Welcome back to The Inspired
Living with Autoimmunity podcast.
I'm your host, Julie Michaelson, and today
I'm joined by William Branham, retired
Navy Seal and Seal Sniper instructor.
William is the founder of Naked Warrior
Recovery, a C B D company that's
focusing on ending veteran suicide.
He's an awesome public speaker and
coach, and shares his five seal
secrets drawing from his 26 years
of experience in the SEAL teams
to train high performers and CEOs.
But don't worry.
That also directly translates to our
conversation about wellness today.
In today's conversation, we discuss how
William's experience and knowledge can
directly translate to facilitate healing.
We explore the ins and outs of C
B D, including how it can set the
stage for healing and how to know
if you're using the best products.
William also shares how his
get naked mindset is essential
to develop for true wellness.
William, welcome to the podcast.
Thanks
for having me stoked to be here.
I am excited for our conversation.
I, I just know already,
it's gonna be amazing.
I wanna start a little bit with
story I'd, I'd love for you to share.
You have an incredible journey and
you didn't just wake up one morning
and decide you were gonna, you
know, be this incredible coach and
speaker and start a C b D company.
So share your journey with us
I'm not even sure where to start.
Let's see.
If I go back in time, rewind a little bit.
We'll, we'll go back to the summer
of my 11th to 12th grade high school.
I grew up in a little town outside of
Meridian, Mississippi, was very poor, had
sort of a mediocre mindset, however, Like
very poor, like free lunches all through,
you know, first through 12th grade poor.
But I was heavily involved in the Boy
Scouts, the Boy Scout organization
I was a part of, paid for me to
go to the, this National Jamboree.
It happens every four years.
I went to the event, I met a kid there.
He had this vision of, you know, when
he graduated from high school, he
wanted to go to the Naval Academy.
He wanted to fly F 14
Tomcat, like Top Gun.
And he wanted to be a Navy Seal.
And I was like, dude, what?
What's a Navy Seal?
I have no idea what that is.
You know, cuz back then there
was, I, I didn't have cable.
There was like four
channels on my television.
There was certainly no internet.
I am very young, but you know,
it was Internet's not that old.
Young as he looks, ladies and
gentlemen, cuz I have asked and
I almost fell off my stool
And
weren't, nobody was talking
about Navy Seals either
No, there were no, there were no books.
There was nothing.
Maybe a couple of books from like Vietnam
era, but not a, not a lot out there.
And you know, there were, you know,
people I knew about Green Berets cuz
John Wayne was a Green Beret in Vietnam,
at least in the movie Green Berets.
John Rambo was a he was an army
ranger, so I knew about that.
I had heard about, you know Marine
Corps Scout snipers, maybe marine recon.
I'd heard of those things.
I'm like, so, so, and I always knew
I wanted to be part of some sort of
small, elite military organization.
I just didn't know what that was.
And so this kid was like,
yeah, it'll be a Navy Seal.
And I'm like, what's that?
And he explained it's the hardest
military training in the world.
They jump outta airplanes, they blow
stuff up, they do all sorts of cool stuff.
And and I was like, yeah,
where do I, where do I sign?
How do I sign up for that?
And so I came back from that trip
and the Navy recruiter calls my
house cuz that's what they do.
They're like cold calling, like
trying to get their, their quota.
And I.
You know, and every other, almost
every other man in my family
has been in the Navy and I swore
I would never join the Navy.
Like there's no reason
for me to join the Navy.
I don't wanna be part of one
of those big great things that
float out there in the ocean.
So the Navy recruiter calls and my
initial thought was like, no way,
but wait, I want to be a Navy seal.
So I shared that with him.
I'm like, I want to go
to the Naval Academy.
I wanna fly our 14 Tom cast.
I wanna be a Navy Seal.
He is like, okay, why don't you come
on down here to the recruiting station
and and let's have a conversation.
So he showed me this really
cheesy movie about Navy Seals,
and I was like, where do I sign?
How do I, let's, let's go.
Like, do I have to graduate high school?
Can I start right now?
I don't like, and so I, I joined the.
You know, with the full intent of
going to the Naval Academy of flying
at 14 Tom Kaz and becoming a Navy Seal,
I guess one outta three is not bad.
So I eventually became a
Well, the hardest
That's just
right.
Whatever, this's, just, you
know, I'm a low, low performer
over here, one outta three.
mediocre
I, right, exactly.
So if I had a better mindset, maybe
I, I would've, you know, made it to
the Naval Academy and flown F 14 Tom.
But they did tell me when I joined the
Navy that my hearing was so bad that
I wouldn't be able to fly jets, cuz
apparently you have to have good hearing.
I don't know.
But it, it hasn't gotten
any better since then.
So what's it, I'm sorry.
excuse me.
So I, I, I eventually became a seal.
I spent 26 years in the Navy
serving in the SEAL teams and
retired at 2018 when I retired.
You know, when I went into the military,
I had, you know, a vision of where I
wanted to go and what I wanted to do.
Then I became, you know, got in
the SEAL teams and I had a purpose.
I had a mission, and I had a team.
And the day, the day that I
retired from the Navy, I felt
like I had lost everything.
I acquitted to that Avengers movie where
Thanos snapped his fingers in the world,
like the universe's population vanishes.
And and that's the way I felt I was lost.
I was like, you know, I have a
bunch of baggage from my time, you
know, both in the, in the, in the
military and also some not so awesome
relationships that I've been a part of.
I call it baggage.
And and so the way I would like turn down
this noise in my head is I would pretty
much just drink myself to sleep at night.
I had heard of this
molecule called C B D, but.
I was afraid to try it because I am a
child of Nancy Reagan's war on drugs.
Just say no.
Even though I am, I am
very young over here.
Just, just keep
Young is an attitude.
William, you are young and
and I have told you off.
I have thanked you off air, but on air.
I would like to thank you for your service
Thank you very much.
But so, so I, I tried C B D
finally, and I had you know, it,
it, I didn't notice anything.
I didn't feel anything.
It wasn't like, you know, drinking
alcohol or anything like that.
, I just felt, you know, I had less noise
in my head, so I was able to drink less.
And some of the pains in
my body were just less bad.
And and so I was like, well, maybe the CBD
D thing has, you know, it's a good thing.
And it was still very
barely legal federally.
So I think I tried it for the first
time, April of 2019, and it became
legal of like December 20th, 2018
when hemp became legal, you know,
federally, nationally, whatever.
And so I, I was, so I, I ran outta that
bottle that a buddy of mine actually
gave me, and I started, you know,
this noise started percolating, like
more noise in my head, more pains in
my body that I didn't even notice had
left, or they just became less sharp,
the more dull started coming back.
And I was like, well, maybe it was C
b, D, so I'll try a different brand.
I had similar results and now I'm like,
oh, maybe I should, maybe I should.
Maybe c b D is my, my new mission,
my new purpose, my new whatever.
And so I, I I went to
this business conference.
I met a girl actually from Colorado
who was in the CBD industry.
And I was like, so she asked like,
how do you, how do you market cbd?
Like, because I can't run ads, I
can't do any of the traditional stuff.
Excuse me.
And they were like, I, you know,
get athletes to say how great
it is and things like that.
And so all I could think of
is like, you're the CBD girl.
Maybe you're my next, like, who I
need to partner with in some way.
And so I chased her down.
That sounds a little
weird, but I followed her.
That also
cause you're a big guy,
And I was like, and I cornered her.
I, that also sounds weird.
Maybe
this poor girl.
how it happened, , but I was like,
Hey, you're the CBD girl, right?
She was like, yeah.
And I said, I want, I
think I wanna do cbd.
And really what I wanted
is for her to hide.
Hire me, like, hire me.
Maybe you're, this is my new me purpose,
my new mission, money, whatever.
And she was like, well, do you
wanna do A to B, B2B or b2c?
And I was like, I don't know
what those letters mean.
I want to do C, b D.
Did you not hear me in the first place?
So she laughed and said well, why don't
you just start your own CBD B company?
And I said, I don't know how to do that.
And she leaned in and she
said, you are a Navy seal.
You can figure it out.
So I asked her politely
for my man card back.
She politely gave it back to me.
And I went home and I googled
how to start a C B D company.
And I found out very quickly that it's
a really corrupt, very dirty industry.
There's a lot of bad actors out
there, a lot of like, let's get rich
quick gas station, c b d probably
not something you want to consume.
It's kind of like gas station sushi.
You probably don't want to eat that
either unless you live in Hawaii.
Like we, we have, yeah, we have
good, we have good sushi in, in
7-Eleven here, but I wouldn't do
it anywhere else in the world just
because we have the ocean right there.
So, so anyway, so I started a C B D
company called Naked Warrior Recovery.
And then I was like, how, like,
I started it March 1st, 2020.
Some other thing happened
right around that same time.
I can't remember what it was.
But it, there was some weird stuff
happening and people were like,
oh my God, how do I, so one of
happy anniversary by
Right, exactly.
Thank you.
I didn't even realize that,
Yeah.
Last week.
Yep.
I should have had a sale.
Maybe I'll have a sale
just because of that.
The, so I, so I forgot, so I forgot, I
forgot where I was going with the story.
So, you know, being in the SEAL
team, being in the, being in the
military my entire life, I have
no idea how to like run a company.
I mean, I kind of do.
It's, there's not really that much
difference between You know, leading men
and, and doing things in the military.
Like you, you get a budget,
you get all these things.
Well, I didn't know how to like
market my, my product and I was also
still in the, the mindset of don't
tell anyone what you do, who you
are or anything like that, because
that's just what they beat into us.
Do not advertise the nature of
your work, all this other stuff.
And so eventually I, I got
kind of got over that and
In a big way.
right it, but it, it
took a lot to do that.
And, and it's funny, like people that are
outside, they don't understand that, you
know, they're, it, it is beaten into us.
Do not advertise the nature of your work.
Don't tell anyone what you do.
Terrorists will come and kill you and
your family and la la la whatever.
And I was actually
bring it baby
just thinking about this
yesterday, knowing our conversation
was gonna happen today.
That is exactly what was going through
my head is like, huh, you know,
he is just puts it all out there.
Is that safe?
Is that okay?
I do live on a rock in the
middle of Pacific Ocean.
It's like a lot of work to get here.
And I travel all the time, so
if they can find you.
Right.
Let's see, what else?
So I, I, I didn't, and I recognized
that I didn't know how to market.
And then a, a friend of mine who was
doing business coaching wa you know,
he had a like, hey, seven days to
whatever, seven Day Master Ignition
Mastermind, something like that.
I don't remember exactly what it
was called, but I was like, yes, I'm
gonna, here's my, here's my money.
I wanna get on the calls.
And so he, you know, taught me how to do
some marketing and how to do some sales
and things like that, cuz I had zero clue.
And then I, that just perpetuated
me into more other coaching
programs and other coaches and
through that process of learning.
You know, I have a, I have a PhD, a public
high school diploma, so I'm very smart
.
so
We're in the same boat.
right?
So, so, and you know, that's, you
know, when I was, my last three years
in the, in the, in the Navy, I was, I
was running research and development
for, for, you know, our command.
And I would be in rooms with actual
scientists and PhDs and super nerds, and
they would go around the room telling,
you know, everyone would introduce
theirself and tell their background
and whatever, and it would come to me.
And I was like, yeah, I'm, I have a
PhD also a public high school diploma,
so if I asked dumb questions, it,
hopefully you guys are okay with that.
And so that always gave me a little
more street cred when it, you know,
they, I'm in the room because of the
operational side in my experience there.
But so I, I started coaching and,
and, or I've started with coaches
and one of my coaches was like, bro,
why are you, why don't you coach?
I'm like, well, I don't
have anything to say.
Like, what do I, who am I gonna coach?
I'm like, who?
What do I
to yourself?
Right, exactly.
And I'm like, and he is like,
bro, you got a lot to sell.
You got a lot to say.
You got a lot of whatever.
And I'm like, okay.
Whatever you say.
And and, and also, you know,
one of my other coaches said,
you need to get on podcasts.
You need to get on every, like,
the biggest podcast you can get on.
Like, that's how you're gonna
grow your brand since you can't
run ads or anything like that.
So over in the last 24 months,
I've been on over 400 podcasts.
I have also,
Way to make me feel not at all special.
William.
Thank you,
I'm honored to be here.
Honored honored.
I will not forget this podcast.
I mean, you know, I've, I started
going back through it and I'm
like, oh, I was on that pod.
I don't even know who that person
right?
Yeah, I've had, I've had that as well.
You know somebody asked me actually
about a doctor yesterday and I'm
like, I'm like, oh, I really like her.
And then I did, luckily didn't
say it out loud, but I was
like, did she do my podcast?
I don't remember.
Right.
So but I will not forget this one for
Well, you will stand out in the crowd,
right.
And and.
And also one of my coaches and I, I
got where I am because I hired coaches.
I hired people to help collapse time
to get me where I want to be and to
help accelerate where I want to go.
And so one of my coaches was like the same
one who was like, you should be coaching.
He also said, everyone in this
group should be, should have a,
what they call a signature, what
he called a signature presentation.
It's basically something, it's your
TED Talk, it's something you can do
for, you can, you're an expert in,
you can share for 10 minutes or you
can share it for an hour and a half.
And so I created, you know, the,
the get naked mindset or five
secrets to think like a Navy seal.
And so now I, I give that.
Presentation from stage internationally.
And I also do coaching.
So all the things that I do right now
are all the things that I said, you
know, several years ago that I would
never, ever, ever, ever, never, ever
do I now I I coach people or ad advise,
consult, whatever the word of the day is.
So coaching is sounds, it's starting
to get, become a dirty word.
And as I'm like entering into the,
into the space, I'm like, oh my God.
it's just cuz anybody can
say they're a coach without
And they have no experience or any, yeah.
What what have you done?
I even asked myself
like, what have I done?
I, you
a lot.
So, so, so now I, I do
consulting, coaching, advising,
whatever you wanna call it.
I, I do sales.
I was like, I will never do sales.
I am not a salesman.
I, yeah, I, I love selling
I love helping people.
and I love getting, and I would
say I would, I'm never one of gonna
be one of those people standing
on stage, like doing motivational
speaking, like, and now I do that.
So everything I said I would never do once
upon a time is everything that I do now.
Grow like, and, and, and being
a, and, and writing a book.
I'm also writing a book.
I'm like, how, what?
I don't have anything.
So I'm actually writing
two to two to three books.
I have one that I'm almost done right now.
I'm co-authoring one.
I have another one that's in the
hopper once I finish the, the
first one, the, the co-author book.
And then I'm, I, you know, I'll probably
do some sort of like planner of sorts.
So there's, there's three right there.
All things that I said I would never do.
So I guess the, the moral of the story
is never say never, because you never
know how you're if you're ambitious in,
in any way, for sure leave the, like,
leave opportunity open and, and don't
close your mind to to, to anything.
I love that.
And obviously we couldn't have
different journeys or different
histories, different lives.
But I think one of the things that, that I
so appreciate about you that I can relate
to is, you know, here's something that
helped change your life for the better.
And now your life is about
getting that out to people.
And that's exactly why I do what I do.
You know, I, I took years to figure out
how to reverse my autoimmune symptoms
and, and you know, I love helping
people expedite that process and, and
you know, to be a resource for them.
And so I wanna circle back to a co a
couple points cuz listeners might still be
like, okay, this guy sounds really cool.
Why is he on Julie's podcast?
right.
Other
Because, it's Julie, of course.
Well, and also, you know, a full disclose.
I, I met William a few weeks ago
and, and I made the brilliant
comment at one point a a couple days
in of like, you are a brave man.
And then had to laugh and was like,
oh, I guess you were trained for this.
Because seven of us shared a
house, six of us were women.
Most of us didn't know each
other, . And we had a blast.
And, and so anybody who can roll with
that such good spirit is okay in my book.
So I wanna to touch on kind of highlight
a little bit of your pain points.
Most of us can't relate to.
maybe we can relate to noise in the brain.
And anybody listening would probably
rightly assume whatever noise is going
on for them, it's, you know, not like
all of a sudden you were an Navy SEAL and
now you're retired and your whole world,
like you said, just kind of evaporated.
But what you kind of really glossed
over, you had a lot of chronic
physical pain and you, you said you
were drinking yourself to sleep,
but you also had sleep challenges.
And, and it, it's kind of one of
those doesn't really matter how
you, you know, your chronic pain
came from the abuse your body took.
You know, because you
And apparently I still abuse
it just in a different.
So I wanna touch on one, one of the
things that you said is so brilliant
because I think it's just human nature.
You know, you noticed C B
D was helping a little bit.
With the noise and a little, you know,
maybe a little bit with the pain but
you didn't really notice just how much
until you stopped and it returned.
Like, we, we just assimilate.
We do, and we, we tolerate.
And, and so I wanna just highlight
that, you know, these are things that
everybody with autoimmunity can relate to.
I know, you know, you
had anxiety, depression.
I mean, anybody with chronic illness has,
you know, I, I'm not saying, you know,
diagnosable depression, but w we've all
experienced kind of that realm of, you
know, mental health concerns, anxiety,
if you don't wanna say depression,
you know, some kind of a mood impact.
And then, you know, that
physical, the, the pain and the
not sleeping I think are things.
That we can all relate to.
And, and so for everybody listening, that
was one of the main reasons because I,
I adore William and will happily talk
to him, but I can call him on the phone.
, we don't have to, we don't
have to share this with you.
And, and I think I shared with you
when we were together C B D was a
really big part of my healing journey.
I was still on many prescriptions,
including painkillers, muscle
relaxers and high quality.
And we're gonna talk about
this high quality C b D.
Really, really, not only did it
reduce my, my pain and help with
that I'm a biohacker, I'm a nerd.
I, I'm showing my aura ring.
I was already tracking my sleep
when I started with the C and what
I noticed was at the right dose.
All of a sudden I was getting
my deep sleep doubled.
It really impacted for me
the quality of my sleep.
I wasn't somebody who had
problems falling asleep.
I could and I could sleep 13
hours and wake up exhausted.
I woke up a lot cuz of pain.
But, so c, b, D people just,
they need to know about it.
And, and that's one of the reasons I
love your message because, and, and we're
gonna talk a little bit too about, I,
you know, not everybody may understand
why you can't really market in the
classic ways because it's legal, right?
So what do you mean?
According to the US government, it's
legal, but according to like every other
social media platform, it's not so.
Facebook, and so, yeah.
And, and that's we share
that similarity as well.
I got, I got videos pulled down because
I made the statement, the body can heal.
Which is apparently just as offensive
as C B D . So you know, the,
they're so, we need to get creative
and have conversations like this.
And so for listeners that were
scratching their heads other
than like, wow, this is cool.
This is why I wanted William
to, to come on today.
I even had TikTok.
TikTok I, I showed what, it's a, it's
a transdermal pin product that I carry.
And I didn't even show applying it.
I just show showed like, you know, this
is one of the fastest ways to get CBD
into your body and talked about it,
and they'd like, blocked that video.
I was like, it's not,
I I didn't do anything.
I didn't even like
he's a
you how to use
it's a weapon,
Right,
It's like elicit something
like it when TikTok does that.
Are you kidding me?
All the crazy stuff that's
Oh my gosh.
And, and misinformation and Yeah.
Yes.
Yeah, it was, it was crazy.
You probably had a, a, a
question or something, but
Well, I, I, so, I, I just, I wanted to
kind of underscore for listeners that,
that, although C B D is effective and
legal, that, you know, at, at least in
avenues like social media, it really, you
get shut down if you try to market, and,
and it's, and it's, it's
interesting because it is a,
it's a very saturated market.
Like there's a, I saw it, I saw a,
a stat a week or two ago, I'm gonna
mess up the number, but I'm gonna
say there's like over 340,000 C B
D companies in the United States.
What?
I, I, when I was first discussing CBD with
clients, they would say, oh, I tried it.
And I, you know, well, what'd you try?
Oh, My friend gave me a, and I'm
like, oh, . I don't know what it,
you know, and maybe sometimes it
was a good product, I don't know.
But, but let's talk about quality
because it is so important.
And full disclosure, I have tried
your products and I love that.
And you know, because I know you
see me placing orders, I, I'm
like, I hand them out like candy.
I'm like, try this, try that.
And I live in Colorado, so I have
access to high qualities and,
and through functional medicine
I have access to high quality.
But the attention to detail that
you've put into your products, I
believe makes them a step above
and, and just more effective.
Like, they're just really effective.
So far, I haven't found anybody I've given
, given your products to, that hasn't
really been like, wow, this is different
than any other C B D I've tried before.
So let's talk a little bit about
sourcing and quality other than I, I
can, and I'm, I'm not an affiliate.
I, I'm not a, but I'm telling
y'all if you're, if this, if
you're listening and you're still
listening and you're interested in
this conversation the Naked Warrior
products are, are really top notch, so
Thank you very much.
So I b before we talk about quality,
I just wanna talk about how you
feel, or, or like, just like you
said, like someone says, I tried CBD
and it didn't really work for me.
Right,
P you know, we, we take
vitamin C all the time.
Do, do you know if that's working for you?
Not really.
Like there's so many
things that we consumed.
Is it really working for you?
I don't know, maybe.
And so, A lot of times, just like with
me, like I took that first bottle of C
B D, I didn't notice anything happening.
And it was over time that like my
sleep got better, the noise in my
head went down, the pains in my
body got less, but I didn't notice
it until I stopped taking it.
And I started, like the noise started
creeping back in the pains that I
was like, oh, I, I didn't, haven't
felt that pain for like weeks.
Oh, maybe it was a C B D.
And then, you know, I let it kind
of grow and I'm like, okay, let's
try another brand of C, B D.
And then I had similar results.
So I can tell you without a doubt that it
positively impacted my quality of life,
but it wasn't something that I noticed.
Like, take the product and you
notice something right away.
It's not like, you know, you have a,
a headache and you take ibuprofen.
It, it doesn't work like that.
It works some different pathways.
It worked.
Works on chronic inflammation, it
works on the endocannabinoid system
that's in your body, which is a giant
neuroreceptor system that is connected
to every other system in your body.
So the reason that people have come
out and said like, well, this cured
my, whatever, it cured my cancer.
CBD doesn't cure anything.
It helps reduce chronic inflammation.
It helps bring your endocannabinoid system
back into homeostasis, back into balance
which helps bring all the other systems
back into balance so that your, your body
can heal itself like it's supposed to.
Which is the really the
goal at the end of the day.
Like, get away from big
pharma and things like that.
There are natural things out there
and hemp or marijuana or whatever
you want to call it, was legal
until about a hundred years ago.
And and that we could, we don't need to
go down that rabbit hole, but it has been
used for thousands of years as medicine.
And then, you know, there was anyway so
We could get into the whole
We can talk about it or
I never knew you to be so
politically correct, William . But
that would take us another hour.
If we get
it would take us a long time.
Right,
we have the same conversation.
It comes up all the time with,
when we're talking about, you know,
the food industry, the, just the
whole pharmaceutical power house.
But I, I.
I love so many things that you said,
especially because you are so educated
about this and, and I am not, and you
just described exactly the only way
I've been able to describe to people,
you know, the, the anti-inflammatory
properties combined with this balancing.
Cuz I've had people say to me, well, you
know, how can it do all those things?
Or, you know, what if I need something
different than somebody else?
And it's, well, it's the balance in
the endo cannabinoid system that works
like ma, you know, feels like magic.
If somebody's saying, well how can it do
this and that and that and this a and i
I like that you highlighted, you know,
it's not like, oh, you know, take an
ibuprofen, headache's gone necessarily.
But I will say, and, and maybe it's,
we're not talking apples to apples.
I think because I live in Colorado and.
because it was even, you know, it was
legal here before it was legal federally.
There was all kinds of
C b, D stuff popping up.
And when I would ask people,
well, you know how much actual
C b D was in your product?
They'd say, I don't know.
I have no idea.
And that's where I get into that quality
of, and what else is in the product
because are you driving inflammation
with crappy ingredients and you're,
you know so that's where I'm like,
to you, it's obvious that there's
a certain quality standard and, and
we just need to kind of give it a
chance to notice what it's doing.
Right.
And, and, and, and so just to kind of
address the quality, you know, when I,
when I, when I first started investigating
C B D I found out, you know, that
the, that the industry's very dirty.
You know, the F D A would go out and
do spot checks, and they would find
that, you know, most of the products
on the market, this, it's been a while.
So the, the industry has cleaned up quite
a bit, but it, it's still out there.
The f FDA would go out and they would
do spot checks, and they would find
that most of the, more than 70% of the
products either didn't have CBD B in 'em.
They didn't have the cbd,
they said they had at 'em.
They had high levels of THC that
was outside the legal limit of 0.3%.
They had heavy, like high levels
of heavy metal mercury, arsenic,
pesticides, herbicides, things like that.
It was like, if you're, if you're
putting something in your body to be a
medicine, and I'm using air quotes here,
medicine I'm not making medical claims.
But if you're putting something
into your body to be a medicine,
feel better.
right, you, you you don't wanna
be putting a bunch of poison
in your body at the same time.
Right.
So I, when I, when I went out and
found my suppliers, I was very, I found
not great suppliers, and I found the
highest quality suppliers, and I still
use these same suppliers today because
these are the suppliers that really
drove the industry in the direction that
it has gone to help clean itself up.
And so, you know, one of the distinctions,
even the, the biggest names of CBD
that you see out there today, they
were not doing what we were doing.
And that was, you know,
you, you harvest the plant.
We just, we, we lost
power yesterday and we
Oh,
power today.
I'm just we, we got big winds.
I don't know what's going on
here in Hawaii, but a lot of rain
and big winds, so no hurricanes,
like an island.
Right.
See, it's tropical, tropical paradise.
So, so what we found is, is, so
what we would do is we would the har
harvest the plant and then extract
the oil and send that oil off to
for independent third party lab to
be tested to make sure, you know,
And that's
know, doesn't have any mold or heavy
metals or anything like that, you
don't want to be putting in your body.
Then we would run it through the
manufacturing process, turn it into a
tincture, turn it into a soft gel, turn it
into a energy drink powder turn it into a
topical, and then we would test it again.
Everyone was testing in the
first, in on the front end.
No one was testing on the back end.
So they never knew what was actually
in the product that they were
final product.
Yeah,
you know, when I first started, I would
go around it, I would, you know, I,
I'm sharing, talking about C B D and
it was kind of popular and people were
buying from, from different places.
And they were like, well, what do you
think about this brand or that brand?
I'm like, okay, well
send me their website.
And so I would look and, you know, we
put, I, I, I get a little lazy sometimes,
but we put a QR code on every one of
our products so you can go and scan that
QR code, look at the the lot number.
We, we test every single
lot that comes out.
It's
so I would look at websites, I would
look at websites, and they would have
like a certificate of, of, of testing
Five years old
and it was like not even a
product that they carried, it
was like something they did.
We test every single batch that comes
out, every single lot that comes out
and we post that on the website and
we, we have that, I don't always post
it on my, on my website, but it is
posted on, on the big website that
has like what all, all of the testing.
So you just scan the QR code and put the
lot number of the product that you're
using and you can see exactly what's
in it, how much CBD D in is, is in it.
We, we, we usually put about 10% more than
what we say on the label, just because
more is, more is not always better, but
more is not gonna hurt you for sure.
You don't wanna have less.
And you know, also looking for all those,
those toxins any, to make sure there was
no contamination in the manufacturing
process because that has happened.
And we only caught it because it happened.
Like we, we, we tested and we're
like, Hey, we gotta fix this.
This is not
that lot.
Yeah.
Right.
So, and nobody else was doing that.
And so the industry has started to shift
to do that, that that second test of the
final product, just to say specifically
like, Hey, this has what it, what we
say it hasn't, and to show you the
quality that we're trying to deliver.
and, and so I would say if listeners,
you know, for whatever strange reason,
don't wanna check out the Naked
Warrior products, if at some point
you're interested in, in, you know,
testing out c b D in your body, you,
that's, to me, the gold standard.
You've got to look for that, that
testing, and you've got to look
for the final product testing.
And that's why three, five years ago,
even though it was available here, it,
it was, I mean, it was a crapshoot.
People didn't know what they were
getting, you know, and, and so that's,
that's I think one of the reasons why
also, your products are, if I have
this right, it's, and I, we've discussed
it, I think and it seems to be my
experience, your products are consistent.
In other words, it's
not c b D per container.
And you each gummy say if somebody
gets the, the gummies, each gummy,
you know, one gummy may have
none, and one gummy has all of it,
which is a very common thing here.
You know, even going to a dispensary,
even a dispensary that sells medical
marijuana the products that are in
there, it's, it's per container.
So you're not there.
There's no consistent dosing,
serving size, no consistent serving size.
right.
And so, and, and that's the
way that they're tested.
They're tested, you know, it's just a
random, random containers are pulled out.
They're sent off to the lab
and they're randomly tested.
Yeah.
And that's, you know, that's how
we, how we show the consistency.
That's how we, you know, we measure
what we have in the product.
Which is amazing.
I, well, I think I know the
answer, . I think the main
answer is yes, but different.
So you sell, you have a variety of
products, different applications,
different delivery systems.
Are there some that are better for
certain things, like you mentioned,
the pen is the fastest acting like.
You, so the, the, the
transdermal pen, the, the M 60.
Is a it's the quickest way to get CBD
d into your body outside of an enema.
An enema is number one.
It's the quickest way to
get it into your blood.
A vape is number two.
We were looking at doing vapes,
but it was too, there's too much
weird stuff going on with that.
So we, we, we, we stepped away from it.
Yeah, it's, so we, so we
stepped away from that.
The transdermal pin is number
three, and a tincture under
the tongue is number four now.
So the, the soft gels that we
produce, they have a, a nano emal.
We use a nano emulsion technology.
It's a, it's a pharmaceutical
grade emulsifier.
So basically, let's just say like a drop
of C B D is like the size of a basketball.
It's very hard to get.
That oil into this body of water that
we, that we carry around with us.
So what we do is we agitate the oil
and then we add this emulsifier.
So it basically takes that
basketball size drop of oil and
turns it into like 10,000 golf
Little drops.
So it's easier for the body to absorb
the, the, the, the, the nano emulsion soft
gels into the system, into, you know, to
help it cross the blood brain barrier.
We use mc two oil to, to help it
cross the blood brain blood brainin
barrier for on the delivery system.
So the other thing with the,
with the trans is it passes
that first pass metabolism.
So it's, it's really microdosing C b
D, not like in the, the mushroom kind
or psilocybin kind of, of microdosing.
Not that they, like, I, it's
interesting, I've had, in the last
week, I've had three very different
conversations about that, all positive.
I'm like, maybe, maybe
that's
not what we're talking about,
Not what we're talking about today.
So it's, it's, so the, the pin
delivers a, a, an exactly measurement
of four milligrams of C B D, which
is, and it goes, you know, straight
into the bloodstream, which is
really about what you get when
you take 25 milligrams of C B D.
So I, interesting.
So because, so it passes, it bypasses that
first pass metabolism, so it goes straight
into the blood bloodstream and it doesn't
get lost in, in other places of the
body or just kind of get passed through.
Gotcha.
Thank you for
But it's all, they're, they're all kind
of, and, and some of the best feedback
I've gotten with the transdermal
pain isn't like, oh my, my recovery's
better, or anything like that.
It's like more like my carpal
tunnel says, or my arthritis
in my hand or things like that.
Has it, like completely wipes
it out when I, when I use that
product and I'm like, awesome.
That's fantastic.
it is awesome.
It's, it's incredible.
It, it really is.
And I, I, you know, seeing you move
around, you don't look like a guy who, and
I would, people would say probably, I hope
you can say they'd say the same about me.
You don't look like somebody who lived
with chronic pain for a long time.
And, and so, you know, the
whole purpose of this podcast
is because the body can heal.
We can.
There are tools, there are, you know,
programs, structures but we have to
support the body and, and the C B D is
such a good, can you, I I, in my opinion,
I think it's possible to heal without C
B D most times, I think, I think there
are some, some things but again, we're
all about like, who want I, I don't know.
It took me like six years to go
from full of pain to pain free.
It why, why would you
wanna spend all that time?
Why not shortcut with
And you,
your body has and needs
you don't always know what, what's
working and, and what's not.
I, I just say that CBD is a modality.
It's a, it's a tool in
It's a really effective modality.
Right, right.
Yeah.
I love it.
I love it.
I wanna talk about, you know, I
wanted to get into a little bit of the
quality conversation and, you know,
make sure listeners really understand.
We, we are talking about something
that reduces inflammation and
balances systems to allow for healing.
But now I wanna flip the conversation a
little bit because I really, I wanna know,
I don't want people to be intimidated.
You're this Navy seal, you do this
like incredible training you have,
this is the, you know, you're calm
cuz we can't move around a lot.
But what is the get the get naked
mindset and you know, how, how can
we benefit from understanding that?
So , I was gonna throw some jokes
out there and I, I stopped myself.
And I, I should have wore my hat
yeah, right.
So get naked is it's, you know, it's,
it's about taking that armor off, that
ego that you carry around, that mask that
you're hiding behind, whatever it is.
Take, take that off.
And so that you can find, and this was
for me, how it worked for me, so you can
find the healing that you actually need.
You know, if you're, if you're contin, so
in, in the steel teams, we go into combat,
we go into harm's way, we put this, you
know, we put our body armor on, we put
our helmet on, and we, we go out there
and, and we take the fight to the enemy.
And sometimes that armor saves our life
and we're grateful that we have it.
And we come back, we take that armor
off, we hit the showers, we rest, we
recover, we get ready for the next
mission in life, we never do that.
We, we, we, you know, pain is cumulative.
So if I were to like tap you in the.
For like an hour, you're gonna be
like, that's really bugging me.
If I kept keep doing it for a week,
you're like, it's gonna leave a bruise.
And over time, you know, I stopped tapping
you in the arm and all of a sudden, you
know, you have this bruise in a, in a
gentle spring breeze blows your clothes
and it hits your arm and you're gonna
be like, oh my God, that's so much pain.
And that's just sort of the way that,
like, it wasn't like big trauma, it was
like over and over repetitive trauma.
And so we end up like, putting up this
shield and that trauma can come from,
I like any, it can come from like,
you know, a, a, a disgruntled coworker
or a family member or whatever it is.
And you just like, always feel
like you're like under attack.
And so, so you, you put up this shield.
And so naked is about taking that,
taking that wall down, exposing
yourself, becoming vulnerable so you
can find the healing that you need.
So that's, that was where it started.
But you know, when I went back and.
I talked earlier about, you know, one
of my coaches saying, everyone here
needs a, a signature presentation.
I was like, okay, well what if I take
naked and turn it into an acronym?
And so I turn naked into an acronym.
And the acronym stands for
the N is for never quit.
The A is accept failure,
the K is to kill mediocrity.
The E is exposure, fears,
and the DS do the work.
And so, and I, you know, and, and
this is a, a presentation I give from
stage and and, and I, you know, I,
I talk about this as five secrets to
help you think like a Navy seal and
I, you know, explain each, each letter
of the acronym and what it means and
how you can apply this to your life.
Using lessons that I learned
from the steel teams, from steel
training and, and, and things like,
and I love, so we haven't
talked about this before.
And, and so I'm really excited that I
was right, , and in that this applies
to all a, all of us and b especially
our listeners because we, we have to
put that armor down, that shield down
the wall, whatever you wanna call
it, to heal and everybody has one.
And, and I love that you brought
up, you know, you mentioned the
coworker that we may not know, it
could be trauma from childhood.
It doesn't have to be capital T
you know, I a combat vet trauma.
It, it can be all those little.
Things that become our belief
systems that stack, stack that
wall, raise that shield up.
And it is sometimes the hardest
part of a healing journey.
And
and you, and you said it earlier, you
said it, you, you, you said it earlier,
like we're, we're, we are resilient.
I forgot the language you used,
but it was like, we just, we
adapt, we get used to pain.
We get used to, you know, putting that
shield up or, you know, creating more
of a barrier between us and things that
we assume are going to maybe hurt us.
And so that's what it's, that's
what really get Naked is about.
It's like, recognize it
first and then take it down.
But you sometimes you have to be
brave, brave enough to do that.
I was not brave enough pretty much
my entire adult life, actually, even
before that, as a child, I was not
brave enough to do anything like that.
I was like, I never show
weakness, ever the end.
And it wasn't until I, it was, I
had a, a leader in the SEAL teams
where he let every I, he let everyone
know, like I looked up to him.
Tremendously.
And one day he said, yeah, I, I
am having some trouble over here.
I need some help, so I'm
gonna go find some help.
And, and I was like, Ooh,
he's gonna get eaten alive.
And no one, no one like really went
after him for weakness or anything else.
And I was like, so he actually gained more
respect because he said, Hey, I need help.
right.
And then I retired and I was
still like, I don't need help.
I'm, I'm a man.
I'm tough.
Whatever, whatever nonsense
of
my man card.
yeah, you get my man card back.
So and, and so I was on, I
remember I was on clubhouse if
that platform is still around
not
sure I was
right in the beginning and, and, and I, I
was in a room and I somehow, I was talking
to someone, she was a psychiatrist.
Psychologist person.
I don't know the difference.
Shrink, she was a shrink person.
Not to be politically
incorrect, but she was a shrink.
And she asked me a question, she
said, she said so how do you feel
when other people ask you for help?
How do you feel like when
you help other people?
I was like, I feel awesome.
It's great.
I like, it's the best
thing ever, but whatever.
She was like, well, well,
why are you robbing other
people of that opportunity to
I love it.
Love
like, I don't, I don't like you.
We're not talking anymore.
feels
not invited.
So, yeah, I'm like so then I had
to, then, then I had to be brave
enough to ask other people for help.
Well, and I
love that you said it, it
d doesn't necessarily, you
know, may stay uncomfortable.
But I will say this, the yes, it
takes bravery to step into that.
How are the rewards?
Awesome.
Yeah, it, it's huge reward, right?
And, and that is where the healing is.
That is where true connection is, where
good relationship, I mean, it, that's,
it is so contrary, you know, all of
that stuff we do to protect ourselves.
And I I love that, that you were just
directly asked that question because
that is something, and it's funny, like
I thought I, and I've done a lot of
work, a lot of personal development, a
lot of healing, all kinds of healing.
And about five and a half years
ago, I broke my right shoulder.
I'm right hand dominant.
I had just built the
place I'm living in now.
I had just brought my horses
home, , and I was take, you
know, had to take care of them.
You know, again, been single 20 years
post divorce, pretty independent.
You know, to me I, there was a stake in
the ground, you know, like you were brave.
I was independent and that experience
somehow, all the work I had done, just
things lined up where I finally understood
it wasn't a, about that story of like
being a burden to somebody or you know,
guilting them, it, whatever, whatever.
All the, I probably had a million
stories around it, but the gift
of allowing others to support.
As we enjoy doing for other
people, it, it's, so, but we all
have some form of that story.
And so I love that you brought that
up because again, like our lives
couldn't have been more different.
But at the same, you know,
there're these threads that, that
You've never been to combat,
you've never gone over,
well
you've never had
have you met my ex-husband?
I'm not sure.
We could trade stories, I'm sure
yeah.
I, well, I, I, yeah, we, we have chatted.
We don't need to chat about that on air.
But no, I have not experienced
combat and funny enough, I
didn't make it through bud.
S I don't know why.
. Yeah.
Really weird.
You know, I've been to Coronado.
Does that count?
Totally.
A hundred percent.
It's the same thing, right?
So, so, yeah.
I mean, that's where it happened.
So
but, but this is, see, the, the juiciest
part of the conversation, I, I think is
the, the part that people need to hear.
And it's probably the part where people
are like, I'm done listening now.
This feels uncomfortable.
Lean into that discomfort.
You know, be, be brave, be bold.
But the, the, whatever the fears
are around dropping that shield,
the rewards are exponential.
Yeah, a hundred percent
Yeah.
I mean, I literally could not imagine the
things I, that I have an experience in my
life now, and I know none of them would
be here without having dropped my shield.
And not to.
And then maybe that's part of the dance,
you know, I probably like, you know, you
lower it a little bit, you put it back up
right.
Yeah.
decades
Oh, it's scary.
Oh my God.
It's
safe, you know?
right?
But that is where the true healing.
Is, is hiding.
So I love that.
What is, how can people find you?
So, you know, naked Warrior, the
C B D products are again amazing.
Yes.
Personal endorsement.
They're, they are, they're ma and
I've been using C b D for a long time.
High quality c b d what you're doing,
and, and I have to add this part too.
I'm somebody who's always shied away
from something like a gummy or a
chewable, or a, because ingredients
are always nasty and dirty.
And, and, and people who
know me are like, shee.
It's nothing.
I, I eat those.
They're . You're you, you
just, your quality is, is.
. But then, you know, how can
people learn more about you?
Like where is, and we'll have
all your links and things.
But I know I listen to podcasts
when I'm on the go, so I want you to
verbally tell us the best place to
find you if people wanna learn more.
I think for, for, for cbd, for
Naked Warrior Recovery, you can
go to naked warrior recovery.com.
But if you don't wanna write naked into
your, into your search engine, you can
Is that why you did that?
I wondered.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
So I, I was like, oh, maybe people
don't wanna write naked into their
Or if they misspell something,
who knows what they're
Who knows what's go.
Yeah, exactly.
So, so it's NW dash recovery, cuz
if you go to NW Recovery, it's like
Northwestern Rehab or something like that.
I don't, I don't remember.
I was like, okay.
So it's NW Dash Recovery or
Naked Warrior Recovery for C B D.
If you wanna learn more about five Seal
Secrets, go to five seal secrets.com,
the number five, five seal secrets.com.
Put your name and email on there.
I'll send you a, it's a
pdf, it's about seven.
, seven or eight pages of, you know,
really kind of breaking down what
Naked really stands for, how you
can implement it into your life.
And you know, I think I'm most active
social media-wise on Instagram.
I am getting ready to
launch my own podcast.
Boom.
it's funny, I'm, I'm, I'm struggling on
whether to call it that the Naked Warrior
Podcast or the Five Seal Secrets podcast.
So I like, it's like weird
little things like that.
Like which, which, which way do I go?
I don't know.
So I, or I'm working on that.
It doesn't matter really what I call
it is long as I, you know, just produce
as you know that , don't
let that be the excuse for
It's, it's not, it's, it's,
yeah, it's, it's, yeah.
Some of it's like, oh my God,
what if I say something dumb?
Like, stop being, stop being a baby.
It's time to get
you've done how many Yeah.
roll.
Yeah, exactly.
So, and, and I love that.
Again, at this point in the
conversation for listeners to many
probably would've been like, why
would I go to Five Seal Secrets?
You know, like, why?
Like, that's so, but now you guys
understand, you know, why Williams here
and, I get that pdf, get that resource
because this is work we all have to
do and it's ongoing work because the
shields do creep back up if we're not
Yes, they do.
Yeah.
It's, it's al
never done
on it.
Yeah, right.
Always moving forward.
Always.
Yeah.
And, and, and doing,
you know, being scared.
That's okay.
Fear's.
Okay.
It's, it's, what do you do with it?
Do you let it control
you or do you control it?
I like that sound like a navy.
What is we always wrap with one
step listeners can take today
to, to start to move the needle
in their health and health.
Could be that you know anything, so.
I would say I like, I like this analogy,
so I like making bold adjustments.
Hmm.
So, and, and what I mean by that is
when I was teaching sniper school and
I went back to the, to the platoons
and, and I, since I was the, the, the
senior sniper on the team, or in the
platoon or at the task unit, whichever
group I was a part of at the time,
every time we, we started, you know,
we would go deploy, we'd come back, we.
Maybe go to some schools and
then we'd start our workup again.
Maybe get new rifles, new guns.
We'd have to cite them in or you
know, we'd have leadership that
would, you know, they would have
like a, a tour of, of, of desk time.
And then they'd show back up in the,
in the platoon and not really know
the best way to cite in their weapon.
You would not think that Navy seals
would have a hard time with that?
Some, some do.
And so we would be out there in the
range and guys were, you know, and I
could recognize them very quickly even
guys showing up to sniper school, you
know, or we, they would get new guns
and we would teach 'em how to cite
their guns in and, and things like that.
Their rifles in.
And what would generally happen is they
would be shooting at the target, they
have the bullseye and their impacts
are hitting over here, and they would
make these minor adjustments, small
adjustments, and it didn't seem like
their impacts were ever really moving.
And so I would, I would see this
happening and they would think that
their gun was broken or their scope was
broken, or something was not working
Sounds like me.
This site is off.
Yeah.
is not, it is, it's not,
I swear it's not me.
I'm like, okay.
So I would, I would say,
can I see your, your gun?
And I would make these just
unreasonable adjustments to their optic.
And they were like, dude, you, I think
you broke my, like, I'm like, just do
me a favor and like, take a few shots.
Just gimme, you know, gimme
three rounds on, on paper.
See where, see where your impacts are.
And so what would happen is their
impacts would move across the paper,
past the bullseye, but it would
actually be very close to the bullseye.
Like much closer than what they
were making these small adjustments.
So then they could make the small
adjustments into the bullseye, but they
had to make these almost like the wrong
thing, almost like doing the wrong
thing, making the wrong adjustment
to, to actually move like al almost
do the opposite of what's correct.
So when you're stuck or you're struggling
or whatever, sometimes like the right
thing to do is just to do, make bold
adjustments in the direction where you
maybe think that you shouldn't be going.
Go in that direction and see what happens.
And then make minor adjustments to
get back where you, to get yourself
on target, where you need to be.
I love that.
And that is, you know, definitely
not one that we've heard before.
And it makes so much sense.
It, it really does.
You know, I, I see we talk a lot about you
know, small steps leading to big change.
But I, I love this as well, because
sometimes people hear that and
they're, you know, they're doing
what they think they should do.
You know, I've heard I should do this
and I've been doing it, and I don't
notice any, you know, and so I, I love
the, and it may not, you know, I'm,
it doesn't necessarily have to do with
food or, you know, any of the things.
Um, But it also
well, it, it, it totally
can be.
oh, it can be, no, that's what I'm saying.
You
you look at the, you look at the
like old school food pyramid.
and, you know, carbs and fats and
proteins and whatever, and what lots
of people, and not true for everyone,
but lots of people, you know, switch
over to like a, a, a ketogenic diet.
Lots of fats,
at least Paleo . So we're
getting rid of that big
right?
It, it is something,
know,
right?
And, and, and, and, and like moving
in that direction, which is like, what
you're, like, what?
That's like, that's not what I like.
Breakfast is the most
important meal of the day.
Is it?
Or , right?
right?
So, and, and so for lots of
people, that's like a, that's
a, that's a bold adjustment.
That's a big, like big step in
the opp in the wrong direction.
So just kind of like thinking
about it like, like that, like if
you've already, if you've already
like moved in that direction,
you're like, oh, of course it is.
But
people who haven't, that's a big step
It.
go in, in, in that sort
of, that direction.
Just using that as, as an example.
you picked, that's the example they hear
from me all the time, because in addition
to the things I was eating that were
causing inflammation, I grew up low fat.
. And so when I went and I, keto was
a huge part of my healing journey.
It's not, it's not the answer for
everybody, but for me, my body was so
fat deprived and I, you know, I learned
and I read and I, I would gag the
fat down like it felt so wrong, , and
it was a big, bold step and it like
a light switch, it, it just flipped
my brain back on and helped my pain.
And so I love that.
But you know, it doesn't mean like
go out and eat 10 big Macs, cuz
you know, William said be bold
right?
Yeah.
Like in, in the right direction.
Yeah, yeah.
Or go try it and like see how you
and see how crappy you feel.
Exactly.
Uh, Maybe I shouldn't do that.
Ever.
Yeah.
Right.
Exactly.
Well, William, you know that
I could talk to you for hours.
But we're gonna, we're gonna
get you on your way so you can
attend to your other commitments.
I'm so grateful that you joined us today.
I really, you gave so much value.
And, and for listeners, like seriously
find him whether it's on social website,
get the P d F, try the products.
It you, you will be surprised.
So we who knew, you know, a Navy
SEAL could really help us all heal.
I love it.
Who, who knew?
Who knew?
Bold adjustments, big steps.
For everyone listening.
Remember, you can get the
show notes and transcripts by
visiting Inspired Living Show.
I hope you had a great time
and enjoyed this episode at
least almost as much as I did.
And if you're not already,
hop on over to Instagram.
Follow me @julie.michelson and
you can find William there too.