Hi, and welcome to the In The Cortex podcast.
We are your hosts.
I'm Paloma Garcia.
And I am Dani Perrecone.
And we're the founders of In The Cortex, an online community with programs that show
people the tools that they need to change their lives, their brain reorganization, no
medication, just movement.
When you get your brain out of survival mode and regulate your nervous system, you start
to live in the fun, logical part of the brain, the cortex.
Subscribe today and learn how to live your best in the cortex life.
And now on to today's episode.
Okay, welcome to today's episode of the podcast.
We are very excited.
I feel like we say we're very excited every single podcast, but we're always very excited.
So it's true.
And today we have a super, super wonderful special guest today, Ximena Avalos.
She's a longtime member, great friend, and a wonderful, wonderful person who is here to
talk about her experience with brain reorganization, with her children, and with her faith, how
that's kind of played into this.
So if you're somebody who's listening right now and you maybe don't love talking about
religion and stuff or listening to that, totally fine.
You can keep on going and come back to our next episode, but we really, really encourage
you to stay because it's going to be an amazing conversation, no matter where you stand on
the spectrum of spirituality.
So with that said, Ximena, do you want to do a little intro?
Yeah, yeah, for sure.
Thanks for having me, guys.
You know how much I appreciate you guys.
Well, I'm a mother of two.
And I guess my journey with brain work started when I saw some things in my daughter that
I didn't feel were quite developmentally appropriate, I guess, the lack of better words.
And I had her tested a few times at different places and I just would get really ambiguous
results.
Nobody really could kind of nail it.
And finally, at the district, they were like, well, look, I can't say it's autism because
it's weird, but it's most like autism more than anything else.
And so, you know, they were just like, we're just going to say it's awesome.
And we had a discussion at the table on one of the ladies that was also evaluating her
was not in agreement.
And so it was just this horrible war of like, OK, now this label has been placed on my daughter,
my biggest fear, basically, because back then we didn't have labels like neurodivergent
and all these things where people are more accepting of their situation or whatever.
And so I was very like, but I did everything possible to avoid autism, you know, like what
happened.
And so then became a journey of a lot of searching and crying and figuring out what was happening.
And then that journey, my faith had a lot to do.
I've been, I'm a Christian.
I've been walking with Jesus for 27 years and haven't looked back because it's been
just such an amazing journey.
Yeah, I'm curious.
Can you share how old your kids are now?
And then when it's like when you first got that diagnosis with is about.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
So she's 18 now.
And we got that diagnosis and she was like four.
So yeah.
Yeah.
Do you mind sharing a little bit of like, what were the behaviors that you were seeing
or kind of the things that were that were piquing your interest?
Yeah, for sure.
Well, there wasn't a conversation that we can have, right?
We could have.
There was a lot of repeating.
And so we spoke Spanish back then.
So like, she would say get it.
I want, you know, instead of ghetto, I want you would like to get it because you would
hear me say get it.
You know, so she would just repeat that.
And then she's a lot of gibberish, you know, there was a lot of like repeating, seeing
things from movies in order to communicate.
So yeah.
And it was pretty genius.
I was like, how are you trying to communicate with me right now through this dialogue you
learned in a movie?
Yeah.
And then and then there was also like just extreme fear of certain things of the dark
and of dogs and, you know, I mean, I think things that that are kind of normal, you know,
but it was like to the point where like I had to hire a sleep coach because he could
not be by herself in a room, you know, like, so things like that.
So yeah, that was mostly it.
But mostly it was a communication that I couldn't ask her like, how was your day at
school?
And she would be like, oh, mom, today this, this, this happened.
It just that was not a thing.
It was like Martin Luther King, you know, and I'd be like, well, what did you learn about
Martin Luther King?
You know, like, so it was just hard to to ask what was happening in in her school.
So I would go a lot as a volunteer.
Of course.
Going on.
Yes.
Yeah.
And then and then also so when Isabella was four, that's when you got the information
like, okay, there could be something going on.
And then when did you and then you had your amazing story of like finally having a breakthrough
moment?
Do you want to share that?
Yeah.
So I'll just share really quick if I could be vulnerable about kind of where my mind went
at that point.
I felt pretty betrayed by God.
That's where I was in my journey back then.
And I said, you know what?
Okay.
But I was like, I've had I had enjoyed such a really wonderful relationship with God that
it was hard for me to even be raw and honest with my emotions with him and tell him, this
is how I'm feeling.
It was kind of like I just got that part of my heart out.
And then I just like, come, come, I'm mentalized it and put it somewhere else and started
just praying about other things and would kind of like not even touch the subject.
It was kind of like I was giving him the silent treatment in that area.
That's how I felt.
And I felt like he kept pursuing me and kind of like trying to show me things.
And I wasn't until, okay, so I'll try to make this as simple as possible.
I was seeing a DO for a while because then I started, you know, nutrition, changing nutrition.
Let's I'm just starting on my journey of research.
And the DO had mentioned to me at the, I was her crawling house for creeping.
I was like, I don't know what you're talking about.
Like creeping and she's like, yeah, on the floor, like have her like drag herself on
the floor like 10 minutes a day.
And I would be like, well, okay, I don't know what I'm doing.
You know, she didn't really explain this to me or whatever.
So I tried it.
I was like, I don't know what I'm doing.
This is dumb.
I was like, what is this for?
And then that was it.
And she also told me, she's like, she's not autistic.
Like, you know, she was trying to encourage me.
But again, it was just hard.
I was in this like zone of like, am I in denial?
Am I, you know, because that's how they make you feel, you know how they do it.
Like they make kind of shame.
Like, well, you just got to face the, you know, the truth and help your daughter.
And it wasn't until I came to the end of myself, like, and I just on my knees one night cried
and said, Lord, I just surrender her to you.
Like she's not mine to begin with.
And why am I holding onto this pressure as if this is my responsibility to fix her?
You know, this is, she's yours.
So just, can you just give me some answers and some clarity and things?
You just guide me.
Wow.
And literally the next day, my husband had seen what I was doing, like with the creeping,
like I just told him, you know, well, she wants me to do this.
I swear I did that like two days.
And then he sees on the news a bit where kids are creeping and crawling.
And it was the, the business where I met you, Danny, this business that promoted, you know,
creeping and crawling and the brain gym exercises and just kind of the neuroplasticity concept.
And I, I was like, what, you know, and I called and immediately like tried to get in, but,
you know, I didn't have the money.
I was a, I wasn't working at that point anymore.
You know, my, we were one income family because I was taking care of my kids.
And then came the other supernatural part of just my journey of God, just really providing
financially in ways that I could have never imagined.
Like all of a sudden, oh, here you go, you know, you have a project here, you're going
to sing.
I had like a singing project to sing some background vocals for this really well known Christian
artist and Mexican South America that I didn't know.
But it was like that paid for like one full, you know, course.
And then the second one, I just, God just provided everything and I couldn't believe
it.
And then in the group where I was, that there were like three people from my church.
Wow.
And I was like, wow.
You know, so even just those little details that I just felt like faith.
That's kind of my journey of how that started.
That's so cool.
And then you started doing that.
We connected obviously, because I was like the liaison there.
There's the head lady there who that's where I learned everything.
And she was a great educator.
And then I remember just like connecting with you.
It was like, I love you.
Like, I'm not allowed to say this, but I'm going to tell you anyway.
Like, you know, there's things that I like, I was just like, there's something that I
was pulled to you to talk about.
It's funny.
There's so many people that came through in my three plus years of working there and
you and that group, I remember like the most.
So there's something also supernatural there.
But then you, so then your daughter starts to do the program.
And then what started shifting?
Like, what did you start seeing after you started creeping and crawling more?
By this point, she was in first grade and within two weeks, I started seeing, I start,
she started conversing with me like more.
She started telling me like what was happening.
And I started realizing she was getting bullied.
You know, she's like, these girls threw me in the bathroom and locked me in and were,
you know, like laughing at me.
And I was like, Oh my gosh, like, that's huge.
I mean, if that had, if you hadn't been able to communicate with her, you would have never
known.
Yeah.
That's huge.
Wow.
But in all part.
So there was just a lot of things like that.
My parents immediately noticed a difference too.
Like I remember they were going, well, like she's talking a lot more, she's a lot more
expressive.
She's, you know, and I mean, basically for me, I'm sure there were other things, but
I was really focused on a communication piece of it because it was really hard for me to
not communicate with my daughter.
So that was really, that was really big.
Yeah.
Yeah, of course.
And then you then brought in your son who he had, did he come through the program where
we, he did not know that's right.
You were just home with him.
I did that with you.
Yeah.
Right.
And then you started your business.
I, I, I, we did, I did another year with my daughter.
And then started my son too because he had started to stammer.
Right.
The point where he couldn't communicate either, but he was a real talker.
Unlike, unlike my daughter was a real talker since he was a baby.
And then all of a sudden three years old comes around and he's like, you know, and it's just
really scary.
And I was like, again.
Yeah.
But, but again, at this point, I was at somewhere else with, with God, you know, when I came
to the end, if you want to call it not the end, but the end of like the course and stuff.
Like I remember just having this feeling of overwhelm of gratitude.
Like you never left me.
Like you were always there with me every step and helping me through, through it all.
And so by this time I was a lot more at peace.
Like, okay, Lord, you know, he's yours.
Like I'm around to you right now from the get go.
I'm not going to wait three months, you know, to like, to let go.
And then I had these tools, you know, and so I already, it was amazing because Danny sat
there with me in the IEP meetings where the speech pathologist was like, this is the worst
case I've seen in 26 years, you know, and he's going to have a really hard time.
And you know, all this things and I'm like, oh, great.
Thanks for the encouragement.
Wow.
Yeah.
I remember that.
I was like, wow, is this like, is this helpful?
Like you're the parent receiving this information.
Yeah, this might be, I think that's when those people in those positions, they just do this
every day.
They don't realize like the human on the other side is like, well, this is the first time
I've ever heard of this.
Like, whoa, exactly.
A lot to take in.
Can we have a little bit more compassion right now?
So I remember that moment.
I was like, no, it's not like, don't, we got this.
And then you came back, right?
We went back to the AAP and it was like, what did you do?
Well, I mean, his, his, uh, first of all, I think the thing ended with that speech pathologist
because at this point he had to go to school.
That's right.
But, um, with my daughter, we came back with the IAP.
You went to that one too.
That's right.
Yeah.
Where, um, they were, they did it.
It was, so this was in third grade at this point.
And no, second grade.
And they, um, they did another evaluation as they have to do every, you know, a couple
years to see if they still need to give services.
And the psychologist was like, there's not even the same person, you know, like, like
this psychology report and the ones that I'm doing are not even the same.
So I don't, we can't even, um, we can't even justify this label.
Right.
They changed it and they kind of put like speech or something because they were like,
well, we don't know what to call it.
We're just going to call it speech.
Wow.
That's so interesting.
Did you feel a shift in the way that they were looking at you, looking at your kids,
kind of being like, what did they do?
I mean, did you explain it all?
Like we've been doing this program.
It's brain reorganization.
We're integrating primitive reflexes.
Or did you just come back and just like, Hey, look at my daughter now.
No.
I'm just like, this is different people, but, but they, but still they were super advocates.
Yes.
And that's another thing that I really felt God put the right people in the journey.
So happens that Alejandra, one of your clients was a teacher at the language academy.
So I had a teacher at that same school that was like, you know, like, yes, I've been trying
to bring in, you know, brains and she did bring him in her own classroom.
Right.
And then the next point is that my daughter's second grade teacher was like, please, I want
to implement anything I can and train me and show me.
And it was, it was really encouraging.
Yes.
To see them like, wow, we've never seen, I think, didn't they say something like we've
never seen this in an IEP meeting before where like we remove the label?
That is so cool.
Yeah.
And parents want to remove the label too, I think it's just the fact that it's like
we were, we're fighting for her to be the best that she could be.
Not that labels are wrong.
I'm not trying to, you know, shame anybody who has them or where's an I B, but it's like,
let's be real here and let, you know, let's not, let's not over label things that she
doesn't have or that she doesn't need, you know, because that's not good for her either.
Right.
Because I would kept her in the box and you were the idea.
I mean, our journey is kind of like, as you're telling the story back, I'm like, oh my gosh,
this was like, what, 12 years ago?
A long ago.
Yeah.
Like 11 years ago where I'm like, whoa, he met it.
We've been through so much.
Like, and our, and our paths just keep doing this like cool crossing.
And you also were such a big supporter because I remember when I was leaving that one company,
you're like, where are you going?
I was like, I can't tell you yet.
And then you like reached out to me and I was like, I'm starting my own thing.
You're like, I'm coming.
And I was like, yes, it's amazing.
That's when Carlo and I and then you and your sister and we started just kind of doing like
tea and coffee chats and brain work.
And I was just like, and then that's what started and that was my God moment too of like, is
this going to work?
Like, am I going to be able to bring people in?
And then you were the first person like getting people to come find me.
So it's amazing when I think back of our journey and then your journey and like all of it together
and just how cool it is because now your kids are 16 and 18, right?
16 and a half and 18.
Yeah.
Okay.
And to hear like, had you just accepted what was given to you and then just sat there and
didn't really like pursue what you did, like release that release that you were able to
do is the number one thing.
And that's what parents, that's our mission for parenting, the parenting we're creating
is that a lot of times our kids behavior, we find to be a reflection of us, right?
And we think it's our doing and we messed it up, right?
But you were able to say, no, this is your journey.
I'm here to help facilitate and support you, but you are your own person and you're also
being guided.
And for you to be able to do that was huge.
And that is speaking strictly to your faith of you are being guided and you trusted it,
right?
And like all of the synchronicities that came through for you to find that path is truly
incredible because if we think that if you just took that piece of what was given to
you, your kids wouldn't be what Isabella's booking a trip to Scotland and traveling on
her own.
And you already traveled on her own last summer to Hawaii, right?
Five hours on a plane.
Right.
That's crazy.
And then all the things that Carla's taking, he's not even graduated from high school yet,
but he's taking community college classes.
I mean, it's just incredible, right?
And it doesn't mean that your journey's done.
It doesn't mean that you don't have your challenges with the emotional regulation.
And that's a big part here for us at in the cortex.
It's not just like, oh, I did a program.
I'm done.
I never have to clock in more time with nervous system regulation.
It's a practice that you have to bring back because we were just talking about, hey, can
you come try our new program, by the way?
Yeah.
I've seen it.
Yeah.
She's gonna start that.
I told her about it.
I sent it to her.
I don't know if she's starting.
I think she forgot, but I'm like, you need to start this program and she wants to.
Like that's the thing.
It's like home to her because she's like, I got this.
I know it's helped me in the past.
I know it helps me regulate, you know, and so it's like tools that we have always.
I love that.
In our pocket.
I love that.
And then for you and your journey.
So like, I remember when you and your sister started coming and we were just chatting and
you started to experience some stuff too.
And like, and that's so true for us parents.
It's not just our kids.
It's not, it's really everybody in this world today can benefit from nervous system regulation.
And I giggle because it's like, we're not even aware that it's actually related to our brain,
our behaviors that we have or our subconscious beliefs of like, why do I keep doing this?
And so do you want to share a little bit about your personal journey of going through brain
organization?
Yeah.
I think for me, if I, I think if I were to take the course again today, I'd see, I'd
go into a lot deeper things, you know, I'm, I feel like I'm constantly doing self examination.
Anyway, that's something that I include in my prayer practice.
But, but when I did the framework the first time, I remember just, I think the most noticeable
thing for me was that I was no longer afraid of the dark.
You know, these are things that were really like, shameful to say when you're an adult,
you're like, well, I'm scared of the dark or, you know, you're an adult, you know, that
there is not a person in around the corner of your house ready to kill you.
Right.
But still, why is it there?
And why is it fear there?
Yeah.
These are things you don't speak because you're like, oh, I know it's my imagination or whatever.
But it was like, always there, always there, always there.
And then it didn't, it wasn't like crippling or anything.
But I noticed it went away and I was like really shocked.
I wasn't even trying for that.
I remember going, I'm not scared to go up to, I'm going to go up without light, you
know, like, yeah, I bumped less into things.
I bumped into things all the time.
I think that's coming back.
So I think probably need to sum it up.
Yeah.
A little tune up, a little tune up.
Yeah.
But, you know, there's, I think in general, just I saw less overwhelm.
And I think just having the tools with me all the time knowing, okay, I can, I can,
I can do pace right now or I can lizards and the sensors and things like that.
You know, we, we did a lot of that during our homeschool years.
And creeping right now for me is hard guys because, you know, perimenopause gained so
much weight and I'm like, whoa.
It's hard.
So I haven't been able to do that very consistently.
Yeah.
But we do crawl.
Yeah, I was going to say crawl for sure.
Yeah.
Just do the crawling.
Yeah.
And that's the one thing for me that like is my biggest noticeable shift and it's like
always the hardest one to get in and do, but then after you do it, you're like, okay.
And that was for me a game changer.
That's right.
So you were in the schools and then you had, was that another thing that came through you,
another download from God or you're like, I need to pull my kids from school.
I need to homeschool them.
Yeah.
That's another little journey, like side journey where it was, um, I wasn't side because
I ended up being main journey, but like, yeah, it was like, I had always wanted to homeschool,
but when she got that label, um, they were very against me homeschooling.
And of course at that point I was so afraid of everything.
I was like, well, okay, well, I don't want to mess her up.
Well, I don't want to, you know, in hindsight, of course, I've been like, no, okay, I'm
going to pull, I'm going to homeschool her then, you know, right.
But, um, which is what I wanted to do anyway.
But my husband wasn't really fully on board.
It's not something that we had really discussed.
You know, it's something that I just always kind of had in my, in my mind, um, and as
an idea.
And then I was kind of rushed into just pushing her into this, you know, program, special needs
program.
So then I just did that.
Um, but there came a time when I started getting more and more uncomfortable with things that
was very involved at school.
Um, and I was like, like, this is a lot of work, you know, and I feel like my daughter's
not even benefiting from me being here all the time.
Like, um, you know, I didn't like the way things were done at school.
It seemed like I was, I didn't know what country I was in because I'm like, why is there no
toilet paper in the bathroom?
Why are these bathrooms so disgusting?
Right.
I mean, of course administration matters, but, um, but the point is I was like, wow,
this is not what I was expecting.
And then the bullying increased for my daughter.
And so she was, um, she would just come home crying every day.
Um, but even while this was happening and before I had even said, okay, well, let me
figure out what I'm going to do.
Um, God sent people to just start talking to me about homeschooling.
Like, but, but the key was he sent people to talk to my husband because that's the thing
is, you need to, um, we, yeah, we have to be like, I would have been, you know, like
in like, sure, I'm game.
He was going to be the hard one to convince.
And he sent a pastor that had just moved here from Mexico city, um, who, uh, he lived in
Hanahama who might, who has been friends with my husband for many, many years, whom he respects
highly and who homeschooled all his kids.
And so like, he just added a move.
He was like, I want to have coffee with you guys.
And he's like, you know, he told us the homeschool story.
I'm like, why are you telling me this story?
He's like, I don't know.
I just, I think you guys is like the perfect homeschool parents.
Like you guys are so interesting.
Yeah.
And I'd be like, this is hilarious because I, this has been something that's been bubbling
up and I, I would feel during my prayer time, I got like, I think it's time, it's time, you
know, and one time I remember I walked into, to, uh, the school and I, I really felt like
I really heard, you know, when you hear God's voice is like a really present thought in
your mind.
Um, and I just heard like almost interrupt my thoughts and say, these people are raising
your kid.
And I was like, okay, got a point taken.
Like I get it.
Like you, you're doing all these things.
Okay.
So I think we're going to, we're going to do it.
So I talked to my husband and he was like, okay, well, let's just try it with one first.
You know, Carla was still in the school and he wasn't very sure, but he's got the okay
from his family who are all educators.
You know, they were all like, yes, you know, this is good for her and they weren't against
it.
So I have to thank God for all of that because he's the one that convinced my husband.
First of all, he sent people and that I had such a supportive family because most people
who have educators, this family are like, no, you know, go home school.
So yeah, it all kind of felt, you know, just came together and Isabella had asked me, she's
like, mom, please just take me out.
I'm just miserable here.
We've been reading this book for book club that we told you about a second ago.
It's called the awakened brain.
One big piece of the book is looking at synchronicities and I believe in that so much.
I'm not a member of any church yet, but I do believe in something else, right?
I like to call it the universe or in Spanish alone.
But, you know, whatever everybody believes in, I do believe that if you hadn't been in
this practice of connecting with God, connecting with your source, I don't know if you would
have seen the synchronicities, right?
Even the first time with the creeping and crawling coming up on the screen for your
husband too, though, that's what's funny is that both of the messages came through him
because you know, he's the one that's a little bit more of a skeptic, right?
And so I would love if you can kind of share a little bit of like what that feeling is
because I feel like a lot of people, especially if you're in deep survival mode and you don't
have a very active spiritual practice, it might be really hard to understand what that
like moment is where you're like, that's it.
That's the message that I need to follow.
Yeah.
Let's get question.
Well, you know, in Christianity, it's about a relationship, right?
So it truly is getting to know the voice of God and it truly is recognizing when he's
speaking to you and when he's not, you know, and that comes with spending time with him.
So spending time in prayer is a practice that I discipline that I have and had for a long
time and it's really just a conversation, you know, with the Lord.
It's nothing hokey or weird, but it reminds me a lot of even just like pace, you know,
like when you do brain hookups, like when you pray, you know, we usually close our eyes
and we do this and it's connecting.
I think it's connecting your brain, you know, it's connecting your brain and we are people
that are both, we're mind, you know, body and spirit and all of it matters.
So your posture matters when you're praying and so just that recognizing of the voice
and the moment and seeing the signs has just come from spending time with him and recognizing
how he speaks to me and my life.
And I think it's also just really good.
I think it's also kind of about being open to it, right?
Yeah.
Because if you're somebody who Lisa talks about this, Lisa, Dr. Lisa Miller, sorry.
Our pal.
I hope she's our pal one day.
She talks about this in the book where she's like a lot of people would look at these things
that I'm studying, right?
I'm studying synchronously, I'm studying the way that spirituality affects the brain and
changes the brain and protects the brain, which is what's the craziest piece of it.
And other skeptics and scientists would be like, nope, it's just a coincidence and there's
absolutely no connection to it.
And ultimately her message is whatever it means to you, that's what it's meant to mean,
right?
And I think that's kind of ultimately the way that I like to look at it because I might
look at, oh my gosh, that's so funny.
There's a butterfly right outside my window and I thought of a butterfly yesterday when
I thought about this thing.
So maybe that means this.
I interpreted that way.
That's all that matters, right?
So that's kind of what you're, I think what you're saying is understanding what the voice
of God sounds like, but to you, right?
Or the universe or whatever your spiritual practice means.
It's I guess recognizing and practice.
And then in Christianity, we also, we follow the Bible.
So like there's, is it aligned to what the Bible?
Right.
I hear the voice of God telling me to go, you know, murder someone.
Well, that's right.
That's not aligned to the Bible.
That's not going to be it yet.
That's kind of our framework, I'd say.
Yeah.
Like our guardrails, I guess, if you want to call it.
Yes.
Like what it, you know, what you're hearing is that even if it's to you, like, is it
aligned with, with the teachings of Jesus and what the Bible says.
So that's kind of how I, how I go about that.
I love that.
And I feel like, because I just started recently going to church too, and I've been very spiritual
my whole life, but then having more of a faith direction and having the part for me that
really came through was the group and being in community that is all on the same page
is the danger.
And that's what Dr. Lisa talked about too, is being in a group of people that have the
same feeling.
It amplifies what's coming through.
And so when, if you're feeling lost and you don't know what to do and then you find a
group of people, that energy, the, the quantum physics behind it is just, it will literally
shift your force and your field within you.
And I think that's when you can start to feel this differently.
And I know I can be, and the other parts who I always think is so interesting because we
talk about subconscious beliefs in our program and we can all be listening to one message,
right?
And then all of a sudden that message came through for one person so different than it
came through for me.
And that's my perception and my filter is hitting so many different angles.
And one of my favorite things after a church service, me and my fiance will drive home
and we'll just talk like, how did you hear that?
Like what did it came through?
And I'm like, oh, I didn't get it that way.
And then we'll have the discussion.
And I think that's what it's really cool about like prayer groups and how you can help make
sense of the Bible.
Because I will tell you as a new found Christian, I'm like, this is very confusing.
I don't really understand what that meant.
Yeah.
No, that's such a good point.
You know, community is such an important aspect of Christianity, of life.
Yeah.
But especially in Christianity too because of that.
Like in fact, interpreting the Bible should be in community.
Reading the Bible should be in community.
Even praying should be in community.
You know, we're a very individualistic society here in the West.
Yeah.
And you know, Hebrew culture, what was written in the Bible, you know, it was all about community.
And people got married to make the community better.
People did things for each other, not for me.
You know.
And so that mentality is a big shift when you come into Christianity.
A lot of times when we're American Christians, that mentality doesn't change.
You know, but if you really read the scriptures and you really follow the teachings of Jesus,
we are no longer, you know, we are to live in a different way than our society does.
You know, so yeah, community, living in community, interpreting the Bible in community.
Even when people say, hey, you know, I prayed for you and I got this word or I got this
vision, you know, you're to test that with your community and be like, well, you know,
I'm not so sure.
And I get married at, you know, in four years or well, no, I'm like divination to me.
I don't know, you know, you know, so you just have to weigh that with community.
And that's why you have wisdom from others.
And, you know, I consider you guys a big part of my community.
I always say that.
And I always say, you know, village, because we say it takes a village.
You guys have been such a big part of my village and I don't downplay that at all.
Like the part that you guys played in the raising of my children is a huge part.
And I believe that you guys were sent to me by God, by the way.
I believe it too.
I love that.
Yeah.
I appreciate that so much.
Like the, it's amazing.
It's funny because I feel like it was such a reciprocal relationship that we had.
Like I helped you with your kids.
You helped me with my business go deeper into things.
And like, it just feels like I'm so grateful that I got to even have that experience to
walk alongside you and give that guidance.
And I was like, I'm still picking up a lot of new things here and there.
And now here we are 14 years later.
And it's like, wow, how cool is this?
Like, look at how far your kids have grown.
My kids now are in this world and it's pretty wild.
And I will say our kids come to us for a reason.
They come to help us grow.
And I think when we look at it that way, instead of feeling like I have to fix you, my child,
and make you perform in a way that is aligned with me and how I see the world, you're going
to be in a battle forever.
And when you can surrender to something, whatever it is that you want to surrender to, you can
see that they're here to teach you and your children were here to help you learn more
about communication.
And now you're, you have a podcast where you work with amazing company and like, and you've
been such a source of helping people now on the homeschooling journey because you are my
massive helper in homeschooling.
I was like, human, I'm so scared.
I need to homeschool my kids because I cannot put them in a government institution right
now.
And I mean, no shame if you're someone listening who has your children there.
It just didn't align with me.
And you are my source of just like, here's how you can go about it.
Here's what you're going to do.
And then I was like, but I want what you created that co-op was so cool.
How do I find families like that?
And then I had to homeschool my kid for two years.
Axl and I went through a lot in the emotional realm of like, you know what buddy?
I love you so much.
I think I need to find someone to help us here because I need some help.
So then I found a pod and that was a God story.
It was a baseball practice and a woman came up to me.
Our kids were on the same baseball team and she was just like, it was like she drew the
Jesus in the sand kind of moment, you know that where it's like, Hey, we're on the same
page.
Yeah.
I was like, Oh, we're not.
Oh my gosh.
Yes.
And then we had a conversation and she's like, Hey, we're starting a potty.
You understand?
I'm like, yes, I don't care anymore details.
I'm in.
I don't even know anything else.
Just get him there.
It has transformed my son in every aspect of his being.
He like won't even, I'm pulling up to the house and he's like drop rolling out of the
car, like not even stopping before he's like, bye mom.
See you later.
Sam Zador.
This was the child who was like, don't leave me mom.
Stay by my side.
Now he's like, see ya.
And he started reading into it.
So I'm so grateful for you to showing away to home school and to not do it alone.
That was because community once again, you need community.
It takes a village.
So probably the biggest thing that we promoted in our, in our YouTube channel and our podcast
was community.
I mean, that's why I did it with my friend because it's like, if you're going to do this
alone, it's just, it's going to be really hard time to tell you that right now.
Yeah.
Are you indeed, he's still doing chips and salsa.
So we just filmed our last video last week, which I haven't edited, but we're kind of
saying goodbye.
I know it's, and it's funny because right when we filmed our last video and said we
were saying goodbye, we got like a consultation book and like all these things started popping
up.
So maybe it's not.
What does it mean to you?
Yeah.
I know.
Well, you know, we did pray about it a lot.
And I think we, we can gladly say goodbye to this season because that was a very, it's
just also was birthed out of organic relationships and also everything that, everything that
we gave as advice or encouragement was something that we were experiencing at that moment.
Right.
So it just doesn't feel like natural right now.
I mean, I'll gladly give consultations, you know, based on my experience, but to be coming
up with ideas and content and stuff just didn't feel like life giving to us.
And plus we both kind of moved on to great things.
She's an adjunct professor at like Southwestern right now and amazing.
She went back to chiropractic work at a clinic.
So, you know, she's, she's going to still teach, which is, you know, amazing, but it's
teaching what she, you know, she's making good use of that degree that she got many
years ago.
Yeah.
And honestly, for anyone listening, please go check out Chips and Salsa's YouTube account.
They have the best videos.
She met us the one that actually inspired us to on our editing.
She helped us edit our, our own, of our program.
I was just going to say you did our first round of videos.
Yeah.
Right.
And Carlo, your son, I mean, full circle moment.
He was on the editing part for us too.
So grateful.
So we'll link the YouTube and our show notes.
And then also these ladies are so musically talented.
Like they're singing, the kids playing instruments.
It is so, but there's that one Instagram video guys did down in San Diego by the USS Midway.
Oh yeah.
And then there's that one video that just came back up and I was like, Oh my gosh, everyone
needs to go see this.
Like the power of being able to teach kids when they want to learn and helping them out
of the box, not just like check the boxes, but like really inspiring these kids to be
empowered to learn is so incredible.
Cause these, your group of Kettos, you guys had them like as a co-op, right?
You had, how did you do it?
Can you share really quick that the co-op was the beginning?
I mean, all, all, all that was, was that Dee Dee and I were talking about our frustrations
in homeschool.
So we started coming up with solutions, ideas.
And then we were like, you know, wait, that's how chips and salsa channel got started on
YouTube.
But then the co-op, we were like, well, I want to do more art and poetry.
And I want to do, you know, tea with poetry and I want to do music.
And it's something that you can't, when you're alone, it's really hard to like be like, Oh,
let's take out the art.
You're just like, no, let's just, you know, call it a day.
And so we, that's how it started.
It's like, well, what if we did tea and poetry like twice a month?
So it started with that, you know, and then, okay, well, I want to teach them about, you
know, we're learning about the Renaissance.
So I want to teach them about Renaissance, you know, composers and Renaissance artists.
So now let's add that.
Oh, you know what?
Let's add book club.
So, you know, we just started like building on it.
And then two more ladies joined in afterwards that were our close friends.
We weren't open to everybody.
Yeah.
Not because we weren't trying to be inclusive, but because it was so, it's such a prized
possession for us.
Like we wanted to make sure that they didn't get disrupted, you know, like what we had
was so special that people had to be like-minded if they were going to join.
You know, they were going to have to be a part of it and really bring their gifts and
talents to it and not bring drama or anything like that.
So yeah.
That's kind of what we did.
And we got together twice, twice a month only to do our actual co-op activities.
And then of course we did field trips together and all kinds of other things together.
And we put like science camps together in the summer.
We went to DC together, you know, so we were always together.
Yeah, so cool.
And your journey is all over on social media and all the cool stuff.
So any family that's just searching for another option, Jimena and DeeDee have such great
resources.
I actually won a free consult and I was like, oh my gosh, tell me what curriculum alone.
Oh, right.
Where do you start?
And there's millions of them out there and you're going to try out so many different
options and then you're going to find one that you like, hopefully.
But Jimena has already gotten a lot of that.
She also works for an amazing curriculum company and we'll link all that in here too.
So I feel like there's so much more to share.
Our vision is working in brain work, spirituality, faith, whatever it is that suits you and merging
it all together just so you can live your like most authentic version of your life.
So if there's like one main takeaway, Jimena, and this journey you've been on with your
kids, like what would you be like the message you send to other moms that are working in
your, maybe are in your position 14 years ago of like, what am I doing?
Well, I just, you know, especially want to encourage my Christian brothers and sisters
that science and faith are not mutually exclusive.
Yes.
Science, I think it's just the discovery of what God has already done, you know.
And actually that is kind of our purpose on this earth is to discover more of him.
And so we can't look at the things that man has discovered and be like, no, I don't know,
that's actually, you're discovering of the things that God created.
When we learn about brain science, we're discovering more of how he created us.
So it goes, yeah, it's aligned to that partnership that we are supposed to have with Jesus and
the Holy Spirit like in our lives of, you know, the Bible tells us renew your mind.
So how do you renew your mind?
Yeah, you know, just sit there and go renew my mind.
You have to put in the work.
And that is perfectly biblical.
So I would say use the tools that God puts in front of you and appreciate the community
that God puts in front of you and take it all in and learn from it because this life
is hard to do it by yourself.
You know, he didn't promise us a perfect life, but he did promise that he would overcome
it and that he would be with us.
And so that entails everybody that he sends and everything that he sends our way for us
to learn and grow in him deeply.
So he takes care of, he's overall everything and our trust is in him only.
But the things that he sends around to us are part of that walk.
That was amazing.
That's inspiring for me.
I mean, I'm already there.
I love it.
Yeah.
So much, Jimena.
Like you are such an amazing human, an amazing mom, and I am so grateful to know you.
Thank you for being on this podcast today.
And I have like a million more questions that I'm going to ask you off the record now.
Yeah, I know.
Let's let's get get done with the social media stuff and then we can talk about a million
things.
Our YouTube is going to and is going to stay open in our Instagram and stuff.
I mean, we might not post that much, but like our YouTube will stay there.
All our videos are there.
Our website will be up until August.
Okay.
And so we still have a homeschool 101 course available for all new homeschool moms and
that's still available until August.
And and consultations, one-on-one consultations are still available until then.
Perfect.
You do listen to this after August of 2024.
You can still message them if you want to contact Jimena.
You can also email us.
Hello at inthecortex.com.
Don't worry, we will help you contact wonderful human that because she's the best.
And so thank you for listening.
Please subscribe, rate the podcast, share this episode with anybody who you know would
like to listen to this stuff.
And okay, here we go.
Our social media, TikTok in underscore the underscore cortex Instagram in the cortex
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us YouTube in the cortex us website.
W W dot in the cortex.com email.
I said it all ready.
Hello at in the cortex.com.
And remember, if you sign up soon, you get to use promo code Brainiac because that's
what we all are because we listen to this.
We're brainiacs.
We love it.
We love our brains.
And you can get 10 bucks off the first payment of our program.
And yeah, we have some amazing, very exciting new things coming.
So if you're a parent listening to this, make sure to follow us on social media because there's
something really, really fun coming up in the next couple of months.
And yeah, thank you so much, Jimena.
This was amazing.
Amazing.
Thank you guys.
Thank you.
Bye.