075 Using Meditation and Emotional Intelligence to Transform Trauma!

You know, I have this theory that's connected to the center. It's what if our emotions and feelings are conspiring in our favor, even the challenging ones?

Oh my gosh, say that again.

Yeah, what if our emotions and feelings are conspiring in our favor, even the challenging ones? And could embracing this part of ourselves lead to a new intelligence?

Welcome to Lion Voice. We are your hosts, Sarah and Aaron Sanchez. We created this show designed to inspire, educate, and encourage you on your path to wellness. This show's purpose is to help you put the puzzle pieces of healing into place. Join us as we interview other warriors who and discuss how fighting is a mindset, healing consists of choices, and living is the outcome.

Wishing your doctors could communicate and come up with a cohesive plan specific to your medical needs and genetics? At Invita Medical Center, they offer a team-style approach giving you the opportunity to heal. In addition to a commitment of providing radical love and care for their patients, they are strategically located in sunny Arizona because Arizona offers the best integrative medical laws in the country. Call today to speak with one of their patient care coordinators. You can find them online at invita.com.

Lion Voice thanks Invita Medical for their continued support. Please reach them at 1-866-830-4576. Hey everybody, we really want to tell you about something that has changed our life.

Yes, our Kangen water machine has absolutely been a game changer.

Absolutely. We had such a great response from episode 64.

Episode 64 goes into the details if you have not listened to it, as far as why it's been so helpful and what it does. And basically it's alkaline water, but it's also antioxidant-rich. So 2 glasses of fresh water is equivalent to 5 pounds of blueberries, and it has been radical for us as a household.

Yeah, there's, there's so many more uses. We, I mean, we had to do a whole episode on it. But basically, go to myfreewaterstore.com to find out more information directly. Go to episode 64, you can actually hear Wade Holder talk about all the different app— uh, applications and benefits from it. And then when you are ready to purchase this machine, we are now distributors. So when you're ready, you call me at 505-681-1770 and There is financing available. If it wasn't for their financing options, we wouldn't have a machine. Call me, we'll talk through some of those options, and this is going to be a huge benefit to your life.

Yes, it is. And we will be talking extensively over this next year even about fasting and how powerful fasting can be with alkaline water.

Yeah, excellent. Water is key, people.

Change your water, change your life.

Yep. Welcome to Lion Voice, everybody. I'm here with my beautiful wife, Sarah.

Hello.

So glad you guys are here with us today, and it has been a while since we've been back on the mic.

I know, it feels good to be back on the mic.

We did an ep— I think the last time episode we recorded together was how to survive the holidays.

And that wasn't— yeah, yeah. And we buried 2 months ago.

We sort of survived them. I mean, we're still standing, so we survived them. We didn't do a whole lot of recording in between here and there.

Nope.

We're still standing. It's been a journey. Start with that.

Yes.

A lot of blanks to fill in. So today we have—

today we have an awesome interview with Christy Kennedy, and I'm so excited about this. I know I say that every time.

No, but this one is awesome. This one is awesome. We actually released this one earlier.

We released this as part of a really long series. We did several formats, like 2.5-hour series, and it's just too long for our listeners. Their attention span is not long enough.

Our attention spans. I was listening to this episode again, and that's what decided— I mean, that's what we both were like, we have to replay this one.

We, we are as a separate—

we're the owners of this show. We should know what's going on. The producer of this show, I should know what's going on. And as I re-listened to it, I'm like, I totally missed this episode. This one, we have to re-look at this because there's so much in it that I didn't see the first time. Even if you have listened to it already, you're going to enjoy it again the second time because it's, it's huge.

It's its whole— yeah, it's its own separate topic in the sense of understanding emotional intelligence. And we talk about this all the time because it's so key to recovering, is developing emotional strength, emotional intelligence. And we recorded it this fall right when I was in the process of going back into treatment, or realizing I needed to go for more treatment after my reinfection. And so I did several rounds of antibiotics and different supplements and stuff. So, so when I went back and listened to this, I was just blown away because we recorded it in like October, which is 5 months ago. But no joke, everything Christy is going over in this interview, and I'm with her obviously in the interview, but that is pretty much all we have done for the last 9 months is walk out what she's talking about, right? In the sense of practicing mindfulness Using those— she talks about head, heart, and gut, the 3 emotional intelligence centers. And that's what we've been doing, like not operating in fear, learning how to meditate and overcome. And, um, like 2 episodes in the future here that'll be released in the next week or something, we're gonna do an update just on where we're at with my reinfection because we haven't been on the mic a lot. And it's just been an incredibly transformative year.

We'll go into that, but, um, and, and honestly, like, you got reinfected and there's a whole host of things that need to happen when— with an infection like this, medically, etc. But one, it's interesting to me that even as we were talking about this this morning, what has been our number one focus, the thing we knew for a fact that is gonna help you the most, is this mindfulness. And this attitude. Yes, all those other details, the supplements, the dieting, the exercise, they all have to happen. They all need to happen in order to defeat this disease, and it's hard, but this is what is most important. And I think, I think for you listeners, this is our second time through. This is important stuff. I cannot stress how important mindfulness and your— in your— your— the way your soul feels, the way— what state you're in. And so important.

Yeah, we've been studying, both Aaron and I, for years now, a mindset, right? We talk about mindset, fighting as a mindset, all the time on air. But I feel like what's happened this year is it is on such a deeper level. Yeah, like we've— we've been saying it, we've been learning it, we've been walking it out, but Now, in a sense, like the shit hit the fan when I got reinfected and it required us to again, once again, figure out new ways to operate, figure out ways to overcome hard, expensive, ongoing hurdles. And it has just required us to grow in ways that I would have never anticipated.

Yeah, me either.

It has not. It's— yeah, but it's so applicable. It's so important and so valuable. And I think one of the main things that's come out of our journey this year is even for you understanding how to control your energy, how to control— you now understand when you feel a feeling and there's an associated, or you have an emotion, you understand the root feeling of it, can process through, and then not let that control and/or consume you, not let it derail you emotionally. Physically.

And I'm actually, actually acting mature. 45 and I finally figured out something. But it— no, you're right though, it has been amazing and it's provided such a huge level of strength, security. Like, if you want life to go good, control this. Like, control your anger, control your emotions, and your life will get multiplied on, and the, the blessings just come out like you would not believe. And it's— I'm not making sense, but it's a good thing, people. That's the main point. Listen to this episode. You will benefit from it.

You will absolutely benefit from it in, in huge ways. And we do say fighting is a mindset, and this is how you get that mindset. And Christie goes into a great Exercise, a very valuable meditative practice. And I have a ton of stuff on the show notes written out. I spent way too long writing out all the show notes step by step because this meditative practice is really helpful. And I have had my own for a lot of years, but incorporated some of these things and some other stuff that we're going to be talking about in the next episode. But it has just, for both of us, um, It's empowered us in new ways.

Yeah.

And, and I think it's playing out over the next couple of years. But this is a really powerful interview and it can actively change your life today.

Today? Yeah, today.

Because— and even so, one of the things that comes up, Christy tells her story and she fought cancer several years ago and she has a recognizable illness. Lyme is not recognizable, so people don't react the same way.

It is getting better though.

It is. So for her, when she was at the phase where she was getting her hair shaved or was about to lose her hair, her whole team surprised her and shaved their heads. And one of her co-workers, a female, said as she was getting her hair shaved, she said, I am not my hair. And, um, that struck me because I, I've been actively losing my hair now for months, and really even as of a few weeks ago, I'm at the point where I really don't have any more hair. And I've been like, to some extent with cancer, it's simpler. There's a lot.

It's more understood.

It's more understood. And with Lyme, you're not just losing your hair. You're losing your hair. You're losing the ability to walk. You're losing your career, your profession. It could be your family. The losses are so immense and so long-term that I think the thing for me, as it struck when she was saying, "I'm not my cancer," that's hurtful on one level, but what it does is you become a victim, or it's easy to embrace brokenness or misfortune as your identity, to mistake who you are for what the illness has created in your life. I just, even though there's so many things right now in my own life that I can't control with this, I just feel so empowered on so many levels in new ways. And this meditative practice is part of that journey. Key part.

Yeah.

I mean, we, and you and I have been on this journey of bettering ourselves or bettering our lives for a long time, for 20 years at least.

Well, for the last 5.

Intensely for the last 5.

Yes.

Yeah, intensely for the last 5. And there was so many things that lined up in this that it was just like the answers we were looking for. So again, enjoy the episode, and we will talk to you soon about what's going on in our life on the next episode.

With me today is Christy Kennedy, who is the founder and culture coach of Culture Conscious. Christy, thank you so much for being here with us today.

Oh, it's my pleasure. Thank you for having me.

So Christy and I met recently through a mutual friend, and, um, Christy created this company called Culture Conscious. And Christy, tell us how You, you really specialize in emotional intelligence, mindfulness, um, which we talk about all the time on Lion Voice because it's such an integral part of everybody's healing process, is to make sure your mindset is right. Controlling your emotions and building emotional strength is one of the very few things that sometimes we can control in our lives. So I am just so excited to talk to you about all this stuff because it's relevant, and you also have your own story of recovering from a chronic illness. And so thank you so much for being here with us today.

Oh, again, my pleasure. Happy to be here.

So tell us how— give us an overview of how this company came into existence.

Yeah, so I spent most of my career as a qualitative researcher, and the company that I worked with, we would help Fortune 500 companies come up with new product or marketing ideas based on consumer insight. And we would, we had the fun job, it was a great, great company to work for. We would go in and train corporate teams, multifunctional teams on empathy. And we prepare them for going into the homes of their consumers to learn from them, and we would hopefully unearth insights that would lead to new product or marketing ideas. And, uh, I again, I loved that work, uh, did that for about a decade, and then in 2014 I was diagnosed with an aggressive cancer. And going through a series of chemotherapy and surgeries and a divorce all at the same time, as you might imagine, was— it just shifted and shifted my life in, in ways that I had never even imagined. And coming out of that experience, it was just more important than ever for me to do meaningful work.

Yeah.

And I had been introduced to a framework and developmental map called the Enneagram. Oh yeah.

Can you explain that to people who are not familiar with that?

Sure. The Enneagram is a developmental map that helps us, uh, with many, uh, different facets of understanding the world and how it works. But for, uh, the purpose that I utilize this powerful framework for is understanding personality. And so some psychologists and therapists will say that around the age of 18 months to 2 years as humans, we start to cognitively identify our separateness. We realize, oh, I have a separate body from my mom. I have language. I can say yes and I can say no. And a lot of times that no means more than I'm exerting my autonomy. And, you know, then we become mobile and we can run away from our moms and our, and our parents. And, uh, it's about that time that we, um, as we identify our separateness, we try on these different strategies for how to deal with that separateness in the world. And one of those strategies, and according to this framework there are 9 strategies, seems to serve us well. And we carry that strategy with us through our childhood, our teenage years, our adulthood. And so we have a habitualized way of being with which we view the world. So the Enneagram helps to identify those motivational drives and strategies that we have. And, you know, there's, there's lots of different typology systems in the world. You might have heard of them, like Myers-Briggs, DiSC, and StrengthFinders, to name a few. I find all of those very valuable. But the difference with the Enneagram is the Enneagram goes to what I believe is a deeper level to help identify those motivational drives that then lead to behavior. Hmm.

So I've been nerding out on personality tests since I was like 16.

Wonderful. So you get this.

I get it. But you know what? The Enneagram was something that I only learned about this last year. I was just— missed it somehow, and now it's everywhere. I've— I keep seeing it everywhere.

Yeah, fascinating how that happens. It's the most powerful system that I have found for, uh, transformation.

Really?

Absolutely.

Because the awareness that comes from it allows you to tweak things? Is that— or is it just this, like, a whole process of awareness?

Well, I believe it's the awareness that comes from it. And so often in this, when I'm working with clients and teams, you know, there's a resonantness that comes from this, that they're recognizing, oh wow, you are describing me to a T. And again, it's not focused on behavior because behaviors can change. So the idea that this is based on something deeper, it's that motivational drive that leads to behavior, can really resonate with people. Hmm.

I think for so many of our listeners, one of the things that happens with a long-term illness is so much of your personality gets stripped away. And because you don't— I mean, I consciously remember realizing I did not have the energy to laugh anymore, and that went on for a couple of years. I just couldn't do it. There was nothing left. And so I think even though like I've been nerding out on this stuff for decades, for me, I've had to reengage on a whole new level to figure out who I am and who I actually wanna be as I put my life back in order.

Hmm. Yeah, I resonate with that so much. You know, not experiencing Lyme disease, but, you know, 3 months before I was diagnosed with cancer, I was diagnosed with celiac disease. So as I was learning that and then being diagnosed with cancer, there, you know, a lot of what we may deal with in day-to-day life just goes away. I mean, we have, we have to fight for our survival. And so yes, I, from my own experience, I can somewhat connect with that. And remembering that for me, it primarily became about how am I going to survive this experience, how to get through. And yes, so our lens shifts and changes. Now, fascinating enough, according to the Enneagram and many people in this space, there is the— there's the idea that our personalities are a mixture of nature versus nurture. You know, I think about when I speak to friends of mine who have had twins, you know, they even talk about how, you know, I have my friend Dina, she has twin girls right now that are 3, and she talks about being able to identify their, their personalities in the womb. I mean, one was very active and outgoing and moved a lot, the other one was more quiet. And as she, as they were born born and as their personalities develop, that has continued.

Wow, that's so fascinating. My husband and I say all the time, like, your kids come out the way they come out. Like, they have their personalities before they come out because you can see it. You can see it emerge in their lives. But I guess I didn't realize it literally started in utero as well.

I mean, you think about when you have siblings, we've had very similar upbringings, but we have different experiences. We have different, you know, the stories that we tell ourselves may be different. The lens with which we view the world, uh, can be different.

So, okay. So you have your own specialized, I think here, let me see if this is right. It is the head, heart, and gut. That's your concept, right? You're taking the Enneagram and pulling out exactly what you want from it, this head, heart, and gut concept?

Oh, well, you know, it's interesting. I, I'm not certain that, you know, much of what I experience is pulled from and utilized from the, the research and findings of other humans that have come before me. Yeah, like, I mean, how much of what we experience is an actual thought that we can say we, we own that, right? But, you know, of course I have my own twist on it. And we have these 3 internal centers of intelligence. You know, we, we have this head center for thinking and analyzing and conceptualizing. It helps us to search for meaning and certainty. You know, as leaders, we need the center for inquiry and being able to explain ourselves in scenarios. You know, there's an author, her name's Suzanne Zurcher. She talks about the head center, which is connected to that prefrontal cortex part of the brain, as like a microscope or a telescope. So we're utilizing that particular center of intelligence for that. We need it as humans. And as you know, in our human— and especially in our American society, we put so so much emphasis on that head center to solve problems and, you know, how can we think our way through things. But we have these other two centers of intelligence that are really powerful as well. Hmm.

I like how you said internal centers of intelligence. I don't know that I've heard it articulated that way. But I like it.

Yeah, good, because you've got it. We can engage in it and, and learn from it. And when we can ask questions of our internal centers of intelligence we have and view them and even just go deeper into ourselves to explore those centers of intelligence, it's almost as if we have these three parts of ourselves that are communicating with us. So Yes.

You know, one of the things Aaron and I were just talking about this morning, because this whole process of recovery and self-discovery and putting our lives back together, we've evaluated every aspect of our lives and said, does this work for us? And one of the conclusions— we have two kids with congenital Lyme who have ongoing issues, and we have two kids with reactive attachment disorder who just have a lot of emotional needs. And as we were evaluating our lives. And here I am, I'm— I was sick for years and years. And so we both changed our entire careers to be able to work from home because you talk about head, heart, and gut. And what we talk about a lot is, uh, physically, financially, emotionally on the podcast. Like, in order for something to be successful, you have to have time, energy, and money, right? Whatever it is, implement a protocol, go see a certain doctor, whatever it is. Everything takes time, energy, and money. And but when you bring those factors to it, so like you're saying, head, heart, and gut. One of the things Aaron was saying this morning is because of this journey, it has taught him to have to access that emotional intelligence in ways that he's never done, and he doesn't— has never seen demonstrated, like even within his family. Like the logic side of like, oh yeah, you just get up and go to work Monday through Friday. Like, that's a very simplistic concept, right? A head would say that. But when you factor in the heart and the gut to say, wait a minute, is that— are everyone's needs getting met? Um, are we going to get out of this alive and thriving, right? It changes the way you look at everything.

It sure does. It sure does. And, uh, fascinating how it's all interconnected.

Yes, yes, yeah.

And as you were talking, we can view things from that head center. It's making sense of, of things. And as you mentioned, there's also this heart center. Uh, would it be helpful if I talk about that? Yeah, yeah. So the heart center, uh, which is connected to the limbic, uh, system, which is powerful for us for relating and feeling and Again, the author Suzanne Zurcher talks about this center as more of a barometer. You think about taking the temperature or the pulse in a room. If we're focused on this particular center, sometimes it's almost as if our energy can be even outside of ourselves. We're paying attention to what another person might need or want, or what another person deems as successful, or what another person has that perhaps we don't. We're We're taking the temperature in the room. So the energy is more outside of ourselves. And, you know, we need this for scanning outside of ourselves and connection of others in the world. You know, for leaders, we utilize this for effective mentoring or reading group dynamics, being able to feel fast without thinking deeply. And, you know, we are all hardwired for empathy. When you think about what mirror neurons are, you know, it's a thing that if I see a spider crawl up your arm, Sarah, why is it that I might jump back? Because my brain can't really decipher if this is happening to you or to me.

Yes, it's reacting to the pattern.

You got it. Yes. And so we are hardwired for this empathic this empathic connection. Our brain is receiving information from the neurons around the heart. And, you know, there's— there was some research done by Daniel Goleman who talked about the difference between good and great leaders. There had been some research done with CEOs, and they found that the great leaders were the ones that exhibited this competency of emotional intelligence we're talking about here. And, and, you know, I don't know that we put so much emphasis on the emotional intelligence. Some might say, well, that is a heart center connection. Again, I believe it's integrated. It means that we're able to utilize our head center for thinking effectively. We're able to utilize our heart center for relating well to others, and that gut center for sensing and that inner knowing.

Hmm, which is so powerful because with all the training and research that we did when we brought home two kids with emotional issues— we, they were in an orphanage for two years, so we knew there was going to be some stuff happening. But when you start to understand those neural pathways and how they get formed and how driven we are by the amygdala reacting to something happening or the hypothalamus reacting to something that's happening, you real— one of the things that I began to realize is we think, oh, I'm having this emotion and this emotion is in charge. And really what I began to learn is that I was always in charge of the emotion.

Mm, you got it. You know, I heard it said that our emotions are reactive with an outward expression. Feelings are internal and connected to the body. So people can be highly emotional without knowing what it is that we're feeling. Hmm. And, you know, so often in the corporate environment, we're not addressing that emotional center.

Absolutely.

You got it. And, you know, I have this theory that's connected to the center. It's: what if our emotions and feelings are conspiring in our favor, even the challenging ones?

Oh my gosh, say that again.

Yeah, what if our emotions and feelings are conspiring in our favor, even the challenging ones? And could embracing this part of ourselves lead to a new intelligence? And I'll tell you more about what I mean.

Awesome.

So when I was starting this company 2 years ago, I was experiencing quite a bit of anxiety, and it's an emotion that I have been familiar with, with for quite some time. And fascinating, when I was going through my experience with cancer, I feel as if I Yes, that was, that was present quite often, but there was also coming out of that, it was, oh, I have this new lease on life. And, you know, is there so little to be really worried about and anxious about? And, and then as I get further away from my cancer experience, it's almost as if I forget a lot of those lessons that were so prevalent and powerful in the midst of the pain and fighting for my life. And, you know, I found that here I was again. I had left the company that I loved for 10 years because I was again driven by this internal sense of doing meaningful work. And I was trying all of the tactics that I had learned. I'm sure you're familiar with some of these. Avoidance. You know, oh, I'm not really anxious, or oh, if I just don't look at it and I can focus over here, perhaps it will go away. And I recognized that none of these particular tactics were working. And I'm a meditator. I have a practice where I will get up each morning before the sun comes up, and I will pour myself some tea and, and meditate. And I was struggling to get through and to be where my body was because I was just experiencing so much anxiety. Hmm. And it was through this, experiencing this, that I was able to come up with an emotional process for how I might approach emotions in a new way.

Interesting.

And it's a 5-step process, and I'm happy to share it with you.

Yes, please do.

Okay, well, step 1 is identify. Identify the actual emotion that it is that I'm experiencing. And that might sound and be easy for others. I found for me it was a challenge.

I believe it. Well, and I'm an empath, and so I feel things way before I understand what I'm feeling.

You got it. Yes, sometimes we're picking up transference, we're picking up the energy of others, and We may be like experiencing what someone else's is feeling, but is it really what we ourselves are experiencing?

Right. And actually that Aaron and I were talking about this, this morning in that same conversation is I said to him, cuz he understands energy now. He understands the emotional energy of a house. And so like his reaction to things is way different, but we're coming up on being married for 20 years and it was just this morning and I was like, okay, how did you figure this out? Because life is so much easier with us being on the same page with this because he he didn't understand energy and he didn't understand how his energy coming into the house would upset the kids, or, you know, now he gets it. And it's a powerful tool when you understand that, but it took a lot of years.

Yeah, I'm still practicing it. I probably will continue. Yes, you know, just being aware of if somebody, uh, gives me a gesture in the car as I'm passing because they're upset with something that I did, and then I take on that energy and feel that for the day and how it takes time to to shake that, right?

Yes.

Energy is all connected.

So can— do you identify— is it usually one primary emotion then that you're seeking to identify?

Yeah, I find that it is. I find it most helpful to utilize apps such as Stop, Breathe, Think. That's a great app because what it does is it has you check in with you know, what you're physically feeling, what you may be— how you mentally are. And then it gives you a list of emotive words on your screen. And I have found that very helpful to be able to see the words and try them on and to identify which one of these emotions is it that I'm experiencing. Because a lot of times I'm a head type. I've spent a lot of time in my head. I Oh, well, I think I feel this, but I've already— I'm utilizing that head center. So is it when I can actually— I had to become very familiar with emotional words and be able to see them on a page and be able to try them on as practice for being able to identify step one, what it is that I'm feeling.

That's so funny. That reminds me, I have this little game that I played with my daughter for a lot of years, and it had these little monkey faces that were like wooden monkey faces, and they had like 8 different types of emotion, but that was a big part of our therapy is helping her identify what she's experiencing. Cuz she can't, like, once we identify it, we can say, hey, feels like you're headed down this road because of A, B, and C. But like for her now she can do it, but we've been doing it for years. That's interesting that that's just a key part of identifying what you're feeling is knowing what you're feeling.

I love that. Hey, let's pull it back out and use it as adults, right? Yeah, yeah. We forget the emotions that we're feeling. That's fantastic. Um, yes, and, and, you know, uh, Sierra, the second step in this emotional process— and this can feel like a bit of a disruptor, but it's actually thank the emotion that's here, even the anxiety, because it And if my theory is, is correct that all of our emotions are conspiring in our favor, it's there to help us. It's there to share something with us. We just have identified it as something that's very challenging and that perhaps is something that we need to resist, when in effect I'm questioning that. Perhaps it's there to give us clues. So thanking it, I mean, there's an author, you might have heard of her, Glennon Doyle Melton. She's a fantastic author, and she talks about pain, and she says pain is like a traveling professor. He goes from door to door and knocks, but it's the wise who say, come on in, sit down, and don't leave until you've taught me what you need to teach me. Hmm. That just changed my relationship to pain.

Hmm. And you're talking emotional pain at this point, right?

This is emotional pain.

Yeah. Okay.

Yeah. And sometimes though, which we'll get into that when we get to the gut center, but our bodies are there to give us clues too.

Right. I know that.

And yes, sometimes our bodies are, we need to fight and, and, and fight through pain, but sometimes it's, can we, we slow down and pay attention? To what the physical pain that we are experiencing and, and identify it and utilize that as a clue too. Hmm. So I only know from my own experience with, with cancer, you know, I noticed things in my body, speaking about physical pain that we'll get into more in a minute, but I noticed them much sooner now. Yeah, I believe I'm able to slow down And I notice those cues and what's happening. And that again is, I believe, our gut center of intelligence giving us some clues.

Yeah, absolutely. And that's hard within the Lyme realm because your body is so dysfunctional that there are alarms going off all the time that you kind of have to ignore. But you do kind of just have to kind of push through it to keep moving forward. But every one of those pain points is indicative of something going wrong. And that's a hard reality. Um, it's interesting, through some of our attachment training that we went through, one of the things that— one, one of the key things I learned from one of the therapists that in the attachment training that I used in my own recovery is— you referred to number 2 as thanking the emotion. Well, she taught us how to, um, basically thank whatever is happening. So in the sense of like you have a kid, your amygdala is responding because you're in a fight-or-flight situation. And she said, you know, that obviously those neuropathways get set and that becomes a pattern of behavior, which happens with kids who are in trauma long term. But she taught us to say, when that anxiety starts to come on, hey, anxiety— or amygdala, right? I think the amygdala is— or the— yeah, is in charge of the fight-or-flight. And she says, you need to say, hey, amygdala, I really appreciate what you're doing. Thank you so much for alerting me to this. But I no longer need you to be in crisis over this. And when I went through the workshop, I thought it was a little hokey. And then after 10 years later, after going through my own crisis and something happening, I have used that on my own body multiple times. Hey, fear, thank you for being here because I was in crisis, but I'm not anymore and you don't have to respond this way. And that's been a powerful tool for me and I don't even fully understand it, but I utilize it.

You've got it. It reminds me of a quote by Elizabeth Gilbert, another great writer, who talks about our emotions. She might say something like, well, pain, I need you along, but I— you need to be in the back seat of the car. You can't drive the car. And so recognizing when we are experiencing pain, whether emotional or physical, and recognizing it's there again if perhaps this theory is right, that they're there to give us clues and to help us along the way. Yep, okay, we need you here, but you got to get in the backseat. You're no longer allowed to be bigger than, or be the one in charge and driving the car.

I love that. It's kind of like putting a boundary around the emotion.

Mm-hmm. Yeah, yeah. It's what we don't want to become, the emotion, that they're big, they're they're in control of us or bigger than us. Again, these are— we see them as things. What if they're like little Yodas? You know, the Yoda is there again to give us a clue, but they're not— they— we don't become the Yoda. The Yoda's there. It's like we're able to see them as and note them and see them as things, starting to see our emotions in a different, in a different light. Hmm. Which does lead to the third part of the process, which is to ask it, you know, what is it, pain, that you want me to see? What is it?

Oh man, I've never done that. That like sent a little chill up my spine.

Yeah, you know, I see it like emotional shelves. We all have these shelves in our house that are filled with knickknacks But what if they, you know, if we see those knickknacks as like particular emotions and we have favorite knickknacks or favorite books on the shelf that we pull off quite often and we utilize a lot, and we might take it off the shelf and walk around with it. And it's, it's as if, you know, we've got our favorites, and once in a while that we may forget that that emotion is not, is not a part of us. We hold on to it for so long, we think it's just an extended limb, but we can put it back up on the shelf. Asking it, what is it there to help me see? What does it want me to see?

Huh. And then do you sit then and just journal based on asking? So you ask whatever it is— anxiety, fear, pain.

Mm-hmm. That's great. That leads me into my fourth, which is listen. And, you know, journaling is one way to do that. There's a poet, Mark Nepo, who wrote a book called 7,000 Ways to Listen. And talks about how there's endless ways that life asks us to listen. We can listen with our ears, we can listen sometimes by, like you're saying, journaling and seeing what comes back up off the page to us. There's many ways for us to listen. And, you know, it is those challenging feelings that are the ones that need the most love. So if we're experiencing those part— those feelings, there's a tendency in us again to avoid them or to push them away. But those are the ones that I believe need the most patience and the most care and the most love.

Hmm, that's a very different way of handling emotions than the standard norm.

Well, you know, yes, it is. And at the Step 5 around trust— trust that the answer will come— what I have found is that because I'm not resisting them, which causes the emotion to continue to come back again and again and again, by meeting it and giving it love and showing it love and attention, the emotions don't seem to stick around as long as they used to.

Interesting. That's fascinating. You know, I So, but see if you, it starts back, but trust that the answer will come, can only come through all the way back to being okay with where you're at, being okay with the process, being okay with identifying the emotions and not being scared of them. Like it takes emotional strength just to even sit down to do this, doesn't it?

Yeah, it does take, it, it can take, uh, the emotional, it just takes practice like anything.

Mm-hmm.

There, it takes 15 seconds to imprint a positive feeling on our brain, but bad and challenging feelings imprint immediately.

Really?

Yes. And so it's like our challenging feelings are like Velcro, but good feelings are like Teflon. They just kind of slide off. So just this awareness and paying attention to this can allow for Yeah, how do we retrain our brain to rejoice and celebrate good feelings or celebrate when we've done something well? You know, we— instead of just remembering the one person who cut us off in traffic or that particular bad feeling we experienced. Hmm.

You know, it's funny, you, you talk about having a meditation practice and because I was in such excruciating pain for so many years, I lost the ability to ponder and meditate on things. And it really didn't become a part of my life until really like 2014, after I'd gone through treatment and the pain stopped, because the only voice I could hear in my head for about a decade was, stop the pain, stop the pain, stop the pain, stop the pain. And so So the, just the ability to meditate and ponder on something, I think is just one of the most profound gifts that you can give yourself because it does unlock things. It does unlock mysteries and the answers do come to you if you are in a place where you can receive them.

Oh yeah, you've got it. And I'm, oh yes, it seems like we were going through our treatment about the same time and, um, I feel what you're saying. Feel that pain and connecting it, obviously understanding, not knowing exactly what you were going through, but knowing what I experienced. And, you know, if there is a practice that's coming to mind that might be helpful, Sarah, for you, there's like when we are wanting to bring up this heart center, if we find ourselves so much in our heads like you're talking about, and, and going on and telling ourselves, you know, we can tell ourselves stories, and the stories can last and go on and on and on. But what really is true, and if we want to connect with that heart center more, you can put your hand on your heart, okay? And look around the room or into the eyes of others. You know, this, this secrete— when you do this, it secretes oxytocin, which is the hormone that we secrete when we hug one another, or also when you breastfeed, if, uh, for those mothers there. It's the relational hormone. Um, so just by that, I— that, that gesture of putting your hand on over your heart in the eyes of others. That's, that's, uh, that's increasing that heart center, that relatedness center that we, uh, that we can utilize as information.

It's fascinating to know the science behind things like why that simply putting your hand on your heart can trigger something that can either work for you or against you. And so in a sense, like, is that energy medicine, kind of?

Hmm, I hadn't thought about it that way, but sure.

I hadn't either.

Say so. It's a great insight. Energy medicine.

I like it because energy medicine is a huge thing in the chronic illness realm, but it's often related to chakras, which of course are related to feelings and emotions and different things. But It is fascinating. It is fascinating how energy plays such a key part in things.

Mm-hmm. So, and there's so little that we know about it. Now, I'm just, I'm fascinated to see what continues to emerge, needing the science realm of things, and of course our left and right brain, and what continues to emerge that we continue to learn about energy.

Do you feel like there is a corporate shift towards understanding more of this?

Yeah, I believe so. Yes, I, you know, there we are faced so much today with, with busyness, organizations constantly going through reorgs, they're chaotic, we're going through uncertain times. And I believe that there is a real shift in the corporate environment to find out how can we find new ways to work through the challenges of work and life. So yes, I do see that there's an openness. You know, I work with my clients too with recognizing, with meditation and inviting people to do a short practice when we do our work or when we start a session, because so often we are going from thing to thing, meeting to meeting, that we are rarely taking the time to really slow down and be where our bodies are. You know, I tell people how, how much more productive we would be in meetings if we actually shut the computer down and focused on the topics at hand, because how often I've been in meetings where people are on their computers, not really there in the moment and working on something from the last meeting, or minds are in the last meeting. And so giving our brains and bodies the chance to pause and really all come together and be aware our bodies are, I believe, can give us the, the ability to be effective efficient. And I believe that that is something too that corporate environments are really seeking.

Hmm. How did your experience, or your professional experience, in the empathy realm impact your own journey with cancer? Was it like, okay, glaringly obvious, or as far as, oh, I see this on a lot of levels because I already have this training, or was it in a sense, just as traumatic?

Great question. You know, I think even as a researcher, I was understanding empathy from my head center. Mm-hmm. I don't know that until I went through my experience with cancer that I experienced empathy in new ways from my heart center or from my gut center. I'll tell you, it was— I had— it was the week that I was losing my hair, and I had, you know, I had been invited to a video conference from my team. They were in Cincinnati. And, uh, I remember getting on the video call and hearing the sound of buzzing, and I, uh, recognized what was happening was that there were more than a dozen of my team members that were shaving their heads. Are you serious? And even one woman, Kathy, who I will never forget who, as they were shaving her head, she said, "I am not my hair." Wow. And I have a picture of this that, you know, I'll have to send you. That is a picture of my team in Cincinnati, and I'm on the computer screen, and they're all bald. And you can imagine what that might have been like walking into the doors at SEEK in Cincinnati. People probably thought, "Wow, the people who work here, are they all bald? What's happening?" It was a really powerful, powerful experience. And, you know, the definition of empathy can be said that it's ability to understand one's thoughts, feeling, and condition from their point of view rather than from your own. So the ability to understand one's thoughts, feeling, and condition from their point of view rather than from your own. And this is what I just experienced from this team. They heard, you know, head-wise, they were able to understand and experience Christy has cancer. Yeah. But they dropped it into their heart and feeling what it was to go through the fear of— they may not have experienced cancer. None of them had, to my knowledge, but they may have experienced a time when they felt a similar emotion. Yeah, anxiousness, fear, anxiety. And they were able then to— which we haven't really fully gotten into yet, the gut center— but be able to act on behalf of another. They were able to sense what it was that perhaps I might have needed in that scenario.. And how beautiful it was to feel 15 souls and humans gathered around me shaving their, shaving their heads and going with me through the process.

Yeah, Christy, that's incredible. I have chills running up my spine just picturing that. And how amazing, how amazing, because they taught you a whole new level of empathy.

Yes, absolutely. So it was just— it was bizarre thinking that we understand something. Oh sure, I know empathy. That's what we train on. That's what we teach. I was scratching the surface until I went through this experience.

Wow. Okay, so let's— before we conclude, let's get into the gut, because I like how you said that they took the head knowledge and dropped it into their heart. That's crazy powerful.

Yes, so the gut center, yes, it's connected to the reptilian part of the brain that's connected to those instinctual reactions that we have. It can be called what I call somatic intelligence. This is— we need this center. It helps us with our inner knowing, again, instinctual intuition that we experience from the body. And as leaders— with— I'm working with a lot of corporate teams— we need this center to be able to distinguish right from wrong, good from bad, an ability to sense what is needed. So following along with Suzanne Zurcher's work, who talked about the head center being like a microscope or telescope, or the head center like a barometer The gut center can be identified as more of like a seismograph, identifying what's happening, the earthquake, what's, what's going on with the earth, where's my center. And we all have an inner knowing, even if we think we don't. It's something we knew to be true in our gut without, you know, having to process it in our heads. Have you ever had an, like, a gut sense about something, that you might have known what a next step would be that you need to take, but then the moment you go up and rationalize it in your head, it just delays you reacting from your gut instinctual space. I would imagine that, you know, your listeners— and you have had plenty of these experiences in times of health— I remember being in the hospital and having 104 fever and packed in ice. It was a time that I wasn't certain I was going to make it. And I remember getting heparin shots. Somebody would come in and give me heparin shots every few hours, and I was bruised all over. And I remember saying no, like I knew that, like instinctively, no, that's something I don't want that anymore. I said, we're not going to do this anymore. But if I would have gone up into my head and rationalized it, oh, well, this is what the doctors think, this is why, and this is what the research shows. No, I needed that to stop. Hmm. And so there's this instinctual knowing that we have in our bodies and in that gut center of intelligence, you know, a practice that I I do to up the centers, I have what's called a little Buddha board next to my meditation cushion. And it's, you fill the base of it with water and it has a paintbrush and you go in and you can just make drawings on it. And the drawings may stick around for 30 seconds to a minute and then they disappear. And I will sit as part of my meditation practice and just draw whatever comes, whatever is just, whatever is there. And it's like this trusting my gut of just letting that come out of my body, of experiencing something without having to think through, is this, you know, rationalize what it is that needs to come out. There's many different practices that you can do to practice and pay attention to that gut center. Hmm.

It's so powerful. Thank you, Christie, for just sharing what you have learned and your own experiences. And I know that that's, uh, really deeply personal for you. As we conclude, can you tell us about your provisional course that you have for people who are interested? I think it's $300 and it's an individual course where you go in and you do a 40-page assessment and then a review, right? There's two different phases to it.

Well, in the provisional course, it's more where people can take the online assessment and they can— then they're given a report. There's like a 20-page report that's on the basics of the Enneagram. It helps to identify what that motivational drive is that they, they focus, and we we do a mini session together just to prepare them for what they're going to read in their report. Awesome. Great, yeah, great understanding.

Okay, Christy, how do people get in touch with you?

Sure, they can reach out to me by my email at christy@cultureconscious.work, and note the work, not com, or by visiting my website at cultureconscious.org. C-U-L-T-U-R-E-C-O-N-S-C-I-O-U-S dot work.

Awesome. Thank you so much for being here and for your time.

Oh, thank you so much, and, uh, peace and love to, uh, you and all of your listeners.

For nearly 2 decades, Invita Medical Center has been leading the way with the latest in personalized treatment options designed for patients dealing with Lyme disease complex. At Invita Medical Center, they offer a team-style approach and the latest technology regarding treatment and testing at an unmatched radical love and care environment for their patients. Call to speak to one of the patient care coordinators today to learn why hundreds of patients choose Invita Medical Center each year. You can find them online at invita.com. Disease is contrary to life. Therefore, wherever disease exists, life must also fight to exist.

This. Good job fighting, Lyme fighters! Keep it up. We'll see you next time. LymeVoice contains general information about medical conditions and treatments. The information is not advice and should not be treated as such. Okay, Lincoln? Okay. The medical information on LymeVoice is provided as is without any representations, warranties, expressed or implied.

Okay?

Okay. LymeVoice makes no representations or warranties in relation to the medical information on this podcast. You must not rely on the information on this podcast as an alternative to medical advice from your doctor or other professional healthcare provider. If you have any specific questions about your medical matter, you should consult your doctor or other professional healthcare provider. And for you, you consult your parents, okay?

Okay.

If you think you may be suffering from any medical condition, you should you should seek immediate medical attention. You should never delay seeking medical advice, disregard medical advice, or discontinue medical treatment because of information on this podcast. Got it, Lincoln?

Got it.