🌿 Shaping the future of wellness with Sarah Glynn. Dr. Jill Carnahan and special guest Sarah Glynn! In this eye-opening episode of Resiliency Radio, we're shaping the future of health and wellness with innovative approaches that will transform your well-being journey.
Key Points
- Dragonfly is promoting a new event Boulder Wellness Week October 15-20th in the beautiful community of Boulder, Colorado
- In conjunction with Iris Global Health Film Festival and debut of Opening night showing of Doctor/Patient at eTown at 5pm on Tuesday, October 15th
🔥 Don't miss this opportunity to be part of a wellness revolution! 🔥
EVENT INFORMATION
IGHFF – https://www.ighff.org/ for all access pass and more info
Dragonfly Wellness Week info –https://dragonflyconnect.app/dl/wellnessweek
💌 Join DragonFly Inner Circle Special https://dragonflyconnect.app/dl/inner-circle Discount Code: WW24DRJIL 💌
Join the Wellness Week Inner Circle, which offers exclusive ticket upgrades, discounts from over 400 top businesses, and entry into our prize drawing.
Our Guest – Sarah Glynn
Sarah began advocating for new approaches to health and wellness as an indie publisher in 2007. She then launched an international service-learning exchange to improve maternal health, which expanded to become the first online certification program for professional midwives.
She has also led a successful content marketing agency, overseeing large-scale digital content initiatives for Sounds True Publishing, Quicksilver Scientific, and Homewatch Caregivers. Sarah has collaborated with leaders at Google, Facebook, Microsoft, LinkedIn, and the Veterans Health Administration to promote mindfulness programs for employees during the COVID lockdown.
Sarah holds a dual degree in women's studies and psychology, along with a graduate certificate in community development from the University of Colorado, Boulder. She completed a 3-year independent study and apprenticeship as a home birth midwife. Additionally, she has extensive training in Hatha yoga, Vipassana and heart-centered meditation, Reiki and energy work, and traditional herbalism.
Beyond advocating for new approaches to health and wellness, Sarah is passionate about regenerating the planet. She has served for three years on the board of directors for the Impact Hub and has designed accelerator programs for regenerative agriculture and sustainable development.
Sarah lives in Boulder, Colorado where she loves to go hiking daily and spend time with her two children.
Dr. Jill Carnahan, MD
Dr. Jill Carnahan is Your Functional Medicine Expert® dually board certified in Family Medicine for ten years and in Integrative Holistic Medicine since 2015. She is the Medical Director of Flatiron Functional Medicine, a widely sought-after practice with a broad range of clinical services including functional medical protocols, nutritional consultations, chiropractic therapy, naturopathic medicine, acupuncture, and massage therapy.
As a survivor of breast cancer, Crohn’s disease, and toxic mold illness she brings a unique perspective to treating patients in the midst of complex and chronic illness. Her clinic specializes in searching for the underlying triggers that contribute to illness through cutting-edge lab testing and tailoring the intervention to specific needs.
A popular inspirational speaker and prolific writer, she shares her knowledge of hope, health, and healing live on stage and through newsletters, articles, books, and social media posts! People relate to Dr. Jill’s science-backed opinions delivered with authenticity, love and humor. She is known for inspiring her audience to thrive even in the midst of difficulties.
Featured in Shape Magazine, Parade, Forbes, MindBodyGreen, First for Women, Townsend Newsletter, and The Huffington Post as well as seen on NBC News and Health segments with Joan Lunden, Dr. Jill is a media must-have. Her YouTube channel and podcast features live interviews with the healthcare world’s most respected names.
The Podcast
The Video
The Transcript
218: Resiliency Radio with Dr. Jill – The Future of Wellness: A New Approach to Health w/Sarah Glynn
Dr. Jill 00:00
Hey guys, welcome to Resiliency Radio, your go-to podcast for the most cutting-edge insights in integrative and functional medicine. I'm your host, Dr. Jill, and with each episode, we dive into the heart of healing and personal transformation. Join us as we interview thought leaders, renowned experts, and innovators who are at the forefront of medical research and are here to empower you for overall healing and optimal health in your journey.
Dr. Jill 00:26
Today, I am so excited to have my friend and neighbor, Sarah Glynn. Sarah began advocating for new approaches to health and wellness as an indie publisher in 2007. She then launched an international service learning exchange to improve maternal health, which expanded to become the first online certification program for professional midwives. She has also led a successful content marketing agency overseeing large-scale digital content initiatives for Sounds True Publishing, Quicksilver Scientific, and Homewatch Caregivers. She's collaborated with leaders at Google, Facebook, Microsoft, LinkedIn, and the Veterans Health Administration to promote mindfulness programs for employees during the COVID lockdown.
Dr. Jill 01:04
She holds dual degrees in women's studies and psychology, along with a graduate certificate in community development from the University of Colorado, Boulder. She completed a three-year independent study and apprenticeship as a home birth midwife and extensive training in Hatha Yoga, Vipassana and heart-centered meditation, Reiki energy work, and traditional herbalism.
Dr. Jill 01:25
The best thing about Sarah is she is one of those innovators, connectors. I remember the first time we met Sarah and the energy was just like, boom, right? I remember the coffee shop. We've kind of known of each other, but it was such a great synergy of two innovators and ideas. We were just popping off ideas. And I suspect that's the way you are with most other entrepreneurs, but it was an absolute joy and an immediate connection on a deep level when we met.
So, welcome to the show!
Sarah Glynn 01:52
Thank you. Thank you so much, Jill. It was an immediate and deep connection, and I'm super grateful for you. Thank you for having me here.
Dr. Jill 02:01
You're welcome! Today we want to talk about a new approach shaping the future of wellness. “A New Approach to Health” is our title and people are like: “Okay, what does that really mean?” Let's start though with your journey. I alluded to a little bit of it in the intro, but you had a very interesting journey and lots of twists and turns. But along the way, it's made you such an amazingly resilient and also vibrant personality with so many gifts and talents. Tell us a little bit about your journey into health and wellness.
Sarah Glynn 02:31
There's a saying that I love, which is “breakdown, breakthrough.” One of my mentors taught me this. I've also heard it called “pain to purpose” and many other things. But I think [that for] a lot of us who ultimately end up working as healers or innovating in the product space, it emerges out of a personal experience. My platform, Dragonfly, is all about transformation. What makes a dragonfly unique is that its metamorphosis is instant and complete. A dragonfly does not spend time in the cocoon. A dragonfly emerges from the murky waters and flies right away. What I experienced on my own health journey was that—as soon as I had a certain level of awareness and with the right support and information—I have been able to transform situations that were dire into some of the greatest opportunities and also achievements of my life.
Sarah Glynn 03:33
In the very, very beginning, I was separated from my mother at an early age. I did spend my younger years looking up at the moon and wondering where she was and wishing for her. I was ultimately reunited with her, but that void in my life is what drove me to get a degree in women's studies when I became a young woman and then also to choose midwifery as my first path in healing. I wanted to make sure that as many moms and babies as possible could stay connected and bonded coming out of that pain that I'd experienced as a young child. Then I became a mother myself and decided to make some money and to be home more often. I ended up getting into marketing and publishing professionally.
Sarah Glynn 04:25
I was cruising along, following the different threads. I was ultimately at what I thought was the pinnacle of my career when I went blind. I lost my vision for about a week. I had a massive inflammatory response in my body. The conventional medical community diagnosed me with multiple sclerosis. That was, of course, very scary. By all conventional measures, it was an MS episode. I did recover my vision quickly from an anti-inflammatory diet, but it took me many years to fully recover my speech and my full memory and brain capacity. There goes the school bus. You can see this is afternoon time for us here in Boulder. My son will be walking in the door soon. It was very interesting to be on the other side of the table.
Sarah Glynn 05:25
I had spent years training as a health professional and then was the founder of a midwifery school. I was an administrator. I built curriculums all around maternal health and wellness, and here I was searching. I was just like most other people; I didn't know where to turn. I just knew that the answers that I was being given weren't enough. They didn't feel totally right. It felt like only part of the story. So I spent a couple of years during my recovery exploring all kinds of alternative modalities. I do credit those, ultimately, for my healing. I haven't had another MS episode.
Sarah Glynn 06:10
I'm not saying that there's only one right way to go about healing MS, so please, nobody comment, call, or ask me for advice in this. But what I will say is that I discovered along the way that there's a lot of great information out there that is very hard to find, and that ultimately led me to create Dragonfly. What Dragonfly is all about is media, including events and in-person educational digital media to help people discover new approaches to health and wellness, connect with the best healers, and restore the body's innate power to heal.
Dr. Jill 06:49
Love, love, love. That's why I love talking to you, Sarah, and I love the connection. First of all, I want to comment because one thing that is very clear in your journey is that you have a deep intuition and a profound ability to have a vision of what the future needs and what the future holds. I think that's one reason we connected. I know years ago I didn't know I was a visionary. But as we get with common visionaries, I was like: “Wait, we have this like deep, deep knowing of what needs to transform and change.”
Dr. Jill 07:17
And one of the things in your journey to heal from MS is trusting your own body's innate wisdom and intuition. You almost commented about that, and even people [who are] listening. Everybody's journey is going to be different. And I love that you alluded to that. Your journey is not going to be the next person's journey. Even with me with patients with MS, every single one of them is different. Part of my job as a healer is to teach them to touch base with their own intuition about what feels right, and of course, with the science and the background of my medical help. It's really about them finding the correct path and me just being a guide. And you've been a guide to so many as well.
Dr. Jill 07:53
And now, we're going to talk about Dragonfly and about what's coming to Boulder in October. Let's just cut to the chase and talk quickly about that, and then we can talk all around it. But tell us what you have developed and what we're doing next month in Boulder. And I want to make sure anyone listening has a chance to get a ticket and be part of this incredible event.
Sarah Glynn 08:12
Great. One of the things that I discovered on my healing journey was that an essential ingredient to health is community, so Wellness Week is all about building community. What we're going to be doing in Boulder is celebrating health and life and the connections that we have to each other and forging new connections. This is what will help us all to not only stay on the cutting-edge of health and wellness and learn from the experts—which we're going to be doing—but also be surrounded by others who know without a doubt that it's possible to heal and be healthy and who share a similar passion for health and wellness.
Sarah Glynn 08:58
At the core, we have this catchphrase, which is: “Shaping the future of wellness together.” There's a lot of different things happening all at the same time. That's why we've made it Wellness Week, not “wellness day,” “wellness conference,” or “wellness summit,” because we're going to be doing a lot of things.
Sarah Glynn 09:18
Over the course of the week, people who participate will have a chance to network with local practitioners, which I think is essential. It's one thing to go out to a conference or a summit somewhere else; it's a whole other thing to get to know the amazing practitioners and professionals who are right here in your own community. So we have both: We have people coming in from all over the world, and also, about 75% of the experts featured during Wellness Week are from right here in Colorado.
Sarah Glynn 10:43
Those experts that are participating—we're calling it an “Emerging Trends Forum.” We have 150 industry pioneers and local experts, and we have 50 sessions. These are going to be interactive sessions. I like catchphrases. Another one of my catchphrases is: “The expert in the chair next to you is as important as the expert on stage in front of you.”
Sarah Glynn 10:18
How often do we go to conferences or go anywhere and then we start chatting it up with the person next to us, and they are the ones who have the answers that we need? It's the people next to us who often point us in the right direction. And because we have so many people coming together, in this instance, it will be true that a lot of the people sitting next to you will also be the authors, experts, and practitioners. But even if they weren't, I do still believe that we're each, most importantly, the best experts on our own health, and then the people around us are as important as the people in front of us. We will be talking about groundbreaking research and gaining fresh new insights together in a conversational format, which is more like a summit or a forum. We're calling it the “Emerging Trends Forum.”
Sarah Glynn 11:10
We are also going to do a lot of really fun things as a community. We have a film festival—the Iris Global Health Film Festival—coming into town. Jill, we will be kicking that off with your amazing movie, Doctor/Patient. There will be a big celebration and party for that on Wednesday evening. That will be at eTown Hall on October 16th.
Dr. Jill 11:37
Actually, Tuesday, the 15th. Tuesday.
Sarah Glynn 11:39
Oh! That will be neat. Thank you. Whenever we start looking up, I'm like, [inaudible]. So the big party where we are going to be celebrating Doctor/Patient—which was the inspiration for the Iris Global Health Film Festival and is going to be how we kick off the entire Wellness Week—will be happening Tuesday, October 15th, at eTown Hall here in Boulder. I hope that everyone in your community is able to come out from near and far.
Sarah Glynn 12:15
The beauty is that this film festival, the Iris Film Festival, with over 30 documentary films playing throughout the week will be cocooned—I guess we're going to use a butterfly analogy instead of a dragon analogy—inside of this Emerging Trends Forum with a lot of experts coming to town and then also several fun community events.
Sarah Glynn 12:40
Saturday evening we have comedy for the health-obsessed at the Trident Cafe. On Thursday and Friday, we have a grand celebration and a VIP speaker reception. The grand celebration is going to be three stories filled with healing stations. We have two international DJs coming in. We're going to invite everyone to dress to the nines, dress as your most excellent self, and come in for some swanky non-alcoholic elixirs and a really beautiful embodied evening with movement and performance as well as music and dance and lots of places to sit down and spend time with others. All of those 150 speakers and experts will be in the room on Friday night for our VIP reception.
Sarah Glynn 13:30
In the mornings, we'll be going for hikes. We'll be doing yoga. We'll be doing ecstatic dance. We'll be doing meditations for happiness. We'll be doing breathwork and cold plunging. And then, if you have your family here in town or want to bring your family into town on the weekend, we're doing breathwork for families on the stage for children too right out on Pearl Street—in the middle of Pearl in front of the courthouse. We also have a two-day free and open-to-the-public exhibit hall, which I'm really excited about because I am an insider in the industry.
Sarah Glynn 14:05
I spend a lot of time traveling to these conferences and getting to try out all the latest and greatest technology. I said to these company owners: “Please come to Boulder and bring your innovations and let my community try these things.” We have so many people on the front range in Denver and Boulder [and] in this whole area—Fort Collins, Colorado Springs, and out West too. We haven't forgotten about you guys. Come on over.
Sarah Glynn 14:33
We have a lot of people who are really curious and really interested. Instead of having to pay fees to go into the local biohacking clinic, you can come in for free and try out these products. The founders and creators of these products will be standing there at the booths and tables to greet you, so you can ask them questions about everything that's going on.
Sarah Glynn 14:57
We have community events free and open to the public on Pearl Street. We have comedy. We have a film festival. We have all kinds of beautiful interactive things in the morning. Again, free and open to the public. And then we have this Emerging Trends Forum where the experts are getting together and you, being one of the experts—everyone in the room we consider to be an expert—to talk about the future of health and wellness.
Sarah Glynn 15:19
This is why I say we are shaping the future of health and wellness together. It truly takes a village. We're resurrecting the village here. I think we've all gotten really scattered—scattered to the wind, hiding in our homes—and this is a chance to come out and to be together and see what's happening, not only from the visiting experts but from all those amazing innovators and practitioners right here in Colorado.
Dr. Jill 15:43
Sarah, now you guys, all who are listening, can see why I love this girl. I really love this idea. First of all, it's something very different. It's community-based as far as bringing the community on board—those who are curious, those who already know. I get to be there on a panel and speak and share the movie, but I'm no more of an expert than my neighbor, the person sitting beside me, or the patient who comes to see me. And I love that mentality because when we come with that humility, I always learn from those around me.
Dr. Jill 16:16
In fact, last year there was a big event that I went to speak at and share the movie. It was a bunch of very, very wealthy entrepreneurs. I had this sense in my heart of [how] I was supposed to be there. But it wasn't about meeting those people who were speaking and putting it on—the very wealthy. It was like, “There's someone at this place that I'm supposed to meet,” and I knew it in my heart. What turned out was that [with] another person there, we met and connected, and we're going to be doing some work with encouraging, inspiring, and educating physicians. But it all came from going there and sitting beside this person that I was supposed to meet. And he was just an equal.
Dr. Jill 16:53
All that to say, so often, you don't know what the purpose and meaning is that you might think you're going to learn from an expert, but the truth is that person beside you might be your new best friend or your new connection, or it might be the person that gives you an idea for the next transformative experience. So I really like this new consciousness about how you're doing things, and it means a lot to be part of it. I'm honored. So let's, for everyone, give the dates. It's October 15 through 19 or 20th. Is that correct?
Sarah Glynn 17:19
That's right. We kick off on Tuesday evening with the
Iris Global Health Film Festival and your movie Doctor/Patient. And then we end on Sunday with the exhibit hall closing down at 6:00 p.m. on Sunday on Pearl Street.
Dr. Jill 17:35
Fantastic. If people want to know more about where to go and how to sign up, what's your main website or landing page where they can view all of this?
Sarah Glynn 17:43
Oh, okay, so something else that's happening at this event that I am very excited about is the launch of the DragonflyCONNECT app and Dragonfly TV. You can find tickets to the event. You can register for free for every aspect of the event. After you do that, it will take you to ticket upgrade options if you want them, and also some fun giveaways and things. You can find all of that at the DragonflyCONNECT app. It's just DragonflyConnect.app. Go there. The first thing that will pop up is Wellness Week. You can learn more. Scroll down and at the bottom, give us your name and your email, and you'll be good to go. You'll receive more information from us and be prompted to take advantage of some other things.
Sarah Glynn 18:30
The DragonflyCONNECT app—in the long term, what this will do is connect people, businesses, and more events happening grassroots style. Our goal is that people connect year-round, and not just online but in person. It's like an Eventbrite concept inside of the Connect app. So you can host a dinner, you can host a talk in your home or at your office, and invite your community to come in.
Sarah Glynn 18:57
Also, we'll be launching offers so it's like Groupon. I'm a female founder so I didn't just build a product or just an event; I'm building an entire ecosystem here. In this ecosystem, you'll find the people, the businesses, the events, and also offers or discounts on the products and services that you love all in the same app.
Sarah Glynn 19:21
You'll also, last but not least, have access to Dragonfly TV. Everyone who comes in will be able to get a free subscription for a month to watch films from the film festival and then sign up to be part of it to watch our enlightening talk series [with] over 55 experts, giving you Ted-style talks to inspire you to think differently about health, along with lots of amazing aggregated content that we're bringing in. We're taking the best podcasts and turning them into talk shows. Jill, I hope you'll be in there. We're also filming a docuseries and inviting a lot of incredible creators to come onto the platform so that you have a trusted resource for all things health and wellness. I'm calling it ‘edutainment.'
Dr. Jill 20:09
That was one of the things we first talked about. First of all, there's so much vying for attention and so much [content that's] not quality. And I love that you're curating really quality [content]. Not only great content on Dragonfly TV but also the connection component. I think what's happened is we've all gotten in our own homes on our Netflix… In fact, part of the documentary happened because I was sitting in 2021 in my chair meditating and [being] like: “Are people even reading books anymore? I need to be on screens because that's where people are.” And people are—they're scrolling through their things. But hopefully, what you can get from this Dragonfly experience and the app and the connection is quality curated content from people you can trust. The best part is the other C, the connection. Love it.
Sarah Glynn 20:52
Yes, that's right. We had a decision point: Were we going to create another social media app? I made a concrete decision: No. I want people to connect with the products, the services, and the people that we need to thrive. And I want people to get out from behind their screens and go host a party or a dinner or go to a party or go to a dinner, or just go out to coffee and talk to your friends about how you love this new product or decide to all get on board with a vitamin or a new supplement protocol or a new diet for a month.
Sarah Glynn 21:31
The idea here: It is a social marketplace but it's not about necessarily sharing your story through just pictures and posts; we've got plenty of that going on. You actually earn points and rewards on this social media platform by contributing to your community. When you host an event, when you attend an event, when you watch or review a piece of content, you earn points, you earn coins. If you're one of those people into blockchain and Web3, we've got some really exciting things happening on that front with this platform as well. We're going to be building an economy based on giving and contributing to the community, rather than taking or trying to manipulate and getting likes and ultimately just being left empty and void and feeling more separate. So we call it Connect. And at every turn, that's what we're experimenting with—how to connect.
Dr. Jill 22:24
Love, love, love. It's so amazing. Give us the app download website again, because I think that's where people would start. Give us that website again. And if you're listening [while] driving, don't worry; in the show notes, wherever you're watching or listening, you'll find the links here. But go and give that verbally so that people can take note.
Sarah Glynn 22:40
Great. It's DragonflyConnect.app. You can remember dragonflies because they're beautiful—this is not a firefly or a butterfly; this is a dragonfly—and then it's about connecting, and then .app.
Dr. Jill 22:58
Awesome. Very cool.
For those local or not local who want to come to the Wellness Week, you can also get information through the app. Is that the best way to start for the actual Wellness Week? Okay. And again, guys, starting October 15 with my movie. Yay! I'm so honored with that piece, Sarah. But there's going to be so much. You won't want to miss this. Especially if you guys are listening and you're part of our community anywhere in Colorado, you absolutely want to be here. If you're out of state, please come in as well.
Sarah, thank you for being the brilliant entrepreneur that you are. It is so easy to see that you were meant to do this work and you're just getting started.
Sarah Glynn 23:35
Well, thank you. And if you're not local, if you are not based in Colorado, you can still register for Wellness Week and you'll still get access. We have over 200 companies participating with discounts in our offers section. And then we have the films, the enlightening talks, and lots of great content coming your way, wherever you are. Also, you can take the Connect app and create an event in your own community. And stay tuned because we're going to be launching Wellness Weeks in cities across the country and around the world over the coming years.
Dr. Jill 24:08
Amazing! I can't wait to be part of it. I can't wait to see you there and be involved in every level.
Sarah, thanks for taking the time today to explain. And, guys, thanks for listening to Resiliency Radio. You guys know you can get all the show notes, transcripts, and previous episodes anywhere you watch podcasts. And especially if you want the full download transcript [it's] at JillCarnahan.com. Thanks again for joining. If you like this content, subscribe and we'll see you next time.
Sarah Glynn 24:35
Thank you.
Dr. Jill 24:36
Thanks, Sarah.
Sarah Glynn 24:37
Ciao.
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