109. Dr. Gladys McGarey: What 103 Years of Life Can Teach Us About Longevity

What if the real secret to longevity isn't found in science alone, but in how we choose to live, love, and connect every day? In this special posthumous episode of EXTEND, I revisit one of the most meaningful conversations I've ever had — with Dr. Gladys McGarey, the 103-year-old physician known as the Mother of Holistic Medicine and author of The Well-Lived Life. Before her passing, Dr. McGarey shared a century's worth of wisdom on what truly heals us, from the inside out. We talk about how she helped create the holistic medicine movement, the deeper meaning behind her "Five L's" — love, life, laughter, labor, and listening — and how energy, purpose, and community shape both health and happiness. She also shares powerful stories from her early life in India, her encounter with Gandhi, and how compassion became the foundation of her medical practice. Dr. Gladys McGarey reminds us that medicine isn't just about curing disease — it's about nurturing the human spirit, and remembering that love itself is one of the most powerful healing forces we have. We Also Discuss: (00:00) A Century of Healing: The Life and Legacy of Dr. Gladys McGarey (09:45) Growing Up in India and Meeting Gandhi (20:23) How Holistic Medicine Was Born, and Why It Still Matters (25:32) The Physician Within: What True Healing Really Means (27:20) Energy, Purpose, and the Secret to Staying "Alive" at Any Age (33:55) Turning Setbacks into Teachers: Finding Growth in Pain (37:46) Why Community Is the Medicine We're Missing (43:54) The Vision for a Healing Village, Where Love and Life Lead Medicine Thank You to Our Sponsor: IM8: Try IM8 today with a 30-day money back guarantee. You can get 10% off your first order with code DRSHAH at https://im8health.com/discount/DRSHAH. https://im8health.com/discount/DRSHAH. Learn more about Dr. Shah: Website: https://www.drshah.com/ Clinic: https://www.next-health.com/ Instagram:@darshanshahmd https://www.instagram.com/darshanshahmd/ Learn more about Dr. Gladys McGarey: Website:https://gladysmcgarey.com/Instagram: @livingmedicinedr https://www.instagram.com/livingmedicinedr

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:03Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Welcome to Extend with me, Dr. Darshan Shah, a podcast dedicated to cutting-edge science, research, tools, and protocols designed to help you extend your health span. Having become one of the youngest doctors in the country at the age of 21, and trained and board-certified at the Mayo Clinic, I've accumulated three decades of practice as a board-certified surgeon and longevity expert. Over that time, I've discovered that a mere 20% of health knowledge yields 80% of the results when it comes to your health span. We're living in a new era where we are creating a new healthcare system, no longer focused on disease management, but achieving optimal health and vitality. Join me as I interview world-renowned experts, offering you a step-by-step guide to proactively avoid disease, and most importantly, extend your health span.

• 0:49Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Today's episode is one that means a great deal to me personally. I had the profound honor of sitting down with Dr. Gladys McGary, a true pioneer in functional, integrative, and holistic medicine, very shortly before her passing. Dr. McGary's story is one of courage, vision, and heart. She was born in 1920 to missionary doctors in India. After this, she went on to medical school as one of the youngest women ever admitted to medical school, and she went on to deliver babies and treating patients for many decades after that. In fact, she practiced medicine for over seven decades, during which time she founded the American Holistic Medical Association, which helped to lay the foundation for what we now call functional medicine. She believed that healing was never just about fixing the body.

• 1:34Dr. Darshan Shah?

  It was about the spirit. Her teachings centered on love, purpose, and the idea that every person has an innate capacity to heal themselves when they're given the right tools and support. She co-founded the American Holistic Medical Association in 1978, which then turned into the Academy of Integrative Health and Medicine, which all preceded the entire functional medicine movement that we are in today. She was one of the first medical doctors in the United States to use acupuncture and other whole-person healing modalities into her medical practice. Her approach was treating not just the disease or the symptom, but The whole person, their body, their mind, emotion, spirit, lifestyle, all of it, which strongly aligns with what we're doing today at Next Health.

• 2:19Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Even if she didn't use the exact term functional medicine, she was one of the first people to practice this discipline. For example, one of her quotes was, "Holistic medicine means the art and science of healing that addresses the care of the whole person, recognizing the interconnection of all aspects, body, mind, emotions, and spirit." She stressed the physician-patient relationship, lifestyle, natural childbirth, preventative care, and integrating conventional and alternative methods, all the things that we're doing today. Even in her hundreds, Dr. McGary continued to inspire. She inspired me. She wrote bestselling books, gave lectures around the world, and reminded all of us that life doesn't end with age. It actually evolves.

• 3:02Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Her work touched countless lives, including my own, and her influence can be felt in every corner of modern medicine today. This conversation is a tribute to her, her incredible legacy, a woman who helped shape the way we understand healing, vitality, and what it means to live a truly meaningful life. Dr. Gladys McGary passed away on September 28, 2024. This interview was recorded six months before her death. I am blessed to have had the opportunity to have a vibrant conversation with her prior to her passing at 103 years old. At the time, she was living in Scottsdale, Arizona, still active in her foundation, and celebrated worldwide as the mother of holistic medicine. And she was talking to me about her last book, "The Well-Lived Life: A 103-Year-Old Doctor's Six Secrets

• 3:47Dr. Darshan Shah?

  to Healthy and Happiness at Every Age", published April 2, 2024, two days after this recording. I can't wait for you to hear it.

• 4:01Dr. Darshan Shah?

  This week marks the one-year anniversary of the Extend Podcast. It's hard to believe we've already released over 100 episodes featuring some of the greatest minds in health and wellness, from Dr. Jeffrey Bland to Dr. Mark Hyman and many others. These are all pioneers in functional medicine and advanced longevity and leaders And mental health and human performance. It's been an incredible honor to have these conversations and share them with you. If you found value in what we're doing, please share the podcast with your friends and family. We're currently in the top five for medicine and often reach the top 50 for health and wellness. Let's keep spreading this knowledge and helping people live longer, healthier and more fulfilled lives.

• 4:45Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Hello, Dr. McGary. I am so excited to be speaking with you today. I've been looking forward to this conversation for a long time, and I truly appreciate you joining me on this.

• 4:55Speaker 01

  Thank you.

• 4:57Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Yes, I've been following your work for a while and was super excited to get your book and to hear some of your advice. And I'd love to just kind of start, you know, with your story. First of all, Dr. McGary, how old are you now?

• 5:12Speaker 01

  I'm a hundred and three.

• 5:15Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Incredible. I mean, you have so much incredible advice for us, and I'm just so honored to be speaking with you. So once again, thank you.

• 5:23Speaker 01

  Yes, well, I'm in awe too.

• 5:29Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Dr. McGary, I would love to hear a little bit about your story. You know, my background is I'm Indian as well, and I know you spend some of your time in India and had some experiences there that I would love to hear a little bit about that and how that kind of shaped your journey through life.

• 5:46Speaker 01

  Well, really, you know, your childhood does shape your life. And I was very blessed because my parents were both osteopathic physicians who went to India as missionaries. And we were in the North India jungles where my, I grew up in tents, where my parents took their work back into the villages to the poorest of the poor. And I grew up with the kids in the villages. And the village kids would try to rub the point off of my arm.

• 6:26Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Oh, my goodness.

• 6:28Speaker 01

  I was so different colored that they would, you know, they'd come and they'd just rub and rub and it didn't come up.

• 6:37Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Wow.

• 6:39Speaker 01

  So it was a wonderful way to grow up and uh and so I knew when I was a little person that I was a doctor. So my dolls, they got sick. My sister wouldn't let me play with her dolls because they weren't supposed to get sick, but mine did. And so I knew I was a doctor when I was little. And that my parents know that too.

• 7:03Dr. Darshan Shah?

  That's incredible. You know, back then, um, you this was like, what was it like 90 years ago, right? Uh, India was very much, especially in the villages of India, without electricity, without sanitation, without a lot of the modern day comforts that we have. And this is where you were living, huh?

• 7:24Speaker 01

  Can you believe that we're talking like we're talking when as a kid, I didn't even know what a telephone was?

• 7:33Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Incredible.

• 7:34Speaker 01

  When I was born, my dad had to send a five, well, just a message. Why? What is it? Um?

• 7:45Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Telegraph?

• 7:46Speaker 01

  No, it was not a telegram even. I was on, we went underwater to get Cincinnati. The, oh, oh, what, what's that called? Uh, I'll think of it. Anyway.

• 7:59Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Cablegram.

• 7:59Speaker 01

  Cablegram.

• 8:01Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Cablegram. That's right.

• 8:03Speaker 01

  And every letter counted. So in, in sending it. So the message was, girl, well, Taylor.

• 8:16Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Wow, that, that is incredible.

• 8:17Speaker 01

  And now look at what we're doing. Isn't it awesome?

• 8:21Dr. Darshan Shah?

  It's the pace of discovery and innovation and technology, especially over the last 20 years is just mind blowing.

• 8:30Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 8:32Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Yeah, I grew up with the rotary dial phones and now we're talking on Zoom in video in real time. And you're in, you're in Arizona, right? I believe.

• 8:41Speaker 01

  Yeah, absolutely.

• 8:44Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Yes, I'm talking to you from Aspen, Colorado right now.

• 8:47Speaker 01

  It's amazing. You know, when you consider the fact that we now have the opportunity to know people all around the world and speak to them and see them face to face. It's just, huh, awesome.

• 9:07Dr. Darshan Shah?

  It is really, it is really awesome. And I'm glad I have the, I can benefit from that to talk to you today because I want to hear about your story about meeting Mahatma Gandhi.

• 9:17Speaker 01

  Well, that was a, an important moment in time because my parents were, every six and a half years, they had the opportunity to come back to the States for, to go have time with their families and so on. So we were in the train going to Bombay so that we could get on the boat to get to the United States. And I was really unhappy. I was 10 years old. I didn't want to leave India. I didn't understand what America was. I just had no, it was a big scary place for me. And I didn't want to go there. I wanted to stay in India.

• 10:00Speaker 01

  And so we're in the train and come to a station, a train station. So the train slows down and I have my face placed, plastered against the window, looking out at the big crowd of people. But in India, that's nothing. There's always crowds of people. But in front of this crowd of people, there was a small man in a white dhoti and a staff, walking along and nodding to people and people were calling something to him. And just as he

• 10:40Speaker 01

  got to where I was in the, in the window and he was coming up, walking up with the crowd of people, he leaned down and picked, got a flower from a little girl.

• 10:57Speaker 01

  Girl who was holding it up to him. And as he looked up, he looked straight into my eyes. And I, as a ten year old kid, I didn't know what was going on. But I knew that I connected with him. And it was a very important, sort of a magical point in time. And thirty years later, my parents, my mom and dad, worked with him, with Gandhi, it was Gandhi G, of course, worked with him during the partition. When the Hindus and the Mahaswamis were just really having a terrible time

• 11:38Speaker 01

  finding what, how their country was going to be. And so Gandhi and my parents had a very strong connection. And Gandhi gave my mother a shawl that I have upstairs and my dad a funny blanket. In other words, it was a close enough relationship that they felt that they, you know, wanted to do something with each other. It was that kind of a lovely relationship. But it started when I looked into Gandhi's eyes on that train platform.

• 12:16Dr. Darshan Shah?

  That is such an incredible story. And to hear that you were there and a part of this entire transformation through your parents of India and you're witness of such significant events in history is just mind blowing to me. And I'm sure all of that shaped a lot of your thinking around about medicine and around helping people and why. I mean, I know you said you wanted to be a physician since you were a young girl, but it seems like this might have even propelled that journey even further.

• 12:45Speaker 01

  Yes, well, it was important. And, and I knew it was important as a kid. But you, and those kinds of concepts that you really work with when you're thinking about them as a kid. I think as parents, it's important for us to pay attention to these things that our children say. It's like my son, who is here with me, helping me with things as a retired Presbyterian minister. But when he was seven years old, he came into the living room and he says to me, I wish Jesus was here. And I said, well, I do too, but why you? He says, because I've got questions.

• 13:27Speaker 01

  And I said, well, try me, maybe I can help you. He says, but you don't have the answers. And I said, well, just try me. So he says, okay. Now, this is a seven year old. How can God be if he never got started? And I said, oh, well, maybe it's like a circle. It doesn't have a beginning or an end. He says, I knew you didn't have the answer.

• 13:57Dr. Darshan Shah?

  What an insightful question at such a young age. But I did like your answer.

• 14:02Speaker 01

  And my other son, who is here with me today, he's a, he came in when he was four. And he says, I know something. And I said, well, what's that, Bobby? He says, if I make a friend and he makes a friend and he makes a friend, it's gonna go all around the world and come back to me. So of course, he has a hu- human spiritual center in Austin, Texas. You know, it's that kind, when you pay attention to these little people who have their own ideas and their own special reasons

• 14:41Speaker 01

  for being in this earth at this time, it's just awesome. Life is awesome.

• 14:49Dr. Darshan Shah?

  That's so inspiring to hear that you came to this conclusion throughout your life and you're still saying that today.

• 14:57Speaker 01

  Yep, absolutely. Each one of us has our own special place. Our own special place.

• 15:06Dr. Darshan Shah?

  I love it. Can I ask you a little bit more about your journey as a practitioner? Where did you learn holistic medicine? And I mean, I love it that you started the American Holistic Medical Association, but there wasn't no such thing as holistic medicine back in the day. So, you know, we only had traditional kind of medical medicines and surgeries and things like that available to us. Where did you come up with the concept of holistic medicine?

• 15:33Speaker 01

  Well, you know. I went to medical school during World War II. So, everything that we were taught was about killing. Killing, assuring the war effort, but killing diseases and eradicating pain. So that's what medicine was all about for us as physicians. To learn about how to get rid of these aspects of our lives. And somehow, that didn't fit in with how my parents were taking care of people when I was a kid.

• 16:15Speaker 01

  So when I was in medical school and we were learning all about getting rid of stuff. I kept asking questions and the dean sent me to the psychiatrist three different times because I was, she didn't think I was fit for medicine. Well, the psychiatrist just sent me back and said, keep on going. And so that's what I did. And, and we thought, you know, when you know that you're doing what you need to do, you find other people who find the same thing. And so as Bill McGarey and I were talking about what we were doing as we were practicing medicine.

• 16:58Speaker 01

  We weren't, of course, we were dealing with the pain and the diseases. But that wasn't our primary focus. It was getting to know the person and getting to deal with that person for what they were dealing with in their lives. And we became very aware of the fact that medicine had a huge other dimension that the world was not looking at. In the, in the, yeah, in the practice of medicine. So we, with other people who were starting to think the same thing,

• 17:41Speaker 01

  decided that we needed to, actually, there were five of us who got together and said, you know, we need to start something like a holistic group or something. But it took us two years to figure out how to spell holistic.

• 18:00Speaker 01

  The word we were looking at, what that root word was health, healing and holy. We were, we need to get that aspect of our inner being into the practice of medicine. So that it would really be working with true healing, which I believe is love and life.

• 18:27Dr. Darshan Shah?

  That's, that's a wonderful, wonderful answer and we're so happy you took medicine back in that direction. Sometimes, you know, we think about how much we've advanced in medicine and, and we have, you know, we have incredible therapeutics and we have incredible diagnostics, but it seems that we continually forget about exactly what you're talking about, treating the human being as a whole person. And it's, um, you know, I trained in medicine 30 years ago and I was lucky enough to go to a medical school, University of Missouri, Kansas City, where we actually had a course in holistic medicine that was a month long course, but that's all we got. And then it was right back into learning about pharmaceutical agents and surgical techniques.

• 19:08Dr. Darshan Shah?

  And I'm constantly finding I need to remind myself that every patient is a whole being with so many interconnected parts. And like you said, you know, treat, treating them with the love and compassion is so incredibly important for all practitioners.

• 19:24Speaker 01

  Right. And you know, my oldest son is a retired orthopedic surgeon, but when he's ready to start his practice in Del Rio, Texas, he came through feelings and he said, Bob, I'm, I'm real scared. He said, I'm going to go into the world. I'm going to have people's lives in my hands. I don't, I don't know if I can handle that. And I said, well, Carl, if you think you're the one that does the healing, you have a right to be scared. But if you actually. Do the practice of orthopedic surgeons that you've learned, which is awesome.

• 20:05Speaker 01

  You know, if you have the ability to help people as an orthopedic surgeon, and you do it with love and that whole healing attitude, but you reach to the physician within that patient, because that's the person who's going to do the healing. Within each one of us is that actual healing essence, which is, I like to think of as a physician within us. That physician within us knows why we're sick and what we can do about it. And if we as physicians

• 20:49Speaker 01

  reach to that aspect of our patient with love and compassion, we're going to be doing amazing things.

• 20:58Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Very true, very well said.

• 21:03Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Hi, Dr. Shaw here. I want to take a minute to talk to you about cellular health. So in my clinics, I've actually seen 30-year-old people with cells that look like they're pushing retirement. And I've also seen 60-year-olds with cells that look like they're 40 years old. So what's the difference? It's really about how fast their telomeres are breaking down. Your cells you see are like phones, and they have limited cellphone battery. Poor sleep, stress, processed foods, all of these things can drain that battery way faster than it should. So this is the reason why I partnered with IM8. IM8 powers that cellular battery. It's not just another multivitamin. It's a comprehensive 92-ingredient formula designed specifically for cellular health and longevity.

• 21:48Dr. Darshan Shah?

  I'm talking 900mg of vitamin C. That's like 20 oranges worth of DNA protection. The clinical dose of CoQ10 that you need to power your cellular engine. You also get zinc, selenium, vitamin E, alpha-lipoic acid. All of these work synergistically for cellular repair and protecting your telomeres. So instead of taking a handful of pills every day and all these supplements. IMAID actually gives you everything that you need in one scientifically formulated system. And this isn't just a theory anymore. IMAID had partnered with Oxford University, the International Space Station, San Francisco Research Institute, and they've done studies and they've gotten this NSF certified to truly power your health.

• 22:31Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Most people are aging twice as fast as they should, unfortunately. You don't have to be one of them. Try IMAID. I actually have a discount secured for you. If you go to drshah.com/ima or go to imadehealth.com/discount/drsah and you can get 20% off with my discount code, Dr. Shah. You can also find the link below.

• 22:54Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Dr. McGary, you wrote this incredible book called The Well-Lived Life, where you talk about secrets to health and happiness. And to be honest with you, I've never really seen anyone presented in the way that you have. And I'd love to ask you a few questions about some of these secrets. One of them you talk about is how we use our energy, how we spend our energy, and how to feel motivated and full every day. I love that particular topic because I feel like almost all of us now, living through this modern world, we feel drained of energy every day. So how do you advise people to spend their energy?

• 23:31Speaker 01

  To be aware of the fact that we have choices. We have choices about how to spend our energy. And if we worry a lot about the whatevers and I think that that's where our energy should be, that's where our energy will be. In other words, for me, it's kind of like looking over my shoulder at what it is that has to be done and whatever. And if I keep my neck, my head turned. To the, say, to the right, and I keep looking back there over my shoulder.

• 24:13Speaker 01

  All I'm gonna see is hardships and hard work and, and all of that. And like, like so many of us, we could get drained of that energy. It just empties out there. And then we get a stiff neck. And then what are you gonna do? You know? But if you pull your head back and look for the light and look for love and look for the actual healing aspect of, of who we are and who our patient is, it adds to our energy. It doesn't deplete it. It, you know, we, we join together because life and love have to move and they have to be in touch with others.

• 24:58Speaker 01

  And we have to reach for that. If we don't, it dies.

• 25:03Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Yes, well, yes, exactly. And what I will say is, you know, you talk a lot about movement in the book and you mentioned movement and the concept that we have to constantly keep moving, spiritually, physically, involved in life. But we get roadblocks sometimes, right? Traumas occur, we get stuck. How do you, how do you tell people to manage those roadblocks? What do you do when people get to a roadblock? Whether it be their health or just spiritually or anything?

• 25:33Speaker 01

  Well, if they don't think, if they're stuck and they don't think they can move and they're not told they can and they're, they are pointed towards getting rid of something without adding to their juice, their own energy to their own. You know, to me, my patient is the person that I love. It's the person that I... Try to get to understand enough that I can help them as, you know, it's sort of like, if I have a flashlight and I'm walking in a dark path and all I can take is one step at a time.

• 26:18Speaker 01

  But as I'm walking this path, I see a little glimmer of light over here or over there, and I add my light to that. All of a sudden, we've got a big light. You know, it's the ability to look for ways in which we can reach to each other and become brighter lights instead of reaching into the dark and just, you know, sort of having the light fade.

• 26:47Dr. Darshan Shah?

  It's a beautiful analogy. It's beautiful. And you refer to, you know, the juice, helping people find their juice of everyday life and having a purpose that they're aiming for. But I feel, I feel that, you know, I'm lucky that I have a purpose and it gets me my juice every single day. How can people find purpose and meaning in their lives, especially if they're sick?

• 27:10Speaker 01

  Start looking for it, because if you don't look for it, you won't find it. And people are told to look for the light. They're not told to, that there is hope out there, that there is love out there, that there's somebody there who really cares about them, that they're, unless they're looking for them. If you, if you think that everybody's against you and that you, all you have to do is just battle your way through all these negatives whatevers, it's, it's dark, it's horrible. But if you can start looking past that, beyond that, deeper that,

• 27:53Speaker 01

  and into your own being about what it is that you're really looking for.

• 28:00Speaker 01

  Then you find it because it's there just the sun never goes away. The sun always comes up. And so does the moon, so do the stars, and so does love, and so does hope. You know, it's it's all part of that energy that is divine energy. That is who we are as human beings. Divine energy that has the ability to choose. We have free will and we have a ability to choose. And nothing else on this planet that's living has the same opportunity as we do.

• 28:43Speaker 01

  So if we reach for that and start using it, we find it.

• 28:50Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Yes, yes, excellent sage advice. You talk also about just looking at your everything that happens to your life. And instead of having a negative view, you use it as a teaching moment. You say everything is your teacher, right? And sometimes it's hard to do that, right? Because when you're in a negative situation, when you're something hurts you or harms you, it's hard to see the silver lining or it's hard to see the learnings from it. But how do you talk to like, and I I'm referring specifically to patients too. Like, say, someone gets diagnosed with cancer and they come to you. And and how do you talk to people about learning from these setbacks?

• 29:29Speaker 01

  Well, you know, it was what five weeks ago, something like that, that I was riding my tricycle and it bucked me off the tricycle, bucked me off and threw me into the yard and I broke three ribs.

• 29:47Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Oh, no, I'm sorry to hear that.

• 29:49Speaker 01

  Yeah, well, they're healed now. And it's a process of knowing that those bones were going to heal. And I I ended up in the hospital, but, you know, life goes on. And

• 30:06Speaker 01

  It wasn't fun, it hurt, and I don't like being in the hospital. And, uh, you know, but there it was. And I had the opportunity to work with these ribs, and they're all healed.

• 30:22Dr. Darshan Shah?

  That's a, that's a great example. It, it's a setback and you work with it and you just move forward and you learn from it.

• 30:30Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah, even something like that, you know, the, the, uh, I have a friend who, uh, really injured her ankle badly and kept her for doing something that she really, really wanted to do. But in the process of having to do something else, she learned a whole lesson that was important to her.

• 30:57Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Uh huh, right, right. Dr. McGary, you know, you talk about, a lot about, um, building community around you. And what we see now instead is there's a lot of loneliness in the world, especially as people become older and less able to travel, have less family around them. How do you consistently and constantly maintain a community throughout your life?

• 31:22Speaker 01

  You know, I'm in such awe of community. Look what you and I have right now, you know? And I actually can't see well enough to know what's going on. I can see you as an outline, but I have glaucoma in a blind spot. So I, my, my, I can't see well. I can't hear well, I've got hearing aids in. I have to walk with a walker, but I walk. And I walk around my house and I walk outside of my house, but I walk with a walker. And I have somebody walking with me so that if I do like get bucked off

• 32:05Speaker 01

  a tricycle or whatever, there's somebody there to help. But the, but I, so I, I have my own little community right here. And ye- yesterday, Easter, I had, uh, 11 people in my home for a while because these are my A community, but look at what else I have as community. I have you guys, I have the people who are listening to me. I have the people who who are wanting to hear something that says there is community

• 32:41Speaker 01

  out there and making actual contact with that community so you can learn and love.

• 32:51Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Yes, and with technology nowadays, I feel some people say that social media, et cetera, has made it harder to find community and people are getting lonelier. But it's almost counterintuitive because here we are talking on Zoom and, you know, I was never part of your immediate community, but now, like you say, we are in a community and there's so many new methods to reach out to other people. And I think you have to use technology in the right way to find a community that you want to be a part of and then have the motivation to actually get into it and engage with that community.

• 33:27Speaker 01

  You create your own community. You reach out to other people who are reaching out to other people who are, you know, and so it goes.

• 33:37Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Right. What inspired you to write this book? I mean, you didn't have to write this book, but it seems like you had a message you wanted to put out there in the world.

• 33:47Speaker 01

  Well, I did have it. I did have to write this book because I had written five other books, but they were all about medicine, on what, how we could, the first one was about birthing because I was so concerned about how we were actually medicating women into foolishness so they didn't even know they had a baby, you know, the whole process. My first two children, it was 24 hours before I knew I had sons. But anyway, it was that kind of a process. But in the process, what we have learned is that we can actually do this.

• 34:32Speaker 01

  And in the process of doing what it is that we can do, we've created a community. And that's you and me and all the other people that are listening to us. And, you know, it's, how was that possibly imaginable when I didn't even know what a telephone was way back when?

• 34:54Dr. Darshan Shah?

  It's incredible. One of the most powerful messages in your book, or one of the, you, you, you say you have six secrets to health and happiness. One of the most powerful ones is love is the most powerful medicine. And yes, I'd love for you to talk about that in your own words.

• 35:09Speaker 01

  Well, you know, I have what I call my five Ls. The first two are love and life, and they go together. They can't, they don't function without each other. It's like a pregnancy. The mother and the baby are one. And during the pregnancy, they, they, they just manifest that way. And that's the way they are. The baby becomes a living entity when the baby takes his first breath. But until that time, they're, they're a dual. So love and life go together. They have to go together. They belong together. The third one is laughter. Laughter without love is cruel.

• 35:52Speaker 01

  It, it causes families to break up. It causes wars. It causes, it's, it's mean, it's cold. But laughter with love is joy and happiness. And then there's labor. Labor without love is, oh, too many diapers. I've got to go to work. This is awful. And labor with love is a bliss. It's why you do what you do. It's what I'm doing, what I'm doing. That's, and the fifth one is, is listening. Listening with love is actually hearing what the people are saying and understanding it.

• 36:35Dr. Darshan Shah?

  I love that. Those are, those five Ls all go together with love. And you're right, having any of those without love is counterproductive. But with love, they make life just incredible.

• 36:50Speaker 01

  Right.

• 36:50Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Yes. So I'd love to talk to you about some practical things. You know, you seem like you're, you're super healthy. You're riding a tricycle. You're writing books. I'd love to hear a little bit about your kind of routines that you keep in your life right now to maintain your health.

• 37:07Speaker 01

  Well, you know, you. Have to take care of, I eat what I eat and I do what I do and it's the way life just goes on. You find what works for you and you do it. And what works for me isn't necessarily what works for somebody else. But, you know, I can uh tell people what I do and and and they can do it if they want to. But that's not what really needs to be looked at. We each one need to look at what it is. First of all, what we choose to do. Secondly, what works for us.

• 37:53Speaker 01

  Because, you know, I have a son who can't eat garlic. Well, I like garlic. So I I eat food that has garlic in it, but he can't. So how how we try to uh find something for somebody else is is friendly and it's nice and maybe we can. But the person has to find it for themselves.

• 38:18Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Great advice. Thank you for that. So Dr. McGary, what's next for you?

• 38:23Speaker 01

  Well, I really am dreaming and visioning a village for living medicine. Where everybody that steps onto the property, the healing starts. Because everything there is based on human choice, on love, on laughter and hope. And looking for the true healing, which is love and life.

• 38:52Dr. Darshan Shah?

  That would be awesome. I'd be one of the first people there to be a participant.

• 39:00Dr. Darshan Shah?

  One, that is fantastic. Dr. McGary, this was such a beautiful conversation and I'm so happy to have had this with you. I hope it inspires people to read your book because I was so inspired by your book. And I think that more people need to read it and I truly thank you for putting your message out there.

• 39:16Speaker 01

  Thank you. Thank you.

• 39:18Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Thank you for everything.

• 39:21Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Thank you so much for listening to the podcast today. Please remember to subscribe if you liked this episode and give us a good review and share a link with your friends. It really helps to support all of our efforts. I also want to remind you that the information shared on this podcast is for educational purposes only and is not intended to replace professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Please consult with your healthcare provider or physician before making any decisions or taking any action based on what you hear today, especially if you have any underlying health conditions or on any medications. Your doctor knows your personal health situation the best, and it's always important to seek their guidance.