“While talking to the majors, they should be telling them what they need in terms of expanding their platform. It's the same as a business proposal. You should have everything mapped out to assure that you're worth the representation and investment.”

In association with PatchWerk Studios, Atlanta’s premiere recording facility, I dO Music is an outlet for up and coming musicians, producers, songwriters, managers and anyone who is involved in the music business. As stated on their Facebook page:

“Their goal is to position I dO Music! as a resource like none other...a resource that connects YOU (the musician) to EVERYTHING & EVERYONE that can be an asset to you in your music career.”

If you want to network and mingle with industry insiders and the best talent in the Atlanta, I dO Music hosts an ongoing event at Apache Café every 1st Thursday of the month respectively called, I dO Music. This Thursday, March 5th, through Sunday, March 8th,  PatchWerk Studios will host “Music University 6” at their recording facility. Below is a video from an I dO Music event, which took place last July.

The subject of elixirs is a timely theme of great significance at this important juncture in human evolution. But what are elixirs, you may ask? The answer is both simple and remarkable. Elixirs are rejuvenating substances derived from natural elements, by products of essential essences found in Nature. One way to view this is that Nature's storehouse is a treasure trove of precious nectars, which embody the perfection of the original Edenic cosmic blueprint. All this is well and good, especially in a world where individual and collective well-being is highly desirable from the standpoint of human evolution.

For many centuries, mystics from many cultures have long prophesied a great quantum leap in human evolution that will usher in optimum conditions. Toward this aim, there is great interest in maintaining superlative health in body, mind and spirit. What better way is there than to be cognizant of the healing properties of select natural elements, courtesy of the plant and mineral kingdoms? Also, what ties in is how we can creatively access the Divine Mind, which is the true source of all healing. Toward this salient aim, a new line of natural, organic elixir products is gaining popularity via a Mt. Shasta, California based company known as Saint Germain Cosmetics.

My first introduction to this full spectrum phenomenon came at the local Mt. Shasta Wesak Festival, where I was able to view samples of the product. Subsequently, I was granted an interview with the Founder/President, Ms. Troika Celeste St. Germain. While on the topic of elixirs, the company traces its heritage to the great alchemist and mystic, Saint Germain himself -- one who, by skillful alchemy is said to have extended his physical longevity far beyond what is common to most humans. According to Troika, she claims that the elixir formulas were given to her directly by Saint Germain, expressly designed to preserve health and longevity. According to various reports, Saint Germain was able to preserve his health and longevity in a youthful state for an elapsed time period of over three hundred years!

According to many users, a unique topical serum formula known as Time Warp™ rejuvenates skin with immediate, visible, and lasting results! Furthermore, it helps to reduce lines and wrinkles, tightens and lifts the skin, relaxes facial muscle tension, helps eliminate age spots and acne scars, smoothes skin, refines pores, producing more even skin tones while healing sun damage. It contains scientific leading-edge ingredients such as Acetyl Hexapeptide-3 and Palmitoyl Oligopeptide, which are complex chains of amino acids known as polypeptides, Hyaluronic Acid, and Saccharomyces/Copper Ferment. Representing the best of nature is a proprietary blend of 21 botanicals, many of which are Chinese medicinal herbs, Rose Canina Oil, Green Tea, Marine Enzymes, Evening Primrose Oil, Algae Extracts, Co-Q10, and Retinyl Palmitate (Vitamin A). Remarkably, in many cases the results have been observed with the very first application.

Another revolutionary product, known as TransformEssence™, is also said to have amazing results. Its secret anti-aging cream formula, composed of over 89 ingredients, blends select European and Chinese medicinal herbs with sixteen essential oils, three gem elixirs, all essential amino acids, vitamins and minerals pertinent to skin health, plus a stellar assortment of powerful antioxidants and pharmacy grade nutrients. TransformEssence™ has ingredients that are found in some of the world's most expensive cosmetics. Ms. St. Germain's formulas are highly concentrated, and as an added plus, are priced far less than much of what is currently available in today's booming anti-aging market.

The interesting thing is that these elixirs are not only meant to enhance the physical body, but also are designed to benefit what mystics term the subtle bodies of man; the mental, emotional, and spiritual makeup of each person. Troika explains, "Saint Germain has appeared to me often since I was a small child and has enlisted me to be his "earthly" hands many times. He asked me to bring these products into physical manifestation for several reasons. The most important being that they are tools of transformation designed to assist with personal and planetary ascension. The cream was the first brought forth and is the foundation of what will become an entire line of products. It has ingredients that actually raise a person's vibration and opens their heart and crown chakras. Saint Germain wishes everyone to use this, especially people who are not yet spiritually aware. It will help them to open up, raise their vibration, and therefore, assist the entire planet. That is why I also sell this product to a more mainstream market with an advertising campaign targeted to Beauty and Spa industry professionals and the general public who would be resistant to the metaphysical and spiritual message."

"Breaking the strong 'aging and dying' concept held by the collective consciousness is another purpose of these products", Troika continues. "We are able to live in our bodies for hundreds of healthy years if we wish to do so. There are many people who are beginning to realize this and are making rejuvenation and longevity their goals. However, we are all co-creators on this earth and currently live in a society that possesses a very strong thought-form that believes we 'have to age starting at 30 and die around 80'. We must break-up that thought-form in order to stay young and vibrant for as long as we want. When people start seeing their face and those of their friends 'turn back in time', it will cause them to think differently about 'age' which will then start to crumble that rock hard thought-form. We can reverse 'time' much easier when we no longer have to battle the collective consciousness."

"The baby boomer generation is now approaching 60. Never before have we seen so many products and practices aimed at staying as youthful as possible, including some desperate measures such as Botox and plastic surgery. Detractors may see this as vanity, and to an extent this may be true, but the larger picture is the quest for new expansion of human abilities which has been the recurring drive and purpose of the society altering, new thought, baby boomers. The time for physical restoration, rejuvenation and immortality is NOW for those who dare to dream it."

When asked about the herbal essence, the only elixir that is ingested, Troika comments: "I had asked Saint Germain for his Elixir of Life many times during the past twenty-five years for my own personal use. He always ignored my requests . . . until last year. He said that now the time is right to share it and proceeded to give me a list of the ingredients. I just about fell off my chair as I realized that he was actually giving me his secret formula. Many of the herbs are quite obscure. It took me over six months to locate just one of them. St. Germain also suggested that I create the elixir as an 'essence' to avoid any possible allergic reactions among the public, and to prevent the FDA, AMA, and similar enities from obtaining the formula."

All this makes great sense, for by Cosmic Law, whatever is given in love is the true alchemy, which by virtue of its innate purity must yield increased blessings. Replete with superlative custom ingredients, Saint Germain Cosmetics is bound to create its own special niche. As far as expansion via this new, radiant, rising health star, great opportunities abound to create distribution across the globe. Restore, rejuvenate . . . let our spirits soar!

These products may be purchased in select salons, spas, and metaphysical businesses world-wide; on the Internet; by phoning Troika St. Germain at 530... for the week of Aug 15-23; or by mail to: PO Box 733, Mt Shasta, CA 96067.

First published in The Spirit Mountain Chronicle, Mt. Shasta, CA, Summer 2005 issue.

Initially, I spent evenings and weekends pouring over reams of general scientific studies related to SOD, CAT and GPX, as well as any natural herbal/botanicals that had even a slight notation in the scientific literature concerning an effect on these enzymes. In addition, I looked at plant extracts that had a relation to memory processing (you’ll have to wait for the whole story to understand why later.) I drew extensively from traditional Chinese and Indian medicine for further sources. I began to see patterns and comprised a list of over 30 potential candidates before focusing on seven core ingredients consisting of specific extracts of the various source plant materials. I had wished to also include various mineral co-factors and amino acid building blocks for the antioxidant enzymes, but this was later deemed to be unnecessary. I had also considered adding in multi-vitamin ingredients to make it an “all-in-one” daily pill, but we also determined that wasn’t a necessary approach either. We decided to instead focus on the core Protandim composition.

Protandim Longevity: How did you finally come up with the end ingredients?

Paul: The various ingredients were weighted in a formula based on what I thought the most efficacious compounds were. Quite frankly, it was partly determined by hunches and guesswork at that point. Dr. McCord ended up doing further research on the various elements and helped me to subsequently adjust the balances accordingly. We also threw out two of the ingredients during that time. To answer your question, the working relationship with Dr McCord and Dr. Nelson was fabulous. Dr. McCord is truly a genius with a remarkable history concerning the antioxidant enzymes, and yet he is exceptionally humble. In my opinion, his only interest in commercializing the product was based on his desire to see it positively impact the health and lives of people, not based on a profit motive (which there was no arrangement or promise of when he was enlisted to do the testing anyway.) In that respect, I view him as a kindred spirit more committed to humanity than to personal gain.

Prodandim Longevity: Then what?

What happened next was nothing short of amazing. I was confident that we were on to something, especially since the preeminent scientist in the field saw validity in the original research and composition, but I never imagined the type of results that we would eventually attain. I thought that maybe we’d impact oxidative stress levels by pushing out or decreasing the slope of the age/oxidative stress relationship, but I was very surprised to see that we practically flat-lined it (almost totally eliminating age-related oxidative stress levels).

Rather than going into more detail, I believe there were two primary factors involved that helped Protandim come into existence:

First, I think that because I’m not a formulary scientist (and had no formulation experience up until that point), I didn’t realize that it couldn’t be done. Big Pharma had tried and failed using synthetic approaches to get the body to up-regulate the enzymes. The nutrition industry had largely failed using supplement approaches (after all, that’s what they do) to try to get more of the enzymes into the body. Nobody had really tried (that I’m aware of) to employ a natural approach that causes your body to simply produce more of the good stuff internally. Because the core composition came from a very unlikely source – me – we initially decided to hide that fact for marketing purposes and instead rely on the impeccable background of Dr. McCord. However, I now feel the genesis of Protandim makes for an interesting story that provides a unique marketing angle in its own right.

Second, I committed the formula to assist in rescuing and caring for orphans in the developing world. Orphan Lifeline (similarly named purposefully) was used as the non-profit vehicle for Lifeline to provide shares and contributions to see this mission occur. I also donated personal shares and income for this reason. Regardless of one’s specific beliefs or faith, we see the care of widows and orphans as a common priority across generations and cultures. I don’t think that’s a coincidence and I believe the development process and formula of Protandim were blessed accordingly.

Protandim Longevity: You also co-authored the first peer reviewed human study with Dr. McCord. How important was it to understand and accurately document the scientific data behind the finished product?

Paul: I documented the science behind all the ingredients when I originally put together the composition. Obviously all the other scientific data was gathered when the pre-clinical and human studies were conducted at the Webb-Waring Institute for Cancer, Aging and Antioxidant Research. Subsequent data is now being provided through a plethora of independent university studies.

It was extremely important to understand the science behind the product and its results. Lifeline (LifeVantage) was established to be a credible, science-based nutraceuticals company. It was imperative for us (and remains imperative to the current LifeVantage management team) to have real products of proven efficacy. Let’s face it, there’s a lot of folks out there claiming to have “miracle pills” or anti-aging “silver bullet” solutions. Most are charlatans or yahoos and, unfortunately or fortunately depending on your perspective, that is the competitive market Protandim is involved in. We desired to be science-based from an integrity standpoint, but also from a marketing standpoint.

Protandim Longevity: What do you think are the broader uses for Protandim and where would you like to see the research take you?

Paul: A simple Google search of the words “Oxidative Stress,” combined with any disease name, is evidence of Protandim’s broader uses. Depending on what sources you view, scientists believe Oxidative Stress has some sort of cause-or-effect relationship to 100 to 200 different disease conditions. I believe LifeVantage’s current science program to encourage or promote issue-specific studies is a sound strategy indeed. Since Big Pharma (through its proxy, the FDA) doesn’t allow supplements to make any disease claims, I think it’s important for the scientific literature to make those claims for us. Most people can then make the connection and understand how Protandim can be a positive part of their health regime.

As far as broader uses are concerned from a line-extension perspective, I’ve always been an advocate of seeing Protandim made available for the pet market. All mammals are attacked by Oxidative Stress and the original pre-clinical study (before human studies were subsequently conducted) shows how mammals in general can benefit from Protandim. There is a strong trend for healthier foods and supplements for pets right now. Protandim, once it’s gained more mindshare and market share concerning its incredible results in general, should be able to participate in the developing pet-health market quite considerably, either as a standalone product or an additive licensed to science-based pet food/supplement manufacturers.