102 Natural Medicine Retreat In Costa Rica

[Richard Bexon]

Good afternoon, Randy. How are you doing?

[Randi Raymon]

I'm good. And you?

[Richard Bexon]

Fantastic. I want to say to the audience, this is the second time we're doing this because I forgot to record the first one. So I have to apologize.

I mean, I think it's happened... That was the first time I've ever done a full podcast and not recorded it. So you're very patient with me, Randy.

I appreciate it.

[Randi Raymon]

Well, I did move here to learn patience. And so there it is.

[Richard Bexon]

That's true.

[Randi Raymon]

It worked.

[Richard Bexon]

Well, Randy, I mean, you've been in here in Costa Rica for a while now. What is it? Just coming up to 18 years?

Close to 18 years?

[Randi Raymon]

Yeah, almost 17 years. Yeah.

[Richard Bexon]

Oh, wow.

[Randi Raymon]

Like two months shy. Okay.

[Richard Bexon]

Okay. I mean, I think once you make it past the 10-year mark, typically, you know, a lot of people are here for life. So, I mean, never say never.

[Randi Raymon]

Yeah.

[Richard Bexon]

You know, you learn to love Costa Rica with all of its good and all of its bad. You know, so I don't know about you. But for me, when I go back, you know, when I travel, I'm very happy to get back to Costa Rica.

[Randi Raymon]

Oh, it's such a sigh of relief to get off the plane here again. Like it's exciting to go and see, but it takes me all of like 48, 72 hours and I'm like, I'm over it. Let's go home.

[Richard Bexon]

Well, I mean, you've been here in Costa Rica for a while, but I mean, since the pandemic, I mean, what changes and trends have you seen from your side?

[Randi Raymon]

From this part of the country, I've noticed more of the Costa Ricans getting out, like from San Jose and coming to the beach to visit and relax and enjoy more. So culturally, that's been really nice to see. Whereas I think before it was mostly gringos, you know, not that there's anything wrong with that, but it's just a different vibe.

And Hotco really has had quite a facelift or transition from more nightlife party scene to family oriented people here, you know, and younger middle-aged kind of stuff. But there's definitely more stuff to do during the day and just a lot of, yeah, better for family type stuff. So that's been nice instead of just, you know, party.

[Richard Bexon]

Do you think that there are any trends that are here to stay, that changed during the pandemic, the way that people live that you think are here to stay?

[Randi Raymon]

I hope so. I hope that we, well, one thing I noticed that I thought was really sweet is how quickly Costa Ricans got back to hugging and kissing, you know, on the cheek, those regular greetings that we do. At first, everyone was freaked out by each other, but to see that kind of human connection come back relatively quickly is nice.

So I hope that stays. I kind of hope that we stay on a more family focused trajectory than just party all the time. You know, it's fun to have the balance and to be able to do both, but it's nice to see some of the daytime thing.

And I hope that Costa Ricans continue to enjoy their country more than I think they were doing before. So it is beautiful and they should get out of the city. Everybody should take a break from the city.

[Richard Bexon]

Yeah. I mean, I think the one thing that unique about Costa Rica that not a lot of people know until you've really traveled around here is, I mean, you travel 30 minutes and the climate and, you know, just the scenery completely changes. I mean, even driving from Haco to Manuel Antonio or Manuel Antonio Dominical or Vita, I mean, the further south you get, just the more dense the jungle gets.

[Randi Raymon]

For sure. And if you just go up in the mountains, it's like cloud forest, you know, 30, 45 minutes away. You got to put pants on and socks and the whole bit.

[Richard Bexon]

Yeah. So, well, maybe Randy, again, as I'd mentioned, it's the first time we'd ever had, we've ever had a doctor on the podcast. So this is very interesting, but maybe you could explain to us exactly what you do.

[Randi Raymon]

Yeah. I'm a doctor of integrative medicine. So I started out in Western medicine mostly emergency radiology in the operating room.

And then I got into Eastern medicine and got a master's degree in Oriental medicine, nephrology, and then went on to get a doctorate in integrative medicine, which kind of puts the two together plus adding some other natural natural therapies and are you Veda and different things like that. So, yeah. So now I'm a practitioner here.

I was doing retreats until COVID and then things got pretty quiet and now I'm kind of starting back up again, but, you know, we'll see how things progress. What next chapter?

[Richard Bexon]

Typically. I mean, who, I mean, what types of people are you working with? You know, what are they trying to improve in their lives?

Any conditions that they're trying to, you know, overcome? I mean, what is your, I mean, it's probably difficult to say typical client, but I mean, what kind of array of people are you dealing with?

[Randi Raymon]

Yeah. Well the tagline before, if you will, will was heal, learn, grow or reset your health. And that seemed to attract quite a large crowd of various disorders.

I didn't have like set retreats. I was just kind of open all the time. So it would be anything from cancer patients or heart disease, diabetes, mental health disorders, just all kinds of different stuff, rehab and addiction.

So what I found from that experience of just being like open all the time was that was a little taxing on me personally to just be on all the time. So going forward, I'm focusing a bit more on just like resetting health, but doing it in shorter periods of time and a little more organized and but still meeting everybody where they're at. That is the tricky part about natural medicine is that it's, there's no one pill for everything.

There's no one set protocol for anybody really have to sit down with each person individually, get a very clear picture of their health and then meet them where they're at on that day and design their treatment protocol to, to help them day by day.

[Richard Bexon]

What kind of health issues do typically people come to you with?

[Randi Raymon]

Um, I mean, these days I'm just more general practitioner, so all kinds of, you know, weird rashes and lumps and bumps and things like that. But as I go, as I get back more into retreats, I think it's a lot more mental health stuff and just like exhaustion and people wanting to detox from stress. And I mean, it's been a rough couple of years globally.

So people are, they're pushed, they're tired, they're angry, they're frustrated, they're scared. They're, you know, a whole lot of things and that does just drain the system all the time.

[Richard Bexon]

I had a conversation with somebody yesterday afternoon, uh, actually after you and I had our first podcast, which I didn't record about micro dosing. Um, you know, it's becoming very, I mean, very widely used that, I mean, especially down here in Costa Rica, but maybe you can give us an idea of kind of what it's used for down here.

[Randi Raymon]

Yeah. Here. I think it's more for antidepressant and to anxiety.

But I see, I find that that's how patients kind of respond to it the best. So, I mean, of course, people like to take larger doses to do deeper dives in their psychological issues and mental health and all that. And I'm an advocate for that and help people coordinate those kinds of things with other practitioners.

But from a micro dosing standpoint, yeah, antidepressive, anti-anxiety, but it also really increases creativity. And like that flow state that, you know, surfers always talk about and elite athletes and stuff that, that place in your mind where you can just completely focus on one thing and then allow yourself to be more creative in that space. And I find that micro dosing in particular really helps people get there and then stay there longer.

[Richard Bexon]

That's very interesting because again, I know it's becoming more and more, you know, popular down here in Costa Rica, you know what I mean? There are even ayahuasca retreats opening up here. Um, but I, I just wonder is, you know, kind of where that's going to go, uh, here in Costa Rica.

Um, Yeah.

[Randi Raymon]

You know, we'll see what this new president, as legislation looks like it's going to be changing and relaxing quite a bit. Um, I think the important thing, if I was going to give advice to anybody coming down, looking for a center is to just check out a bunch of different ones. Don't just go with the first one that you see, um, do your research on the various substances that are being used, you know, some places are doing ayahuasca, Rappe, Yopo, you know, and a lot of people go into this thinking, Oh, it's plant medicine.

It can't hurt me. But in reality, all medicine can be abused and overused. So you got to kind of be mindful of that.

And in my personal humble opinion, ayahuasca is great, but it is like brain surgery, you know, and not everybody needs something that strong. And so be open to microdosing too. And even if their schedule is three times a week or whatever, that doesn't mean you have to do that.

So just do go with your gut, do what feels right for you.

[Richard Bexon]

That's great advice. That's great advice. I mean, if you don't mind me asking, why did you choose Costa Rica as a base for yourself and also your profession?

[Randi Raymon]

When I first got here on my first vacation, like 20 years ago or whatever, I can't even believe it's been that long. It's crazy. Um, but I fell in love with the country.

Like you fall in love with a person. I mean just everything, the microclimates, the beauty, the food, I felt a lot better. Um, the people, it was just everything I guess I had been looking for.

So as far as like feeling really free and safe and healthy and yeah, things I just didn't, I didn't even know I wasn't feeling great until I got here the first time and really like felt good. And then I'm like, Oh wow. So this is what that's supposed to be like.

[Richard Bexon]

Randy, a client said to me the other day, I spent a lot of time in a couple of, a couple of them have said something to me, which is whenever they eat food, you know, in the Western world or North or North America, they feel very bloated, but when they eat down here, they don't. Why is that?

[Randi Raymon]

I personally, my personal theory is that it has to do with the chemicals on the food in America and the GMOs and stuff aren't helping our digestive system at all. And then typically we do consume less grains here. Um, I'm not really a big advocate for gluten intolerance, although yes, some people absolutely have it, but really what concerns me as a physician and as someone who talks a lot about nutrition and studies a lot of nutrition, the stuff that they spray on to the grains, the glial phosphate and the atrazine and all these different chemicals are designed to cause inflammation inside of the bugs that eat them to the point where they explode from the inside out, basically. And so I feel like, you know, we consume a lot of that, the more grains and breads and cookies and crackers and all that stuff that we eat, and that may be causing inflammation for us as well. And we are seeing a rise in things like IBS and Crohn's and diverticulitis and all these digestive disorders that really at the root of them is inflammation.

So we have to start taking a real look at why, you know, what we're consuming, why we continue to consume things that irritate us and then how we can lighten the load.

[Richard Bexon]

You mentioned earlier about that you'd run a retreat here in Costa Rica. I mean, there are a lot of people looking to do this down here. I mean, based on your experience, what advice would you give to anyone that's looking to do this?

Cause I'm sure that you have advice for them.

[Randi Raymon]

Oh yeah. I guess the number one thing, the thing that I struggled with the most was the marketing. So because yeah, everybody can show up and teach yoga and do massage.

And there are thousands of people here that do just that and they can open a thing. But if you don't have a steady stream of people coming in, it's very, very difficult. And so, I mean, yeah, for sure have your marketing game on point, consider partnering up and or subletting spaces to use for retreats versus just buying the property and going all in.

And yeah, just being as light as you can with the bureaucracy here in the country, because there's just so many, you know, places you got to go and things you got to do and stamps you got to get. And it's like, Oh my gosh.

[Richard Bexon]

So I was about to ask you, what's the one thing that shocked you the most about running a business here in Costa Rica?

[Randi Raymon]

Yeah. The bureaucracy and the tax. I was like, this is some tough.

So, and like, and I don't think it's, I honestly don't believe it's Costa Rica trying to mess with people. I really do think it's a lot of people say that and they get like super frustrated. Like they just don't want us here or whatever.

I don't think that's it at all. I think that it depends on who you get on the day you get there that you might get a different answer as to what's required or not. I think that the rules are often shifting.

So like, it's not the person's fault behind the desk. Who's making, giving you the run around. It's like they don't always necessarily know.

And then things change and it's all very puro ida. That expression goes all the way through the country.

[Richard Bexon]

I always say to people, if you want to know anything in Costa Rica, ask three people. If two give you the same answer, that's probably the right one.

[Randi Raymon]

Yes, exactly.

[Richard Bexon]

And that includes directions because everybody has different directions here.

[Randi Raymon]

Right. And different ways they go. And yeah, there's so many and there's so many ways to do the same thing.

I was just talking to a friend the other day about the residency process and she didn't do her homework. She didn't listen to me when I was like, Hey, go this way. She went some other way.

Somebody else told her and then she was like, that's terrible. And I'm like, well, I told you, you gotta, you gotta ask a bunch of people and then get an opinion.

[Richard Bexon]

I agree. I agree. Randy, I mean, what's next for you here?

I mean, again, it sounds like you're about to open up some form of a retreat center again.

[Randi Raymon]

Yeah. I'm working on opening up like a private health club and doing kind of a membership program and potentially having retreat people come back. I'm not going to own like the hotel anymore.

I just found a location next to a hotel so they can deal with all that part and I can just focus on the healing because that's what I enjoy doing anyways. So working on that, hoping to have that up and running in the next four to six months and really just farming a lot. I focus a lot on that in my time.

So doing a mushroom farmer of a variety of nutraceutical mushrooms and just trying to really build that up. So for export purposes, it takes time and doing a little bit of super foods, you know, Moringa and go to Poland and just my own little garden. And I would like to grow food for the, for the wellness center, but for the health club.

[Richard Bexon]

I mean, a lot of people are looking for things to invest here in Costa Rica. My question to you is, are you open to getting investment from other people into the farm or into the retreat?

[Randi Raymon]

Well, I think I'm all set on the retreat center. I have a couple of people lined up to help out with that. So I feel confident about that, but I'm always open to hearing from other practitioners or people that are coming to the country and may want to contribute in some way or bring groups or whatever.

So that I'm open to the farm. I am looking kind of for investment, but you know, it's gotta be the right fit. So I'm not, and I'm secure in the land, so I'm not in any rush, but I'm definitely open to meeting people and sharing the ideas and seeing who's really interested.

I mean, I think that the future is fungi and there's a lot of research and development to be done. And my farm is very uniquely located by where a couple of different rainforests converge together. So there's just a ton of biodiversity and a lot of research to be done.

And so, yeah, I mean, it would have to be somebody, I guess, with a research mind.

[Richard Bexon]

That's really interesting. It's really interesting that you're doing that and we're starting to see that happen more and more here in Costa Rica. I mean, I would, I can, I can see the people coming to Costa Rica have changed, especially over the 20 years and more and more people focused on wellbeing and more and more families as well, looking for healthy eating, you know, and it's amazing how different parts of Costa Rica, the tribes, as I call them a different, like your tribe in, you know, Tamarindo is different than Flamingo, which is even different than like Negra and Asada and Santa Teresa and Haco and Uvito.

[Randi Raymon]

And not to mention the Monteverde tribe, the Arenal tribe, the Atitamaste tribe, they're thick as thieves over there.

[Richard Bexon]

Well, my last question for you, Rania, is I don't want to take up much more of your time. I mean, if you inherited $500,000 and had to invest it into a business or greater state in Costa Rica, what would you invest it in?

[Randi Raymon]

Farmland.

[Richard Bexon]

Okay.

[Randi Raymon]

Why farmland? I just think food security is important. Water is important.

And yeah, I mean, there's just as long as I've been in medicine and it's been a while, I've known the importance of nutrition and really been taking a good hard look at what we're doing on an industrial level. And it's just not really working for us as a species. So, and the only way to start to really fix that is to be more mindful of ourselves and our own food and growing as much as we can and working in community and localism and all those kinds of things.

So that would be my investment. Now that said it's also, I say that because I've already done the beachfront thing. I've been there, done that.

So I understand that investment too. It's amazing, super fun, but for me, for longevity sake and the future of my business and research and stuff, farmland.

[Richard Bexon]

Fantastic. Well, Randy, I really appreciate you coming, coming on the podcast again so that I could record this one. Anyone wanting to get in contact with Randy, I'm going to put all of our contact details in the description, but I appreciate your time and thanks for coming on the podcast.

[Randi Raymon]

Yeah. Thanks so much for having me.

[Richard Bexon]

Fantastic. Have a great afternoon.

[Randi Raymon]

You too.

[Richard Bexon]

Bye.

[Randi Raymon]

Ciao.