Overcoming Adversity Using Herbs & Natural Therapies – Featuring Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.

In episode 248 of Elevation Recovery, Matt Finch interviews Dr. Toni Camacho, a certified Canfield Trainer and registered herbalist with a Ph.D. in Psychology. They discuss Toni’s personal story including the hardships, the tribulations, and how she got to where she is today by embracing natural medicine. 

Dr. Toni Camacho has been practicing for over 14 years. Her approach is multidimensional, meaning she incorporates methodologies from both Western and Eastern medicine, nutrition, and more. She helps others work through physical and emotional blocks in life so people can achieve their dreams and goals.

Here are some ways to learn from this episode:

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: And then about a month later, all of a sudden it's like, why can't I get up in the morning? And so for somebody that's always going, going, going and doing and having projects and goals, for me not to be able to get up in the morning like struggle, like shake myself. It's like, how do I get out of the bed? I'm so tired. I just want to continue sleeping.

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: And I realized something's wrong with me. So I started going towards conventional medicine and everybody kept saying, "It's in your head. There's nothing wrong with you." They did all the blood work and all the tests. And back then autoimmune disorders were not as popular as they are now. Of course they existed, but it was neither as adrenal fatigue. It was more, you had to have like Addison's disease in order to be categorized as adrenal exhaustion. And I was very close looking back to it, but the doctor said, "You're just borderline on everything. Your hormones are fine. Everything's fine. It must be in your head. You must be depressed. That's what it is." And I said, "Well, it's just that I want to move. I want to do things and I can."

Announcer: Thanks for tuning into the Elevation Recovery Podcast. You're hooked for addiction recovery strategies. Hosted by Chris Scott and Matt Finch.

Matt Finch: Thanks for tuning in to episode 248 of the show. After our two week vacation, we are back with a new uploading schedule. Before we were uploading every Tuesday and every Thursday. Moving forward, we're just going to be doing one episode a week and only on Thursdays from now on. Today's special guest is Dr. Toni Camacho. Toni is a bestselling author, a holistic health practitioner, and a registered herbalist in San Diego, California. Dr. Toni holds a PhD in psychology, a clinical herbalist certificate, and is a certified Canfield trainer on the Success Principles. In private practice as a holistic health practitioner for over 14 years, she's been influenced by a variety of clinical modalities and orientations and by the diverse life experiences of her clients.

Matt Finch: Toni's approach to healing is multidimensional. In her work, she integrates the principles of Eastern and Western nutrition, her biology, energy medicine, energy psychology, Buddhist mindfulness, and personal counseling to assist others in working through their physical or emotional blocks to improve their quality of life, attain optimal health, and achieve their goals and dreams. Toni's also the author of the book, Multidimensional Health: A 12-Week Program For Treatment and Prevention of Autoimmune Disorders and Chronic Illnesses. And she's also the co-author of the book Success Breakthroughs with Jack Canfield, bestselling author, co-award winning speaker, and an internationally recognized leader in personal development and peak performance.

Matt Finch: In addition to Toni's private practice, she founded Moongazing Herbal Apothecary in 2013 with the vision of making accessible organic herbal health and skincare products which can be used as alternatives to the toxic medications and skincare products that exist today. Moongazing's goal is to create the finest products free of synthetic materials from ethically grown and harvested ingredients as well as to improve the overall lifestyles of its clients by education and example. And without further ado, let's now hear from our very special guest, Dr. Toni.

Matt Finch: Thank you so much, Dr. Toni, for coming on the show. Super excited to hear not only your transformation story, but also all these amazing tips in like psychology, nutrition, herbal medicine, aroma therapy, the success principles. So many different cool things that you did to help improve your own life and now you help others do the same. So super excited to talk to you. And thanks for being here.

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: Thank you, Matt. I'm honored that you invited me. I was so excited to hear that you wanted me to share my story and my tips with your audience. I'm happy to be here.

Matt Finch: Well, you came highly recommended by both of my parents. I remember when Chris and I first launched this podcast, it was a little over two years ago now, I asked my dad, "Hey, could you give me a list of like the top four or five most recommended people?" Because my parents know so many different [crosstalk 00:04:24].

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: Oh yeah.

Matt Finch: Yeah.

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: Yeah, they're awesome. I love your parents. Yeah.

Matt Finch: Right. They got the biggest network. And I believe you are the number one person that he recommended followed by another herbalist, Amanda McQuade Crawford and a few other people, but you were like right at the top.

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: Oh, that's awesome. That's great.

Matt Finch: I can't remember. I don't know if I... I had a bunch of people already, so I didn't even interview Amanda till maybe a year into it. So I already had like eight people in episodes. I really think you just got lost in the mix and it launched and we were so busy and then the other day I was thinking who else could I interview? And then your name just popped right in. And I was like... And then of course you said yes. So to get started, why don't we start off with, I think it was maybe around 2004, somewhere around 2004, your adrenals were totally shot.

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: Yes.

Matt Finch: You had autoimmune disorders. You had tried Western medicine and you weren't getting better I think. Then you started to find herbal medicine, nutrition. I'm not sure which came first, but you went down this pretty long path and you became so passionate about it. Your list of credentials and certifications and trainings. I just kept getting more and more excited because that's most of the stuff that I'm the most into as well. So, yeah, how did it all start? You got really, really sick.

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: Yeah. And I think that's what happens to most of us when we dedicate our lives to the healing profession is that we learn from our life experience. And I think that I was starting to get symptoms a little bit before 2004 when I finally crashed, but I wasn't aware of it and the doctors definitely were not aware of it either. But looking back now that I educated myself and I know so much of the symptoms, it's like, well, I have hypoglycemia at 25. That's a big sign of I was overworking working 80 hour weeks. I had a tile at the same time. I was maintaining an 80-hour job and then on top of baby. So there were a lot of signs. I started gaining a lot of colds that got complicated. They turned into bronchitis and one after the other after the other and nobody could tell me what was wrong, but my immune system, as you could see, it was already declining.

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: And then of course they gave me antibiotic after antibiotic which made my immune system even worse. And finally a doctor told me, "You should stop taking the antibiotics and take probiotics." I didn't even know what probiotics was at that time. And I did that. And then about a month later, all of a sudden it's like, why can't I get up in the morning? I have never been a person that you say, oh, she's lazy or she's demotivated. I'm like a Type A. I call myself a recovering Type A because I tried to let it go, but then it comes back. And so for somebody that's always going, going, going, and doing and having projects and goals, for me not to be able to get up in the morning, like struggle, like shake myself. It's like, how do I get out of the bed? I'm so tired. I just want to continue sleeping.

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: And then just going through the day I was dragging, falling asleep in the afternoons. I just felt exhausted. And I think one day I just picked up my baby who was about a year old and it just fell off my arms. I didn't even have the strength to pick him up, which is not that heavy a baby. And I realized something's wrong with me. So I started going towards conventional medicine and everybody kept saying, "It's in your head. There's nothing wrong with you. They did all the blood work and all the tests." And back then autoimmune disorders were not as popular as they are now. Of course they existed, but it was neither as adrenal fatigue. It was more... You had to have like Addison's disease in order to be categorized as adrenal exhaustion.

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: And I was very close looking back to it, but the doctor said, "You're just borderline on everything. Your hormones are fine. Everything's fine. It must be in your head. You must be depressed. That's what it is." And I said, "Well, it's just that I want to move. I want to do things and I can." By then I had already started studying at the School of Healing Arts. That's where I met John, your dad. And so I was just getting involved in the natural medicine. And I said, "Well, if conventional medicine can't help me, maybe natural medicine can." And so I started looking with my teachers and said, "Have you seen anything like this?" And I think it was Julie Franklin that said, "It sounds to me like you have adrenal exhaustion." And I'm like, "Oh."

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: So I started taking herbal supplements and I started like trying to heal myself spiritually as well, but once you're ready to heal, everything comes like a freight train, right? So I started getting panic attacks and I'm like, "What is this?" I didn't even know what a panic attack was. All of a sudden it's like my heart was just... I felt like I was going to have a heart attack or I was going to pass out. I was getting a lot of dizzy spells and I'm like, "I'm not crazy. I don't know what's going on." So then I went to see a psychologist to see like what's wrong with me? And she said, "Yeah, it's panic disorder. And then coupled with the adrenal exhaustion that you have, it's getting worse."

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: And so they helped me, dealt with my past. And we all have a past, right? And mine was a little bit on the complicated side. Not only, like I said, I was overworking. I grew up in an abusive environment and it was just not a pretty environment. So I really pushed my adrenal glands my entire life until that happened, and I was 30. And yeah, it was the point that it was no turning back. I needed to just take care of myself. And as a Type A, you always try to push no matter what's going on in your life, but I think life just needed to give me that awakening because I literally got to the point where, well, if you can't get out of bed, you can't go to work and you can't do anything. So I was forced to just rest for about nine months. That's all I could do. Just sit there and rest. Not even watching TV.

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: So I couldn't even have distractions as normal people because when you're... What I learned is TV is stressful. And when your adrenal glands are shot, you don't have the adrenaline to support watching a movie or a TV show that has violence in it. You just feel like, oh my God. It just throws you into a spin. You don't have those hormones available for you. And I ended up like if I wanted to watch something, it had to be like the cooking channel, right? And back then, there were not reality shows like now. There's competition. So there was no stress on cooking shows or like HGTV like selling stuff. So that's about all I could do.

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: But like I said, most of the time, it just sent me more inwards. Like the only thing I could do was meditate, study more spirituality, be open to, okay, what's going on? Finding my life purpose was ideal. That helped me to figure out, oh, this is what I meant to be. I always love helping people. I always study earths, but not professionally. So I needed to follow my passion and discover what it was and also allow myself it's okay to not work yourself to exhaustion. You're not lazy. I had to redefine the concept of lazy or productivity. But just in general, I became more spiritual, a lot of meditation, a lot of schooling. I went to... As I healed nine months later, I was able to walk a little bit more because I couldn't even walk couple hundred feet. I got exhausted.

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: So at the nine months point, I actually went back to school and I was able to walk two blocks. And then at the year point I was able to walk five miles, which was... Eventually, doctors did recognize what I had and they said, "You're never going to be the same. You're always going to be... This is a lifetime of a suffering for you." And of course they wanted to give me medication, cortisol, supplements and stuff like that, which I didn't take. I regenerated myself with spirituality, counseling, all the herbs that I learned. Adaptogens were key for me and healthy eating. I didn't know that healthy eating was so important. And so that's how I regenerated my body.

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: And I can tell you that most people don't know that I suffer from that and I sometimes don't even remember that I did. My body seems to be working great. I take care of myself though because I know that if I already did it, I can go that direction again. And so that's why I call myself a recovering Type A because every day is an awareness of what are you going to do to take care of yourself first? And then if there's time, then work comes second.

Matt Finch: Oh, beautiful. I love it. Yeah, my co-host of this podcast, Chris Scott, he's kind of a recovering or recovered Type A person too. I used to be a Type T person. My doctor in Los Angeles, that's what he labeled me. He calls a Type T. The T stands for tension. So the tension generating. I went in there with chronic pain and just nothing I tried would get rid of the chronic pain. I'd get a little bit better and then it would come back. And then it would get better, then it would come. And he was saying, "You're just generating too much tension." I was real driven and I was like, go, go, go, pounding coffee, totally taxing my nervous system and adrenals. And so that was... Even as hard as coming off drugs and alcohol and getting over relationships were, that was up there with all those in difficulty. Changing, not necessarily changing your personality, but really toning it down, this innate trait.

Matt Finch: And so along the way, you went back to school, you got a PhD in psychology. You're personal friends with... Not only are you a co-author of a book with Jack Canfield, but you're like friends with him. And he was like giving his testimony on you. And you got herb school training, you have a great line of products and everything. So after you started to be able to walk five miles and everything, how long did that kind of take? What was the timeline where you went back to school, got all these certifications? And then at what point did you like open your own practice and start making your own products? Because your website, which we'll get into in a little bit, it's phenomenal. There's so much free stuff on there. Your products, they're awesome.

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: Thank you.

Matt Finch: As much as I know about herbs from my parents, a bunch of your products have herbs that I've never even heard of that sound really, really cool. So, yeah, how did that whole process look?

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: Well, it was a long process and I think it's still going on, right? Learning never ends and there's always something to research and I'm just passionate about learning. One of the things that I don't think it will ever stop, every day I read a book. Not a whole book, right? But I'm always reading a book and I go through books. Like every other week, I have a new book. So I'm always open to it. Like Dr. Dyer says, you're open to everything and attached to nothing. So anything new that I see, could be science or it could be what people call airy-fairy or spiritual, I'm reading it and seeing if it's going to be good or bad or good for my clients or not.

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: And I just like to have a big selection because I don't know who I'm going to be working with and I think that there's no one thing for everybody. There's different things that people can use. And so I have like a gigantic list of tools that I can try with people and see, okay, if this works for you or not, or we try something different. But the process that started, I went first to study herbs because that was my passion and I did that. I did 200 hours of herbs and then from there I jumped to starting psychology because I figured, well, the mind is important in this. So I studied... And I started with Tibetan Buddhi psychology first and I'm like, "Oh, that was fun." But then I felt like, well, I think I need also the clinical psychology. So then I did the PhD in clinical psychology to balance the spirituality of psychology with the clinical.

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: In the middle of all of that, in between classes, I went back to study nutrition and [inaudible 00:16:58] and Chinese medicine, which I just found fascinating and energy medicine. I'm a reiki master as well. And those things were just fun for me. So I took a few classes of psychology and then I took a few classes of the herbalism or nutrition or the other topics. So getting my master's degree did take like six years. And then of course you have to do a thesis and dissertation, which takes forever. And then the PhD took me about a couple of years, but the master's I think took longer because I was stopping and then doing other stuff to be more holistic. And in the meantime, both practices were encouraging me to see people to practice. So I wasn't officially open for business, but I was seeing clients both in psychology and for herbs and nutrition. So I was practicing before I graduated from all of that.

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: And again, as I kept discovering more things, I just like, well, I should try this and that. Then I took a break and I just opened my clinic about... Gosh, I think it was 2013 when I finally opened the clinic. And what I learned by seeing people was that when it came to herbs, I wasn't getting like results that were consistent. Sometimes they helped, sometimes they didn't. And that's when I met John, your dad. And then he said, "That's because you... In order for herbs to work, there's a protocol. They have to be organic, good quality, but you also have to know how to create the right dose and make them in the right way, not just like Folklore." Folklore is beautiful, but he has this more science-based approach to it.

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: And so then I went back to John and I studied at John's school, the Self-Heal School, and that changed my practice because then I started seeing consistent results. There was no more go to Sprouts or go to Whole Foods or Amazon and buy this. It was more I know that what I'm giving you is going to work because it was extracted correctly because I used the right herbs, the right amount, and it was always repeatable. And so that really, like I said, took my practice to the next level, working with John and Jane. And then I study a lot on anatomy and physiology on my own as well to understand the body and to see how these herbs can help people. And so that's...

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: And then I met Jack and that was more of... I wanted to through this whole journey, I study all the masters, right? Like Louise Hay and Dr. Dyer. And everything was working to a certain degree, but I felt like in my case because I'm a Type A, I like order and structure. And so I felt like I need something that... A formula that I know is going to work. And so I had already read 10 years earlier, The Success Principles, and I said, "That's a pretty structure." So I decided to see what Jack was offering. And he had this... I went to see him live and they said that, "Oh, we have this program if we want to train people to be certified coaches on this." And I'm like, "I don't know if I want to do that." But then it kept nagging me and I decided to do it. Great people by the way. The Jack Canfield group is amazing. Very good people. I'm blessed to be surrounded by very beautiful, wonderful people, starting from your family to like Jack Canfield and the Canfield family.

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: And I studied to be a trainer. I graduated and then I saw that there was the option to volunteer. And so that's when I met Jack. They were here in San Diego doing an event and I said, "Hey, I'm a trainer. I'm certified. Can I volunteer?" And they said, "Sure, come on over." And it was also a great experience to be around them. And then I met Nick Nanton, which he's a director, I think it's 15th time Emmy Award director and producer through Jack. And he said, "Oh, I'm doing a book with Jack and I want his students to do it with him. Would you like to participate in?" And I did. I participated and we did the book.

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: Then after that, I just started doing mastermind groups with him and Patty Aubrey and just became part of their like "Canfield family." But mostly I spend a lot of time with Patty Aubrey, which is his right hand and the vice president of the Canfield Group and his right hand. He wouldn't do anything without Patty. And Patty of course knows all these people in the industry as well. So, yeah, they're great people. They're great people, everybody. Yeah.

Matt Finch: Whoa. Oh, that was so epic. I could have just listened to you keep talking about all these subjects and your journey forever. And it's really kind of a lot of the stuff we talk about on this podcast with people that are trying to recover from addiction or heal from anxiety or PTSD. They've tried the traditional approaches, AA or inpatient, psychiatry, medications. Sometimes they work really well, but a lot of the people that come to this podcast, they're kind of the ones that they're not a good fit for the mainstream healing modalities.

Matt Finch: And so when we're talking about herbs and personal development and psychology and positive psychology, aroma therapy, meditation, reading exercises, nutrition, success principles like really psych personal growth in your bio, psychosocial, environmental, spiritual, which is what you did. And I loved Wayne Dyer, so many of his books. When I found Jack Canfield, I became obsessed with him. I think I started off with The Success Principles, then the next one was something about The Aladdin Factor.

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: Yeah, The Aladdin Factor.

Matt Finch: Yeah, The Aladdin Factor. And his co-author, what's his co-author's name of-

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: Mark Victor Franklin.

Matt Finch: Yeah. Talk about a synergistic duo [inaudible 00:22:58].

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: Oh yeah, they're amazing. Yeah.

Matt Finch: Yeah. So the holistic healing, you have to be really, really passionate about it to actually help other people with it, right? So you helped yourself with all this stuff and now you've got this unique, very customized system. I can't say for sure, but you seem very intuitive as well. And I know that really helps when it comes to working one on one with people and making products. So now talk about multidimensional healing. What is that? How can people learn about that? And then the stuff on your website. Some of the products that I was looking at, you have a pain relief product. I think it's a tincture. There's tranquility, there's something for stress and sleep, and there's one of the flower or one of the aromatherapy mixes I want to get I think it was called awake or energy or something like that.

Matt Finch: And I was reading the ingredients and Dr. Toni, I had to like stop myself because before I was like, "Oh, the session's coming up." And I've been looking at your stuff leading up to this, but this morning I'm like, "Let me just really check out some more stuff so I'm fresh." And I had to like... I have to do Christmas shopping. And so I was about to spend a bunch of my money buying so many of your products seriously. It's like what... And your supplement line, your product line, I think is called Moongaze or Moongazing.

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: Moongazing.

Matt Finch: Moongazing. Yeah, so let's talk about multidimensional healing, how you offer coaching, counseling, products, books, courses. Just so cool. And I'm so jealous that you've masterminded with Jack Canfield. Talk about giving yourself the ultimate edge to actually launch into structure, that structure, like really, really level up the power of connection, the five people you hang out with the most.

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: Exactly.

Matt Finch: Yeah. Get around the people that... Talk about upping your game when you're hanging out with people like that. And you learned herbs from my dad, Success Principles and structure from Jack Canfield. You're like the ideal person for a lot of our audience to go check out your website, see some of those phenomenal herbal products. Like I'm going to buy a lot of my Christmas presents for people. Getting a bunch of those products. Mark my word.

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: Oh, thank you. Thank you. Yeah. And I'll tell you one thing before I jump into multidimensional. The Jack Canfield people live by the principles. They really truly live. It's not just a gimmick that they have. And so one of the reasons why I get in there is because one of his principal says ask, ask, ask. So I ask, can I join you? And they said, yes. So they do live those principles. And I think they try to inspire people by saying yes so you can know that these principles work. And so all I did was ask. It wasn't a miracle or I was connected or anything, it's just I sent an email and they responded and then I pick up the phone. And so you have to ask to know if you want to go forward or not.

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: But yeah, so I call my system multidimensional healing for two reasons. I think that at the beginning, I started thinking, well, we are multidimensional beings where we have a physical aspect to us. That's one dimension. We have a spiritual aspect to us. There's a soul, there's energy. And so that's what I was calling multidimensional. You have different dimensions where you can address the body. But then as I started working as well, I said this word also applies to the methodologies. There's many dimensions in healing. You can try to heal your body, but if you don't heal your mind, you can say 100 affirmations and you're not going to get better. So the mind is very critical to heal the body.

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: And so it's this very beautiful dance that we have or we should do in order to bring ourselves to balance. We tend to go and, oh, let's just take all these herbs or let's just do all of this nutrition, or let's just do psychology. And then something falls off the wayside. And so what I try to do is I try to bring that balance and see, okay, well, like when people see me, they get a document that addresses the mind, the body, and the spirit. And now it's up to them if they want to do it. I'll tell you the majority of people stick with what I call the easy part, which is give me these herbs and I'll do it. There's like a small percentage that will actually go into the nutrition even though I listed every single thing of how to eat and what to eat even by the hour if they wanted to follow that protocol, a lot of people don't want to.

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: But the people that truly heal do everything, including the meditations and the... And I don't ask them to be like a monk and sit in meditation posts for like hours. Sometimes I just start with, do you have five minutes to do a heart center meditation? Which was created by the HeartMath Institute in California. So that will change your mind. Five minutes of just closing your eyes and looking at and reading through your heart. That will make you more kinder, that will bring down your stress level, that will slow down your sympathetic nervous system and activate your parasympathetic nerve system, which it starts healing the person. When your sympathetic nervous system is going, that's when the adrenaline is going and you're in survival mode. The body's not saying, oh, let me sit down here and regenerate. The body's saying, where's the threat? I need to survive.

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: And so it's not paying attention how to heal, but when you trigger your parasympathetic nervous system, there's like, okay, let me regenerate. Let me take care of myself. Let me cleanse my body. And so start with five minutes. That's like, if you want to like a tip right now, do heart center meditation for five minutes. And it's very, very simple because all you do is just close your eyes and then imagine you're breathing from your heart. Like your breath is coming in and out of your heart. And just follow it and follow it. And if thoughts come, don't judge them. Just let them go and then go back to thinking about like imagining you're breathing out through... That's it. In 60 seconds, it has been recorded that there's a change in your central nervous system. So if you do it for five minutes, imagine the big change you're doing. So it's a balance.

Matt Finch: The first seminar I ever went to for personal development was Unleash the Power Within by Tony Robbins. And since then, I've been to a bunch of his seminars and that one twice, but he learned from the HeartMath Institute. And he's got a eclectic background that Tony guy. So he incorporates those in his seminars. And there was this one thing where he did this guided meditation. It was longer than five minutes though. It was like 15 minutes. Well, I'm around... The first time I went, there was probably 3,000 people. Chicago, Illinois, with 3,000 people in this huge convention center. They dim the lights and there's like these really trippy other lights. They put on this beautiful, beautiful music, spiritual music with this female vocalist and he's talking about thanking your heart for beating all day every day without even having to think about it.

Matt Finch: And we're putting our hand on our heart and then we're thinking about magic moments that were just really full of love and visualizing those. I was crying tears of joy. I was like feeling so high after that. Aren't there like 40,000 neurons in the heart and plus the green ray heart chakra right there too. And HRV training, what you were talking about, to where parasympathetic nervous system stimulates maybe the vagus nerve, which I don't know too much about.

Matt Finch: But so yeah, multidimensional healing, to sum it up, it's a few things. Number one, we're multidimensional beings, mind, body, spirit, and the spirit is so you could just spend your whole life learning about that dimensional aspect of us and not learn it all. Then we got the veil between our conscious and our unconscious mind, the deep mind. So you've probably read so many books and it's crazy. So you really have a lot to offer people. So thanks for sharing all this.

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: [crosstalk 00:31:32].

Matt Finch: Now, what are some of your best products? I know our audience, a lot of the things that they have issues with is coming off of drugs, coming off of alcohol, chronic stress, definitely autoimmune disorders a bunch of them too, chronic pain. A lot of the listeners have chronic pain, PTSD, anxiety, depression. So when I was looking at your store, there was like a bunch of different products and certainly the nutritional and psychology coaching and counseling you could offer. You're way more advanced in nutrition and herbs and psychology and success than I am. I'm like a super generalist because that's what I do on this podcast. Really learn about a little bit about a bunch of stuff and then specialize in helping people quit opioids, alcohol, and benzos. So I just deal with CNS depressants mostly. So specialized with addiction.

Matt Finch: But as far as the podcast, I bring on all the experts that, whether they're expert in one, two, or in your case, at least three or four things. Yeah, so some of the products that you would recommend people to check out and some of the other programs you have. And you've written books, Multidimensional Healing, the one with Jack Canfield, two Success Breakthroughs, I believe.

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: Yes.

Matt Finch: Your website is drtonicamacho.com, right?

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: Yes.

Matt Finch: Now what can people find there?

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: So if you're talking about autoimmune disorders, I have a special package with autoimmune disorders that includes like a liver regeneration and detox and an adrenal support and digestion, which is a tea for digestion because it's essential to have good digestion in order to heal. And so most autoimmune disorders come from toxins overload, malabsorption, and also stress. And so that's why that package is like that. And so that has worked for a lot of people and they really like it and they order it every month. And now with autoimmune disorders, it depends how long have you had it and how long is it going to take to heal? It's not a magic portion. You take it once and I'm like, "Oh, I'm healed." If you're sick for 10 years, it's going to take about a year to heal.

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: Then for stress and anxiety, there's a lot of essential oils on my page that you can look, but for like panic disorder, I always suggest the flower essences. I think they're wonderful to just calm the mind and slow it down, especially when you're having a panic attack or even to prevent it. But they also take you towards change. That's what I like about flower essences is that you might not know that it's happening and you're like, "Oh, this is not working because I'm not calm." But what they're doing, they're also moving you towards looking for that person that's going to help you, the therapy or you making changes internally. So it might take time, but they're beautiful and they work.

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: I have a product that I think helps a lot of people lately. It's the one for shingles and all the HSV viruses, one, two and three. That's very effective. People that take it usually do not even get an outbreak. Like when they start feeling those like tingly sensations, so they know that it's about to come, you start taking it and you don't get an outbreak. Or if you have an outbreak, I've seen the outbreak getting very short.

Matt Finch: So it's got probably some antiviral combination of things in?

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: Yes.

Matt Finch: So then it's also really good for things like the flu and the cold and other types of-

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: Yep.

Matt Finch: Antivirals are awesome right [inaudible 00:35:05].

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: Yeah, antivirals and also it has a central nervous system supporting like St. John's and skullcap because that virus is like chewing your nervous system at the same time. So I have given it to like people that had very severe, like when they get it in the ears and then they get paralyzed or they get it in the... And so without it, like they stop taking it and the pink, that's the worst one, the one that comes from the ear. I forgot the name. It has a specific name for that type of shingles outbreak and they don't get the bruises. And if they stop taking it, the bruises start coming in. And so then they continue taking it. That's one of the ones that I haven't seen cut the outbreak shorter, but the severeness and pain was gone, which for them it's incredible. The other ones in two or three days, they're done with the outbreaks. And so it's been a good product for me.

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: Another one that people underestimate is the, I call it vein support, and people take it when they're bleeding... Either they have hemorrhoids or varicose veins. That's how I design it. But what I have seen is people that have colitis and they bleed through the colon, they take it and like that they stop bleeding. And so it's been a lifesaver for them as well as the digestive tea that comes with it. And of course, like you said, you mentioned I have like the sedatives and the tranquility and all of those to calm the central nervous system. Oh, and another one that's also has proven that people are very happy with is the nerve pain.

Matt Finch: Yes.

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: The nerve pain it's... Because nerve pain actually you know it's horrible. And so people have said, this is the only thing that's working for me right now. And so that's another good product that's out there.

Matt Finch: Cold sores... When I was 15, I had my first fever blister cold sore, HSV-2 or whatever it was. Had no idea that it was from a virus, had no idea how I got it, had no idea that it was going to be with me for a long time. And from the ages of 15 to maybe 26 or 27, I would get so many of those dang outbreaks and cold sores. In fact, one of the reasons from the ages of like 15 to 22, 23, that's when you're really supposed to be hanging out with girls and partying with stuff. There was a phase from 18 to 22 where I would have like six cold sore outbreaks a year. And it would take them like sometimes two to four weeks to totally heal. I was like so much shame, so much anxiety, so much depression.

Matt Finch: I wanted to be dead. I was like, "God, why did you do this to me?" And I had acne from 18 to 22. So I had cystic acne. This is like during the age when you're supposed to be really hanging out with other girls and stuff. And a lot of those years, I just played video games, played guitar, went surfing. I loved being out in the ocean because out in the ocean surfing, I didn't care that I had the cystic acne and the big, old cold sores. I haven't had one in probably like 10 years now. I think [inaudible 00:38:26].

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: Oh good.

Matt Finch: I think I had so many of them that finally my body was just like-

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: It was like it's done.

Matt Finch: You're done. You're done. But yeah, that ruined my life. So it's cool that you have... And none of those things at the store worked very good. The ones that were... The topical creams. Yeah, they'd get rid of some of the pain, but they still would take forever to heal and it wouldn't make them not break out. I was like, "Oh no, one's coming. Oh, I have a date tomorrow night or, oh, I have-"

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: [crosstalk 00:38:57]. Yeah.

Matt Finch: And it starts coming and I'm like screwed for two weeks. I was like, "Why couldn't it just be... I'd rather have genital [inaudible 00:39:04]."

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: Yeah.

Matt Finch: Yeah, seriously. I was like, because you can't hide it when it's right there all over your lip.

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: And it's painful. And it is painful.

Matt Finch: It pops when you're eating, it's like, oh, okay.

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: Yeah. And people don't know... It might have been because of hormones because at that age, people don't know that hormones trigger them. Doctors don't say it, but hormones also have an impact on when they're going to come out and not just weakened immune system or weakened central nervous system. But the thing is a lot of doctors, I don't know if they don't know, but there is science that is saying like they can come out anywhere now. And so they're kind of trying to say, if they're going to take away the letters HSV-1, 2, or 3, they're just trying to say, well, it's HSV because really when there's nerves, it can come out. And for me, I had the same thing. I have never a cold sore in my entire life, but it comes out of my head. So I got meningitis. Yeah, the first time it came out, I almost died. I was in the hospital for five days.

Matt Finch: It can kill you.

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: Yeah, it could kill you because... And so it's like where the heck? And they told me, "Did you get a cold sore?" I'm like, "No, I never even get." And so I'm asymptomatic outside, right? Like visual. And I was married at the time. They said, "Well, the next five days are critical. If she survives those, she's going to be alive. Because it's a virus, we can't do anything about it. We just got to wait it out and just keep her here and hopefully she'll be okay." And so that's why I started studying. Again, we learn from our experience because it's like, "Hell no, I'm not going through this again."

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: The second time that happened, I was going through a lot of stress in my life because my son was having issues, depression, suicide. And when your kids have issues, it's worse than if it's you. And it started happening in my brain again and I'm like, "Oh, I know this feeling." And I immediately went and took that herb and that helped. At first I tried their medication and it was taming it, but it wasn't doing it. But I took that supplement and in three days I was back at work. I was fine. And so it's only happened three times in my brain.

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: Other times it happens in my leg. And I know that by experience. I take it and it's gone. And so it's a... And a lot of people buy it. They just tell me it's just a miracle worker, especially now. I don't know if you noticed there's more shingles than before. I did a little bit of research and I learned that it's because there's not enough chicken pox anymore. As adults, most of us, I don't know, I think you're younger than me, but at least my age, all of us got or most of us got the chicken pox. And then with the kids getting chicken pox again, you get exposed to the virus and your immune system gets stronger again. It recognizes it since you already had it, and so that prevents you from getting shingles.

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: And so now because kids are not carrying the chicken pox virus as much, then you're less exposed. So there's more tendency for us to develop shingles. And so it's... Yeah, there's, I think I read about 161% more shingles than there used to be because of that. So it is interesting. And even now it's happening in kids, which shingles did not use to happen in kids. It was very rare. And so this product has been amazing, has been helping. It doesn't cure you. I'm not claiming any of curing because that's something you are stuck the rest of your life with, but it sure makes your life easier when you're going through it.

Matt Finch: Yeah. Then having something that works, that you know works good. Like you try it once, it prevents it or it makes it real small and real short healing, then you're not stressed about the future nearly as much. Like something like a speech or you're getting married or something. You have something on standby. I think that's what it was for me. I found out about a few things my dad showed me. This combination of things that I tried it and I was like, wow, went away in a day or it totally prevented it. It was disgusting though, tasted gross [inaudible 00:43:17].

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: Horrible. Yes.

Matt Finch: And I found out that it can be kind of dangerous. But I don't know. I think that showed my body that, huh, you try to come out and then I'm going to be able to get rid of you. So then it was like my body was, I feel like so many of my health issues. Of course my diet was horrible. Of course I was really stressed out, but so many of them were because my emotions like... And I didn't even know that I had anxiety. I didn't even know that I had PTSD. If someone told me that back then, I'd have been like, "You're crazy." But looking back on it, oh, I was so messed up emotionally, mentally. And now luckily, nowadays people can just go online. They can go on their phone and there's so many cool things you can learn. You can learn everything. And there's so many different great supplement brands and companies and delivery systems for these things.

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: Exactly.

Matt Finch: What's the difference between, I might just be kind of an idiot right here, but are flower essences different or the same... Is that another name for essential oils or is that something different?

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: It's different.

Matt Finch: What are flower essences real quick if you don't mind?

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: So flower essences is like the word says, it's the essence of a flower and it's similar to homeopathic. It's not a homeopathic product, but if we want to compare it to something like that in that they take the... I can tell you how it's made. What they do is they take let's say a rose or whatever the flower you want and they put it in the sun and they let that energy of the plant fall into a container of water. And so the sun needs to hit it. So you can do that. So the essence of the plant is in that water and that's called a mother tincture. And then from that mother tincture, what you do is you dilute it even more and you create a stock tincture. And then from that tincture, you dilute it more and you do the dose that is it's for the person. And that is what is similar to homeopathic although homeopathic, they dilute like hundreds of times, but it's a similar principle. It's actually energy medicine. And it sounds-

Matt Finch: So nothing like the astral body or the aura or something?

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: Exactly.

Matt Finch: Okay, cool.

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: That's what you're getting of the plant. And flowers tend to work more on the emotional level than the physical level, or they start working on your aura and then it trickles down into the body. And so that's why they promote change because they start changing at the root level. Now it sounds a little bit like it's not real, right?

Matt Finch: Not to me. It sounds good to me.

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: Yeah, I know to you, yeah, but most people, they want that like when we do herbal extractions, you have the actual chemical constituents and you're working more like medicine. And in this level, it's more energetic, but it has been proven. It has been tested in babies and animals and it works. And so babies and animals are not like, it's not a placebo because they don't know what you're giving them. And so that's a great test that you give it to kids to calm them down or like if you have ADHD or they're running around like crazy or they're crying a lot, you give them stuff for that.

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: And so to me, that's what gives it validation that if kids and animals respond well to it, then that means there's no placebo. And sometimes I think it's like, who cares if it's placebo if it works? That's the power of the mind still, but it works. And you can have a flower for stress, for anxiety, for bringing back the childhood, the youth, to find joy, to find gratitude, and to relieve like panic. There's just a flower just about everything. They're beautiful.

Matt Finch: And then your flower essences, are they also in like a alcohol liquid form too?

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: Yeah.

Matt Finch: So you probably just take a tiny bit.

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: Four drops.

Matt Finch: I feel like my mom used to give me some type of... I think I've taken flower essences. I forget what she called it, like rescue remedy or something.

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: Rescue remedy. Yeah.

Matt Finch: Yeah. And it would work really, really good. So that's so cool.

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: Yeah. And John and Jane used them all the time. So yeah, you probably did.

Matt Finch: [crosstalk 00:47:27]. Yeah, I have my, I know this is different, but my essential oil diffuser over there got a little combination of organic lavender and organic peppermint and I can't wait to get your one that like is for motivation and gives you energy because that's perfect for when I'm working. And like I said, a bunch of your ingredient in the essential oils, the flower essences, the teas. One of those ones I want to try too is I think it was like a high mineral tea.

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: Oh yes, the bone tea. Yeah.

Matt Finch: Bone tea. So like super high in minerals, electrolytes, right?

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: Yep.

Matt Finch: It's very cool.

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: It is really good. That started because my son broke his arm and I needed to figure, how am I going to help him through this? Actually, no, it was... Yeah, his arm. He was three years old. And that was amazing. The doctor he's like, "I've never seen bone grow so fast." And I was just giggling because I wasn't about to tell him I was giving him herbs to do that. But yeah. And then the second time he broke his other arm, he was already 12 and the same thing. Another doctor he's like, "How is this growing bone so fast?" Because they took the cast like four weeks earlier because he had a very bad fall. His arm looked like an S. It was completely broken and then he broke his collar bone at the same time.

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: So they said, "Oh no, at least a few months he's going to be like that." And yeah, four weeks earlier, they took the cast and he's like, "I just don't know how... I've never seen bone grow so fast." And it was all comfrey, right? So it's comfrey and other herbs that are in that tea, but that's... So now it's like, again, we learn from our experience. I'm like, well, I'm going to sell it now to help people. Now I can't claim any of those things, but I've seen it work. And Patty Aubrey broke her... I don't know if I was supposed to say that, but she had something broken too and she used that tea. But yeah.

Matt Finch: That sounds like a beneficial one, highly beneficial for females that are getting advanced in their aging or things like osteoporosis because I think don't females lose their bone mass a lot more than men do as well. But all right. So thanks so much Dr. Toni. Again, your website is drtonicamacho.com. Could you spell that? And then I know there was a free ebook or something like that. You also had a really cool like digital planner workbook type thing. So, yeah, how do you spell your last name for the website and then, yeah, talk about the free downloads that you have.

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: Okay. So the website is D as in David, R as in Rose, which is Dr, and then Toni with an I, and my last name, C-A-M-A-C-H-O.com. And yes, you can download an autoimmune guide and it will tell you what you need to do, the cause autoimmune disease and what are the steps to heal from that. There's also a quiz that you can do on your own and figure out if you have adrenal fatigue and on what spectrum adrenal fatigue do you have, like if it's a little, a lot or just about to start. So that's a nice guide too. There's a guide on how to take care of yourself during the cold and flu season and it comes with little recipes like chicken soup and teas and stuff that you can... And aroma therapy, formulas that you can use when you have a cold and flu to shorten the duration of a cold and flu. There's also a free guide on cacao with recipes on how to make chocolate and stuff like that in there.

Matt Finch: Ooh, I didn't see that.

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: And I believe there's also a guide on The Success Principles for free in there. Yeah.

Matt Finch: Wow. Yeah, that's what I was noticing. You've got a ton of really high quality free content and videos too and just an extensive, I was impressed with the extensive product line. Not only the products look awesome, but you had stuff for like every category, stress, anxiety, sleep, pain, adrenal fatigue, your gut health, digestion. And you make all those products?

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: Yes, they're all-

Matt Finch: Are you [crosstalk 00:51:51]?

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: Yeah, I have an assistant that helps me. And you probably know her. She works with Donna GN. She goes to school at the... Yeah. So she helps me, but most of it is me. And yeah, I got to make sure that all the products are high quality and that they're done correctly and that they're all the same and perfect. Quality is very important for it to work. And so I love making them. It's a art and it is very creative. It's a creative time for me and my energy goes into all the products. So a lot of love goes in there. And so that's key I think to it because I really want people to heal and have options too other than commercial medicine.

Matt Finch: [crosstalk 00:52:34] loving intention in there.

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: Yes.

Matt Finch: You must be good at math too because...

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: No.

Matt Finch: No? Good thing for calculators then, right?

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: Exactly. And Excel.

Matt Finch: Oh, that's probably why my dad just it's a no brainer for him because his math skills are so crazy. Well, thank you again, Dr. Toni.

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: Thank you.

Matt Finch: I really loves talking to you. I learned a lot. I can't wait to get some Christmas presents from your website. And I think... Are you in Mira Mesa up there?

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: I'm in Mira Mesa. Yes.

Matt Finch: Right. And you got your little home and your apothecary.

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: Yes.

Matt Finch: Your clinical area. Well, thank you so much. Have a wonderful rest of your Thanksgiving Eve.

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: Thank you. You too.

Matt Finch: Have a happy Thanksgiving tomorrow.

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: You too.

Matt Finch: And we'll stay in touch. I'll show you when this episode's done. And thanks again.

Dr. Toni Camacho, Ph.D.: Thank you. Appreciate it. Thank you.

Please review this post!

WANT TO DOMINATE ALCOHOL AND LIVE YOUR BEST LIFE?

COMMENT DISCLAIMER

The information we provide while responding to comments is not intended to provide and does not constitute medical, legal, or other professional advice. The responses to comments on fitrecovery.com are designed to support, not replace, medical or psychiatric treatment. Please seek professional care if you believe you may have a condition.

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments