Combining Eastern Medicine, Western Medicine and Technology for Personalized Wellness

0:00Hey, I like to welcome you to another episode of Mission Matters. My name is Adam Torres, and if you'd like to apply to be on the show, just head on over to Mission Matters.com and click on VR Guests to Apply. All right, so today I'm in Santa Monica, California, where it's startup wellness and the guest is Jeffrey Van Jeff. Welcome to the show. Thank you so much. So entrepreneurship, what kind of things are your industries were re-emballed in before? That's interesting. Yeah, I was always involved in direct to consumer type of marketing and brands and companies. So work with some different sports stuff, entertainment, and I have a background in financial services many, many moons ago, but I've always been entrepreneurial and I like innovating and ideating and creating things that ideally can help people. So obviously, a lot of different things you could have done with that skill set. Where did you see the opportunity here?

1:01Like why this why now? Yeah, so 10 years ago when I met my partners, I have two amazing partners, Patricia Myers, who are sitting over here. Great champion who I don't see here tonight. And then we have an extraordinary team of leaders from Hadass who's over there, our CEO and our director of frequency time. Oh, Margot Chambers, our extraordinary wellness director. I was just really fortunate to fall into a group of incredibly passionate people that are interested in making a difference in people's lives. And I was at a stage of my life at 46 years old where I thought, you know, this is a good time to maybe shift from just helping companies acquire customers and do something for humanity. So that was kind of the impetus of what we did.

2:01What does it take to, so you have the team, it seems like the team you met the partners, you're starting to maybe recruit a partner to or other members of the team, but what does it take to like launch something like this? Like how big is this place? First off, like it's big. Well, it's about 4,500 square feet, this particular center, right? So I don't know if that's big. That's a nice size. It's actually really lucky. Kind of a fun story is this used to be the production space for the fairly brothers who are responsible for a lot of incredibly funny movies. And when we were looking around for spaces, not only did we really like what we saw in terms of the vibe and the fact that, you know, people come here and kind of get lost. They don't remember that they're on Wilshire Boulevard in the middle of the city. It's kind of a sanctuary. But we liked the fact that for many years there was a lot of laughter here and a lot

3:02of good energy, right? Dang, I'm feeling that, yeah. That's cool. I'm in. So you have this idea, you have the space. How executing, executing to make this alive, like programming, modalities, like what went into the thought process of that? Because there's so much you could put in. Yeah, so it was really pretty inspiring to all of us to watch how frequency medicine was becoming something that was acceptable. I think for decades and decades and decades and decades, this has been available across the world. And we watched it become more mainstream. But we also saw that there was so many wellness spots popping up across the city, especially in LA and in big markets in the country that we wanted to be very intentional in creating

4:03a space that was one of a kind from the standpoint that this space here is the combination of Eastern medicine. We do over 40 different modalities of Eastern medicine in this building. And I don't know of another place in the country that does 40 modalities of Eastern medicine. We have extraordinarily gifted clinical therapists and psychiatrists here. And we also have this amazing technology. And so we thought, how fun to combine East, West and Tech under one roof and really have it be individualized for each person. This is not the place people come to come do red light and pop in and do a cold plunge or a lymphatic massage. There's so many amazing places in town that offer that, right? Really amazing places. We wanted this to be a very curated individualized place where we could help people that were

5:07interested in viewing wellness as a destination, right? A never-ending destination. And so that's what we did. And it's been really a blessing. Yeah. When you talk about modalities, mentioned 40. Obviously, when I cover them all and we're going to open this up for fireside chat too and some of your other partners will be able to talk as well in terms of, but some ideas. Some ideas. Fescarpea at home that aren't here today and aren't going to be involved later. Or be able to ask questions. You know, it's funny when I say 40 modalities of Eastern medicine and I try to list them all at all. Last time. I tap out at like 12 or 14. Not a better go order, by the way. I really should, I really should commit to go. But it's acupuncture. It's cupping. You see, I've all said on one foot. I heard it. I heard it. It's cupping. It's raky. It's holistic chiropractic. It's functional medicine. It's nutrition. It's palates. It's gong. It's tai chi.

6:08It's fill. Anything else? It's it's tuning forks. It's Guishan. And it's all highly curated. Margot Chambers is our Eastern medicine director, really the wellness director along with the fill of this incredible place. And they together really carry the protocols and the treatment plan for each client based on clients presenting issues, right? Their interest. And so that's just an example, massage, of course, right? Lymphatic massage. Maybe that's 15. I can't list the rest. But at some point, I'll remember. And well, in alphabetical and on one foot. So you realize that you're CO, by the way, like, thought of an extra layer of pain on top of it. That was great. Probably for the super-newers in here, you get it.

7:09Yeah. So that's on the Eastern side. So for those that either in this room or at home that haven't been to, let's say, a holistic center, which by the way, quick, quick aside, like I will always think about this, how you mentioned, okay, well, they're popping up everywhere. Yeah. I'm such a fan of that. Like, where I grew up, when I grew up, like, the recorder bar was popped up everywhere. Like, people, there were too many of those. Why don't we say there's too many wellness centers? Not saying you said that by the way, but like, you know, I love the trend. I want one of these or a wellness center on the... They're just pretty inspiring. Yeah. You know, and it's starting to move across the country. I love that. I'll just share a cool story. So I have a 20 going on 35 year old daughter. And she's in college in Mississippi. Yeah. A California girl went to the South, the college and loves it. And she said, Dad, I'm going to go to a wellness, dirty today. She told me today, a dirty, yeah. Yeah. It's party, but with a D. And I said, I said, what is that?

8:12She said, you don't know what a dirty is. Yeah. It's a dear time party, but the fact that these zero point zero, these kids, I'm 57 years old, so I can call them kids. They were going to a wellness, dirty, on a Thursday to do breath work. Yes. Sound bath and mindfulness. I mean, I promise that 20 I was not doing that. Right? I promise I'm not going to ask a follow up question. Yeah. And it's really inspiring. And you see it even in real estate, huge movement around wellness. And I think it's just super cool. It's really inspiring. So you mentioned aside from modalities, but you mentioned, okay, prescribing, you didn't use that word, but talking about whatever the protocol was going to be or what it, correct me on the words one when you get to you. But what does that look like for somebody who goes through that process for those that have never been to a wellness center like this or at home that have never like, what does

9:14that look like? Yeah. Thanks. So we kind of like to look at this spot as from diagnostics to concierge medicine and everything in the middle. And so we rely heavily on an assessment process, right? This is done diagnostically with some of the technology that I'll let Phil talk about a little while. We rely heavily on biomarkers, which I think are a very potent way to really understand in real time what's going on with us, right? Certainly how people are feeling and what they can articulate about their own interests. But then we do everything from clinical assessments to Eastern medicine assessments. We want to really be strong on the front end to develop a treatment plan that can help people not only with anything acute that they're dealing with. We see people come in here all the time with acute stuff going on, whether it's chronic

10:16pain, whether it's feeling crummy, whether it's not sleeping well, whether it's anxiety and depression and trauma and PTSD and all the stuff we go through is human beings, right? And in this journey. And so that assessment process really helps. And then there's a lot of clients that come that are just interested in preventative health, longevity, right, living the best versions of ourselves or our best lives, right? So it's very heavy on the diagnostics and on the assessment process. So I know for many of us, I'll speak on myself. Sometimes if you're in pain or if something's going on, like we just get used to it. Like we just get used to it. I have so many friends that have gone through different things, the different centers. And they're like, wow, I didn't know like life was supposed to be that way. Like I didn't know that I didn't have to have that pain or that issue or whatever else. When do you recommend that somebody, you know, come in and just walk to the doors?

11:16Well just wait till you're my agent. I get hurt sleeping. Right. Fortunately, I don't all the way up, but it gets worse for sure. I mean, I think it's all individual lives, right? We're all used to having, you know, aches and pains or bumps and bruises, but it's not a requirement. Right. There's solutions. And this may not be the right spot for everybody. Again, we're by assessment only. We're very selective about who we work with. But I think, you know, all of us should strive to be as pain free as possible. Some of the technology in the building, certainly some of the Eastern modalities, working in concert together, really is quite remarkable. Patricia and Greg and I and our leadership team, like we take some credit for this, but it's really this amazing group of healers that we have in this building, right?

12:19From Phil and Margo and this incredible team. I mean, it's unbelievable. Healers are just wired different. Right. So whether it's a little stiffness or something more chronic, these folks work tirelessly to help people feel better. And when we're out of pain, right? Life is just so much more enjoyable and mentally, our mental health is so much better. And so when would I recommend really, you know, anytime, but it's, it's, I don't think pain is something that we have to live with, right? There is solutions out there that doesn't have to necessarily be a pharmaceutical drug. And not that we're against it, like we're this holistic East, West, Ted, place where we don't, we believe in Western medicine. We believe there's a place for it. We also know that it's often highly ineffective and in concert with other modalities, right?

13:24People's healing and overall well-being may be expedited, you know, by combining all of this amazing stuff at our disposal. Let's talk high level, whether it's from the entrepreneur side or from the healing side, like, what's the, what's the vision? Like for the overall start, well, that's because I can see this, like even bringing together people like this and hosting these events and bringing the community together. Like it's different, it's different. Like what's the vision for this overall? Yeah, thanks. And thanks for this event. We were looking forward to it. And we have had some amazing events here. This place sets up really beautifully and we have this amazing patio. And so if anyone wants to have events, we're happy to host. I think the vision is obviously to help as many people as we can. And then I do feel, along with our partners, that there's a broadening of what we want to do around different emergence that we're going to offer.

14:25Kind of like these three-day, four-night emergence. We're very passionate about executive burnout. Just burnout in general. I think we can all probably relate, right? Show our hands how many people can relate to a little bit of burnout. I think our future has to do with opening our doors to not just the local neighborhood. And I was amazed by the way I talked to like 10 of you guys that came from so far away just to be here. So whatever you guys are doing, good job. But I think that's part of our future is just opening up our doors for people around the world to come around different subject matter like burnout and grief and loss and making very dynamic experiences over several days because we're so blessed to have such gifted clinicians and healers and thought leaders as part of our team that we have the recipe

15:27to create programming. It doesn't have to be from people all over. I know a lot of our clients, if we turned on this three-day, four-night corporate burnout immersion, they want to come. So we would do it in a beautiful setting. So I think opening up to some different programming is kind of the vision for us. Awesome. All right. So this will be my last question. Then we'll open it up. And this one's more so for the YouTube audience. So the last thing I want you to do, Jeff, look into the camera and how can people learn more? How can they follow up? Sure. Thanks. Go to startupwellness.com and feel free to check us out. You can give us a call and anything we can do to help, it's our pleasure. All right. Fantastic.