What do you associate with the word longevity? 
I’ve never really leaned into the word longevity because for me, it’s always coupled with biohacking. With our programs [at Remedy] I always like to say we don’t biohack, we remedy. And I think what’s interesting with ‘longevity’ is that it’s often linked  to anti-aging, which I also don’t believe in. The body repairs, it can recover and rebound, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that we are reversing our aging [process]. 

When you have a cut, your body can scab over. When you break a bone, your body rebuilds bone. That’s not anti-aging, right? That’s the body repairing. And I think when your body’s in a healthier state, it repairs better. So I think aging is how we endure stress, and how we endure stress over time specifically. So the healthier you are, the more you’ll be able to endure that stress, so you don’t age as fast. If you're unhealthy, the inevitable stress we encounter wears and tears the body more and more, which makes us age faster.

When did you first come across ideas of  “remedy” and “repair”?
I always wanted to be a doctor since I was little. I studied pre-med and I was volunteering in the hospital as much as possible to go into medical school.

With hospital work I was initially excited, but then I realized, maybe this isn't how I want to take care of people. It definitely wasn’t the environment I wanted to be in for the rest of my life. Many elements of it aren’t good for the patients or for the staff. The doctors weren’t sleeping, or healthy, and didn’t have much time for their families. And I was like, wait, this isn't how I imagined the world of healthcare. 

That’s when I really started having a deeper dive into what ‘remedy’ really meant, and asking what does the future of healthcare look like? 

How does human connection play a role in health focused environments?
When I finished school, I went into practice for five years. The number one complaint that I documented during that time was patients saying to me: “I feel incredible. You fixed X, Y or Z problems. But all these lifestyle changes you helped me implement really ruined my social life. And now I can’t have fun.” And I remember being like, “why is living healthy so isolating?” When you think about birthdays or an after-work hangout or going on dates or any social event or celebration, it’s often about overindulging in food and alcohol. 

I want patients to be able to live this new lifestyle and feel incredible and fix whatever they have going on. But I also know that human connection is the most important thing for our health.

My background is in science, and I never  thought I would go into alternative medicine, because I knew nothing about it. The deeper I went into various subjects I just realised there are just a lot of areas that haven’t been researched deeply. What’s interesting now is that, a decade on, all those things are now more established and considered to be extremely important.

Do you find that people are more interested in learning about the subject these days?
Yes for sure, when it comes to this subject everyone seems so engaged! At the end of the day, everyone’s inquisitive about this subject because it’s about them. It’s about their health, or their families. We all know our mind and bodies are our number one assets, but we barely even know how they work, never mind how to take care of it. It’s crazy that the most important thing we have, we don’t even have a baseline instruction manual for. Education plays a pivotal role here in transforming everything. And you don’t need a fancy outlet like Remedy Place, or technologies, you just need the bare basics.

What are your hopes for technology when it comes to the wellbeing landscape?
I'm really optimistic about it.  Like I was saying before, I think the biggest problem with our healthcare system now is education. Unless you’re privileged enough to have access to certain doctors or certain people to really educate you, a lot of people aren’t getting the level of care that they should be. But I think with advancements in AI, it’s going to give everyone access to the same education. Only you can make yourself healthy, and there is no magic pill or doctor who can fix all your problems. So I hope AI means more access to good information, and using that information isn’t an easy thing to do, but it will help. 

On that note, it’s not easy, but the whole point of living is to feel good. And if you just live longer but you feel terrible, that’s not the point. I’m not trying to live forever. I want to make sure that every moment that I have here I’m able to leave an impact, and then also just enjoy the process while doing so.

There is a great deal of technology involved in some of the practices that fall under the longevity umbrella. Is there one in particular right now that excites you or you think is worth pursuing?
I would say most of these new technologies are really flashy and not ones that I would put in Remedy Place. I think with everything that we have in the program today, I’ve done at least 10 years of my own clinical evidence and market research and have firsthand experience knowing that they work.

All of these things have been around for a very long time. When you’re thinking about hyperbaric chambers or red light or ice baths or saunas, these things aren’t new. Only the awareness around them is new. And I think that’s really important.

What do you think is the value of exploring these practices in a place like Scorpios?
What I love about retreats is new connections and new people, putting a whole group of people that don’t know each other together and watching the evolution of relationships and bonding throughout. That’s probably the most powerful thing. Not the treatments, not the experiences, it’s really about those relationships.

I think a lot of the times when you think about alcohol, so many people only know their relationships through alcohol, and it’s a depressant and a dissociative. So people are like, I need to go on a date and I need to have some alcohol so I can loosen up and be myself. And what they don’t realize is they’re actually dissociating from themselves. And then they think that they had a connection, but then they find out later that there wasn't really a connection. It happens all the time and then that creates false hope. Whereas if you’re in a sauna together, your true self is going to come out and your physiology is going to be enhanced in the most beautiful way. You’re definitely going to know, wow, there’s a conversation here or we have nothing in common.

Does an immersive environment, like a retreat, enable that type of connection in a different way than say a routine or something you do every week?
Yes, 100%. The benefits about being on a retreat is escaping the mundane, but I’m also keen to teach people to fit in and understand how to have those moments anywhere. I think a lot of the times when you start looking at these treatments and technologies people are like, well, now you can get it anywhere (or you will be able to in the future). And my response is you have a kitchen at home and you can cook at home, so why do you go out to dinner? It’s an experience, and an environment, where you can be around different people. ■

SCORPIOS WELLBEING

As wellbeing is a deeply personal subject that is open to interpretation, our approach at Scorpios is a multifaceted one, with a range of workshops and practitioners allowing guests to explore and bring curiosity to their practice, whatever that may be.

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