The Connection Between Your Breath and Your Health

Welcome to Ladies Kicking Assets, and I am here with my partner, Courtney Moer, today. But we. We have the amazing, amazing Dr. Amy Nootney with us, and we are so grateful that you are here. And we had the precious few moments before the recording to meet sweet Wesley, and so I want to talk about that. But before we do any of that stuff, I want to just get some general housekeeping out of the way. So we would ask that anything that you hear today, nuggets that you hear, anything along our journeys, that you would just take that to your CPA and your legal counsel and that you would run those nuggets of implementation before you do any of that with those experts and how it applies to your specific investment world or your strategy. Today, I want to tell you, Amy, Dr. Amy has a very special asset class that she is really heavily working in and is. Is the gift of health. And so there is no precious asset more important than health and wellness. And. And so welcome, Dr. Amy. And we are so excited to talk about how this pertains to all of us and what control we have in making our lives better.

Thanks for having me on, Robin. And Courtney, it's a pleasure to be here. I. I know many people have been on your podcast, and I'm excited to get to be here, too, and share.

Yes, yes.

So you're such an incredible wealth of knowledge and, you know, some of the things I've learned, so many things, you know, from you over this couple of years that, you know, we have, you know, been acquainted and gotten to know each other. And I, I love that we're going to kind of dive deeper into that. And Robin, I'll let you talk about that.

Okay, so let's talk about the Paber Institute, which stands for Pain Awareness, Breathing and Relief. I want to talk about that, but then I want to, like, then go backwards afterwards and kind of talk about how you got there.

Like, how.

How did that even come to fruition? Because you. You have so many different pieces of your life. But let's hit it straight. Shoot and talk about that, because it is fascinating.

Sure. So I developed this company and business because there are a lot of people who have various forms of pain, a lot of chronic pain out there, a lot of different types of injuries, a lot of arthritic conditions. And I kept hearing from people that they just stayed in pain. And part of my journey through the healthcare world was trying to find a way to help people that's a little bit more unique, that wasn't traditional. And what was the missing link and that's kind of why I started the Pain Awareness Breathing Relief Institute, because we look at how a person's fight or flight nervous system affects their whole body. And that's really the crux of it, is looking at how a person is ramped up and how that changes them physiologically, that contributes to the pain in their body. And how do we change that so that they can calm their nervous system down, release the muscles that are holding them abnormally to give them relief. And part of the nervous system and calming it down involves breathing, which is what people usually associate me with, is breathing and breath work and that. But I try to let them know breathing is one of the components that we use to help you calm your nervous system, because I want to give you control over your body again so that you don't just rely on other people doing something to you, but you have a say so in how you feel.

Fascinating. And so how did you learn about breathing being a part of healing the body?

Yeah, so it started a little bit. I was a marathon runner. Well, I still am marathon and ultra marathon marathoner. And I was taking some courses through the Postural Restoration Institute that talked about asymmetries in the body and asymmetries in the diaphragm and how that affects breathing and what we can do to kind of look at that from a physiological point of view. And as I was going through those courses, I started applying some things to myself while I was running on the treadmill. And I was running eight miles a few times a week in like 55 minutes. And I started applying and just, I started tweaking my breathing mechanics. I just started playing with it on myself and just tried different things, just experimented and said, okay, if I held myself this way, this is the result. And I. If I did it this way, this was the result. And when I held myself in a certain way and I continued to run, all of a sudden all the tightness that comes with being an endurance runner, it all went away. The aches, the pains, all the typical runner issues, they all just went away. And I stopped stretching, foam rolling, scraping, all these things that I used to tell people that they had to do. I stopped doing it. And my next marathon, I ran. I ran faster than I ever had before. I qualified for Boston easily, and I hadn't done that before. And I just kept getting faster and faster with no other changes in my regimen. And I didn't have any of the tightness pains or aches. And so it took years of playing with it on myself. And then other people to develop this process and to realize and study the link between the nervous system and our breathing mechanics and figure out how can I tweak someone's mechanics to elicit a response in their nervous system, but how do I make it so they don't panic when they're learning to breathe differently? Because our breathing starts in a certain way when we're born and then it starts to change over time based on what we're told. And I can see that specifically even right now more so than ever, because I have a little infant who's now five and a half months old. And I watch him and I and I can see the stuff I'm teaching adults now about their breathing. He has it. So when I'm teaching people to keep their ribs still and down, he already has it. And I can sit here and watch him and say, look at his breathing is what I'm trying to get all these adults to do. So they can be just as roly poly as him.

It's interesting that you say that. I mean, I'm trying, I'm sitting here thinking like what through my life would have caused my breathing to change? And what do you, what do you think that is?

Unfortunately, there's a lot of recommendations that were taught that cause it. And Courtney, unfortunately you have one of the biggest reasons in your background having a military background that contributes to your military breathing mechanics changing. So when we're taught to suck up our gut, lift up our ribs, throw our shoulders back and stick out our chest, which we consider our perfect posture. Yeah. That starts to change our breathing mechanics. And the reason is when you suck up your gut and lift up your rib cage in front, you're decreasing support for your diaphragm. And your diaphragm is the muscle that's designed to help us breathe. So if we take away the effectiveness of the diaphragm, we have to replace it by something else. And since the diaphragm is supposed to be used to pull air in, it creates a negative pressure to air to go into you like a vacuum. We have to do another way to do that. And so what we convert to is lifting up our rib cage to do the effect of the diaphragm to try to get air in. And so that's how we get off kilter. And it's all by well intentioned people. But you see it in sports, you see it in performing arts, dancers, you see it in speech and debates. You know, stand up tall, make yourself rigid, and instead of just going to let's stand up tall in a neutral, relaxed posture. We take it to the other extreme. Let's go beyond neutral. Be really rigid like a soldier. Because if you think about, and I'm not familiar, I've never been in the military. But you have, Courtney, so you can have more say so in this. But you're taught to be in a fight or flight state because your awareness needs to be increased to do your job and to do your, your role. But the problem is if you're taught to do that for a long period of time, you don't know how to come out of it. And that's when the body locks up and it starts to develop different aches and pains.

No, and it's, it's interesting because as I sit here and think about that, you know, I've gone through breathing exercises with you and it is so hard to break that habit and go back to what we came, you know, into this world naturally doing. And it's, it's crazy how that shift happens and it's so difficult to go back to what's natural.

Exactly.

Well, you know, when we did. So we are all in Kyle Wilson's group and Amy, Dr. Amy talked us all through a breathing exercise with the straw. And I have to tell you, that was one of the hardest mind things that I haven't replicated it since. Like I need to book some sessions with you because I can see just as I'm aging, some of the things that I'm just personally battling with, as we all do, like fatigue and you know, just all of these things where that would help me so much. And as you're sitting there talking about, you know, standing up, I mean, I'm straightening myself because that's what we know like as a society. And the sitting differently was really difficult for me to grapple. Like I couldn't understand how posturing a little bit differently felt were super counter intuitive to what I should know. Like, it made me feel like, well, am I going to be sort of like a slumped person? But not really because we, I don't know, but it was, it was effective, but it was not easy. And, but it was simple. But it was, you know, and that was just one of the techniques that you shared with our group.

Right.

Well, let me ask this. So when we get back to that natural breathing that we came into this earth, you know, doing what, what are some of the benefits of that, you know, why. Why is it so important?

Right. So we have this muscle, this diaphragm that's kind of Like a dome. I say if you imagine like a grain silo, there's a dome and then some wal. That muscle is designed to do our breathing for us. And the reason we want to get to it is because it's very effective for pulling air into us. So we don't use our shoulders, our back, our neck, our ribs to breathe air in. We want those muscles doing their job instead of trying to take over this aspect of breathing. And the reason why is there's a nerve that goes through the diaphragm that helps to calm us down, and that puts us in a state called parasympathetic relaxation. We want to be in that state for most of our waking and sleeping hours and then occasionally go into a fight or flight state to do something. So if we're in a fight or flight state all the time, our nervous system's ramped up. That affects every system in our body. Sleep, digestion, cardiovascular, pulmonary, skin. It affects everything about our body, and not in a good way. So you can have, like, a periodic, good type of stress that helps you get something done, or you're sprinting at the end of a race, or you need to run out of a building, burning building. You can have that. And that's a great mechanism to have in our body, but it should be on reserve. It shouldn't be our way of existence.

Yeah.

I can't tell you how many people have trouble breathing just because they're so ramped up. And they take melatonin sleep medications. They try everything they can just to calm themselves down. What they don't realize is how they hold their body. The position of the rib cage and the lack of use of their diaphragm is what's really contributing to their inability to fall asleep and stay asleep and. Or go back to sleep. And it can actually affect. And this is really crazy, but how you breathe can affect how many times you have to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night and you have to urinate. A lot of people who are mouth breathers have a really high level of having to go urinate in the middle of the night. And there's a great book out there called why We Sleep by Dr. Matthew Walker. He's a neurologist and into sleep, and he talks about it. And learning to breathe in using your diaphragm and using your nose to breathe in can really help. Help that phenomenon. I just found that really fascinating how.

I'm going to get that book fact. Well, you know, sleep is, you know, like a powerful tool to Use, you know, it helps, obviously, with mental clarity, but just your general health, I mean, so many things. And like you said, many people fall asleep, you know, and as your hormones change in women, you know, falling asleep is sometimes not the issue, it's the staying asleep. And so I can really see where this would be just incredibly effective in dialing into and just getting aligned in our bodies. You know, I'm, I, I need to.

For me, the sleep, I feel like it kind of goes back to, you know, I, I feel like unfortunately, a lot of our medical systems goes and treats symptoms instead of treating what's causing the issues. And, you know, instead of getting on melatonin or sleeping pills or these other things, you know, figuring out, it's so important, I think, and this is, you know, a rabbit hole I've been going down. If we learned how to breathe and learn some of these other things, that would prevent a lot of these other issues that we're having.

Right?

Right. Yes. And most people think breathing is just to get oxygen in our body. No, it affects your immune system. How you breathe affects your ability to combat viruses and fungus and fire bacteria. There's just so many benefits that I forget all of them to tell you about. All of them, because there's just so many. Right.

Well, I know one of the things that you had mentioned is just dealing with like stress and anxiety, and we all have that in different ways or different amounts, but our coping mechanism with it is. Or identifying the triggers or understanding how to just sort of naturally bring ourselves down so it doesn't dominate and become, you know, a clinical diagnosis of anxiety or, you know, some of those things. And so I really just, in my own family have, have seen, you know, some of that. And much like Courtney said, you know, they want to treat that with a pill. Well, I'm not saying that there's not appropriate times for that, but I think that there are so many other ways in the world. And looking at homeopathic treatments and things that you're eating and things that you're putting in and things that you're doing that impact that, you know, which is everything. And so I, you know, I was looking at your website and you really will work with folks who are 14 years of age and older, is that correct? Or 15 or something like that.

I've actually gone even younger. So for a lot of times I'll work with families who have kids with ADHD as well and even younger. So I've gone as low, at least through zoom, with four or five year olds as Long as I have time with the parents first to train them and then we do a group session with the kid and the parent. So as I'm guiding things and making things fun for the kid, the parent is doing it and modeling and helping as well. Because so much of helping a kid means I need to honestly change the parents behavior.

Yeah, for sure.

Them to model things differently for the kids. So I do go young and it's just, it's more of a group effort when it's a younger kid and then I'll work with people all the way as old as they want, as long as they can understand and still comprehend and go into the 80s and.

Yeah, fantastic. So is most of this virtual or is it in person or a blend or how does that work?

Yeah, so everything now is virtual. So I have clients all over the world, Australia, New Zealand, you know, England, sometimes foreign speaking countries as well. French or Spanish they can do but. And then the predominant number of people is US and Canada and. But it is all virtual now which has a benefit. One, I force people to learn this stuff and they can't rely on me doing something to them. And the other aspect is I can record it and give them the recording. They know exactly what to do. There's no question. They can just play that recording and follow it through. And that I found has been huge in getting people to learn the stuff and not have issues.

And so how has becoming a mother yourself impacted all of that? You know, I know the virtual piece has sounds like it's been super beneficial in, in your work, but you are now a new mom and so that changes things a little bit.

It does. And going into it, I wasn't sure what to expect. I'll be honest, I was really hoping and praying that I could keep my business going. And it has grown even more than I can. I had expected and I honestly, I gave birth and eight days later I worked with one of my clients while my baby was sleeping on my lap. And I just kept going with it. And most of my clients, they are so excited to see him. So I do have a nanny that takes care of him for three days of the week while I, you know, concentrate working on with my clients. And then the other days I just let people know if they need a Monday or a Friday, then baby Wesley is going to be sitting in my lap and they are okay with it. And sometimes people try to schedule on those days because they want to see him. And oh my gosh, I know everyone has been and so incredible. I can't even express my gratitude and the love I have felt with the amount of support people have given me for becoming a mom.

Isn't it funny the things in our life, and I don't mean funny haha, but that happen and it changes what we do. But oh my gosh, it is just the biggest blessing for whatever that was to have occurred. It sounds like you've really been able to master time, you know, and managing your calendar and managing your time, which you know, is. Is a challenge that we all have dealt with, you know, and so I think it's really beautiful how that's. As you said, your business has grown. I mean as a result of that. It's early really something. So you, you do a lot of things. You're also an amazing photographer and had the privilege of seeing your work. Courtney and I have seen your work and oh my gosh. And you've been in National Geographic even, is that correct? Did I get that wrong or something about National Geographic?

Yeah, very close. So I submitted an image. It was just like a couple years after I started photographing. I didn't know anything about doing human portrait photography and I wasn't into black and white, but I decided to go over to Mongolia to photograph a golden eagle festival. And I happened to take a photo of a little boy kissing a golden eagle and it was right at the moment where the beak and their lips, the little boy's lips touched. And I converted it into a black and white photo because I just felt it was more powerful and I had never done it before. So I was just experimenting and I submitted it to National Geographic's website and they have a competition for. It's called the Daily Dozen. So they go through thousands and thousands of images and they pick the top 12. And so mine was one of the top 12. And then they put it out to a vote to the world of which is the top one. And mine was chosen as. So I didn't sleep for a couple days. Oh no.

That excites me so much. It's unexpected is. Gosh, there's so much power in that.

Yeah, I just, I wasn't prepared for that. And I submitted a couple other photos at other times and the editors chose them as their top photos and liked them. So it was just quite an honor because I was just starting and learning photography and really diving into it. I was volunteering for a non profit to help them with some logistics of trips and I got to sit in on some of the lessons that they were teaching about photography in return. And so that really helped me just learn some of the mechanics of how to use a camera.

Yeah. So what's been your favorite, like, place to photograph or your favorite experience you were into?

Probably, probably Antarctica. So if, if anyone can see the photos behind me, you're of penguins. And so I took these in Antarctica and it's kind of the symbol I use for my business as well, because penguins symbolize strength, rebirth, Rebirth, basically emerging from adversity. And so what I do with helping people get out of pain actually took me to Antarctica. Photographer hired me to keep him out of a couple surgeries and that landed me in Antarctica and it was by far my favorite place. Walking up to these four foot tall penguins and they had no idea what I was as a creature because this was the first time in eight years a ship had gotten to that area. And so walking up to these penguins, we had to keep a certain distance. But if we just sat still and they came up to us, then that was okay. And so I had a couple instances where I was sitting or kneeling and this 3 to 4 foot tall penguin was 12 inches from my face. And oh my gosh, let me tell you, there were tears and I was trying to hold my bladder. I was absolutely. I'd probably say that birth of West Wesley was the most special thing and that was probably the second most special thing because I didn't know what I was. And it just kept moving its head around looking at me. And I was not a good photographer in that second because I tried to use my phone to capture it and I bumbled that because I was so emotional. But that was, it was incredible.

I feel like a four foot penguin would be a little bit as well. I'm sitting here trying to gauge like how.

Right. Compared to me, I didn't realize they were that tall.

The emperor penguins are the largest ones in the world and so they do get that tall. So there are a lot of species that are, you know, just a few inches tall and they go up to the four foot tall emperor penguin. But it's incredible. It's. It's shocking. And they are so beautiful, so incredibly beautiful.

Oh, I just love how you tied that into how it represents your life and what you've gone through. That is pretty incredible, right?

I, I know I have just made some amazing notes here. I swear I've never heard that about penguins. You know, emerging from adversity and a rebirth. You know, you hear about like the fabled Phoenix, but not the penguin. Fascinating. Oh, my gosh. So you are. Our time is kind of Nearing close. So I just want to kind of recap a couple of things. You have this amazing institute that you started. So you are an entrepreneur, you're also an author. And we didn't touch on that. Would you like to kind of speak on how that's sort of been able to, to help you grow as you're, you know, in your business and such?

Yeah. So I've been in a couple of Kyle Wilson's compilation books that the Amazon best selling. And then I was also in a Wall Street Best Wall Street Journal bestseller book with David Corbin, which was also another compilation book. And both, both of those experiences were great. One, I'm working on my own book and those experiences have helped me kind of figure out how do I reach audiences, how do I talk to audiences and also how do I share my story and make it relevant so it helps people. And it was great. It's wonderful way to go through that process, see how to get the information out there in this world, connect with other entrepreneurs. And that's probably the best part is getting to connect with other entrepreneurs and people reaching out to me after reading my chapter in those books and saying, wow, I want to learn more or thank you for sharing this. This is encouraging me to take the next step in my healthcare journey or entrepreneur journey.

So when, when do you expect your book to be to be better?

I'm hoping in the next year or so things have shifted a little bit just with having a baby and kind of my focus. So I have some video courses that I recently launched, so I'm getting those going and that will come next. So that's on my plate. Right.

Well, I love how you're tying all of this to, you know, the greatest asset that we have, which is our health and wellness, because without that we have nothing, you know?

Yeah. You could have all the money in the world and it's completely irrelevant if you don't have your health.

No, I know, I know. And so you're a unicorn doctor, Amy, with really having the ability to treat that and help open folks eyes to other ways of healing, you know, healing, not just treating a symptom, you know, So I think that's so special.

Yeah. And one of the things I've learned kind of being in the investment real estate world with meeting so many of you and just listening to a lot of lessons given by different speakers is part of investing is to give you freedom and kind of a little bit more control over your time. And I say health and learning how to work with your body and do the do the things needed to give you almost like a type of health freedom and body freedom. It's just as important because as Courtney mentioned, it doesn't matter. You can have all the money in the world, but if you do too many wrong steps with your health and you can't get it back, it's your life is not going to be much fun. And, and it affects everyone around you too. That's, that's the other hard part is so many of your loved ones see how you're suffering and they don't know how to help you. So I really encourage people go have your health care team. Have the team of people that you can go and see, but then also make sure that you're part of your own team where you're doing stuff for your own health.

I love that. Be a part of your own team. Me too. Fantastic. Well, thank you so much for today and carving out some time to visit with us. I'm so excited for our listeners to be able to get in touch with you. So how can our listeners get in touch with you?

Sure. Easiest way is going to the website pabaintitute.com painstitute.com and there you can learn more information. You can also send me an email amy@paberinstitute.com and share whatever you need. And we can always jump on a call and chat. And however I can help you, whether it's giving you free resources, you do a course, you work with me one on one, or just you want to chat, I'm open to it.

Love that. Well, thank you so much. And so as we're closing, we would just ask our listeners to like and subscribe. Ladies, kick in assets. And we are just thrilled to have had this conversation with Dr. And Amy today and we thank you for your time.

Thank you so much for having me on. It's been a pleasure.