Chervin Jafarieh has dedicated his career to helping people improve their physical and mental health. As the co-founder and chief scientific officer of the clean, science-backed and forward-facing supplements brand Cymbiotika, he is an icon for many in the health and wellness realm.
A life-long seeker of truth and knowledge, his wide-ranging areas of expertise include Eastern and Western medicine, orthomolecular medicine, detoxification and biodynamic agriculture. Along with being the founder and face of Cymbiotika, he also hosts the Wake the Fake Up podcast, which features compelling conversations with some of the world’s leading experts in biochemistry, epigenetics, philosophy, nutrition and sustainable living.
Founded in the US, Cymbiotika provides supplements to enhance fitness, energy, immunity, heart health, gut health, brain health and more. Having recently expanded to the Middle East, its organic matcha powder, sleep supplements, Vitamin C sachets and other best-selling products are now available in the UAE for the very first time.
Chervin talks to Livehealthy about his connection to his Iranian heritage, the importance of the liver, and why it’s no wonder that so many people across the world are suffering from stress and ill health.
Are you excited to be working in the Middle East?
My family is from Iran. But I was born in America and I’ve never actually been to the Middle East. That has been weighing heavy on my heart for a long time. So it feels like a dream come true to now be connected to so many inspiring and passionate people from the region who really care about what’s going on in the world.
This is my first chance to go back home to where my blood is. There’s been a dark cloud hanging over the region for decades, and people have made some ridiculous assumptions about it. But now the propaganda machine isn’t working quite as well as it used to. The Middle East is going through a huge mystical experience. It seems to be like a rite of passage, and a lot of beautiful things are happening.
Have perceptions of the region changed?
Yes, the Middle East is so rich in culture and history. It’s filled with amazing, colors, sounds and food. It’s about time it gets more recognition.
The people running the show in the Middle East, and especially in the UAE, really care about health, movement and education. All the things that matter. They’re putting regulations in place so that people can leave their doors open and not have to worry about petty crime. Because when you’re not in a state of paranoia and scarcity, it changes your entire form of consciousness. San Francisco was once the most beautiful place ever, but now you can’t even walk in the streets anymore. It’s like a ghost town, and it shows you that infrastructure does matter. I’m really excited because I always thought that Dubai was all about materialism, like [Las] Vegas is. But over the last three to four years, I’ve realized that it’s evolving, and so different to what I thought.
How is Cymbiotika different from other supplement brands?
Cymbiotika is a combination of innovation, trust, doing things differently and a desire to help people. I’ve been around health my entire life. I’ve been mentored and tutored and stewarded by some of the most expansive minds in the fields of health, Ayurveda, traditional herbal medicine, Chinese traditional herbal medicine, and allopathic care. I have a deep understanding of our genetics, and the evolution of the body.
I was privileged to have those mentors and privileged to be introduced to Dr Rudolf Steiner at such an early age. He created Waldorf education and biodynamic farming, and he was a spiritual scientist and philosopher in the late 1800s and into the 1900s. He invented a system called anthroposophy, which is the wisdom of man. It looks at the deep cosmology and connection between the human heart and the development of the world.
It’s literally the opposite of mono-cropping and big building projects and all these different things that are destroying the Earth and producing subsidized and terrible products.
That was where I got the idea for Cymbiotika. My CEO and business partner, Shahab Elmi, is a childhood friend. He reached out to me about a year after I had started Cymbiotika. He is a very successful man with the biggest heart. He said, “I want my two little girls to remember me for helping the world, not for making money.”
I had just gotten back from a vision quest where I spent time in the jungles, sat with the shamans and went through initiations. I died many times, if that makes sense, and completely dematerialized into a whole new being. Actually, I went back to my 12-year-old self. It was a radical explosion into the journey of life. It hit me that it was time to make a change in the supplement space.
I’m big on food being medicine, but I also know that our soil is ruined and the hydrological cycle is destroyed. Nutrients aren’t getting into our food, even if it’s organic. That was the spark that initiated Cymbiotika. Since then, it’s been a rollercoaster ride and we’ve had so many people jump on board. I have an incredible team that offer stability, ferocity and fire.
Why has it been so successful?
We are the fastest-growing supplement brand in the world right now. We’ve broken every record over the last three years. We’ve done it all internally and with no outside capital. It’s been tough, but at the same time it gives us the power to develop things our own way and do things outside of the norm.
We’re not a high-margin company, but we make the best products. From the start I said that we weren’t going to sacrifice anything. We were going to make high quality products, no matter what the cost was. I knew at some point, we’d break even and it was going to work. We have created trust in the supplement industry by showing customers that we really care and being transparent. You can see this in our ingredient lists and where we source things from. We are all about education and teaching people about the benefits of supplements. People need to really understand what a glutathione and a tripeptide is, and how our circadian rhythm and endocrine system work.
You need basic knowledge in order to make a choice that’s going to help you. If you’re just listening to someone telling you what to do, you might do it for a couple weeks or months, and then move onto the next thing. It’s like in school when you’re forced to do a test. You memorize it the night before and ace it, but then for three or four days later you can’t remember any of it because you don’t care about it. It’s the same with food education and understanding how our bodies work.
What is the next step?
We just entered what I call ‘Cymbiotika 3.0’ in terms of product development. Our last couple of formulas are very outside the box, and things that have never been done before. People are so invested in us and we’re expanding across the world. We want to be recognized as a movement that helps people. It has given me a level of energy that I can’t even believe. It’s my inspiration and why I work so hard and take so much on.
I’m really humbled by what’s unfolding and how many people are jumping on board with us and spreading the word about good health. After all, nobody’s coming to save us. You’re your own doctor, and your own scientist. It’s all about direct observation and developing a deep mystical perspective. Once people take on ownership of their health, they can be the sovereign of their body, mind and soul.
How do you educate people?
Cymbiotika is part of the toolbox. We teach people about sleep, diet and how we’re affected by materialism and technology. We help people find balance because you can either take your body towards a healthy and thriving state, or towards pain, stress, frustration and disease.
Understanding how autoimmune and pathologies work is crucial. The fundamentals are most important, and then you can add on supplementation, good food and drinking good water and movement.
I’m really excited for the resurgence of health in the Middle East and to be get more people into this way of thinking. A discerning perspective is so important. It triggers a switch in someone, and makes them want to investigate.
After all, so many schools are indoctrinating kids at an early age and turning off their intuition. Children should not be subjected to that. They need to build their own development and be surrounded by art. This is why a lot of adults become so hyper-materialist.
I’m a big fan of science, but I’m creating hypotheses and testing things and not being mechanical. If we are too mechanical, we miss out on all the art in life, and the beauty of the natural world. My purpose is to bring that back through proven science.
How can we become more discerning?
It’s about gaining a deep and logical understanding of yourself. Doing a forensic audit on your lifestyle and examining what is causing you angst and stress. Sometimes you can be the problem. But often we can be very quick to judge, point fingers and play the victim. If you identify with this, then it might be time to investigate who you really are. This can open up a lot of different memories that conditioned you to embody anger, resentment and frustration. It’s not a depressing thing to do. It’s just the fire you have to go through in order to come out stronger.
All the ancient belief systems state that if you keep going over the same things and don’t do anything about it, you will take these feelings into the next life. I strongly believe that. But it’s easier said than done. It takes a lot of commitment and self-love. Self-love really is the root of everything. If you want to learn about how the body works or how philosophy works, you need to choose you. You don’t have to burn sage in the desert or perform a ceremony. You just need to be grounded and rooted to the Earth from the crown down and have deep self-love. It’s a disciplinary action and it makes you more enlightened.
Do more people need to practice self love?
Absolutely. It’s really powerful. For women, their moon cycle is a really deep time to connect to their inner child and their ancestors. It’s crazy how Western societies suppress this with birth control. It’s the most beautiful experience on earth.
It’s mad what we’ve done to our earth. It’s out of control and people are living a false identity. They’re angry and frustrated, reaching for things that aren’t good for them, and looking for an escape. This is the cause of all the pain. Social media and movies take us out of the present and we don’t have the right nutrients in our bodies either. It’s no mystery why we are getting sicker.
But what we just experienced over the last couple years has been a positive thing. It has awakened so many minds, bodies, and souls. People now want to take action, and create a thriving society.
Even though infrastructures are falling apart and people are suffering, it’s important not to let it all control you. We need to see today’s health crisis as a cosmic joke or giggle. If we remind ourselves that we are moving and flowing through this time, it takes the pressure off. When you’re not in a state of fear you can make the right decisions, rather than just having a ‘problem-reaction-solution’ mindset.
We need to be free in our minds, hearts and souls, and that begins with self-love. It’s all internal and about changing the things that we’re doing every day that could be taking us out of alignment. We need to do that before we try to help anyone else
Are some people too obsessed with health?
You shouldn’t worry about every little thing. You just need to have a passion for good health and a desire to understand how your body works. Again, it goes back to being educated. If you’re chasing perfect health, or you want to look a certain way, then you’re going to be pursuing that your whole life. But, if your goal is to feel good, the side effect is good aesthetics. It’s all about building momentum in the right direction. If you start doing little things here and there, you start creating more space for self love. Whether that’s reducing processed foods or screen time, or going to bed earlier, you are creating a practice and making changes.
How can we stay healthy in the desert?
I’m a big fan of the sun. It’s the chief operator of the immune system and melatonin production, and it helps you sleep better. But full sun exposure is not a good idea in the desert. You also need to consider your skin tone and remember that the sun is different when you travel.
Movement, grounding to the earth, breath work and knowing where your water is coming from are all super important. I drink spring water because it’s live water that penetrates the cells and create intracellular hydration. People are just chugging down water that’s depleting them of many things instead of hydrating them. Making sure you have proper salts in your diet and a filter for your shower is also crucial, especially in the desert. Bathing in clean water is almost as important as drinking clean water.
Why is the liver important?
The liver is the most active organ in the body. It does the most but it’s the most unrecognized. It takes on the heavy burden of life, and it is the master alchemist of the body. It converts toxins into nutrients, and it’s where we store all our glycogen and produce hormones. We are learning more about it every single day. Interestingly, my father used to call me jigar, which in Farsi means liver, because it’s the liver that keeps you alive.
Bile cleans the liver but if you eat toxic foods it can become stagnated and then the toxins will end up in your bloodstream and come out through your lungs. In order to have a healthy and thriving liver, we must understand the effect of combining different foods and be careful with which drugs we put in our body.
The statistics are staggering. Your liver could be 90 percent inactive, and you could still be asymptomatic. That’s scary. If your liver isn’t functioning properly, your metabolic system shuts down, and you can develop diabetes or other conditions. After all, it’s the liver that regulates blood glucose. It sends signals to the pancreas to release insulin, not the other way around. The liver is really the cornerstone of our entire health ecosystem, and we have to keep rebuilding it and working to keep it vibrant and healthy.
I’m currently focusing on better understanding the liver and really connecting to it. The traditional Chinese herbal medicine doctors said that the liver is where we store all of our anger and frustration. If you’re quick to react, or easily frustrated, you most likely have a stagnated liver. The physical signs include jaw disappearance, yellow eyes, blotchy skin and edema on your feet.
The cool thing about the liver is that you do have an opportunity to rebuild it. Unless you’ve crossed into the too-late phase that comes with things like cirrhosis. There’s so many ways different ways to explore liver health.
For more information about Cymbiotika, visit Cymbiotika.ae or @cymbiotikame.
