Breaking the Cycle of Anxiety using Spirituality with Brandon Yuenger

Welcome to the Holistic Inner Balance podcast with Dr. Nicole Caine and happy healthy Hadley.

Your go to resource for natural mental health and wellness strategies so that you can become the expert of your own emotional and physical well being.

Merging modern science with ancient wisdom.

Hi, we are so excited to be here today. We have an amazing person joining the conversation. In fact, this person is the reason that Hadley and I know each other and he's an amazing healer and he's an amazing human and a great friend. And so Hadley and I were like, we have to have Brandon in this conversation. And so here you are, we're all here together and I think this is going to be an incredible conversation. So thank you for coming.

I'm so excited to have you here. Brandon, let me introduce you before we get started. So Brandon is a doctor of physical therapy with over 10 years of experience treating chronic pain. He's proficient in a wide variety of manual therapies, neurologic re education techniques and energy medicine, including shamanic healing. He's seen firsthand the dramatic transformations that come from tapping into our energetic body and facilitating spiritual healing for people who are considered medical mysteries. His goal is to bridge the gap between science and spirituality to help individuals and communities heal. So that's what we're going to get into today is bridging that gap between, between science and spirituality. I'm so excited. This is something that is very near and dear to my heart but that I'm not necessarily a, an expert in. So I'm super, super, super excited to be able to learn from you today, Brandon.

Well, thank you. That's. I don't know, I don't. I feel like I work in this area but I don't feel like an expert in it at all. Thank you for being nice about that.

Yeah, Socrates says that. Right. It's like the process of knowing. It's like in the beginning you know nothing and then you think you know everything and then you realize you don't know everything and maybe you don't know something and then you feel like you know nothing again and then the more that you know, the less you think you know. Like that kind of weird process. So the fact that you feel like you don't know may imply that you do know a little bit. Bit.

Yeah. Especially since you've been doing it for 10 years.

Hopefully I can communicate that, that I know something. So that'll be great. Yeah.

And today we're going to be really leaning into this conversation about spirituality and our mental and emotional well being. And I'm really Excited about that. But what I feel like is really the heart in these kinds of conversations is the person that I get to have and Hadley gets to have this conversation with. And it feels like. And maybe it isn't, but it feels like kind of this about face or this 180 or this big jump to go from like chronic pain and manual therapies and you know, having this PhD in physical therapy all the way to where it's very energetic, very emotional, very spiritual and maybe a little bit less of that like hands on materialist stuff. So I was wondering if you could just sort of talk about that.

How do we go from the science Y to the, the spiritual stuff?

Yeah, how did you do that?

Yeah, for me it's a really interesting story as evolution over years, but it really started, you know, going through. I started in engineering school and like biomedical sciences and then physical therapy school is very, you know, evidence, evidence, evidence and all that kind of stuff. So if you don't have double blind placebo controlled studies, you know, you don't really have anything is what we're taught in school anyway. But one of the things that was going on in my life as I was finishing, starting PT school all the way through until I finished up was that I had, I was having a relationship with a young lady who wasn't really able to find any answers. And so we bounced around, did all this kind of stuff and eventually she was in front of somebody who became a mentor of mine. And we. So she watched what happened when she, she would like pass out, but she wouldn't pass out. And she went through a whole range of diagnoses, but essentially she could try, you could hear her try to vocalize to communicate and she could tell you everything that was happening, but she couldn't move her body and things like that. And then eventually she started to like convulse and still we had no answers. But one of the things that we had realized one day when I was in, excuse me, when she was in the hospital and she had a headache and that was like one of the first things that I found I was able to help with was while mobilizing her neck, we would move one of her vertebrae forward anteriorly into her throat and she would take this big deep breath and her eyes would light up and then she could move and she could talk again. And so we were like, I don't know what this is. Let's bring the doctors in here and maybe this is something that will be helpful for them. And it wasn't so they were like, I don't know what to do with this information. Eventually she was told by the head neurologist at the University of Michigan that think happy thoughts. That's the best we can do for somebody like you. And then she finally. She was very much all about the allopathic medicine. And then she and I kept asking her to go see this guy who ended up being my mentor because I'd heard about him and alternative things that he would do. And she finally said yes when she was feeling, like, hopeless and completely out of luck. And we went and saw him and she passed out during his evaluation. And I showed him, here's how we wake her up. And then she passed out again a little while later. And what he said? Well, I was like, do you want me to wake her up again? He's like, well, if everything her body's telling me is true, this will wake her up. And he grabs her right leg and just pulls on it. Like in physical therapy, we call it long axis distraction. And she woke right up. And I was like, holy shit. I don't know what I'm looking at, but that was amazing. And nobody can figure out. And this is the first time we're seeing you and you could figure out, figure something out. That's amazing. So that was after I graduated, and he asked if I had questions. And of course I had a ton. And I didn't know where to start because it was so far outside of, like, the, the way I'd been taught up to that point in my life. But he was like, I don't have a lot of papers to give you. I don't have, like, for evidence. And I was like, I don't care about that. Like, that was enough evidence. That's all I need to see. And he's told me to start practicing or that he would teach me acupressure. And so that's where I got into it. And then I started working at, with kids with head injuries, and I started working with chronic pain almost immediately. And what I found was that when I would sit there and do acupressure with people, they would get stronger, their minds would get clear, their pain would go down so much more so than with. I learned a lot about their osteopathic techniques, like high velocity, low amplitude thrust and muscle energy and strain, counter strain, myofascial release, things like that. And those things were so temporary that the people who were the hardest cases would stand up, walk across the room, come back, and their bodies would be in the exact same place as they started when we did acupressure. They would feel better. Their objective measurements would stay the same, and they would feel better for a couple of days or something, you know, longer than I could do with manual therapy. So I knew there was something going on, but I didn't know what. And, you know, maybe I have a better idea now, but who knows? So then the next step, I started to learn craniosacral therapy. And I started to find that if I did more craniosacral therapy, I could do less acupressure. And that took a while. That helped me develop my sense of energy, of the person that I'm treating. The more I learned about my own, the more I could identify what was going on with somebody else. And during that time, that's when I started to notice the patterns that would occur within people. I was doing cranial work on every single person that I would see every day. And I was working two jobs. I was working, like, 50 hours a week doing cranial, cranial, cranial, cranial, cranial. And what I started to notice was that there was, like, I had learned meridians, how energy moves through our body and stuff like that. But I started to notice, like, our field and how energy would start to move around our field. And it seemed like there was all of this dark energy that would be, like, in spots around somebody's field or within their body. And as we were doing cranial, it would start to, like, collect. And at the time, it seemed like it started to collect around their heart. And then as the session went on, they. That darkness would, like, lift up towards the sky, and then in would come. It shouldn't say in would come because it would lift up and then the whole space would become bright. And when we got to that point and I had this question, I was like, I don't know. I couldn't find anybody who could help me answer it. And so up until that point, somebody would give me a book and it would answer my question. And it was great. And I was learning a whole bunch of stuff more about, like, Eastern Edison. And for that one, nobody could help me until I met Kristen, my fiance. And her mom was telling me that I should read this book called Shaman Healer Sage. And when I read it, it told me it described exactly what I was experiencing. It would talk about extractions and illuminations. And I was like, that sounds like an extraction and an illumination, what I've been looking at. So for me, it was another thing where it's like, there's not evidence that, you know, Evidence in the paper, the article sense. But there was evidence right before my eyes where this would happen consistently and people would have emotional responses. Like they would have little emotions kind of come up. They say, I'm crying. I don't know why I'm crying, or like, I'm crying, but I'm not sad. Stuff like that. And they would always feel better. So I was like, who cares? People feel better. I don't care about the evidence in the classical sense, because this is helpful for people. And so I read that book to confirm that I wasn't crazy and to understand like a little bit more that there are. There are cultures in the world that. That this is normal for them. That's like a normal part of the healing process. And it was just something that was. I still feel grateful to be able to be a part of, you know, because it's not something that we were ever taught. At least the schools that I went to, we weren't taught that that's anything that exists or has any value. And eventually this is like the footnote on it. Eventually I learned dry needling. And I can take. It's. Needles are like, have been the best, most helpful tool for me to do the depth of work that sometimes we need to do with people that are really repressed or really have these deep traumas that are stored in their body, manifesting as pain. And it allows me to do more of that energy work or that work in their field when I can keep the energy kind of flowing through their body with the needling. So I found that that was like the next step from cranial was I started to do the needling stuff and I started to. I would just check their head every now and then to check their rhythm. And I would watch it, by the end of like 20, 30 minutes, would go back to completely normal and I wouldn't have to do anything. So I was like, this is an amazing tool. So right now I'm combining the needling with the. The stuff that I learned. Energy medicine and manual therapies and teaching people how to keep it going with. With meditation, mindfulness, body awareness and movement, depending on what's going on with them. So that's kind of where we're at now.

I have a question. I know Hadley's like, I have lots of questions too. And I have, I have, I have so many questions. So when we. The way that I teach about symptoms is that they're data about the unique way or ways that our body is at a balance, that our mind is out of balance. That our spirit is out of balance. And, and so you're making this observation, this medical mystery case that you started with is that this woman, she's having these sinkable episodes. So she's passing out, but then she still has some cognizance. She just can't exert any voluntary will over her body. And so then there's a corrective intervention. So he distracts, he pulls on the leg, applies an acupressure. Is that right? He applied an acupressure point, or was it just a distraction on the leg?

I mean, he would probably every. He thinks very much an acupressure. So he was probably thinking about these points I'm holding on the foot as well as combining it with the distraction. Yep, that's my guess.

So I'm wondering about when we're thinking about these sort of corrective interventions like cranial sacral or pulling on the leg or applying acupressure or dry needling and moving energy is how are, how are we examining the root cause of the symptoms with these symptoms? So to try to clarify my question, I'm kind of thinking it as I go. Like you would do a physical adjustment on somebody, they'd walk away, and then by the time they came back to you, they were back into a state of imbalance. And it's arguably because you weren't treating the root cause like the body was adapting to something. So then. But there's a difference with the new type of work that you're doing. And so I guess what I'm this long winded question is, is how is that treating the root cause? Like, what are you doing? That's different.

Like, how is the work that I'm doing and described how I learned it, like, what is that root cause? Well, you know, it really depends on. It depends on people. I always kind of preface it and partially because I'm like used to living in West Michigan and having people be very like, opposed to the ideas that we're talking about. But it also depends on people's perspective because am I going to explain. I'm not necessarily going to explain it to somebody who doesn't believe in what I'm about to say. But for us now, I believe that our spirituality, our energy, our soul is something that is tangible. And it's not just where you go to church and then somebody blesses you and your soul is better. We all have this ability to connect with our spiritual self and our higher self or whatever we want to use or whatever we want to call it. And within that process. There are these parts of us that in my experience show up as denser and more like denser energy, more like earthly energy that can manifest itself in our. As thought forms or disease processes. And as those things start to be removed from the body, they're usually connected. There's usually something that's connected with some sort of old trauma in our body. And so the way that I look at it is it's a more physical way of moving that density through in a way like through our body, through our field and to wherever it needs to go. Sometimes it, sometimes we go up, sometimes it goes down. That's not for me to decide necessarily. But yeah, it seems like as that energy moves and it's almost like the energy is more. More of a neutral thing. But then as it moves through our body, we experience what it's been connected to, whether it's a, like a trauma that we've experienced in our life or if it's something that's like generational that's been passed down to us. So that's the way that I look at kind of getting to the root. And the person has whatever their personal experience is. And most of the time I just see it as like, oh, here's density. And there's some that are more closely held to our body or within ourself than others. And so we have to dig harder, work more, use more tools, that kind of stuff to be able to exercise that part of ourselves.

Yeah, I really appreciate that differentiation because I imagine that some people who may listen to this conversation will think, well, I just need new, different tools. But I think that the reason, the why behind why we use a tool is arguably more important than the tool that we use. And it sounds like your why is different is like you're expressing like, I'm seeing these energetic densities and I'm moving and things are flowing. And so it's different than like, oh, this person has a subluxation here and muscle hypertonicity here. So it feels like a different way of thinking about it. And therefore it impacts what you're actually doing to support restoration of balance.

Yeah. You know, and while you're talking, while you were just describing that, it makes me think of like, what's the other way to say it to people? So that's what something that was being worked on. I was in Western medical and I mean, still am in Western medical setting, I guess, to a lesser degree now that I'm in private practice, but people aren't going to go for what I just described you Know, but it's. There's a lot that we can start to talk about with our autonomic nervous system and how we've responded. You know, like the idea that everyone has had some amount of trauma in our life. You know, people will often say, not me. You know, everything's been pretty good. But we'll talk about, were you hungry and didn't get fed? Did you need to get health and you didn't get love? All those kinds of things. Those are all traumatic. Literally, everybody has experienced that. Nobody's life is perfect. And they can start to shape the way that we view the world and how in the world being dangerous and. And especially when it comes to chronic pain. But I think it works in a lot of other disease states. The same mentality is once our body is trying to protect ourselves, that's ultimately where pain comes from. Because pain is a warning signal, like, something's going on here. Pain is information about something that we need to be looking at. So when somebody can start to understand that there's this thing about their brain, their autonomic nervous system that doesn't ever really stop and is always going on behind the scenes, then they can start to be like, that's maybe more of a scientific bridge for them to say, oh, there is more that I can learn about myself. And then through that process is typically where the healing comes.

So good. Yeah, I'm. I'm incredibly curious about the link with trauma and also shamanism, because I know that Peter Levine, who's, you know, one of the great teachers on all of this, talks about shamanism in. In some of his books, you know, thinking about how we actually heal trauma, because we aren't that great at it in Western medicine. And so. So I would love to hear a little bit more about, you know, how that relates for you when you're, like, working with someone, like, working through a trauma. Or do you even think of it as a trauma? Because you mentioned you kind of look at it as like a dense energy. Do you. Is that kind of like a. Like, interchangeable term, or do you think of it as slightly different?

I think of it as. That's what I'm working with and seeing, because essentially, you know, once when we start getting really far out there about, like, what's happening during these sessions, essentially, like, shamanism is to connect with these other realms of existence outside of, like, the linear way that we look at life. And so for me, it's often about just, like. I think I've called it like, painting by numbers, like, things show up and look a certain way. And that directs me to a certain tool or technique or something like that. And it's always just like, what does this person need right now? And there's. So most of the time what I'm seeing is I'm working with those dense energies and what shows up as a dense energy for me. And then as those things start to move, typically that person is experiencing that movement as that trauma. That's if we talk about it like it's trapped in our body or something as it starts to move. So I think they could potentially be used interchangeably. It's just more like the person who I'm working with is going to experience it as, you know, this memory and this thing that happened. And, you know, oftentimes they're feeling it in their body in a certain way as well. So they're experiencing it somatically and emotionally, whereas I'm maybe only experiencing it as, like, these subtle movements of energy within their field. You know what I mean? So hopefully that answers your question.

Yeah, totally. Yeah. No, I think that's so cool. And for the. You know, for those of you who are listening, who are like, I don't even. I don't even know what shamanism is. Do you want to just, like, describe that a little bit more for us?

Yeah, you know, it's. The word itself is even super loaded, like, just saying. Saying like a shamanic healing practitioner or something like that is oftentimes people are. I've had people be like, well, what's the. They want to know, like, where did you learn it from? And what the group is? And all these, like, very. I don't know. I don't. I guess I don't really know what they're looking for, but it's like a way to decide in their mind is this person legit or not? Because I'm a white person, you know, and that isn't the culture that I was raised in. But, you know, it's one of those things where I guess for my own. For my own self, it's like, that's something that showed up in my life, so I just learned more about it. But, so shamanism, typically, you know, for somebody who doesn't know anything about it, they would be thinking, like, native cultures and how they heal typically. Or if you think about, like, tribes in Africa or people that live in the mountains in South America or something like that, how they typically do healing, you know, they're more. It's more of a connection to the spiritual realm and using what the earth gives us to facilitate healing for another person. I think if you Google shaman, it's somebody who connects with the spiritual realm to facilitate healing. And that's something that we don't ever think about. So it's something that if people are listening and have no idea what it is, it makes a lot of sense. Because our medical system doesn't believe that that's a part. We don't say that that's a part of you. So we don't look at it. So that's why we end up with people. I mean, I think that's why we end up with chronic pain. And first place is because we're not even assessing a system that has a heavy influence on your nervous system. And your nervous system is in charge of everything else. So not a surprise that people wouldn't have any idea what that is. And so the next part, I think is tough, is like, okay, so we're gonna say that it's somebody who facilitates healing through connection with. Into the spiritual realms. That still maybe doesn't mean anything. And I'm not sure, maybe you guys have questions or something where we can go a better direction to help people understand. Because right now I'm like, if we're thinking that that doesn't even make any sense, then it's hard to elaborate.

I was sort of thinking about that too, and finding a little bit of personal dissonance in the need to go down that fly bottle and analyze it. But then at the same time, then it's just. It's. I found, like, a lot of those times that there's just not the correct language or maybe even useful language for it. So it is what it is, and it isn't what it isn't. And it can be incredibly useful beyond placebo, as in that case that you described. But at the same time, I feel like, this almost sense of protectiveness over people because I feel like there's. There's this intangible sacredness of our spiritual being. And having somebody who has the authority or has been given the authority or the ability or desire to do an intervention or to intercede in that part of a person's being. I feel like you gotta be really careful with that. And so in that sense, it does feel important to define it and protect it. And so, you know, because coming from the naturopathic world, I was encountered. I encountered all sorts of people from all sorts of spectrums. You know, people who identified as witches and people who identified as vitalists and, you know, so like shamans and like, we went with Peter Bigfoot into the mountains and ate off of the land and, you know, like just all sorts of spectrums. And I've seen it be incredibly healing, like in the work that you do and you know, we've had mutual patients and the work that you do is amazing. And I've also seen other people be really, incredibly harmed by it. So I guess how can, how can I, as somebody who's, let's say I have anxiety. I'm listening to this podcast, I'm like, oh, wow, I love what Brandon's saying about spirituality, shamanism. And so what do I do? Just like Google somebody who says they're a shaman and then go like, what do we do? Like, where's the accountability? How do we do that?

Yeah, that part's hard because I think anybody can say that that's what they do. So for me, and I don't have a good answer, I really don't. All I know is that having a medical background, in my opinion, is super helpful because then at least you have more knowledge of like what's going on the body and potentially how to refer somebody that maybe needs something beyond spiritual intervention. Yeah, you know, there's a lot of, A lot of asking around. I don't necessarily have like, I wish there was like a good place, but there's lots of places where you search and they'll say, here's the shamans in your area and stuff like that. The best thing that I can come up with right now is for me, if you try something or if you feel called towards a certain provider, that could potentially be a good way to find somebody and that, you know, even that in itself saying that calling, you know, how connected are you? Like, is it something where you want so badly for somebody to be your healer that you're gonna say, I was called to them and so they're gonna be my healer? I don't know. I think it's a great question, Nicole, because I really don't know the answer.

Yeah, neither do I. I'm sort of hoping you did. Hadley. Your only hope. What do you got?

Yeah, it is hard because, and I've seen this before where, especially in the spiritual world and like the self help world and stuff, there are teachers and leaders who can use the language of self help and use the language of spirituality to manipulate and to make you think that, oh, what you're thinking right now is just a self sabotage or, oh, it's just, you know, like a, you know, dark energy or, you know, some. Something that is like they can kind of convince you of things. And so I would just say discernment is so important with any healer or someone that you're working with. I'm a really big fan of bringing self empowerment into it and really empowering our, the people that we're working with to be able to make decisions for themselves and not look to other people to make decisions for them. Right. So, like, you know, in our medical model, it's, it's. We put our, put the authority on another person. And so I'm just, you know, as someone who is a teacher and, you know, who helps people with this stuff, it's. For me, it's all about, I'm, I don't have the answers. I'm not going to give anyone any answers. Rather, I'm going to just ask questions and see what they come to for themselves. That's all I've got. I don't know if that's helpful.

I think that's a good. I mean, for me, that's a really great answer because as I'm sitting here, like, thinking while you girls are talking, I'm like, well, what would, what would be the difference, you know, from like, maybe other people that I know to what I do? And I'm teaching people about themselves. So when you're talking about self empowerment, I think that's a big thing. You know, maybe you have to do a couple sessions with somebody, but are they looking for your. To like, be regarded as your healer or are they trying to help you move on? You know, the example that's coming to mind that I've used a million times because people say you're a physical therapist, you hate chiropractors, right? And you know, there's good ones and there's bad ones. Just like there's good pts and bad pts and there's good and bad everywhere. But is somebody, Is somebody, like, if we just go to, like, pain, just pain in general, if somebody's doing something passively to you, like, I'm gonna do an adjustment on you or something like that, if they're not teaching you how to do that for yourself, then I'm probably gonna put them in the maybe don't go to them category. But if they're teaching you how to do it yourself and not need them any longer, then that's probably a good person to see. So I think you're. I think you nailed it.

I love that you two are amazing. And then if, if you aren't so geniusy as Brandon is to have the medical background in addition to all this beautiful soul spiritual training, then work as a team. Are they willing to collaborate with your other providers? I think that's really important to the sacredness of working together. And so, you know, we're talking about the mind, the body, the spirit, and how these can amalgamate together. And this isn't a new modern idea. In fact, Hadley is always talking about Ayurveda and how Ayurveda is able to pull in all of these different variables about energetics and spirituality, and it's one of the oldest therapies or oldest philosophies. Right. Hadley, can you tell us a little bit about the spirituality of. I can't even say the word. Are you Veda?

Yes. You got it.

Ayurveda.

Yes.

Brandon, just to give you context, I've been saying it wrong for, like, 20 years. And then I. I don't even know how I normally say it.

She says, are. Are you Veda?

Are you Veda?

I. Your Veda?

I've been saying it wrong for 20 years. And then one day after Hadley and I've been talking for, like, I don't know, a year and a half about it, she finally, like, told me.

And.

Now I'm just completely. I don't even know. I don'. My words, Veda. Let's just call it that for. That's what I'll call it. Because of my inability to go.

I love it. Usually I don't correct people because, you know, I have, like, one podcast with them or whatever. But I was like, all right, we're doing this now. We're doing a habit together. You gotta know what the word is.

I'll get it. One of these days, we'll be on, like, episode 387, and I'll say, are you a Veda? And you'll be like, feels wrong to say it that way. Tell us about that.

Yeah, I mean, it's so. My kind of worldview, I guess, is like, the more cultures think of, you know, something as true, you know, and if that can also, like, relate to what science says as true, like, then we've got truth with a capital true, capital T, right? We've got shamanism, we've got Ayurveda, We've got modern science. I'm like, okay, if all of these line up like that, to me, is, all right, we've got truth here. And it's really cool because I think lots of different ancient cultures actually have a lot of the same principles as Ayurveda. And the really cool thing is that, you know, it's not like, well, sometimes they were communicating between cultures, and that's really cool and amazing, and sometimes they weren't. And that's also really, really cool and amazing because to me, it's like, okay, if everyone was thinking this, you know, 5,000 years ago, then there's gotta be some nugget of truth in that as well. And so, you know, what you're saying, Brandon, that is, you know, it's so aligned with what Ayurveda says, right? Our mind. So health in Ayurveda can be described as, you know, a state of blissful equilibrium. We've talked about that before in our body, mind, soul and senses. And so the soul piece is kind of the piece that we're kind of talking about today, that spirituality piece. And it. Ayurveda doesn't actually, like, separate these things, you know, it doesn't. It. It's not like, okay, we can. We are just gonna work on healing the body, or we are just gonna work on healing the mind, or we are just going to work on healing the soul or whatever you want to call it. Like, it's. It's all integrated. And Ayurveda talks about the. The five koshas, which I won't get super into that, but it's the five different bodies, parts of our bodies, which is like the physical body, there's the. The breath body or the energy body, and then there's the. The mental body, mental and emotional body, the intuitive body, and then the spiritual body. And all of these things interact with each other. And when we do all of the Ayurvedic practices and everything, they're all able to benefit from that. And so that's kind of what I've been thinking about as you've been talking about all of this stuff, Brandon, does that resonate with you?

Yeah, I mean, you're making me think about, like, a whole bunch. There's reading for the last decade to try to understand what's going on. You start to run into the same concepts, is what you're describing, and cultures that are identifying the same chakras and stuff like that. Like, they're like, here's where they are. And we. Naming that. We're naming them similarly, that we're saying that they have these same types of functionality and things like that. And you see all the different, like, associate like, with layers of our aura, too, because as you're doing that, your hands. I don't know if anybody. I don't know if people can see this too, but she's Moving her hands away from her body as she's in each of these different bodies. And that's. A lot of different cultures have those exact same things too. So, yeah, it super resonates what you're saying. And so that's like. It's just more part of being a human rather than like. Like a specific type of therapy. And I think that that's amazing and so interesting to learn, and I'd love to learn as much as possible about that type of stuff.

Traditional naturopathic medicine talks about this too. And we were talking about it before we started recording, and so I was excited to bring that into the conversation. Is the threefold constitution of. I'll call it human. And it talks about how the vibrant living being is like an instrument being played beautifully and fully in tune. And it has to be in balance in three of its parts. The. The mind, the body, and the spirit. And so the mind is. I'm capable. I know how to play. We'll say the flute. I know how to play it. I have the mental aptitude to play it. But if I have a broken flute or my body isn't in health, then I could be as skilled as they come. And it still won't make beautiful resonance. Right. Similarly with the emotions. If I'm trying to play a really happy song on the flute and I know how to play it, I know the notes. My flute is perfectly functional, but I'm just so sad and depressed. The music will reflect that. And so that's our emotions. We have to work with our emotionality. And then the spirit is. Or the physical. The physical body is. We talked about that. I'm getting discombobulated. The physical body is the flute. The emotions are how I feel, and then the spirit is the music that comes out of it. And so just this beautiful tune that's being played is. You have to have a good flute, you have to know how to play it, and you have to have the emotional space. And all of that. So all of that being said is it sounds like a lot of these traditions are kind of pointing at the importance of all of these variables to. And yet it's like you said, Brandon, in certain parts of the country or certain cultures or certain groups of people is. It's a little bit of a taboo topic. And so, you know, spirituality is something that I feel like we don't get to talk about as much unless you're in, like, that, the quote, weird circle or the weird group. What do you guys think?

I think that that's true. You Know, at least in the culture that we're living in. You know, I feel like other cultures, it's maybe not necessarily as taboo and it's just so normal. But my experience being a white person that was raised with, like, Christian. Around the Christian church and stuff like that is your spirit is separate. You know, that's something that church will. That's the most you're going to learn about it, you know, and it's not true for everybody, but that's the way it's seems to be. The most common is somebody else has authority over that part of you and they live in a church. And I mean, it would probably be a whole other podcast to start to talk about how the church has been using faith, like weaponizing faith to be able to have power and stuff like that. So not only are you entrusting somebody else to it, but somebody else who's like, part of a system that maybe isn't even looking out for your best interest. So now I forgot what the question was. But obviously that needs to change and people need to have be like, I, you know, I am my own spiritual authority. You know, it's not for somebody else. But then, you know, our culture being what it is, it's gonna take some like, you know, preschool education stuff. Like, what is this? How can you connect with it? All that kind of stuff.

Yeah, totally. I think, I think that the idea that our spirit and our body is so separate is. That's a really, That's a really good point that. I mean, I grew up with the. In within the Christian tradition as well. And, you know, there are parts of the Christian tradition that I still love and I still use. And so, you know, not to knock on. On knock on it, but I think that it is really interesting how a lot of people think of the physical realm like, you know, the material realm or whatever, as that is bad. That is sin. Right? Any, like, carnal desire or anything is like, that's all. That's all bad. Or, you know, we talk about assigning morality a lot on this podcast. And, you know, I'm. I'm not a huge fan of assigning morality to things. And I think if we can bring in the realm of this, of spirit and spirituality with our bodies and within our bodies and we can integrate that, that's where bliss comes from. For me, personally, I don't know about you guys, but, like, that's when I feel like, yes, like, here's God.

Hello.

Right.

So, yeah, that's what I would ask.

And like, I'm connected with God in this moment, you know, and that's. And that's. I feel like when you're completely present, that's typically like, you get that, that blissed out type of feeling and then you're like, we're connected. That's what people talk about. And you establishing connection with God or whatever you want to call it, a higher self, soul, you know, like the mind, body, spirit is now coalesced, you know, and that's where. And then you feel really good. And you know, when you feel it.

On the flip side, what are signs that you might be dealing with, like spirit sick or soul sick or it might be time to go and do some work in the world that you're in.

And Brandon, I mean, pain is the number one. You know, I've been dealing with pain for so long, and it's over the last 10 years, it's just like the epidemic is increasing. We're getting more and more people suffering from chronic pain every year. And I think a big part of that is what we're talking about right now because we're so disconnected from, like, who we really are. And we're just kind of like, you know, we gotta do the steps that we're predetermined to live life, and that's what it is. And, you know, and along the way we get disease and pain and. But, you know, I think the basic stuff is anxiety, depression, pain. You know, especially if you're not getting resolution with a more traditional means within, like the way that our system is already set up, then that's always. That's always like, start looking elsewhere and into. Into more alternative. I mean, it shouldn't even say alternative things because nutrition is an alternative, but it kind of is in our system. But yeah, basically you're not getting answers because that's the way everybody's gonna start. You know, I don't know what your. Your podcast crowd is like, but. Because maybe they're more. Maybe they're more of this mindset, but for somebody who's listening, that's, that's not. And they're just like medical system is where you go when you're sick. If you're not getting answers, then that's the time to start seeking elsewhere. It's probably the best way to look at it. Because if you're getting answers, then why. They're probably, probably people probably aren't looking elsewhere unless they're trying to maximize their health or something like that.

Yeah, like Hadley said, bliss.

Yeah.

Yeah, I would like a little bit of that. I feel like, that sounds fantastic.

A little daily dose would be fantastic. Yeah.

Yeah, totally.

Well.

And I've. I have actually done some of this work with Brandon, and it is incredible. I can say this from firsthand experience, like, and now I know how to do some of this stuff with myself because Brandon is amazing and he teaches you how to do stuff for yourself. And that's where I find bliss is being able to, you know, get into my body and just feel the spirit and energy kind of moving through my body and just paying attention to that. That, to me is like, that's where bliss is in my life currently. So cool. So even if you're not sick, soul sick, like, this is still great stuff.

If you're sick, it means get moving on this stuff. And ideally, you're gonna ride that trajectory and find your own practices and stuff like that. That's what I cross my fingers for, for the people that I'm working with is like, hopefully that's like, the work that we did was what they needed to be able to do it on their own and continue going. Not just to be like, oh, symptom free, which a lot of people, you know, I'm symptom free, so I'm good to go. And we'll settle into old routines again. But, yeah, so I really appreciate first just being, saying such nice things about me, but also that, you know, you're doing that, that you're, you know, that you're finding that for yourself. I think that's amazing.

Yeah. Thank you. And thank you for teaching me.

You're welcome.

So let's teach our audience. Let's make some of this intangible a little bit tangible. So maybe like threes. Threes are digestible numbers. So are there three things that you can think of to help someone start to dial in on their spiritual self, to do that spiritual healing or start that self healing?

Yes, we can come up with some stuff. And my question is, is this somebody who's currently suffering or somebody who is not suffering, but is looking to pursue bliss, or should we try to approach both of those things?

I like the yes. And. But if. Maybe first, because a lot of the individuals who come to this podcast are people who are wanting to become their own mental health expert. So we're coming from a place of either dealing with anxiety or depression or insomnia or bipolar symptoms. Like that.

First step is always.

The.

Work to become more present. You know, lots of times our heads are spinning. So while there's a three step thing, I had somebody tell me that they were they would, I would hear them tell other people, I used to be a meditation moron, you know, but now, now I know how to do it. So we can use the three steps of meditation for morons. I started to call it after that person. But the main, the main thing, the main one is meditation. And now how can you do it tangibly, I think is a great three step thing. So what I usually like to start with people and it's people who have the hardest time connecting to their body. So some people can start in different layers of this, but let's just pretend somebody's a meditation moron. And how do we get started? I like to utilize. It's something that I've learned from the mental health world of. It's like the five things you see, four things you hear, three things you smell. I can't remember exactly how it goes, but I'm telling people we're just going to be still and you're going to be in a place that's like nice and quiet and comfortable and relaxed for you because even in that space your mind might still be going. And so we're just going to be checking in with our senses and take time and just know like, that's what I see and that's what it is. Because sometimes you can see something, hear something, smell something, and it's going to trigger you into some sort of response where you're less calm and in those moments take note of that and maybe you need help from somebody to deal with like what that trigger is. So but assuming, assuming that none of this stuff is triggering, we're just going to go through each of our senses, you know, even to taste and smell and just kind of monitoring as your mind quiets down. Because that's ultimately that would be the goal, like success we're going to call something successful. Successful completion would be like, my mind's not thinking, it's not racing so much. Great. And then you're going to pay attention to what your body feels like. And then to get into the body, I usually just start with a belly breath, which is really basic. You know, the only thing I will usually tell people is where your diaphragm is. So if you follow your sternum, your sternum is like your breastbone. It goes down the center line of your body and then eventually you'll get to the bottom of it where you won't feel it anymore and it'll just be soft. That's where your diaphragm is. And so when you breathe in, your diaphragm should expand. So if you rest your hand in that location I just described, your belly will rise up if you're laying on your back up towards the ceiling. But if you're sitting up, it'll just expand out, you know, towards the wall in front of you or whatever is in front of you. And that's all you're going to pay attention to now. Now that your mind is more calm, breathe in and your belly expands and breathe out. And then it's going to sink back down and that's all you're going to do. And for, you know, a couple minutes, I wouldn't time it, but we're going to go from mind is more quiet breathing with the belly until the belly, excuse me, until the body is more quiet as well. And you might start to feel things letting go. And maybe your body starting to shift and you need to move to accommodate for this letting go that's occurring with your body. And then, like I said, that's going to take a minute, but we're going to fast forward because of what we're doing right now. The next thing that I like to do that I think is amazing, and the only reason, I guess in my practice that I started adding these other things is because I couldn't get people to get the effect from this next breathing. And it's my favorite. So let's go for it. All you're gonna do is imagine there's a hole in the top of your head. If you're familiar with your chakra system, that's your crown chakra. If you're not, it doesn't matter. A hole in the very top of your head. Like if you, you know, when your parents or somebody says, you know, good posture is, imagine that there's a string on the top of your head and it's pulling you up that very, very peak of your head. Crown of your head, there's a hole in that. As you breathe in, you're imagining that the air that you're breathing in is coming in through that hole. And as you exhale, it's moving down through your body and then out your arms and your legs. And then the next breath is just the opposite. And we're going to be breathing in through our arms and legs. That breath is moving up through our body and then we're exhaling out the top of the head. Next breath, switch directions in through the hole, out through the body. Next breath in through the body, out through the hole in the head. And then you're just going to keep going back and Forth and back and forth. And me just describing it right now, I start to feel like that's good. I'm going to relax and lay down. But it's not necessarily always that easy for people. It takes practice to be able to kind of rewrite these neural pathways and be able to, to get to that place. But that's, that's my three steps. And I think that's probably. It's something that anybody can do at any time. And it's free. So that's my highest recommendation.

So that's why people aren't talking about it. It's free.

You'd hear a lot more about it if you could monetize. And people are monetizing it, I would imagine, in the self help.

Yeah, yeah, totally, totally.

But I'd like to give away everything for free. And then if you need me, I'll help you. But like do it yourself, people. That's what I want.

Yeah. So start by being more present and notice your senses, notice your body. And then the reverse direction, breathing. First down through the vertex and out through the extremities, and then reverse into the extremities and out through the top of the head. That's great.

Something else that I loved that you said was like, as you. So in step number two, as you settle your body down, it's not about just being perfectly still. I think a lot of times people think that meditation is supposed to look a certain way. It's, you know, you're supposed to be in like cross legged position. You know, it's like, you know, whatever, you know, whatever you think of it as, it might be different based on the person, but often we think of it as trying to be still. And I've actually even heard that in ayurvedic circles and stuff. It's like, okay, be perfectly still for this 20 minute meditation. And then I get like, my mind is like, I'm not allowed to move, not allowed to move. I'm not allowed to move. And really our bodies actually do need us to move in order to shift some of that energy out of us. And so fidget, move, do it. Whatever you need to do to feel comfortable, because it's for you, the practice is for you. You are not a slave to the practice. So I just loved that you said that, Brandon.

Yeah, it's really important. I'm glad that's being taught to people. You know, I find that the goal is to be able to be perfectly still and be in that blissful state that you're talking about and not have to do anything to. To just feel good. But typically you have to. Your body's not in that, otherwise you'd already be there and we wouldn't. None of this would matter to a person. So it only makes sense that your mind and your body would both have to adjust, I think.

And trying to do it, forcing yourself to do it, isn't actually gonna get you there.

No. It's like if somebody's got. If somebody's triggered by, you know, just living life and they're gonna try to not act triggered when they're in public, they're not actually going to get any better. It's just going to suffer and it's going to suck. So that's what I feel like that you're describing with now. Just be still. Don't move. Even though, like, you're just denying your experience, you know, at that point.

Yeah. And what you deny will amplify.

Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah, totally.

Yeah. Yeah. Bypassing.

So, Brandon, what do you have going on in your practice? How can people get involved with the cool stuff you have going on? Work with you, learn more about you, tell us about all of the ways to connect.

Well, I mean, my website, my practice, Step Forward Wellness, the website stepfordwellness.org on there, there's just a little bit about me and people can sign up for if they're in West Michigan in person, integrative physical therapy or energy medicine. And I'm offering virtual pain coaching is what I'm calling it, in combination with what I. What I'm calling the nervous system reset, which is essentially helping people walk through what we began today. And I often. And I'll offer, like, energy work too, during that, but to help them be able to get to that calm place where they can feel better. And then the coaching services to help them identify more of, like, what's going on in their life and the changes that they could make to be able to live, I don't know, more freely, more blissfully, since that's what we're talking about here. So that's my personal practice and that's like my main focus. But there are. Well, one of them I don't think people can get involved with yet, but I'm really super excited about working with. He's a professor at Grand Valley State University, a biomedical professor. And we're gonna be doing a study. We're in, like, the planning, like, writing our protocol and stuff like that to get physiologic measurements for the stuff that we're doing. It's basically just going to be me recording what's going on, what I'm doing. And we'll have the client give feedback after. But we'll be measuring. We're not 100% sure what equipment we'll have, but measuring a variety of physiologic responses to see what's happening. Because that's been one of my biggest things is people will say, well, you don't have evidence for it, so that's nothing, you know, like we talked about at the beginning of this. So I'm like, let's get some evidence. And I'm really excited to be able to start that process.

That's awesome. So everyone stay involved. Reach out to Brandon. There's, like, he said he's doing remote work. And so if you're feeling stuck or if you want to feel even better, then he's. He's there. And so, anything else y' all want to mention before we finish up today?

Oh, let me just say that he does remote work, and I've actually done some remote stuff with him. And it's just as powerful as the in person because I've done both. And so it is amazing. It's energy work, and it can be done over zoom. It is really, really, really cool.

You know, I've actually been finding that the zoom starts to go out a lot. So I've just been doing phone calls lately.

Wow, that's cool.

The phone calls seem to work just fine.

Yeah.

So cool. Amazing. I just, like, got this image of what? What's the. I ain't afraid of no ghosts. What is that? Oh, Ghostbusters. Like, imagining, like, it's like everything explodes out. Yeah.

It was a huge pain in the ass during COVID to do some of this stuff. And that's where I was like, I'm done with the video stuff because it's just not working.

Yeah. Yeah.

So I don't know. You know, I've had people ask me too. Is it just because there's so much going on?

I don't know.

But it doesn't work, so.

I don't know why, but I know what to do.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

There you go.

Thank you so much for being here, Brandon. We're so grateful for you and the work that you're doing. The mind, the body, and the spirit, and helping people achieve healing and bliss.

Yeah. Thank you for having me. It's nice to see both of you again, and it's been a long time, Hadley, so it's really good to see you again and nice to see you both together. I don't think that's ever happened for me.

Yeah, I know, I know. Yeah. Really cool. Well, we're gonna need to meet up, the three of us. Maybe we'll have to do a triple date with our partners as well sometime soon. Yeah. Awesome.

Awesome.

The recording you just listened to consists of the personal opinions of Dr. Nicole Cain, a naturopathic doctor with a master's in clinical psychology, and Happy Healthy Hadley, an Ayurveda expert with a master's in health behavior and health education. While these opinions are based upon literature, counseling education, medical training, and clinical experience, this content should not be viewed as the definitive opinion on these subjects. Listening to this podcast is not a substitute for any sort of medical, psychological or other form of treatment. If you are in a Crisis, please call 911-OR call the National Suicide Prevention Line at 1-800-273-8255. If you are in need of counsel counseling, don't hesitate to make an appointment with a counselor in your area. Dr. Nicole and Hadley are passionate about you becoming the expert of your own emotional and physical well being. If this resonates with you and you think this podcast would help someone you love, please share it with them. We look forward to seeing you on the next episode of the Holistic Inner Balance Podcast.

Sam Sa.