[00:00:00] Geraldine Hennessy: So today we welcome Naturepath Louise Kane, Buckley from Loula Natural. Louise, can you tell us a little bit about yourself, what you do, and how you came to do it?

[00:00:17] Louise Kane Buckley: So, yeah. Hi. I grew up around the world. I was born in Baghdad to British parents, an English mum and a Scottish dad, and that was when we moved to Hong Kong and where I stayed until I was 18.

Went to university in London where I met my Irish husband, took my family back to Hong Kong.

And then we came back here in 2018 with the kids and yeah, so I’m a naturopath. Which is a little bit like a GP.

But we only use nature as to heal and restore the body back to function and vitality.

So it’s a holistic look at the whole body functioning together as well. so that’s mind, body, emotional health, mental health. As well as physical health.

So, yeah. So it’s, a bit different from what people would normally look for here in Ireland, but I’ve been doing it for 20 years.

Okay. Previous to that, I was an actress. And all I ever wanted to be was an actress.

[00:01:19] Geraldine Hennessy: Yes.

Yeah.

[00:01:19] Louise Kane Buckley: So it seems like there’s, like when I said to people, I’m gonna train as personal trainer, everyone was like, what are you talking about? You don’t even go to the gym.

[00:01:27] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah. Yeah.

[00:01:28] Louise Kane Buckley: So yeah, it was a change that I never looked back from.

[00:01:31] Geraldine Hennessy: Okay.

[00:01:32] Louise Kane Buckley: And, have completely loved. But things like this, like performing, in front of large groups of people or small groups of people is my happy place. Okay. And my comfort zone. Okay. So, yeah. So I feel like I’m still the actress. Yeah. Fair. A little bit more authentic. I’m not playing a role or,

[00:01:51] Geraldine Hennessy: yeah.

[00:01:52] Louise Kane Buckley: Or reading a script.

[00:01:53] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah.

[00:01:53] Louise Kane Buckley: But yeah, it’s, that, that’s who I am.

[00:01:56] Geraldine Hennessy: Okay. And could you begin by explaining what naturopathy is, particularly how it differs from conventional medicine.

[00:02:03] Louise Kane Buckley: Yeah. So all doctors would have been naturopaths back in, in history. It’s only really the last a hundred, one hundred and fifty years that, conventional medicine has twisted and turned into what we see it is today. A naturopath is, like I said, it, looks at the whole body. it looks at root causes.

It doesn’t look for diagnosis to have a protocol. It looks at how body systems are functioning or not functioning, how they’re aligning or misaligning alongside each other.

And it, it’s always going to the root, what’s, the root cause so that we can get back to function.

Rather than, looking at symptom management.

So it, it’s about, you know, kind of my tagline is, serve yourselves. Once your cells are functioning, then the knock on and ripple effect of that is a fully functioning, thriving human being.

[00:02:54] Geraldine Hennessy: Okay.

[00:02:55] Louise Kane Buckley: Which we can all come to. So that’s, I’d say the main difference is root cause versus symptom management.

[00:03:01] Geraldine Hennessy: Okay.

Okay. And could you elaborate on how you integrate nature and modern science?

[00:03:07] Louise Kane Buckley: Yeah, so I mean, they’re both really saying the same things. You know, the innate wisdom that we have and the traditional wisdom that we have from nature.

And how nature moves, how nature grows, how nature thrives. It’s very similar to what we are finding in science. You know, they go hand in hand. For example, fermentation has been for centuries, you know. There are documented cases BC of fermented foods being in play in terms of health management, and now studies into the microbiome are showing up, you know, how important that is for our whole body health. So, you know, like working with nature and working with science, all of what we do is evidence-based. And, you know, research is fascinating, so.

[00:03:58] Geraldine Hennessy: Okay.

Okay. Beyond physical health, how do emotional balancing and stress management techniques integrate into your holistic approach?

[00:04:07] Louise Kane Buckley: Well, they’re integral. So often, I mean, as a naturopath, it’s more of an umbrella term. So naturopath will use nature to heal and restore the body back to function and vitality. So then you have your tool belt on how do you do that. And so I kind of started off as a personal trainer.

So my anatomy knowledge was very rooted and grounded in terms of how the body moves and doesn’t move.

It can inform what’s going on, and then you are looking at breaks or sprains or something not functioning.

But at the center of all that is the nervous system. And so when you have the nervous system, if it’s in fight or flight, for example, inflammation will never be switched off because it’s necessary.

So, you know, rest and recovery is where the healing takes over. We have to feel safe. And then when we say feel safe, I mean we’re sitting, you know, very safely in a room together, but, you know, there’s added pressure of, you know, recording and sounding .

And so there, there’s that anxiety that’s building in you. Your body doesn’t necessarily translate the difference between a bus hurtling towards me and me thinking, oh gosh, I’m going to sound really stupid. Yeah. the physical response is the same. Yeah. So, you know, you’ve really got to, if you have a physical symptom and you’re coming to me with a physical symptom, you’ve got to look at the underlying emotional things that are going on there as well.

And vice versa. You know, coming in with an emotional symptom, we’ve got to look at how is the physical working.

So, you know, they can’t really be separated. So I have lots of different tools that will help you with both.

[00:05:50] Geraldine Hennessy: Okay. Okay. And Loula Natural offers a wide range of therapies, including nutrition reiki and bach flowers.

How do you decide which tools are most appropriate for an individual client needs, and how do you ensure each session is tailored to the client specific requirements?

[00:06:08] Louise Kane Buckley: Most of the time it’s the client will come in and and be requesting something.

[00:06:12] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah.

[00:06:13] Louise Kane Buckley: But then it’ll be a kind of… and it’s 20 years of experience as well, so it’s listening to what the client is saying to you, listening to what the client believes in, listening to what the client is looking for.

More often than not, I’ll start a session saying, what is it that you want from this session?

Even though they’ve come to me for, you know, months and years, I’ll still start with, okay, what is it that you are looking for from this session?

And then we’ll go through, okay, I think that… let’s muscle test some herbs. Let’s talk about nutrition. Let’s get on the bed and do some craniosacral therapy. Let’s do some tapping here. Choose some bach flower remedies. So it, kind of flows fairly seamlessly nowadays.

[00:06:54] Geraldine Hennessy: Okay.

[00:06:54] Louise Kane Buckley: Because of my experience in knowing what works and also from my acting experience, you know, doing a lot of improvisation.

Reading the room, you know, reading people’s body language, you know,

[00:07:07] Geraldine Hennessy: the hidden cues kind of thing.

[00:07:09] Louise Kane Buckley: Yeah, A hundred percent. Like people will say, yeah, no, that sounds great, but you’re like, okay, no, that’s not what you want.

[00:07:14] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah, exactly.

[00:07:15] Louise Kane Buckley: So, you know, like, it’s a little bit of a, I wouldn’t say a game because it’s that frivolises it.

But it’s very much keeping the client, you know, getting what they’re looking for.

[00:07:25] Geraldine Hennessy: Okay. Okay.

[00:07:25] Louise Kane Buckley: And then being adaptable.

[00:07:26] Geraldine Hennessy: Okay. Okay. And do you think, like, is there like a common thread across a lot of your consultations? Like do the same issues keep on coming up or cropping up?

[00:07:37] Louise Kane Buckley: Yeah, absolutely. And more often than not, it’ll be the place I’m in as well will attract. Like more often than not, I’ll be saying things to people that I need to hear myself as well.

[00:07:48] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah.

[00:07:48] Louise Kane Buckley: But yes, absolutely stress management, the impact of stress physically and emotionally on people and you know, kind of pushing through those boundaries all the time.

Their body is telling you something. And you’re oh, I just need to get through this week, or I just need to get the kids back to school, or, yeah. You know, that kind of stuff comes in a lot. I tend to see a lot of women. I’m of course open to seeing men and have successfully had great results working with men.

But I tend to see women. Okay. And, women tend to come to see me about their kids.

[00:08:24] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah.

[00:08:25] Louise Kane Buckley: First.

So yeah, those would be the kind of through lines.

[00:08:30] Geraldine Hennessy: Okay.

[00:08:30] Louise Kane Buckley: But, I’m very well known for chronic pain, chronic conditions, and health hormone transitional periods of time and sleep.

[00:08:40] Geraldine Hennessy: Okay. Sleep is a big one.

[00:08:43] Louise Kane Buckley: Yeah. Yeah.

[00:08:44] Geraldine Hennessy: And beyond consultations you offer online and in-person classes and webinars, what are some of the popular topics and what do participants gain from them?

[00:08:54] Louise Kane Buckley: So over the years, I have loved teaching classes. Education is one of the main pillars of naturopathy.

Educating you about how your body works so that you can go out and make choices for yourself. Listen to the symptoms that are coming up and understand what those symptoms are signaling, what they’re communicating to you so that you can make those choices. So I’ve taught classes on a variety of subjects from children’s nutrition lunchboxes through to, a hormone balance.

And then from those two classes and from my own health issues that I had as well, I, I started fermenting.

[00:09:33] Geraldine Hennessy: Okay.

[00:09:33] Louise Kane Buckley: And so, you know, as I was kind of putting out there that I was fermenting. This is like when we moved back to Hong Kong primarily. So about 15 years ago, and everyone was like, oh, so are you selling your products?

And I was like, no, there’s a lot of things. No, I don’t wanna get into that. I’m not a product maker per se, but I’ll teach you how to make it. Okay. And actually, if I teach you how to make fermented products, what you make in your kitchen is far superior to what I make in my kitchen and sell to you.

Because your microbiome has had a play in that.

[00:10:06] Geraldine Hennessy: Yes. Okay.

[00:10:06] Louise Kane Buckley: So, you know, making it playful. Making it easy, making it accessible to people, making them excited about doing it in their kitchen and what flavours they’re gonna make, has been a big part of that. And that, that’s been a really successful facet of my services, is the fermenting workshops.

I also teach, Reiki level one, Reiki level two, and master as well. But those are more niche- kind of when people are looking specifically for Reiki.

One of the classes that I’m teaching now that I’m really enjoying and I’m really excited about is called Power Pause. Which is like a little, it’s a mini retreat, so it’s gonna be monthly, to help people build on a commitment to their nervous system health.

It’s going back to my personal training roots, really and looking at fascia and looking at, you know, the fascia and the nervous system are, so intrinsically connected. And fascia joins every cell to every cell.

[00:11:03] Geraldine Hennessy: Okay.

[00:11:04] Louise Kane Buckley: And every organ to, to every body system. And, you know, it’s like a big old sock that you wear in your body that responds very much to the nervous system.

[00:11:12] Geraldine Hennessy: Okay.

[00:11:13] Louise Kane Buckley: So it is when you, tighten or you loosen. So doing those exercises with a mix of a breath work and meditation on a monthly basis. Not just, you know, those lovely days away from your family

[00:11:27] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah

[00:11:27] Louise Kane Buckley: that you take

[00:11:28] Geraldine Hennessy: yeah

[00:11:28] Louise Kane Buckley: on the odd Sunday.

[00:11:30] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah.

[00:11:30] Louise Kane Buckley: So it’s, you know, it’s about making it regular, making it accessible. And encouraging people to take one thing from it. So in both my fermenting classes and this Power Pause class, it’s like, okay, here’s a, wide variety of inspiration for you. Yeah. Just take one home and get good at that one.

And then, you know, know that you can come back and learn more.

[00:11:53] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah. Yeah. Okay. And your handcrafted therapeutic products like the Wild Yam bam, and Recovery Bam, are unique. What inspired you to create these, and what benefits do they offer?

[00:12:04] Louise Kane Buckley: So it was really when I moved to Ireland. And I was looking at what was on offer to recommend to clients.

And seeing a lot of perimenopausal women, and myself being a menopausal woman, I couldn’t find what I was looking for. And so I was like, okay, I’m gonna have to make it.

So for example, there are lots of magnesium oils and magnesium products on the market. But the difference between seeing, say a wellbeing coach over seeing a naturopath, for example, is that I’m always looking at therapeutic values of things. So, yeah, it’s great for you to use magnesium, but actually this level of magnesium is what you need to be doing.

And so I was seeing that a lot of the magnesium products were falling short of being therapeutic.

So I wanted to make something that was actually going to work.

[00:12:54] Geraldine Hennessy: Okay.

[00:12:56] Louise Kane Buckley: And so I combined that then with homeopathic arnica and, chamomile and lavender and bach flower remedies because the emotional and the physical need to both be present for anything to be truly therapeutic. So the bach flower remedies, in all of my handmade products, make that kind of link to the emotional. So yeah. So then the Wild Yam balm, wild yam has been used for centuries for all women, not just perimenopausal women. So my pubescent daughter uses it as well. And anyone who is going through fertility or reproductive, or just cycle changes can really benefit from our yam.

[00:13:37] Geraldine Hennessy: Okay?

[00:13:37] Louise Kane Buckley: And what it does is it doesn’t give the body the hormone, it encourages the body to come up with the right ratio of hormones.

[00:13:47] Geraldine Hennessy: Oh, right. Okay.

[00:13:47] Louise Kane Buckley: So whether that’s progestogen, estrogen or DHEA, it supports the body to make that balance itself.

[00:13:54] Geraldine Hennessy: Okay.

[00:13:54] Louise Kane Buckley: Which for me is far more beneficial than just giving it the hormone.

[00:13:58] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah.

Yeah.

[00:13:58] Louise Kane Buckley: So I made that alongside, and of course, because stress plays such a big role, I wanted to use other herbs alongside that to help manage, the impact of stress on the body.

So I used tulsi and skullcap and frankincense, clary sage, lavender, and then the bach flower remedies in there.

[00:14:18] Geraldine Hennessy: Okay.

[00:14:18] Louise Kane Buckley: And then the recovery balm, I get loads of bruises, and the kids are always knocking themselves and hurting themselves. And my husband continues to run in his fifties, so he needs support with that as well.

So the recovery balm is really about tissue repair.

[00:14:32] Geraldine Hennessy: Okay.

[00:14:33] Louise Kane Buckley: It’s about inflammation, so it’s really good for arthritis. It’s really good for any scars, any bruises, any skin irritations, dermatitis, eczema, all that kind of stuff. Those three products are all I make and I’m not gonna make anything else.

Because those are the three products I couldn’t find.

Those three products have supported so many people and we can’t live without them

[00:14:56] Geraldine Hennessy: yeah,

[00:14:56] Louise Kane Buckley: in our family.

[00:14:57] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah.

[00:14:57] Louise Kane Buckley: So I continue to make them.

[00:14:59] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah.

[00:14:59] Louise Kane Buckley: But yeah, really it was to facilitate clients.

[00:15:03] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah. Okay.

[00:15:03] Louise Kane Buckley: And getting them what they needed.

[00:15:05] Geraldine Hennessy: Okay.

And so you kind of used your own personal, what you needed yourself and knew what was needed elsewhere to kind of form the… what you needed to make so as such.

[00:15:15] Louise Kane Buckley: Yeah.

Well I noticed that Irish people don’t really like buying things online.

[00:15:19] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah.

[00:15:19] Louise Kane Buckley: And, I was, you know, in Hong Kong it was completely different.

So I had my go-tos of where to get things.

[00:15:26] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah.

[00:15:26] Louise Kane Buckley: So when I’m looking in the health food shops and what’s availablein-person in those three areas.

[00:15:32] Geraldine Hennessy: Okay.

And you are addressing, you said there about the mind, body, and spirit. How do these three elements interact and influence the person’s health?

[00:15:40] Louise Kane Buckley: So, yeah, so they… you can’t separate them.

When you think and feel something, you have a physical response to that and vice versa. When you have physical knock or break, then you have an emotional response to that. And part of that is why I work so closely with chronic pain, because pain science nowadays is really fascinating.

And so the latest in pain science is that 95% of pain is emotional based and 5% of it is physical based, which is huge right. So, you know, you stub your toe, I stub my toe, the same physical force, the same physical injury. But a completely different reaction pattern, like how we feel about it afterwards, how we heal, you know, that needs to be taken into consideration.

It’s not just, okay, let’s give the body the fats and the proteins and the whatever to do the healing. It’s the space, it’s the environment, that is so important. It’s, you know, your history with pain, comes into it so much when you’re looking at mind, body, and physical like that’s why EFT is so amazing.

You can actually tap on the intensity of pain. So you can be like, oh my God, there’s number 10 pain. There’s number 10 pain.

[00:16:55] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah.

[00:16:55] Louise Kane Buckley: And as you’re tapping and just saying, this hurts so much, this hurts so much. This hurts so much. The pain actually starts to decrease.

[00:17:02] Geraldine Hennessy: Okay. Yeah.

[00:17:03] Louise Kane Buckley: And I’ve experienced that. I’ve had raging tooth pain.

I got to the point where I was like, they’re gonna have to take out my jaw. I’m gonna have to have a metal jaw. Like, you know, like it was so beyond excruciating. And I had two babies with nothing. I had rescue remedy for my two births. And I was like, this pain is too much. Yeah. I can’t take it. And I was like, okay, we need to actually sit into the pain.

And you know, it’s just a tiny part of your body.

There are so many other things that I was feeling, and once I tapped into what feels good, where’s the good news in my body? Stop listening to the bad news all the time. And we can relate that to outside of our bodies as well. But like, where’s the good news in my body?

And I can’t tell you how quickly this pain disappeared.

[00:17:51] Geraldine Hennessy: Gosh. Yeah.

[00:17:52] Louise Kane Buckley: Like I literally crawled up the stairs from my family going, I got to go, I’ve got to, I’ve got to leave you all. And to five minutes later, coming downstairs asking what was for dinner.

[00:18:01] Geraldine Hennessy: Oh, yeah.

[00:18:01] Louise Kane Buckley: Like it was ridiculous.

[00:18:03] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah.

[00:18:03] Louise Kane Buckley: And so you can’t separate those sides of things.

And people go to GPs with pain all the time. And they get referred on and referred on. More and more times people are told that there’s nothing wrong with them.

And it’s all in their head.

Part of that is true, but saying that is not helpful.

[00:18:23] Geraldine Hennessy: Yes.

[00:18:23] Louise Kane Buckley: Because the pain is real.

Right. And people are feeling this pain.

[00:18:26] Geraldine Hennessy: It’s manifesting itself.

[00:18:27] Louise Kane Buckley: Yeah. Yes. And so I have the tools that can help you to notice it, to…. what to do with it and how to react to it. And to be listened to and felt heard and seen as well is really important. So, yeah, so it’s a really all-encompassing part of my work is all of those three factors that you listed.

[00:18:47] Geraldine Hennessy: Okay. Okay. And what do you believe is the biggest overlooked factor in chronic health conditions?

[00:18:52] Louise Kane Buckley: Pushing through.

[00:18:53] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah.

[00:18:55] Louise Kane Buckley: Yeah. So whether that’s, you know, taking a panadol for a headache or, you know, like the worst one is when you’ve got pain, like real pain, like ankle, back, recurring pain that you’re just numbing with painkillers and not dealing with.

And pushing through to the next period of time, the next window that never, ever appears. And you know, like nobody wakes up and has cancer. You know, like things progress over time. And so pushing through, I think, really this idea of doing it all, of coping with everything, just for the next week or the next month, or the next school year or you know, until the kids leave or you know, and until whatever. Right. Pushing through I think is totally overlooked.

[00:19:41] Geraldine Hennessy: Okay.

[00:19:41] Louise Kane Buckley: I think we should be thriving in the present.

[00:19:43] Geraldine Hennessy: Okay.

Deal with it now.

[00:19:45] Louise Kane Buckley: Yeah. Yeah. And rest. Yeah. If your body has pain, it’s telling you to rest.

[00:19:51] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah.

[00:19:51] Louise Kane Buckley: You know, and what is rest?

[00:19:53] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah. Yeah.

[00:19:53] Louise Kane Buckley: And, you know, so exploring that is overlooked.

[00:19:57] Geraldine Hennessy: Do you think as well, like people just think, oh, I can’t stop. You know, like I feel like that sometimes there’s this kind of, almost, we have to be always doing something. You have to be always on. We have to always be busy. Like taking a rest is almost like showing a weakness.

But it’s really, it’s not.

[00:20:11] Louise Kane Buckley: It’s really fascinating. it’s, actually a particularly Irish thing that I’ve noticed because, for example, in Hong Kong, we all had live-in help. So, you know, like you take that load away from you. And that’s totally normalized and fine. Whereas people will completely put it on themselves to have their house spic and span at all times, just in case somebody pops over.

Yeah. But you know that person that pops over, if they are looking for that little bit of dust, then there’s more wrong with them than with you. Right. But it is this idea of, you know, yes, we can’t. But if you replace the can’t with won’t because really you can. Of course you can. You won’t. Right.

It does change things when you start saying, oh, I won’t stop. Then you’re oh why won’t I? Right? But if you say, I can’t stop, but of course you can’t. You can’t. Right. But if you say, no, I won’t then, you know, so little subtle changes in how you speak to yourself, can be really important because you need to. You need to stop.

You don’t need to do everything. Nothing is ever going to be perfect. Right?

And, you know, offloading and knowing where to offload, like passing that responsibility back to where it is necessary

[00:21:28] Geraldine Hennessy: yeah

[00:21:28] Louise Kane Buckley: is a skill to learn. Right. So we take on all this responsibility. But we don’t need to.

Right? So if we just take a moment, take a pause, understand what rest is, give ourselves permission, because it’s important for us to survive because at some point you really won’t be able to do everything. You’ll get stopped in your tracks.

[00:21:53] Geraldine Hennessy: Exactly. Yep. Yep.

You’ve had a diverse career path, starting as an actress and personal trainer. How have these earlier experiences shaped your approach as a naturopath and business owner?

[00:22:06] Louise Kane Buckley: I think one of the main things that it’s taught me is empathy.

Learning how to listen. We were taught how to active listening, active in classes before active listening was a thing.

Right. Like you had to listen and respond. Right. And, you know, in improvisation it was always a yes response as well. And so, you know, that has really helped me put myself into other people’s shoes. Put myself into a character and learn that empathy in that way as well. How to change my voice, how to change my tone in spaces to help people feel safe.

And also when you’re trying to educate someone, not talking down to them, you know, using your vocabulary, reading a room is so important. Reading your audience.

[00:22:50] Geraldine Hennessy: Absolutely. Yeah.

[00:22:51] Louise Kane Buckley: Right. Those skills have been really, important. And then, through personal training, working in gyms, I was working in a really busy city gym in London.

So majority of the people coming in were kind of banking, the law courts were down the road, so we had judges, we had lawyers, we had all sorts of barristers, all sorts in the room. So customer service was a really big skill that I learned, but also, you know, kind of working with different people all the time and seeing people as human beings.

Not as, you know, they can afford me, they can’t. You know, that kind of stuff

[00:23:25] Geraldine Hennessy: yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:23:26] Louise Kane Buckley: Goes out of the window. It’s like, okay, what do you need from me. Going to have to cold-call or going up to someone on a treadmill and reading, you know, like, is this a great time to be saying, would you like a personal trainer?

No. When they’re, you know, doing their ab curls on the mat, that’s a better space to approach people. So understanding marketing, understanding people’s behaviour, to help them change habits and giving me those skills. We also used a lot of meditation as well to calm nerves, to build character. I remember in my A Levels doing a lot of visualisation exercises to visualise the character, visualise their physicality so that we could change our physicality on stage.

So using that in my meditations that I write now, and in all the mindfulness classes that I’ve taught over the years, like, it feels like everything prepared me for this moment, this present moment, and being adaptable and being able to change. And then being told no, of course.

[00:24:31] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah.

[00:24:31] Louise Kane Buckley: Because we’ve got a lot of that in acting, but, you know, and understanding that it’s not actually about you and taking that on the chin and keep going forward.

That’s all, will help me. And, I’ve never worked for anyone.

[00:24:44] Geraldine Hennessy: Wow.

[00:24:44] Louise Kane Buckley: I’ve never worked for anyone. Yeah.

[00:24:45] Geraldine Hennessy: Fair play.

[00:24:46] Louise Kane Buckley: Yeah. I’ve been self-employed my entire career.

[00:24:49] Geraldine Hennessy: Gosh, yeah.

[00:24:51] Louise Kane Buckley: So that doesn’t scare me either.

[00:24:52] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah. Yeah.

[00:24:53] Louise Kane Buckley: You know, a lot of people that come to this later or come out of salaried employment, that’s the biggest scare.

But knowing how to create work, knowing how to pivot, knowing how to serve what people are looking for, that is a skill that I’ve learned over the years through all of the different things that I’ve done.

[00:25:12] Geraldine Hennessy: You are here now, so at the point that you want to be as well. Yeah. Yeah. Very good.

And you wrote a book on fermenting keifir and kombucha. What led you to focus on this topic and how important are fermented foods in your health philosophy?

[00:25:25] Louise Kane Buckley: So it’s not often that people will leave the room without me mentioning the microbiome.

[00:25:31] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah.

[00:25:31] Louise Kane Buckley: So really really fundamental for human health, particularly in the way that society and community and food production works nowadays.

The microbiome, has, especially after post COVID, the microbiome was hugely affected.

So, you know, understanding that balance. Probiotics go partway to addressing the microbiome. They’re like the polite house guest who comes and eats all the nice biscuits, but leaves you with the washing up, right?

Whereas the fermented foods is your next door neighbour that comes over, brings the cake and does all the washing up for you, you know, and has probably cleaned your surfaces at the same time. Right? So fermenting is so important. And when I was teaching the classes, like I said, people were like, oh, do you sell them?

No, but here’s the recipe. So people were tasting things in my classes and they’re like, oh, what did you do? So I wrote an ebook, first of all that went alongside the classes, and then everyone was like, oh, we’d love a physical book. So it’s like, okay, fine. Here’s the physical book. And I’ve always had a series.

I have a lot of eBooks that I’ve written. I’ve always got… I’ve got the series in my mind, I can picture it on the shelves, you know, “There’s culture your life, there’s nurture your life”, you know? Yeah. Like just all of the different ones and all of the different facets of health in my future.

[00:27:01] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah.

[00:27:01] Louise Kane Buckley: That’s certainly in the future. I have the bones of all of them. So if any publishers are out there listening, I’m a sure fix.

[00:27:09] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah. Yeah.

[00:27:09] Louise Kane Buckley: But, but yeah, so fermenting is so important and the book was so easy to write, full of recipes and passion and research. There’s a lot of links to a lot of research in the book and education.

Understanding what fermenting is, what kefir is, what kombucha is. And how beneficial it is to your life.

[00:27:28] Geraldine Hennessy: And it is quite, you know, a popular topic at the moment. People are really, you know, like seeing the benefit of fermented foods.

[00:27:36] Louise Kane Buckley: Yeah.

[00:27:36] Geraldine Hennessy: So I can see those books will be published in your future.

[00:27:41] Louise Kane Buckley: Yeah, thats it, yeah.

[00:27:42] Geraldine Hennessy: Okay, good.

And do you still love to perform and how does this creative spirit manifest in your current work?

[00:27:49] Louise Kane Buckley: Yes. So, I actually am a very nervous person.

[00:27:55] Geraldine Hennessy: Really?

[00:27:56] Louise Kane Buckley: Yes.

So yes, I perform all the time. I absolutely hate going into a room full of people.

[00:28:02] Geraldine Hennessy: Okay.

[00:28:03] Louise Kane Buckley: And so recently joined Network Ireland.

And, just hated every moment of going into a room and having to talk to people.

[00:28:12] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah.

[00:28:13] Louise Kane Buckley: As me, like as I come in as the naturopath, as Loula Natural, talking about my passion, talking about health. Not a problem. Yeah. Talking about myself.

[00:28:21] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah.

[00:28:22] Louise Kane Buckley: A little bit stickier. So yeah. So that kind of ability to put on the persona and swallow the nerves is used every day.

[00:28:35] Geraldine Hennessy: Okay. Yeah, yeah.

[00:28:36] Louise Kane Buckley: But yeah, I mean Cranioscacral Therapy has really helped the anxiety of it.

[00:28:40] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah.

[00:28:41] Louise Kane Buckley: The level of anxiety is a lot lower than it ever was, but anxiety is energy, right? Like you have to have it. If you were to go out on stage without anxiety, your performance would fall dead.

[00:28:53] Geraldine Hennessy: Yes.

[00:28:53] Louise Kane Buckley: Flat.

[00:28:53] Geraldine Hennessy: Absolutely.

[00:28:54] Louise Kane Buckley: Right? Yeah. So you need it. It’s when it stops you from doing things. And so noticing when I stopped doing things. And then going, oh, I have a tool for that. I am the worst at using my own tools like we all are. Yeah. I have my own practitioners that I go to ’cause I don’t want to heal myself.

Well, of course I heal myself, but you know, I want the support from other people, the tools that I’ve gathered for others. As I said to you before, I need to listen to my own advice.

[00:29:22] Geraldine Hennessy: Yes.

[00:29:23] Louise Kane Buckley: So, yeah, so that performance aspect does get used on a daily basis.

[00:29:27] Geraldine Hennessy: And it’s quite important so to you.

[00:29:29] Louise Kane Buckley: Yeah, it is.

[00:29:29] Geraldine Hennessy: Okay.

Drawing on your diverse life experiences, which includes growing up in Hong Kong, studying in London, and now based in Ireland since 2018, how has this background influenced your business and the clients you serve?

[00:29:42] Louise Kane Buckley: Well, I guess being largely a city gal, the life of the city, the people, the diverse backgrounds of people. We grew up with every colour, every race, every religion, everything in the school that we were in.

So you didn’t see any of it. You just saw people and human beings.

And you know, I think that has really given me a great start in treating humans and the person in front of me. And, being interested in culture and being interested in, you know, if you came into me and, I started, you know, giving you Asian recipes, that’s not gonna work, and vice versa in Hong Kong, I needed to know what the food culture was to, help people with actionable, changes that they could make.

So that has helped me to learn to adapt to the person that’s sitting in front of me. And also, you know, being a person in the world today, right?

[00:30:43] Geraldine Hennessy: yeah,

[00:30:43] Louise Kane Buckley: And then learning that empathy and then in London, you know, being creative and going to drama school and just doing all sorts of cool things like…

[00:30:51] Geraldine Hennessy: yeah,

[00:30:52] Louise Kane Buckley: we did a… It was a devising theater, so it was always, we were in the oval cricket ground.

We had to do a piece there. You know, we worked with circus performers. We had to, you know, like they’re a whole different breed, what they can do with their bodies, like the creativity of that you know, there were no boundaries.

And that the world is just playful. And, London was an exciting, vibrant place to spend your twenties and, then having kids there and, then moving back to Hong Kong and, understanding, you know, kind of…

Life as a kid is very different from life as an adult.

[00:31:28] Geraldine Hennessy: Absolutely.

[00:31:28] Louise Kane Buckley: When you are the provider.

[00:31:29] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah.

[00:31:30] Louise Kane Buckley: And then moving here and nature. Like when I moved here to Ireland, my dad had died suddenly and so it was a lot of grief involved in the move here and nature was so restorative. And so supportive and just look at how beautiful everything was and how vibrant and how alive everything was.

And, you know, the sense of community is so different here that I’ve ever experienced.

[00:31:58] Geraldine Hennessy: Absolutely. Yeah.

[00:31:58] Louise Kane Buckley: And you know, the value of that. You know, and learning that, you know, people don’t like to buy online, so how are you gonna solve this problem?

[00:32:06] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah.

[00:32:07] Louise Kane Buckley: And you know, you don’t advertise online and you have to advertise in-person.

That’s all word of mouth.

[00:32:11] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah.

[00:32:12] Louise Kane Buckley: And that’s not my comfort zone. Yeah. So, you know, like learning that there are different ways of doing things and no way is the correct way, has kept life exciting.

[00:32:22] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah.

[00:32:23] Louise Kane Buckley: Has kept life vibrant and new and I am a very curious person. I like to learn, I like to ask questions about, oh, how does that work?

You, know, RIP.ie-fascinating. Fascinating. So, you know, like all of these things are, you know, it’s, fun. It keeps life fresh.

[00:32:46] Geraldine Hennessy: Absolutely. Absolutely. And as a business operating in Co Cork, what unique health challenges or opportunities do you observe within the local community and how, do you engage with your community?

[00:32:59] Louise Kane Buckley: So, yeah, so I think the opportunities are in community. For sure. And getting into communities and getting to know people and really, you know, the first thing people wanna do is place my accent all the time because it’s not quite English. It’s not quite Australian or South African.

I get quite a lot of curious questions

[00:33:23] Geraldine Hennessy: yeah

[00:33:23] Louise Kane Buckley: about where I’m from and that opens, you know, lots of conversations.

[00:33:27] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah.

[00:33:27] Louise Kane Buckley: And of course what I do is not normal here. So, you know, it’s kinda like, what is that? You know? So it’s… the opportunities are in people here and that’s really exciting. And getting to know people and treating families, whole families.

So, you know, like I’ve treated newborn babies through to their grandparents. And that opportunity of having that access to families, and the health of people’s families is really exciting.

And, you know, just networking and coworking and collaborating is a big facet of Cork. Food is so huge in Cork, right? Like everyone is producing food and talking about food and eating food and loving food and the food is a amazing quality.

[00:34:15] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah. It is yeah.

[00:34:16] Louise Kane Buckley: So, you know, there have only been opportunities here. In terms of health struggles, I’d say it’s the same as everyone else.

I’d say the pushing through thing is the main thing that I’ve found here, that you have to keep going, can’t stop kind of mentality. And also looking after yourself, because everyone wants to look after everybody else first before themselves as well, and spending money on themselves. But that’s, okay.

You know, like it’s just about, you know, having opportunities like this to talk about what I can provide for you

[00:34:50] Geraldine Hennessy: yeah

[00:34:50] Louise Kane Buckley: in your life and how much your life can be more vibrant and, you know, functioning and exciting.

[00:34:57] Geraldine Hennessy: And do you think that like the word of mouth in community is important? Like in something like that you do?

[00:35:02] Louise Kane Buckley: A hundred percent.

[00:35:02] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah.

Yeah.

[00:35:03] Louise Kane Buckley: I mean, I recently… so teaching the classes in the space, so the studio is above where my treatment center is.

[00:35:10] Geraldine Hennessy: Okay.

[00:35:10] Louise Kane Buckley: I’ve come back down into Kinsale. I’ve been in different places. My main practice is in Kinsale. I also work in the Natural Clinic in Cork. And so those two communities are very different.

And then being involved in the network as well, you know, building that community and having lots of different feeders out into the local environment, talking about what it is I do and how I’ve helped them has been great and extremely valuable. So being in the right communities to the Natural Clinic has an amazing reputation for exemplary clinicians, for practitioners.

[00:35:46] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah.

[00:35:46] Louise Kane Buckley: So, you know that, that’s great. You know, so to be in, in that clinic where working alongside really great practitioners is word of mouth in itself.

[00:35:54] Geraldine Hennessy: Yes. Yeah.

[00:35:55] Louise Kane Buckley: And then in the clinic, in Kinsale, because there’s a class space above, it made sense to go into the class space and to teach and to get to know the people doing the classes.

Being back in the heart of the town as well. So people are passing and seeing.

[00:36:10] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah.

[00:36:10] Louise Kane Buckley: So, and curious about what’s going on.

[00:36:12] Geraldine Hennessy: Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:36:13] Louise Kane Buckley: So that’s given me a good opportunity to

[00:36:15] Geraldine Hennessy: Okay.

[00:36:16] Louise Kane Buckley: to talk about it as well.

[00:36:17] Geraldine Hennessy: Okay. And what’s one piece of advice you’d give to someone who wants to take a more holistic approach to their health but doesn’t know where to start?

[00:36:25] Louise Kane Buckley: So, start small. Okay. So I’ll give you an example. Last night, actually, my 15-year-old daughter who I have fed lunchboxes to, have been talking about nutrition for, you know, her entire life has suddenly decided to make her own lunchboxes and to really focus on them being really well balanced and full of foods that she wouldn’t necessarily be eating.

And she made a whole list of all of the meals. So she starts school, back to school tomorrow. A whole list of all the meals she’s gonna eat for breakfast and lunch. And I was like, okay, this looks gorgeous, stunning. But you know, let’s just start with one so that it’s totally achievable. Yeah. Right. Yeah, because we’re also excited about making these life changes for ourselves and finding all the recipes and writing it all done in our little notebooks, but actually going through with it, that becomes very overwhelming. Where do I start? So just start with one. So we’re starting with Mondays being her day that she, because she has the weekend to prep for the Monday.

So Monday is the day that she is going to focus on, first, and once that gets into the routine, the rest will roll out, you know, fairly easily.

[00:37:42] Geraldine Hennessy: Brilliant.

[00:37:42] Louise Kane Buckley: But yeah, so extend that to everyone, you know, know, just. Come up with the one thing, like I said, with my classes, go home with one thing.

So from this podcast, just take one thing

[00:37:52] Geraldine Hennessy: yeah

[00:37:52] Louise Kane Buckley: that has been interesting.

Rather than all of it, you know?

[00:37:57] Geraldine Hennessy: And then also as well, if you focus on one thing and you achieve it, there’s a sense of achievement. Yeah.

[00:38:02] Louise Kane Buckley: You feel so good about yourself.

[00:38:03] Geraldine Hennessy: Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

I love that- tick that box. Yeah.

And what are your future aspirations for Loula Natural, particularly in terms of expanding your reach or services within Ireland?

[00:38:15] Louise Kane Buckley: I think corporate wellbeing is something that I have experience in, in Hong Kong particularly. And little bits of pieces here, webinars and in-person, coming into schools and workplaces and… that is a, really big place that I would love to start to develop a little bit more.

And using my voice a bit more.

I was on the radio in Hong Kong on a weekly basis. I miss that so much.

[00:38:43] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah.

[00:38:43] Louise Kane Buckley: So coming and recording along with you today

[00:38:45] Geraldine Hennessy: yeah

[00:38:46] Louise Kane Buckley: like it really does feel very homecoming.

[00:38:48] Geraldine Hennessy: Yes. Yeah.

[00:38:49] Louise Kane Buckley: And so using my voice, you know, doing these meditations and recording them as I’m doing them. And you know, I’ve always wanted to do my own podcast.

So, you know, and developing the books.

[00:39:02] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah, absolutely.

[00:39:03] Louise Kane Buckley: Yeah.

[00:39:04] Geraldine Hennessy: Watch the space.

[00:39:05] Louise Kane Buckley: Yeah. Hopefully.

[00:39:06] Geraldine Hennessy: Very good. Well, thanks so much Louise for taking the time to chat to us on the Cork Creative podcast. If you’d like to learn more about Louise and what she does, you can find links to her socials and website on corkcreative.ie.

[00:39:18] Louise Kane Buckley: Okay. Thanks.