Treating PTLDS And Chronic Disease

Robby Besner PSc.D.

Hey everybody, welcome back to another episode and interview with an incredibly interesting doctor. I’ve been following Dr. Cousens for many, many years, even before we met, and we have a few close associations, as we discovered when we got to talk. Dr. Cousens is a well-read author. He’s authored dozens of books. He is a medical doctor, but his skills and his credentials go way beyond just his skillset as a practitioner. I’ve followed his work and he’s got so many interesting insights that I feel are so important for everybody listening today to follow and to learn and to incorporate into their daily lives. 

It really makes the difference in what we call primal healing. In creating that platform that really will create a sustainable health. Not just a bandaid or something that might fix you for the moment. Although that might be important to make you feel good, really our goal is to actually fix the problems so that you live out and follow your bliss, follow your purpose in life, and live to your last breath in a healthy, strong, vibrant, vital format. So with that, I’d love to bring Dr. Cousens into the room. Dr. Cousens, I know you’re in a different country, you’re in a different time zone. So I so appreciate you breaking away to be with us today on our Lyme Summit. Thank you for coming.

Rabbi Gabriel Cousens, M.D.

Well, Robert, I’m very happy to be here and help out. It is a funny thing, but Lyme’s was discovered in 1975 in Lyme, Connecticut. And I know the person who discovered it was a classmate of mine at Columbia Medical School.

Robby Besner PSc.D.

Wow.

Rabbi Gabriel Cousens, M.D.

That is pretty trippy when we think about it. So I have this strange connection. That’s how it got named. Lyme’s got named because it was found in Lyme, Connecticut.

Robby Besner PSc.D.

Right. So you’re kind of there ground zero, like from the very beginning. That’s amazing. So can you spend a little bit of time with us and just kind of give us a little backdrop of, you know, how you kind of pushed, moved forward? Not so much like on your, the medical side is really important, but you have so many other credentials that you’ve added in as you’ve moved along in your own journey for finding vitality and health and vibrance and, and in your way that you communicate, because you’re not just a practitioner, you are an educator and you spend a lot of time and a lot of heart, of your heart and your life in elevating people’s awareness, which is really the, the foundational basis for the, for the Lyme Summit and what we’re trying to portray here. Is to bring individuals like yourself, people with unusual skillsets and, and amazing views of this problem, Lyme disease and chronic ailments and, and how to get to root causes and how to create that platform for, for healing. So give us a little bit of a backdrop, move us forward to kind of the things that you’re looking at today, and then let’s dive into some of the techniques that you’ve developed to identify Lyme and to treat it.

Rabbi Gabriel Cousens, M.D.

Okay. Well, let’s start with the background. I graduated from medical school in 1969, and was then trained as a psychiatrist and family therapist. By 1973, I saw that it had to come together. I also published papers in biochemistry and biophysics. So how it comes together is in a holistic medicine approach. They didn’t exactly have that name then. Okay? It’s just something that evolved, cause they saw, wow, so many people have mental problems, but wait a second, a lot of it is caused by the emotional. 

So I’ve written books, I’ve written 13 books. One of ’em is called, you know, the natural cure for diabetes. So we have a very, very high rate of curing type two diabetes in three weeks. But it all comes to taking a holistic view of, of how this goes about. So part of my holistic background is not only as a medical doctor, graduate of Columbia Medical School, psychiatrists and family therapist, so I see interpersonal dynamics and see that the mental state is a very important part in this more chronic Lyme’s. Cause after six months, I call it the post-treatment Lyme’s disease syndrome. That’s actually not my term, but that’s where I mostly focus on. People go to the doctors here, go to there, they get their antibiotics, they get different things. So I’m also trained not only in homeopathy and have a doctorate in that, but also in nutrition, spiritual in, in different ways, and also naturopathic. I have been doing naturopathic and a diplomat ayurvedic and lived, I don’t know, for seven years in India, so I got to understand chronic disease from a totally different point of view and as well as a diplomat in holistic medicine. 

So I have different ways of looking at things and have lived in different cultures. I’m also a, a rabbi and also a four year native American sun dancer and Eagle dancer. So I have a multicultural, from the yoga point of view, of being acknowledged as a, as a complete yogi and then as a Sundance Eagle dancer and then as a medical doctor, and then as a, well, one of my books is Torah As a Guide to Enlightenment. So I’m looking at this in different angles and, but I think it may be first to look at how we even diagnose it. Cause it’s, it’s a little hard for people. And I, I, I find that the homeopathic approach is a little bit good and I’m able to tune into the person, you know, it’s a bacteria, borrelia bacteria, but, but there’s kinds of bacteria. There’s borrelia burgdorferi, borrelia burgdorsepti and borrelia mayonii. 

Now this is important because part of my homeopathic approach is I have different what we call no zones, which are kind of general energies, but some people come with Lyme’s have one of those types, some have all three of those types. So there is actually not just one thing. Okay? So, so that’s an important part of my treatment is using these homeopathic no zones and I again, tune it to the person. There’s different energetic ways we can test and tune it in say, well, do they need all three? Do they need one? Do they need two? What do they need here? And that’s how I began to understand, there’s like at least three strains. And then you have the Americans, you know, more American and then you have more European. So it’s, it’s not a monolithic thing. 

And, and the homeopathy using the no zones, which is the energy of it, of, of the disease then helps us tune into it. Now I have to be clear. I am not a specialist in this. It just, it’s part of my holistic practice. I work with chronic diseases. People come mostly come from, I’m gonna, I’m gonna just say post-treatment Lyme’s disease syndrome. In other words, they’ve already gotten the antibiotics. They’ve gotten this, they’ve gotten and they’re not exactly better. And usually there’s a, a psychological component by this time. I’m not saying that’s the cause, I’m saying people are often depressed and I don’t even make that diagnosis unless they’ve been working on this for six months. It’s after six months I say, okay, you are in that post treatment syndrome. 

You’ve got the antibiotics, you’ve got the different things. Nothing has substantially worked. Okay. Now I do wanna say, cause I treated my own daughter with it, and she was actually, she’s a production stage manager on Broadway but they were hiking somewhere in near Lyme, Connecticut. Right? So she gets a bite and it does the, the traditional rash painless and immediately began treating her with the homeopathy and she healed and she has no symptoms free. So I, all I can say is I don’t see my, the people I’m doing with the homeopathy, having a relapse. That’s that’s all I can say in, in that, You know, can we prove they’re healed? Well, I can just prove they don’t have a relapse, they don’t have any symptoms. So it’s, it’s kind of.

Robby Besner PSc.D.

Really interesting. You know, later on is, that my daughter also contracted Lyme’s disease and she was what you, you are talking about post that six months, the syndrome is actually into the chronic period because after the Lyme’s, and or the co-infections leave the serum and it actually gets into the tissue or the cell we’re now into that chronic phase. Right?

Rabbi Gabriel Cousens, M.D.

Right.

Robby Besner PSc.D.

So, so what I’m really finding, and I wanna spend a few minutes with you on just describing for people that don’t even understand vibrational medicine or homeopathy, what that really means. But what I want to pick up on is just something that you said that I think is so important. It’s that big why question. Like, why is it that I could get bit by, let’s say a tick or get exposed to Lyme or the co-infections and I don’t become symptomatic and you’re standing right next to me and you become symptomatic. Why is that? And, and what I loved, what you said was that homeopathy in itself, the testing and the process of understanding that vibrational part is what is the distinction between the way that your body, your body has interpreted that same exposure versus my body. 

And having a skill or having a diagnostic and a treatment that can actually individualize the, the way the, that Lyme is expressing or that, that same virus, bacteria and parasite is expressing itself in my body versus your body is really, I believe it’s kind of the essence of, of really medicine. And that’s the difference between just sort of the bandaid and the temporary sensation of healing versus the sustainable one. The one that where you say you’re not symptomatic. So, so can we, can we spend a little bit of time just talking about what, what is homeopathy? What, like how…?

Rabbi Gabriel Cousens, M.D.

Well, it started a few hundred years ago in the 17 hundreds and Samuel Hahnemann was the, the main person. But the, the principle was simple, like heals like. Now, what does that mean? In the Torah, they, when they went out into the desert, they found what they call bitter waters and people were very thirsty and they got sick and Moses threw a bitter tree into it and it came sweet. That’s the first example of homeopathy. Okay. They did it again with the snake bites and then they had a statue of a snake, the people look at it, they would be healed. Like heels like. So this is not a new idea. Now say Hahnemann kind of did the, you know, kind of rediscovered it, Germany, France, and so forth, but the principle is there. And it works differently, cause it has to fit, as you already said, to your constitution. 

Now I’m kind of sensitized to constitution because in ayurvedic we have nine different constitutional types, which, you know, kapha pitta vata, kapha vata pitta, you know, different types. Watery earthy, fire, vata air. And so people are gonna respond to the same thing differently. So when somebody comes in with this, I’m gonna first do an analysis of what their constitution is about. It gives me an idea. Are they people that need a higher protein or a lower protein. 70% of the population needs a higher protein, 30% needs a lower protein. 

How important is that? Well, I give you an example, which is myself. Just one little example of how it works. So I, my Chron I’m I’m in my 79th year and I do 1300 pushups, okay? Every few days. But I was in pull ups, a hundred pulls ups. So I was stuck at 25 pull ups and I kind of looked at, okay, this is when I’m 65 years old and I look what’s, what’s the problem here. And I realized that with age, you need slightly more protein. I took one tablespoon of a protein, you know, concentrate. I’m also a life of vegans. And I went from 25 all the way up to a hundred pull ups in a month or two. So what’s my point? My point is simple. 

You want to, those slight little things make a gigantic difference. That’s what I’m saying. So we have to treat to the constitution and also to your life cycle. Cause in men, for example, in their age 45 are too much protein and excess protein increases rates of cancer. It goes on and on like that. So those are key concepts, is how I approach this. Second thing is you mentioned like fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, these are similar type things. After certain period of time, people have trouble distinguishing Lyme’s the chronic Lyme’s from chronic fatigue. Cause people feel fatigue, they feel depressed and, and you know, and also fibromyalgia. Now there’s certain things I do. But what are the key concepts when you say, why does someone standing next to you get sick and the other person doesn’t? Why does my daughter heal in a few weeks on homeopathy when somebody else goes chronic,? It was classic. 

We didn’t, I mean, it was just a classic description of the thing, you know, the very thing man. And so, so it also has to do with the word we call terrain. So we don’t think about disease as there’s a vector. There’s a Lyme of bacteria, certainly that’s there. Okay? But when you think homeopathy, you think terrain. Which is your basic, not exactly in the immune, but kind of like the immune system, but much broader. So people with a strong terrain are able to better resist all of this. And so I work on building up the terrain. Now, how do you do that? Well, if your terrain is toxic, say a fibromyalgia, we get a hundred percent results there. Why? I fast people. I do juices and we clear the toxins out of the system and the fibromyalgia goes away. Okay. So I will fast people on Lyme’s, again, get the toxins out of the system. There’s a, there’s another principle, it’s more Greek, but it’s the concept of vital life force. If your vital life force is too low, it can’t push the toxins out. 

So by detoxing, like fasting, which I, I do regular, we’re doing, well even with the whole COVID thing, we’re doing fast around the year with, over the internet. Okay? We have to clear the toxins. When you clear the toxins, then the terrain becomes strong enough to deal with any disease. Now, it doesn’t make you Bulletproof. I’m talking to a relative statement. So, and, and this is also what we’ll look with the COVID. It’s like if, if you’re 90, if you’re 90 years old and you’re in good health, you vital life force is strong, you’re very unlikely to get really, to die from, from that. But if you’re young and you’re not taking care of yourself, you have a higher percentage. So I mean, it’s, it’s, so the terrain is everything. And now there’s a classic, you know, the thing Louis Pasteur on his deathbed was saying one bacteria one disease and he admitted he was wrong. He said, it’s the terrain. So those, so that’s a very, very important thing. So I work on building the terrain. First detoxing, so then you have the vitalized force to, you know, overcome the bacteria or virus and so forth. 

Remember this is a bacteria, what we think it is. And so that’s how, so one is we get specific with the homeopathy, the no zone, the bitter tree surrounding where the bitter waters are, that turns it sweet. That’s how, so like heels like. That’s how it is. So what we have the energy of the, well, I’ll make it, borrelia bacteria. And I get, I try to get one of those three, as I say, or all three, it depends, cause people have a mixture, which is not the way I thought it would be, but that’s the way it tests. And, and then, then we give them and it creates an energetic field that forces out and, and, and helps the body specifically overcome it. 

Now, let me give you another example of how this works and it’s important, how powerful it is. In Brazil, they did a study 1996 to 2006, something like that. Okay? And they did diptheria, pertussis, tetanus as part of what they were studying and, and chicken box. And they found that when they used homeopathy, they were not 93% successful, and when he used a conventional injection vaccine, vaccination, the DBT you know, MIR injections, they were 10 to 30% successful. So we are talking about a homeopathic prophylaxis in this case, that was significantly more successful with thousands of people than the traditional, what they call vaccinations. 

This is called homeopathic prophylaxis. Because your body is being stimulated in energy fields to sew aura off the energy field of the, you know, the organism that may be attempting to attack you. Because now your terrain is very, very strong and you have the energy fields that stimulate your body to sew it off. So that’s the same concept. So my, the people I work with is we have to detox, we have to build the vital life force. We build the vital life force, we build the terrain. When you have a strong terrain, it’s very hard to invade it. And that is the answer to your initial question. Why does somebody get, and somebody else not get it? Because somebody has a very weakened terrain and they don’t have the vital life force strong enough to oppose the energies of whatever the infecting type organism is. 

And that’s kind of the bigger picture of how I put it. So I, I, I, I look at the vital life force, I, you know, check their terrain, I detox, So they have the vital life force to sew things off. And fasting is simple and it’s is not very not complicated. Then we add things. Then we do the homeopathy, then we do the nutritional basis. A lot of people have very poor nutrition. And without getting into specifics again, it’s an individualized program. That’s really important, cause people are different. 

We’re not a bunch of cows who eat grass. You know, we, we, we have, you know, thousands of genes and we’re different. And in chromosome 19, for example, it, it tells you how much protein, how much carbohydrate and how much fat one should have in their diet. It’s not one diet for everyone. There’s not one treatment approach for everyone. That’s why we, we get specific with the homeopathy for that creating that opposing, you know, like heals like energy, but we build the terrain, so they have a healthy body. And I do that with fasting. 

Like I fast three times a year for a week. And then you exercise and then you have to do breathing because that’s your life force, you’re building your life force. And one of the other things I see as a psychiatrist is that a lot of people with the chronic Lyme’s, post six months of dealing with, this is how I define it, they get depressed, you know, and I see more depression than anxiety. It’s like, wow, is this ever going to let up? Am I ever gonna get better? And then when you’re low energy, it’s also easy to get depressed. So that’s why I, I kind of focus on building the energy, look at the endocrine system, imbalances, look at the nervous system imbalances and use different supplements and different things that in this, you know, that, that pinpoint where we see the weaknesses. 

I mean, we clearly see in, in, in the, in the Lyme’s syndrome, people’s minds don’t work so well. They’re a little foggy, their memory isn’t so good. They’re depressed, you know, their clarity, isn’t good. We have to do it. We have to help ’em with that. That’s really important. So I will give supplements to do that. And all that kind of builds up to self confidence. I have, I don’t use, I’m a ortho molecular psychiatrist. So we use supplements instead of medications to heal people. We, we’re bringing people’s brains back into a balance of neurotransmitters. Okay. And then on a, I do use a, a plant-based diet approach and at least 80% live food, cause that gives the most energy. Now what I’ve also noticed is it also tends to balance the neurotransmitter production. Okay? So I, I’m seeing this holistic point of view. 

We have to help ’em in, in that mental way. But not just thinking you need an antidepressant. That is not helping them. They, we need to get their nutrition to a place that their mind is working right. Their brain is working right. Then there may be a need to do some psychotherapy to help ’em kind of release this. I’ve developed a technique called zero point, you know, 1, 3, 4 sessions, and it’s pretty much you get the key things. It’s, and I have a course that, well actually I have my patients to take the course. It’s it’s a four day course and then they’re empowered to do it themselves. Right? And, and again, it’s all part of the syndrome that understand the syndrome sets off a whole series of deep rooted things that now are coming up out of the unconscious into the subconscious, they have conscious thing that then they’re having to deal with. So it it’s, it’s kind of, it is a complete holistic approach.

Robby Besner PSc.D.

Well. Makes way sense. And the whole Western approach is sort of break out the segments, carve out these little pieces and just deal with one segment of it where I feel that’s lost because the body is complex and it’s made of systems that are integrated and work in harmony. Just like when you talk about terrain, terrain is your microbiome. We’ve got, you know, hundreds of thousands of organisms that work in harmony, and when we get out of balance, different stressors in our, our world, which could be, you know, emotional, could be physical, a combination of both of those, our genetics, all these things come into play. Then all of a sudden we become symptomatic, right? There are so many things that you said that are so important. I, I just, my mind is like this. 

You talked earlier about ayurvedic, the ayurvedic spin or influence and myself and my own work in studies, I look at ancient cultures and how, what kinds of natural healing elements they brought into their cultures that, that made a difference. And I also study nature and see how we all respond to nature because we are part of it. We’re part of that whole total ecosystem, one and other, and also our external internal environments. So having the breadth of experience that you’ve had living in different, the different perspectives, living in India, looking at healthcare there, and then seeing how that is different than the, than the Western approach that most people in America that are traditionally comfortable with really gives you a very different way of looking at treating and understanding health, and what is health, the essence of health than most people, most practitioners, most people looking at Lyme and treating chronic ailment, and I think that we’re all blessed to be, to know you and to understand your work and to be influenced in that regard. Your explanation of homeopathy was super interesting. And when you talk about the nutritional component, I think that’s also interesting because nutrition is also another vibration, and when you talk about plant based foods, live foods, we’re live bodies. 

What is the best? The best marriage is life to life like you talked about earlier. And so having, having said that, we have some friends, they’ve done some studies and unfortunately the nutrition, you know, because our, our soils and our agricultural communities have, are so depleted that you can, one of my friends that have studied, took one vegetable broccoli and analyzed the broccoli in New York and the broccoli in Chicago and the broccoli in California, it’s all broccoli, right? We’re drinking, we’re eating broccoli, and we think that we’re getting the vitamins and all that vibration. 

But yet when you looked at the nutritional components of these same broccoli in these different areas, they, it varied so greatly that it was mind boggling to me. But it does suggest that even people are trying to get, you know, whole foods and, and non GMO and, and organic, there’s still big disparities in even the nutritional part that you get from it, even though you’re trying. And so that’s why it’s so important to dive in a little bit deeper and understand the things that you’re are talking about to not just kind of like take that one, I, I love the, the vitamin 1, 1, 1 vitamin one, one a day, vitamin, you know, that’s supposed to do it all, which is ridiculous because it’s creating a, homogenizing the population and saying that your, your body needs the same thing my body needs, which is just.

Rabbi Gabriel Cousens, M.D.

It’s just another cow that’s black.

Robby Besner PSc.D.

Exactly, exactly. So, so understanding that we’re all special and that we’re all individuals and that we all have different needs, I think is super insight for the people tuning in today because everybody’s wondering why me and how am I affected and why am I so sick? And what are the stressors in my life that’s causing that? And how do I unwind that coil and get back on track? And I think you’ve given us an amazing understanding of what we need in order for us to actually create that strong foundational vital force platform. I mean, the idea that you can do a hundred pull ups when I can’t even do 10, you have a few years on me. And so I just think that I have a lot. 

You’re very inspirational to me in many ways as, as everybody out there. And also not many people address in chronic ailments the emotional component as another stressor and how important that is. And my belief is that you can’t truly heal unless you’ve addressed the emotional piece, because that’s why oftentimes even in dealing with cancer, you can put some, someone can go into remission and then five years it comes back because I don’t believe that they’ve addressed the emotional component. So there’s still a little hook in there that kind of allows your body to slip back into that area where you are vulnerable or that the imbalances become more prevalent creating symptoms.

Rabbi Gabriel Cousens, M.D.

Yeah. I think one other thing is that this happens in the diabetes program, you know, after three weeks, they say, thank you for reconnecting me to my soul. Because if you don’t feel connected to your soul, you, your purpose of life is missing. So your soul connects you to God. So that’s part of what I do. I not, not a religious approach. Yes, I’m a rabbi, but I’m also so yogi and I’m this native American it’s connecting to your soul is a very important part of the healing. 

And when you’re really depressed and you’re, you know, chronically digging and you’ve got the Lyme’s, and you’re not, you, you, you start to feel disconnected and then you go into lack of hope. That’s a dangerous place to be. So I kind of throw that in, not just the emotional, obviously I mentioned that, but also reconnecting your soul, reconnecting to the God force that can really help you have a bigger view of what’s going on and give you a, you know, the deeper purpose of life. So I think that’s important in that. I, I didn’t emphasize it. So you gave me a chance to do that.

Robby Besner PSc.D.

God, no. I love that. And I think that that’s great. And you’re not talking about religion, you’re talking about spirituality.

Rabbi Gabriel Cousens, M.D.

Yes.

Robby Besner PSc.D.

Everybody defines that connection differently. And, you know, I call it my voices. Like I have this connection where I’ve got an interaction or inner relationship with my voices, which I believe is my spirit guide. And it started for me when I was really little, like in my, I was a child like six or eight, nine years old. And then of course, age appropriately, I didn’t listen to that voice because I needed to do my own thing. And then I discovered in my twenties that it started to play a game. Like when I asked my, my higher power, like, what do you think of this? Should I go left or should I go right?

 So the path my higher intelligence, or my connection would say, well, you go, right. That’s the right decision. And of course I would go left because I was smarter. And then I realized in my thirties that, that when I asked the question that my spirit, my connection to my soul was more right, or always, right. So then I go, just ask the question and listen for the answer and then follow, follow that road or that path. And ever since I’ve done that, things, my life, my world has just become more clear, and my understanding of my purpose and my bliss and what I’m supposed to be, my path, my journey has become much more and well defined. So..

Rabbi Gabriel Cousens, M.D.

One of the things just, you keep giving me ideas, of what I need to say. I, I like people to start meditating, cause it’s a major way of connecting to your soul. But the research also shows that the people who have been meditating just 20 minutes a day or twice a day, have a physiology that is 15 years younger. So we know that meditation creates a regenerated effect, improves, actually changes the shape of your brain actually it begins to grow your brain. So that’s something I in general teach people. So because it helps ’em get in touch with their soul, but also get more in touch with the issues they have to deal with. And it’s physiologically regenerative.

Robby Besner PSc.D.

Interesting. You know, some people like I actually wanted to do a little sabbatical or I did one, took like a class, I was living in the Midwest in Chicago and I joined, we had this eight week meditative, you know, learning experience where we integrated a color and a food every week and a theme, and then we concentrated on that and I remembered we weren’t, we had to abstain from alcohol from any kind of medications. I think there was a period where we actually had to abstain from sexual activities just to sort of get back down a base level, which reminds me, you referenced earlier about fasting and how important that is. And fasting’s kind of like a hard reset. It gives all of your organs and your systems a chance to reorganize get realigned, when they’re not having to process food and fight off disease and doing all these other things. It’s sort of like if it was a computer, it would be like a hard reset. 

And then whether you do it like I intermittently fast, pretty much every day, but even an organized fast where it could be a few days at a time or a week at a time, you know, understanding the principle of the fasting is so important for general health and, and, and for that vibrational reset. But if you looked at some of the longevity cultures, like the blue zones where people lived to excess of a hundred years, you know, average in their cultures and in many religions, there are these fasting processes that are integrated. No one explained why, but generally speaking, they were accepted and, and they have been proven to be very healthy for us. 

So I love that you bring that in because it’s hard to think that, you know, here I am a Lyme patient and I’m not feeling so great, but you’re telling me not to eat and I’m supposed to, eating is supposed to give me the energy I need to sort of get better, but yet you’re telling me not to eat. It just is counterintuitive. So I think that it’s important for people to understand it’s not harmful. It should be guided. You should have a plan about it and maybe consult with your practitioner or health advisors to make sure that it’s the proper time and that you do it right. But the concept is what is, I think so important.

Rabbi Gabriel Cousens, M.D.

It’s key. I, I’m gonna mention, there’s a difference between intermittent fasting and like a seven day cycle. Cause in intermittent fasting, there’s a place where you kind of clear the toxins and then your body goes through a rapid, what we call apoptosis, clearing off the dead and dying cells and building up the new cells. That process takes at least five days. You know, five to seven days, seven is good. Usually people feel not so good in the first or second day, and then they, and then it comes up. And, and that’s why I, I like the intermittent fasting, you know, I just have one meal a day. So I’m doing it anyway. 

But the point I’m saying is something different. There is a difference between a minimum of a seven day fast and intermittent fasting. Cause it has detox rebuild and emotional detox also on day three and four, and then day six and seven, five, six, and seven, you really start to feel good. Because you’ve cleared enough of the toxins off your brain, and you’re now beginning to stimulate your body to really work at a higher level. And, and what we do know is when people do fast at a seven day type cycle minimum, they actually increase their brain hormones and the normal growth hormones. But brain derived neurotropic factor, which is the main, you know, increases. And so you start to build neurons, not just replenish old ones, but bring in new ones. 

That’s pretty exciting. So when I meant about brain increasing in size, I actually mean it. Okay. That’s what the research from Harvard showed. So it’s exciting just making that point. I mean, people can reach me. I do these guided fast all over the world, you know, over the internet at this point, you know, but DrCousens.com real simple, you know. So we’re doing that for people because it’s a really important time to be doing that. Cause you, you also want this collective energy. I think that the research shows that when people are connected to a group, they live longer and they’re healthier. Research shows that married couples live longer and have less depressions. These are really powerful statistics. So we kinda look at the idea of socialization as you know, sorry, supportive socialization as being actually an important part of the healing process. I’m just gonna leave it.

Robby Besner PSc.D.

Surprised you didn’t mention about people that have little pets, pets or animals, and the comfort that unconditional love that a pet will give you how important that is for mental stability and general health too. I find that that is something that’s always tickled me because I always wondered why I had this strong connection to the animal kingdom and that even the animals that we’ve had in, you know, in our family as part of our family, how important that love is. That that when I come back from the lab in the morning or the afternoon, and I’m greeted by my little puppy, she’s full grown, but she’s puppy sized and she just, it’s like a brand new day, a brand new page. It’s just like, everything is just about life and love. And it’s so, it’s so important for just, you know, for just the heart side of our health.

Rabbi Gabriel Cousens, M.D.

The endorphins going, there’s certain hormones that give you kind of a certain wellbeing type thing. So yeah, that’s all part of the healing.

Robby Besner PSc.D.

Perfect. And you know, when you talk about meditation, you know, sometimes people out there, they don’t quite understand, but we could be talking about maybe an affirmation, like a prayer that you say before bed. And I have my own little ritual in the morning. We have an infrared sauna and I get up generally at 4:35 in the morning and it’s a quiet time and I’ll, I’ll ask for forgiveness, I’ll, I’ll set my intentions for the day, I will think about what I’m grateful for, and I bring that into my, my own little ritual as my kind of meditation that gives me my connection. And then when I come out of sauna, I’ve not only detoxed, but I’ve also been embraced my emotional and spiritual components at the same time. So that is something that I feel is, this isn’t difficult for people checking into right now. 

This is, what we’re talking about is not hard to do. Yes we may have to spend a little bit of time to understand and create that, the kind of routine that’s personal to you and work that into your, your lifestyle, but still it’s so important for us to maintain that balance in different areas of our bodies so that we get what we need. And it does come into your emotional DNA and it comes into changing the way your cells respond. And I mean, we’ve had studies like Emoto studies, on the frequencies of just putting good intention into water and then drink that water and how it changes the whole structure of the water inside your body. 

Something as simple as that. So everything we’ve talked about is so important for people to understand, I would love to spend at least, well, what would it be? There’s seven, eight days of creation. So I’d love to spend more time with you speak particularly on this interview, but I know your time is sparing and I loved the time we’ve had together. So let’s bring this thing sort of to a close. If we had a, if you had a few words of wisdom that you could offer a Lyme patient, that’s not feeling so good to get a little bit more inspired, what would be one of the two or three things that you might recommend that I could do tomorrow that would make a difference or set me into a, into a new direction that would give me hope or give me inspiration about coming out of that Lyme tunnel in a much more vibrant, healthy way?

Rabbi Gabriel Cousens, M.D.

Well, the first thing is to know for sure that Lyme’s is healable.

Robby Besner PSc.D.

Okay.

Rabbi Gabriel Cousens, M.D.

And that it’s a gift in a way that it makes you work much harder to get to a higher level of total holistic health, physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual. And just know that we need to do all those things, but that’s a gift because it’s an inspiration. Okay? So it’s not poor me. It’s like, wow, what a gift? Now, let me work on all these things, since it is healable, period. Okay? And I’m talking chronic Lymes. Short term Lymes is very healable but chronic Lymes. And so people need to love themselves enough to want to heal themselves. And that has to be that motivation, and that loving yourself and I don’t mean ego. I mean, to love the God within yourself and understand that we are unique beings and we’re here for a purpose, which is to wake up spiritually, is to open our hearts and in the sense become superconductors of the divine in your lives. Everybody can do this at any age. And people think, oh, I’m getting older, it’s getting too late. 

No. So I’m at 79 years old, I’m doing 1300 pushups and 900 sit ups every two days. It’s like, how does that happen? When I was captain of an undefeated football team, I could do 60, 70 pushups, you know. It’s like, how did that happen that I’m not now, you know, 59 years later and it’s like, I’m stronger. That doesn’t, it doesn’t happen by accident though. It’s not just grace. Grace is there when we open our heart to it, but we need to know deep, deep in our being that we can do it and that people do do it at any age. So I bless everyone that we, we have the power to love ourselves enough to wanna heal ourselves.

Robby Besner PSc.D.

Wow.

Rabbi Gabriel Cousens, M.D.

Amen aho, and thank you for your excellent interview. Robby, thank you.

Robby Besner PSc.D.

But before we go, tell us how people get ahold of you. Like in your backdrop, I see Tree of Life and that’s a foundation that you started many years ago. So certainly that’s got its own life community, and I’ve joined it. It’s truly amazing. And the information that you put out, that’s just free that many of the things that we’ve talked a little bit about today and touched on you dive in much deeper on. So you can really come in at any level and get something every single day that you just tune into that page. But what are the ways that people can connect with you and get, get on, get on your, on your journey?

Rabbi Gabriel Cousens, M.D.

So the first thing I wanna do is bless everyone that we do get reinspired to love ourselves enough, to wanna heal ourselves. And anybody with Lyme’s, be blessed to know that you can heal this. Period. Now how to get in touch with me, simple DrCousens.com. It has my schedule, we have meditation retreats, every other month, we have a variety of things, we have the zero point it’s all on that schedule. That will also take you to my community website, which is treeoflife.mn.co. But easy DrCousens.com, that’s an easy one to remember, and that’s, that links you into everything, you know, and then we have a variety of things. We have weekly programs, alive and liberated Dr. Gabriel, we have spiritual nutrition programs and different programs around the world, you know, different.

Robby Besner PSc.D.

So, you created a platform that anybody that joins can get something. And the, and, and, you know, when you’re chronic anything, you’re in this sort of negative spiral, right? Like, and at some point you hit this wall where you just think there’s no way out. But the way to come out of the spiral, reverse the spiral, come into a positive spin and, and sort of claw your way out is by joining your community. Something as simple as that. And then just finding one piece of what you’re doing that resonates with you, and just start with that. Just start with that one little piece. And then from that say, wow, you know, Dr. Cousens is doing this other program, I really enjoyed the meditation program, let me look at his nutritional part and then clip that one in. 

And so for the people are out there that are tuning in that are bedridden, this is something you can do while you’re, while you’re debilitated and then get inspired. For people that are moving around and are functional and want to maintain that level and build it up even stronger, there’s something in it for you. 

So Dr. Cousens we’re so grateful that you’ve joined us today, and we’re really so grateful that you’ve created this momentum, this culture, this, this platform that everybody can, can, you know, can join. And, and also they can get something that will be very meaningful, that makes the difference in, in their lives and their family lives. So really thank you so much for joining us. Thank you for so much for being part of our Lyme, healing from Lyme summit. And I am so inspired right now. I can’t wait to just hang up with you and get onto your, your platform and grab some knowledge today that I can use in my life today.

Rabbi Gabriel Cousens, M.D.

And spirit. You have a really good spirit, you know. And, and it’s just fun talking with you, and I bless you for the good work that you’re doing.

Robby Besner PSc.D.

Thank you.

Rabbi Gabriel Cousens, M.D.

You help inspire people with this difficult situation with the Lymes to really overcome it and enhance their lives. Cause it is a gift if we take advantage of it, it’s just not the most fun kind of gift to get.

Robby Besner PSc.D.

Right. Well, thanks again.

Rabbi Gabriel Cousens, M.D.

Thank you. Great speaking with you.

Robby Besner PSc.D.

Hey everybody, it’s Robbie Besner. Thanks so much for joining us today. Please share this content with anyone that you think might benefit from it. And we’re looking forward to having you with us tomorrow for another great interview.