Wellness + Wisdom Episode 401
CEO and Founder of Botanic Tonics, Jerry Ross, shares his personal alchemy for wellness, his past with addiction and alcohol, how he came to create his product, Feel Free, and how this special plant medicine can bring us back home to our center.
Learn about the key ingredients in Botanic Tonics' Feel Free product, kratom and kava, and how they can help you unlock greater wellness.
‘Paul Chek gives his students Feel Free to help them understand that this feeling of freedom and being centered is what they can feel like all the time. Now that they know what the goal is, they can go put the work in.' – JW Ross”
Listen To Episode 401 As Jerry Ross Uncovers:
[1:30] The Alchemy Of Wellness
- Botanic Tonics | Feel Free
- Enter our Episode 400 Giveaway!
- Drink LMNT – Zero Sugar Hydration: Get your free LMNT Sample Pack, you only cover the cost of shipping
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What kratom and kava are, Jerry's first experience with them plus the many benefits of them in Feel Free.
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His experience working in the energy sector and why he decided to leave it.
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Why he turned to substances at an early age to help him open up and feel comfortable around people.
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Jerry’s relationship with his family and why it was never a very close one and how that impacted him.
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Why there’s an upside to fathers not showing up for their children: building resilience and creating incredible things for yourself.
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Different feelings we create with money and how to develop a healthy relationship with it.
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The hole Jerry tried to fill by buying things and spending money that he couldn’t satisfy.
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Why success and money didn’t make Jerry happy but miserable.
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How Jerry’s habits with alcohol continually got worse and began to create problems in his life including a crash in 2008.
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Jerry’s journey to healing at an addiction recovery center, Talbott Campus.
- Talbott Campus
[21:30] How Does Addiction Begin?
- 361 Luke Storey
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Exploring how addiction can begin in a person’s life.
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The moment Jerry realized that just because you think something, it doesn’t make it’s true.
- The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle
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Cal’s own journey doing the inner work and realizing that many of his beliefs that he had held on for years were not true.
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The power of knowing that getting uncomfortable is part of the healing process.
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Who Jerry used to be as success led him to have controlling behavior and see people as resources or assets to get to the goals he wanted accomplish.
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How Jerry has broken through his past behaviors and come to understand that people are not bad, they just don’t know that their behavior is bad.
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Jerry’s concept of Cardboard Angels: At the front, people look great but when you step around the side, there’s no depth there.
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Why many Cardboard Angels have had traumatic experiences in life such as death or disease.
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Understanding that we all have a choice to make: We can do the inner work or we can become the victim.
- Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
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Why going through lessons is what life is all about on our individual paths to enlightenment.
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The importance of moving onto the next chapter of growth instead of hanging on when it’s time to go to avoid suffering.
- The Way of the Superior Man by David Deida
[33:30] How JW Created Feel Free
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Josh’s experience doing deep inner work and forgiving himself for what he’s done in the past.
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How Jerry made amends with what didn’t serve him yet those things still helped him grow.
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Jerry’s mission to find out what he’s being called to do during his lifetime.
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What he learned speaking with migrant workers and one of their biggest struggles being transaction fees and robbery when sending money back home.
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How he transitioned his career to focus on financial technology and create an app to connect to the banks to send money in real time at less cost.
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Why transitioning in life can be scary but extremely rewarding plus what Jerry’s biggest reward on this path has been.
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The fact that Jerry didn’t feel comfortable in his skin after he stopped drinking alcohol and how that led him to seek something healthier with Botanic Tonics’ Feel Free.
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How he was introduced to kratom while living in South East Asia and decided to mix it with kava to create Feel Free.
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Why alcohol is so hard physically on the body as it is highly processed compared to other substances like kratom and kava.
[44:30] A Shift In The Plant Medicine World
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The tremendous amount of suffering that we are seeing going on in the world because of the impact of COVID-19, lockdowns, and the division it has created in society.
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How Jerry sees Feel Free as a shift in the plant medicine world.
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The impact that Botanic Tonics has had on its customers with Feel Free.
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Why we shouldn’t automatically rely on synthetic drugs first but instead focus more on the healing power of plants.
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How western society has forgot how beneficial plant medicines can be as we got off the path with pharmaceutical drugs.
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How kratom and kava are a safer form of plant medicine for those who have not tried or do not wish to try psychedelics or Ayahuasca.
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Why Jerry has put his phone number on the bottle of Feel Free.
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Stories of some of the people who have called him.
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The hundreds of different strains of kava and kratom that exist and how Jerry combined them together after testing combinations on himself.
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His experience having a vision and understanding that Feel Free was going to work at some point with all of his efforts.
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The different elements of kava compared to kratom plus why certain types will help you be uplifted or downlifted.
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Why Feel Free doesn’t use extracts or synthetics and why that has been challenging to make.
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How Mother Nature works in such a beautiful way to heal us that you cannot get the same effect from a synthetic.
[56:30] Mother’s Nature Intention To Help Us Heal
- Josh’s experience taking just a kratom tablet alone and what breakthroughs it led him to in his relationship after an argument.
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Other breakthroughs Feel Free has led to including making people nicer, more fun, and connected with those in their circle.
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Why Jerry chose to abuse the kratom and kava for a period of time during his research in creating Feel Free.
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Cal’s experience using Feel Free since Josh introduced him to it in December 2020 and why he’s excited to invest in it.
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How Feel Free has helped people with ADHD focus on their tasks at end.
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How JW found out that he was only really getting 2.5-3 hours of sleep each night by mostly sleeping on his back.
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Why it's important to sleep on your side and how different props and techniques can help you do that.
[1:10:30] How To Live Life Free
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JW's recipe for living life free.
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Why creating Feel Free as a contribution to society, not just to support himself, has been a great step in helping him live life freely and be happy.
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Why so many people have been feeling wrong that they don't know what it means to feel right, comfortable in your skin, and be centered.
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What happens when you seek help and knowledge but then you don't integrate and embody what you have learned.
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How much he recommends drinking when you first try Feel Free.
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What you should expect when you first try Feel Free.
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Next steps for Botanic Tonics and what JW wants to create next for people on their quest for greater wellness.
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JW's hope to educate people on the power of making choices for themselves instead of believing the only way to get better is with pharmaceutical drugs.
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The importance of balancing your gut microbiome and body chemistry so that you can think clearly, have clear gut instinct, and make decisions.
- The Hour Between Dog and Wolf by John Coates
[1:28:30] Coming Back Home To You
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Exploring the enteric nervous system and the great amount of messages that are being sent to and from the gut and the brain.
- Healthy Gut, Healthy You by Dr. Michael Ruscio
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Next steps for Botanic Tonics to set up clinical trials of his product and future products to help the brand grow.
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Why JW feels that cannabis makes people feel comfortable but it limits people from increasing their potential.
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How we've lost our intuitive nature and being one with ourselves plus how to get that wisdom back.
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The harm that America's Sickcare is creating for the country.
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What we need the school system to provide to our children with life skills so that they can live life well now.
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Breaking down the phrase “waking up” or “being awake” and how it has been overused in the spiritual and wellness worlds.
- Cured Nutrition
- Belcampo Meat Co
Power Quotes From The Show
[click_to_tweet tweet=”‘I realized during that period of deep reflection and inner work that my purpose wasn't just about me, it was about doing something of value to society. It's about building value but not just value for me.' – JW Ross” quote=”‘I realized during that period of deep reflection and inner work that my purpose wasn't just about me, it was about doing something of value to society. It's about building value but not just value for me.' – JW Ross”]
Not All Thoughts Are True
“Just because you think something, it doesn't mean it's true. In fact, a lot of what you think is not true; it's just noise. It's just your brain exercising something and the moment I realized that, it was a real lightbulb moment because what I had been trying to do before was to control it. I was trying to get that voice in my brain to go away but it is never going away. It will be there but it doesn't mean that I have to engage with it. Not just with that voice in my head but with many things in my life.” – Jerry Ross
How ‘Feel Free' Came To Be
“Alcohol was out of my life but I still didn't feel completely comfortable in my skin and I was looking for something to help me with that but not have the negative effects that alcohol had the more and more I consumed of it. I was looking for something that wasn't inebriating or limiting. I wanted something that made me feel comfortable socially but would also enhance my ability to focus. When I lived in Southeast Asia for a period of time I was introduced to kratom and then I remembered my experience trying kava in Vanuatu. That led to the idea of mixing the plants in their native form, not processed.” – Jerry Ross
Creating Value For Others
Links From Today's Show
- Enter our Episode 400 Giveaway!
- Drink LMNT – Zero Sugar Hydration: Get your free LMNT Sample Pack, you only cover the cost of shipping
- Talbott Campus
- The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle
- Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
- The Way of the Superior Man by David Deida
- 390 Hamilton Souther
- The Hour Between Dog and Wolf by John Coates
- Healthy Gut, Healthy You by Dr. Michael Ruscio
- Cured Nutrition
- Belcampo Meat Co
- Leave Wellness Force a review on iTunes
- breathwork.io
- M21 Wellness Guide
- Botanic Tonics | Feel Free
About JW Ross
JW Ross is a lifelong innovator and investor in the international business and financial world. Jerry has been married for over 20 years and he has two grown children who are also active in business and finance. He currently lives and works in Santa Monica, California where he is an avid yoga practitioner.
