Latest / Heal Yourself Podcast / Episode 19: The Power of Fascia and Breathwork for Physical and Spiritual Health

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Episode 19: The Power of Fascia and Breathwork for Physical and Spiritual Health · Heal Yourself Podcast

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Heal Yourself Podcast, where we dive deep into all things healing.
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: I'm Denise, a speech-language pathologist and a self-love coach for adults and teens.
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: And I'm Kira, a traditional naturopath and functional nutritionist, and we are here to guide you through the transformative process of healing your body, mind and soul.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: From the latest in functional medicine to nurturing your relationship with yourself, healing trauma and even transforming your money story.
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: We're here to empower you with the knowledge and tools to create lasting change.
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: So, whether you're looking to heal physically, emotionally or spiritually, join us as we explore the many paths to wholeness and wellness.
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: All right, everyone, welcome back to another episode, and today we have a special guest for you, which always makes me very excited.
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: So thank you for joining us, amy.
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: Thank you for having me, kira.
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: So I'm going to share a little bit about Amy.
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: Amy Lewis is a master health coach and fascia alignment specialist who helps individuals ready to take responsibility for their health and I love that word, by the way responsibility.
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: With nearly 30 years of experience, she specializes in pain relief, gut health and connecting physical and spiritual healing, guiding clients to naturally heal from the inside out.
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: Using her expertise in yoga, block therapy and nutrition, amy empowers clients to uncover the root causes of health issues and develop simple, actionable strategies for lasting transformation.
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: You're ready to take charge of your health and embark on a journey of healing.
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: Amy's here and I'm super excited to chat with her today.
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: Awesome.
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: Thank you so much for having me.
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: I'm really excited to be here today.
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: Tell us about yourself a little bit.
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: How did you get into the space?
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: Because people always have interesting stories.
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: We sure do.
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: It's so interesting and it's funny.
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: As I get older I have to remind myself of the challenges and of course there's always new challenges as we age.
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: But I got into the health and wellness space from my own experience, as most of us do with Crohn's disease, and I was young when I was diagnosed and it wasn't like everyone didn't know.
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: If you said Crohn's disease when I was diagnosed, they would think you had a death sentence and they would be like what the heck is that?
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: Right, I was 12 years old, it was 1982.
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: People did not know about it and I definitely didn't want anyone to know.
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: You know, 12 is a very precarious age.
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: We're starting, our bodies are starting to change and, you know, as a young girl I was starting to be more and more self-conscious.
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: So I got into my parents and, loving me as they did, it took me to conventional medical centers to find out what the heck was going on.
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: They thought it was just anxiety, but once school ended, it was like sixth grade and I was still having all these problems.
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: They were like all right, I guess we really need to figure out what's going on.
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: And so, as I grew up, I always felt like there had to be a different way.
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: The medications didn't work.
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: I will share a really wonderful gift.
• 3:15
  Speaker 3: The pediatric gastroenterologist said to me he sat at my bedside and I would imagine my parents agreed.
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: I was 12 years old.
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: And my mom says they imagine my parents agreed I was 12 years old.
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: And my mom says says they were in the room.
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: I don't remember that my parents.
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: The doctor said to me okay, here's the deal.
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: You have Crohn's disease.
• 3:32
  Speaker 3: And he said you can wait at home to get a stomachache, which you will.
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: You know.
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: You're definitely going to have pain, you're definitely not going to feel good, or you can take, say tough shit and live your life.
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: And what a gift to a freaking 12 year old.
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: Yeah, like right, with obviously a parental support, and that was something.
• 3:54
  Speaker 3: And it's really just like I feel.
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: I'm like.
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: I know this is coming through for a reason.
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: I don't always share this in these types of conversations, but it really was, at that young age, divine intervention.
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: It was the right doctor.
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: That wasn't the doctor I was supposed to see.
• 4:08
  Speaker 3: I was supposed to see this older doctor where I treated my younger brother, and then he wasn't there and I was kind of freaking out because I knew the other doctor and so, of course, that all worked out the way that it should and that you know I was in and out of the hospital all the time from 12 till the time I was in my twenties.
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: There was a lot of hospital visits and finally I decided there has to be another way to deal with all this, and that was I was exploring in my late teens and early twenties like okay, how can I feel better?
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: And there were some very simple things I did initially.
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: That led me to further explore, you know, what affects the body, how do we connect what happens?
• 4:54
  Speaker 3: There's a great book called I think it's called Wherever you Go, there you Are by Jon Kabat-Zinn, who also did studies about meditation and digestive disorders in Massachusetts.
• 5:09
  Speaker 3: So that's how I started into the wellness field, where I started sort of you know, working out and seeing how the movement affected my digestion, breathing through stomach aches and like sort of doing things that came to me, but then seeking other sources outside of the medical field and again, there's value there.
• 5:32
  Speaker 3: The diagnosis was great.
• 5:33
  Speaker 3: It was just by the time I was really like, okay, this isn't going to work for me was I had had multiple surgeries and I was young and they wanted to do more and they wanted to give me a colostomy pack in my twenties.
• 5:46
  Speaker 3: So I said no, thank you.
• 5:47
  Speaker 3: So that's really, you know, it's pretty impactful and, believe it or not, kira, I forget about it because I'm 54 and I felt good for decades at this point that, um, I appreciate that that came through for us today.
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Thank you for sharing.
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: I love your story, not for the pain that you went through, but it resonates with me.
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: So I was not a Crohn's or a colitis sufferer, but it was IBS, which still people don't get it.
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: They're like well, you know.
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: So maybe you have a regular bowels and it's like well.
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: It can be pretty extreme sometimes too, and that's the thing.
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: It led me down this journey on my own, and the breath work piece was really big, and now I work primarily with women that deal with IBS, Crohn's or colitis.
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: So that is awesome, I'm saying it's just so wonderful that there are resources and especially for women and a lot of times women do go to doctors and because we have some similar symptoms, whether it's, you know, from our monthly menstruation cycle or from going like perimenopause, menopause some things really get brushed under the rug.
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: And it's.
• 6:59
  Speaker 3: So I do want to encourage anyone that's listening that the biggest form of self-care is taking responsibility for your health and really getting to know yourself and your body and then being able to reach out and say, oh wait a minute, gara, I heard you work with people with ibs and, even if you're not sure that's what's going on, but if you're having chronic issues, whether it's digestion or pain, there is something else going on that we can explore with you.
• 7:27
  Speaker 3: So I just so exciting that there's there are.
• 7:30
  Speaker 3: There are resources for people and women today.
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah, there are, and I didn't mention this.
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: Denise isn't here today.
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: Sorry, guys, but you figured it out by now.
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: Um, we're always saying that like, don't just ignore these symptoms, they just continue to get louder and louder and louder.
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: And don't let anyone gaslight you in the medical industry, brush you aside, tell you it's just because you're getting older.
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: Advocate for yourself.
• 7:58
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I do want to share just a very impactful story of why not to do that and I'll be really quick with it.
• 8:05
  Speaker 3: But this summer a friend of mine last in May she's my age, 54.
• 8:09
  Speaker 3: She wasn't feeling right and she knew intuitively that something was wrong with her heart.
• 8:14
  Speaker 3: But she kept going to the doctor and the doctor kept brushing her off and saying it was anxiety and menopause Fast forward.
• 8:21
  Speaker 3: She bought herself a blood pressure cuff.
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: She was like something's not right.
• 8:25
  Speaker 3: She couldn't get answers, so her way was getting this blood pressure cuff and checking her blood pressure.
• 8:34
  Speaker 3: We had a lot of a lot of year of loss and the day after one of these funerals we were at my friend's house and we were all just sort of chilling out and just kind of trying to like center ourselves and she later that afternoon to make a long story short virtually had a heart attack.
• 8:54
  Speaker 3: The only reason they weren't calling it a heart attack was because she didn't code.
• 8:58
  Speaker 3: Now why am I sharing that with you?
• 9:00
  Speaker 3: Because she had been going to the doctor.
• 9:02
  Speaker 3: If she didn't have that blood pressure cuff and she wasn't aware she wouldn't be here.
• 9:07
  Speaker 3: That was very extreme.
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: She was very lucky she was with her husband.
• 9:10
  Speaker 3: She called him in.
• 9:12
  Speaker 3: She said I really something's wrong, I don't feel right.
• 9:14
  Speaker 3: But the message is, if you, since May and this was in July she knew, so just want to encourage you not to wait till you're coding in the ER and getting paddled to just say you know what something's not right and maybe reach out to Kira or reach out to Denise, or reach out to a guest that resonated with you, so that maybe you can just have that's going to be the next person that's going to just light your way to maybe a turn that you maybe wouldn't have been aware of.
• 9:44
  Speaker 3: And I'm not saying to not get yourself checked, but just to please check in with your own intuition, because you know yourself better than anyone.
• 9:53
  Speaker 3: And that's I.
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: Just I feel that better people, better world.
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: When we feel better, we do better, starting with ourselves 100%.
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: Not to be doomsday, but it's crazy, it's like total craziness she's doing amazing right now.
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: Good, good, well, that's the perfect segue.
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: I mean, we're talking about spirituality Again.
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: Denise and I are firm believers that it's not just physical.
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: We have to feel heal on a deeper level.
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: Talk to me about that, because you obviously got into the spiritual growth and health space coming from you know prone.
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: So how did you get there?
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: How did you bridge the gap on what's the connection?
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: Even?
• 10:40
  Speaker 3: That's a great question and as I think back, I remember being young and starting to explore meditation.
• 10:47
  Speaker 3: I grew up about 20 miles Northwest of Manhattan and there was a little town called Nyack so if anyone knows it, give a shout out.
• 10:56
  Speaker 3: It's a great little town and there's a lot of it's in Rockland County, in the County I grew up in, and there's.
• 11:01
  Speaker 3: That was really an epicenter for spirituality and these hippie stores right, Because like a hippie and weird and out there if you were doing spiritual things in the sort of 80s and 90s, but there was a big epicenter there and then, of course, Manhattan's right there, and so I started going to these meditation and breath work classes.
• 11:26
  Speaker 3: I wanted to connect with other people because I felt out there, because I felt like it wasn't like I was necessarily ostracized, but it was definitely clear that I was different.
• 11:38
  Speaker 3: All growing up my teachers would say it to my parents in parent teacher conferences.
• 11:42
  Speaker 3: They would never understand how I got grades.
• 11:45
  Speaker 3: They'd say she walks to the beat of her own drummer.
• 11:47
  Speaker 3: We have no idea how she accomplishes what she does.
• 11:50
  Speaker 3: And they weren't being mean or rude, they were really just stating the facts.
• 11:54
  Speaker 3: So as I was growing up maybe some of you have had the same experience.
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: I felt lonely, Like.
• 12:01
  Speaker 3: Am I the only one that like doesn't is feeling something outside of right here, and so I did start to explore breath work and meditation.
• 12:10
  Speaker 3: And then the by-product just like going to the gym was that my stomach didn't hurt as much.
• 12:16
  Speaker 3: I wasn't having, as you know, many stomach aches.
• 12:20
  Speaker 3: I wasn't craving the same sorts of foods, right.
• 12:24
  Speaker 3: I was brought up eating all kinds of you know crap, the way many of us were, and so to break, that was that sort of started happening as a byproduct and made me stand up and look.
• 12:38
  Speaker 3: I first got into working out and nutrition because, like every young woman who is bombarded with media, I wanted my body to look different I wasn't getting the results doing cardio 24, seven and I wanted something different.
• 12:53
  Speaker 3: So again, I got into these things, sort of as a natural progression of human development, like as a woman in the time I grew up, and it just had the side effect of helping me to calm myself, of helping my stomach to not hurt as much, like I was eating whole foods because I was going to a fitness nutritionist.
• 13:15
  Speaker 3: Right, I was going to somebody because I wanted fitness gains, but those fitness gains were then giving me digestive gains.
• 13:23
  Speaker 3: And then as I learned that well, now I'm getting all bunched up and I'm getting too tight because I'm lifting heavy weights to get rid of my stress, and then I started to learn about that fascial release to create space.
• 13:37
  Speaker 3: When we create space we are able to connect spiritually because that aligns our chakras and our energetic bodies and it's that's you know.
• 13:49
  Speaker 3: I know, ask any questions, I'll definitely circle back.
• 13:53
  Speaker 3: I know you guys talk about this stuff, but it really is that when we're approaching one thing, we're affecting our, our, our physical and our spiritual and our emotional bodies.
• 14:04
  Speaker 3: We're affecting our physical and our spiritual and our emotional bodies.
• 14:07
  Speaker 3: It just might take a little bit of healing in the physical to be able to allow the emotional to heal, because that usually comes with tears and emotions that we have to bring up and out that aren't always comfortable.
• 14:18
  Speaker 3: But it really was a side effect of a different goal.
• 14:21
  Speaker 3: And then getting curious, and then over the time I've been in the industry, being open and things coming into my field like the block therapy, these cute little blocks back here that have made just such a difference.
• 14:37
  Speaker 3: So does that make sense, kira?
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: It does.
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: I mean what I'm hearing is it's a bi-directional relationship.
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: So you working on your spiritual growth helped with gut health, but also working on gut health can help with spiritual growth.
• 14:53
  Speaker 3: Absolutely, really, wherever you are right.
• 14:56
  Speaker 3: If you're like, oh my gosh, amy, I have stomach aches all the time, I can't even focus on my breath, well, I might say to you, well, what can you do?
• 15:04
  Speaker 3: Can you drink a cup of peppermint tea in the morning?
• 15:07
  Speaker 3: Can you drink some of warm lemon water?
• 15:09
  Speaker 3: Like would that be something you think you could do?
• 15:12
  Speaker 3: Sure, okay, let's start there.
• 15:14
  Speaker 3: Right, could you take three strong, deep breaths when you wake up in the morning, before you get out of bed?
• 15:19
  Speaker 3: Like, could you just do that and forget about some, like you know, elongated meditation that you are sitting down to, you know, could you take one breath?
• 15:28
  Speaker 3: Three is going to be the best, smallest place to start, because one you're likely going to be breathing up here and we want to get at least to the belly.
• 15:37
  Speaker 3: But that's really what it is.
• 15:39
  Speaker 3: It's you're not going to do.
• 15:40
  Speaker 3: I run into this, and maybe you do too.
• 15:43
  Speaker 3: With nearly three decades of experience, I want to tell you everything now, but you can't right, because I didn't do it overnight, I did it over 30 years and I started somewhere.
• 15:54
  Speaker 3: So some of it was the breath work for me that led me to meditation.
• 16:00
  Speaker 3: I was still not really altering my diet tremendously.
• 16:04
  Speaker 3: I was still taking medication, you know.
• 16:07
  Speaker 3: I was still going and having surgery, you know, at that time, so that helped me get through that.
• 16:14
  Speaker 3: I didn't want a colostomy bag and I very much wanted children and I was told I could not have children and I needed a colostomy bag.
• 16:21
  Speaker 3: I have two grown children and I do not have a colostomy bag.
• 16:25
  Speaker 3: I got very clear on that, though, but it started with wanting to look good, as in my twenties right Like you want to look good, so oh yeah, I was there with you.
• 16:37
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I just want people to know that because it's not like I'm some magical.
• 16:40
  Speaker 3: I always say to people they're like oh my God, you're like in such great shape and I've been in great shape for years but I wasn't always.
• 16:47
  Speaker 3: I just dug out old pictures and I was like two truths and a lie.
• 16:51
  Speaker 3: Like I was overweight.
• 16:52
  Speaker 3: I lived in Paris and Flo, the progressive girl, is my roommate in college and no one.
• 16:58
  Speaker 3: Everyone thought that I was overweight was the lie.
• 17:01
  Speaker 3: Oh, wow, it was not the lie and that's why I got to show pictures.
• 17:05
  Speaker 3: Seriously, cause people are like you're some magical little fairy who's into yoga and you know, you do all this.
• 17:12
  Speaker 3: You know Zen stuff and, yes, at 54, a hundred percent.
• 17:17
  Speaker 3: But it's been years of one baby step at a time, sometimes dropping things that worked because it's life, and then having to go oh wait, a minute that breathing those three breaths in the morning is more impactful than any of this other stuff.
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: So yeah, Talk to me a little bit about the fascia release, because that is actually an area where I'm completely ignorant.
• 17:42
  Speaker 3: Awesome.
• 17:43
  Speaker 3: I am thrilled to hear that because it is such an eye opener.
• 17:49
  Speaker 3: And in my training over the years, I knew about fascia release and myofascia release and I did incorporate it in.
• 17:57
  Speaker 3: But this after in 2020, right, the more life you live, the more injuries and illness you have.
• 18:05
  Speaker 3: I broke my back in four places.
• 18:07
  Speaker 3: Everything is like divine timing Right.
• 18:09
  Speaker 3: And what I then healed?
• 18:13
  Speaker 3: I could walk, I could do yoga.
• 18:15
  Speaker 3: I'm so thrilled.
• 18:16
  Speaker 3: But I had pain and I thought, whatever, I'll have pain forever, but I can walk, I can do yoga, I can do all these things.
• 18:23
  Speaker 3: And my friend and colleague introduced me to block therapy and over the years, we were like you got to check out this thing and we're always like rolling our eyes at each other, like, oh, what are you doing now?
• 18:36
  Speaker 3: So the fascia if you're unfamiliar with what fascia is, it's a connective tissue that wraps around and through every muscle, bone, organ, nerve cell in our body.
• 18:48
  Speaker 3: It's like a 3D web that holds everything in place.
• 18:52
  Speaker 3: So the cool thing is, the fascia affects every cell in the body and it allows us to move with fluidity when it's healthy and hydrated, right.
• 19:03
  Speaker 3: So that's when we're feeling really great, because we live life and we have gravity and we have stress and we have all these other things.
• 19:11
  Speaker 3: The fascia is gripping to our bones, so that's how we end up compressing in.
• 19:17
  Speaker 3: So think about what happens when the rib cage compresses all of the digestive organs get pushed down.
• 19:25
  Speaker 3: There's no room there.
• 19:27
  Speaker 3: So if you're thinking about digestive health now, we're going to have a problem because forget about, you know, even if we were eating the healthiest of diets, there's not room for our digestive system to do its work.
• 19:41
  Speaker 3: So that's one thing.
• 19:43
  Speaker 3: The digestive system, the way what fascia does, fascia release.
• 19:48
  Speaker 3: When we work to open up the body, you literally will feel taller because your posture realigns and as we unwind, we literally unwind time.
• 20:01
  Speaker 3: Now I did a post today because it's so incredible.
• 20:04
  Speaker 3: I talk a lot about the physical side and we start just in a belly position and I am more than happy.
• 20:10
  Speaker 3: I have a wonderful sampler program that I am able to gift to you.
• 20:15
  Speaker 3: I am certified in block therapy, I'm a fascial alignment specialist, and the creators of block therapy as a result have said hey, you can gift this nine-day program.
• 20:27
  Speaker 3: All you need is a rolled towel.
• 20:28
  Speaker 3: And that's exactly where I started.
• 20:31
  Speaker 3: I started with this nine day program.
• 20:33
  Speaker 3: It's a total body release and you start with that towel rolled over your belly button and you start with diaphragmatic breathing.
• 20:41
  Speaker 3: So it's really just a wonderful way to reduce stress and to begin to open the body and create heat.
• 20:49
  Speaker 3: And most people aren't even really aware of fascia and what it is.
• 20:53
  Speaker 3: But what happens is that web, as we are pitching forward due to gravity, the fascia grips onto the bone with up to a 2,000 pound per square inch force.
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: It's incredible.
• 21:08
  Speaker 3: So everything, just again, it starts to compress and compact and the incredible act of just opening up allows you to breathe and then connect to that spiritual side of yourself as well.
• 21:23
  Speaker 3: So it's, you know, I start always start with the physical, with people, since you folks are connecting the spiritual I love personally to do.
• 21:32
  Speaker 3: There's a position when I'll do the belly position with the large block and then I'll put this smaller block right above the bridge of my nose and I'm on the floor face down and just pull that up.
• 21:43
  Speaker 3: So I'm pulling the tissue up.
• 21:45
  Speaker 3: But then what am I affecting my third eye and, as I have, you're here and you are seeking pain.
• 21:53
  Speaker 3: I'm not going to say it's comfortable, but it's incredible.
• 21:57
  Speaker 3: I just got to pick up those glasses I just dropped.
• 21:59
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 22:01
  Speaker 3: Well, I have had incredible experiences with timelines, with just, you know, being able to just turn a little bit, and my friend Beth and I are always like we crack each other up because we're like I had this release, I had that release.
• 22:17
  Speaker 3: This happened with the block therapy and this was developed, like 26 years ago.
• 22:22
  Speaker 3: It's not a new practice, it's just something that isn't super well-known.
• 22:27
  Speaker 3: But you'll feel those energy centers.
• 22:30
  Speaker 3: Some people notice it in the way of a reduced appetite and more energy.
• 22:33
  Speaker 3: So there's a lot you know.
• 22:35
  Speaker 3: It can affect the entire body.
• 22:36
  Speaker 3: It really, you know, but it is a that web.
• 22:40
  Speaker 3: I think of it like the mycelium sheath of mushrooms around the earth.
• 22:44
  Speaker 3: So if you're aware of that and that those energy points, that fascia is like the mycelium sheath that encompasses the earth but it does grip to our, our bones.
• 22:55
  Speaker 3: And so the block therapy, as opposed to like a foam roller or a lacrosse ball, with the diaphragmatic breath and that heat, it melts adhesions that are holding you in like right.
• 23:10
  Speaker 3: So now you're here, we want to be able to be here so that, as we melt those adhesions on the front body, we're able to open up and we're able to heal.
• 23:20
  Speaker 3: So I mean it's, it's very, very simply we create space in the body to align the body on a cellular level.
• 23:28
  Speaker 3: So it's really all about creating space and cellular alignment and allowing the cells to get back into their natural sort of circular shape so that you can feel lighter and more buoyant.
• 23:41
  Speaker 3: So it's space and buoyancy.
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: Now you're giving me something where I'm like I need to do this.
• 23:47
  Speaker 3: Honestly, everyone can benefit.
• 23:49
  Speaker 3: It's an incredible it's just an incredible practice.
• 23:53
  Speaker 3: What got me was the back, my back not having pain, and I had worked on gut health both for myself and with clients for decades and this was introduced and it the effect on my gut health, in addition to what I was already doing, was just unbelievable.
• 24:14
  Speaker 3: And then, of course, you know if you're working on the gut, you're working on the vagus nerve.
• 24:20
  Speaker 3: As you're working on that vagus nerve, now everything is coming and you really do have releases.
• 24:27
  Speaker 3: I've had clients that have cried through a whole class.
• 24:30
  Speaker 3: I have clients that giggle and tell me they've been farting through the whole class.
• 24:34
  Speaker 3: I'm like, really I didn't notice.
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: Any release is great.
• 24:40
  Speaker 3: It's so funny because I do very little in person.
• 24:42
  Speaker 3: My main work is online, and this is something you can do at home, in the comfort of your home.
• 24:49
  Speaker 3: Which is nice for many thing you can do at home in the comfort of home, which is nice for many, incredible.
• 24:53
  Speaker 3: I highly recommend checking out.
• 24:53
  Speaker 3: If you're like, wait a minute, I highly recommend checking out the sampler program because you'll get a feel for it.
• 24:57
  Speaker 3: And then, you know, people typically end up ordering a block buddy and the cool thing is it comes with a 12-day fascia alignment, so you have the nine day and then you can do that with the block also, so you really can do it all on your own.
• 25:16
  Speaker 3: You know, if you wanted to, when you could just use the towel, but you find, and then I, of course, yes, I was like can I use a yoga block?
• 25:23
  Speaker 3: So I used a yoga block, I used a real towel, beth, and I cut yoga mats.
• 25:27
  Speaker 3: And then we finally were like, no, it really is, the dimensions are proprietary, meant to fit in your abdomen.
• 25:34
  Speaker 3: But I'm just sharing that with you because I definitely, you know, as people listen and they're like oh, really, another tool.
• 25:41
  Speaker 3: Especially, you know it's most people's not their first rodeo there is a way to check it out so that you can really see the impact, especially if you've tried a million things before.
• 25:53
  Speaker 3: I totally get it.
• 25:54
  Speaker 3: It's just, it's it really it's funny.
• 25:56
  Speaker 3: I was calling it the missing link, kira, and then I started to.
• 25:59
  Speaker 3: I was listening to Deanna who Deanna Hansen developed the practice, and she was calling it the missing link.
• 26:06
  Speaker 3: And I really I really did feel that way.
• 26:09
  Speaker 3: So let me know what questions you have.
• 26:11
  Speaker 3: I feel like, like I said before, I could fire hose you with fascia, but I want it to be beneficial for you.
• 26:16
  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, I do.
• 26:19
  Speaker 2: I have a random question and this could be, you know, depending on your answer, it could be highly beneficial to everyone.
• 26:23
  Speaker 2: But about scars, like because you know, I, I myself, like I've got a scar and I've wondered like, gosh, it's still numb, like it feels different than everywhere else, and then I've even been seeing I forget what the therapy's called, but they basically inject with like lidocaine to release some stuff.
• 26:44
  Speaker 2: So I'm wondering what you know about that what you know about that.
• 26:55
  Speaker 3: I have two bowel resections so they cut me open from above my belly button to above my pubic bone twice they wanted to do it again and do that Then cost me?
• 27:01
  Speaker 3: I was like no, thank you.
• 27:03
  Speaker 3: So what happens with scarring, with anything and I've worked with women that have vasectomies the body is protecting itself and the fascia is gripping.
• 27:13
  Speaker 3: What happens with the block therapy is you are releasing that fascia over time.
• 27:20
  Speaker 3: And it can happen quickly, it depends how long ago it was.
• 27:24
  Speaker 3: But what will happen is that will release over time.
• 27:28
  Speaker 3: I have a client currently who she said she had multiple surgeries and her sister makes fun of her because her belly looks like a butt.
• 27:35
  Speaker 3: And she's been working with me for several months now and she was like my belly doesn't look like a butt anymore.
• 27:42
  Speaker 3: So the tissue, the fascia, is gripping and then the belly tissue is pulling around that which was making it look like a butt.
• 27:54
  Speaker 3: And as we relaxed and released the fascia and and just soften that tissue, the tissue was able to go back on a cellular level to where it belongs.
• 28:05
  Speaker 3: So the really cool thing is you can see a visible difference in your body very, very quickly.
• 28:13
  Speaker 3: So the short answer is is this is phenomenal for scarring?
• 28:16
  Speaker 3: What's happening if it's still feeling numb is there's a locking of the nerves.
• 28:22
  Speaker 3: And so when we do this type, this specific type of fascial release, we're opening up not only the circulatory system but the nervous system.
• 28:32
  Speaker 3: So sometimes when we're practicing, we might feel like a pulsing sensation or we might have numbing and tingling because we're affecting the nerves and the blood flow, and that's totally normal.
• 28:45
  Speaker 3: But that will allow you to come back into alignment.
• 28:50
  Speaker 3: And, like I said, it depends.
• 28:52
  Speaker 3: I'm 54.
• 28:53
  Speaker 3: I had surgeries when I was 26 and 21.
• 28:58
  Speaker 3: So that was a while ago.
• 29:01
  Speaker 3: And then the scars, depending where they are.
• 29:03
  Speaker 3: If that's pulling inward, that's going to pull my pelvis out of alignment and make my back more susceptible to injury.
• 29:11
  Speaker 3: So as that opened, now everything can line up again.
• 29:15
  Speaker 3: And at 54, I can't say I never hurt.
• 29:18
  Speaker 3: That would not be true.
• 29:19
  Speaker 3: But the truth is I don't.
• 29:23
  Speaker 3: It's not, I'm not like in pain all the time at all, like I don't wake up in pain.
• 29:27
  Speaker 3: I typically am in pain If I do a lot of um, if I'm teaching a lot of classes, taking a lot of classes, deciding I'm going to hike up to the top of the mountain.
• 29:37
  Speaker 3: You know, like if I'm really pushing it, then I'll have more pain.
• 29:42
  Speaker 3: But I, you know, typically and at my age, I just hear my friends complaining and I'm not having that experience.
• 29:49
  Speaker 3: So, yeah, the scarring, and it doesn't matter where it is, it doesn't need to be your abdomen.
• 29:53
  Speaker 3: If you have a scar, if you had knee surgery, if you had shoulder surgery, this will again allow you to realign.
• 30:02
  Speaker 3: If you have a tear in your rotator cuff, let's open up your chest right, because this tears your rotator cuff.
• 30:10
  Speaker 3: If we open, we bring the blood flow back, we can heal that.
• 30:14
  Speaker 3: So the short-term, yes, you can unwind that fascia and you can soften that scar tissue.
• 30:22
  Speaker 2: Which, for those listening this is an interesting thing is scars can hold a lot of trauma, like those emotional traumas that were associated with that time, and so that's going to move it too.
• 30:36
  Speaker 3: Yeah, a hundred percent, and that's.
• 30:38
  Speaker 3: Deanna talks a lot about the energetics.
• 30:41
  Speaker 3: We typically see people coming in because they have pain.
• 30:46
  Speaker 3: I know, like you, the energetics is so important to me and that's like you said, as we've had experiences we hold.
• 30:54
  Speaker 3: When I went to massage school, they always said you hold your issues in your tissues, and it's true yes, we say that.
• 31:00
  Speaker 3: We've said it on here for sure that's awesome and so, yeah, you can really release, and then the breath helps you do that as well, right, because you're physically able to get it up and out.
• 31:11
  Speaker 3: So, and you can even release trauma from things you may not be aware of, you don't?
• 31:17
  Speaker 3: I just want to assure you you don't have to experience those traumas Again.
• 31:22
  Speaker 3: You might have a release in the form of crying, you might have a release, you know, in the form of feeling heat or cold or numbness or tingling, but it doesn't mean that you have to go back through the traumas that you went through, and then, as you develop these practices, you'll be able to bring them into as life presents traumas to you.
• 31:43
  Speaker 3: You'll be able to activate your breath and activate these practices, and that's, you know, they've been really useful to me this year.
• 31:51
  Speaker 3: I've had really a year of just loss and sort of trauma, as we all do if we're lucky enough to get older and the and that these, this has like saved me, yeah, so.
• 32:02
  Speaker 2: Well, you, I mean, I'm fascinated.
• 32:05
  Speaker 2: I have a feeling most of our listeners are going to be and we're going to want to look at that nine day program, so I'll link it in the show notes.
• 32:10
  Speaker 2: But I also want to know, like you talk a lot about breath work, do you have any favorite practices to help create more space, like any things that you would suggest around breath work?
• 32:23
  Speaker 3: As far as breath work goes, there's a couple, there's two different types of breath work, and number one is creating the space to do it and just reminding yourself that if you take these couple of minutes, you're gonna change your whole day and that means you're gonna change the day of everyone around you, and I'm not suggesting that you have to take responsibility for that.
• 32:44
  Speaker 3: However, when we're sort of elevating our own frequency, we're going to attract that.
• 32:52
  Speaker 3: So if you start your day to creating the space to breathe and I highly recommend you do this when you wake up, before you look at your phone, because we all do it.
• 33:02
  Speaker 3: Where we look at our phone, maybe we look at the calendar or look at social media or look at an email or a text message from a family member.
• 33:11
  Speaker 3: Even I'm going to say please don't do it.
• 33:15
  Speaker 3: I have my phone in my bedroom.
• 33:16
  Speaker 3: I use my phone as an alarm.
• 33:18
  Speaker 3: Um, I often, if I can't sleep at night, I will put on a meditation or something.
• 33:23
  Speaker 3: So I a lot of people say to have your phone out of the room.
• 33:26
  Speaker 3: I am admitting I do not have my phone out of my bedroom, but I do not any longer look at emails or social media in the middle of the night.
• 33:35
  Speaker 3: I do not do it first thing in the morning.
• 33:37
  Speaker 3: So, number one, I would say you are worth it.
• 33:40
  Speaker 3: Give yourself the space in the morning.
• 33:43
  Speaker 3: Say you know what when I go to bed at night.
• 33:46
  Speaker 3: And the way you can do this is when you lie down at night, set your phone aside and take those three minutes to breathe and, as you're doing that, set the intention to do it in the morning.
• 34:01
  Speaker 3: So I admit I fall asleep on the couch a lot and then have to get up and go into my bed, but I take the time in that transition.
• 34:05
  Speaker 3: I used to skip it, but it makes a huge difference.
• 34:08
  Speaker 3: So if you can at night, just take three strong breaths, breathe all the way.
• 34:13
  Speaker 3: I this one, I just do a four and six where I have one hand on my heart, one hand on my belly.
• 34:17
  Speaker 3: I let my belly get big with the breath for four and then make my belly as small as possible for the six and I try to keep my body open so that as I inhale and the space is created, my goal is to keep that space as I exhale, so that I don't collapse back inward, that I really inhale to open, keep that openness and then just pull the belly and you're going to feel so much stronger.
• 34:47
  Speaker 3: You could do it lying in your bed.
• 34:48
  Speaker 3: If you have to pop up and go to the bathroom first thing, you could do it on the toilet.
• 34:52
  Speaker 3: You could do it.
• 34:53
  Speaker 3: You know it's going to be hard to do it while you're brushing your teeth, right To be really inhaling like that.
• 34:59
  Speaker 3: So I wouldn't do that, but you are worth it.
• 35:01
  Speaker 3: So take those.
• 35:03
  Speaker 3: Take three strong, deep breaths.
• 35:05
  Speaker 3: That is likely going to be about 30 seconds to start.
• 35:15
  Speaker 3: So take the 30 seconds at night and in the morning, make that space and then as and so, if you, and if you're like that's too much to pick one, do it.
• 35:20
  Speaker 3: I highly recommend the morning, start your day that way, and that way you're going to change the frequency of your entire day.
• 35:28
  Speaker 3: So just start your day that way.
• 35:30
  Speaker 3: Maybe recruit your family or your partner or a coworker you don't have to, but if you feel like you're more likely to be accountable or comment here and we'll cheer you on.
• 35:42
  Speaker 3: So the first thing is really creating the space for yourself and realizing you want something different, right?
• 35:48
  Speaker 3: Like realizing, like okay, I really am not feeling well, I'm feeling anxious, and what can I do, yes, I'm breathing anyway.
• 35:55
  Speaker 3: I can breathe for 30 seconds.
• 35:57
  Speaker 3: That would be the first and foremost thing that I would recommend.
• 36:01
  Speaker 3: And then, during your day, if you're driving which you know, I live in Vermont there's a lot of driving or there's a lot of at home I work from home so there's just that's just the way things are here, and so wherever you are you can you have to keep your eyes open driving.
• 36:17
  Speaker 3: Obviously, you can do that deep diaphragmatic breath while driving and use your seat just as reference.
• 36:24
  Speaker 3: At our Am I staying open?
• 36:25
  Speaker 3: There's one other practice.
• 36:28
  Speaker 3: There's lots of ways to breathe, but there's something called box breathing that I also like and it's just a visual right.
• 36:34
  Speaker 3: So we're inhaling for four and drawing a line up in our mind, holding for four, draw that line across, exhale for four, hold for four, so in your mind you're just it's very, very soothing to be like sort of painting that box as your box breathing, and that I would say again, you know, three to five breaths as a minimum and then as long as you like.
• 37:04
  Speaker 3: I would start by setting an intention and committing to once a day, because if you say I'm going to do it in the morning and at night and I'm going to do it while I'm driving and you're not going to do it at all.
• 37:15
  Speaker 3: Um, so I would pick one thing.
• 37:17
  Speaker 3: If you're already have a breath work practice, I'm going to invite you to see how can I remember to bring this practice in, like notice when your body's, where you feel anxiety in your body, or notice if you're starting to feel like you're really not looking forward to the day or something, and that let something trigger you to breathe.
• 37:37
  Speaker 3: You're already breathing.
• 37:38
  Speaker 3: So that would be my.
• 37:40
  Speaker 3: How do I create space?
• 37:41
  Speaker 3: First, we have to create the space to do it and allow ourselves to do it.
• 37:45
  Speaker 3: So just pick once a day and then, once you get through your week and if you forget on a day, don't beat yourself up just get back into it the next day, or do it that night and in the morning, and then you can start to bring it more into your life and that will help you to get those downloads to say oh, wait, a minute, this breath works, really working.
• 38:05
  Speaker 3: What was that fascia release that I heard on Kira?
• 38:08
  Speaker 3: and didn't podcast, so that would be.
• 38:11
  Speaker 3: My recommendation is commit, make a commitment to yourself for 30 seconds a day to three minutes, and then build from there.
• 38:21
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and it's so key.
• 38:23
  Speaker 2: I mean you don't have to do fancy breath work.
• 38:26
  Speaker 2: And you just told us that I don't.
• 38:27
  Speaker 2: I don't do fancy breath work.
• 38:27
  Speaker 2: I you just.
• 38:28
  Speaker 2: You just told us that I don't.
• 38:29
  Speaker 2: I don't do fancy breath work.
• 38:30
  Speaker 2: I'll do box breathing sometimes, or I just check in with myself.
• 38:34
  Speaker 2: Hand on my heart, hand on my belly, am I taking those deep diaphragmatic breaths?
• 38:38
  Speaker 2: That's it.
• 38:39
  Speaker 2: But oh my gosh, you can feel so much better with physical issues and just with stress in that quick thing.
• 38:47
  Speaker 3: A hundred percent, a hundred percent but it often goes ignored.
• 38:52
  Speaker 3: And it really what ends up happening is you give yourself the gift is, when you're in highly stressful situations, you will be able to make decisions and be calm.
• 39:03
  Speaker 3: This took me years.
• 39:04
  Speaker 3: It doesn't have to take you years.
• 39:06
  Speaker 3: I just want to remind people that it's not like if something happens tomorrow, you're going to have to feel bad about yourself.
• 39:13
  Speaker 3: I was grateful for I had my.
• 39:16
  Speaker 3: We lost my nephew this summer and my brother and I had to make some really difficult decisions and my mom kept saying how are you making these decisions?
• 39:24
  Speaker 3: And I said, mom, I it's the, it's the breathing.
• 39:28
  Speaker 3: I said it's the grounding that I've been practicing for years, like it all prepared me for this moment.
• 39:33
  Speaker 3: So it was really, you know, may you never have a situation like that, but you have other things that are day to day that you don't have to be like.
• 39:41
  Speaker 3: Well, that was pretty crazy what Amy shared.
• 39:44
  Speaker 3: It doesn't matter, it could be that your kid, you know, had a bad experience at school and and you're struggling with that, or an argument with a loved one, right, so it doesn't have to be like the most traumatic thing ever that you, you know it's.
• 39:58
  Speaker 3: It's going to be your day-to-day life that, if you can breathe, you'll just be able to be more loving to yourself and then to those around you.
• 40:06
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you're I mean honestly, you're regulating your nervous system.
• 40:10
  Speaker 2: Then to those around you.
• 40:11
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean honestly you're regulating your nervous system, 100% Exactly.
• 40:17
  Speaker 3: That's what you're doing.
• 40:18
  Speaker 3: So, even if you never got a block and you were breathing, exactly, you're regulating that nervous system and you're checking in with yourself.
• 40:21
  Speaker 3: So that's a pretty incredible gift that you have with you all the time.
• 40:26
  Speaker 2: I know Well, I've loved this conversation.
• 40:29
  Speaker 2: Is there anything else that you feel you need to share with listeners?
• 40:33
  Speaker 2: I'm putting you on the spot here, but I do that for everyone.
• 40:35
  Speaker 3: I appreciate it, I am.
• 40:37
  Speaker 3: I want to invite you to take responsibility for your health.
• 40:43
  Speaker 3: I really do, and and when we feel better, we do better and we all deserve that and I want you to know you're worth it.
• 40:51
  Speaker 3: So taking responsibility for your health could be breathing or drinking some more water right.
• 40:58
  Speaker 3: Realizing you're worth it.
• 40:59
  Speaker 3: If you haven't felt that way, or you are looking for permission from someone, kira and Denise and I are granting permission to take care of yourself, to slow down, to take those few moments.
• 41:12
  Speaker 3: You are worth it, and it's more important than ever to take responsibility for yourself and your health.
• 41:18
  Speaker 3: So that's what I would love to leave you with, in whatever way you can and please.
• 41:22
  Speaker 3: My inbox is always open.
• 41:24
  Speaker 3: It's not easy, right?
• 41:26
  Speaker 3: It's simple but, it's easy to forget to breathe.
• 41:29
  Speaker 3: It's not easy, right, it's simple, but it's easy to forget to breathe.
• 41:32
  Speaker 3: I've been teaching yoga and fitness for three decades and I will, in class, forget to breathe.
• 41:35
  Speaker 3: So I just want to remind you it's a moment to moment journey and just keep going, yeah.
• 41:43
  Speaker 2: Well, how can our listeners find you?
• 41:47
  Speaker 3: You can find me if you're on.
• 41:49
  Speaker 3: You can email me at amyfusionfitnessvtcom and you can visit my website there.
• 41:55
  Speaker 3: It's in the right this very moment being redone, which it'll probably be done by the time this comes out.
• 42:01
  Speaker 3: If you're on social media, I'm on Facebook at amydabrushlewis.
• 42:07
  Speaker 3: You can also find me at I can't remember my fusion fitness.
• 42:10
  Speaker 3: I should know my social.
• 42:12
  Speaker 3: I'm on Instagram at Amy Lewis, underscore, master health coach, and I am also on LinkedIn as Amy Lewis, master health coach.
• 42:22
  Speaker 3: You can also I'll be checking in.
• 42:24
  Speaker 3: You can just um, you know, ask a question here and I'll definitely check back.
• 42:28
  Speaker 3: So thank you for listening and, Kira, thank you for the time and I can't wait to meet Denise.
• 42:33
  Speaker 3: I'm so happy to be taking care of you.
• 42:36
  Speaker 2: Denise.
• 42:36
  Speaker 2: Well, thank you so much for this.
• 42:38
  Speaker 2: I'll put everything in the show notes and it was so lovely having you on, yeah.
• 42:43
  Speaker 3: And thank you so much for your time and for having me on.
• 42:46
  Speaker 3: I appreciate it.
• 42:47
  Speaker 2: All right, guys, we'll catch you on the next episode, as always.
• 42:51
  Speaker 2: If you enjoyed this, please like it, leave us a review, do all the things.