Latest / The Power of Doing What Matters / Lights Will Guide You Home: Robin Feder on Noticing What’s Working
Transcript
- [00:00:00] Robin: When we would go on trips, I would end up bringing with me a special neck pillow and a special back pillow, and then I had a brace that I would wrap around, a Velcro brace that I would wrap around my trunk. I don't take any of them with me. I don't take any of them with me anymore. Clayton Skaggs: Welcome to another audio podcast at the Central Institute for Human Performance, where we explore the power of doing what matters. Today, we're really excited. We have a special guest, Robin Feder. She's Executive Director Emeritus at the Central Institute for the Deaf here in St. Louis. She has been a client with us for 11 years. Just a wonderful spirit here [00:01:00] at our institute, where she is a bright smile every time you see her and meet her. She has had a great journey that she's gonna share some stories from today, and please give her a good welcome. Welcome, Robin. Robin: Thank you so much Dr. Skaggs. It's my pleasure to be here with you today. Clayton Skaggs: Oh, well I appreciate you taking the time and sharing, sharing some of your words and you've just been such a, you know, a great support over the years just within what you do there at the institute for yourself and others. And, you always commented, periodically on the insights to me and I really, I cherish, cherish all those types of things. Robin: Well, thank you. I appreciate all, all that you do at [00:02:00] CIHP for me and for everyone else. It's really been a life-changing experience for me being part of that community. Clayton Skaggs: Oh. Well, thanks. Well, maybe give just a brief review or story or two of how you got to CIHP and how that's gone for you. Robin: Sure, sure. So we were looking at the dates, and I think it was about 11 years ago, and I was at a meeting at Central Institute for the Deaf with a board member, and he told me that he was going to Central Institute. And I paused and I said, "Well, you're at Central Institute." Yeah. There was a lot of confusion and these pauses, and then he explained to me what CIHP was all about. And we had been commenting about our, both of our respective issues with our back, and so I thought, [00:03:00] "Well, this sounds like an amazing place." So I gave it a try and it, it's just made, made all the difference for me in so many ways. Clayton Skaggs: Wonderful, wonderful. Yeah. As we were chatting the other day, I was telling you that I remember one of your primary reasons for coming to see us, you know, other than just back, back troubles, was that you were finding you couldn't travel anymore because of your back. Maybe share a little bit of that. Robin: Sure. Well, I was still traveling, but it was getting really tedious. My husband and I have always liked to travel, and I would... When we would go on trips, I would end up bringing with me a special neck pillow and a special back pillow, and then I had a brace that I would wrap around, a Velcro brace that I would [00:04:00] wrap around my trunk. And I remember one trip in particular where we would, I would go back to our hotel every, I don't know, two, three hours, we were walking a lot, and have to do some stretches at the time or something to try and alleviate my pain before I could go back out again. So, so it was really becoming cumbersome before I had learned about you and started coming to you. I was doing a lot of things at the time, like yoga and Pilates and all things that were, I thought were good for me. I thought that I was doing the right thing, yeah, for my back, but it turned out not to be the right thing for me. Clayton Skaggs: Wonderful. Yeah, and so you don't have to carry all those things anymore? Robin: I don't carry... I don't take any of them with me. I don't take any of them with me anymore. I remember one, my first visit, [00:05:00] I was talking, I think it was to you or to Dr. George, about one of my many pillows, and asking what's the best way to put that behind my back. So just having the pillow didn't really even solve it. You had told me to use it vertically as opposed to horizontally, and it was just, it was just too, too much. But when I came to you, you and your team told me to stop doing what I was doing, and it was I was not only doing yoga and Pilates, but I was also doing acupuncture regularly, like every two or three weeks, to try and keep me moving. And I stopped all of that and then started doing what you were teaching me to do. And then it, it so happened that I had, I had paid for one more acupuncture session, and I thought, [00:06:00] "Oh, I know you told me not to do it, but I'll just sneak in and do one more," and just see since I had already signed up. And this is maybe, oh, I don't know, maybe after I'd been with you for a couple of months. And the person who did the acupuncture said to me, "Oh my gosh. What, what's going on?" And I said, "What do you mean?" And she said, "I can't find any inflammation to put the needles in." And my typical experience had been many needles 'cause there was lots of inflammation. And this was just after being with you for a short time. It was really, it was really an aha moment for me. Clayton Skaggs: Mm-hmm. I love that. It's really fun. You know, I was thinking about you and this current insight, which is The Lights Will Guide You Home, and the real focus of that poem is to keep attention to, to the lights. And you're a, just a [00:07:00] great example of that, and as we, we said at the outset, you've been training with us, working with us now for 11 years. And while you're, you're traveling with more ease now without all these supports and things and, and going on significant trips with minimal to no trouble. And, and yet along the way, you certainly have still had pains here and there. I know we've worked on your knee now and your feet at times. And, and you're a great example of just continuing to focus on the light, the things you're, you are capable of doing, the things you're able to do now that you couldn't, even though you still have some troubles from time to time. So I think you're just a great representation of, [00:08:00] you know, staying at, staying attentive to the light. Robin: Yeah. Thank you. Thanks. I feel like what you, what has happened to me over the past 11 years is I've learned so much from you and I've learned to, I've learned to recognize when I'm doing things correctly and when I need to be doing things differently. And, so I, I do my exercises in the morning and in the evening typically, not every day, but mostly. But it's all of those lessons that I've learned, and I kind of think of them as tools in my toolkit that I've learned from you. I remember you once said to me, "Always have a slight bend to my knee when I'm standing." So, you know, I think about that when I'm drying my hair, [00:09:00] when I'm standing in line at the grocery store. It's all of those little things that I think, are part of what allows that light to come through, and it's, it's little things. It's not, it's not major stuff, which is what's so interesting to me. And all of, all of the lights along the way, I think what I've learned to do is to notice them more than maybe I had before, and notice what I should be doing and should not be doing. Clayton Skaggs: I love that. I love that. And, I think what you're speaking to is, by continuing to put attention to good things and learn and explore and discover, that things then start to surface that you didn't see before and, or didn't feel before or since before. I was talking to a newer client last [00:10:00] week from out west in the state of Washington who's, he's been with us maybe not quite a year, maybe a year. And we just, unleashed him to do a little hiking and biking, and his words back were, "You know, I, I found myself thinking about how I was moving and using my body during my hike and on the bike unlike I ever did before." And he normally was just pushing through, he said. And, he said, "And the fun thing, I, I did the hike, I did the bike, and I wasn't sore. I didn't have any pain." So I think that's similar what you're speaking to that new sense. Robin: Right. It, it's new sense, it's knowledge and knowledge is power. And, and I feel like, [00:11:00] that I have learned so much about how the muscles work, and I think about your graphs in your office all the time that you draw, you know, sort of where pain... And, and it's not like I don't have any pain at all. I do have it, but now I feel like I, when I have it, I realize for me it likely means that the wrong thing is working in my body. So, you know, whether it's my glutes aren't turned on or whatever it is, and I now know how to, how to respond so it doesn't become a big episode. It just is a little, ooh, I need to pay attention to that. And I'll go down and do some, you know, quadruped pelvic floors or something, that will activate me. And, then I'm back at it again. So I find, like during gardening, I'll come inside and maybe do a couple of exercises before I go back out and garden more. It's hard to do that at the airport though. [00:12:00] I'm still looking for a place where I can, can do that while traveling. That's a little tougher. Clayton Skaggs: Yeah. That, well, that's a great, that's a great message. And then what you're speaking to is that these, these are signals and just giving us information about maybe what we did or what we need to do. And so that, you're spot on, spot on with that. Well, I'm gonna jump into reading last week's insight. Robin: Okay. Clayton Skaggs: And, and to allow us to engage and digest that a little bit more and contemplate it forward, and then, then we can maybe have a little more discussion after that. Robin: Sounds good. Clayton Skaggs: Great. Patience, lights will guide you home. Light is moving better, feeling, sensing that you're moving better. [00:13:00] Others seeing that you're moving better. Light is looking better, others saying that you're looking better. Light is children and grandchildren, mostly. Light is not thinking, rubbing, or talking about your pain. Light is not fretting or worrying about a spill, what you can't do, the past. Light is not politics, mostly. Light is knowing someone cares about you, knows what you need. Light is self-efficacy. Light is seeking peace relentlessly. Light is good words. Light is learning, doing something hard, doing for others. Light is knowing sometimes you don't know, congruently. Light is perspective, patience, trust. Light is breathing for stability, relaxation, and control. Light is doing what [00:14:00] matters for you, truly. Light is resting, wander, and wonder. Light is getting and staying strong. Light is juggling even one ball, anyone can, seriously. Light is not squeezing the glass. Light is not one thing. Light is not more, mostly. Light is less, mostly. Light is things you can do, gratefully. Light is nature, abundantly Light is knowing the mind and body are amazing. Light is knowing others like you have changed, others like you have changed their lives. Light is knowing there is a universal source, bigger than you, intuitively. [00:15:00] Light is not complicated, mostly. Light is simple, consistently. Light is good things, always. Lights will guide you home. Lights will ignite your bones, really. All right. Robin: Beautiful Clayton Skaggs: Well, thank you Robin: I love that Clayton Skaggs: Thank you. Robin: I love that poem. I have it printed and I'm gonna keep it. I really, I really like it a lot. I feel that, that the positivity that comes through your poem just resonates in terms of this isn't only about your body, it's about your mind as well. And and there's just something very soothing and healing about your poem, but about the approach that you all have at [00:16:00] CIHP. And I guess one other thing I would just like to add to that is what I, I love that positive attitude and all of that helps move us forward in giving us the tools, but I also love that you are so data-driven, and that everything that you do is based on data, and you're measuring and you're testing us all the time to see if we're going in the right direction, and that those two approaches hand-in-hand, to me, is what makes CIHP so very special. Clayton Skaggs: Well, thank you it, it's something we do put a lot of attention to, and we do that, the data and the measures so we know. And sometimes that is harder for individuals to, to [00:17:00] appreciate that those are lights. And, and what you're speaking to is, so we do testing on movement, we do testing on strength, we do testing on inflammation, and sometimes you're, you're still having signals, and we're seeing you're improving those measures however. So those are lights. And so even though you're, you might be six months in or a month in, and you're still having signals, yet we're seeing improvement in your measures. And, and yes, those, those are lights. And and yeah, if you can just keep putting attention to those, that your visual, your visual health is looking better your movement is better. And, and you can be like, like we said at the outset, you can be 11 years into this and still be having signals, but you know you're moving better and you're stronger and [00:18:00] a lot of these things. Robin: Absolutely. Clayton Skaggs: Yeah. Yeah, and I, you know, I think you, you're also a really good example of our team at the institute. You, you know a number of your team members that work with you come to me often and say, "Wow, Robin, you know, really gets this, and, and she shared this with me." So, you're a good example of, you know, I think you've worked with, you know, well, probably over 11 years, you've worked with a lot of different folks, but currently you're, you've, you've got two or three team members. You see Dr. George, you see me occasionally. And, so there's three or four of us that are involved in your care that make this work over 11 years. So I think you're a really good example of that. Robin: Thank you. Thank you. [00:19:00] It's really as I think I said earlier, it's really been life-changing and it's a way of life, of learning to do the right thing and, as you would say, doing what matters. And I feel like I learn every time I go there. I learn, I learn to either continue what I'm doing or to tweak it in some way, but it's really been a lifestyle change for me. In a good way. Clayton Skaggs: Well, thank you. Thank you, Robin, and, I could very, very easily say you are a light for us at the institute. Robin: Thank you Clayton Skaggs: So thanks. Robin: Thank you so much. Clayton Skaggs: No, thank you. Thank you, and, keep doing what matters. And for everyone out there listening, take a good listen to what Robin has shared, and do something for [00:20:00] yourself and do something for others. Imagine 100 million people doing what matters. Robin: Very powerful Clayton Skaggs: Thank you, Robin. Reach for the stars