Reach your optimal wellness

This is the second part of our interview with Vidyamala Burch, co-founder of Breathworks. We return to the conversation with a discussion about the phases of acceptance. In Part 1, we discussed denial and bargaining as the initial phases Vidyamala had experienced.  Next, we have a genuine acceptance of the situation. This is not to be confused with a passive resignation but instead is a willingness to live with your situation whilst still actively managing it. I was very inspired to know that Vidyamala has also moved beyond acceptance to a further phase, which she calls flourishing. After turning inwards to accept pain, she is now able to turn outwards to the world because she has increased capacity to do more. She now has a feeling of emotional and physical abundance – “life just gets better and better”! We discuss the difference between primary and secondary suffering. Primary suffering is the physical sensation of pain. But we can exacerbate the situation by all the secondary ways we resist and react to that pain – tension, breath holding, catastrophic thinking, anxiety and depression. Vidyamala has learnt that by turning towards the experience (“here is pain, my old friend”), we can reduce the secondary reactions because we release the attachment and judgement of pain. I was so pleased to have met Vidyamala earlier this year at the Sydney Breathworks teacher training retreat. I am going back for more in Feb 2015 and I cannot wait! Mindfulness is learning to live with pain, living in the present moment without judgement. A key component is awareness of breath. By holding our breath, we can contribute to secondary suffering and simply noticing the breath can be calming and a great place to start with mindfulness practice. Another great introduction is the Breathworks approach which incorporates an 8 week program which can be completed in person or online and is outlined in Vidyamala’s book Mindfulness for Health. Vidyamala shares her personal self-care routine. While she is a busy person, travelling the world and sharing her story and the Breathworks approach, she always makes time for her daily pain management. These include daily meditation practice and stretching/mindful movement. She swims a few times per week, incorporates regular breaks into her working day and maintains healthy eating and sleep patterns. Her key message for those wanting to manage their own health, is that it takes routine and discipline. You can have a transformation with lots of little changes over time – steadily and persistently doing the things that are good for you. She knows because it has completely, utterly “changed her life”. For more information, I HIGHLY recommend reading Vidyamala’s books or visiting Breathworks website for many useful tips, information, resources and available online courses.  

I am extremely excited to interview Vidyamala Burch, co-founder of Breathworks who is, in my mind, the ultimate Health Champion. Vidyamala’s story is so inspiring that I have split this podcast into 2 episodes because she has some much wisdom and experience to share. In Part 1, we explore Vidyamala’s journey with pain. She grew up as a typical New Zealand girl with a love of the great outdoors. At 16 after helping someone from a pool, she injured her back. The diagnosis was spondylolisthesis (a broken vertebrae) and she wore a plaster jacket until undergoing major spinal surgery at 17. While there were complications, she recovered from the surgery but experienced whiplash in a car accident at age 23 and fractured another vertebrae. The gorgeous and inspiring, Vidyamala Burch After these injuries, Vidyamala says she entered a 10 year period of denial. She went through the very typical reaction of pushing through pain and trying to do even more to prove she was capable. This led to an emotional and physical breakdown. Complications after this episode resulted in an ICU hospitalisation. Here she had two major revelations that changed how she viewed her pain and her circumstances. Frightened, devastated and in pain, she was told she must sit upright for 24 hours. She felt tortured to think of lasting through until morning. Eventually she had the calm realisation that she only needed to make it through this moment. She then became confident that she could do it, one moment at a time. Secondly, a short meditation with the hospital chaplin where he guided her to a place when she was happy had a profound effect. Vidyamala realised through this experience that she had a choice where to place her awareness. So she became an explorer of the inner world using this new-found, extraordinary tool, the power of the mind. This led her to eplore Buddhism, yoga and through this time she met some captivating and inspiring people. She also entered the next phase of her journey – bargaining. She turned towards her situation and pursued many things to help with her pain but always with the same goal in mind. “I will do this…if it will take my pain away”. But despite her best efforts, her pain persisted. Gradually more inner wisdom developed. She came to the next stage, acceptance. Ending pain was no longer the goal. She came to live her life, as it is, with a confident, open and loving heart. We leave Vidyamala’s story there but with so much more to come! We end with some mindful movement,  a wonderful opportunity to move with awareness of the breath. Please join us next time for more insights from Vidyamala Burch. For more information, I HIGHLY recommend reading Vidyamala’s books or visiting Breathworks website for many useful tips, information, resources and available online courses.  

This week, I have a great chat with Jo Belton about her amazing journey from serious injury to accepting and understanding her pain. Jo identified as an active person in her younger years with a love of camping! She worked in the fire service and sustained an injury at work. It was a routine activity – stepping down from the back of the truck but this time, she felt a twinge in her hip. She continued to work and underwent physical therapy but after 5 months, the pain became unbearable. As the injury occurred at work she began a workers compensation journey which was stressful and involved long delays between assessment and treatment. After a 13 month, wait she was approved surgery which alleviated some of her hip pain. After a medical retirement from the fire department she began to notice a decline in health due to inability to sit for long periods, sleeping difficulty, she became withdrawn from social situations and a depression sank in. A turning point came when Jo began to educate herself about pain and looked into the biopsychosocial model for pain management. She worked out what pain was and what it wasn’t. Pain does NOT equal damage. This helped to overcome her fear of movement – knowing pain was not leading to further injury and realising that inactivity was actually increasing the likelihood of injury through deconditioning. As part of her physical therapy, she found relief and enjoyment from Egoscue (yes, I had to ask “what’s that?” check is out here..http://www.egoscue.com/) Jo Belton- Enjoying nature and movement – two of her fave things! Jo still has pain but her daily routine now begins with gentle movement (i.e. cat/cow postures, deep breathing, hip circles) . Her message to those with chronic pain was to educate yourself about pain and she found that her own fears and anxieties made the pain unbearable. She prefers to focus on what matters in life – the people she loves, activities she likes to engage in, being creative – the good aspects of life!  She believes that you are the only one that has to live in your body 24/7,  so find the solutions from within. Jo’s movement break included engaging in a hip flexor stretch – standing on one leg for balance and raising the knee and kicking the leg backwards. She also suggested moving the arms in circles at a right angle to body (thumbs facing forwards then backwards – and, yes, I felt that one!) You can follow Jo’s story at www.mycuppajo.com Instagram – check out Jo’s amazing nature pictures! Twitter Facebook Jo recommended some video references for egoscue here Some books Jo found useful in educating herself about pain science: A Guide to Better Movement: The Science and Practice of Moving With More Skill And Less Pain Explain Pain (8311) The Explain Pain Handbook Protectometer (8315)

Dr Chris Waite is a GP who suffered a lower back injury in 2011 that changed this outlook on life. The injury caused some sciatica and an MRI also located a cyst pushing on his spinal chord. He had a spinal fusion which eased some of the pain but after a while the pain returned. He trialled many different types of pain medications but eventually the pain began to impact on his daily abilities and he was forced to reduce his working hours. He used his medical knowledge and was relentless in pursuing options and solutions. But eventually after finding the pain unbearable, he sought help from a psychologist. After unloading some of the emotional burden of living with pain, the specialist suggested Chris look into mindfulness. This lead him to Breathworks. He completed an online course then became an accredited Breathworks instructor. He now leads Mindfulness for Health courses and has further explored his interest in mindfulness by studying Buddhism. Chris believes that his searching for answers helped him understand his pain but he found greater relief from practicing mindfulness and self compassion. He also believes the fix-it model of healthcare pushes people to grasp onto a dream of becoming pain free. For some people, this is just not possible and the realisation of pain being there forever can be a big discovery and turning point. You can get in touch with Chris at www.breathworks-sa.com.au or via email on: chris.waite@internode.on.net Chris has an upcoming Breathworks Mindfulness for Health Course starting soon. Mondays: 27/7/15 to 14/9/15 (1 – 3.30pm) **MT GAMBIER** The details of these can be found on his website.  

Aimee and Clint from Primal Influence are my guests today. We start with Aimee’s story of continual health problems growing up and a stress fracture to her back in her late teens. Despite a slow recovery from this injury, she hurt her back again and was diagnosed with a prolapsed disc one year later. To make matters worse she suffered Barmah Forest virus at the same time which made for a long and slow recovery. This injury meant she had to give up tennis, a game she loved and she remembers feeling very low at the time. Clint and Aimee met online and shared an interest in personal training (by this stage Clint had been through his weight loss transformation – see his story in link below). Together they became educated about food and inflammatory foods. They gave up the packaged Gluten Free and returned to simple real food, following Paleo principles. Their interest in primal eating led them to begin trialling new methods of moving too, just as our ancestors did – functional simple movements that were fun and improved strength. Clint encourages us to learn how to get up and down from the floor without using out hands – try it! – it is not easy and requires you to really switch on the brain while co-ordinating the body. Their journey has been very enlightening but they both say simply living has been the key. They say by listening to your body and addressing all aspects of your life, you can achieve overall optimal wellness. Since helping others they both realise that little achievements in people are what they love hearing about or watching. They get joy from knowing that they have helped someone figure out they can do it (whatever that might be to that person). And Aimee will be happy if we all start having bone broth, so keep your eye out for her new eBook on that! To listen to Clint’s story as told on The Abnormal Psychologist podcast listen here. To get in touch with Aimee and Clint: http://www.primalinfluence.com/ or Follow them on social media at: Facebook Instagram Twitter Aimee and Clint have an upcoming Paleo Camping Retreat if you are in the area, find out more here. And Aimee recommended you follow along also with their mate Daniel, the Aussie Paleo Chef.    

Today’s guest is Wendy Crawford. She shares her inspiring story about managing her own pain but also how she helps others by giving them the opportunity to get back into the workforce. Wendy Crawford Wendy has battled a number of chronic pain symptoms for many years including muscle pain without any formal diagnosis. Sick and tired of chasing a medical explanation, she decided to start managing her own pain. Wendy has a strict daily routine which allows her to run her own business from home. She uses rest, light exercises and enjoying painting to help manage her pain. In 1999, she started a business working with supported employment agencies to help people with disabilities enter the workforce doing basic cleaning jobs. This business has now grown and now operates in Victoria and Tasmania and has helped many people feel empowered with the security that mainstream wages can provide. Even though Wendy is now wheelchair bound, we talked about how chronic pain can be “invisible”. She believes pain is a private thing and still attracts some stigma when people have no understanding of what it is like to live with chronic pain. An important part of managing her pain was the decision to take charge of her own health, to not give up and stay educated. Wendy plan to sell her business and retire in 2017, so please get in touch with her if you would like more information. http://www.peopleworks.com.au/ PeopleWorks Email: wendy@peopleworks.com.au

We start this episode with a catch up. Carole lets us know how she is going with her book launch (see link to her new book below). She has also been investigating incorporating some of her “9 steps” into corporate wellness programs. A recent health concern with Carole’s daughter has seen her need to re-align her time commitments and she is going to take a few months break from the podcast to focus on nourishing her family. Mandy has also been busy but mostly on local events and programs. She is organising a free public event for National Pain Week in July (more information can be found here). This leads to a brief discussion about balance in our lives when managing families, businesses and pain management programs. We talk about prioritising based on what aligns with our values and choosing important over urgent. Balance also comes when we value self-care because we cannot help others if we are not looking after ourselves. Now, onto the topic of today’s podcast. We talk about The Spoon Theory. An analogy used to explain what it can be like living with chronic pain/illness to someone who has no understanding of the challenges. Online, we often see people with chronic pain/illness refer to themselves as a #spoonie, based on this theory. We can relate to why this analogy is useful as a communication tool.  When you do not look sick, people can have a hard time understanding what it can be like to live with pain on a daily basis. We both believe this would be an excellent tool to use to start a conversation with a loved one. But both Carole and Mandy have also some concerns about using this as a constant reference. And here is why: It reinforces that you are not 100% and focuses on what is holding you back. The very idea of a limited number of spoons (activity/energy levels) can be a demoralising mindset and allows you to be repeatedly reminded of what you can’t do. With this belief, you feel disempowered that you have no control over the situation. You may also feel as though your situation is static and will never change. But there are things you can do and improvements that can come with the right mindset, techniques and approach. The theory suggests a comparison to what you used to be able to achieve, the person you used to be…we find this kind of comparison unhelpful. [Hi! Mandy here: I had the opportunity to edit out the part around 23mins when I totally loose my train of thought, but I decided to keep it in. Don’t worry, I (kind of) find my brain again!] We then discuss pacing and how having a goal based activity mindset can assist in working through the problem of what some people perceive as a limited amount of energy or limiting amount of pain. So, what are your thoughts? Do you agree, disagree? We would LOVE to have some feedback and so please let us know what you thought of this discussion. Please leave a comment below or on our Facebook page or leave us a rating/comment on iTunes. This conversation was also started recently in a blog I love to follow. If you want another perspective, please read this blogpost by Julie Ryan.   Conquer Your Pain in 9 Steps: Building the mindset and team you need to suffer less and achieve more What Makes Olga Run?: The Mystery of the 90-Something Track Star and What She Can Teach Us About Living Longer, Happier Lives  

Carolyn Gray has been on an amazing journey. This week she shares the ups and downs of an ongoing battle with chronic illness. For a long time she was without a diagnosis as she suffered multiple throat problems and stress/anxiety issues. But with the help of an integrative doctor, she was finally diagnosed with the genetic blood disorder Pyroluria. Soon after she was introduced to the Primal Blueprint. By listening to her own body, she has learnt that a holistic approach to wellness incorporating food as medicine, vitamin supplementation, mindfulness and life balance has given her the most freedom from symptoms. Embracing her real food journey and looking fabulous! Determined and empowered by knowledge, Carolyn’s hands-on approach has resulted in a happier and healthier lifestyle. Carolyn says we all need to be proactive in our approach to wellness. A mainstream approach of finding a quick fix is rarely the answer…and beware of Dr Google! Carolyn is passionate about the positive impact that good nutrition can have on wellbeing and is sharing her journey online and locally by running Paleo-based Nutrition Courses. Holistic Wellness for Life Facebook Instagram (Mandy’s favourite place to go for inspiration and just to have a sticky beak at what Carolyn has been eating!) A few books we mention in this podcast:

This week we talk to Sarah O’Flaherty about the importance of finding your bliss. Author and mindfulness expert, Sarah has found and now follows her bliss! Sarah worked in the advertising industry for 20 years, but in 2013 when she felt that her work no longer matched her values she decided it was time for a change. So she gave up the corporate world to travel, write, photograph and study psychology. At the time it was a huge leap of faith. Moving from a world of complete security to a world of unknown challenges and opportunities certainly took determination. Sarah tends to focus on the sacred, the spiritual side of life. Her belief is that without the sacred we are not whole.  The sacred is not about religion or old-school dogma.  The sacred is simple.  It’s about life, being our authentic self, nature, connection and community. Listen how Sarah discovered a life of meaning – it might just be the kick-start your own journey towards finding your bliss! You can connect with Sarah at www.findingurbliss.com or www.inspiredjournies.net  

We got so excited talking to Jeff and Jillian that we lost track of time so we have split their interview into 2 episodes. Join us for Part 2 as we discuss holistic approaches to dealing with injuries and get more wisdom from these two amazing experts in the field of tissue tolerance. Topic: Continuing with the activities we love by building up tissue tolerance  00:55 What about the possible fear of movement in clients?— Jill: Always educate, See how you and your body feels after training, Let your body tell you how it feels. Jeff—Fear- False Expectations Appearing Real. Fear paralyzes any positive action. Have a strong foundation, the rest of the body will follow 06:30 Taking a Holistic Approach to Get Better: Jeff- Many health practitioners are creating “crutches” for people with products or solutions that people become dependent on. Find medical professionals who aren’t looking for repeat appointments. Treating imbalances naturally (hormone, mineral, etc.). Jillian—Some tips for holistic approach include nutrition therapy, anti-inflammatory foods, help body flush toxins, Get sleep and stay hydrated! Overall, provide knowledge and help build confidence 16:48 No Quick Fix: We ask Jeff and Jillian how they encourage people to wrap their heads around the fact that this whole process will take work and effort. Jeff—Humans are lazy—want a quick, easy fix. Lots of excuses for things that require work and focus. Many set themselves up to fail but you need a “No excuses” approach. Jillian—She aims to educate every step of the way. People love to accomplish things and learn so its worth highlighting a persons successes. Help set goals, build self confidence. Taken at a recent workout with Carole, Jeff Stapleton is a dedicated and passionate coach!   Contact Jeff on his website http://www.naturalrunning.ca/ or by email at: coach@naturalrunning.ca Contact Jillian on her website http://jillianhalligan.ca/ or by email at: jillianhalliganstrengthcoach@hotmail.ca

Join Mandy Mercuri and Carole Staveley as they talk to special guests Jeff Stapleton and Jillian Halligan, who are both exercise physiologists, about tissue tolerance and training the body for any and all sport types in this first podcast of a series of two podcast episodes. Intro by Carole and Mandy – Meeting Jillian: Jillian helped Carole understand the importance of a holistic, multi-disciplinary approach to managing pain. There is a lot more to pain, than just creating an exercise plan or popping pain pills. Todays topic is Tissue Tolerance: Building your body’s tolerance/ability to handle repetitive forces for the activities you want to perform. (Sports, etc). Meeting Jeff: He looks at things differently, focuses on running muscles, and running injury free. Practices Barefoot Running 04:35 Pacing Your Muscles: Mandy comments that idea is similar to what she calls Pacing – Starting slow and building slowly up 05:18 Is there hope for people who are sidelined by injury?: Jillian—Discovery comes with understanding your body’s history; of your injuries and of your training experience, and from there knowing where you want to go. Knowing where you want to start is critical on your journey. Only a little bit of change is required to make a big difference. (10:36) Jeff: Want to reach a state of functionality and we need more focus on feet because everything starts from the feet. If the feet aren’t engaged, then your body can’t follow suit 14:30: Training Sport Specific Muscles or the Whole Body? Jillian—Olympic Weight Lifting background and this can help the central nervous system. Jeff – Focuses on training around a specific sport. Important to engage full body initially, but move on to sport specific training. Taken after our interview, we loved the enthusiastic cooing noises he added to his mum’s interview! Contact Jeff on his website http://www.naturalrunning.ca/ or by email at: coach@naturalrunning.ca Contact Jillian on her website http://jillianhalligan.ca/ or by email at: jillianhalliganstrengthcoach@hotmail.ca

In this episode you’ll get to hear Mandy Mercuri and Carole Staveley discuss Mandy’s journey and struggles as she learned how to cope with being diagnosed with Scoliosis as a young girl, and dealing with the pain that came from her corrective surgeries. Pain management is a process that anyone can achieve. 00:33—Intro 01:40—Mandy’s Background: Youngest of 5 kids, diagnosed with Scoliosis, Spine in a “S” shape, side to side, multiple surgeries, corrective footwear, casts, etc. Ongoing pain. 07:39—Life with Pain: Became accustomed to pain, didn’t let it stop me, ignored pain. Always in the background, don’t go away. 09:30—Looking Back: Didn’t read the signs and just pretended to be fine. Pushed through pain, used pain killers. Avoided situations where people would ask questions. 10:39—Life Continues: Pregnancy and specialists. Being a new mother came with various strains and challenges, then became consumed with pain. Hormones changing and became very emotional. 14:48—Darkest Place: Felt like a bad mother and a burden and that I was letting people down. But I knew something had to change. 16:10—Trigger to Get Help: Conversation with husband, realized that negative emotions were also affecting him. Wasn’t fair, something needed to change for the better 18:19—Pain Management Clinic: 3 week course where I came off all pain meds. Went into it with a good mind set and with a long term goal to have another baby 20:30—Emotionally Significant Goals: Find your own “IRONMAN®”, like Carole did 21:00—Key Strategies to Manage Pain: Daily strategies include stretches, meditation, not sitting for too long, being aware of thoughts and of posture, creating reminders and pacing—not over doing it and taking breaks as needed 23:40—Chain Reaction with Pain: Understanding more about impacts of pain. Previous approach was rest = deconditioning muscles, which causes more pain. With pain stress response kicks in—fight or flight, shuts down body, doesn’t allow it to heal. 26:36—Key Messages for Others and Advice: “Pain is Inevitable, suffering is optional”. There is so much is within your control. No magic cure or pill. You need to take responsibility for your life and body, take your power back. Diet is key with overall lifestyle change. “I can avoid suffering and I can deal with pain”. You have options and there is hope! Inspired to set a good examples for her girls, Mandy self manages her pain daily. Get in touch with Mandy: www.takeholdofpain.com Email Mandy Get a copy of Mandy’s FREE ebook “Focus on the RAINBOW – Some practical tips on how to self manage chronic pain”    

Listen in as Mandy Mercuri and Carole Staveley discuss Carole’s 13 year journey to finding a diagnosis for her pain while asking the right questions, meeting the right health and exercise professionals, and achieving her ultimate goal: crossing the finish line of an IRONMAN® Triathlon. 00:33—Intro  00:57—Carole’s Story/Background: Chronic Mayofascial Pain Syndrome/Fibromyalgia In constant pain/constantly stiff 02:25—First Injury: Muscle tear in hip 03:35—After Injury: Started with walk-in clinics, and various doctors 04:45—Dealing with Pain: Started getting depressed, letting pain weigh down on self  05:35—Impacts of Condition: Not being able to carry or lift anything large or heavy, at constant risk of new injuries and muscle tears. Have to be extra careful and protective about body. 06:30—Moment of Change: “Wake up call” moment came when dealing with infertility. Needed to pick the right doctor, and asking specific questions. realised your health journey is up to you! 08:32—Meeting Exercise Physiologist: Looked at things differently – a multi-disciplinary approach. No quick fix—no magic solution but takes time and effort. Lots of hard work and dedication are required 11:15—Achieving Your Goals: Work within an achievable time frame, Exciting to have a goal/reason to keep going. 11:58—Training Regime: 60-90 minutes per day but body still wasn’t ready. Wasn’t engaging body to be ready to compete 13:40—Pain Before and After: Moving is good. Get lower “bad” pain feelings, and enjoy the “good” pain. If you set a goal that you think might be reasonable, you might learn something along the way and surprise yourself! 15:00—Crossing the Finish Line: Win your race, not the whole race 15:50—Setting New, Larger Goals IRONMAN® Triathlon: 3800 KM Swim, 180 KM Bike Ride, 42.2 KM Run (Full Marathon)….All you can do is try because uou don’t know if you don’t try 17:48—Crossing the IRONMAN® Finish Line: Feeling of elation, 15 hour ordeal, Life changing 18:48—Pick Your Own “IRONMAN®”: Any unlikely achievement is a personal statement so be your own IRONMAN and cross your finish line. 21:00—Support Network: Never questioning your goals, Always supportive and never doubting. Find your true supporters and surround yourself with them. Share your challenge with your social network 23:50—If you Had a Time Machine: Years of pain were a gift in the long run, Set right expectations Find your solutions and find the best health professionals. Do your own research about injury(s) and ssk more questions. Don’t let go, don’t give up 26:00—Dealing with Chronic Pain: You are your own chief problem solver, Don’t expect for someone to give you the exact answer, It’s a process. 27:25—What’s Next?: Meeting new health professionals and helping others Crossing the line in her amazing IRONMAN event – elated!   www.CaroleStaveley.com where you can get a copy of Carole’s FREE ebook “The book of Health Champions” Email Carole Carole’s books: Not Lying Down – How I Conquered Years of Pain to Triumph at the Finish Line Conquer Your Pain in 9 Steps: Building the mindset and team you need to suffer less and achieve more