Nutrition for your Genes with Robin Hoffman Haack and Christopher Neville
On today's episode, we take a new direction into a unique two-part episode where we talk to supplement company founder and owner Robin Hoffman Haack and self-taught scientist and venture capitalist, Christopher Neville about what it is to launch a cutting edge product company in to a market confronted with toxic bodies in a toxic world.
Referenced in the Show:
Robin’s Bio
As a teenager, I couldn’t have predicted that a decision at age 16 to become a vegetarian would have a major impact on the goals I set for myself decades later. As a health conscious person and one who loves to exercise, I’ve been Vegan and Gluten-free for more than 20 years.
My life has revolved around my daughter and my family’s business, where I am CFO. Although I love our business I was always yearning for something that aligned with my passion for health.
The inescapable headlines in the media about how adults and kids being prescribed meds for every little thing had now become the new normal. With childhood diseases on the rise, it was scary and difficult for me to envision having healthy grandchildren in our world.
I was compelled to take action and do something because I knew there had to be a better way. This was my Ah-ha moment “What if I could start a company with a product that could take the guess work out of creating optimum health for kids and adults?” Every chance I had I was researching to figure out what it would take to come up with a drink that would taste good, plus… it had to be Vegan, Non-GMO Gluten Free and pure with nothing artificial.
As fate would have it, through my constant work and assembling the right team that was aligned with my mission we were able to launch Clar8ty with our flagship product Calibr8. It was developed based on the latest findings in nutrigenomics and cell science by targeting sources of dysfunction rather than signs or symptoms. I knew I had to educate people to make the right choices to take control of their health and give them the tools to achieve optimum health, success and find their pure potential!
Chris’s Bio
Christopher supports several inspired scientists that are preparing to unleash a range of outstanding scientific breakthroughs by identifying opportunities for joint venture and collaboration. The main focus being longevity and regenerative medicine, and the emergence of exotic energy generation and pollution mitigation technologies. He has been pivotal, bringing innovation to market with key roles including; VP Asia Pacific, Managing Director of Australia & New Zealand and VP Product Development.
Over the past decades he has had extensive travels throughout SE Asia and USA., as a highly regarded speaker and presenter on holistic wellbeing. His understanding that our physical and mental health is intrinsically linked to our relationship to the environment, highlights the urgent need for massive attention to remedy plastic and hazardous pollution at all levels of society. He has established several strategic relationships with billion dollar level funding capacity for global scale projects.
Full Transcript:
Sarah Marshall, ND: Welcome to HEAL. On today's episode, we take a new direction into a unique two-part episode where we talk to supplement company founder and owner Robin Hoffman Haack and self-taught scientist and venture capitalist, Christopher Neville about what it is to launch a cutting edge product company in to a market confronted with toxic bodies in a toxic world.
I'm your host, Dr. Sarah Marshall.
(music)
So Robin, thank you so much for being here on HEAL and coming and sharing about a pretty unique and incredible company. And I want to hear it from your mouth about like, what is clarity and why does it exist? Like why did you create it?
Robin Haack: Oh, my gosh.
Okay. So taking back, me quite a few years now, since we been in business now six years, but I'm going to take you back to why I'm so health conscious. When I was 16, I became a vegetarian for no good reason other than being a crazy teenager, I guess. And then later in my twenties, I really learned how being a vegetarian was so beneficial for my health. And I really got into health at that point. And I'd always worked out and been physically into activities and an athlete and all that. And then now I've been vegan for 20 plus years, gluten free for probably 15 all just because it was on my journey that I decided to. It wasn't because of any health problems.
So I've always been super health conscious. So why I started clarity was. really due to the fact that when my daughter was going off to college, I really got looking at my life and how I could make an impact in people's lives. And I knew I was going to be empty nesting. And, and so just really diving into personal development and working with a coach, and I was telling them my passion for health and how I'd been involved in another health company for years and had been very successful that I have a full time income, Profession with our family business.
We have a 96 year old family company as CFO there. And. I love our family business and it's totally in a different industry. It's in textiles, but I was just feeling like I was missing something. So when my daughter is going off to college and I got looking at life, like I said, and when working with the coach, they told me why don't you start your own business? It sounds like you have the perfect background. Like, Oh my gosh, are you serious? I'm way too busy. Like we all have that way too busy idea, but I just got really looking at our society and how sick people are, and I want to have healthy grandkids and, you know, I see what's going on in our world and especially in today's world, six years later, but I really got, thinking about how I want healthy kids and healthy grandkids.
And so I wanted to develop a product for kids, and that's what got me on the journey and looking at what it would take to start my own company and I was just blessed to find the right people at the right time.
Sarah Marshall, ND: There was some serendipity involved because this was meant to be
Right? (Robin laughs) Like I totally get that. (Robin: yeah, yeah) And so that, I mean, like, many of us are health conscious, and many of us have a desire to make a difference.
But for me, you are one of my heroes because I hear a lot of people talk about what they dream of doing and your one of the people when I look to you did it you you you thought it up put it down And I know you know through our conversations not without lots of challenges and confronts and you know having to rethink and rework things So like How do you do that for those people out there Like how do you go from what was it like for you to go from okay I have this idea to actually having a business.
Robin Haack: I guess I'm stubborn and I'm determined (Sarah laughs) I have all those qualities, but I have the determination to just really be successful. And I've.. Luckily, and I'm grateful. I feel blessed.
I've been successful in things I've done during my life. Even growing up, showing horses and being an athlete and stuff. I was. I can say, I look back and I feel I was successful. And so I just have that determination. I'm gonna, you know, be successful at whatever I try and dive into. And so when I decided, and I remember telling my husband explicitly, I'm going to start a company with a kid's health product.
He's like, what? And I'm like, no, I really need to, like, we ha-- I have to do something and we have to do something to make a difference. And so, I just. I think when I decided it's like, I'm going to do it and there's no looking back, you know, I knew it was going to cost dollars and time and energy and you know, all those things that I always, but it's given me such satisfaction and it's also, yeah, I'm busy, but I couldn't imagine not being busy and, you know, and so I just.
And I really studied and what I knew I wanted and what I wasn't going to compromise and things like that. when I was new at knowing the type of product I wanted and what I believe in you know
Sarah Marshall, ND: I want to get into the type of products next because like so what's unique about this podcast is so far everybody that we've had on the show has been people sharing their own healing journeys very personal people who are Chiropractors or doctors or coaches and their experience working with people one on one And this is the first time we've had someone who's standing on the side of a product in a business in this way, but I wanted to highlight one that, you know, we have all these different vehicles for healing and that, that it matters that we talk about the good companies that are doing really profound work, because I think, maybe not so much the listeners specifically on this show, but in our culture, there is a conversation of like, Oh one, all supplements are the same or two, that supplements don't really make any difference. Right? Like there's these myths out there about the product companies. And I mean, in my practice, I utilize specific companies for, you know, working with people to help them heal and. Can you heal without supplements? Absolutely. Are there lots of ways to do it? Absolutely. Are they required? No, but we live in an incredibly toxic world with a huge amount of stress. That's put on us. Our bodies are not physiologically designed to put up with what we have. And so there's something really unique about, I mean, this is when you first introduced me and said, you know, you called me up and said, Hey, Sarah, I'm starting this company and I want to talk to you about possibly being involved.
And we put it in the beginning like I don't have any actual financial relationship with clarity And so, you know, I just, you're a great friend and I wanted to highlight somebody who's gone out there and done something different.
So tell us about the product line . Why is it what it is?
Robin Haack: Well, some things that when you were talking just then I came to my mind was I'm not about just products. There's so many things to healing. And like one, I'm an advocate, huge advocate of working out, and you got to get moving your body every day and sweating and get the lymphatic system going and all of that. And, and as far as products out there, you're right. There's such junk on the market.
I mean, I used to take vitamins and did they do anything? No. You know, not at all. And so that's when I, and as I aged, you know, well, even in my early twenties, like I said, when I became vegan and all of that, I found an amazing herbal product that I took for years. I'll still drink it today and it's hard to find and it's from Canada and, you know, and so I really got learning about ingredients.
And then when I decided to start clarity I was, super fortunate to meet this amazing product developer out of Australia. And he's the one and you were very into Nutrogenomix and he introduced to me working at the nutrition at the gene level.
And so that's what really, I think set us apart. And then with his background and with his belief, all in mind, body, spirit and everything and energy and all of that. How our products are so unique in the fact that they are working with your cells and they're getting to the mitochondria, but also, the fact that it's all about purity and potency of the ingredients. And so many companies want to be cheap. They want to, you know, cut corners and put all these names on the label. So the product looks amazing, but they don't have enough of the ingredient in the product to substantiate anything or make a difference.
And the other thing is, patented ingredients are really key also because they've got scientific studies done on them. They have enough potency in the ingredients. So really took me a lot to really learn all about that.
Sarah Marshall, ND: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, it's, you know, I mean, I, I, at one level, like I can't speak about any specific products, you know, one way or another there's, there's merit to a lot of different things. One of the things that I got taught in naturopathic school is that. The level of intervention depends on what the person actually needs. And like, I actually had the privilege to work in some community clinics, during med school where we would have homeless population, we would have people that were in some really challenging life circumstances, and they did not have access to either food on a daily basis or at all, anything in the world of quality food.
And in those cases we could give them... you know, a lot of our supplement companies would donate supplements to us to use the community clinics under different circumstances. And so we'd just open up the medicine cabinet and see what do we have and what might work for this person. And, you know, with all based off of donation and, and I would watch multivitamins turn somebody's brain on.
Like, because they were so deficient, but for many of us, and I, you know, we'll hear whatever I hear about the multivitamin companies out there, but I never recommend multivitamins because of that very thing. It's like it's often too low of a dose of too many ingredients that could be sourced from all kinds of different places, packed into one.
And the few companies that I actually have ever. You know, had people take multivitamins from you'll take six pills a day to even get close to the therapeutic dose that you want. People are like, what six? And I'm like, well, it's food only is going to fit so much into one capsule or one pill. And so that was one of the things that we, you know, I was always looking at is like, when you have a multi ingredient product that has 20, 30, 40 ingredients, it's really hard to have any of those make much of a difference.
And I tend to swing all the way the other way and mostly prescribed Single ingredients with a therapeutic purpose you know in my practice.
Robin Haack: Right
Sarah Marshall, ND: There's something else though about and then we can kind of get into some of the philosophy behind it, but but it's you guys have so nutrigenomics I have a sense of what that is but what how do you describe it Like what does nutrigenomics really mean?
Robin Haack: How I explain it in my layman's terms, it's a way the ingredients can work and get to the cells and kept the cell generating what it generates on its own, because our cells with free radical damage and oxidative stress, they get, as I've been told. A lot of people are, can use layman's terms of being switched on or off and or upregulated or downregulated. And so our product works to where it upregulates the cells to where they get working efficiently and producing the body's own antioxidants as opposed to outside source antioxidants. Cause most people don't, I didn't even know at one point that your body produced its own antioxidants, you know, At a million times more powerful rate than we can get from outside the diet.
Sarah Marshall, ND: And again we're going to use an analogy here but it's essentially at the cellular level the difference between giving a man a fish and teaching a man to fish.
It's like that same kind of concept of like, If you can provide the body, what it needs to produce its own antioxidants are about the detoxification pathways, its own ability to detoxify at that level, you actually end up producing a bigger difference in the person longterm than just, you know, and the, the tricky thing about supplementing antioxidants. Antioxidant as in, they absorb up free radicals and they interact with oxygen in a particular way. And what's really tricky. Like glutathione is a supplement that a lot of people, you know, know that glutathione in the body is really detoxifying.
But it's very difficult to supplement it because the minute glutathione is in the, in the free air, it's starting to break down instantly. So injectable, glutathione or liposomal glutathione is a possibility, but even manufacturing that is really challenging. So instead, what I, my understanding is of, of some of what you guys have created are products that actually are able to have glutathione pathway enhanced. So the body's doing it on its own versus that same,
Robin Haack: producing (inaudible) oxidase and superoxide dismutase and catalyst
Sarah Marshall, ND: Yup Awesome So where would you like to go with this conversation from here We've talked a bit about like what the product line is and how you came about you know like what have you as a business owner how has it been For your own experience Like I mean the podcast is called heal and we're looking at like what it is to heal but then there's lots of different mechanisms Like we can heal our relationship to success We can heal our relationship to you know being in business And so what comes to mind for you about that Like where have you seen business Either you know break you down or how did you come out of it Cause you juggle a lot of different things
Robin Haack: I think one thing is really, in the past few years, I've learned to meditate, which has really helped, you know, and taking the products and being super healthy has helped greatly greatly because they have a clear mind, clarity, no pun intended. But also I used to be stressed and when you can get the body healed naturally and get the detoxification pathways open, you don't have the stress feeling anymore because their mind calms down. So that's really helped me. But then the other thing I'm thinking too, is that, with meditation and exercise and just letting go and letting God, It's huge And knowing that it's all at the right timing Yeah And just really the personal development I think is key to life for everyone whether it's business relationships or whatever And luckily I was introduced to personal development because of Being a competitor when I was teenager and then in my twenties So I got to reading and studying personal development And I have ever since I read every day and you know and I can't read enough books and I just love that because it's amazing how you got to keep your mind right. And it's 99% is your mind and your energy.
Sarah Marshall, ND: Yeah .What sport where you competing in?
Robin Haack: Well I was a volleyball player but also then I showed horses since I was nine and I ended up training and showing horses for a living Wow When you're competing for a living and so forth it's can be stressful and it's all here you know so absolutely
And you know I think that there's so there's the personal development component and meditation And like what would you say was one of your biggest lessons That you've had in working through that as a business owner
Not following my gut about certain people, you know, like getting too wound up in, how do I say it nicely, not nicely, but, getting so excited about someone or something that you get so excited and you forget to follow your gut, I guess. And knowing that maybe that wasn't the right direction, I should have gone, you know, doubting myself, but then going forward anyway, and really realizing you got to sit back and not jump at things.
Sarah Marshall, ND: Yeah. One of my business coaches once said to me, nothing is ever as bad as it seems. But nothing is ever as good as it seems either. And like kind of keeps me in check when I see a new opportunity and I'm like, this is going to be amazing. And I get like super grown up and I'm like, okay, breathe. And let's like,
Robin Haack: you know, that has been, (inaudible)
Sarah Marshall, ND: and that's been something that in the last year of my life I've taken on as a personal practice is, the phrase I use is not pushing the river.
And it's not about like, I'm very intentional in my life and purpose driven. And I do similarly a lot of personal growth work, which for me, what that means is I'm paying attention to my life. And I have intentions for my life. Like every quarter I go through this worksheet that I think I originally gathered from one time when I was in a multilevel marketing company and somebody used it in their programs and then I adapted it and then I've added to it.
And it's about a seven page document. And it takes me through this process of completing the last three months. And then intentionally creating, what do I want next in the next three months? And I've done that since 2012 and sometimes I'll write the whole document out and I never look at it again for three months until I come back to do it again.
But I see how those intentions made a difference and I started to fulfill on them. And so being intentional, yes, but I, as a recovering perfectionist and control freak could get a little bit too much into like making things happen, particularly in anywhere where there's a relationship where I would push and push and push and push and push to have it go a particular way.
But then when I stopped putting all the energy into it, nothing else was getting generated. So it's been a whole new place for me now is to sit back and actually set my intentions and be in full communication. It's not like I'm being a victim to what's happening, but then allowing nature around me, allowing the people around me around, see what shows up, what actually happens naturally.
And that's for me in business and in life has been a big shift.
Robin Haack: Yeah, I think I've really learned that too. It's amazing what comes to you, if you let it and have intentions and act on your inspirations because so many people get inspiration, but they don't act.
And I think the big thing is acting on what you feel at the time it comes to you. And then it's amazing just the miracles that can transform.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So how has it been being the founder of clarity How has that process been for you?
It's fun. I mean, I love it. I love, you know, my favorite thing is seeing the testimonials from people, you know, like today we got sent a testimonial that was really cool.
And the other day, a person's daughter with autism and things, and just seeing the impact that you can make when people are wanting to change and people want to take products and so forth like ours. And it's just makes me feel so amazing, and even though it makes all the hard parts worth it, and all the struggles and things and I always believe every setback there's an equal or greater comeback, and, and I just know that everything's leading to the right place. Even it might take longer. Cause I'm definitely one that's not very patient. (inaudible) (laughs)
Everybody wants it now. So
Sarah Marshall, ND: I think it's Mike Dooley was one of my early inspired authors. He created "Thoughts Become Things" and the Notes from the Universe emails, which I've been getting since, I don't know when? 2009. And, he has a book called manifesting change and he gets into how you can declare the what, and you can visualize it and do the work around having, you know, your emotional state match that that's what you're creating, but you don't get to say how it's going to happen. And you don't get to say when.
And that's definitely where for me, you know, I wouldn't say that I have a super profound relationship to faith, but I actually look at it that is worth face comes in. Faith for the universe providing in that way.
Yeah, absolutely. There's something else that's really unique about these products, but I want to also talk about like what are the effects that you've seen? Like how have your products made a difference for people?
Robin Haack: Oh, my gosh. Well, weight loss, mental clarity, you know, kids, definitely seen a huge difference with our calibrate product and then our biome.
Cause we have a product that activate biome that helps with the microbiome. That's all For Biotics So that's made a huge difference because of the gut brain access with kids with add autism Asperger's you know and all these kids these days I mean I've just learned so much on how sick kids really are And so many kids have got issues and have stomach aches all the time or constipation all the time. And, because of our our world and living on processed foods, and it's hard to get kids to eat healthy. So I think that's huge, in the kid aspect, but I mean, I've seen everything you could imagine for people with heart issues, diabetes, arthritis, the list goes on on how people have improved by taking the products. Because they, like you said, it gets the detoxification pathways going, it gets rid of inflammation in the body, and then like our biome product, restoring your gut with the spore Biotics. And then, we have an ingredient that's really unique in our one product that we're with getting the body into ketosis. It's not like other ketone products, so it's not just the HBS it's got BAs, which be Tareq acids and and it's all put together And that's what's really been cool is working with the microbiologists and biophysicists that have patents and have studied for years and they get to see their ingredients go in products and they skip to here what they're doing for people, and working with those guys that just, I've just learned so much, you know? So that's...
Sarah Marshall, ND: I think clarity as a as a perspective and this is me saying it you can tell me if it but my view is that you guys are a part of a paradigm shift Because you know one hand it can sound sensational Like it can do anything you know it's like we just listed out every system in the body but we we've been inside of this mechanistic reductionist viewpoint where the way we deal with health or disease really is to stop a specific symptom So you have one chemical for one you know you have you have drugs that are going to reduce Blood pressure You've got drugs that are going to reduce blood sugar You've got drugs that are going to address seizures You have drugs are going to address depression You have drugs I mean it's like it's a one to one predominantly because of the way we've been formulating them. But in as the paradigm is shifting away from how do you stop or control a disease to what does it mean to be healthy? How do you let the body heal? There's these regulatory systems in our body, the endocrine system, the microbiome, the immune system, which is part of the microbiome, right? Most of our immune system lives in our gut.
And, and then the livers ability to detoxify and to remove these things from the circulation and from the tissues is critical. And that's where we're seeing the bottleneck of so many, inflammatory conditions that are sort of coming down to no particular diagnosis. And like, I mean, in my practice, I see a lot more of that. Cause mostly I'm not usually the first doctor people go to, I'm like the fifth, six, seven doctor. Right?
So they've worked their way through all the specialists and the specialists don't have a one to one drug for their because they're may not even fit perfectly into a diagnosis And without that diagnosis there's usually no treatment So this is like you got to think differently You got to turn the whole thing over on its head Where when you do address something at such a core fundamental level of the way the body functions And like one of the things that drew me into clarity's products is the way that you started working on mitochondrial issues Before that was a hot topic right It's just now starting, I think more and more people are listening to it.
And you guys have been working on it for a lot longer than that.
Robin Haack: Yeah six years. So, the other thing like we really try and explain is it all boils down to healthy cells. And if your cells aren't healthy, you're going to have issues. You know, like our product developer, one of them, he always said there's one disease and that said unhealthy cell Cause everything starts at the cell level So
Sarah Marshall, ND: yeah exactly
Robin Haack: Yeah
Sarah Marshall, ND: That's so good but there's something are you guys still and I'm going to say this all wrong and you can correct me but...
Robin Haack: using our products?
Sarah Marshall, ND: Yes! That! I want to talk about that!
Robin Haack: Yeah. So we worked with a bioenergetic wellness healer for a years, and she's amazing. And she is into bio scalar energy. In fact, she is being interviewed left and right these days on what with what's going on in our world and everything, because she's so well known as a bio scalar energy and with five G and all of that, and yeah, it's crazy. So, she infuses our products with her bio scaler quantum energy.
So she takes our ingredients before they're manufactured into the products she takes and infuses it with the bio scalar energy and she calls it hyper charging it. And she's been like doing scalar energy for 40 plus years. And she has a system she actually puts in people's houses.
She's working with the military right now to get them in the military bases. But she has these systems that actually are bio scalar energy systems that you can put in a house or healing centers like the Lexington, Kentucky a tongue twister, healing center. They have a few in there.
The University of Hawaii has some where people go and they get in these systems and it regenerates yourselves back to your homeostasis and it gets rid of all the radiation in the body. So it really does wonders for people with health issues. So she infuses our products because obviously all our products are vegan, plant-based, non-GMO gluten free So there's nothing artificial. So being plants, they all have their own energetic property and so she infuses them. And the reason it really helps get to the mitochondria level even deeper because, it makes how I explain it in my layman's terms is it takes the ingredients and puts them in harmony with each other, like an orchestra so they're singing the same notes and songs in harmony, so they can really work together rather than being out of tune. So
Sarah Marshall, ND: that's super critical and and like again I know that this conversation could land a lot of ways for different people you know of like Hocus Pocus or yeah Whatever or but I'm just going to put this in which is your cell phone is quantum Your computer that you've been using is quantum We're surrounded by a world that's actually based in quantum physics and quantum energies We just don't talk about it very much And so you know getting an MRI scan on your knee that all comes from quantum physics and quantum mechanics And I you know I work in homeopathy Which for many people is a similar brain bender and helped me out at these been around since the late 17 hundreds And that's a similar conversation that we have You can have one single homeopathic remedy and then you can have another one and you can blend them together in terms of just like pouring them into the bottle And that won't be the same thing as when you make them in such a way that the energy all harmonizes it becomes one functional unit and it has a very different distinct Impact on the body and what we've been able to actually track And there's scientific evidence that backs all of this up. It helps the medicine or the homeopathic remedy find the target tissue that it's supposed to go to and enter into the cell
And there is a world we're starting to discover about cell transporters and how things get in and out of the cell because it's not like the cells just have doors that like anything goes through There's very calculated and specific ways that things get in and out of the cell And so that's one of the challenges that many drug companies have actually been dealing with is You know mostly what we do with drugs is we just flood the body with such a high amount of the drug We hope that some of it makes it all the way in and gets through but we're now finding that through different forms of utilizing energy medicine and energetics and the way that we infuse different products and and really use elemental medicine which is an old school medicine from back in the 18 hundreds that we used to use magnetism.
We used crystal therapy. There were many ways that we would use elemental medicine, low dose electrolysis that have been very effective and they kind of got pushed aside as we got really hung up on these more, what we appear as technologically advanced, but now the technology is getting subtle. And we're discovering that there's brilliance in the subtlety and that it shouldn't be discredited.
Like it doesn't just have to be that something hits you over the head to be good for you. Like when it's in resonance, you can have a very small dose of something, make a big difference. So that's another aspect of what you guys are up to that I just think is so cutting edge.
Robin Haack: Yeah. So it's fun.
Sarah Marshall, ND: Yeah.
That's good. So how about your personal journey? I mean, you've been an athlete most of your life. You talked about how meditation and working out have been critical for you, but like, what are your key routines that help keep you sane and healthy?
Robin Haack: Getting up every day, working out first thing, taking our products, routine, I think lots of, you know, habits that just, I don't question. It doesn't even cross my mind not to work out. It's not like I have to go, I don't feel like it. I. Do I have to? No, I just, I do it. Making lists, you know, writing everything down so I know what, you know, I need to get done that day. Going to bed early, you know, getting up early so I feel like I've accomplished a lot before a lot of people have gotten up in the day. So that I think has really helped and then giving myself time to have breaks and on weekends or getting away or our other house and you know chilling with no TV or I don't watch TV but just no TV in the house No wifi So
Yeah So you're telling me that a very successful busy business owner who has actually her hands in multiple businesses takes vacations
vacation just get away is I don't want to spend any go on it Like I don't have any desire to travel the world or anything You know I've been a lot of places don't get me wrong but it's like just going to our other house and just getting out of that brain
Sarah Marshall, ND: Yeah, absolutely.
Robin Haack: Getting out in nature and
Sarah Marshall, ND: That's one that I work with a lot of my CEO and executive clients on Is that like actually it's critical to have those times to let your brain rest and let go for a period of time so that you actually get a deeper access to creativity when that happens
Robin Haack: Oh
Sarah Marshall, ND: yeah That's awesome
Robin Haack: My brain starts spinning. I get out in nature and it's like, Whoa, all these ideas and
Sarah Marshall, ND: yeah.
Robin Haack: Yeah,
Sarah Marshall, ND: absolutely. And then, you know, one of the things that's also struck me about you is the quality of relationships that you keep around you. It seems like you've got a pretty good empowering family and community that you get to spend time with.
Would you say that's the case?
Robin Haack: Yeah. Yeah. My daughter keeps us busy. I mean, she's now married and everything, but, she has a lot of friends that we are very close with. She grew up with a great group of friends, so we have a lot of younger friends that are in their twenties, keep us young. And then we do have a lot of great friends that we're very close with.
Sarah Marshall, ND: So, I mean, that's been something that it's, it's easy to overlook the importance of that, but when we look at the components of what has our life be healthy and full, the quality of those relationships can make a huge difference in, are they supporting our health journey? Are they a challenge to the health journey?
Like where they fall inside of that? Yeah.
Robin Haack: And just keep working on yourself all the time, I think is key.
Sarah Marshall, ND: Yeah. That personal growth component.
Robin Haack: Awesome. Yep.
Sarah Marshall, ND: I just really appreciate, this is a very special episode for us and something that really mattered to me to be able to highlight that there are, you know, people like you that have taken a stand for this and that there's companies out there that are really looking for a new approach to how to support people on their health journey.
Because one of the things, a lot of people do go to our products and to know the differences that are out there and what is possible. And. you've been a great role model. And like I said, one of my heroes I look forward to in the business world, I look up to you like crazy. So thank you so much.
Robin Haack: Oh, thank you.
Awesome.
I love what you do for everyone.
Sarah Marshall, ND: Absolutely. will hopefully this will make a difference for some people to think some new thoughts about what's possible.
Robin Haack: Yeah, for sure. Awesome. Well, thank you. (clapping)
Sarah Marshall, ND: Thank you Robin. I appreciate it so much until next time.
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Now for part two. After this incredible conversation with Robin, I was inspired to go deeper into the subject of nutrigenomics, which led me to Melbourne, Australia to speak to self-taught scientists, Christopher Neville, who is a critical in the formulation of the products of Clar8ty. What started as a question about how these molecules work, led me into a much deeper world of how global pollution issues, consciousness, and the health of our bodies are intrinsically intertwined.
It was too valuable not to include here. His view is brilliant. Hang in there. It's worth it.
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So having Robin come on and talk about Clar8ty was really inside of that Clar8ty in particular does something so different than most product lines out there. And she's adorable and awesome. And she often would say, but I'm not a scientist. And I don't really know how to explain that part.
And I was like, maybe I'll call Chris and (both laugh) our conversation. And today is not, it doesn't need to be about Clar8ty at all because it, that that's already in place. It's more, I'm really interested in...we can talk way bigger than that. What, what you are seeing, what you're up to, what matters to you in the field of longevity and regenerative medicine and that'll piece into the whole piece about Clar8ty, wherever it needs to.
Chris Neville: So, okay. (both talking)
That's perfect. Well, I'm excited really to, to share cause like, like everything where we're all got faces as a puzzle and I'm sending them to come together, that we tend to, you know, learn a little and, and share a little and that's human nature. And then we're all, we've all got bodies and we're learning what that means.
Right?
Sarah Marshall, ND: Exactly. So here I have you, Chris Neville from, are you Melbourne?
Chris Neville: You can say Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia. Yeah. That's close enough.
Sarah Marshall, ND: Close enough. Yes. Okay, good.
Right. You are scientist? Businessman?
Chris Neville: Well, you know, it's, it's a, it's a, it's a good comment. I I'm, I'm a scientist in as much as for uh research. I am not classically trained, but that's been the last 20 years and it's taken me into some interesting domain. So you could say, and I'm non-classically trained researcher in, in the fields of holistic wellbeing and other innovations, because when I share some of the other things that I'm up to, you'll see that the health of the body is going to be important to the health of the planet. And that's why some of these other things are important, in terms of what I'm doing.
Sarah Marshall, ND: Awesome. That's so right in alignment with where I come from and what I watched with people when we do even address their physical health, all kinds of things shift in their environments and how they want to interact with the environment and that's on the individual level. So I can only imagine it at a bigger scale.
So you're into longevity in regenerative medicine among other things. And then, I also got, you know, pollution mitigation technologies. And more energy generation. So tell me about, like, how did you end up here? How did you get into all this?
Chris Neville: Are we going now? (both laugh)
Well, look, I've, I've grown up and I've been very supported most of my life with our version of football (inaudible) rugby here and swimming and athletics and track, here in Australia, but, in master labs. And so, you know, I went into, you know, I was a Green Beret 40 years ago. I am Australian commander. You're gonna hear it. I've always been interested in, in what the they can do and can't do according to physics and biology, but also exploring, yeah, from the martial arts side of things, it was back to consciousness and, you know, the Bruce Lee, one inch punch and those sort of things were a way to be able to look at saying, Wow.
Is it possible to harness an energy field or a way of being that can do things even with the Shaolin monks in, in (inaudible) , et cetera, it was always an entry. So, you know, 40 plus years ago, I really was touched by a meditation, if you will, and transcendental meditation at that. And there's many roads to, to the, to the mountain, if you will, top of the mountain.
But what I found was that my real passion became, you know, how is it that human beings can, can be more, more in line with, with nature. I read a fantastic book called "In Tune with the Infinite" by Ralph Waldo Trine. And that was a book that had a profound impact on me because I thought, wow. To be in tune with the infinite oh that'd be pretty cool, but what, what would it look like and what would it mean?
And so I explored, you know, Nutritional medicine, complimentary medicine, energy medicine, pulse magnetic fields, Reiki to read what they call breath therapy and many, many other modalities, traditional Chinese medicine, ayurvedic medicine. And want to look at what's the, what did the ancients know that we're not doing now?
How did we get you get sidetracked and hoodwinked to think that, you know, the human beings connect with nature. and that's really where I want them to try to keep those threads of the ancient somewhat alive in today's world and to give it some sort of a context. So that's really where I'm kind of the driving force of the impetus to some of my research.
And, you know, I've done short course in energy medicine at our MIT university here in Melbourne, and, have the great pleasure of meeting up with some extraordinary people. There's research that goes on that. Sometimes doesn't touch the market, because, well, it's not economically sound right now. And so there's, there's looking at behind the scenes with the economic drivers and a range of other things of why things can and can't happen.
and it, it took me down a rabbit hole, that I'm still burrowing looking to some of the nuggets. And, I'm pretty excited with where it's come at too, but my main they're in is, is really in the fields of epigenetics and nutrigenomics. You know, the ability for nutritional compounds to affect gene expression or affecting gene stability, or DNA stability.
And, and also the, the quantum realm. Where, where is it that matter and antimatter and consciousness interface. And then what does that look like? Why should I care anyway? Right. So I wanted to look at how each of those threads came together, in health. But I also just in wrapping up, the first part is I wanted too understand why there are sorry, many versions of spirituality.
And I call it like the spectrum. If you will, of everybody. who is spiritual in nature. Everybody is in whatever degree that is, is seeking to know this absolute, this, this core nature of their being loved if you will, or God, as in some texts. And, and so those things are interrelated. As far as I'm concerned, we have not.
Compartmentalize I've got inflammation. No, there is, there are things that are happening at a mental, emotional, and energetic level. And what are the things that causing disturbance or supporting that state of disharmony? So that's, you know, I have looked at trying to bring all of those threads together in an integrated way.
I hope that wasn't too wordy for you, but (Sarah: no!) that's, what's really going on.
Sarah Marshall, ND: Yeah, it's beautiful. And it, it actually, it underscores a lot of the themes that I've been here sharing on this podcast from a clinical and individual perspective that yes, there's actions that people take there's diets, there's, there's a supplements that get recommended, there's even pharmaceutical drugs that have their place from time to time. But the core for almost everyone that's shared and what I've shared a lot from my practice is where we deal with who we are as pure love and as a loving being, and allowing love to flow through our life and where we don't, there's dis-ease and disharmony with ourselves, with our environment and our environment can be six square feet around us and our environment can be the entire planet.
Chris Neville: Yeah. And, and, and that's, it's very true. I'm sorry, because at the end of the day, look, life is interconnected. You know, the air I breathe today has been breathed by somebody else, you know, in, in Dallas or wherever that might be. And in, in Brazil. So we, we are interconnected and there's this energetic soup that, or this consciousness that we live in on Earth. Yeah. It's it's alive, but it's also seeking more. It's there's, there's that universal thing with healing is when you cut yourself, life is seeking to reestablish order. And, and I believe, you know, the human race and the human species is on a, an evolutionary path to recognize it self as interconnected firstly, on our planet.
And then I truly believe, and also understand the interconnectedness within time space with the potential for some, the actual knowledge that the universe is teeming with life. So it's a, it's pretty fascinating. And I think we've, we've got a big wake up call that's happening right now. COVID's not really the wake up call, but we might as well utilize it for that because what we're looking for is how can we be able to live in cooperation, in harmony with the planet rather than the idea that we need to extract things.
And rape and pillage and then leave the problem for the next generation and possibly generations to come. And, and, you know, plastics are definitely one of those things that I'm passionate about cleaning up the rivers and the oceans and all of those other manmade interferences. Forget about climate change.
It's the least of our concerns right now we're changing the genetics of the species. with plastic right now in, in the environment. And that's. A concern and should be a concern for everybody because it's affecting fertility rates and we've now got a major downward curve, in that environment as well.
Sarah Marshall, ND: Yeah. So connecting that back to, like, I imagine that may be where nutrigenomics can come into play potentially in some of these, like how do we, cause there's what there needs to be done on the macro level.
Of cleaning the rivers and cleaning the oceans and altering our use of it and even manufacturing of plastics. But then there's a micro level on the individual basis. Like, is that where Nutrigenomics comes in? Like, are there things that can make a difference for people personally?
Chris Neville: Yeah, look, i-i-it's always going to come back to area of influence or area of control on the area of influences is, you know, we're, we're sovereign things and we're responsible for taking care of our bodies, firstly, and primarily, and then our immediate families and then that ripple effect really is humankind. And so nutrigenomics to me is a way of understanding how the foods we eat, apart from whether we can go into intermittent fasting and all of these other, new awarenesses of how the body utilizes nutrients, and convert instead of carbohydrates for energy fats, for fuel, et cetera, but nutrigenomics for me was a great insight and the revelation, but I'm always looking for, why is something beneficial? You go back to the 80s and the 90s and somebody was coming out of the jungle with the latest berry. I call it the battle of the berries. So the next super juice turned up and the next super juice you got to have that cause it's more, more powerful.
And, and that could be, we could, we understood about the antioxidants and the ORAC value of certain foods and compounds, but nutrigenomics took me into what's that inter interaction, at a cellular level. And then ultimately at a gene expression level, like we come in with our compliment of genes from our parents and then that one cell, differentiates and becomes is this human being that process of gene expression, therefore differentiation, is an important mechanism, not just in getting well and staying well, but also, you know, in regenerative medicine as well. Yeah. And why stem cell therapy is so important.
So this area of nutrigenomics to me was fascinating because I wasn't trying to do something for the body. I was trying to support the body becoming more efficient in what was already designed in the cell.
And every cell has its own natural defense system. And that's, that's how nutrigenomics has really taken a lot of the forefront in regenerative medicine.
Sarah Marshall, ND: Awesome. That's brilliantly put, I can't add a thing. (Chuckles)
Yeah.
Good. And so anything else about that?
Chris Neville: Well, look, it's, it's looking at that, the physicality of things.
And, and this can, what I wanted to do is to, to go down into, you know, what I refer to as the healthy cell model, that there's really not, you know, a thousand diseases, there's only one and that's a, you know, a dysfunctional cell. And so if we have a dysfunctional cell, you know, the two causes, you know, either, what I refer to as, Toxicity or deficiency.
So the toxicity is that's too much of a disturbance. Deficiency is I don't have enough of either building blocks, nutrients, and, and, or, other compounds that can support the defense and stability of the cell. And then the six pathways and those pathways, nutrition and lifestyle. It could be medical intervention that causes more problems than that.
And that's where sometimes the pharmaceutical toxicity, as we may know, You know, number one to kill on the planet. We may know from cardiovascular to cancer, but number three killer on the planet is deaths by climate critical mishap deaths by doctoring. And that's not an intentional thing. It's just how the economic model of the healthcare system is is we, we are a pre, prescription nation and globally there's more pharmaceuticals being used.
Interestingly enough to try to get well, rather than look looking to nature and seeking solutions in nature. And that's where, the health system has been hijacked. And in my view, in my opinion, so this is why self care and, empowerment is so critically important today, more than ever, because we've got to be able to read through the noise.
And trust forums like this and others that, shift perspective. And definitely as you've indicated to me in the past or the, the healing journey that we, we, we can't under estimate the value of our own journey. Seeking towards wellness and then listening to others, other travelers' journeys on, in what they're doing to help get well and stay well.
So the path that I wanted to get at is that it's the physical, but it's also the mental and emotional. And this is where I looked at, you know, brain coherence and we hear a lot about the gut, brain access because many neurochemicals are produced in the gut. And so when we have a disturbance to the biome, it can really affect moods and emotions and our sense of self worth, even, so sometimes it's not about what you eat, but what's eating you. And that's where I'm understanding that when we are disconnected from nature, we, we're kind of drifting. We don't have this anchor point. And that's where I think that we have a global challenge right now. And a global wake up is because we have to pay attention to the extinction, rate that's happening at the moment, the plastic pollution, all the risks, because it is all in connected. And that's why I'm with my approach to looking at the holisticness health is that, you know, we're complex, but we don't have to be complex about it. We need to just seek ways of, being happy. Say, if we seek happiness, you know, we will tend to find those people that will narrow SAS as friends and relationships, rather than, abusive or toxic relationships, because relationships can be a pretty serious free radical, right. (both laugh)
Sarah Marshall, ND: That's a great way of putting it.
Chris Neville: And, and that's why, I think we've, we, we need to look at each of those points. And so it comes from my perspective. You know, when I looked at consciousness and some of the Eastern, Western studies there, like with the, in tune with the infinite, with other stuff, which was how can I be at peace with myself and then be able to then extend that from that point out, out, into the world to then offer, you know, my gift or my joy as, as a way of interacting with the world. And so, I looked at how the ancients work with sound and that's why I also explored sound frequency and resonance, in terms of its ability to elevate us or alignus whereby we felt more balanced and, you know, I've been, you know, this and the Australian Aboriginal instrument, that some may know of, it's called the didgeridoo. It's a, it's a hollowed out wind instrument. And, I've been fortunate to, you know, record with the Tibet and monks and, you know, playing different parts around the world with that instrument. But I've also used it in a healing modality as well, where it's a bit like a Sonic acupuncture where I can actually direct it at the body and where I make a connection with whomever I'm working with, the sound that will actually support the energy to be shifted. And, and, you know, I work with professor Roland Hebron. Professor Mike Kona, RMR to university, and they were able to measure this energetic shift, you know, using live Meridian analysis and guests, discharge, visualizes, and other ways of being able to see the energy pathways light up in the body.
And find your balance and flow. And as we know the energy that flows, you know, life is energy and having the energy of flow through the meridians will affect organ function. And that's where, I took it. It wasn't just about the physicality. It Is about the energetics and flow. Both of the chi, and the ki, and the prana life force that kind of a quantum field, but also, looking at this way of being able to have somebody have self-respect ,self love and self appreciation of this miracle that we have called a body. I mean, it's pretty extraordinary. And we just sort of sometimes bumble along through life and we don't pay as much attention until something, you know, the wheels fall off the wagon and we think, Oh, geez I better, I better do a detox.
And I, I just think that, if we take time out, sleep our sleep, and understanding that, you know, we can drive the body to do certain things and deprive our self of sleep or certain nutrients, but nature has a great way of reminding you of that it's the boss. and that, that the body is the in harmony with life, beginning in life, or it's actually, I'm losing tattoo with those mechanisms. And so I, I'm a great believer in having timeout, whether it be, just walking in nature and sometimes our, there's a great Japanese word that, I heard, you know, a long time ago it was called Yugen and Yugen, Y-U-G-E-N is a fantastic word, because if you walk outside and you see this beautiful horizon to horizon, you know, constellations and stars, and it's just, it's breathtaking. Yugen is a state of awareness. That's too profound for words. And, and I try to engage with nature to go, wow. Cause if we lose that wow, I think we lose an anchor point of even our purpose and why we're here in the first place. You know? What's this abount?
Okay. But what's this quest quest for consciousness and spiritual nature mapping. All of that to me is, is really it's interconnected. And so I've just sort of journey down a lot of different paths and tried to find ways that are common for people, you know? Okay. What nice, what, where people are on the planet and really what their diet is necessarily.
But we have a common nature and, you know, you know, the Dalai Lama has a great way of expressing it and it's like, you know, that there are many, many religions like colors of the rainbow. But let's meet with kindness. And if anything, let kindness be our religion. And to me, kindness is love, is it's just let's agree that from my vantage point, even if I'm looking out the window, I'm seeing a different horizon to you and that's okay, we don't have to compete.
We just have to acknowledge and be respectful of each other, that we're all doing the best we can, in most cases to that, to our quest for happiness, the quest for meaning, if you will. So I think all of those things are really into alignment.
Sarah Marshall, ND: They really are.
Chris Neville: Yeah.
Sarah Marshall, ND: It's super integral and there's worlds of conversations we could have about actually the evidence that we've seen in different fields of study that show how they're interconnected.
And I'm, can't remember the specifics. I'll dig it out for show notes, but I'm recalling a conversation where somebody talked about when you're in that state of awe, that state of just, that no language for the experience of the beauty of nature or, or whether it's in the presence of your family or whatever, there's something specific that actually does to the nervous system.
It's like one of the most healing States of being you can be in.
Chris Neville: You're absolutely right. Yeah. Yeah, no, it's you're right, Sarah, and to me, that was one of the things about, you know, it's like, you, you look at it, somebody who's got to a brand new little kitty cat or a brand new puppy or a baby and you go, yeah, it's just that wonder of this new life and how magical life really is.
I mean, I, I come from a huge family. I've got eight brothers and three sisters, you know, standard Australian family, I've got 31 nieces and nephews, and a couple of grandkids to boot. So I was brought up with this kind of inherent way of being able to care for those that are around you, you know, mom was busy doing whatever she's doing. I don't care, it's my turn with the nappies.
I'm 12 years old. I'll have to go with this thing. And, you know, back in the day when we're using needles. (inaudible) Yeah. (both laugh)
But it was just the idea of look, wait, there is something that we can all meet at and appreciate, and it doesn't, it goes past religion and, and, and musical tastes or otherwise. We all, we all loved our families and we all, we all care for that fundamental thing that sometimes carries out gene code, whether it be out child or grandchild or otherwise.
And we want the best for that, that bang. And for me, I've, I've just felt that I wanted to meet in that place because language can sometimes be misunderstood or all of those things that, so it's like, what's that place? That we can all agree on and we've got this thing, spaceship earth, and it's something that we share.
Can we all try to look after it in our own neighborhood? You know? And, and, and, and all of those things as well that come together.
Sarah Marshall, ND: Beautifully said as above, so below what we see out there, and then what we get to do all the way down, literally at the gene level and how everything in between is related.
It's pretty powerful.
Chris Neville: Yeah. Yeah, it is. And, you know, fortunately there's some fantastic, you know, research that's, shining the light on things, and I think we've got an extraordinary era, that's emerging right now and understanding, the cell, but it's also matter and anti-matter [inaudible] matter and spirit really of how, science is now understanding.
you know that the way that we are. There, there is something that made it to be considered called consciousness or spiritual nature, all that bang. And, if we're not including that in, in, putting things together, whether it be formulations or whether it be a protocol, then we're not looking at the whole person, you know, it's, it's compartmentalized, you know, when you're take a supplement or let's call it a painkiller for, cause you've got a pain in your, your, your right foot, you don't take a tablet or a painkiller, not that the subscribed to it, but as an example, you can't put that in your mouth until your mouth is like, okay. Deliver it to the, to the rights, you know, right foot, it goes into the body and the body process that holistically. So, you know, even when we read labels, of this organ or that organ, yes it is.
Or male, female, It has a certain something about it, but it's really where we're holistic and where we've got to. Not got to, I'll take the, got to out there. It's it's interesting to pursue a path that, that, is in harmony with ourselves mostly, and then nature and the type of relationships that we have, You know, w with, with others and recognizing that sometimes [inaudible], some relationships are there for the season or a reason and something in between.
Sarah Marshall, ND: Yeah, absolutely. Oh my gosh, Chris, this has been so incredible. I, I called you for a few questions and a few minutes of your time, and you've been so generous. This has just been absolutely amazing. And we have many, many, many paths to open up from this conversation. It's really brilliant. I really appreciate you.
And I appreciate the work that you've been doing on, on the planet and for the planet.
Chris Neville: Thanks look at it. If we've got a small window, it's just sort of, kind of I'm [inaudible], so I'm sorry for those people, if I've been verbal diarrhea, but I just, I'm passionate about what I do. And I'm curious by nature and I really, Love sharing what I've unraveled in, in my journey.
But, I, I love hearing how other people are pursuing things and how they're finding ways that are working. And, and I love what you've created. Here's a forum. So. Can can just take somebody 1by the handsome times and just give them a, give them a home and a reference point or a forum to, to, to listen and hear, and also to be heard.
And I think that's great for that. So thank you for what you're doing.
Sarah Marshall, ND: Absolutely. Absolutely. And there's been real sound healing that's happened as we've gotten people sharing what their experience have been is, you know, when our hearts are recognized in another story, Often that creates healing. So some people have been sharing with me the difference that that just the actual conversation of the podcast has made for them and opening things up and letting go of emotions and having things shift in their lives. So it's actually becoming its own healing modality in addition to propagating some new ways of thinking and new ways of doing things.
So you are a giant contribution to that. I love it.
Chris Neville: Yeah. Fantastic. Well, look anytime happy to just share some perspectives on things. And, I really appreciate, again, the opportunity being able to share a little bit from my perspective as well. So thanks for listening.
Sarah Marshall, ND: We'll follow up on your new project soon. It'll be great.
Chris Neville: Yeah. Yeah. And there's plenty more to share on that.
Sarah Marshall, ND: I bet (both laugh)
Chris Neville: More to come. Thank you very much. Once again.
Sarah Marshall, ND: Absolutely have a wonderful day. Okay.
Chris Neville: Bye bye.
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Sarah Marshall, ND: Thank you to both of today's guests, Robin Hoffman Haack and Christopher Neville for their passion and foresight. For a full transcript and all the resources of today's show, visit SarahMarshallND.com/podcast. You can learn more about finding your own healing by going to SarahMarshallND.com or following me on Instagram at @SarahMarshallND.
Thanks to our music composer, Roddy Nikpour, and our editor, Kendra Vicken. We'll see you next time.