Beyoncé’s Dance Captain Shares The Power of Dance to Build Discipline, Fitness, & Mental Strength - With Ashley Everett

Shawn Stevenson (0:00)

You are now listening to The Model Health Show with Shawn Stevenson.

Welcome to The Model Health Show. When you use the word icon, you've got to use that word very, very selectively. When it comes to the domain of dance, there are very few icons, but today's guest definitely fits the mold perfectly. Today's special guest set a new standard for what dancing can truly mean, the impact that it can make. And one of our most iconic roles was that of Beyoncé's lead dancer and dance captain. Our special guest today is Ashley Everett. And she set a new bar for the potential of what dance can be, what it can communicate and the impact that it can make. And today you're gonna discover some of the behind the scenes, not only behind the scenes in performance, but behind the scenes in her thinking, in the thinking of somebody who is an iconic dancer and somebody who's truly influenced the dance culture. And dancing is something that is uber valuable for human beings in general. This is something that has been a part of our history since we've had a history. As soon as a person realized they had a booty to shake, they was shaking that. All right. And so this is a way for us to communicate. This is a way for us to share a story. This is a way for us to express. This is a way for us to emote. This is a way for us to process and release stress and energy. The list goes on and on and on. We've got multiple studies affirming the value, the positive changes in our biochemistry that come from this expression of moving our bodies with the label that we put on it as dance. And there's so many different diverse ways of dance and what that can look like. And so I wanted to provide this powerful insight and this very, very special guest for that purpose as well. Hopefully, you get more interested, if not inspired to move your body more frequently in this expression of dance because it's truly valuable. And we have access to this all the time. Even as you might be sitting and listening to this episode, you could be bobbing your head, you could be moving your body. Or if you feel inspired, you can even get up and do a full on percolator. You can do a full on tosiro, tosiro, macarena, whatever you're into.

If you should be inspired. But truly, this is a very, very special episode and filled with incredible insights. And I cannot wait to share this with you today. Now, as of this recording, I know that it's summer. And I know that we're outside right now, but winter is coming.

The so-called cold and flu season is coming. We want to be prepared this year. Be prepared for the white walkers. Be prepared for those things that are going to be attempting to influence our immune system in a negative way and take us out of the game. Recent science has revealed that you do not have to get sick as much as the average person does. For instance, a meta-analysis published in Exercise and Sports Science Reviews determined that regular exercise significantly improves human immune system response to infections and reduces susceptibility to viruses. And within this, in building our own shield, our nutrition matters so much. Our nutrition is literally determining what our immune cells are made of. It's providing the raw materials to make our immune cells. Our lymphatic system, our brain tissue, our heart tissue, our liver tissue, every cell in our bodies are made from the food that we eat. So that's level foundation, level number one.

On top of that, the activity of our immune cells are deeply determined by our nutrition. We want to avoid the things that create utter chaos within our cells, that create utter chaos within our immune system. And you know what those foods are? It's the ultra-process categories. It's the Cheetos, it's the Pop-Tarts, it's the Fagnans. It's not going to be fun when you're sick.

All right, those things create, again, really abnormal chemistry to where we are forced to mount an excessive immune response and inflammatory cascade just by interacting with these types of things. Now, can our system handle a little bit here and there? For sure, easy, easy. That's light work for an immune system that is not overstressed. But the average person today, our immune systems are deeply overstressed and deranged and are often not mounting an appropriate immune response.

Our symptoms when we get sick, that experience is our immune system responding to a virus, bacteria, fungi. It's not those things that are doing it to us. It's our immune system that's creating the excess mucus and the coughing and the sneezing and the headaches. You know, with the fever, our immune system is trying to cook it out. All right, so it's about having an appropriate response, not an over reaching response or not under acting as well. We want an appropriate response from our immune system. And so again, our nutrition matters so much when it prioritize eating real food. And right now again, be prepared because winter is coming. I wanna share this recent 2024 study from the Journal of Health, Population and Nutrition. The title of the study is, propolis supplementation can reduce serum level of interleukin-6 C-reactive protein and tumor necrosis factor alpha.