For a long time, we have honored our brain function over our body intelligence. We have not been paying attention to our bodies, and we have not been valuing them. But it is possible to rebuild trust with your body by recognizing the dissociation between your brain and body, and building a bridge of connection.

This week’s episode came to me while I was on a walk, where I found myself speaking out loud to no one in particular, yet offering words of grace to everybody and anybody who may be struggling with pain or other symptoms.

Many people believe that if they are feeling better, that the pain is gone and job is complete. They think they are over the hump and can get back to the things they were doing before because they’re fixed and good to go. However, when it comes to chronic pain, it’s not that simple.

When it comes to reducing pain, it’s important for us to always remember that where the pain is felt is not necessarily the problem. Where the pain is felt is merely an expression of the problem. It lets us know about limitations and dysfunctions, and recognizing the presence of these things allows us to stop chasing a symptom.

You might find that parts of this technique might work all the time or at certain parts of the day, and you get to choose how and when you use it. Whether you want to regulate or just need a pick-me-up, this technique will bring about a calmness that has clarity and groundedness.

Dr. Kelly Casperson and I discuss how women are underserved in the area of their sexuality and the fear and resistance many women feel in terms of painful sex. We talk about menopause therapy, the effect of low estrogen on our bodies, and some questions to ask yourself around these topics.

A question that comes up often during cancer recovery is this: How can you reduce the onset of lymphedema post-cancer treatment and through that process connect with your body in a whole new way? And that’s what we’re talking about this week.

In previous episodes, we’ve heard from students who are currently undertaking the certification program as well as students who have recently completed the program, but this week’s guests are joining us several years after graduating from the program to update us on where they’re at now.

When it comes to recovering from a knee replacement, managing osteoarthritis, or anything else knee-related, something I love to share with my clients when I work with them is that the knee is not really a knee. Usually, the response is confusion, but stick with me.

Tension in the head can often be blamed on a poked head forward position, caused by constantly being on our phones. But I have seen this in clients before there were phones, and the reality is that people can experience this for all sorts of reasons.

It has nothing to do with anatomy, meditation, or biomechanics, nor is it knowing all the yoga techniques, stretches, processes, or templates. It isn’t contraindications around exercises or techniques that are good or not, it is the ability to truly see what’s going on in a client or yourself. It is the art of observation.

When pain is present it can cloud our inner wisdom. When we make decisions in spite of pain, these decisions are laced with anticipation and uncertainty and don’t come from a real sense of confidence. But pain doesn’t have to be a part of your experience.

You can’t just think your way to healing, you have to feel your way there. This is something so many people miss, but naming and acknowledging your feelings will enable you to change habitual patterns and make progress in your recovery.

There is a commonly used line in the fitness and wellness industries: listen to your body. The line comes from a good place; it’s meant to be helpful to clients. But what I find more often is that it is doing a disservice because clients don’t know how to listen to their bodies.

For a while now, I have been so fortunate to work with people who are older than me. And from my experience working with them, here’s the thing I know to be true: your age does not matter. It does not affect your ability to become well, get out of pain, reduce compensation patterns or get back to the life you want to live.

Concussion is expressed differently and uniquely depending on the person, but something that is the same among everyone is that recovery is possible. You can absolutely do a higher learning process while having a brain injury, and today’s guest serves as an example of what’s possible.

This week, I’m teaching you two different breathing exercises you can use when you want to focus on the ribcage specifically, or when you want to see whether what is going on in the ribcage is affecting somewhere else in your body.

So much of the world still believes that yoga is a set of movements and exercises. But I really want to change that belief, because it is so much more.

Wrists are a fascinating area of the body. They express a lot of pain that isn’t theirs, and in many scenarios, particularly in yoga, the wrists are taking a load they don’t need to take.

Can you imagine not having to endure plank? What would you say if I told you that it could be easier? I don’t mean you have to be lazy, I mean you can allow for ease to lean into strength.

I’m sharing an exercise where I guide you through a breath and stillness practice to bring you more into yourself and your body, and help you free your mind.

About 8 months ago I was reading some research and evidence around the lower glute fibers and how important they were for people with osteoarthritis in the knee or hip as well as those recovering from knee or hip surgery. And I’m excited to share more information about these with you this week.

We live in a culture that honors formal evidence and rules. And rules do make things easier at times. But what I have found over almost 30 years of helping people reduce and eradicate pain is that rules don’t apply to a lot of people. There are two really important words that matter more: it depends.

Hear a remarkable description of my client’s journey of listening to her body and seeing the possibilities instead of problems. Discover how she has become a friend of her body and hear why she is a great example of the power of curiosity and listening.

So many trainees start their training and find the technical work is stressful, confusing, and mysterious. But as they practice and gain more awareness of the concepts I teach, they move to the next phases on their journey and really start to make progress.

The inability or fear of kneeling has an incredible impact on general activities and the ways we live our lives. Whether there has been a replacement or surgery or not, there is a lot in our bodies and brains that can shift if we give ourselves the correct stimulus. We can change our muscular patterns.

A lot of people believe that core stability and pain are very separate entities. But our core isn’t something that holds or duct tapes us together, rather it enables us to become responsive. I see core and pain reduction as very closely correlated.

Prior to surgery, it is not uncommon to have a limp for more than just one reason. Many people have this belief that once they have surgery, everything will change because the structural issues will have gone away. But this is not the case; there needs to be movement retraining.

Receiving a diagnosis for me is not the end all be all. It does not guide specifically what I do next with somebody. And this week, I’m digging into a really significant, important topic: what happens when you or your client has multiple diagnoses and you’re not sure which one it is, or what happens when there is no diagnosis at all.

Through my work with Ayurveda, I have learned to recognize the relationship between my brain, body, and bowels. So I’m bringing Mona Warner back onto the show this week to explore this further.

When we have pain and we don’t want to experience it, we have ways we try to get out of it. We either try to pull ourselves up and out or contort ourselves or do things so that we don’t have to feel as much. This is what I found with a client I’m discussing in today’s episode.

This week, I am heading in a direction that some listeners may find surprising. I’m delving deeper into the realm of inclusivity. I have experienced fascinating exploration into my unconscious biases, and there have been three people who have been integral in opening my eyes to this work, so I’m bringing them on to the show to discuss the experience further.

Austin Chason is one of my yoga therapy certification graduates and has experienced depression throughout his life. He joins me this week to share his story and experience of it and highlight what’s possible when you start thinking about it differently. He believes it is less about making depression OK and more about being OK with depression.

Heather Green and Stacey Kilips are both massage therapists and trainees in the final stretch of their certification with me. They are here to share their experiences with clients who return again and again with the same issue, and to talk about supporting these folks to get off the table.

Partaking in the exercises I have been sharing will help you connect more deeply to your breathing and explore how breathing can impact your health, wellbeing, and emotional state. So I hope you’ll accept this new year’s present I’m giving to you this week.

As festive and magical as the holiday season can be, it can also be really hard. A lot of people find themselves having to attend events they don’t want to go to and seeing people they wouldn’t choose to see at other times of the year. It leaves them feeling disconnected.

Pain is a very natural physiological phenomenon. And sometimes it is just part of the recovery process. And something I’ve found is that every single one of my clients is told that they need to move through their pain, that it’s just the nature of the game.

Using breathwork can be a really great way to settle the temporary discomfort experienced after overindulging. There are so many benefits to it, and I’m showing you how to use it to support yourself through these times of indulgence.

I have specifically taught breath exercises before on episodes 22 and 26, and both of them were highly downloaded and received a lot of feedback, especially around this time of year, so in advance of the holiday season, I figured I would do another one this week.

As the amount of sun access we get reduces, many of us are already feeling a sense of slumber and dormancy. But the stillness of the coming season can be oppressive for some, and we try to maintain the light that we would get naturally from the sun in other ways.

I’m doing something a little bit different and taking you on a journey of meditation for your run. Whether you are a runner or a walker, you can utilize this meditation, and I’ll join you for a mindful approach to both walking and running.

Symptoms are there to help us, and they share vital information about our recovery and healing process. By looking into them and acknowledging what they are trying to tell us, and by feeling all of our emotions, we can take the steps to recovery.

So often in our world, it’s all about managing symptoms and fixing things. But the process of recovery and healing is not one of fixing, but one of feeling. Try as you might, pushing aside symptoms or trying to fix them will only last so long. They will keep coming back until you are willing to feel.

I find that with a lot of conditions my clients have, there is initially a tendency to want to go after symptoms. They try to address them and get rid of them in search of relief, but this isn’t always the most appropriate way to deal with them.

Given that my clientele is increasingly over the age of 60, with many in their 70s, I’m finding that Plantar Fasciitis is an issue more and more people are coming to me with. Whether they’ve had it for a long period of time, or it is a recurring issue showing up for any number of reasons, it is becoming increasingly common.

You might recall when I had Mona Warner on the show to discuss the Spring Digestive Reset, and I’m delighted to welcome her back this week to talk some more. We’re digging further into how Ayurveda has been such an integral part of her learning and teaching and the fundamentals of the fall digestive reset.

Your brain is powerful, and when you tap into what it’s actually capable of, your entire life can change. To do this, you have to recognize the brain’s brilliance and learn how to use it as a tool to blend the cognitive amazingness with the mind-blowing awesomeness of the body.

When I think of biomechanics, I like to describe it as the way forces act on our musculoskeletal system and how our body tissue and structure respond to those forces. And I like to think of balance as being ‘a result of’.

It is remarkable what can happen, how much can change, and how much one can maintain as one moves up to those decades of their life. It is becoming increasingly clear that age does not matter and there can still be significant shifts made in older age.

Something I’ve learned from the almost 30 years I’ve been working with people is that oftentimes, there is no tissue damage associated with pain. Pain is interpreted in our brain, but that doesn’t mean that it is all in your head.

When you begin to change the way you see money and power and step into this from a feminine perspective, so much can change in your life. Remarkable things happen when women really learn about money in connection with themselves. So this week, I’m continuing the conversation I started last week around money and power.

Money and business can come across as confusing, difficult, and overwhelming, but if you take the time to learn and grow the necessary skills, you will be amazed at how much clarity you will gain and how much of an impact you can make. People purchase from you when they know, like, and trust you, but first, you have to believe this yourself.

Many people have issues with the psoas, and these are usually longstanding, providing only short bouts of relief. They think these issues can be tricky to resolve, but I don’t think it has to be this way. So this week, I’m digging into the key missing element that will help your psoas release work last longer and allow you to get to where you want to be with more sustainable results.

Now, this episode isn’t about Simone Biles specifically, but her situation has catalyzed an idea that I love and that needs discussing more openly, and I hope that her experience can help us all elevate our thinking overall.

This week, I am delighted to be interviewing Rachel Ishiguro and Lory Newmyer. They started their training on the Yoga Therapy Certification Program back in January, and are joining me this week to share their experiences of the program and how it has helped them in their yoga businesses.

There is often a conversation going on under our level of awareness, and Yoga Nidra is a tool that can take you there. It is said that just one hour of Yoga Nidra can be as effective as three hours of regular sleep, and it can help you connect more curiously with your body and make significant changes in your life.

When we are in a power over relationship, there is an assumption that someone else knows more, knows better, or has all the answers and we must do what that person says. It is evident in the culture we live in, where we defer to medical experts for help.

Clients tend to come to me when their pain is so severe when their pain is the equivalent to a red light. Their issues have expanded from physical pain to all sorts of other issues, but if they knew how to recognize the yellow lights, it wouldn’t need to get to this point.

The concept of DIMs and SIMs comes from the work of David Butler and Lorimer Moseley from the NOI institute and is a remarkable concept for understanding pain and other symptoms, and even our emotional responses to pain.

Kintsugi is the art of repairing broken pottery by mending the areas of breakage with lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum. The idea is not to disguise or hide the damage, but rather to embrace and highlight it, creating something beautiful and artful out of it.

Your brain will always ask you to gather all the evidence and do anything it can to solve the problem. And while listening to it and taking action will often give you a solution, it often isn’t the solution that gives sustainable results.

When it comes to experiencing pain, some people feel it and want to get rid of it as quickly as possible. They want to get back to their life and the status quo and do everything they can to fix the problem and push the pain away. For others, they realize that where the pain is is not the problem. They know that the problem lies under their level of awareness and that if they could just find someone to help them uncover what they’re unaware of, they have the opportunity to evolve.

There is so much power to be gained from understanding and analyzing our subconscious mind. And in this episode, I’m taking a deep dive into how we gain this perspective and work from it to open the doors fully to recovery and healing.

There is a long-held belief in our culture that pain means something is broken. The medical model in the west believes at its foundation that if there’s a problem, we have to fix it. But I view it differently; it’s less about fixing the problem and more about acknowledging and addressing the compensation.

I view pain as a barometer to pay attention to. As a teacher, it gives me an indication of how my client’s body is moving and how aligned they are between body, brain, being, and breath. So why is pain so often viewed as a bad thing?

My genius lies in helping other people feel and connect into their states of being and in doing so, I help them reduce and eradicate pain. So when they are in their business world, they can channel their own genius in a way that’s powerful, serving themselves as well as serving the people they are meant to serve.

I was inspired this week by a conversation between some of my certification program trainees, where it was clear they were making the transition from yoga teacher to yoga therapist. But what exactly does this mean?

We are not taught to be deliberate with our noticing, it’s a skill we get to develop. But noticing how you feel is fundamental to building presence and being more connected with your mind and body. It can help you be more deliberate about what you want and desire.

Mona Warner is a warm and joyful educator, practicing both yoga and Ayurveda. She works at the Janati Yoga Studio in Kingston, Ontario, where she strives to guide others down the path of health, happiness, and wellbeing every day. She joins me to talk about how Ayurveda has been such a huge part of her learning and teaching and the fundamentals of the digestive reset.

I used to consider abhyanga as quite self-indulgent and incredibly messy. I thought it was ridiculous to warm oil oneself and sit there with it for 5-20 minutes, and I couldn’t get past how doing this to myself would be of benefit. But then I tried it out and was stunned by its effectiveness.

Listening is such a powerful tool, and in many ways, it’s so simple. Yet, it’s something that many people in the yoga and healthcare world overdo, and we lose the juice of it in an attempt to get it right. To be in the space of someone who is truly listening is an extremely powerful experience. But how do you know that the other person feels heard and validated? What do you need to do to truly listen?

You are your own best detective. Your job is to gather data and to see what is working and not working for you. When you recognize this evidence, you will develop greater awareness and further clarity and be in a position to take the best step forward based on that data.

I have always had a results-oriented perspective that has worked well for me in many of my life endeavors. However, when I started to train other health professionals, I found that I wasn’t getting the results I wanted, and this perspective wasn’t playing out effectively. Part of what I had to realize was that the only thing I can truly control in any relationship with a client or a trainee is me. My results are focused on what I can teach people and not what they end up doing.

In the past, I’ve taken more responsibility for my clients’ results than I should have because I tied a lot of my self-concept to the results they were getting. But knowing what you’re responsible for and what your client is responsible for can help your clients get better results.

I’m so excited to dig into a concept with my husband Stu this week, and that is the topic of healing and Psoriasis. The body is a barometer, and what Stu has experienced around his recovery and working with Psoriasis illustrates this.

Healing can be anatomical, mental, or spiritual, and some people see it as an outright cure. Healing, for me, is beyond symptom recovery and management, it’s about listening to a call and taking a courageous step forward to change or grow.

All physical activity can cause injuries and issues in the body, and when it comes to the practice of yoga, the sacroiliac joints are the ones that commonly feel the strain. This week, we’re digging into the sacroiliac joints – more commonly known as the SI joints – and why there are such issues with them in the practice of yoga.

About 30 years ago, I was in the throes of chronic pain from athletic injuries. I had tried a lot of things and was limited in what else I could try. I was taught this process and it has hugely benefitted me to this day, so I wanted to share it with you this week.

This week as we discuss the link between hypermobility and mental health, and learn how to take a non-judgmental approach to hypermobility as a yoga practitioner. We talk at length about Ehlers-Danlos Syndromes (EDS), the mind-body connection, and how we, as yoga teachers, can work more effectively with hypermobile students.

If you have been diagnosed with an injury or illness, you may believe that there is only one way of dealing with it. But sometimes, new realities are possible – things that you haven’t considered – and they could be the answer to living with these conditions more effectively.

Fellow Yoga Teacher and client of mine, Amy, joins me this week to share her journey and unique perspective of having a Hypermobility Disorder. She shares how what began as a life sentence transformed into something much more supportive, powerful, and freeing and how she uses her experience to guide her teaching practice.

I get asked a lot by health professionals and yoga teachers how I get my clients to do their homework or the exercises I give them to help them get better. They struggle to get their clients to do their part – so why do people not do things that they know will benefit them?

Blending the worlds of yoga and medicine has been a fascinating journey. Awareness and presence are such valuable tools for practitioners, and when we incorporate these into medicine, we can really listen to the client and provide them with what they need.

Talking about the hips is a contentious issue in yoga. There have been reports of people having hip replacements, attributing the injuries they had from yoga as the catalyst for these replacements. But by understanding and being more aware of our bodies, things can really shift – yoga doesn’t have to have the reputation of being a hip-wrecker!

Whether you’re a yoga teacher, therapist, or health professional, you’re likely aware that telehealth sessions are increasing in frequency. Our ability to do them really well is becoming more of an opportunity, and it’s important to recognize how great online teaching can be.

The problem with somebody who is mentally capable of solving problems is that they’re often good at pushing aside symptoms of their body. The body will only hold out for so long, and when it gives in, they come to me for help.

In the world of yoga, some people may find striving and ambition somewhat misaligned with the practice and believe that it can pull away from the sense of presence, but I don’t believe that to be the case. For me, goal setting is an opportunity to connect and live out your best talent, gifts, and skills.

As you know, taking time to breathe and connect with your body is so important, and it’s such a wonderful thing to do amidst the hustle and bustle that the festive season can often bring.
It’s time to get comfortable and begin to connect with your body. I’m walking you through a relaxing breathing exercise and body scan that you can enjoy when you have a spare moment over the holidays.

Often when we feel wired, we don’t realize how tired we are. With everything going on right now and this year, the breathing exercises I’m sharing today can be particularly useful.

The common misconceptions about earning money as a yoga teacher and some tips and advice to help you reach 100K in your business.

The common misconceptions about earning money as a yoga teacher and some tips and advice to help you reach 100K in your business.

The effects that the combination of yoga and physiotherapy treatment can have upon clients, why mental and emotional health is part of the physical experience and why psychosocial aspects play a huge role in a person’s progress and healing.

Why reaching a fundamental state of awareness about your breath will help you change so much in your life, and how learning about the breath can impact your ability to digest food, emotion and gain restful sleep.

The essential skills a yoga professional needs to run a business and create a life of vitality and freedom. I’m sharing some general principles to apply to your business and some activities that I do personally in my own business.

How I pivoted my teaching and business through lockdown and how Facebook Lives, private sessions, and Zoom workshops have been such an effective way to support people through such chaotic, uncertain times.

Exploration of the pelvic floor, with a specific focus on a technique called Pelvic Floor Breathing or Orifice Breathing. Today, Susi explores this sacred, powerful exercise, teaching you why it’s beneficial while walking you through the exercise.

“I’ve found that when I can effectively teach my clients about their movements first, before getting into muscle conversation, the faster they get better.” In this episode of From Pain to Possibility. Susi discusses the idea of movement and understanding movement as an approach to helping a client reduce their pain.

Listen, as Susi digs into the diastasis recti and uses her own personal experience to highlight some core teaching concepts that she uses when working with women who are recovering. Susi is dividing this episode into three specific time periods, early, mid, and later, and how she used her principles inside of those particular periods on this episode of From Pain to Possibility.

Why is the triangle pose blamed for issues in the spine, SI joints, and knees? Listen, as Susi explores why it’s blamed and why on the flip side that the triangle is an exceptional position, especially when someone has recovered from SI joint issues, plus more in this episode of From Pain to Possibility.

Susi explores the triangle pose and describes what she has seen when people do a traditional way of moving into the pose versus how she prefers to see it done. Susi has found that her students are very surprised at how limited their hip movement is when teaching her way.Consider this idea of being grounded and light simultaneously, solid and stable, the ability to be agile. All of these characteristics apply to a psoas that is responsive, alive, and turned on. There is a whole new level of quiet power that can be experienced.

In this episode of From Pain to Possibility, Susi and her guest Kirsten Richardson discuss what is possible when you integrate yoga therapy concepts with physio or physical therapy, the results she has found, and her transition to doing physiotherapy by video.
Consider this idea of being grounded and light simultaneously, solid and stable, the ability to be agile. All of these characteristics apply to a psoas that is responsive, alive, and turned on. There is a whole new level of quiet power that can be experienced.

So often the psoas gets blamed for issues, but really, it isn’t the psoas’ fault. The psoas is responding to the forces in the body and how they are being absorbed and dissipated.

Consider this idea of being grounded and light simultaneously, solid and stable, the ability to be agile. All of these characteristics apply to a psoas that is responsive, alive, and turned on. There is a whole new level of quiet power that can be experienced.

Susi shares the five principles that worked for her, clarity, conversations, support, calendar, and commitment. Clarity leads to conversation; the conversation opens the door to understanding; understanding support helps us get clearer on our calendar. Underline, it all is a commitment to do what we want. Susi discusses how each of these led to her and her husband’s ability to handle anything that has been thrown at them, even COVID-19.

Do you think it is possible to heal from a rotator cuff injury without paying attention to the shoulder girdle? In this episode of From Pain to Possibility, listen as Susi digs into the rotator cuff and the shoulder girdle, and how necessary it is for both to work together in order to recover and heal from rotator cuff injuries.

Listen, as Susi discusses when compensation happens and how, when she can clear up those extraneous patterns, she can help them become more optimal in their movements. They have much more efficient biomechanical patterns, which also correlates to a reduction in pain.

Susi speaks about anatomy being the mapping of muscles, other tissues, lymphatic system, nervous system, and blood vessels. Biomechanics is how we see these forces move through those systems and Kinesiology being the studio of how a movement happens. She also shares that posture is how we embody our structure.

Susi shares the wonky relationship we have between expectation and reality. We expect our yoga teacher or health professional to figure out what is happening, but in reality, that’s not what occurs. This is when awareness becomes vital.

Susi and Megan discuss awareness and how important it is because once you lose awareness, you lose connection. They also speak about qualitative versus quantitative and some tools you can use to support someone to notice what they are experiencing, and Megan shares how she determines which part of a patient’s body she works on first.

Compassion is the foundation of health care and overall well-being. Listen as Susi and her guest Shelly Prosko discuss why Shelly believes this, her journey to where she is today, how she learned about compassion fatigue, and much more on this episode of From Pain to Possibility.

Susi speaks about what can happen if you don’t pay attention to the whispers and let the symptoms go into the red light phase, that’s when life has become constricted enough that something needs to change. Once you can recognize the pattern in your experiences, you can intervene at a level that allows you to make changes.

Susi is digging into four obstacles, particularly obstacles to smooth progress in this episode of From Pain to Possibility. Listen, and by the end of this episode, you’ll see that obstacles aren’t actually bad. They are a part of the learning process, and once you see them for what they are, you can see them as opportunities for growth and development.

Are you ever too old to practice yoga? Listen, as Susi and her guest Ruth Ann Penny discuss older adults, yoga and the older adult, and what yoga can do for an older person on this episode of From Pain to Possibility.

Problems will always exist. You don’t want to have the same problems this year as you had last year. Susi shares some issues she has had and the lessons she has learned so that maybe we can learn from her mistakes and the opportunities they have provided for her.

Marlysa Sullivan and I speak about the Polyvagal Theory and what it means for yoga professionals and medical professionals. We chat about what the Polyvagal Theory suggests, and how to apply it in practices professionally and with clients.

Welcome to the very first episode. This podcast was created so that you can get to know me, and how I teach before you ever decide to sign up for my trainings or courses. I hope this podcast gives you the information and experience so that you can make the best possible choices for yourself.