Latest / In Tune Podcast / 1. Dr. Stew Bittman - Chiropractic from the heart
Transcript
- Nick: So my guest today has spent 40 years in chiropractic and he's been called one of the most quietly influential voices in the profession. He's described as a chiropractor, published author, international speaker, and a workshop leader. He's the creator of the chiropractic from the heart workshops, which he's now taught to thousands of chiropractors around the world. Dr. Stew Bittman, welcome to In Tune. Stew: Thank you, Nick. It's great to be here. Thanks for having me. Nick: So Stew, love to take it from the beginning of your chiropractic journey. ⁓ I've read a lot about you, obviously seen you speak at the Innate Summit seminars as well, and ⁓ have heard some stories and especially in your early years of chiropractic, ⁓ about you graduating with valedictorium with a four point ⁓ GPA and those early years of struggle in your chiropractic career. ⁓ so would you be able tell us and fill us in from that side of the journey? Stew: ⁓ from what I can remember, sure. And then you know, disclaimer when I'll be 70 in a couple of weeks, and my bio alone could take up the entire time. But any anyway, yes, I went to a very mechanistic school and excelled. not only did I have a 4.0 GPA, but ⁓ on the US national boards I got like perfect s four perfect scores out of six tests or something. I I was not the most popular guy in my class, you might imagine. But yes, it was not very long before I realized that people didn't really care what I knew or how much I knew, and nobody seemed to care that I knew the classic triad of von Whipple's disease or any of this stuff. ⁓ people really only care about whether they thought I could help them or not. And so I felt sort of woefully ⁓ unprepared for that. I mean, I I I learned what I was taught very well, so I I guess I was a what would you call it, a medical manipulator and and I and I did fairly well with that. ⁓ but there was something huge missing. I felt it. in fact, I didn't feel congruent at all. I I used to be nervous when new people were scheduled because I just felt so incongruous that I didn't really know exactly what I was supposed to be doing or, you know, how how I could help them So struggled for a few years. Went to a seminar Parker seminar Parker seminars used to be the biggest seminars in the world in chiropractic and one of the first ones I went to was like the fiftieth anniversary one, so it was like eight thousand people there. And I was just blown away by the energy and the passion. ⁓ however, it was all Greek to me and I was not ready for it and I actually got a bit angry about some of the stuff I heard, which is ironic because t some of that stuff is stuff that is like the foundation of my belief system now. I went into Sigapus Jim Sigafoos's room at that very first time and the first half hour or so he was just being funny and I loved it and then he started talking about chiropractic and he really upset me and he's talking about, you know, ⁓ body being able to heal from any disease known to man and and Really? With without orthopedic tests or anything? So anyway, I was not ready for his message and I walked out of the room. And I wasn't the only one who walked out of the room, ⁓ which which I actually waited for a few other people to walk out of the room because I didn't I didn't want to be the first one to walk out. Anyway, this is also ironic because getting to know Sigaphus as well as I did, I know that he walked out on Sid Williams the first time he heard the philosophy spoken from stage. So, you know, I right away we knew we were sort of kindred ⁓ spirits. So I didn't get much out of that first seminar ⁓ at all. I didn't change anything. I did have four new patients on Monday. I thought that was pretty interesting because that was about the equivalent of a a month of in my practice in those days. ⁓ but again, since I didn't know why that happened or change anything, things ultimately pretty much went back. So the next year when my the guy I was working with said, Why don't we go back to Parker? I said I well, you know, I could use four new patients again. Why not? But this time for some reason, ⁓ probably because I had done a bit of work on myself in that prior year, things start to click and it actually resonated and and Segafus that was beginning of him becoming my my man, my my hero, my mentor, my friend. And yeah, I started to do things differently. I started to say things differently. I started to feel differently and I went to every philosophy thing and read every philosophy book and you know, I I just I I identified the big hole in my chest and I started to attempt to fill it. And ⁓ let's see. We're we're at about nineteen ninety something now. And and so hang in there folks. ⁓ there's some quiet years in there. I I I went on the first trip to Panama, which Sigapus was part of, the first mission trip, and that was a life changer for me. And I ended up going ⁓ the first four times that people went to Panama. We adjusted tens hundreds of thousands of people, ⁓ without any benefit of talking to them. ⁓ especially me. ⁓ my Spanish was Nick: Mm-hmm. Stew: not good and and you know only enough to get me in trouble. And so I didn't use it and I just learned a lot through those experiences, like connecting with people on a different level and how beautiful and pure and and powerful the chiropractic adjustment is when we don't add a bunch of stuff to it that doesn't really matter and don't have a bunch of attachments about whether people like us or whether how much people are gonna pay us or or whether they're gonna refer to us or even whether they're gonna heal up because in Panama we we didn't really know. You know, we we heard stories and we we saw things. But I and I could talk about Panama for at least an hour and a half, but just suffice it to say that we we felt I mean the third time we went, a hundred and forty seven chiropractors adjusted like three hundred and eighty five thousand people in a country of two and a half million people. So that's a pretty good chunk, maybe not t three hundred and eighty five different people, but a a good segment of the population and and we felt Nick: Well Stew: the country change. I I this might be too weird for so early in the podcast, but we felt the vibrational energy of the country change. In fact, between I believe it was the third time and the fourth time we were there, which was about six months, when we got there, the mayor of Panama City had t told us that the crime rate had gone down in Panama City for the last six months, and so we've been there. Nick: Well. Stew: And you know, I so my first thought of course is BJ Palmer telling us that we could empty the prisons and the and the insane asylums and the hospitals, right? So in Panama it i it almost happened. We d we didn't have enough of a presence to stay there and stuff. But who knows? Who knows? So So I came home from probably the first mission, but definitely the second one, thinking, well, it's nice that we call these missions, but I know where the mission really is. The mission is in my clinic. And so what I got out of the missions was the fact that I was a different chiropractor in Panama. Why? I I couldn't answer that question. I mean I had ideas. Obviously the people didn't speak English, so they couldn't complain to me, or they couldn't they couldn't tell me what was wrong with them or what they thought was wrong with them. They couldn't ⁓ you know, but ⁓ we would ⁓ On the fourth mission I adjusted two thousand people in five hours, myself, based on signatures. And and I would have known if somebody was like, That's it? 'Cause you know, ⁓ I don't know if you've done the math that quickly, but that's th I I went home and did the math. That's about eight seconds per person. ⁓ And I know that people had waited sometimes for hours, and not once did somebody even give off the energy of that's it? I came all this way. No, I I got blessed, I got kissed, I got I got handed lottery tickets, I got hugged, I got I got little babies handed to me because I didn't see them at first. ⁓ it was just unbelievable. So I decided I want to be the chiropractor h at home that I am here. I want to be as fearless here, I wanna be as unattached to things that don't matter. here. It was easy in Panama because again I couldn't talk to the people, I couldn't understand them. I I wasn't really worried about follow-up or anything. and I had time to connect with them, look in their eyes, see the just incredible, beautiful eyes they all had, but who was just like innate in a different earth suit. two thousand times and and it was it was unbelievable. It was amazing. So so when I went home I'm like how how do I how how do I bring that home? Maybe I should hang out with my mother in law and learn Yiddish so I can speak a different language than the people who come in, but then I realized I would still understand what they were saying so so so it wouldn't be quite as good. I I I thought about I thought about trying to recreate the the mechanisms and you know, like get rid of all my tables and my CA and my phone and just put in three or four black metal folding chairs and go out into the street and yell, you know, Mas Vida aquí, which is one of the only things I learned more life here. ⁓ But I decided, no, what really needed to change was was me. And so that started me on a or that I'd already started, but that pushed me quite a distance on my, I guess you could say, spiritual journey and my chiropractic journey, because it was after the second trip that I started doing the box on the wall, which was actually which was actually a box on the back of the desk. We didn't have it on the wall. ⁓ but same idea, which is that people paid the most they could pay for their adjustments. I did that for the last twelve years. Nick: Yeah and I Stew: of my practice. You can ask a question any time because I I you know, I could Nick: Hmm. Powerful. ⁓ I was going to go into how did that look when you got back from the mission trip? What what changed in practice? What weren't you doing before the mission trip and then after? Stew: Well, you know, again it was a transition but I I I was doing a lot of yeah. I was still attached to people's ⁓ opinions of me. I was still a people pleaser, I was I still had trouble speaking my truth, I still would I still, you know, I would go to a seminar and see if you can relate to this. I would I would ⁓ because most chiropractors can, I think. I I would go to a seminar and I would get all fired up and I, you know, I would tell the story. ⁓ my intention is to tell the story to everybody. If they like it, fine, if they don't like it, fine. And then the first person who shows up on Monday is like, you know, reminds me of my uncle who used to like hit me or something. You know ⁓ and I could hear him, I don't even see him yet. I hear him out in my reception. Saying, just get the doctor out here, I got a headache, and I am ⁓ you know, every six months I I get a headache and I go to a chiropractor, he adjusts me. I I don't want to hear about what ⁓ what else is going on here. And and I'm I'm in my office hearing this and forgetting everything I just intended and forgetting everything I learned over the weekend because I have this incredible like pit in my solar plexus, which, you know, I first created Sorry, this is a deep answer to your question, but but you know, like when I was two years old and my mother said something like, Well, just wait till your father comes home, and and I learned that if I hid out, if I just disappeared, I wouldn't get hit. Right? So so now I can't I can't hide from this guy, but I could do the next best thing. I could do exactly what he wants. And then I got the added pleasure of doing that and then going back into my office and beating myself up broily because I didn't even make it through one person. So so what changed after the mission trip was I started to work on that. And I started to realize what was going on and that this thing that I got in my solar plex was was just innate intelligence trying to save my life because I I convinced it at a very early age that I needed that and it was still doing that because it loves me. So I learned this trick from Dick Santo. I I would just say, I love this feeling. I love this feeling. And the feeling would go away. And when the feeling went away, I'm like, ⁓ that's right, I had an intention here. So so then it was like easy to say, you know what, sir, I hear what you're saying. I don't like headaches either. But but that's not what we do here. If you'd like to hear what we do, ⁓ I'd love to bring you back and discuss it with you. If not, you know, I know a lot of chiropractors in this town would that would love to just bang you on the side of the neck and help you with your headache. What would you like to do? You know, a I found it easy. I found it easy once I learned how to deal with this and once I Nick: Yeah. Stew: Once I got a glimpse of what was possible without doing that, without getting attached to all that stuff, without buckling under to what people thought they want, because ⁓ I guess if there's one thing I learned in my practice career is that most people didn't really know what they wanted. Nick: Mm-hmm And I I remember hearing a bit of Dick Santo, he calls it the Mississippi River, when you you've just got that that one area that shows up and it takes you, it's it's that downward spiral that you know, and I'm sure a lot of chiropractors relate to that too. The and and haven't and that's great, you've created that deep connection and understanding where that comes from with you and why you were people pleasing and going against that. And I'm sure a lot of chiropractors really struggle with that. I know I have for a big part. Stew: Exactly. Nick: But I think once you start to make that connection is where the power is. Yeah. Stew: Mhm. Indeed. Yes. And it is like a Mississippi River. It is I mean, people know US geography. If you get in a boat on the Mississippi River, ⁓ you're gonna end up in New Orleans. You know, and you could pray to not up ⁓ end up in New Orleans, you you could hate New Orleans, you you could spend your entire life trying to change New Orleans so it's better. Nick: Mm. Stew: for you or you can get in a different damn boat or not ⁓ not get in that boat and that's to me, yeah, that's exactly what the work was, you know. The boat the boat continued to look strangely compelling and comfortable and stuff, even though I knew it wasn't gonna take me where I where I wanted to go. But after a while, yeah. After a while you look at the boat or I looked at the boat and I said, Yeah, you know, yeah, weirdly compelling. But If I wanna go to wholeness or love or or presence or connection with people, this boat does not make stops at any of those places. ⁓ so yeah, that was the work. Yeah. Thank you. Nick: powerful. It's powerful. And I'd I'd really love to to spin back, you said something interesting about the box on the wall, which I've I've heard from you in other podcasts too. And it's it's something I think that will interest a lot of other chiropractors. And I I've also read too that some of your mentors and coaches at the time it ev everyone was advising you not to do it. And and you did it anyway. So can you talk to us a bit about that journey? Stew: Mm-hmm. I mean, I'd heard about it for years from Reggie Gold and from other people who did it, ⁓ including Dick Santo. And ⁓ I mean it always sounded good to me, but it sounded really good to me because I didn't like dealing with money and I didn't ⁓ feel good about asking for money because I was coming from an incongruous, you know, less than powerful position ⁓ with it. So and plus I was raised with money issues. Thank you, Dad. When I was like in sixth grade, my best friend moved I don't know, a few miles away and they were no longer he was no longer in my free calling area. So my father's advice was to get a new friend. That's that is that was my upbringing as far as money goes. So so yeah, I I did like the idea, but only for the wrong reasons. But again, coming back from the Panama missions, the first two and seeing what was possible when I just give myself away. with no attachment to the money or to the personality or to the results or to anything ⁓ that I don't really have a hundred percent control over. it got to the point where I could not not do it. And you're right, everybody in my life, including Sigafoos, was telling me not to do it. The only person who was supportive was fortunately the only person that really mattered and besides me, which was my wife. You know, ⁓ we both had some some ⁓ ang a little bit of anxiety around it. ⁓ but anyway, it was it was w it was fantastic, it was great. I even I even can buy some nice clothes every now and then, you know. yeah, I I at one time in my life it would have taken one person to make one comment about it. Nick: It's powerful. Stew: ⁓ to talk me out of it be even if I needed that because I probably was perfectly capable of talking myself out of it. ⁓ so but I couldn't do that anymore. And and the more people thought it was crazy, the better I liked it. And and that's kind of how I've I am to to this day. Yeah. I got that from Sigafoose too. So Nick: Yeah. No, I think there's a lot of power in it too and it's good that you're connecting that element to the money, but I've heard Arno Bernier, the great man, speak about the first twenty five years of his practice, he didn't know how much he was making. And he had no idea and the the CAs put the money in the bag and they sent it home to his wife and he wanted no idea of what he was making and he wanted to separate his his business hand from his healing hand. And I'm sure a lot of chiropractors struggle with that too of That's that's an element that can get caught up and that's that's an element that you experienced in Panama that w when it's not about that and it's just about them and it's just about the healing and there's no other decisions in there, it's just you and them. That that's where the power is and that's where the the miracles are created. Yeah. Stew: Yes. Mm-hmm. Absolutely. And Arno did that and there are other ways. You know, I mean Sid Williams always said don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing or something. ⁓ get the idea. But you know, ⁓ some chiropractors let their CAs handle ⁓ the money. ⁓ again, there are different ways to do that. The box is Nick: Yeah. Stew: I I'm not saying I'm anything special, but I I will tell you that when people say, Hey, do you think I should do the box? I always immediately say no. And they say, Well why why do you say no? And I say, Because you're asking me. You know, I i if you get to the point where you don't have to ask me, you know, then then then then let's talk. But anyway, yeah. Good stuff. Nick: Mm. Yeah. Hmm. There there was something you spoke about at the Innate Summit and I'm so excited you're gonna be back at the Innate Summit next year as well. but two years ago, I believe, in twenty twenty four, you you said something up on stage that has sat with me since then. ⁓ and you shared the story about the man with the shoulder. The man with the shoulder issues and I'd really love for you to touch on that. ⁓ that story and we can we can dive a bit deeper. Stew: was post Panama too, yeah. Which was good timing, yes. ⁓ guy came in, chief complaint which I didn't ask about was his shoulder. my wife did the consultation. So it was in the notes. He he had some kind of rotator cuff issue or something. And and I told you know, because I did a pre-care mandatory talk where I pretty much said, I'm not here to fix your shoulder or your pain or you know, I'm here to do for one reason and that's to remove interference to the expression of life. ⁓ I I you know. So so anyway he heard that and and like some people, they hear that and they they say, Well that's nice and and then when they come in they tr they they try to press the point and I stuck I stayed firm, which which was very good of me. And but but twice a week for two months. I would f get finished adjusting him and he would get off the table and he would do this and he'd say, Hey Doc, what about my shoulder? Or when's my shoulder gonna feel better? And I'm giving him the same answer, with slight variations, just to keep myself ⁓ entertained. you know, different variations on I don't know. I don't I I told you at the beginning, I don't know if your shoulder's gonna feel better. I don't know. I mean I I understand you want your shoulder to feel better and I wouldn't mind if your shoulder felt better, but I haven't touched your shoulder. Have have you noticed? ⁓ he said, Yeah, well yeah I have. ⁓ I was gonna ask you about that. I said, well don't don't bother asking you because again, I I'm not gonna base what I do on where your pain is or if your pain is. And but I would say something like, your innate intelligence created your shoulder, it built your shoulder, and I know it could rebuild your shoulder according to the normal pattern for your shoulder. But when How would I know? And and ⁓ maybe maybe it's working on something else is what I tend to tend to discussion with. And he would seem to be satisfied until the next time. And then we'd go through a similar song and dance. And the other reason I was thinking perhaps he didn't and I hate this expression, but I'm gonna use it, didn't get it. And please ask me about that later, if you remember. ⁓ was that he used to bring his little five-year-old girl with him to the office every time. And it became clear pretty quickly that he was had no intention of letting me touch her, even though I let me rephrase that, check her, even though I bugged him about that every time. Every time we would get through the shoulder thing, I'd say, is today the day, you know? Can we check Emma? And he'd say why, or he'd say no, or one time he said, ⁓ she doesn't want to. And I said, sorry, I mean, Jim, I I understand that, but she hasn't even tried it. If she if if she tries it and doesn't like it, I I'll absolutely respect that. That's never happened. But if it does, I would respect that. yeah. Then the next time I believe he said the same thing, she doesn't want to. And I said something like, Well, when you vaccinated her, did you get her opinion on that? And I so this is how I knew I was losing my loving stew edge a little bit and he was starting to this throw me off. And I r and I realized I would go into the the next room and and kind of take him with me a little bit. And and so I I went home that night and I said, I gotta tell him he's in the wrong place. I I got I have to share with him, you know, that there's nothing wrong with him wanting a shoulder fix. It's just not I'm not the guy, you know? even though I was the valedictorian of shoulders. But that's another story. I I so I'm rehearsing this speech and I have to rehearse the speech 'cause I never had to give the speech before. People just made these decisions for themselves ⁓ in the past. So I go in and I I will try to speed the story up. I I I'm about to ⁓ give him my little speech and I hear and I get a ⁓ message from Innate which eerily sounds like my mother in this case. And and it's like, adjust them again. So I adjust them again, and because I adjust them again, I'm kind of expecting a different result. But sure enough, gets off the table, starts to do this, and I say, okay, hey, before you ask me that question again, may I ask you a question? And he says, sure. I say, well, what's better? What's changed? What's different? You you haven't missed an appointment. And I'm like thinking Maybe just to torture me or something. You've been here every single time. What's changed? What's going on? And he looks at me like I'm crazy and I say, Have you noticed, have you noticed more energy? No. Are you eating things you couldn't eat before? No, I'm trying to think of the common. He denies anything's changed, so I say, okay, it's speech time. But I get interrupted again, and this time I get two words from Innate: Ask her. Yes, her. And at first I'm completely confused because I don't even know who her is. But I look around and there's only one her and she's Playing with my toys like she did every time her dad was getting adjusted. So I call a little Emma into the room, and as I'm doing this, I'm telling myself, You ⁓ you have reached a new stage of weirdness, Stew. Because because I I sat her down and I said, Emma, help me out. You've been coming in here for two months with your dad. Have you noticed anything different about your dad? And Emma starts to cry. Like, Perhaps only a five year old girl can cry and finally like catches her breath. Yeah, he's not beating me up any more. That is your shoulder story. And it was a quite a ⁓ awkward but powerful moment. I mean I I I I I love telling that story and I and I I think it's such a powerful story because I didn't know he was hitting this kid. I ⁓ i if I knew I would have certain legal responsibilities that I assume are similar in Australia. ⁓ I'm not sure how that would have turned out. ⁓ Nick: Mm. Stew: I didn't know. And I could have I I mentioned I was the valid dictorian of s shoulders. I mean I I didn't have any physical therapy stuff at that point, but I could have done I could have done something. I could have manipulated, I could have rubbed, I could have I could have as Sigafoos would say I could have assumed he was suffering from a lack of cold and put ice on it or suffering from a lack of electrical currents and borrowed somebody's machine. ⁓ you know, I probably could have helped him get some relief in his shoulder, but that's clearly not what he needed. Nick: Mm-hmm. Stew: And it's interesting you should ask about that because that's what I was thinking when I said people didn't always tend to know what they really wanted or needed, right? ⁓ Emma sure did. So yeah, that that was that was powerful. Nick: Yeah. Yeah. Very powerful, very powerful. And you you finished it with do you think Innate was working on something bigger? Stew: Yeah. Yes. Nick: And we just we we just don't know. We can't fathom the capabilities of of what innate's doing in every moment and every day. And and and sometimes and I see this a lot with in chiropractic but also other fields too, we think we're smarter than innate. We think we're more intelligent. We wanna we wanna get in the way of it and manipulate it. And moments like that just show you you you can't. Stew: Yeah. there were three Yeah, I mean, you know, maybe especially if you're the valedictorian. But probably not. I mean, ⁓ there were three guys who did or two other doctors who helped Sigafus with his personal development workshop called The Gathering. One was Dick Santo, the other was Cecil Collins, and Cecil Collins used to like to say that we as chiropractors are educated beyond our intelligence. Nick: Yeah. Mm. Yeah. Stew: which I thought was a pretty clever thing to say. Yes. I you know, I had a incredible realization one time that that I I remember in school I don't know how many classes we learned to Kreb cycle in or how many c classes I learned to Kreb cycle in going through college and chiropractic school and stuff. But not once did I ever consider the fact that my every little mitochondria in my body is doing the Krebs cycle. And like I'm proud of myself for memorizing the steps of the Krebs cycle. Yes, it's it's amazing how arrogant we could be. ⁓ Because, you know, and I used to say this in my office talk, you know, I went to school a little longer than you did. I did pretty well in school, but compared to the wisdom in your body about you, I know nothing. And I I think people really liked hearing that. You know. It was it was empowering. Nick: Yeah, for sure. one part that you just touched on that I know a lot of chiropractors would would love to deepen in because I feel like it's been so lost, especially in Australia. ⁓ you said innate spoke to you, and and there's a there's a few ways we can go down this, but I want to touch on w when did you first hear innate start to speak to you? Stew: Hm, probably very young age, but I probably wrote it off or So maybe I'll answer when I started listening. that was again, that was Sycaphus's big message that he had is to actually ask in the morning. Like ⁓ you know, I I'm reporting for duty. What do I need to you know, what's one thing I need to know or serve better or a and then, you know, we were instructed to act on what we got. So so I I I think innate is always talking to us, and maybe not in words. Nick: Hm. Mm. Stew: But certainly in impressions and feelings and and ⁓ whatever. You know, everybody's different. Maybe some people see things, some people hear things, ⁓ some people feel things. It's ⁓ you know, and I guess you could call it a hunch or a gut feeling or a ⁓ whatever it is, but whatever it is, I think the more we listen to them and actually act on those things we get the the louder it gets, you know. I I like to think of innate's been like screaming at me my whole life and it's now it's a little hoarse so so I might have to you know I have to coax it to keep talking to me but but no it it's it's always gonna keep doing that even even when we haven't listened which which I think is good news. So being open to that and ⁓ you know and creating space for it. I mean I I can't hear innate when I'm running through my to-do lists and running around like a chicken without head and and just doing the things that that are urgent to Nick: Mm. Stew: all the time. ⁓ you know, I have to create some quiet time and space for to hear it if it comes. So Sycaphus used to call it the wee small voice. You know, a a and it's hard to hear it over all the tumult of media and ⁓ and all the other s distractions and loudness. The world has gotten very loud. So so yes, it's it's ⁓ Nick: Mm. Stew: We have to be open to it and and then yeah, I think the most important thing is to act on it. 'Cause I used to get great ideas, but almost invariably talk myself out of them because I'd go right to, you know, how would that work and what would so and so say and what would so and so think and nobody's ever done that before and and it didn't work for one person so it obviously couldn't work for me so yeah, you laugh because you probably have told yourself similar things. Yeah, yeah. I ⁓ so that was the big change for me when I actually just trusted in it enough to to act on it and then yeah. It has Nick: Yeah. Stew: It has rarely led me astray since then. Nick: Powerful. It's powerful. And and and what you said by the more you listen to it, the louder it gets. That really resonates. You know, no no matter what it asks you to do. I think Dick Santos said he he walks out one day and it innate tells you to go buy lamb chops and and you just do it because it's guiding you and it's it's part of that intelligence within your body that knows far more than you do. It knows exactly what you need at every moment in time. So that was really powerful. Stew: Dick Dickie was brilliant. He was. And Dickie also, and I think this is similar too, we most of us are running on, you know, if not complete autopilot. It's pretty darn close. You know, he would ask us, how many of you like turn the key in your car and the next thing you know you're at work? Nick: Yeah. Mm. Stew: You know, it's like you have no idea where you've been 'cause you do it the same way every time. ⁓ you know, h how how many of you you know, and maybe you've tried to Do this the other way, you know, or or put your other shoe on first. Or so he would actually have us do that. He would actually have us change things, you know, make a l have lamb chops if you're a vegetarian, or or shave your beard if you have a beard, or grow a beard, or or make a left instead of making a right every day, or or put the other shoe on first, or you know, and then he had us do this exercise where we prefaced everything we did for I he wanted us to do it for a day. Folks, if you're gonna do this, you know, maybe. Nick: Mm-hmm. Stew: an hour would be plenty. But preface every single action we do with I choose to. I choose to start brushing up here first. You know, I I choose to to make a left here. I choose you know, and you find out pretty quickly how many things you do that you're not really choosing. And how many things you might choose to do that are different than the things you you tend to do on autopilot. Yeah. It's we miss a lot. We miss a lot just Nick: Mm. Yeah. We do, we do. I want to take it back to that what what you spoke about before. ⁓ they just don't get it and how much that frustrates you. Stew: ⁓ thank you, thank you, 'cause I forgot. Well, I I you know, I And I I'm sure at some sometimes it's true. Or people aren't I I prefer people aren't ready for it. I mean I I I but I say most of the time when we think people don't get it, it's it's us that don't get it. Or we're given mixed messages or we're just watering it down too much or we're not giving people a chance. You know, ⁓ you know, here some of us took years to develop a an ownership of the philosophy and you know, we expect to you know, if somebody complains about a symptom on the second visit after hearing once that that's not it about. It's like, ⁓ they don't get it. You know? So that's that's the part I don't like about it. It's an excuse. It's Nick: Mm. Stew: I I did again, like I said, a mandatory ⁓ office talk and I don't know. I don't know how many people didn't get it. I mean there were people who didn't want it. Nick: Yeah. Mm. Stew: Bill ⁓ Bill Esteb is another great name and ⁓ he once he once asked the whole crowd at Parker Seminars, how many of you think it is important to floss your teeth? And I'd say ninety-eight percent of the people in the audience raise their hand. He says, Okay, how many of you have ready access to dental floss? whether you have it in your house or you have to walk down to the corner or pharmacy to get some or whatever and ninety three percent of the people raise their hand. He says, Okay, and how many of you floss regularly? And maybe forty percent of the room and twenty percent of those were lying, I'm sure. and he says, ⁓ wait a minute. So what you're telling me is you know it's a good idea, you have ready access to it, and you don't do it. And his whole point was it's not that we didn't get dental floss. Nick: Yeah. Stew: And it's not like we couldn't get dental flaws. We were making a different choice. And I think it's the same with people, you know? Nick: Yeah. And really powerful what you spoke about. Stew: And as Will S that we could give the most glorious consultation and report of findings ever delivered in the history of chiropractic and if it's not aligned with that person's values, it's not gonna happen. Right? So anyway. Nick: Yeah. And and you mentioned too that often it's it's not the the client that doesn't get it, but it's the chiropractor and oftentimes it's because the client is now vibrating higher than the the chiropractor is. Can you can you touch on that? Stew: Well, there were days when I probably if I was totally honest, I would have told them to stay home and I would have gone to see them. But yeah, well it's a really good question. I that was big to me. And I l and I missed that 'cause I haven't been in practice for A long time. ⁓ twel almost twenty years. Eighteen years. So I missed I it was it was I I loved having the inspiration and motivation to work on myself so I would vibrate at at least as high a frequency as the people who came to see me. I thought that was important. You know? and it was. Nick: Mm. Yeah. You you'll only get people as clear as you are. Stew: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, and and we wanna be, you know, 'cause with that comes more certainty and more presence. And those to me are k two key elements. ⁓ Nick: Yeah. Mm. Stew: presence. We did a survey we did a survey in my office once and we asked people, What how long do you think you're in there with Dr. Stew? Th the the reality was like three minutes. The the the average answer was eight minutes. Nick: Few Mm. Stew: And so I asked this to audiences everywhere, why why did they think it was eight when it was three? And I don't really know, but I have a strong feeling it was because for those three minutes I was completely with them and present and I wasn't thinking about the next person and I wasn't thinking about the last person and I wasn't thinking about their money and I wasn't thinking about how to impress them or dazzle them with you know what or or or you know. I was just with ⁓ And an open for loving. So, yeah, I I think that was huge. And and that is huge. Nick: And I'd really love to hear that from you because I feel a lot of chiropractors, especially in Australia, understand the physical components of an adjustment. And we we can touch on that a bit deeper. But the physicality of there is a physical adjustment happening. But they some don't quite grasp the metaphysical aspects of of the adjustment and that deeper part of your focus, your attention, your presence. Would you be able to touch on where you really go when you're in that space? Stew: Hm. Well, I like to think I don't go anywhere but but but I I like to think I go somewhere when I don't do that. But but anyway, Yeah, I I I am convinced I I know that when B J said the adjustment with the little something extra, he was probably talking about torque or something, but but I like to think of it as as me. You know, like the a little something extra is me totally present because I I I don't even know where to begin with that. It's just makes such a difference and people know when you're not. And and and so Nick: Mm. Stew: First of all, I have to say this, it's it makes sense to me to be in that sort of present, open, receptive, loving state because I wanna I wanna listen. I I I the adjustment to me is something I do with somebody, not to somebody. And and when I got that realization, it changed everything and it and it magnified the importance of being present. I I gotta be there to listen. I gotta I gotta be there to do it with them. And so so when people would give me credit for something good happening, my answer became I couldn't have done it without you. I think is a great answer by the way, and I you all might want to write that down. But Nick: great no it's it's really great and and a lot of people might struggle to think because it is something we're doing with them ⁓ it's not it's not passive in any way the the person on the table has to be connected to you and we've all experienced it before as well when we we have that client that's rock solid and they're they're guarding and they're protected and they're not they're not opening up to you and it the adjustment is completely different to someone that's fully open and receptive and in in receiving. Stew: Absolutely. Yeah, well there really should not be an adjustment in d under those circumstances. But yes, yes it would be completely different if we just manipulated through all that 'cause we're n because yeah, if it's something we're doing to somebody, why not? ⁓ you know, it's really not a great reason not to. You know, I got people waiting. ⁓ whatever. Nick: No. Yeah. Yeah. Yep. And on that too, I feel to get to that place where you can just serve like like you ex talk about, it's from the heart. You have to reach this level of unconscious competence in your physical capabilities. You have to know how to adjust the spine, where to go. Where where did a lot of that training come from for you? Stew: The physical training, the practical training, the the the mechanics of adjusting. Nick: Yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Stew: Hmm, well this was pre centropy, so it wasn't that. I love I love those boys. They know that. Nick: Mm-hmm. Stew: Yeah, I just just did a lot of it. You know, I was adjusting hundreds of people a week, so ⁓ I d I I I wouldn't call myself a master technician. I mean I think I was a pretty good adjuster and one of my greatest regrets in life is actually that I can't get an adjustment from me. ⁓ I think that would be kinda cool. ⁓ but Nick: Mm-hmm. Stew: And I worked at it a lot. I mean, we did speeder boards. We did we did the usual I did the usual stuff. ⁓ you know, ⁓ but what I'm thinking now, and you're asking me that, is my friend Glenn Duffy. He's starting to teach adjusting workshops, it's called Higher Level Academy or something. And he's done like these slow motion films of people adjusting, including some of the masters. And they'll they'll be like lined up on on a certain line of drive and when they actually do it, you can see it goes in a different way. They're listening. They're they're like changing things. So so it's n to me it's never about being that technical that again, if it was something I was doing to somebody, I would be, you know, as technical as I possibly can 'cause it really doesn't matter what they you know, what their state is or how receptive they are to it, or maybe this is not quite the right anyway, I hope that answered your question, 'cause I kinda forgot what Nick: No, they did. They did. And I I think it's it's it really comes from the feeling state and and listening. And that's an element I think a lot of chiropractors are losing connection with is they're so focused on the on the masculine, on the doing and the you know, running the business and this, this and this and that's what takes them away from feeling what the person in front of them needs. So that was really powerful. And a couple of months a sorry, you go. Stew: Absolutely. It absolutely does. Yeah. No, no, no. That's all right. Nick: I was gonna mention a couple months ago, ⁓ you had innate speak to you again. You were at at a conference or up in a up in a seminar and inates spoke to you to to get back into chiropractic and I'd love to hear you what's come from that since then. Stew: Some messages from Innate are more welcome than others, I have to tell you I I ⁓ yes I was at Cairo Europe and I was listening to ⁓ Cliff Hardick. I don't know if you know who Cliff Hardick is, but ⁓ Canadian, huge practice forever. an old Parker guy. I remember him from Parker many years ago. Anyway, he's talking about the wonders of chiropractic and his career and I all of a sudden, yeah. Four words I got to the NA was talkative that day. Go back into practice. Nick: Mm. Stew: So I immediately, as always is my default, try to pff myself out of it, but ⁓ at this point when I get a message like that so strong The next day I spoke and I made sure I didn't talk myself out out of it because I announced it to the entire audience and when I got home I put it out on Facebook and stuff. So so I'm still processing exactly how that's gonna look. ⁓ it I might do something low key here at home, but I'm also in negotiation with a group of chiropractic offices in England to maybe help ⁓ coach, mentor, like go into their practices and stuff. Nick: group of chiropractic officers and anyone to maybe help ⁓ coach, mentor, or like go into their practice doesn't matter. So I'm not sure if that's a platform. Go back with the practice to see if that necessarily meant my practice. I'm hearing an echo, so I kind of don't do her Stew: So I'm not sure if that's a compound. Go back into practice. If that necessarily meant my practice. I mean I'm hearing an echo. So Nick, I don't know if you hear that. Nick: Is that better? Yeah. Okay. Yes. ⁓ yeah, powerful. And I I guess that's your journey to figure out, but I just wanted to touch on that and hear where where you're at with that now. And it was exciting. Stew: Yeah. Yes. Thank you. I appreciate you asking. It was it was it was exciting. And my wife was excited about that too, so here it is. It's twenty something years later and she's still supporting me. Yeah. Nick: I love it. you mentioned too that one of the biggest interferences in people in chiropractor is in between their heart and their head. That's the major subluxation. Can you can you touch on why that is? Stew: Well, I you know, I'm on a big campaign about the heart. I I don't see the heart mentioned in the thirty three principles. ⁓ the brain is only mentioned once, to be fair. But that's one to nothing. And and from what we know now through HeartMath ⁓ Institute and and other research institutes, yeah, we could probably still say the brain runs the body, but the brain runs the body a lot better when the heart is engaged, when it's connected to the heart. When when ⁓ and and you know my getting me ⁓ getting a little technical here, but there's more nerve information running from the heart to the brain than from the brain to the heart. Like like a hundred times more. And and like the brain attunes to the heart. So and when when we're in a state of well, when we're in a state of fear or overwhelm or, you know, ⁓ I I gotta do something to this person because I need money or or whatever it is, the the messages from my heart don't don't reach the parts of my brain that remember what's important to me. It's like this is the reason why I forgot my intention when the guy scared me and just wanted me to adjust his his neck because my heart shut down and my brain and all and all the messages only reach my ⁓ reptile brain, which is only concerned with like ⁓ survival and emotion. I I can't change from there. You know, I gotta get and the only way for those messages to reach my prefrontal cortex, the part of my brain that actually remembers my values and what's important to me and my intentions, is to get my heart in what they're calling now a coherent state. And there's a lot of chiropractors doing heart rate variability work and that's that's great. Because when when our heart's coherent, th the heart method has identified like fourteen hundred body systems that attune to that. I mentioned the Syntropy guys. They they talk about the primary oscillator. The primary oscillator in the body is the heart. It's ⁓ like ten feet, like three meters. It's like three inches around the brain. Which if you think about it is really good news. I I don't want a lot of stuff that's in my brain getting out too far. Nick: Ha ha No, no. Stew: ⁓ so so this is not like airy fairy, you know, I'm all I'm all about airy fairy, but this is not this is this is now science as if that's not airy fairy, but that's another subject. ⁓ this this yeah, we need to engage our heart first. And it's not hard to do because all we need to do is is get ourselves in a state of gratitude or love or compassion or appreciation or or care. So if we're really If we're really again present and we're and we remember that we're doing this with the person and that we couldn't do it without the person, you know, there's already a state of or an energetic link or a bond or or some compassion or some love. You know, I don't e even I don't even have to like the person. But you know, to anyway, I liked most of the people that I addressed it, but there were a few. All right, but I still love them because love to me and love is not like ⁓ the highest realm of liking. Love is a recognition of our sameness, our oneness, our Love is a is a recognition that, you know, given a few little different influences or teachers or experiences, I could be that. I could be him, I could be her. They could be me. You know, I mean so so again. ⁓ yes, the heart. The heart is the missing link. Nick: Yeah. Stew: in chiropractic. And and you a lot of us innately do that. A lot of us innately love our patients and a a lot of us innately know it's important to be present, to be grounded, to be r resonating or vibrating at as at least as high a frequency as the person. And all this matters, right? And the only way we can be resonating ⁓ that high is if we do engage our heart in in in things that are not so horrible, folks, like joy, you know? it's it's not terrible to be in a coherent heart space at all. I highly recommend it. And I don't think anybody will ever complain to me about it. No. So Nick: Yeah. No. It's powerful. It's very powerful. Thank you for that. ⁓ something I'd love to touch on, w which I'd love to touch on with a lot of guests is, you know, you've been in the profession a long time. You've seen a lot. You've seen what's transpired. If you if you were to vision cast forwards in the next ten, twenty, thirty years, where where do you see the chiropractic profession headed? Stew: Hmm. You want my positive answer to that question? I ⁓ You'll have to excuse me because for about twenty years I listened to Sigov who's telling us that chiropractic wouldn't be around twenty years from now. So apparently we're still around. Apparently we're a little bit more resilient. ⁓ I'm not sure if ⁓ our part of the profession has gotten any larger, but I like to think it has. I like to think I I see Nick: Mm. Stew: philosophy seminar starting up again, I see the 'cause there was a lot of years or were a lot of years that nobody went to anything except their own coaches system stuff and so we developed all these little even within vitalistic chiropractic, we have all these camps and groups and of course, you know, we're capable of disliking each other at amazing levels. So so ⁓ we'll have to figure that out, Nick, to tell you the truth, and I I'm not sure after all these years of screaming about it how to go about it, but I I still think Nick: Isn't Stew: that we have the truth on our side and I think we will ⁓ chiropractic in general, I'm not excluding anybody here, 'cause I I you know, I'm of this crazy opinion that if we got all the chiropractors in the world in the same room and and said something like, Are we all are we all into helping people? Are are are we all into like doing something with the nervous system to help that person's life on some level? I I don't you think most people would agree with that? Have we ever done anything like that? No. We we we don't seem to spend a lot of time looking for common ground 'cause we're too busy looking for you know, what's wrong or so, I'm not sure if I'm answering your question. I don't know what's gonna happen. I've had a lot of theories over the years and none of them have have played out. You know, I thought at one time maybe the vitalistic chiropractors would keep the name chiropractic and the mechanistic side could be chiropractic physicians or something. Just to just to clarify it for the public what they were ⁓ you know. But I I still think we're gonna be all right. I'm not sure what it's gonna take. Nick: Mm-hmm. Stew: But I also have to say that to me, I made a decision a long time ago, and I don't know if this is gonna bother people or not, but if it came down to a choice between the chiropractic profession and the chiropractic principle, it would be the chiropractic principle I align with every day of the week. Even if we have to call it something else, it would be a shame. It would be sad. But I have much more of a bond or of an attachment, I guess you could say, to the principle of chiropractic. And if if we screw it up, it the principle's gonna be here, the principle's gonna survive, the principle will still be ⁓ the highest truth I know. So again, I'm not sure if that answers your question, but that's my honest feelings about it. Nick: No, it it does and I appreciate you touching on that and I think f I can't speak on too much of the world in chiropractic. I haven't had that that experience yet. But definitely in Australia we're swinging towards the side of mechanism. And I'd like to think that will change. I'd like to think that will change. And I'd like to think as technology gets better and measures more of the body, we're gonna see more of the profound changes we're actually making. when we adjust someone. And we're we're so stuck at the moment on following the science and the science is you know, w we we do operate from the truth in chiropractic. I just feel science hasn't caught up yet with the the power and the magnitude of of what we're doing on on that level and I'm optimistic that it will. Stew: Well, I I think that quantum science is certainly doing okay as far as chiropractic ideas. It's just trying to cling on to like classical science or Newtonian science or whatever you wanna call it. Which yeah. I think also what gives me hope is that I didn't know about it. And I wonder how many chiropractors just have not been exposed to it or not been exposed to it in a way that they could hear it or or whatever. And I know, you know, I I Nick: Mm-hmm. Stew: All through my career, no matter what I was doing, I felt I was doing what I was supposed to be doing. And I felt I was a good person and I felt like I was there to help people, right? So so I I just wonder how many chiropractors just haven't been exposed to it like me. You know, if my if my I'm sure I would have been exposed to it at some point, but you know, if the if my colleague didn't say let's go to a Parker seminar ⁓ who knows? Who knows when that would have happened or if it would have happened. So yeah, that that helps me stay hopeful. ⁓ you have to be exposed to the truth to to ⁓ accept the truth, right? Nick: Yeah. I agree. I agree. And and just before we wrap this up, I'd really love to to touch on What legacy you'd love to have left in the profession? How how would you like to be remembered within the chiropractic profession, in in Stew Bittman's own words? Stew: Well, I kinda like what you said in the introduction, which I don't believe I've ever heard before. ⁓ I I w I like it. Do you remember what you said? Something about this ⁓ quiet or silent something? Nick: Yes. He known as one of the most quietly influential voices in the profession. Stew: I like that. I I I might even, you know, maybe a good tombstone thing. ⁓ I I would like to be known as somebody who yeah, who helped steal steer chiropractic in a heartful direction. my shoulder story is already part of my legacy 'cause I hear it from all kinds of speakers all over the world now. Nick: Hm. I love it. Stew: That's all right, it's a great story. I understand. I've stolen stories in my life too. Some of them actually give me credit, but Yeah, somebody who No, did it for the love of humanity. I have to call myself a humanist. Somebody who who contributed to the chiropractors having a bigger vision. Yeah. I think that that would be part of my that would be a cool legacy. My daughter has chosen a different course in life, so that won't be part of my legacy apparently. Even though I told her I didn't care what she did as long as she was a chiropractor. But she she's gone off in a different direction even though even though she went on all the chiropractic mission trips, she was always going to be a chiropractor, but then I think math and science happened and ⁓ that was the Nick: Totally. Mm. We've all we've all got different journeys. We've all got different journeys. Yeah. Stew: So anyway, ⁓ That's very true. And she's only she's only gonna be thirty eight soon, so it's not too late. Mhm. Nick: Exactly. Exactly. Well, thank you so much for your time, Shu. It's been an absolute pleasure. ⁓ loved having you on and I hope you enjoy the rest of your day and we'll chat again soon. Stew: Thank you. I I I enjoyed it tremendously, I hope you could tell. And ⁓ I look forward to seeing you next June. You planning on being there? Nick: Yeah. And and just finishing on that too, you you're obviously speaking at the Innate Summit next year. Do you have any other workshops, seminars, anything coming up in Australia? Stew: Well, we're talking about doing something on the Sunday afternoon after innate summit is over. So but it won't be a full weekend, obviously it'll be like a four hour mini chiropractic from the heart. I need a different name 'cause that that minimizes it too much. But ⁓ yeah. You should be actually hearing about something like that pretty soon, I think, if we can nail down the last Nick: Yeah. Stew: bit of logistics. So yeah, I'm super excited about coming back. I'm not all that excited that they moved five hours even further away. ⁓ but ⁓ that that's okay. That's okay. I'll Nick: Me neither. I'm i it's the opposite side of Australia for me too. So yeah. Yeah. Awesome. Well well thank you, Shu. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Stew: It is. It is. The left side. All right. Thank you, Nick. Thanks for all you do.