Ancient Wisdom, Modern Practices with Dr. Ashley Beckman

Boomer Anderson 0:06
Welcome to decoding superhuman. This show is a deep dive into obsessions with health performance, and how to elevate the human experience. I explore the latest tools, science and technology with experts in various fields of human optimization. This is your host, Boomer Anderson. Enjoy the journey. Superhumans. Well, that’s a new one. Over the past couple of years, I’ve spent a lot of time exploring various areas of performance. We’ve gone down really wormholes on anything from the ketogenic diet, to fasting to everything in between. And those are just the nutritional aspects. We’ve talked about sleep chronobiology, and so many others. But one area that absolutely fascinates me is the idea of ancient wisdom and applying it to modern healing practices or modern performance. So my guest today is Dr. Ashley Backman. And she is a doctor of Chinese medicine and acupuncture and a Board Certified acupuncturist and herbalist based in Los Angeles. Dr. Beckman and I came to know each other through a genetics course but we’ve become great friends. Every time I go to California or have had the pleasure of going to California we meet up in random places like erawan market where I get overcharged for an absolutely delicious smoothie. But Dr. Ashley received her doctorate and graduate degree from yoson University of traditional Chinese medicine and holds a degree in International Business and Marketing from the University of Texas. Yes, we can end on a podcast. But what else do we get into because Dr. Backman is absolutely fascinating to talk to him. We of course go down the idea of energy medicine and looking at Don’s hands in these things. And if you’re unfamiliar with those concepts, we explain them in detail we look at meridians, but then we transition over into epigenetics and genetics and the implications for how Dr. Beckman works with patients on a day to day basis. We then get into environmental toxicities. And Dr. Ashley one of the reasons why I wanted to have her on the show was her expertise on these environmental toxicities. She has an interesting personal story to share as well. The show notes for this one are at decodingsuperhuman.com/drashley that’s Dr. A S H L E Y. Enjoy my conversation with Dr. Ashley Beckman. Dr. Ashley long time.

Dr. Ashley Beckman 2:53
It’s good to see you again.

Boomer Anderson 2:54
Yeah, last time we were hanging out at erawan market in Santa Monica. And you’re enticing me with all these delicious goodies, which erawan is just such a tempting place to do those things. Right?

Dr. Ashley Beckman 3:09
Right, definitely.

Boomer Anderson 3:11
And so, while in Santa Monica, we were having this fascinating conversation, and I kind of wish I just had my podcast gear there. But since I didn’t, you’re so kind and generous to come back on the podcast. So it can basically record that conversation. And we’re talking about ancient practices or ancient wisdom going into modern practice. And one of the things I find fascinating about your background is your education and some of that ancient wisdom. Can we talk a little bit about your background specifically as it relates to? I’m going to call it energy medicines, but you tell me what the proper term is? Sure.

Dr. Ashley Beckman 3:53
Yeah. So I basically I was kind of I was interested even in high school and nutrition and I became familiar with Someone named Dr. Schultz who was a naturopathic doctor who focused a lot on toxins and his work was based on Dr. Christopher an herbalist. So as I got into that I started learning a bit about detoxes and just herbs became fascinated with that. So I went to college I ended up getting a undergrad degree in business because I always knew I would have some but so what I did was I became after college I became very interested in toxins I read this book called drop dead gorgeous that talked about toxins in skincare and beauty.

Boomer Anderson 4:37
So are we talking here like skincare beauty, meaning all of this stuff that people put on their face? I was just in Korea, so like, Oh, yeah.

Dr. Ashley Beckman 4:47
Yes. So it’s, yeah, mostly all personal care products is what this book was talking about. So I had no idea but it basically gave me the sort of, you know, opened up my eyes to this toxins and things that we expose ourselves to all the time. And that sort of segue into learning more about some different types of things that we could use. And that led to energetic medicine. So I started to learn about homeopathy. And it just was fascinating to me was really kind of ancient, not ancient, but an older practice. And that’s kind of how a lot of our medicine started. And so I ended up finding a teacher who then I ended up studying with for about five years.

Boomer Anderson 5:34
So let’s talk about that I have to address Okay, the H word, right? Because there’s, there’s books where people do call out homeopathy, bad science being one of them. Right? How should we think about that in the context of the broader whole, right, because I think you’ve already mentioned that it’s ancient practices, and there’s a lot of things that are based on it, but based on what I’ve Read a modern science homeopathy gets a lot of criticism.

Dr. Ashley Beckman 6:03
It definitely does. My whole theory is basically also though that with a lot of my clients and patients, it works. So to me it’s a very safe effective modality to try first and it works for certain things really well, you know, there’s a lot of different ways that people use it, but I use it more kind of like on the first aid kit basis. So like for fevers, sprains, headaches, things like that. I can use constitutionally for larger issues, but I use it more like that, because for me, you try it and then if it doesn’t work, you can move on to other things that, you know, let’s just say that science deems more acceptable either like some herbs or you know, even if they have over the counter medications as well. For example, for a fever for my daughter, I always start with homeopathic remedy. If that doesn’t work, then I go to you know, maybe essential oils and herbs. And then if that doesn’t work, I have a backup of, you know, a cleaner version of an over the counter medical kids. Yeah.

Boomer Anderson 7:10
Understood, understood. So the way I should think about homeopathy is more along the lines of this is the barrier to entry is relatively low, and the downsides pretty low. And so therefore, I mean, ultimately, we want something that works and you found that it works really well in certain scenarios. Is that right?

Dr. Ashley Beckman 7:30
Definitely. Okay.

Boomer Anderson 7:32
So I was interrupting your whole background story. I want to go in because I know we probably are going to call this episode ancient wisdom, modern practices. And so let’s go a little bit further into that ancient wisdom. Where does the acupuncture come into play?

Dr. Ashley Beckman 7:50
So my teacher, my homeopathic teacher, who was a classical homeopath was also an acupuncturist. And he basically just said, you know, you need to go to school, you need to learn the science. You need to learn something that people really find more acceptable. And even though people, some people are new to Chinese medicine, it is a form of medicine that’s been around for thousands of years. Yeah. And so it’s, you know, even though it might not be as well known in the States, it’s gaining a lot of popularity because it’s, you know, tested through time. Basically, it’s an entire form of medicine. In, you know, more in the eastern world, they’ve been sort of infiltrated with Western medicine now to and use both. But at the same time, I find that those theories just really are very helpful. And I learned so much about Chinese theory and applied it to the patients that I have. And it’s just really fascinating to me, because they take into play the things that we used to be part of even our medicine, like they called it more eclectic medicine years ago in the States when it was about herbs. Eating with the seasons and, you know, just these sort of home remedies that kind of have gone away. But right now they’re sort of resurfacing.

Boomer Anderson 9:09
And for those listening, I know that there’s some people at Cal Poly, I think, that are putting Western scientific experiments together in terms of ones that would be accepted or have like, generally accepted principles, because a lot of the studies out of China have like ends of two and eight and those kind of things from what I understand. And so there is a Cal Poly making these little bit more modern studies to prove that this stuff works because it has been around for thousands of years,

Dr. Ashley Beckman 9:40
right. And there is some flaw with the way a lot of the acupuncture studies are done. What they do, and it’s called sham acupuncture. So they basically will, instead of actually inserting a needle, they will put pressure which to us is still activating the same point and they might put something either on a point that we use or along a channel, which channels kind of we call them meridians. It’s the way energy flows in the body. So. So to us as acupuncturist, if you’re still activating something along the same channel, or even along the same on a point, you’re going to get a reaction that would be similar to what a needle would do. So there’s a lot of flaws with actually trying to use studies with acupuncture. So that’s where there’s been a lot of issues. I guess, too, with trying to prove acupuncture works or doesn’t work.

Boomer Anderson 10:36
Can we just define some terms because I’m going to ask a lot of questions about energy medicine because I’m fascinated by it. But defining terms here, things like meridians can glue walk through what are meridians and then maybe something about energy centers because I’m just trying to get all my facts straight here.

Dr. Ashley Beckman 10:58
Sure. So in Chinese medicine, we have basically, these patterns of energy flow on the body and they’re called meridians. So they, I think of them as a highway system on the body. And they often can correlate as well the way let’s say a nerve flows down the body. So if that makes you know, that helps people understand a bit like for someone who’s ever had sciatic pain, they know that there’s a sciatic nerve that kind of the way it flows, and it goes all the way down to, you know, the little toe. So that’s kind of like the way a meridian would flow. But we have different ones that are associated with an Oregon name. We have a liver Meridian, and some of these start in the actual Oregon where they are, or they just passed through the Oregon but it’s not as easy to kind of explain but you can always there’s always like a there’s great little pictures, you know, that have these energy pathways.

Boomer Anderson 11:55
And if you have if you have pictures that we can share People can link to them in the show notes that’s for sure. in the show notes for this one just so everybody knows are decodingsuperhuman.com/drashley. That’s DR Instead of the full word doctor by the way. Now let’s come back to this. So meridians thinking them as energy centers energy, the way energy flows through the body. What How do I look at meridians versus something like chakras? Are they same? Same? Are they different?

Dr. Ashley Beckman 12:27
So it’s a similar concept yet it’s a different theory in Chinese medicine. So we also have something a little bit more similar where there’s they call them dantians where there’s,

Boomer Anderson 12:39
I’m going to get to the dantian No, no, no, go go go go down your path, because don t answer something the best. Yeah.

Dr. Ashley Beckman 12:47
So we basically, you know, similar to where like there’s, you know, a chakra, third eye chakra and then a heart chakra, and then a root chakra. Those would be correlated, sort of to the dantians, but they have more chakras in that chakra system, where we kind of have the three, dantians are the three energy centers. So that would be the most similar correlation between those two. But again, it’s sort of just so another term that we use is ci, which would be the energy. And so basically, kind of what I like to describe is we use needles to kind of direct the energy of the body help resolve the issue. So I think of needles as little almost like a little lightning rod to direct the energy of your body to a specific either area or Oregon, where there’s an imbalance.

Boomer Anderson 13:40
So just real quick and because I’m only going to ask this because the names escaping me but the three dantians. What are the names?

Dr. Ashley Beckman 13:49
Well, you have what so well, we just do I mean, we talked about like the upper, middle and lower Okay, and then so one of my favorite things, though, is It’s a sort of a theory or concept in Chinese medicine, where we have, it’s called Shen. And so that’s your heart and your mind together. And so this, to me is like one of the most fascinating parts of our medicine because, you know, the way they talk about how Chinese characters have a lot of meaning in the word, and they, the picture describes different things. So they have these different theories on things. And it makes total sense when you combine these, you know, two concepts together. But in western medicine, we don’t really have that. So our Shen Is this something that’s kind of like our mental and spiritual health, but combined with your heart and your emotions. So, again, that’s something that we look at a lot is if someone’s Shen is balanced or disturbed or off and because of the way we are sort of like with modern life and living, the Shen gets disturbed quite a bit. So we’ve you know, we a lot of times schenn treatment is kind of like One of these mentally balancing treatments, but again, it’s it’s just more of not just the mind. And it’s not just emotion, it’s what they are together. And that effect it has on the body. And this is something

Boomer Anderson 15:11
that we have neglected as a Western society for far too long. Right, right. Yes. And it’s I’m glad that it’s finally starting to get some attention. It needs to get a lot more attention. Yeah. And I’m guilty of this as well, by the way.

Dr. Ashley Beckman 15:25
And I think that’s the thing. One thing that’s sort of fascinating to me, very fascinating right now, in sort of the functional medicine world is that theory, you know, that we have, basically these three centers and it’s the brain, the heart and the gut, and they’re all connected. And so me that’s the same thing of this, the don t end. Yeah, and it’s there. Finally, it’s coming more full circle to where it you see it in Chinese medicine, you see it in Ayurvedic medicine, and now you’re finally seeing it in our I mean, functional medicine world, but it’s an Science, it’s rooted in science, they see that tissue from the brain, in the heart and in the

Boomer Anderson 16:06
gut. So let’s, let’s delve a little bit into the term you use was Shen. Right? That right? And so let’s talk a little bit about shin and sort of how you assess this because and you can take me for an example or just any sort of patient that would walk into your door. How are you looking at shin and an individual? How do you assess that? Is it cuz I’ve done some acupuncture? And there’s a lot looking at my tongue my Paul, right? How do you look at it?

Dr. Ashley Beckman 16:37
So Tongan pulse are very common for just our diagnostic tools that we use on most patients. And they’re not necessarily as much correlated with the Shen, but they would be correlated just with when we’re trying to figure out what points to use and what’s going on. So we we basically use Our eyes mostly and just kind of like how the person is and appears overall for them. It’s kind of like someone’s energy or what’s happening when you know like when you walk in the door or when the patient walks in the door like everything you see about them are they disheveled? Do they look you in the eye or they you know put together are they rushed and hurried and an anxious because they were in traffic and you know all of these things that can disturb you and your energy or you’re just

Boomer Anderson 17:27
you’re in and you’re in LA so I’m imagine everybody is coming in rush disheveled because they’re in LA traffic, which definitely maybe Mumbai as sort of my least favorite place to stay in traffic. But anyways, yeah. So okay, so you’ve assessed the person. Now let the current just double click on the tongue because my limited experience with this the tongue, I understand it so so much but like, what do you because I look at my tongue in the mirror and I’m like, Hey, I You know, it’s quite as a Gene Simmons ask what’s going What’s going on here? Like what are you looking for? Are there bumps or shapes distortions? What kind of things do you see?

Dr. Ashley Beckman 18:11
Sure. So one thing that I’m, I spend a lot of time with my patients on is talking about kind of sugar and the different foods they eat that create that create this thing, and it’s in Chinese medicine that we call dampness. So it’s like it can be some joint pain. It can be craving sugar, it can be you know, Candida infection, fungal infection, things like that. But so on the tongue that shows up is like a pretty thick white or yellow coat. So what we do is I generally take a look at the tongue to see the color the shape, kind of like if it’s pale, if it’s kind of like on the darker dusky side, which is a term we use. If there’s little ridges on the side that look like teeth marks Yeah. If there are cracks Things like that. And we were looking kind of for these different theories of like heat and cold, dampness, dryness. And then we look to see to like, where these are happening, there’s a map of the tongue that talks about different organs. And the same it also relates to those three different areas. So like, upper middle, lower, which you can correlate to the body. We find a lot out from the tongue, but then I always have to ask, you know, if they had coffee that morning, turmeric latte, which will make their tongue super yellow,

Boomer Anderson 19:31
especially in LA, home of the Golden latte love it. Exactly.

Dr. Ashley Beckman 19:34
So there’s all these things that where, you know, you have to make sure because most people have had a cup of coffee before they come in. So then their tongue is falsely yellow. Yeah, but same with the tumeric latte. But there are certain things that people say, you know, they scrape their tongue, they’re like, Oh, you know, I scrape it every day, but these things don’t really go away. The diagnostic tools there. Anyway,

Boomer Anderson 20:00
And then the pulse. Are you reading for just distortions of heart? Obviously, you’re looking for a pulse, right? Hopefully there. But what what are you sensing? With the pulse?

Dr. Ashley Beckman 20:15
Yeah, so the pulse is actually almost it’s a science in itself. There are people that spend their whole, almost career, you know, mastering the post, because there’s, it’s so it’s it can, the nuances are so subtle, but there are things that we can see like if someone’s pulse is fast, there might be heat or if it’s slow, there’s a deficiency, but we’re also feeling the nature of the pulse. So there’s different organs associated with different placement of where your finger is on the pulse that we feel. We’re not counting beats, you know, it’s not the traditional way. We’re like really feeling for how the pulse is and all these different aspects. It Like I said, it’s it’s its own art in itself. And so some people just really dive deep into the pulse as a diagnostic tool. I love the tongue personally, just because I think it’s probably because I love nutrition and the nutritional aspect is what you see a lot with the tongue as well. Okay, quality, what’s happening. So, the pulse is really fascinating as well. And it can tell a lot of things but we also you know, we look at the whole picture of everything even.

Boomer Anderson 21:30
So, are on the pulse because, actually, I want to just talk a little bit about something that’s come up once or twice in this conversation, the concept of hot and cold or heat, because, like I said, I have limited experience with acupuncture, but sometimes this term heat comes up and in previous acupuncturist that I’ve worked with back when I lived in Singapore, There was recommendations around avoiding certain types of facts, right? things and sometimes it was very hard for me to grasp that or take that recommendation seriously because it was like avoid coffee. Which that which is not like you don’t tell a sleep deprived banker to avoid coffee, right? stupid idea. So, what are we talking about? What are we referring to and hot and cold? So here’s the thing with Dr. Ashley and I, when we have the chance to get together, it’s usually a seminar or a conference, or perhaps at a supermarket in the middle of Santa Monica. And when we get together, it’s usually a rush. But when I’m in a rush and still need a workout, here you go. How about that first segway. I like to use a bike called the Carroll and eight minutes and 40 seconds, I’m able to get a kick ass workout where my legs just feel like jelly and Why is that? Well, because it achieves rapid glycogen depletion through an AI powered algorithm that allows you to really get personalized resistance. And very little time, you get to 20 seconds, friends, that’s it, and you’re exhausted. So if you want to try this out, in fact, you should just go and get yours. You can use the code decoding 150 at Carol fit AI. com. It’s been a really, really hot device these days. In fact, it’s hard to get, but go over to Carol fit AI, plug in the code decoding 150 and you’ll get a nice little discount. Back to my discussion with Dr. Ashley Beckman.

Dr. Ashley Beckman 23:42
Sure. So one thing I love about Chinese medicine that changed everything kind of that I thought about nutrition because I had studied all this sort of holistic nutrition that was you know, juices, salads, raw food, like all the different things that were popular about 20 years ago and still bit popular now. It that you have to look at somebody’s constitution in Chinese medicine. So that, for example would be someone like for example, someone who’s like skinny, cold and is always eating salads and maybe low thyroid issues, things like that. They’re eating the complete wrong food for them, like they need to be eating warm foods that nourish and support them. And so bring up that cold temperature and her body up to something that’s more normal.

Boomer Anderson 24:31
So just real quick on constitution, what we’re talking about is just sort of how a person holds themselves how they appear to you in person, is that right?

Dr. Ashley Beckman 24:40
Yeah. And even it also takes into account some of their emotions. So some people, you know, we look at everything in these concepts of there’s elements so like fire earth, water, would you basically also, there’s organs associated with that and then there’s emotions that are associated with that. Those organs. So some people, you know, you might you’ve heard of a person who might be like a hot, fiery type. Generally, they might be, you know, skinny, like, almost with red face or red skin tones, high metabolism, things like that. They should not be eating a whole lot of just really hot spicy foods, things like that it just exacerbates something that they’re that they already came in with. So our whole point is to bring balance. And by doing that, you can utilize foods and herbs that would help bring their body back to kind of a homeostasis. So but that is totally different concept than what we have in western nutrition or just even Western medicine where, you know, it’s just oh, you have this, this is your cotton, this is the medicine you take or everybody should eat kale. Everybody should start their morning with the you know, a smoothie. So all of these things don’t take into account anyone’s constitution or that everyone has a unique Individual. So that’s where I love kind of actually, this is where I bridge the gap between the two for me is that I love these constitutional theories and really customizing everyone’s nutrition. And then even adding that with all the functional medicine labs and practices, and even the genetics like how we met, and basically combining those two together to create the most customized program for them. And that is really just right for their exact body.

Boomer Anderson 26:29
Before we go, because I see I see what we’re trying to do here on the bridge and before we bridge the River Kwai, so to speak, right, let’s, let’s talk I want to talk a little bit about energy centers and how to rebalance those if, if I’m using the right terminology here. Because this is just an area of my life that I’m very fascinated by. How do you do balance done tends to like how do you mean I want to use that Word manipulate, but how do you move energy such that our body is within this balance, that’s what we’re so sure, looking to achieve.

Dr. Ashley Beckman 27:10
So what you can look to see if you feel like there’s a blockage, like let’s say for example, women who have fibroids, things like that, that is generally would be a blockage in the lower dontian for women who have just issues, you know, female fertility issues, whatever it might be. So, then we have either herbs that you take that bring energy or like even bring blood flow to that area and that unlock, we call it just either blockage or stagnation. So we use herbs we use acupuncture acupuncture is amazing to direct energy to one of the centers that might be blocked. Yeah. And then another way that is used a lot is either Tai Chi or medical Qigong. So those again, like bring focus and energy when you need to Fill something up or if you need to, you know, like diffuse the stuck energy, there’s different ways that you would do that. So we can use different issues that somebody might be dealing with, even if it’s like anxiety, some people feel anxiety in their chest and some people feel it in their more like in their abdominal area. So you would I, I give my patients like a targeted meditation or just a visualization when I acupuncture, it gives them a color and then a way the energy flows using those channels and meridians that we spoke about. Yeah, tell them what kind of color to visualize and then where it should flow through the body. And then where it should, which where it should go out. So like the end point of the needle, because a lot of the way at least I practice and a lot of people do is that you might put a needle near the top of the channel you’re working with and then near the end, so to like bring draw the energy in and then you pull it out through the body.

Boomer Anderson 28:56
Okay, hypothetically, let’s say you have This person in front of you that has obvious anxiety, predominantly in the chest. I guess probably that’s the middle dontian, right?

Dr. Ashley Beckman 29:14
That’s part of it. Or in the middle, but yeah,

Boomer Anderson 29:16
middle. So middle Heart Chakra, what whatever term we want to use here. What are herbs that we can use to to kind of unblock that energy so to speak?

Dr. Ashley Beckman 29:31
Well, so one of my favorite herbs, for kind of like this more for this is like the physical heart. But a lot of times when we’re treating the physical, we’re treating the emotional. And the same when we’re treating the emotional, we’re treating the physical. So one of my favorite herbs is it’s actually Hawthorne Berry, okay, so drink it as a tea. It has a lot of other effects as well, but it’s an it has an affinity for the heart. Okay. The other one, that sort of, it kind of depends again, on the You know why they have this anxiety. So, one that we have a point that’s a really great one called rent 17 that you put a needle in and it just opens up that stagnation. So, I love doing that if somebody was getting coming for acupuncture, but then you know, there’s lots of different things to on the more Western side for anxiety that we could implement, but at the same time, you know, our whole point is to look at the herbs that basically calm the Shen because the heart is part of the shin so and that that’s that concept that we talked about because anxiety but that it’s like in that heart area. So that is definitely a mind and heart together, creating an issue. So there’s we have a whole classification of herbs that are just calm, shun herbs, okay, so and some of the they have different properties but some of the even goji berries are one that are great. These days are great and You basically just, you know, you can either make a tea or you could have a specific formula made for you that’s for calming that anxiety that you have.

Boomer Anderson 31:08
Yeah, so Chinese deeds done for those listening that are Kido are probably snap.

Dr. Ashley Beckman 31:15
And then the, and the So one thing that totally blew me away when I was studying all this, was that because we use goji berries all the time, and cookie berries, I found out were night shades. And I was like, Oh, fine, because for everyone that has to do, you know, like a very anti inflammatory diet, and they just take out the whole group as a whole. You know, it’s, it’s like we know all those amazing benefits of the herb as as as it as an herb, but at the same time when I was in, when I was in Chinese medicine school, you know, I was gluten free, and I was kind of like, avoiding certain things, and they would be in formulas, and the Chinese way is not as accepting. They’re just like, oh, but it’s good for you. Yeah. It’s like it’s a Not good for me currently, yeah, I did a lot of, you know, modifying and things like that. But at the same point, the whole goal is, you know, to not have to be so restrictive with all those things. If you could really heal things up properly, just take some time.

Boomer Anderson 32:15
So let’s go back to bridging the River Kwai. So that which is a movie I’ve never watched, by the way, I just liked the term. And so we’re in there. Is it Vietnam?

Dr. Ashley Beckman 32:27
Thailand? Okay. Well,

Boomer Anderson 32:28
I’ve definitely been there. I just haven’t actually walked by I’ve definitely. And it’s embarrassing, because I used to advise both the US government so if they’re listening to this, they’re going to get a good laugh. Anyways, coming back to the bridging that river. You have individual protocols based on all of this energy and balancing them. Right. Yeah. And then walk me through and I think I could see the path but how do we get into To the genetic side of things, how do how do they complement each other?

Dr. Ashley Beckman 33:04
Sure. So I think that’s one thing that is different and unique is most people don’t combine them. Yeah. And that’s what’s really fascinating as I just love these concepts of Chinese medicine, and how we treat the emotions and the physical care, like the physical issues that are either, you know, correlate with the emotions or that seemingly don’t. But so I love combining that wisdom with just this kind of brand new cutting edge technology that we have that where we can look at someone’s hold kind of genetic makeup, see what people might have some probable issues that could come down the line and then and then I’m loving all of these brand new kind of functional medicine tests that really see what’s happening underneath, you know, to see what what’s going on with the gut bacteria if there’s Candida and fungal overgrowth exposure and a mold all the different environmental toxins because A lot of times patients get stuck. They don’t know why they’re not getting better. They’ve tried all these different things. You know, for example, they’re drinking a ton of celery juice, because they read it on Medical Medium, and, you know, are following these protocols, and it has nothing to do with their specific body. And that’s what drives me crazy, is basically people, you know, they’ll read something and take that whole theory and apply it to themselves. And it might not be the best thing for them at all. And often, it’s not.

Boomer Anderson 34:31
Yeah, you’ve just described my whole problem with mass media. No, man, we’re just gonna open up a whole trainer emotions, maybe my my heart will explode.

Dr. Ashley Beckman 34:43
Yeah, I get very excited. Because I can’t tell you how many patients come in and are telling me they’re doing x, y, z. And I can look at them even without testing and say that’s probably horrible for your body.

Boomer Anderson 34:56
Yeah, it’s like the new problem. I’m hoping you don’t Maybe you do it. But like the face palm, it’s like you can see the face palm just when they describe something to you. You’re like, that’s not for everybody.

Dr. Ashley Beckman 35:10
And it’s actually the newest thing. I mean, it’s been Medical Medium. Now it’s everyone going vegan. Yeah. The that is like a huge discussion that I talk with my patients all the time because it’s not that simple. I’ve had to put so many patients, you know, they just like go try it if you want, but you know, I think you’re going to need some help later. And it I was a vegan 20 years ago because I saw a PETA pamphlet totally freaked out and you know, that I was doing the best thing and it was the worst thing for my house and it took me a long time to rebuild after that.

Boomer Anderson 35:44
I’m glad you said that. I kind of did the opposite of PETA and did competition barbecue so I’m very sorry for all that was my growing up. So it was almost the opposite. And somewhat,

Dr. Ashley Beckman 35:57
but you weren’t right in the south and I was in California.

Boomer Anderson 35:59
Yeah. There’s Sure, I’m not sure too many times there are competitions in California, but

Dr. Ashley Beckman 36:04
it’s it’s, I mean, it’s not quite the same.

Boomer Anderson 36:07
Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

Dr. Ashley Beckman 36:08
So yeah, it’s, again, it’s these things patients, you know, will read something or watch a documentary, that hundred percent slated toward their idea, you know, should be and actually, to me, even though factory factory farming is a major issue that has nothing to do with the health of, you know, what someone should be eating in that same regard. Like, you know what I mean, everyone should be eating grass fed meat, and that’s a totally different issue then. What are the movies are talking about?

Boomer Anderson 36:40
Absolutely. So,

Dr. Ashley Beckman 36:43
but I can I love to bridge these, like, the new amazing tests that honestly we didn’t have five years ago. So like, even within the, how long I’ve been practicing, things keep changing and evolving and we have just tools that we didn’t even have just, you know, just keeps evolving.

Boomer Anderson 37:01
And genetics is certainly one of those tools, right? It’s been only a decade or almost two decades now since the first genome was sequenced. Now, if I got those dates wrong, please don’t curse me on the social medias. But what are some of the other tests? So you work in genetics, and that allows a degree of specific specificity. It’s a blueprint, what are some of the other functional tests that you’re using?

Dr. Ashley Beckman 37:29
One of my favorites is the organic acid test so I just love that one. Yeah. I use it if you know if someone can only do one test that’s the one I do. It’s so amazing. I mean, you I think you use it right or no of it. Well, yeah. So it’s basically you know, can you can test like bacteria and fungus and, and some neuro transmitters and even check, just what’s going on with the gut and different things. And so I always hands down. That’s the first place I start. And then my second favorite test is one that tests for environmental toxins. Again, these are just super easy urine tests that the patient does at home. So that takes that barrier out of someone that’s afraid to get a blood tests and things like that. And they don’t even show up on blood tests. So,

Boomer Anderson 38:17
so on the environmental toxin side, thank you for providing that segue because I wanted to go there with you. Which is this and you know, it’s hosters that somebody else

Dr. Ashley Beckman 38:28
I use Great Plains ladka

Boomer Anderson 38:30
gotta enhance the organic acids test as well. Yeah, yeah. Okay, so Great Plains labs, you’re getting your urine tested. What are you seeing in terms of environmental toxins? What do you testing for their specifically?

Dr. Ashley Beckman 38:44
Yes, I mean, they test I think they test a handful of things. But again, it’s really great to see kind of the top environmental pollutants like, like I live in LA. So they show a lot of the things that are very high would be the things that are more like from in the From the rocket fuel and things that that were exposed to from gasoline. So like I have a long commute a few days a week, and so my levels from all the gasoline were extremely high. And the same they said also the ones just from because we’re, I mean, I’m near LA x, sort of that there’s just all of that pollution that’s just inherently in our groundwater and in the air. And it’s, there’s also just the West Coast is generally actually pretty high in a lot of different environmental toxins. So

Boomer Anderson 39:36
I can move to Portland and be saved from all of this.

Dr. Ashley Beckman 39:40
I mean, I’m sure it’s better than LA. Yeah. Yeah, they said it, they actually see a lot of this. It’s soaked into the groundwater just for on the whole West Coast. And I would also assume that that’s probably things that come in through the ocean as well and just the way the wind patterns are from, like from China and Japan and things like that to

Boomer Anderson 39:59
show that a lot of So you have all these taqwa toxins. And I mean, it seems like in this day and age toxins are kind of ubiquitous, right? Like, they’re absolutely everywhere. And it’s very hard to tell somebody in LA who may be a famous movie actor or whatever it is to just get the hell out of LA. And that may be the best solution. So what can you actually do? You haven’t upgraded yourself out of LA, you’ve kind of figured it out. What’s the magic sauce?

Dr. Ashley Beckman 40:31
Well, so I mean, what started me on this whole journey was the toxins and skincare. Yeah, so basically, every day you have a choice of what you put on your body and in your body. You can’t control the same amount of like, you know, when you’re driving and things like that in the groundwater and whatnot. Minus the choices you make as well like if you have air filters and things like that, but my you know, I tell everyone look at the your daily habits what you’re doing, like the coffee you’re drinking, you know, there’s Certain coffee’s, that are tested for mycotoxins and toxicities and things like that. So I recommend purity and bulletproof. I’m sure there’s other brands as well. But those are the two that I tell my patients to get. Make sure if you are in LA, you do have an air purifier. But then there’s a handful of skincare products and personal care products that I use. And I’ve created a list which I can share with you.

Boomer Anderson 41:25
Oh, please do especially if you have anything for for men, because I need to go shopping.

Dr. Ashley Beckman 41:31
Okay. And so that’s my biggest thing. I’m because yeah, I’m I’m not living, I’m not going to leave LA. I mean, as far as I know, I live close to the ocean, which it seems like it’s best but at the same time, I’m definitely exposed to a lot more toxins just by living in a large city and you know, getting in my car and driving quite a bit. So there’s that aspect, but one thing that was very interesting to me so that I’ll share with you is that I wasn’t even going to do this environmental toxin testing, because I’ve you know, I’ve not touched plastic Holic. Honestly for years, they won’t buy a plastic water bottle. I like for 20 years. Once I read that book, I changed everything. Like I was so crazy that I even created my own skincare line because I didn’t think anything was clean. So and it was all stored in glass because I didn’t want plastic touching anything. So when I did the test, though, they asked me They said, What are you doing? This is one of the highest toxin levels we’ve ever seen, like 14 or 15 of my markers were 75% to 95%. But the part that was interesting to me was this came back to my genetics. So I in the way that my genes are, I just don’t process toxins well at all. So all the cleanses I’ve been doing for 20 years and all of those things. I wasn’t doing them the right way for my specific body. Now I’m on a totally different protocol to pull them out in a different way. But I mean, to me, that was crazy, because I literally probably want to live so cleanly. And they’re just still read circulating in my system.

Boomer Anderson 43:16
So we can, let’s talk a little bit about the specificity here. So you’ve you’ve done, you’ve looked at your several different steps for detoxification, and you’re looking at more than just phase one and phase two. Right? And you’re seeing that you don’t process environmental toxins very well. At that point, there’s a temptation for a lot of people to just give up. Right, move to the northern parts of Norway, for instance, or something. What can you do? Because Are you just like injecting yourself with Glutathione which may not be the best thing, or what what can you What can you do?

Dr. Ashley Beckman 43:58
Well, so I had never taken Glutathione. I had tried Glutathion Ivy’s. Yeah. And they made me really sick right way was that, but that was a that should have been a clue. Yeah, so I just anyway now I utilize Glutathione in a different way like I use Liposomales I still get the IV’s but I just use it at a lower dosage so that I don’t get a headache instantly from all the toxins that’s pulling out. And then now also though, the way I detox is I have more of a totally different system that Prime’s all the detox pathways first, and works on all the different basically just the different organs to make sure that those have been cleaned up more effectively before I start trying to pull things out with different products that I use. And I use totally different things now. Okay, so are you science is the science is different now. Yeah, I mean, more information.

Boomer Anderson 44:53
That’s the caveat. I always give people on this podcast. It’s like our viewpoints today may change tomorrow. Because the science dissolving So, so fast. But okay, now how, when you’re working with clients, these environmental toxins, they all come back in some sort of energy reflection, right? I’m guessing how does that look like somebody who’s very has a high toxic burden? And look, I’ve spent more than probably most people in their lives on airplanes. And so I know that Yeah, I know I have certain toxicity levels that I’m working to bring down. But how does that? Yeah. Yeah, I’m glowing and not not, not from an energetic sense. In a good way. Yeah, exactly. And so how do you look at these toxins and how do they manifest themselves in terms of energy?

Dr. Ashley Beckman 45:50
Well, I guess what I would say is it a lot of times for people this is, this happens, you know, they’re kind of silent. You might not know that these are there. That’s Whole thing, you’re not even that you might just have this feeling that you never have enough energy, or different sort of autoimmune things are cropping up like, you know, some Hashimoto, those are just random joint pain that really is never resolved or things like that or a lot of gut health issues. That might be some of the source problem. But because a lot of times the environmental toxins are heavy metals and things can really mess with these very sensitive endocrine organs, fibroid and things like that. So it might show up as thyroid issues. But my whole point is to really figure out the root cause of why you’re having a thyroid issues are why you’re having the autoimmune issues. It’s never usually just your thyroid. thyroid isn’t working well. Yeah, they mean, so it’s like taking a few steps back and see, we you know, try to rule out these things. If it’s bacteria, retroviruses, mold exposure, whatever it might be. Radiation is huge, too. Yeah. And so checking these things out Then now I have different products, I use a product line called cell core, which I really like, that helps pull out some of these toxins and glyphosate and things like that, that we just weren’t able to do before, in the same manner. So I

Boomer Anderson 47:15
can I go down the glyphosate wormhole real quick, because and I think that what else? Yeah, it is. It’s getting better here in the EU, everybody should move to Europe actually. Yeah, you know, Stay Stay where you are. Because if you move to Europe, I’m sure roundup will come as well. What is the big deal? And just because I haven’t covered this on the podcast before glyphosate, why should we Why should people be concerned?

Dr. Ashley Beckman 47:43
Okay, so I shoot, I can’t remember the name of this movie. It was years ago that I saw. It was all about glyphosate. Yeah, this was you know, 10 or 15 years ago. And basically what it was though, is the, you know, the Roundup, the insecticide. Basically how Something that it will insert its insecticide into the DNA of the crop that, that it’s you so like a GMO, their Monsanto GMO corn. Yeah say it basically has this insecticide in inserted in the DNA of the plant. So then when you’re in when you consume that plant, the insecticide does what you know it’s supposed to do so it basically creates all of this digestive issues. I mean, that’s like maybe the mildest way to put it. And its job is to, you know, not allow any of the insecticides to or any of the insects to eat this product. So if you know in general and insecticides have like a neurotoxin component, they’re obviously they’re just very problematic for the body and so then we’re when we’re ingesting them, which you’re going to do anytime you go to a Mexican restaurant and you eat corn, you know, corn chips, those are not going to Organic corn chips. So the thing is, is really now it’s not, you know, you, you basically need to, obviously try and do your best when you’re purchasing things. But when you’re outside at a restaurant, chances are you’re going to be eating quite a bit of food that has, you know, insecticides that are sprayed, and they’re going to be probably Roundup, you know, of that nature. So, the main thing right now that I tell my patients and clients is it’s, you know, try your best to avoid it. But it’s, it’s basically impossible. You can make you can make your choices, the best you have when you’re at home, or when you’re out and people eat out so much. Now, it’s not very common that you’re eating at home 80 to 90%. So I mean, probably not even 40 to 50%. So, basically, there’s some products they have a couple products in the sell corn line that are specific to at least help you deal with that and degrade the toxin and extreme treated through the normal path.

Boomer Anderson 50:01
So it like just boosting your detoxification system in general was a good

Dr. Ashley Beckman 50:06
tenant. And yes, and then this is taking a specific binder. Yeah, to pull that out. And it’s basically in like fulvic and humic acid brown gotta have binders, but that, you know, that’s, that’s too large of a group. But that’s some of the same

Boomer Anderson 50:23
Yeah, those. And we can definitely dive into the science that another time, but there’s a number of companies not just so far that are looking to use these binders to get things like glyphosate out of the body. But I think, you know, key conclusion for people is, there’s more environmental toxins now than there were for our grandparents and therefore, we probably need to do more now. Exactly. And let’s

Dr. Ashley Beckman 50:47
talk about this a lot. Because, you know, people don’t understand like, you know, if it’s people who are in like, 50s and 60s are like, I just don’t understand why, you know, even for me like why even So many food sensitivities, I XYZ is really hard for you like why you’re sensitive to perfume, you know what I mean? Like, we didn’t have any of that. But at the same time, these things are catching up with them because at the same time, you know, like one into men get cancer, one in three women get cancer, and mostly all of these. I mean, there’s a huge environmental toxin component to a lot of these different types of cancer. And I think also the, the invention of when they started eating TV dinners and having all this prepackaged food, that and that’s what you know, our parents ate, and that was not normal. I mean, our grandparents, didn’t they, but our parents grew up actually eating this stuff. And you know, it’s it’s like a junk in a box. It’s not even food.

Boomer Anderson 51:48
Yeah, it’s, I was talk to people and say, like, feel back to what your great grandparents used to eat. You’re probably on the right path but Yeah, it’s fascinating subject look we can go down so many different levels here. And I think just a couple of takeaways before I transition to the final questions because a couple of the themes that you see around toxins and controversy it not controversy can even say that word right now. But a couple of just areas where people can use a little clarity around the idea of air and then water What are sort of your top or favorite sort of air filters and then we’re going to do the same thing for water as well.

Dr. Ashley Beckman 52:38
Oh, sure. So for air filters

I mean there’s let’s see, I mean, I think people are loving molecule I’ve heard a lot of good things about it. And there’s at the air Dr. Air IQ and then rabbit air. Those are some of the top ones Yeah, I think I I know there’s some there’s always new ones coming out. I think And those are the others another there’s another one I think that I just can’t remember the name of. And they’re

Boomer Anderson 53:07
popping up on Kickstarter now and I’ve actually purchased one off of Kickstarter which is pretty cool. I’ll reveal the name later but yeah Austin air air IQ air. Oh y’all like y’all all of those guys. You know, they seem to be doing good things for the world and it’s more advanced than the hype of filter, which is probably a whole episode to go into in itself. Water

Dr. Ashley Beckman 53:32
Water Yes. So shoot, there’s a new one that’s like a table top one that I know people really like

Boomer Anderson 53:39
just a Berkey cuz I have one right right here.

Dr. Ashley Beckman 53:42
So I know people love Berkey so that’s the other one that I that is very popular. And I think works really well to shoot I’ll have to look up the name because this is a pretty new one but it’s a really great one as well that can go under under the counter to

Boomer Anderson 53:58
that is this like the pristine or something like There’s a Christine which is reverse osmosis, but it has the remineralization. Right? Which is by the way, I my understanding of reverse I’m about as Moses and correct me if I’m wrong Dr. Ashley it just kills everything in the water right and so we want

Dr. Ashley Beckman 54:16
to get them you need to put things back. Okay,

Boomer Anderson 54:19
cool.

Dr. Ashley Beckman 54:21
Yeah, I can’t remember this one. I literally just wrote it down.

Boomer Anderson 54:24
It’s okay. But you on the spot on the spot. This is a fascinating conversation. Yeah. Yeah, go ahead. You were saying

Dr. Ashley Beckman 54:32
I was saying then there’s this whole new thing of all the hydrogen. Water Yeah,

Boomer Anderson 54:37
yeah, there’s a there’s a lot going on in that space somewhere which is not exactly truthful. We can, we can go down that wormhole at another time. Wow, this conversation has gone so fast. And I actually I really want to pick your brain more about Don’s hands and things. But in the interest of time, I’m going to transition into a little bit of a concluding rapid fire questions. And I’m going to go ahead and say we’re going to have you back on for round two because we need to we need to suss out some more don t n healing here.

Dr. Ashley Beckman 55:20
I was talking about the spiritual and emotional side of stuff.

Boomer Anderson 55:23
Yeah. And I’m getting more comfortable talking about it. So let’s, let’s talk. First question, where’s your favorite place to go on vacation?

Dr. Ashley Beckman 55:34
And you sort of tropical beach and he Trump

Boomer Anderson 55:37
Do you have a favorite beach?

Dr. Ashley Beckman 55:39
Um, you know, I loved Thailand because it was so well, I wouldn’t know it was about 20 years ago,

Boomer Anderson 55:46
but really good time to go.

Dr. Ashley Beckman 55:49
Yeah, I did over run now with tourists knocks I tried to pick I tried to pick the you know, like the more remote small islands that people don’t go to. That’s my that’s my was my favorite type of thing? Oh, yeah,

Boomer Anderson 56:01
you and I are gonna have a conversation after this.

Dr. Ashley Beckman 56:05
And I love Hawaii, Hawaii. I was a lovely place. And then yeah, I mean, Mexico to Louis beautiful.

Boomer Anderson 56:15
So let’s go from nature to technology. Now, what’s your favorite piece of technology that you’ve purchased in the past year?

Dr. Ashley Beckman 56:22
Oh, totally hands down my Garmin watch Which one?

Let’s see. I just have the basic it’s sort of like girling lifting. It’s the I think vivoactive Hr so I obsessed with you know, tracking HRV course. And so I actually bought this when we were together. Yeah. Yeah. And I was like, I gotta get this thing and I bought it. And I love it and actually have one got one from my mom. And then my, my daughter has a mini version so we can track her hrb

Boomer Anderson 56:54
Beautiful, beautiful. I have way too many devices that track my HRV among them. But among them a Garmin so awesome so next question for you is what is your what book has significantly impacted your life and how you show up to perform in?

Dr. Ashley Beckman 57:15
Um, let’s see so probably one of my favorite books most recently or Joe dispenses book so break the habit of being yourself

I love that one.

Boomer Anderson 57:28
What’s the best thing you’ve done for enhancing your productivity?

Dr. Ashley Beckman 57:33
I would say chunking time so like doing email at a certain time doing social media certain time working with patients, not yeah trunking time and putting and using Asana. I’m now obsessed with

Boomer Anderson 57:48
what the project management software. Yeah. Nice

Dr. Ashley Beckman 57:53
because I’ve been because I can schedule dates and times and then put things like not so just don’t have like 150 things and my to do list Yeah written down that I keep recycling and not getting.

Boomer Anderson 58:04
Yeah, as I go back and forth between that and Trello. And oh, yeah, just depends on who you’re working with. Really. How do you unwind?

Dr. Ashley Beckman 58:15
Spend time with my daughter and go to the beach. Beautiful,

Boomer Anderson 58:17
beautiful. And I think that is it for rapid fire questions. Dr. Ashley, where can people find out more about you?

Dr. Ashley Beckman 58:26
Sure. On my website, it’s just www.dr ashley.com. Ashley is a sh le y.

Boomer Anderson 58:36
You secure that a while ago because that’s a pretty good domain.

Dr. Ashley Beckman 58:40
Yes, yeah. And I say my mom Instagram is Dr. Ashley back then Facebook, Dr. Ashley recommend.

Boomer Anderson 58:47
Awesome and we’ll link to all this in the show notes at decodingsuperhuman.com/drashley, if you guys enjoyed this show, share it with a friend encouraged Dr. Ashley to come on for around two. I want to back, and she wants to hear from you as well. And be sure to go over to iTunes and leave us a five star rating. Dr. Ashley. Thank you. This has been an absolute blast.

Dr. Ashley Beckman 59:10
Oh, thank you so much. I was fun to hang out and chat with you about the things we love.

Boomer Anderson 59:15
Yeah. And I’m going to be in California soon. I’ll talk to you about that very shortly. So we’ll catch up there in person probably for another erawan market

Dr. Ashley Beckman 59:24
chat. Definitely. I’ll tell you our favorite snacks. Absolutely.

Boomer Anderson 59:27
Till the super humans listening have an absolutely epic day.

All right, superhumans. Do you want Dr. Ashley for round two? If so, head on over to the Gram, the Facebook. The Twitter’s whatever is your most favorite social media network of the moment? preferably LinkedIn. And you know, say hello, but also tell me what you thought about the episode. Let me know what you think about Dr. Ashley’s episode in general. And I would love to have her back on for round two. That choice is really yours. The show notes for this one again or at decodingsuperhuman.com/drAshley that’s D-R-A-S-H-L-E-Y. And please head on over to iTunes. If you enjoyed the episode, leave us a five star rating with a great comment. And I’ll give you a shout out on the next show, and maybe a future show. I love you guys. I appreciate you guys. And remember, choose health.