, organic, I think, again, it’s perceived by a lot of the population that just like fruit are fruit and your veggies are veggies and they’re not. Just because it’s said it’s holistic, it doesn’t mean that it’s for you. Being on a really quick, easy to absorb anti-inflammatory diet is huge. And it does take, that does take sacrifice, temporary sacrifice, right?

So your body gets better, but there’s a lot of vegetables and fruits, especially bring diabetic that people, if you have high insulin or low insulin, it’s very different with your fruit intake should be. The other thing is timing. Food, eating foods around the same time is highly significant. And I rarely have, I don’t know if I’ve ever seen anyone actually know that when they’ve come to me, or even with the, they don’t realize that you could be eating perfect, still not having the results you want because your body is holding onto things and saving it because you’ve got so long periods of time and you’re not sleeping enough that it’s always in the state of fight or flight. So I would say that honestly, eating around the same times and sleeping around the same times is so significant, especially for diabetes, it’s key.

(13:29) Shireen Abdullah:
What role, if any, do dietary supplements play in this? And to manage, again, diabetes and the chronic conditions? And how do you determine really what’s right for each individual?

(13:42) Tara Taylor:
The best way to see what’s right is to get tested. There’s a lot of great testing out there. Oddly, at the hospitals, I’ve not been, I’ve noticed consistently across the country that the labs are not very efficient. So someone could have a gluten allergy and it comes back, they’re fine. The ranges are just too wide and they never even, the labs don’t really measure body weight. Like I’m five two, someone’s six three and I’m getting there, it just doesn’t make sense. So know your body, if it’s not feeling well, trust that and get really good lab and stool testing, that’s key and elimination diet, removing things out of that.

But I think, again, people think, oh, I have to take a multi or I have to take calcium, I’m getting to this age. Genetically, sometimes your body makes too much of something or makes more of one. You don’t need to take what you don’t need. Food is honestly the best place to get your vitamins or I love giving juices, not even the pressed juices, the powder juices, like the green juices or the ghee juices. The way they’re processed, the organic ones usually have more nutrients in it, even than the ones that you get pressed and they’re less acidic. So they keep your body at a perfect pH, which is amazing, which is key to all health is keeping your body in that pH that, you know, that middle round. So I’d say get the test and get your average blood work done for the normal Bs, Ds, calcium and all that and go to like a liquid drink first. You know, don’t start with having, because even popping pills have an emotional response. If someone has been sick for a while and they have a lot of different medications and things they need to do, it’s very emotionally draining having to take handfuls of pills even. And last I would say this is that when you chew food, your mouth shifts the neurotransmitters in your digestive tract to make the, there’s a whole chemical response and a hormone response. So when you skip that process, your body doesn’t process the same. So it’s a very different response from you not taking calcium to drinking calcium to eating a supplement or taking like those more, how they are lids to dissolve there. It’s just different and you have to find out what works for you. I’d say the methylation test would be really key. They’re often, you have to pay out of pocket for them, but it’s like a hundred, $200. I think it’s worth an investment. So that’s what my advice would be.

(16:07) Shireen Abdullah:
How do you tailor recommendations to accommodate some of those cultural preferences and perhaps even dietary restrictions that they may have?

(16:16) Tara Taylor:
It’s always about the patient. It’s always about what they need first. I don’t come in and say, this is what you have to do. It’s a conversation.

And I think that the big difference of what I do to conventional medicine is that you’re stuck with me for a minimum of 90 days from talking to you. And I’m really, you’re getting full attention of stuff. So we’re really getting to the nitty gritty. But even just that case I said about last night, she’s a vegan Ayurveda from India. So very precise. And you can’t usually get the food that she, you know, around here, there’s not a lot of great markets for a lot of the foods that she can eat, but we manners. So I just want to know what her favorite foods are. I want to know what she likes to prepare. And then I’m like, yay, nay, let’s do this. And then keep in contact with me because we’re gonna do this together, you’re not alone.

So I think that, yeah, it’s always, it’s, there’s such a huge emotional response to when people eat. And if they don’t like something. So I also think it’s about communicating, having that psychology, cause all of the worn people I’m like, I’m going to say something, but don’t kill the messenger. You’re not going to have to do this forever. You’re just going to have to do it, you feel better. So, and I feel like it, when I don’t say those things, the response is very dramatic. And I know my daughter can’t do this. And as soon as they know, like it’s short-lived, they’re like, and I’m like, and if you take every bite and you’re like, this sucks, it’s probably not going to help you. Cause you’re resisting it. You’re telling your body that it’s not good for it. And that’s what we talk about the mind-body connection where there’s a lot of scientific proof on that as well.

Like a lot of how you can stop your body from doing things, just like you can will your body, if people with paralysis and how they do that, like you can regenerate things. It is really important to listen to the patient and what stuff they can be flexible on. The other part is you have to be flexible as well. You can’t just say, if you want to feel better and you get dramatically good results, like, you know, within an hour and 24 hours when you do these things.

(18:17) Shireen Abdullah:
That’s the power of the mind indeed. My next question to you is around emotional well-being and the work that you do.

How does emotional well-being play in, you mentioned a little bit ago that sometimes people come to you frustrated, they don’t know the answers or they’re unsure, for instance. How does it impact their emotional well-being as well?

(18:38) Tara Taylor:
Again, people have to understand that the body, it’s all just like your car, if something’s glitching, everything else starts to glitch, right? There is a domino effect.

So say that your dad is diabetic, but you’re not. There’s probably genetic makeup there, right? Like you can have, if you push your body to a place of stress, and stress is not just physical stress as we know, it’s highly emotional. And people push and take advantage of their bodies and they have high levels of cortisol. And as soon, you know, that stress hormone, and as soon as you’re in that place, your body stops making a lot of other things. It’s like, oh my God, this alarm system of like, we’re really stressed out, so we’re not gonna make all these hormones and do all these things. And now your body, like all these triggers, all these things that could have happened that didn’t have to happen now are happening. So now you have to deal with it. I think that’s the number one thing I will do forever. There’s no one I don’t think I treat without cortisol. Like that’s the first place I go. Because even if I do the energy healing, or I give them, it doesn’t matter if you don’t have a healthy mindset. None of it matters if you don’t have a healthy mindset. And if you’re not willing. And I also don’t work with people who aren’t willing to do the work because you’re not gonna get the results. And I just don’t wanna be a part of that. Because I’m invested in you. Yeah, I think that’s really people understanding how significant it is. I have another person who has a lot of weight issues, but just can’t put it on. And has a lot of GI, severe GI issues and bleeding. And it’s all about being around bad relationships. It’s all the stress and the holding. And it’s changing, it’s creating an acidic response in her stomach. And what that does is it comes up and the chest wall and the horror. And then it starts changing your cholesterol. It’s changing how your heart is beating. It’s changing your vagus nerve. So it’s pretty significant.

Again, people having balance and really easy manageable tools that it’s not gonna take you all day to do. I think it is a game changer for everybody.

(20:36) Shireen Abdullah:
That’s incredibly helpful. Tara, we’re pretty much toward the end of the episode here.

At this point, can you tell us a little bit about how you see this field of holistic nutrition, looking at some of these other opportunities here within nutrition, really evolving? What can we set our sights on next? What does it look like?

(20:55) Tara Taylor:
There’s a lot of private practices, I believe, opening up. And I do see a lot of institutions. When you hear spirituality in institutions, and then they’re basically saying, we’re interested in meditation, yoga, and healthy lifestyle. And some of them have practices that are really cutting edge and they’re doing stuff great.

The problem I see is that it’s still, everybody wants to be their own best guru and wants to be, they don’t like to collaborate. Everyone’s starting something new. Everyone’s saying something different. And it’s very confusing for the population. I have people who have severe cases of things like COPD, and they’re in their 80s, and they’re looking at Instagram posts and now ordering stuff from TikTox and stuff because someone said they cured it. So I just think there’s not a lot of regulation. So I would say even though there’s a lot of cutting edge things, just really go to people that you trust because there’s more bad things out there than good. And even the good things, you might not need what they are. And if you’re taking something you don’t need, then your body stops doing what it was doing in the first place. And then you’re messing the whole system, the equilibrium of it.

(22:02) Shireen Abdullah:
On that note, Tara, thank you so very much for your time today. It was such a pleasure talking to you.

Before we go, though, how can our listeners connect with you and just learn more about your work?

(22:12) Tara Taylor:
go to my instagram it’s probably the easiest although I’m not very active Tara Taylor Health or the website TaraTaylorHealth.com and they can message me or anything through there and read what I have up already and again and if they don’t go to there please do your due diligence and read up on things before you take them absolutely

(22:32) Shireen Abdullah:
Thank you so much Tara for your time and to all of our listeners. Thank you for tuning in to another episode of the Yumlish podcast.

We’d like to leave you with a question that you can go to our social media and answer, which is, have you ever explored holistic nutrition practices for yourself? How have you liked or disliked them? So again, head over to Yumlish on Facebook, on Instagram, and again tell us have you explored holistic nutrition practices and how have you liked or disliked them. We’ll continue the conversation on our social media channels.

Thank you so much Tara again.

(23:05) Tara Taylor:
Thanks for having me.

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Website URL: https://www.tarataylorhealth.com /
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