A glamorous lady walked over to my table after dinner. “Can I sit for a moment?” she asked, her eyes filled with tears. She told me she’d felt trapped in her body for the past 18 months after suffering from both long COVID and RSV, so severe her white blood cells hadn’t been able to recover and she was chronically fatigued. For a year and a half, she could only speak or walk for a maximum of 10 minutes before she had to rest. As we talked more, it clicked. I’d seen her around the retreat over the past week — this was the same lady I’d sat next to when we were both having an infusion. We hadn’t talked at the time, as she was asleep. I would never have thought this was the same woman. Now she was full of emotion and excitement as she expressed gratitude for what she called a second chance at life.

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Everything triggered his gut condition, and I could really empathise. Walking through the forest at 7am with trees so tall we could barely see the tops, I explained the steps I took which ultimately healed my condition and I reeled off a list of the food and drink items I had to avoid as one part of the process. His list was at least four times as extensive as mine. “I have to run everything I eat through AI,” he told me, “down to every ingredient as there are far too many to remember.” We both understood exactly how it feels to lose a week of your life with destabilising symptoms every time our condition flared. It was so satisfying to see him enjoying a generous meal plan of delicious food tailored exactly to him with no symptoms whatsoever as he embraced the teachings and philosophies that will absolutely benefit his long-term health.​​